Watermark Issue 24.03: Clueless

watermark Your LGBTQ Life.

ISSUE 24.03 • FEBRUARY 9 - FEBRUARY 22, 2017 • WATERMARKONLINE.COM

As sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise, the battle for LGBTQ sex ed in schools is more important than ever

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departments 6 // mail 7 // editors desk 9 // orlando news 13 // tampa bay news 17 // state news 19 // nation & world news 25 // talking points 41 // community calendar 43 // tampa bay out+about 45 // orlando out+about 47 // wedding bells/ announcements 48 // tampa bay marketplace 50 // orlando marketplace

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These are human lives that are at stake, this isn’t an abstract notion. These are people who are afraid. ‘How do I protect the people I care about? How do I survive?’

— cHristoPHer cUevas, QLatinX co-FoUnder on iMMiGrants traPPed at airPorts aFter trUMP’s MUsLiM ban eXecUtive order

on tHe cover

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PAGE LET’S TALK

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ABOUT SEX: As

sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise, the battle for LGBTQ sex education in schools is more important than ever.

scan Qr code For

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prima ballerina:

Orlando Ballet pays a fitting tribute to local Orlando hero Harriet Lake with a Broadway spectacle.

watermark i ssue 24 .03 //February 9 - February 22, 2017

come togetHer

city run

anotHer round

imported beauty

PAGE Marginalized groups join forces at airports across the nation to fight the Trump administration’s attacks on minorities.

PAGE Civic leader and local community banker Barclay Harless kicks off campaign for St. Petersburg City Council.

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read it Online!

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

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Florida legislators are bringing the Competitive Workforce Act back to the table this year with bipartisan support.

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Mexico’s most treasured female artist gets her first solo exhibit in Florida as the Dali Museum brings you Frida Kahlo

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top web comments If one owns a business, one should be required to follow the laws of doing business, NOT a theocracy.

—Greg H.

WatermarkOnline.com On evidence leaking out about an anti-LGBTQ executive order from Trump:

“And the Founding Fathers are rattling in their graves.

Look up the words ‘fascist theocracy.’ The last time the Christian Church ‘ruled the world,’ it was called The Dark Ages. If one owns a business, one should be required to follow the laws of doing business, NOT a theocracy. How would these religious zealots like it if a government or other organization came into their churches and tell them how they should be running things? I don’t think THAT would go over so well. If this whole ‘religious freedom’ bullshit should go into effect, I think these businesses should be required to declare publicly, possibly with a sticker on their doors, just whom they wish to do business with, and whom they do NOT! Then let the general public decide.”

—Greg H.

“FAKE NEWS! But I’m not surprised. Sadly you have no direct access to the administration to get remotely close to our president.”

—Randy Ross

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Anti-Trump Republican eyes party switch in deep-blue Hawaii:

“Rep. Bob McDermott challenged [Rep. Beth]

Fukumoto’s previous statements about Trump, saying, ‘You are speaking not for yourself anymore. It is a high-level responsibility.’

PERIOD, she has missed the bigger picture! She caused her removal from a role that could have productively made an influence, whatever her views. Now where has she found herself! The same place that Hillary finds herself today: with no significant influence!”

—Becky Fuqua-Spuhl

On evidence leaking out about an anti-LGBTQ executive order from Trump:

“Of course he’s planning it. The question is will he change his mind if there’s a preemptive backlash?

He’s ‘walked back’ a few points already from the backlash. Let’s let him know NOW that this bullshit won’t fly.”

—Lynn Bradbury

“Is anyone surprised by this lying two-faced asshat?! No, he’s a coward and a puppet that has no credibility to his name. Lying, narcissistic, hypocritical, bigoted, womanizing asshole.”

—Elizabeth Nicole

On Boy Scouts allowing transgender kids into boys-only programs:

“Being an Eagle Scout, I totally approve this decision.”

—Eve Lake

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On an Arkansas university not covering gender transition treatments:

“As a student who is trans and will potentially be working for universities as part of my career in the future, this trend worries me.”

—Alec Baines

On how the political fight against women’s reproductive rights and LGBTQ rights come from the same playbook:

“Honored to have contributed to this piece with Hannah Willard & my former political science teacher Dr. Jewett.”

—Anna Vishkaee Eskamani

On Netflix announcing a reboot of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy:

“This will not last.”

—Michael James Kelly

On Queer As Folk’s Randy Harrison playing the Emcee in Cabaret at the Straz Center:

“Saw it last night! We had a chance to meet Randy and the cast of the show. It was really a special time.”

—Jeff Brow

On swastikas, racial and homophobic slurs being painted at an Ohio school:

“We walk out in the open in peace and they hide under darkness and bully.”

—Pj Rowan Winkler

editor’s

Billy Manes EDITOR

BIlly@WatermarkOnline.com

T

Desk

his is how it goes. There is an

initial spark of horror – in this case, the abject realization that our country had elected a television and real-estate mogul into its highest office in November – and then come the stages of grief.

It is no hyperbole to state that the election of President Donald Trump has already been a source of anxiety for progressives and people who follow either history or politics. These things happen, we tell ourselves. It will get better, we sigh. Maybe we’ll be safe; maybe Trump does like the LGBTQ community; maybe Vice President Pence has a switch on his back that will allow some kind of social diplomacy between the others and himself. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But there is no small irony in the fact that as we put this issue of Watermark – Central Florida’s and Tampa Bay’s hub for LGBTQ

watermark staff

news and entertainment – to bed on a Tuesday afternoon that you can judge this book by its cover. We have misgivings about Trump, his cabinet, and our own conservative legislature, and we are more than happy to document them. We didn’t see the timing of this with that of Betsy DeVos’ hairline fracture of a victory brought to you – historically – by the single vote of one Mike Pence.

This week’s cover deals with the struggle to get sensible sex ed into Pinellas and Hillsborough counties and the valiant efforts by outside groups to make LGBTQ concerns part of the curriculum in public schools. Just after noon

on Feb. 7, heiress to the DeVos fortune – she of Amway dollars and “school choice” leanings and millions in familial donations to causes that would see LGBTQ Americans fade back into the wallpaper – was confirmed as the secretary of education. During her congressional hearings, DeVos rang strange bells of guns and grizzlies but turned on no light bulbs of ideas about education. To the contrary, the public education discussion introduced us to a DeVos who seemed alternately indifferent and hostile to one of the key tenets of American society. It didn’t look like she studied before the exam.

DeVos’ history boasts a litany of terrible choices, “school choice” among them. She’s a known donor to the Foundation for Traditional Values; she has actively lobbied for vouchers to fund private schools on the taxpayers’ dime; she, according to a scathing report card from Mother Jones, sat on the board of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty, a group which supports the idea that public education is ruining the moral fabric of America by ignoring religion (and capitalism!). Her mother’s foundation donated millions to Focus on the Family, an allegation she denies any connection to, despite tax records proving otherwise, as a “clerical error.”

Her father-in-law Rich DeVos – owner of the Orlando Magic and purchaser of the naming rights for its home in downtown Orlando supported California’s Proposition 8 and other anti-LGBT causes to the tune of $2 million. She is unqualified. Her position has been purchased. This is a nightmare.

Even more to the point, the Democrats of the U.S. Senate spent the entire night of Feb. 6 into Feb. 7 trying their hardest to secure just one more vote to

The public education discussion introduced us to a DeVos who seemed alternately indifferent and hostile to one of the key tenets of American society. It didn’t look like she studied before the exam.

Museum and a celebration of the philanthropic life of Orlando legend Harriet Lake by the Orlando Ballet. We tackle some tough issues – immigration, municipal government campaign announcements and more Trump terror of the Pulse variety among them – but we are still what we are: a well-rounded, well-informed source for concern and distraction.

So, climb on in with us. It may be a bumpy ride, but we know where we are going.

Orlando Office

Founder and Guiding Light: Tom Dyer • Tom@WatermarkOnline.com

Sales Director: Danny Garcia

Owner & Publisher: Rick Claggett • Ext. 110 • Rick@WatermarkOnline.com

Ext. 108 • Danny@WatermarkOnline.com

Office Manager: Kathleen Harper • Ext. 100 • Kathleen@WatermarkOnline.com

Senior Account Manager: Sam Callahan

Editor-in-Chief: Billy Manes • Ext. 101 • Billy@WatermarkOnline.com

Ext. 103 • Sam@WatermarkOnline.com

Staff Writer: Jeremy Williams • Ext. 106 • Jeremy@WatermarkOnline.com

Account Manager: Suzanne Sidler

Art Director: Jake Stevens • Ext. 109 • Jake@WatermarkOnline.com Creative Assistant: Andrea Bosiger • Ext. 102 • AdProduction@WatermarkOnline.com Proofreading: Ed Blaisdell

keep DeVos from her new throne of privatization. Instead, Vice President Mike Pence tilted the vote in her favor in a manner that no other cabinet position has required in history. History?

What’s that?

And so it is that we approach public education this week with a bit of a sideways glance.

We’re angry, and we intend to remain angry and vigilant as rights and society are peeled back over the next four years. We aren’t snowflakes; we’re people.

As such, we have to look outside of our buzzing hive mind and into the better things surrounding us. This week’s issue hops into high art via a Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Dali

Ext. 301 • Suzanne@WatermarkOnline.com Nat’l Ad Representative: Rivendell Media Inc. • 212-242-6863

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

contributors Anna M. Johnson

is a student and activist at the University of Central Florida. She spen a semester languishing in the glory of Watermark internship. Page 8

Sabrina Ambra

is a cohost of Real Radio 104.1’s “News Junkie” program and will kick your ass if she needs to. Page 17

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 23

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.

Unsolicited article submissions will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Although WATERMARK is supported by many fine advertisers, we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers.

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central florida news

LGBTQ students raise awareness through UCF pageants Anna M. Johnson

O

rlando | Haley Zilberberg and Stanley Swindling are two University of Central Florida students that identify as lesbian and gay, respectively. They’re also two UCF students that competed in the Mr. and Miss UCF Scholarship pageant on Feb. 3 and 4. Swindling won first runner up and fan favorite and Zilberberg won best talent.

This pageant was the two college seniors’ first ever.

They both rehearsed for over four months to compete in the shows, with no guarantee of any prizes.

Zilberberg is a social-work major set to graduate in May. Her decision to participate stemmed from her platform, advocacy and awareness for individuals with invisible disabilities. Her spoken-word poetry that won her the best talent award is about her life with such disabilities.

“To be a person on stage that has an invisible disability and that has health issues is important,” Zilberberg said.

“It makes it easier for other people to talk about it and to be proud of whom they are, even if they have physical limitations.”

Swindling’s platform is diversity and inclusivity in sex education, especially as it pertains to the LGBTQ community. The film major thinks that his passion for the stance translated well into representing it on stage and making it more known to the student body.

The Mr. and Miss UCF Pageant is hosted by the UCF College Activities Board, which is a subdivision of the Office of Student Involvement. All of the award winners receive scholarships from CAB or from the UCF Alumni Association. Zilberberg won $250 and Swindling won a combined total of $1400.

Though the pageant is not set up to allow contestants to speak about their platforms at length on stage, they did have private interviews with the judges that accounted for a fourth of their final scores. These interviews were the main opportunities for the contestants to have discussions about the causes that they chose to support.

Swindling stressed the necessity for representation and education for children in the LGBT community.

Coming out of the closet in high school was crucial to how Swindling understood himself as a person. He attributes his courage to be able to compete in a pageant to how it emboldened him. This comfort with being himself is what directly inspired his platform.

“Being comfortable with being in love and being sexual and not being ashamed of it is so important, and it is so important that we teach out LGBT youth that lesson,” Swindling said.

He thinks that more thorough sex education can also benefit heterosexual couples that are trying more untraditional sex acts.

“That’s the great part about it. It will help everyone,” Swindling said.

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ONE FAMILY:

Orlando rallies at the airport against unfair treatment for immigrants

Come together Marginalized groups join forces to fight the Trump administration’s attacks on minorities Billy Manes

O

rlando | On Jan. 29, amid of flood of hurried information and the confusion that comes along with it, more than 1,000 people of Orlando (and those who love them) convened upon the Orlando International Airport to voice their solidarity for their marginalized populations, LGBTQ and Muslim populations among them. As the gathered crowd was educated about the lines of peaceful protest against the backdrop of Lee Vista’s The Haven Bar – a site offered by the strip-mall’s owner (and former Libertarian Orlando mayoral candidate) Matthew Falconer for gathering – participants were instructed, in typical protest parlance, to not descend to the level of name-calling that has made anti-gay, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant conjecture the focus, an act that was sure to be offered at a high-profile event in one of the busiest travel meccas in the world.

“Do not engage with the opposition,” that was the key point. It will get you nowhere.

There was little opposition at the event within the airport. Speakers from across the spectrum of progressive

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

causes were in abundance, each holding the same megaphone and speaking the same message: “No ban, no wall”; “This is what democracy looks like.” Employees of adjacent stores in Gate B applauded the efforts.

The protest came on the heels of President Donald Trump’s extended flurry of executive orders during his first few weeks in office, the most contentious of which were aimed directly at immigration and LGBTQ rights. The overlap there was, to most involved, the fact that the shooter at Pulse Orlando, the one who took the lives of 49 (now 50) and ruined the lives of 53 others, was part of a larger picture of racial, sexual-orientation and religious unrest. Without most being aware, three people were in detainment at OIA at the time of the protest and being assisted by attorneys and congressmen – three people with green cards.

Throughout the weekend, similar protests were being held at airports nationwide. In the end, a stay and then a stop were put on Trump’s machinations to enact a so-called “muslim ban,” with politicians and religious leaders alike calling out the behavior of the president.

The avalanche of conservative messaging swept up many within

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the United States’ – and Orlando’s – marginalized communities.

“I’ve pushed this notion that immigration issues are queer, LGBTQ issues,” QLatinx co-founder Christopher Cuevas says. “What is to happen and what has happened already is terrible.

“When we talk about discrimination in the LGBTQ community, it’s a shared oppression.”

Cuevas points to deeper tears in the social fabric, all the way down to solitary confinement in private prisons for those who are transgender or Muslim. That, and the fear of deportation for immigrants of all stripes.

And although a stay – then a stop – were issued in federal courts last week to cease Trump’s bans, and although many people of faith do not overlap on certain issues of sexuality or sexual orientation, the communities are coming together to avert a societal crisis, he says.

“This is a stop,” he says. “It’s still very important that people rally behind these causes. This is where we have to stand as queer people with the Muslim community, the undocumented community, while always pushing for adequate protections for the people that are here.”

In the aftermath of the airport protests nationwide, Orlando, one of the nation’s most popular hubs for international travel, has raised its hackles to keep the fight going.

A press conference was held with representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and representatives from local legislative offices last week followed by a Continued on pg. 10 | uu |

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central florida news | uu | Come together

frOm pg.8

protest outside the office of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. “We generally support additional vetting for many of those entering our country from nations where the United States has identified there are serious concerns regarding terrorist activities and planning,” the statement said. “But given the broad scope and nature of these policy changes, we have some unanswered questions and concerns.”

Equality Florida released the following statement in response.

“Equality Florida’s purpose is to secure equality and justice for Florida’s LGBTQ community and from the beginning we embedded a commitment to combating racism and sexism into our mission. We understood then that LGBTQ people live at the intersection of multiple identities, because the LGBTQ community includes people of all races, all genders, all economic statuses, and all ethnicities. The challenges LGBTQ people face as women, people of color, and people of diverse ethnicities are amplified by anti-LGBT discrimination,” it says, adding, “That is also why we will continue to speak out against President Trump’s egregious attacks on the lives, health and wellbeing of millions of women, immigrants, Muslims, Native Americans and LGBTQ people.”

But for Cuevas, it’s even more personal than that.

“These are human lives that are at stake,” he says. “This isn’t an abstract notion. These are people who are afraid. ‘How do I protect the people I care about? How do I survive?’”

Jake stevens deFines a decade at watermark design projects. For the past two years, Stevens has been designing the Playbill and other advertising material for the Orlando Gay Chorus. OGC member and board member, Chip Reif, speaks highly of Stevens. “Working with Jake has been a true joy. What a talent! He combines incredible design skills with a genuine enthusiasm for the product. Since he began working with OGC, never a concert goes by that a patron doesn’t compliment us on the energy, flow, artistry, and sophistication of Jake’s designs,” Reif says.

Stevens will tell you his job at Watermark is to make things pretty, and that he does. I often refer to Stevens as Watermark’s last line of defense. He is the final set of eyes before any of our products are printed, and ultimately responsible for keeping us on schedule and looking good. Watermark, nor I, would be the same without him.

Happy 10th Anniversary to my colleague and friend!

Rick Claggett

O

rLando | February 8 marked the 10-year anniversary for Watermark’s art director, Jake Stevens.

Tom Dyer, Watermark’s founder and guiding light, remembers the day he met Stevens. “I’ll never forget Jake’s job interview. He radiated New England, down to the brown corduroy jacket. And he had this wonderful, ornery self-confidence. He wanted the job, and I could tell he would give it his all. That’s exactly what he’s done these past ten years, under four very different editors and two publishers,” said Dyer.

In his time with Watermark, Stevens has designed over 260 newsprint publications and nearly 50 specialty publications. He has led the way through the constant evolution of our newspaper design, logos and website.

When speaking of Stevens’ work

Watermark’s art director Jake Stevens

ethic, Dyer said, “Jake will work an 80 hour week and then spend the weekend building Watermark’s Pride float. He’s excited by every new challenge, and that’s been infectious for an often overworked staff. Jake is talented, funny and bighearted. He gave Watermark a decade of his life. I can’t imagine where we’d be if he hadn’t.”

Stevens’ connection to the LGBTQ community runs deep and has afforded him the ability to help many local nonprofits with

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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tampa bay news

council cHair darden rice announces sHe’ll undergoing breast cancer treatment

HoMe Grown:

Barclay Harless is a fifth-generation Floridian and looks to be the next representative of District 2.

Jeremy Williams

S

t. PetersbUrG | St. Petersburg Council Chair Darden Rice announced in a press release Jan. 30 that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I’ve always championed transparency and have been straightforward with my friends, family, colleagues, and constituents. You have placed your trust in me – for that reason I am disclosing a deeply personal issue in my life: I have been recently diagnosed with breast cancer,” Rice begins in her press release.

Rice will take a couple of weeks off for personal time and to consult with her doctors about a treatment plan, but expects a fully recovery and will be back working for St. Petersburg shortly.

“While cancer is news no one wants to hear, I am thankful for my excellent doctors, the high quality treatment options in our region, and insurance coverage that allays many financial concerns” she said. “I am especially thankful for all those close to me who are a constant source of support and encouragement.”

Speaking with the Tampa Bay Times, Rice said that she’s undergoing treatment, which will include surgery, radiation and endocrine therapy, under the supervision of doctors at St. Anthony’s Hospital in St. Petersburg and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

“I have a lot of things going in my favor. I’m very optimistic,” Rice told the Tampa Bay Times. “I intend to be a little old lady shaking my cane at the powers that be.”

While away, Council Member Lisa Wheeler Bowman will assume Rice’s chair duties.

Rice pressed women to take initiative in their personal healthcare and to get annual cancer screenings.

“I would be remiss if I did not shout from the rooftop: Early detection saves lives. I encourage women to take annual breast cancer screening seriously. It will save your life,” she said.

Rice was first elected to St. Petersburg City Council’s District 4 seat in 2013. Along with District 5’s Steve Kornell and District 8’s Amy Foster, Rice helps to make up a trio of openly gay city council members that have helped the city by the bay flourish as an accepting and tolerant place for the LGBTQ community, and Rice wants to make very clear that cOntinued On pg. 14 | uu |

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PHOTO COuRTESy OF nICK JAnOVSKy

City run Community banker Barclay Harless kicks off campaign for St. Petersburg City Council Jeremy Williams

S

t PetersbUrG | Barclay Harless, civic leader and local community banker, kicked off his campaign Jan. 31 as he runs for District 2 of St. Petersburg City Council.

Harless gathered with supporters at Ricky P’s Creole Kitchen in St. Petersburg to lay out his plan for the city should he be elected.

“The number one reason I’m running for city council: I want to be the councilmen for small business,” Harless said to the crowd. “Here, in our community, small businesses employ the families. They are why people want to come and move to St. Pete.”

District 2 encompasses northern St. Pete and the Gandy area and is currently represented by Councilman Jim Kennedy. Kennedy will reach his term limit at the end of this year.

“I really believe St. Petersburg needs a fresh perspective for our city government,” Harless says. “We’re doing a lot of things right but we’ve got some serious challenges, so I believe we need a fresh perspective.”

Harless says the city’s biggest challenges were front page news in

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

2016. The construction of the pier, the issues with wastewater and the concern that the [Tampa Bay] Rays will leave Tropicana for a better deal.

“We’ve got the pier; we are $25 million in. That check is written so we have to build it, but should we be spending an additional $14 million earmarked for transportation? I think we need to hold off on that for now,” Harless says. “I think, with that money, we need to focus right now on the wastewater, and we should also focus on transportation.”

The issue that the Rays may leave St. Petersburg is a concern for Harless but he also sees it as an opportunity for the city.

“The Tropicana saga, we’ve got prequels and sequels to this story.

I think the city has done the right thing; the Rays are a free enterprise, and they are able to do what they want. I think St. Pete is a major-league city and I think they should stay here, but we do have to think about the cost. If they do decide to leave I think we have a once-in-a-city’s lifetime opportunity to redesign 80-plus acres of our downtown,” Harless says.

An area that is of personal interest to Harless is making sure St. Petersburg remains on a path of inclusivity and equality.

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“I went to college here at USF and I had fraternity brothers who were in the LGBTQ community. I have very close friends in the community as well, and I will never stop fighting for them,” Harless says. “I couldn’t see them out on social occasions and then ever betray them through a vote.”

Harless says he is impressed with the work that has been done in the name of equality and couldn’t be prouder of how progressive his city is.

“St. Petersburg has been the model city and for me equality is one of those issues that there is no excuse to not move into the 21st century on,” Harless says. “We have gotten 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Index the last several years, and I think [Mayor Kriseman] has done great things for the LGBTQ community in St. Pete.

I couldn’t be prouder of our mayor when it comes to that.”

This is Harless’ first run at political office, but the fifth-generation Floridian worked in the Midtown area of St. Petersburg for State Representative Darryl Rouson during the height of the economic recession.

“This is going to be a long year but I am ready for it. I love walking door-to-door and I’m going to be doing a lot of it,” Harless says. “Listen, local government is where we get things done for our neighbors and our community, so I’m looking forward to getting in there and getting to work.”

In his first week of campaigning, Harless received more than 100 individual contributions to his campaign. The District 2 election is this November.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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tampa bay news | uu | Darden Rice

Metro Health brings history and fun to LGBTQ youth

from pg.12

that commitment is not going anywhere.

“I have committed my life to public service. I love my work. I love my city. I will be announcing my campaign for re-election in two weeks,” she said.

Many friends, members of the community and well wishers took to social media to offer thoughts and prayers for the city council chair, as well as offer words of encouragement.

“I just heard of your diagnosis, and wanted to send you healing thoughts for a rapid and complete recovery. Looking forward to seeing you back out in front as soon as you’re ready,” wrote one supporter.

“Thank you so much for your inspiring words at the march. Thinking of you today and sending positive thoughts and prayers your way as you begin your own journey to healing,” wrote another.

Rice asked for a brief period of privacy while she and her family make their own adjustments to this diagnosis.

“I campaigned three years ago on a platform of ‘St. Pete Strong’: strong city services, strong city economic development, strong neighborhoods. Three years later our city is stronger than ever,” Rice said.

“And I am, too.”

Alexis Vilaboy

S

T. PETERSBURG | LGBTQ teens and supporters are invited to sleep in and attend METRO Health’s third annual LGBTQ+ Youth Leadership Summit on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. at its headquarters in St. Petersburg, Fla. The one-day event focused on developing youth will begin with workshops, the topics of which were requested by METRO’s youth group participants, and end with dinner and a social dance.

“That’s what we’ve learned from our first two years — listening to our attendees is critical to building a successful event and really to get the buy-in of those participating, to get them to give up a Saturday for self-betterment and learning,” said James Keane, director of LGBTQ community center services.

The workshops will delve into topics such as gender, sexuality, coming out to parents and family,

bullying, healthy relationships and HIV/STI awareness.

Dr. Milton Wendland of the University of South Florida’s Department of Women’s and Gender Studies will present an overview of LGBTQ+ history to accompany the workshops.

“Those actual topics came from the participants of our youth group,” Keane explained. “We polled that group and asked, ‘What type of subject matter would you like for these workshops to consist of?’ So that’s really where we pulled that list and we were able to match the facilitators to what the youth are requesting.”

The event will also feature a keynote speaker: St. Petersburg City Council chair Darden Rice, member and supporter of the LGBTQ community.

Once the keynote speaker and workshops end at 5 p.m., dinner will be served and the social dance will commence one hour later.

“We’re really working to build the

community among that population,” Keane said. “Bringing like minds together is always a good thing.”

With attendance up since the first summit, the center has hopes of at least 50 attendees this year, up from last year’s 40 participants and 20 the year before.

The summit is being put on with the help of several partners, including Glisten Tampa Bay, Pinellas County Schools and the City of St. Petersburg.

“We feel strongly here at METRO, as well as our partners, that development of our youth is critical and these often underserved youth may not have the same opportunities,” Keane said. “We’re really mindful of providing them with all the resources we possibly can to help enrich their lives along their road of self-discovery and becoming adults.”

Although the event is free, registration is required, and those interested can go to metrotampabay. org to sign up.

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

d Fer man

state news

Florida legislators bring competitive workForce act back to tHe table Billy Manes

T

aLLaHassee | In a week that saw President Donald Trump’s administration vacillating between “yes” or “no” on support of a proposed federal religious freedom law (via executive order) that would permit discrimination based upon the religious affiliations of businesses, things could be taking an uptick at the Florida level. Though Trump’s executive order does in fact exist, stating a cornucopia of potential rights roll-backs that could bring adverse effects to everything from marriage to adoption, Trump has since promised to uphold President Obama’s executive order that forbids federal agencies from

discriminating against LGBT citizens. The rest, by most reports, remains in flux.

However, Florida’s Competitive Workforce Act, which died last year in the Florida Senate, is back this year with bipartisan support in advance of the March legislative session in Tallahassee.

“Given the fact that there’s broad public support,” Rep Ben Diamond, D-St. Petersburg, told WFSU, “that the business community is pushing for this, and we have many new members in the Legislature who are looking for ideas that will help our economy, I’m very hopeful that we’re going to get the comprehensive bill passed.”

The joint bills, HB 623 and SB 666, were filed on Feb. 2 with Diamond, state Rep. Rene Plasencia, R-Tiusville,

and state Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, seeks to advance tolerance by way of the pocket book in a state that has consistently been unfriendly to the LGBTQ community. Florida fought a tough battle against marriage equality before a federal ruling forced the issue in January 2015.

“Public lodging establishments and public food service establishments are private enterprises, and the operator has the right to refuse accommodations or service to any person who is objectionable or undesirable to the operator, but such refusal may not be based upon race, creed, color, sex, pregnancy, physical disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin,” the bill states, adding sexual orientation and gender

identity to existing Florida Statute 509.092. It also builds on the existing Florida Civil Rights of 1992, adding the same clauses. As per existing statutes, victims of discrimination are entitled by law to take offending organizations to court as a remedy.

The bill is also very clear in its language regarding religious freedom. “This section does not limit the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the State Constitution,” it reads.

Equality Florida issued a press release on Feb. 3 voicing its support for the bipartisan move, citing the fact that, though 56 percent of Florida’s population is already protected by local nondiscrimination protections passed at municipal levels over the past 20 years.

“This bill speaks to the core values we share as Floridians. Everyone should be treated as equals under the law. Discrimination has no place in our state,” said Hannah Willard, public policy

director for Equality Florida, in a statement. “Now is the time for our legislature to affirm that residents and visitors to Florida can expect to be protected no matter what part of our state they choose to live, work or visit.”

Though the bill has a long history of failure dating back to 2009, the changing tides are working in its favor, its sponsors agree.

“Florida needs to make sure it stays competitive in a global marketplace,” Sen. Clemens told website SaintPetersBlog. “Recruiting the best-trained, most innovative workforce means eliminating discrimination in the workplace, housing and public accommodations. This makes good business sense, but more importantly, it’s the right thing to do. We need to signal that Florida is the best place in the world for workers and businesses.”

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

nation+world news

Boy Scouts allows transgender kids into boys-only programs Wire Report

D

ALLAS | A New Jersey woman whose son was asked to leave his Boy Scouts troop after leaders found out he is transgender said she has mixed emotions about the organization’s decision to allow transgender children who identify as boys to enroll in its boys-only programs.

The Boy Scouts of America announced Jan. 30 that enrollment in its boys-only programs will now be based on the gender a child or parent lists on his application to become a scout, rather than the gender listed on the child’s birth certificate.

Eight-year-old Joe Maldonado was asked to leave his scout troop in Secaucus, New Jersey, last fall after parents and leaders found out he is transgender. The organization’s statement did not specifically mention Joe’s case, but said it changed the policy because of the larger conversation about gender identity taking place around the country.

“For more than 100 years, the Boy Scouts of America, along with schools, youth sports and other youth organizations, have ultimately deferred to the information on an individual’s birth certificate to determine eligibility

for our single-gender programs,” the statement said. “However, that approach is no longer sufficient as communities and state laws are interpreting gender identity differently, and these laws vary widely from state to state.”

Kristie Maldonado, Joe’s mother, said she had mixed emotions Monday night when a Boy Scouts representative called to tell her the organization would allow her son to re-enroll in his troop. Maldonado said she would like her son to rejoin the Secaucus troop, but only if the scout leader who threw him out of the troop leaves.

She said Joe, who will turn 9 on Wednesday, has spoken publicly about the incident. She called him a “ham” and noted he had a big birthday party on Saturday with the mayor of Secaucus in attendance.

“I’m so grateful. I really am that they’re accepting and that there won’t be any issues. They (other transgender youth) won’t have to go through what my son went through,” Maldonado said by phone Monday. “It’s a big change for everybody that all are accepted now … I’m so delighted that they finally called and they did say this, but I’m still angry.”

Maldonado said the decision to remove her son from the troop made him feel different, and she wanted to make sure he knew the

troop made a mistake.

The Boy Scouts said the enrollment decision goes into effect immediately.

“Our organization’s local councils will help find units that can provide for the best interest of the child,” the statement said.

Zach Wahls, co-founder of the groups Scouts for Equality, called the decision historic.

“The decision to allow transgender boys to participate in the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts is an important step forward for this American institution,” he wrote in a statement posted to social media. “We are incredibly proud of Joe Maldonado – the transgender boy from New Jersey whose expulsion last year ignited this controversy – and his mother Kristie for their courage in doing what they knew was right. We are also proud of the Boy Scouts for deciding to do the right thing.”

Boy Scouts of America leaders lifted a blanket ban on gay troop leaders and employees in July 2015 amid intense pressure. The group decided in 2013 – after heated debate – to allow openly gay youth as scouts.

The national Girl Scouts organization, which is not affiliated with the Boy Scouts, has accepted transgender members for years.

caused, but we have apologized and taken action to right these wrongs,” Justice Minister Sam Gyimah said.

Calls for a general pardon have noted the 1954 suicide of World War II codebreaking hero Alan Turing after his conviction for “gross indecency.” After he received a posthumous royal pardon in 2013, pressure for pardons intensified.

Turing, a computer science pioneer, helped crack Nazi Germany’s secret codes by creating the “Turing bombe,” a forerunner of modern computers.

His work helped shorten World War II, and he was an innovator of artificial intelligence.

After the war, Turing was prosecuted for having sex with a man, stripped of his security clearance and forcibly treated

with female hormones. He died at age 41 after eating an apple laced with cyanide.

What is now known as “Turing’s law” had been a longstanding government commitment, Gyimah said. It is part of the Policing and Crime Bill which received royal approval on Tuesday.

Activist Peter Tatchell, who had campaigned for 30 years for the pardons and an apology from the British government, welcomed the new law, but said it “has connotations of forgiveness for a wrong done.”

The law will “remedy the grave injustices suffered by many of the estimated 50,000 to 100,000 men who were convicted under discriminatory anti-gay laws between 1885 and 2003,” he said in a statement.

UK pardons thousands convicted under past anti-gay laws Wire Report

LONDON | Thousands of men convicted under now-abolished anti-homosexuality laws in Britain have been pardoned posthumously under a law enacted Jan. 31, and many more still alive can now apply to have their criminal convictions wiped out.

Announcing the new law, the Ministry of Justice said the pardons apply automatically to deceased men who were convicted for consensual same-sex relations before homosexuality was decriminalized several decades ago.

Men living with convictions can apply to the government to have their names cleared.

“This is a truly momentous day. We can never undo the hurt

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

in other news Anti-Trump Republican eyes party switch in deep-blue Hawaii Rep. Beth Fukumoto, a Republican lawmaker in deep-blue Hawaii, is considering switching parties to become a Democrat after she was pressured to give up her leadership role for criticizing President Donald Trump. Fukumoto said Republican Party members asked her to resign as Minority Floor Leader after she spoke at the Women’s March in Hawaii. In her speech she called Trump a bully and said his remarks were racist and sexist and had no place in the Republican Party. The House approved a resolution removing Fukumoto from leadership and naming Rep. Andria Tupola as the new minority leader on a voice vote.

Wyoming Senate votes down bill banning LGBTQ discrimination The Wyoming Senate has voted down a bill that would have banned discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The Senate’s Committee of the Whole voted 17-13 against the bill, indefinitely postponing it. The bill would have allowed exceptions for religious organizations. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, says the bill is needed. He says workplace discrimination against LGBTQ people happens in Wyoming.

Other senators argued that they didn’t want to see additional classes of people added to the state’s anti-discrimination law.

A similar bill in 2015 overwhelmingly passed the Senate, but failed in the House of Representatives.

South Carolina’s 1st openly gay lawmaker from deep-red district South Carolina’s first openly gay legislator hails from the unlikeliest of places: an ultra-conservative part of the state that is home to the Christian fundamentalist school Bob Jones University. Republican Rep. Jason Elliott, a 46-year-old divorce attorney, said his sexual orientation was not an issue in his campaign and is irrelevant to his job at the Statehouse, as his focus will be on improving education, increasing jobs and repairing the state’s crumbling roads and bridges. He expects his votes to align with his GOP colleagues. Deeply Republican South Carolina is now the 43rd state to have an openly gay legislator. Elliott does not view his election as particularly significant.

Google launches fund that could donate $4M to ACLU, others Google has created a crisis fund that could raise up to $4 million for four immigrant rights organizations. Google has confirmed a USA Today report that it is funding an initial $2 million for the fund that can be matched with up to $2 million in donations from employees. The money will go toward the American Civil Liberties Union, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the International Rescue Committee and the U.N. Refugee Agency. Company executives are also donating separately to the effort. Google says in a statement that it’s concerned about the impact President Donald Trump’s order to temporarily suspend immigration from seven Muslim majority nations will have on the company’s employees and their families.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

viewpoint

Sabrina Ambra

ladyfingers

I

Everybody knows don’t know about you,

but I could use a drink. A stiff, bullshit-free drink. The kind that touches your lips but you don’t know it’s anywhere near your body until it punches you from the inside. Reminds you that you’re alive. Because I swear to Jameson it feels like I’m in the middle of M. Nightshamanadingdong film-twist. I mean, this shit is really happening you guys. And I can’t just Into the Wild this bad boy and wish you all the best. I’m in it. We’re in it.

But, I need a break.

We all need a break. There’s no quitting, but a breather might be nice. Remember the good ol’ days of Facebook? “Sabrina Ambra: is so bored OMG!!!”

Shame on me, forever rolling my eyes at Tom’s 17th picture of a sunset. How dare I internally complain about Tina’s poll on who has better ice, 7-11 or Wawa? I’ll take an entire feed of Tyrell’s fish tank updates over what I scroll through on a daily basis. I know I can always delete the fucking app and pretend I’m above it, but until then can we talk about it?

Do you ever wonder what a person is doing

during one of their many feverish Facebook rants of the day? Besides slamming their thumbs on the screen hard enough to hear out loud and breathing heavily through their flared nostrils? Are they picking up their kids from school?

Like in a minivan with those stick-figure-family stickers pasted on their back window? Is it the guy that just delivered the 40 lbs of cat litter I ordered off of Amazon? Is it my eighth-grade math teacher? I feel like I don’t know anybody anymore.

I have zero grasp on what an individual may be like, but almost a perfect idea of how certain groups of people act when together.

It’s a very weird feeling. I’m all about the benefit of the doubt, but that ideology goes out the window when the blissfully ignorant have no doubt in their ways.

Besides, as muttered in the immortal words of Leonard Cohen, as interpreted by Concrete Blonde during the season of youthful discontent, or the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack, “Everybody knows that the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost.

Everybody knows the fight was fixed. The poor stay poor, the rich get rich. That’s how it goes.

Everybody knows.” In this day and age, we all know we’re fucked.

Growing up, I was encouraged to stand up for what I believe in and speak up when something isn’t right. Now I’m not here to determine who is right and who is wrong (and by “right” and “wrong,” I mean logical and batshit crazy), but this self-righteous, woe-is-me, fucking-kill-y ourself-if-you-don’t-agree mentality has gotten out of control. Hey assholes,

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

look around – turns out your DIY soapboxes put you at the same exact level as every other asshole. It sucks to be sucked into this – the negativity. I mean, here I am writing against it and even I’m angry.

What kind of example am I setting?

We have a bumpy road

standing up. I don’t care what you do or how you do it, but it’s important that we don’t kill ourselves by nose-diving into the Lake Bigot. WE HAVE GOT TO STAY AFLOAT PEOPLE! I know the next four years I’ll be walking around with my palm’s imprint on my forehead, but I’ll be

you want, you don’t scare me and neither will your memes! Maybe one day we’ll all go back to using those devices the way they were intended to be used: for watching pornography.

Until then, my head will be held high and my pussy un-grabbed. If you ever find yourself sinking in

ahead of us and we will have to fight. However, we fight with dignity and kindness. But most importantly, we must give ourselves a damn break once in a while. Get high and watch funny videos on YouTube. Grab a drink with a friend and DON’T talk about politics for at least 30 minutes. Masturbate

damned if any racist, sexist, homophobic, chauvinist social media post thinks they can silence me. Bring it on. I’ll keep using my voice, I’ll continue standing up for what is right, I’ll show compassion and love to any mother fucker that wants to try me. You can hide behind your smartphones and tablets all

dicksand (quicksand, but made out of people acting like dicks), take the opportunity for a breather.

If you need a buddy, count me in. The first round of stiff, bullshit-free drinks is on me.

Bring it on. I’ll keep using my voice, I’ll continue standing up for what is right, I’ll show compassion and love to any mother fucker that wants to try me.

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

SPA-LIKE

LASERS

viewpoint

Jason Leclerc

The other side

of life

T

Co-opting love hird grade can be

tough for husky-gened boys with dual penchants for strawberry-scented redheads and other boys. Elementary schoolyards can easily become home base for meanness and reductionism, two proclivities that inhabit most eight-year-old bosoms.

Those same third graders easily immerse themselves in the rhetoric of love: in the clear and unambiguous enunciations of who is and is not deserving of one’s love.

Implied in such proclamations is ownership of love, that it is somehow off limits to those not included in the normative society of lovers. In my 1983, love and hate coupled and grew alongside the concepts of “opposites” and “revenge” with as much ferocity as long division and times tables.

In the intervening three decades, I’ve learned that “opposites” are odd constructs and that there are far more nuanced spaces available between love and hate. Hate should stand on its own in a different dialectic made for mean third graders (or for presidents with a similar level of maturity for whom “revenge” also endures in its pettiness).

And then we all grew up and, by the time we reached adolescence – or our early twenties, at least – we realized that everybody was capable of love. Everybody was capable of being loved.

In my early twenties, I found my first love – a ginger boy, bucking two third grade trends at once – giving form to the theory of everything that flowed from the wellspring of affection. If I could turn a redhead (or maybe, oppositely, be turned), anything was possible: romantic love had become real and accessible to all – even me!

We’d learned that love could be many things: brotherly,

romantic, affectionate, Jesus-like and unbounded. But a strangeness happened on the way to equality. Love was co-opted as a political term – stripped of its intrinsic joy: A slogan meant to divide rather than multiply.

While a whole new generation was reaching out for validation, love became re-acquainted with hate, but in a sinister way. There was, as if in third grade again, no space between the two. If one could not love, we were re-trained, one must hate: The childish dialectic made for powerful memes and demagoguery.

Pulling on heartstrings is a partisan tool nearly as popular as loosening federal purse strings. In, perhaps, the most wonderfully powerful precedent for gay marriage advocacy, an activist honed in upon Loving v. Virginia in which the 1967 SCOTUS declared, “Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival.” They were right and concurred nine to zero. The Supreme Court struck down bans on interracial marriage as the template for rights-fighting.

Whether the surname of its star was an accident or not, “loving” became the battle cry that has echoed ever since.

As well-intentioned, yet horrendous-in-practice policies like Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and Defense of Marriage gained traction, the push from the activist-left was to claim “love” as a rally.

In response, confused families of men and women fought to maintain the tradition of love that their kind had owned for millennia.

“Loving” made sense, but the new evolution of love raised discomfort and ire – they called it hate. Legislation like Prop 8 in California and the spate of similar initiatives confirmed the reaction. There was no room among the lovers for incrementalism.

When gay politics adopted love and marriage as its betrothed rallying cries, how could anybody respond rationally without seeming callous or heartless? If love, it

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

turned out, is owned by one’s political foes, what does one have left? Or right?

And so it was that “the right,” guided by an odd mix of laissez-faire and Christianity was denied its partial ownership of its signature, Jesus-inspired emotion. That

out its opposition. If one did not evolve quickly enough on the love agenda, they were filled – in a third-grade way of bifurcating a simple, un-nuanced world – with “hate.” At the same time, the right – for so long in control of love’s body of rhetoric –

as a political leader, even though he spoke about trade and immigration and straight-talking itself, a slice of America heard a strategy for reclaiming its piece of love.

In order to save it, may we redistribute love? Populists and progressives – even

expression of adoration between a mother and her child, between a husband and wife, between a messiah and the forgiven was appropriated.

More specifically, it was confiscated. “Loving” became a rhetorical banner draped over everything we had left.

Unlike “democracy,” “rights,” “constitutionality,” and even “equality” itself, “love” snuffed

seemed to nail it up on a cross of dramatized schoolyard martyrdom: “Fine, we didn’t want it anyway.”

And that is how the right lost love.

Once deprived of love, the right was left, clearly and unambiguously, with anger, and hurt, and resentment.

And so, when a firebrand straight-talker emerged

traditional conservatives – should agree on this. Love does not need hate to define itself; it only needs love. This Valentine’s Day, let’s decouple them and stop acting like a bunch of third graders.

This Valentine’s day let’s return to multiplication tables and deny division. Let’s just love and let love.

When gay politics adopted love and marriage as its betrothed rallying cries, how could anybody respond rationally without seeming callous or heartless? If love, it turned out, is owned by one’s political foes, what does one have left? Or right?

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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You're Invited!

at TPepin’s Hospitality Centre

Saturday, February 25, 2017 | 7:30 - 11 p.m.

Please join us for one of Equality Florida’s largest events, packed with entertainment, education, and celebration! The 2017 Tampa Gala, emceed by Miguel Fuller of Miguel and Holly on Hot 101.5, will feature live and silent auctions, music by Paul Wilborn and Blue Roses, open bars, and delicious hors d’oeuvres provided by Puff ‘n Stuff. The evening will include an update on equality from our CEO Nadine Smith, and we’ll recognize outstanding individuals in our community committed to creating a better Florida for us all.

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Equality Florida is the largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

A C O P Y O F T H E O F F I C I A L R E G I S T R AT I O N A N D F I N A N C I A L I N F O R M AT I O N F O R T H E E Q U A L I T Y F L O R I D A I N S T I T U T E M AY B E O B TA I N E D F R O M T H E D I V I S I O N O F C O N S U M E R S E R V I C E S B Y C A L L I N G T O L L - F R E E W I T H I N F L O R I D A ( 1 . 8 0 0 . 4 3 5 . 7 3 5 2 ) . R E G I S T R AT I O N D O E S N O T I M P LY E N D O R S E M E N T , A P P R O V A L , O R R E C O M M E N D AT I O N B Y T H E S TAT E . R E G I S T R AT I O N # C H 7 9 9 2 .

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49

talking points Don’t leave the house when you’re drunk,

and if you’re already out there you must learn to tell when you’ve had too much to drink. Listen to your friends when they stop talking to you and start talking about you, saying things like, ‘Did she have a purse?’

%

Of gay men surveyed

REPORTED FEELING

UNHAPPY WITH THEIR

BODY, WHILE ANOTHER 10% SAID THEY WERE VERY UNHAPPY.

84%

repOrted feeling intense pressure tO have a gOOd bOdy. —Attitude magazine

—LiLY toMLin GivinG LiFe advice wHiLe accePtinG Her LiFetiMe acHieveMent award FroM tHe screen actors GUiLd Jan. 29

netflix tO revive Queer eye for the Straight guy

M

anY Moons aGo, wHen WILL & GRACE was just a child of the zeitgeist and pride parades were still scant in attendance, Bravo introduced the U.S. reality-television masses to a strange new show, one that would involve five gay gentlemen remaking the life of one straight man in all facets of life. Now, Variety is reporting that Netflix has ordered eight new episodes of the quip-tastic makeover show featuring an all new cast. According to Netflix, via Variety, “the revival will move far beyond the confines of New York City to ‘turn red states pink…one makeover at a time,’ and promises some tough missions for the not-yet-cast new Fab Five.” Watch out Ted Cruz, I think they are coming for you.

clive davis dOcumentary tO Open tribeca film festival

T

He 16tH tribeca FiLM FestivaL wiLL kick oFF honoring legendary music producer Clive Davis. The New York festival announced that its opening film will be the documentary Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives.

The April 19 premiere at Radio City Music Hall will be followed by a concert featuring some of the artists he signed; including Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson and Earth, Wind & Fire. Directed by Chris Perkel, the doc film chronicles Davis’ rise in the music industry.

Davis came out as bisexual in his 2013 memoir The Soundtrack of My Life. The Tribeca Film Festival runs April 19 to April 30.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

authOr and lgbtQ histOrian stuart timmOns dies at 60

S

tUart tiMMons, an activist and writer who chronicled the history of gays and lesbians in Los Angeles, has died. He was 60. Timmons had suffered a debilitating stroke nine years ago but remained active in the community. With Lillian Faderman, Timmons co-wrote Gay LA: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians. The 2006 volume traces more than 200 years of gay life, beginning in the late 1700s. Timmons graduated from UCLA with a journalism degree and spent the rest of life in Los Angeles. He long maintained the city deserved more credit for its role in the vanguard of the gay liberation movement.

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la la laND, MooNlight lead diverse 2017 Oscar nOminatiOns

M

ovie MUsicaL LA LA LAND doMinated the 2017 Academy Award nominees with a total of 14 nominations, tying Titanic and All About Eve for most nominations in Oscar history. It joins eight other films in the category, including the LGBTQ-themed Moonlight. Moonlight is up for eight nominations and chronicles the life of a young black gay man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world. Jimmy Kimmel will be hosting this year’s Oscars. The host, usually known for his After-Oscars special Jimmy Kimmel Live!, will be hosting for the first time. The Oscars will be broadcast Feb. 26 on ABC.

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A new public art exhibition featuring the works of E. Lee Wilson, Jr. Opening reception on Friday, February 24, 6 pm to 9 pm.

The Sawmill Center 711 North Orlando Avenue, Maitland, FL 32751 RSVP/more information: (407) 960 8255 j.russell@trevi-ids.com

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rate of sexually transmitted infections

in-depth: sex educatiOn

As sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise, the battle for LGBTQ sex ed in schools is more important than ever

A

Samuel Johnson

notHer taLe oF twin cities is

encapsulated in twin counties, both nestled on the Tampa Bay. St. Petersburg occupies the southern borders of the bay and Tampa hugs the northern shoreline; Pinellas County and Hillsborough County respectfully.

Like most twin cities, these twin counties are dealing with some of the same civic and social challenges: shared infrastructure or shared natural resources or even shifting residential patterns. Another aspect that these twin counties share is the startling rates of sexually risky behavior among their youth, which manifests itself in high rates of sexual infections and diseases.

High school-age kids are nearing

epidemic proportions in regard to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS in these counties – as well as throughout Florida and the United States. If the 13-18 year old identifies him-/herself as LGBT, then those frightening percentages go up.

Following a medical model of disease and infection control, a three-tiered approach has proven to be effective.

cOntinued On pg. 29 | uu |

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| uu | Clueless from pg.27 This same model is often assigned to curbing, staving off and preventing the prevalence of STIs and HIV/ AIDS among school-aged kids. At present, Florida ranks number one in the country for new HIV/AIDS infections.

Despite the fact that county school boards are officially tasked with sex ed, it’s often external advocacy groups who are filling in where school boards either can’t or fear to tread. Organizations like Healthy Teen Network, Planned Parenthood and Metro Wellness & Community Centers are at the forefront of augmenting “real world” sexual education. All these organizations admit that collaboration is the first hurdle but the execution is the biggest hurdle to effective sex education.

The medical mantra for attacking epidemics head-on is simply the interconnected concepts of primary care, then secondary care, followed by tertiary care. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a diagnostic research database: The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), which monitors six different health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth; primarily students in grades 9-12.

Germane to sexual education is “sexual behaviors related to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection,” the report reads.

In the case of sexual education, primary care encompasses the prosaic explanation of what sex is: physiological, emotional and medical.

Next in line is secondary care.

This entails a more in-depth foray into the collateral damage of sex: things like STIs, teen pregnancies, unwanted sexual encounters and HIV/AIDS. A basic component of secondary care, as it applies to sexual education, is prevention. At this stage, risky behaviors are evaluated in addition to addressing how teens can protect themselves against these risky behaviors. This is also the point at which either abstinence or the use of prophylactics are taught as methods of mitigating the fallout of risky behavior. Planned Parenthood’s Anna Eskamani, senior director of public affairs in Southwest and Central Florida (including Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties), says sex education in Hillsborough and Pinellas are based on abstinence-plus models. This

Wholeheartedly we need to include LGBTQ education in the curriculum, not even just sexually but by gender orientation.

We need to integrate it in an age appropriate way.

We need to insure that no matter who you love, who you are, all of you are valued.

—Anna Eskamani of Planned Parenthood

method teaches abstinence as the preferred strategy of avoiding risky sexual behavior; like HIV/AIDS, STIs and pregnancies.

Finally, tertiary care delves into what can be done to treat the adverse effects of risky sexual behavior. It informs the teens where they can go to seek treatment; how to contact support groups, and in general, how to live with the ramifications of risky sexual behavior.

Is sex education effectively preparing teens to deal with risky sexual behavior, and does sex education address one of the most vulnerable group of teens: the LGBTQ kids?

Florida as a whole isn’t coming to grips with the demographics, specifically among its LGBTQ population, of what sexually transmitted diseases are, experts say. The Florida Health Department doesn’t breakdown the epidemiology fully, leaving only two gender categories: male and female.

“Wholeheartedly we need to include LGBTQ education in the curriculum, not even just sexually but by gender orientation. We need to integrate it in an age appropriate way,” Eskamani says. “We need to insure that no matter who you love, who you are, all of you are valued.”

The percentages are alarming.

For instance, as reported by the Florida Health Department, 75 percent of reported STIs fell within the 15-29 age range.

Young Floridians, ranging in age between 15 and 24, made up around 13 percent of the state’s total 2015 population of all new HIV infections in 2014. Yet, this age group amounted to the lion’s share of reported cases of chlamydia at a staggering 64 percent. Roughly 40 percent of teen girls who are sexually active have reported having an STI. It should be noted that not all STIs require Health Department reporting. Gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, viral hepatitis (A, B and C) and HIV/AIDS are the primary sexually transmitted infections which are mandated to be reported to the health department. The statistics don’t include empirically driven data for things like herpes, pubic lice or genital warts.

When you add gender and gender identity to the equation, things don’t get any easier. The CDC estimates that gay and bisexual males were diagnosed with 80 percent of the HIV cases in the age group 13-24 occurring in 2014. In addition, the CDC reported that men who have sex with men (MSM) were the majority of new gonorrhea and syphilis cases. The CDC is, by its charter, a scientific and fact-based institution promoting, protecting and

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

preserving the nation’s public health.

CDC guidelines are as clear as their recommendations; namely, “many curricula do not include prevention information that relates to the needs of young gay and bisexual men.”

Furthermore, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), states; “Sexual minority students, particularly gay, lesbian, and bisexual students and students who had sexual contact with both sexes, are more likely to engage in health-risk behaviors than other students.” So what are Hillsborough and Pinellas county schools doing to remedy this “lapsus curricula?” Not much, unless it’s being done quietly.

At the state level Florida has mandated a program, based on minimum requirements, which make up the foundation of sexual education delivered in schools.

The law requires students who intend on graduating high school to have completed a health course which has a component of sexual education. Although the school boards are to make the curriculum “evidence-based” and “medically accurate,” among other things. The mandate doesn’t seem to be rooted in pragmatism.

Florida’s sex-ed statute reads: “The School Board shall provide an evidence-based, medically-accurate comprehensive health education

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curriculum that addresses concepts of community health; consumer health; environmental health; family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of teenage pregnancy for one’s life, health, and development; mental and emotional health; injury prevention and safety; nutrition; personal health; prevention and control of disease; substance use and abuse; and teen dating violence and abuse.”

Abstinence isn’t working. But more than that, it doesn’t address anywhere in the requirements LGBTQ sensitivity and inclusion.

This is important, because sexual education is taught from the vantage point of the dominant heterosexual sex role. Sexual education still falls under the broad rubric of health education, because historically it was meant to teach about family formation.

But sexual education “is bigger than that,” according to Alexandra Eisler of Healthy Teen Network.

This a nationally based advocacy group with ties to Florida. The group is instrumental in assisting schools develop of comprehensive sexual education programs.

Eisler is the manager of capacity building and evaluation of the organization, which means she coordinates the understanding of the evidence-based data in order for it to be implemented.

Eisler maintains that if students identify with the curriculum, they will better retain what is being taught. This is essential for LGBTQ youth, she says. One simple way of garnering identification with the curriculum is to employ what Eiser calls “ungendering” terminology: omitting language that is gender exclusive. For example, when talking about intercourse between two people, don’t say, “the man puts his penis into the woman’s vagina.” Say instead, “The penis is inserted into the vagina.” Of course, this is just the bare bones of what experts and advocates agree should be the model: comprehensive sexual education.

Several bills have been proposed at the Florida legislative level as well as broad reaching bills at the federal level in Washington, D.C. These were intended to augment and bolster existing laws to make certain that sex education become more inclusive and objective in giving teens the tools, both intellectually and physically, to protect themselves against risky sexual behaviors; in other words,

Continued on pg. 31 | uu |

29

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| uu | Clueless from pg.29 to make them comprehensive. At the federal level bills were drafted, sponsors found and then ultimately sent to committees for review. Since the 113th Congress (2013), these measures have stalled and gone nowhere. Both State bills HB 859 and SB 1056 would have required schools to have given teens the existing requirements plus family planning and STI prevention, which includes HIV/AIDS prevention. Anna Eskamani explains why she and her colleagues at Planned Parenthood supported the state bill, the Healthy Adolescence Act: “It would set a new standard. That if you were providing any kind of sex ed in your school that it [would] be comprehensive.”

She stressed that, in the past, schools whose budgets were narrow couldn’t provide comprehensive sex education, because of federal grants tied to abstinence-only curriculum.

Eskamani said they could now qualify. “[Planned Parenthood] has seen a lot of great comprehensive programs be available for funding compared to (the) past.”

Both bills would have dropped abstinence as the default preventative method. Both bills failed.

“The academic argument is that Florida is number one for HIV transmission, so clearly something has to be done,” state Rep Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, says. “And the fact that a substantial number of school boards are not allowing anything but abstinence-only education is wrong. We need age-appropriate, comprehensive sex ed in our schools.

That, and making sure that women have free birth control, that students have access to PrEP, and even needle exchanges – that is the way that we are going to slow the spread of HIV among our younger population.”

Taking a closer look at what the respective school boards in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties are doing to prepare these at-risk kids to avoid becoming another harrowing statistic: One county has one of the two LGBTQ welcome centers in Florida, as well as one of the biggest Pride parades in the state. This same county denied (refused) to comment on the hot button issue of sex education in its schools. Despite multiple calls and emails, county staff sent only a terse reply – after over 30-plus days of inquiry for a statement – that it was unable to be interviewed. The other county doesn’t have the same lofty

When you add gender and gender identity to the equation, things don’t get any easier.

The CDC estimates that gay and bisexual males were diagnosed with 80% of the HIV cases in the age group 13-24 occurring in 2014. accolades. But this county does have a new and more inclusive vision and focus for sex education. The former is Pinellas County, and the latter is Hillsborough County. Saint Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman and Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn didn’t return repeated phone calls or emails to comment on sexual education in their cities.

Encountering difficulties contacting governmental agencies isn’t the sole purview of journalists.

Metro Wellness & Community Centers are situated in both Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties and have experienced similar challenges. For the past 23 years they have been providing health, wellness and community based programming in areas such as medical case management, direct HIV medical care, primary care, prevention programs, and LGBTQ youth programming, to name a few. They also are equipped to supplement sexual education to school-age kids.

They are the proverbial “boots on the ground.” Tiffanie Gray, lead provision specialist between Tampa and Saint Petersburg, has been with the organization for about 18 months.

Gray says that, based on the organization’s experience, it is easier for the programming to get into Hillsborough schools than Pinellas schools. Chief program officer at Metro Wellness, Priya Rajkumar,

explains that both counties present a challenge to external groups wanting to educate students on sex education.

“In order to be able navigate the bureaucracies of the system, the actual school boards, that’s been next to impossible in both counties,” she says.

Metro Wellness has been active in Hillsborough County Schools, but recently got green-lighted by the school board in Pinellas County to be included on a list of approved sex-education speakers. Rajkumar says the whole organization is “super excited” about the progress.

She went on to say that, in her eight years at Metro Wellness and 17 years in HIV/AIDS programs, she has witnessed a shift from one county to the other in regard to each county’s implicit focus on sexual health education. Through their experience and evaluations, Metro Wellness stressed the need for open dialogue during Q&A portions of the sexual education teaching they provide. Gray chuckled during her response that it’s often the case that teachers have more questions than students. Metro Wellness has collaborated in LGBTQ sensitivity training with governmental entities, like the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department. Rajkumar and Gray both echoed that neither Pinellas nor Hillsborough school boards have

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

taken them up on such an offer.

When all was thought to be for naught, Hillsborough school board member April Griffin came through and candidly responded.

She enthusiastically spelled out a new and progressive direction the school board is taking to be more responsive to pragmatic needs in regard to sexual education. She has spent the last 10 years crusading for the “plus part,” the real-world pragmatic portion, to be the core component of the Hillsborough County sex education curriculum.

In the year 2015, there was a paradigm shift in the Hillsborough County school board’s approach to providing sex ed.

It started with hiring a new superintendent, Jeff Eakins. Working with Eakins’ chief of staff has opened the floodgates to extraneous partners that have been clamoring to get involved in supplementing a more comprehensive sex education program in Hillsborough County, Griffin says. She points out that these groups, like the county’s health department and the University of South Florida, had been pushed out years ago.

According to Griffin, Hillsborough will begin to fully utilize the YRBSS reports from the CDC to craft its sexual education curriculum. Many of the questions had been removed from previous surveys, she stated.

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The theory is that LGBTQ questions will be weighed and policy distilled out of the findings. Implicitly, by adding these questions the county can then qualify for more grant money. Although there is not a launch date set for implementation, Griffin cautions, “Every single year that passes that we don’t have a comprehensive sexual-health curriculum in place...(then) we are losing kids to STDs and STIs.” Hillsborough seems to be inching toward a more progressive outlook which will entail more inclusion and understanding. Griffin emphasized that the three-tiered approach (primary, secondary, tertiary care) to comprehensive sex education is separate from an overall ethos of emotional health.

As a result of the nationwide kerfuffle over transgender usage of public restrooms, Hillsborough County schools organized a series of continued education trainings for its principals, social workers and teachers. This was an opportunity to educate the staff on informational resources, the laws in place and methodologies for conflict resolution all pertaining to LGBTQ issues.

During the session, Griffin says, some people weren’t even clear what it meant to be transgender or transsexual. A heartwarming success story emanated directly from this new tactic of sensitivity and inclusion. Two transgender students in the Hillsborough County school district were “held up and lauded for their bravery,” Griffin says. One of those two students was honored at a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game as a hero. The team rolled out the red carpet. She was able to invite her teachers, staff and a school board member to private boxed seating.

Hillsborough is edging closer to other counties in Florida – Broward and Palm Beach – which are going beyond abstinence, providing more comprehensive sex education. Although Pinellas remains an informational black hole on sexual education, it certainly has the scaffolding in place to follow Hillsborough’s lead. Unfortunately, we just don’t know what the zeitgeist in Pinellas looks like. That is where the crux of the dilemma facing the twin counties of Hillsborough and Pinellas has nestled. Anna Eskamani of Planned Parenthood is critical of this kind of disparity. Her bureau covers 22 counties throughout Southwest and Central Florida. She offers a warning to the twin counties: “Different zip codes mean different access to critical knowledge.”

31

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arts and entertainment

ONE SINGULAR orlando ballet pays a Fitting tribute to local orlando Hero Harriet lake witH a broadway spectacle.

A

Billy Manes

t 3 P.M. on a Late tUesdaY

afternoon watching January fall from the calendar, high kicks and paper top-hats are the name of the buzzing game for the Orlando Ballet.

Nestled in their current home at Loch Haven Neighborhood Center, the members of the ballet corps are sweating out a rehearsal to “One,” the famous crowd pleaser from A Chorus Line, as director Robert Hill does the hand gestures and the shouts of “one, and two and three” from the sidelines. “And stop! Now

go!” A disco ball swings overhead.

It’s not typical ballet fare, but this isn’t for a typical ballet cause.

This is for Harriet Lake, longtime supporter of Orlando’s arts community, its health concerns and a fabulous clothes horse, to boot. She’s no hoarder, though.

Two years ago, Lake opened

up her fantastic wardrobe for a 15-day sale of 3,000 items in order to help fund a level-one trauma unit at the Orlando Regional Medical Center.

“I have a hat for every outfit.

I never buy them together, but when I see a hat, I buy it,” Lake told the Orlando Sentinel at the time. And now, as a woman in her mid-90s, she’s doing the best that she can with what she’s got. That sounds a lot like Broadway.

On February 25, the Orlando Ballet will reveal the full production of “Orlando Ballet presents Best of Broadway” at the Walt Disney Theater

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within the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The event, meant to celebrate Lake’s contributions to the Orlando arts and cultural community, will be bookended by some glitzy champagne swishing to the romantic sounds of Michael Andrew, Hill says, and a ten-table gala in the DeVos “family room” at which each of the guest tables will be joined by two dancers from the event. The gala-sized tickets have already sold out 22 tables at the glamorous cost of $10,000 per sponsor, if that gives you any idea of the demand. Either way, it’s a red-carpet affair. Tickets

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for the main performance are still available starting at a more plebian $29.

Lake, who just recently kicked in a $2 million contribution match for the Orlando Ballet, according to Hill, has played a huge part in making this Great White Way dream come true. She wanted this. She gets this. The song list, the tone, the narrative thread – they’re all part of Harriet’s dream.

“We are always trying to think of ways to recognize Harriet or thank her, so it just seemed logical to try to fit it in this year.

cOntinued On pg. 35 | uu |

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| uu | orlando Ballet frOm pg.33

It’s something that we’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and it just seemed like now was the best time to do it,” Hill says. “She obviously loves Broadway and so she loved the idea, and she gave me a very long list of her favorite songs from her favorite shows. So we had a lot fun coming up with the songs. And, I have to say, we designed it in some order that the songs had a logical progression.

But she also had her own ideas about how the show should start, which number should open.”

Hill, who has been captaining the sometimes-difficult ship of the Orlando Ballet – the company, like many arts organizations, has suffered through financing woes amid an economic crisis – is keen to point out that Orlando brings its own particular brand of arts appreciation to the table. That big-city-small-town feel often works in the company’s favor.

You can bend the stringent rules a little bit.

“I’m trying,” Hill says. “I just came from a meeting with a potential funder and that was something that was important to them, and, it’s true. Between Uncorked and Battle of the Sexes.

People, when they see what ballet is – they think they know what it is. … But then when they get them to come into rehearsals, the real contemporary kind of ones, they see that the dancers, they’re athletes. I had one person say to me, ‘They sweat!’ Yes, they do!”

And more people than usual will be sweating to impress Lake, Hill says. “We’re using some of the Orlando Ballet II, which is our junior company, so it’s the next step between school and becoming an apprentice or a company member.”

But does humanizing the ballet dilute the art form? Not really, Hill says, though he relishes the idea of some of the future performances in the season, including a Masterworks program with Serenade with choreography by George Balanchine and music from Tchaikovsky and Fancy Free with choreography by Jerome Robbins and music from Leonard Bernstein, there’s room for all tastes and types in the ballet. In fact, for an accomplished dancer who has worked with such esteemed companies as the American Ballet Theater, it’s as if the challenge of Broadway productions – which

wisHinG weLL: Harriet lake in 1998 at Hope and Help’s Headdress Ball. will be performed at this event as “collages,” Hill says – may even be more difficult. This particular performance will be accompanied by recorded vocal and musical tracks – the Orlando Philharmonic, which often joins with the ballet, will not be present – and is set to be a 75-90 minute run-through of all of Lake’s favorites.

Cabaret will be there. As will

and Arcadian Broad have choreographed the lion’s share of the evening’s selections, which is just fine by Hill. That gives him more time to direct, naturally.

“It’s nice for me, because I’m not only influencing their dancing talents but also their choreography talents,” Hill says. “Arcadian is also a composer. I’m pulling as much out of all of them as I can, and

robert’s rULes: Robert Hill pays tribute to a hero.

As for the Orlando Ballet, things are looking up, Hill says. The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts has been more than generous with its time, allowing him input into the development of the Disney Theater’s floor – the theater, he says, is perfect for all performances, acoustic and dance.

The prospect of a new theater is what led him to take the job

We are always trying to think of ways to recognize Harriet or thank her, so it just seemed logical to try to fit it in this year.

It’s something that we’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and it just seemed like now was the best time to do it.

—robert HiLL

numbers from Contact, Fiddler on the Roof, Chicago, Singin’ in the Rain and many others.

“We are using Singin’ in the Rain!” he laughs when prompted with a litany of stage classics. “Had to use that one” But I think one of her favorites was Contact, the musical Contact. Fortunately, I had seen the original Broadway cast that was Susan Stroman’s debut as a theater director. I’m actually sort of a theater buff, so I’ve seen most of these things. I kind of wish she’d chosen Grey Gardens!”

To help achieve his lofty mash-up goal, Hill has enlisted the choreography support of members of his own company.

Chiaki Yasukawa, Telmo Moreira

they love it.”

In her own way, Harriet Lake will be featured on stage as well, a fitting tribute to the woman who helped shape Orlando’s philanthropy and its fashion sense.

“I just talked to her last week and she was remembering things from movies and who wore what, and what actor or actress it was.

Her memory of everything was still very much intact,” Hill says.

“She still has so much that we’re actually using it in the show! We’re going to have this little red-carpet moment. At that, we’re going to have some people wearing her fashion going down the red carpet as if they’re going to the Tony Awards or something.”

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

as artistic director in Orlando a decade ago.

“We used to have to have our own sprung floor at the Bob Carr Theater, but we don’t have to do that anymore,” Hill says. “It’s a stage that’s ready for dance or any kind of performance.

And, acoustically, that theater is wonderful. I don’t think they were anticipating it to be as good as it really is, but it’s really good. Having the [Orlando Philharmonic] in the pit has been wonderful.”

“The city is going through a major growth period. It’s phenomenal. And the ballet is going through a major growth period. We did just have Michael Kaiser here, the consultant to

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

the companies around the world (Kaiser currently works as chairman of the Devos Intstitute’s training and consulting programs); ‘the turnaround king is his nickname. He turned the American Ballet Theater around when I was there, so that’s how I knew him.

It got to a point where I thought, boy, we really need kick! Because it would want to go there, but then it goes ‘meh.’ We just needed some help. His involvement alone gave us a credibility that we didn’t have before. It was like, ‘Oh, they’re really serious about this.’ I pushed for it. I mean, look what the city gave us [rehearsal space]: 99 years, a dollar a year.”

Another part of that turnaround has seen the ballet becoming more user-friendly. And with the prospect of Phase II of the Dr. Phillips Center, which is intended to include a new stage for the ballet, Hill is optimistic and not at all stuffy. This Harriet Lake benefit is meant to be charming for audiences and for Lake. This is the people’s ballet.

“It’s very accessible. Even if you don’t go to Broadway musicals, a lot of these songs are just sort of everywhere. Even if not, they’re all fun,” he says. “One of the other things is that we’re going to have a bunch of our school students, because one of the sections Chiaki is doing is from Annie. So we’re going to have the kids doing ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Hard-Knock Life.’

So, we’re going to have the ‘aw’ factor of the kids. Like they always say, have kids or pets! We didn’t have any pets for this one.”

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

art

The Art of Duality

The Dali Museum displays the works of the most celebrated female artist of all time in Florida’s first solo Frida Kahlo exhibit

(above left) Frida and Doctor Juan Farill in her studio in the Casa Azul in front of her 1951 “Portrait of Doctor Farill,” 1951.

Gisèle Freund.

Vicente Wolf Photography Collection

(above right) La columna rota (The Broken Column), 1944 Oil on canvas.

Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City © 2016 Banco de México Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

F

Jeremy Williams

rida Kahlo has been called one

of the most significant artists of the 20th century and one of the most important figures in Mexican history. Kahlo, who abandoned her dreams to be a doctor after a tragic bus accident left her bedridden for months, took to painting.

“Following the accident she was kind of thrust into needing to do something.

She lost the ability to study medicine, and she had never been trained formally as a painter, so I think she was really doing this as journaling or scrapbooking.

It was something that she could do while she was mostly horizontal in bed,” says Peter Tush.

Tush is the curator of education at the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, where an exhibit of more than 60 pieces of Kahlo’s work, including 15 original paintings – many of them among Kahlo’s own favorites – seven drawings, and more than 45 of her

personal photographs are on display through April 17.

“Frida was a person who was born into the world in a way that actually seems to invite a lot of pain and a lot of suffering and a lot of difficulties,” Tush says. “But despite those situations she seemed to find opportunities to build upon her strength and persevere.”

Kahlo contracted polio at the age of six, bedridden for the first of many times in her life, it left her with permanent damage to her right leg and foot. Kahlo was impaled by a steel handrail in the bus accident, which occurred when she was 18, causing fractures to her spine

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and pelvis.

“I think ultimately at the end of the day, once you’ve gone through an exhibition or read through one of the books about her, it seems that she’s a person who was formed through very, very difficult circumstances and it’s a way that she handled the circumstances that has come to be what Frida’s remembered for and celebrated for by so many people,” Tush says.

Kahlo’s ability to stand true to her beliefs, whether political or social, has made her an icon across many marginalized groups; including feminists, Hispanics, Jews (Kahlo was half Jewish) and within the LGBTQ community.

“It was a well-known fact that Frida was bisexual,” Tush says. “In fact, the list of people she had sexual encounters with is pretty sensational.”

Kahlo had many lovers – among them, rumor has it, Josephine Baker and Georgia O’Keeffe – throughout her life, despite being married to world famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

“She was very sexually active and she was very much proud of her bisexuality,” Tush says. “It seemed as though Diego, who was quite the womanizer, was fine with her sexual conquests with women.

He was jealous of anytime she was with a male.”

Kahlo, who would also often dress in traditional men’s clothes, used her painting to express her fluidity in sexuality and gender.

“There’s a painting of hers called ‘The Flower of Life’ from 1944, and it’s flower looking somewhat like a Poinsettia, but it’s clearly a figure and a vulva, many people see that as a self-portrait of her,” Tush says. “It’s beautiful and it seems to allude to O’Keeffe’s flower works, but it’s certainly not the same kind of design.

I think the thing that appealed to her about flower and plants is the bisexuality of them, that they are both male and female simultaneously.”

“In a way she’s sort of presenting herself her as a complete package, a self-contained entity. Out of the 153 paintings that she did throughout her life over 80 of them were self-portraits,” he says.

Kahlo has said, “I paint myself because I am so often alone and I am the subject I know best.” Spending so much of her life in bed due to her bouts of illness and accidents, Kahlo’s time alone became this intimate experience of looking at the mirror and thinking about herself and who she was.

“Her story is that of two Frida’s,” Tush says. “There’s this constant duality in her work. She sees herself as broken yet persevering, as both European and indigenous Mexican, moving toward death but also passionately caught up in life and in sexuality. So I think that she’s constantly defining herself by those polar opposites, you know, broken body but also the body is something desirable that she’s fascinated by. She’s both heterosexual and homosexual; she’s both traditional and modern.”

The Kahlo exhibit seems like a perfect fit in The Dali says Tush. While Kahlo and Dali never met during their magnificent careers, Tush says there are many similarities between the two tragically beautiful artists.

“The similarities between Dali and Frida are not necessarily in their works, but more in their approach to life,” he says. “The first is the very flippant observation that they both have facial hair that has become iconic for both of them. Her unibrow is equal to Dali’s mustache in terms of recognition.”

While their works do tend to differ, Tush says that both Dali and Kahlo draw

Continued on pg. 39 | uu |

37

4th Annual

A fund raiser for Prism Youth Initiative,

Saturday March 18th, 2017 from 12- 6 at the beautiful Bradenton Riverwalk Featuring DJ Lexx great live music by Jami Gee, The Hatley Band, and Moxie Moxie local vendors, fun food & beverages featuring Manatee Pride Beer brewed by Darwin Brewing Co.

providing a safe and supportive center for LGBT+ youth in Manatee County

EVENT SPONSOR

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OTHER SPONSORS

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

Retrato de luther Burbank (Portrait of Luther Burbank), 1932 Oil on composite board.

Autorretrato con changuito (Self Portrait with Small Monkey), 1945 Oil on composite board.

COllECTIOn MuSEO DOlORES OlMEDO, MExICO CITy © 2016 BAnCO DE MéxICO DIEGO RIVERA AnD FRIDA KAHlO MuSEuMS TRuST, MExICO, D.F./ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETy (ARS), nEW yORK

| uu | frida kahlo frOm pg.37

on their dreams for content in their work.

“Dali would argue that it’s the dreams that are amplified and he’s trying to unlock the unconscious,” Tush says. “For Frida, she would argue that her dreams are her reality that there’s not a separation, there’s no dividing line.

“Hospital Henry Ford” from 1932 and “A Few Small Nips” from 1935.

“This painting is about a sex murderer,” Tush says.

“There’s a gentleman standing over the corpse of a naked woman who’s probably a prostitute, who he just proceeded to stab many, many times on the painting, and there’s blood everywhere on the painting.”

— Peter tUsH, cUrator oF edUcation at tHe saLvador daLÍ MUseUM The period that Kahlo painted “A Few Small Nips” corresponds with the time in her life when she discovered her husband and sister were having an affair.

“The piece was sort of this cathartic moment where she just exploded all of her rage at the situation onto the painting,” Tush says. “She even paints blood onto the frame around the canvas, and then, using a knife, puts punctures in the frame.”

One of Kahlo’s most well known pieces, 1944’s “The Broken Column,” was painted 10 years before her death and

All operas sung in the original language with real-time English translations above the stage.

ALSO PLAYING PUCCINI’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY, POULENC’S DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES, AND MONTEMEZZI’S THE LOVE OF THREE KINGS

depicts her fading health.

“She couldn’t stand of her own volition, so she had to start wearing corsets,” Tush says. “They exasperated her pain and her life became this tortuous existence.”

“The Broken Column” is a self-portrait and depicts Kahlo in one of her corsets, her breasts exposed and her body ripped open. Her spine is replaced by a shattered

“There’s this constant duality in her work. she sees herself as broken yet persevering, as both european and indigenous Mexican, moving toward death but also passionately caught up in life and in sexuality.”

Which is why she’s been so influential to the people in the realist style.”

Both Dali and Kahlo were praised by French surrealist André Breton. Breton, who called Kahlo’s work a “ribbon around a bomb,” arranged to have some of her pieces exhibited in Paris and Manhattan.

The Dali exhibit features some of Kahlo’s most striking and powerful pieces: “The Bus” from 1929, which depicts her on a bus believed to be moments before the accident, a surreal look at Frida after she had a miscarriage called

FEBRUARY 18 – MARCH 25 A comic turn of events helps an Italian girl save her lost fiancé.

column seen in western architecture. Her body is pierced with arrows.

“The iconic column replacing her spine is seen as stability in western culture,” Tush says. “Having it shattered shows the pain and suffering she is going through. The arrows all over her body reference the martyr Saint Sebastian. In western art, Saint Sebastian is always pierced with arrows and is usually a symbol for homosexuality. It’s Frida’s duality again; she’s presented herself both desirable and suffering at the same time.”

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Raymond James Pops

Mardi Gras in New Orleans Famed trumpeter Byron Stripling leads this parade of hot New Orleans jazz.

The good times roll with music from Fats Domino, Mahalia Jackson and Louis Armstrong. Jeff Tyzik conducts.

Feb 24 - 26

Radio Sponsor:

Tickets Start at $15

727.892.3337 or 1.800.662.7286 | FloridaOrchestra.org Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

community calendar

event planner

arts+entertainment

OrlandO

OrlandO Pre-Galentine’s Day, Feb. 12, The Cloak & Blaster, Orlando. 407-647-7435; CloakAndBlaster.com Paws in the Park, Feb. 11, Lake Eola Park, Orlando. 407-351-7722; PawsInThePark.org upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company, Feb. 15, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts , Orlando. 407-839-2014; DrPhillipsCenter.com Arab Fest 2017, Feb. 19, Lake Eola Park, Orlando.

407-985-4550; FestivalArab.org Glitter Ball, Feb. 11, Stonewall Bar, Orlando. 407-373-0888; StonewallOrlando.com The Red Ball with Thorgy Thor, Feb. 18, Parliament House, Orlando. 407-425-7571; ParliamentHouse.com

THE diva’s DIVA Plant night at the Garden, Feb. 12, Urban Garden and Goods, Orlando. 407-420-7565; UrbanGardenAndGoods.com

Kickball Sign-up Event, Feb. 11, Stonewall Bar, Orlando. 407-373-0888; StonewallOrlando.com

22nd Annual Valencia Film Celebration, Feb. 11, Valencia College - East Campus Performing Arts Center, Orlando. 407-582-2900; ValenciaFilmCelebration.com

Orlando Chili Cookoff, Feb. 18, Orlando Festival Park, Orlando. 877-987-8378; WorldQuestOrlando.com BASE Orlando: love Struck Body Paint Art Show, Feb. 23, BASE Orlando, Orlando. 407-801-2266; BaseOrlando.com Janine Klein: The Diva’s Diva, Feb. 18-25, Footlight Theatre at the Parliament House, Orlando. 407-425-7571; ParliamentHouse.com Cosmic Film Festival, Feb. 17-19, AMC Cinemas at CityWalk Universal Studios Florida, Orlando. 407-354-3374; CosmicFilmFest.com

tHUrsdaY, Feb. 16-satUrdaY, Feb. 18 centraL FLorida FairGroUnds and eXPositions Park, orLando Enjoy a pop-up art gallery that’s a bit more on the risqué side. Nude Nite offers art and entertainment “celebrating the beauty of nude.” Hundreds of artists gather for three evenings of visual art and performance and a cast of characters both in costume and out. This event is open to the public, but the show is 21-plus for obvious reasons. For more information visit NudeNite.com or call 407-295-3247.

Pride skate sUndaY, Feb. 12, 5:00- 7:30 P.M. seMoran skatewaY, casseLberrY

Janine Klein tells the tale of traveling with her drag queen BFF Ginger Minj at the Parliament House’s Footlight Theatre Feb. 18. PHOTO By ROBERTO GOnZAlEZ

Pablo Picasso: The Diary of a Master, Feb. 18, Baterbys Art Gallery, Winter Park.

888-682-9995; Baterbys.com

Valentine’s Music Festival, Feb. 12, CFE Arena, Orlando.

407-823-3070; CFEArena.com

Nude Nite

Mardi Gras Street Party/Sashay, Feb. 18, West End Trading Co., Sanford. 407-333-8877; MealsEtc.org

tampa The lGBTQA and Multicultural Fraternity and Sorority Symposium, Feb. 11, Jimmie B Keel Regional Library, Tampa. 951-KAPPA-10; KappaXiOmega.org Bon Jovi - This House Is not For Sale Tour, Feb. 14, Amalie Arena, Tampa. 813-301-6500; AmalieArena.com Dashboard Confessional, Feb. 16, The RITZ Ybor, Tampa.

813-248-4050; TheRitzYbor.com

Valenmine’s Day, Feb. 10, The Vault, Tampa. 813-225-3450; TheVaultTampa.com Bodytraffic, Feb. 22, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa.

813-229-7827; StrazCenter.org Slander - #Pound Fridays, Feb. 17, The RITZ Ybor, Tampa.

813-248-4050; TheRitzYbor.com GAlentine’s Day, Feb. 15, Fountain Mediterranean & Sushi Bistro, Tampa.

813-251-4600Ekhos.org

Hot 101.5 Blown Off Ball, Feb. 10, Push Ultra Lounge, Saint Petersburg. 877-999-1015; Hot1015TampaBay.com Eve to Adam w/ Message from Sylvia Mr. Bella Cruz Brother, Feb. 12, The Local 662, Saint Petersburg. 727-258-4829; TheLocal662.com

sarasOta

Color Vibe 5K, Feb. 11, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa.

813-350-6500; TheColorVibe.com AREAA GTB 2nd Annual Masquerade Installation Gala, Feb. 23, Tampa Garden Club, Tampa. 813-251-5059; AreaAGTB.org Bollywood nights Masquerade Party, Feb. 11, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa. 813-938-8514; ChildrenAcrossBorders.org Wordier’s lGBT Book Club, Feb. 22, Wine Madonna, Saint Petersburg. 516-906-2140; WordierThanThou.com

The Bridges of Madison County, Feb. 9-23, Manatee Performing Arts Center, Bradenton. 941-748-5875; ManateePerforming ArtsCenter.com Black Diamond Burlesque, Feb. 14, McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, Sarasota. 941-925-3869; McCurdysComedy.com Pippin, Feb.17-18, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota.

941-953-3368; VanWezel.org Drag Queen Bingo Bonanza, starring BenevaFruitville, Feb. 19, McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, Sarasota. 941-925-3869; McCurdysComedy.com

Take a spin around the roller rink at Pride Skate, a night to celebrate the unity of the entire community. Onehundred percent of the proceeds will be going to the Zebra Coalition. Even if roller skating isn’t your thing, feel free to go and enjoy a drink and be entertained by Miss Sammy, the host for the evening. Feel free to come dressed in your best Valentine’s attire, because there will be a prize given out for best costume. For more information, call 407-834-9106; or visit PrideSkate.com

tampa bay

Cupid’s undie run satUrdaY, Feb. 11, 12:00- 4:00 P.M. Yard oF aLe st. Pete, saint PetersbUrG Cupid’s Undie Run is back again, letting you run around in your underwear in public, all for a good cause. A four-hour party with about a mile-long fun run in the middle. Proceeds go towards the Children’s Tumor Foundation. Last year, $ 3.5 million was raised, making the 2017 goal to hit $4 million. For more information, call 727-822-2027; or visit CupidsUndieRun.org.

second annual surrender the booty! Gasparilla Knight Parade satUrdaY, Feb. 11- sUndaY Feb. 12 soUtHern niGHts, taMPa It’s not too late to join in on the Gasparilla activities. Head on down to Southern Nights Tampa for $2 wells until 11 p.m., $5 Bacardi and $7 Grey Goose until 12 a.m. and $5 ThreeOlives, Fireball and Barcardi Pirate Punch all night long.

Doors open at 4 p.m., with no cover until 10 p.m. for 21-plus (18-plus welcome). Showtime is at 12 a.m., with Roxxxy Andrews, Jade Embers and Guest. For more information, call 813-559-8625; or visit SouthernNightsTPA.com.

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

event planner and community calendar is brougHt to you by curtis protective services • 1-800-551-8368 • curtissecurity.com watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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tampapride.org

SATURDAY MARCH 25 2017

#TAMPAPRIDE2017 42

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

overheard

tampa bay Out+abOut

mOther mOnster is gaga fOr tampa

A

nYone wHo saw LadY GaGa’s HaLFtiMe sHow at the Super Bowl (and with more than 100 million people tuning in, it’s likely most of you did) saw the goddess that is Mother Monster put on one of the hottest shows to ever take the field. Moments after her performance – filled with drones, Gaga’s biggest hits and a dive from the top of the stadium – the Poker Faced diva announced the dates for her next world tour, supporting her fifth studio album, Joanne. The 48-city tour, which starts Aug. 1 in Vancouver and runs through Dec. 14 ending in Salt Lake City, only has two stops in the Sunshine State: Miami’s American Airlines Arena Nov. 30 and right here in Tampa at the Amalie Arena on Friday, Dec. 1. The following concert on her tour isn’t until Dec. 3 in Houston, so I’m not saying Gaga will be partying it up in Tampa Bay that weekend, but I will say that may be a good weekend to hit up the clubs. Tickets go on sale Feb. 20 you little monsters!

glaad yOu read the tiMeS

G

Laad annoUnced tHe 2017 Media award noMinees Jan. 31 and the largest LGBTQ media watchdog group recognized the Tampa Bay Times with a nomination.

Kathleen McGrory’s story, “Worthy of Survival,” about Pulse nightclub survivor Angel Santiago was nominated for Outstanding Newspaper Article. McGrory and the Tampa Bay Times are up against some stiff competition with The New York Times, The Commercial Appeal, the Jackson Free Press and The Charlotte Observer all in the running. McGrory’s words paint a vivid and terrifying picture of not only Santiago’s struggle to get out of Pulse that night, but of the long and difficult journey afterwards. Awards are handed out April 1 in Los Angeles and May 6 in New York.

bOlts pride

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ver tHe coUrse oF tHe Last severaL Years we have seen more and more professional sports teams stepping up and recognizing the value in their LGBTQ fans. The Tampa Bay Rays have been doing Pride Nights since 2007; up the I-4 corridor Orlando City Soccer held a Pride Night and the Orlando Magic have announced they too will have one.

Add the Tampa Bay Lightning to that list. The Lightning, along with the You Can Play Project, are teaming up with Balance Tampa Bay, Equality Florida and the Tampa Bay Diversity Chamber of Commerce to bring Pride Night to the Bolts.

Come out Feb. 23 as the Lightning face off against the Calgary Flames... the Flames on Pride Night?

Was that done on purpose? Anyways, watch the Bolts take to the ice to take on the Flames in an arena filled with family, friends and community. A portion of the ticket sales will go to benefit local LGBTQ awareness organizations. Go Bolts!

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Green witH envY: Wicked defied expectations for Watermark’s Jeremy Williams (L) and Kathleen Harper when they saw it at the Straz Center in Tampa Feb. 2. PHOTO COuRTESy OF

KATHlEEn HARPER

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arrr, Matie: Brent Douglas (L) and Aaron Drake go on the hunt for some booty at Gasparilla in Tampa Jan. 28. PHOTO

By AAROn DRAKE

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PUb PaLs: Suzanne King (L) and Mark “Tea Cup” Bias hanging out on the balcony of Hamburger Mary’s Ybor Feb. 5. PHOTO By lORI ROSSO

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tHere is no “i” in teaM: Barclay Harless (L) and nick Janovsky get their supporters together for Harless’ campaign kickoff at Ricky P’s Creole Kitchen in St. Petersburg Jan. 31. PHOTO

By JEREMy WIllIAMS

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staGe Presence: (L-R) David Walker, nancy Denton and Kristofer Geddie perform at the Venice Theatre during the 2017-18 season announcement party. PHOTO

COuRTESy OF VEnICE THEATRE

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LiFe is a cabaret: Don’t tell Mama that Brian Craft (L) and Matt yauslin paid a visit to the Straz Center in Tampa to see Randy Harrison in Cabaret Jan. 28. PHOTO COuRTESy

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OF BRAIn CRAFT

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artist aPProved: John l. Gascot with the newest painting for his collection in St. Petersburg. a beautiful piece by Jake Troyli. PHOTO COuRTESy OF

JOHn l. GASCOT

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wearinG sHade: Miguel Fuller (L) and Holly O’Connor braved the pirate invasion to party at Gasparilla in Tampa Jan. 28.

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PHOTO By RyAn MCGIBBEny

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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Special performance by

c r Pu s s y Fo r m e

at D o ll

Sassy

Devine

nchanted ungle

J

578 N. ORANGE AVENUE ORLANDO

A Celebration of LIFE, LOVE and a Return to the DANCE FLOOR

FEBRUARY 18, 2017 VIP Reception: 6pm - 8pm • Dance Event - 8pm - 2am

SILENT AUCTION • CASINO • DANCING COSTUMES SUGGESTED • STILT WALKERS

#junglepar t yorlando

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• •

FOOD STATIONS • SURPRISE PERFORMANCES BARS • ONSIGHT BODY PAINTING • AND MORE

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

#keepdancingorlando

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

overheard

OrlandO Out+abOut

the ultra lOunge is dOne

A

streak oF sad news For tHe LGbtQ niGHtLiFe in the Space Coast: Not long after The Cold Keg burned down late last year, the Ultra Lounge at the historic Cocoa Village recently announced they had shut their doors for good after nearly 10 years.

The Ultra Lounge was a small hole-in-the-wall bar that packed a lot of punch for its small size.In fact, it was another home to Orlando’s Ginger Minj pre- and post-Drag Race.

In 2014 Zipperz Bar and Grill, the other Gay Bar in Cocoa shut its door saying the reason for the closure was “times were changing and we no longer needed our own place.” It’s unclear what the exact reasons for The Ultra Lounge’s closing were – we were unable to get a statement from the owners – but in their post they did thank everyone who supported them all these years.

Now if only there was a party bus to take the Brevard County residents to and from Orlando for a well-deserved drink and dance!

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hOly trinity!

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-2-1 and we Have draG! In what seems to be a RuPaul’s Drag Race tradition, the upcoming Season 9 will once again feature a queen from Central Florida, Orlando to be exact.

Please welcome to the stage, Trinity Taylor! In the promo-videos on LogoTV.com, the self-proclaimed pageant queen, Trinity mentions she’s originally from Birmingham, Alabama, but currently resides in Orlando where he works as a make-up artist by day. We think Trinity should be a shoe- (or heel-) in to be America’s next drag superstar, thanks to her extremely colorful and vibrant looks.

Some of the Drag Race alumni that have once or currently called Orlando home are Ginger Minj, Roxxxy Andrews, Coco Montrese and Detox. Former Atlanta resident Sonique also calls Orlando home.

We wish the local girl lots of luck and please, don’t fuck it up. Season 9 of the Emmy Award winning show will air on Logo this Spring.

b-i-n-gOne

c

aroL Lee (as PortraYed bY LocaL PerForMer MattHew arter) has been co-hosting Bingo with Miss Sammy for nearly nine years at Orlando’s Hamburger Mary.

Matthew recently announced he was hanging up the wigs and packing up the heels for a well-deserved but indefinite break – we believe it’s one of those Hollywood breaks where the star disappears citing emotional exhaustion, but then they return with a new nose and a larger bust size, but that’s all speculation. In the meantime Drag Bingo will continue on Tuesdays with Miss Sammy and a special guest. Do you have a favorite local queen you’d like to see co-host? This is so LIVE with Kelly.

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award winners: (L-R) Doug Ba’aser, Janine Klein, Jeff Jones and Josh Siniscalco at The Foley Awards at the Footlight Theatre at Parliament House Feb. 6. PHOTO By RICK ClAGGETT

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Love is Love: Rachel Gardiner (L) and nicki Drumb are in Local Love at CityArts Factory for Local Love Night: for Zebra Coalition Feb. 2. PHOTO By BIlly MAnES

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art HoUse: Sam Singhaus (L) and Cindy Barbalock check out the art at CityArts Factory during Local Love Night: for Zebra Coalition Feb. 2. PHOTO

By BIlly MAnES

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Miss conGeniaLitY: Hunter Tallman (L) and Haley Zilberberg at UCF’s Mr. and Mrs. UCF pageant where Haley competed and won best talent Feb. 4. PHOTO COuRTESy OF

HAlEy ZIlBERBERG

5

reMeMber tHe 80’s?: Tiffany (L) and Tim Evanicki chat about their mall days at the Footlight Theatre at Parliament House Feb. 1. PHOTO COuRTESy OF TIM EVAnICKI

6

FasHionista: Former Watermark Creative Assistant Patrick O’Connor (L) with model April Michelle, who is wearing O’Connor’s fashion statement made entirely out of Red Bull cans, at Trash 2 Trends in Orlando Feb. 4. PHOTO By

7

BREnDAn O’COnnOR

7

wickedLY taLented: Justin Wirick, Ben laube, Garry Capton, David Wyzynski and Jeff Prystajko getting wicked at Wicked After Dark at The Abbey Jan. 26. PHOTO By

JOHn BOulDEn

8

cHeered UP: Sam Miorelli and Diane nelson network at the MBA Mixer for Teach for America in Orlando Feb. 1.

PHOTO By JEREMy WIllIAMS

8 watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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46

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

announcements

wedding bells

adam Miller and bobby Dixon from St. Petersburg, Florida

Ybor heroes Mark Bias and Carrie West (dishing with Mark & Carrie) celebrated 40 years together on Feb. 3!

years togetHer:

Brian J. Carboy of Shoe Dog Cakes and 4 Corners writer lawrence W. Caul celebrated their two years of matrimony on Jan. 30.

6 years

engagement date:

local birtHdays

November 25, 2016

wedding date:

August 18, 2018

wedding venue:

Gulfport Ballroom

wedding planner:

The couple

wedding tHeme:

The theme will be loosely based on Harry Potter, where the ambience, décor and lighting will reflect the Harry Potter movies and books.

interesting Fact:

They met at work six years ago and still work in the same office.

congratulations

Watermark editor-in-chief Billy Manes and local butcher to the stars (and radio troublemaker) Tony Mauss celebrate their second anniversary of wedded bliss and music-collection marriage on Feb. 14.

“i

tHink sPendinG so MUcH

time together, living and working together, has created a much bigger bond between both of us,” Bobby says. “We’re each other’s best friends. We do everything together, we tell each other everything. We definitely say it’s not always easy being together 24/7, but it works for us.”

Adam Miller, who is a contract analyst, and Bobby Dixon, who is a business analyst, met at work six years ago. They worked in the same department but started four months apart from each other.

They started to hang out and their relationship grew from there. Six years later, and after changing and being in different departments at times, they still work together for the same company and again in the same department.

“We get up every morning, we drive to work together, and we take our breaks together. It seems kind of crazy, but it really works,” Adam says.

Adam says he has known for a while that he wanted to marry Bobby, and he jokes about people asking him why he has waited so long to pop the big question.

Adam says he was just waiting for the perfect moment and when the timing was just right.

When they started dating, they got Universal Orlando Premier Annual Passes and go to the parks all the time, and they’re both huge Harry Potter fans.

Adam looked at Harry Potter-themed proposals for ideas on how to incorporate it into his proposal to Bobby. The couple usually goes to St. Augustine every year around their anniversary, so Adam planned for them to take a trip to Universal Orlando before they went away to St. Augustine.

Adam proposed to Bobby behind the Three Broomsticks overlooking the Hogwarts Castle.

As a part of the proposal, Adam took the sixth Harry Potter book and opened it to the seventh

chapter, which symbolized going into the “seventh chapter” of their life together, and cut it out to the chapter titled “The Unbreakable Vow” and carved out places for the rings to go into.

“I knew he was up to something because it was our anniversary, but I had no idea that was what he was doing or what he was planning,” Bobby recalls. “It took me a second when he was down on his knee and he presented the book to me. It took me a second to register what was happening.”

The wedding theme is going to be a nod to Harry Potter, where the ambience, décor and lighting will reflect the Harry Potter movies and books. Also, Adam is Slytherin and Bobby is Gryffindor, so their tuxes will have their House colors incorporated into them. “I’m very excited to just plan the wedding,” Bobby says.

“I can’t imagine hiring someone to plan this day for us. It’s a collaboration between me, Adam and our closest friends that are going to help us plan it. I’m excited about every aspect of planning the day.”

Co-owner of Orlando’s Hamburger Mary’s Mike Rogier (Feb. 9); Watermark contributor Melody Maia Monet, Creative Tile Design of St. Petersburg owner Tom O’Keefe, St. Petersburg hair stylist and cyclist Ric Castro (Feb. 10); Stonewall’s Julian Bain, Xia Adonis from the House of Adonis, laToya little, Tampa schools media specialist and activist Bart Birdsall, Florida Council on Economic Education Executive Director Mike Bell, Watermark’s former creative assistant Patrick O’Connor (Feb. 11); MBA board member Cathy Meyers-Keene, USF Vegetarian Society President Mark Weber, Tampa Suncrest Home Health director Portia Weiss (Feb. 13); Ybor’s Honey Pot manager and straight ally Ernie Webb, St. Petersburg performer Jaeda Fuentes, UCF graduating senior Steven Hogue, Orlando banking guru Diana Cox (Feb. 14); St. Petersburg’s The Queen’s Head co-owner Darren Conner (Feb. 15); LGBT-friendly Pinellas County Commissioner John Morroni, Orlando dancer and choreographer Blue Star, Tampa activist Chris Goldsmith, Tampa Bay Bears president Keenan Rose (Feb. 16); St. Petersburg performer and live vocalist Iman, Downtown Arts District board member Ben laube, Disney entertainment guru John Bearse (Feb. 17); Tampa’s Xtreme Total Health and Wellness consultant Ty Williams, Orange County arts hero Terry Olsen (Feb. 18); Owner of Crabtree Healthy Living Toni Crabtree, Stonewall Pinellas Democrat Rick Boylan (Feb. 19); Tampa model and web site recruiter Michael Vought, Orlando realtor Sam Gallaher, funeral director and Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee cofounder Sam Odom, Tampa Bay leather entrepreneur Billy Seablom, Largo resident and Lighthouse Credit Foundation founder David Crow (Feb. 20); House of Adonis hottie Jose Ortiz, Bowman and Co. president Scott Bowman (Feb. 21); Tampa consultant Bart nagy, roller girl Jessy “Spikey” Wayles, TBGLCC administrator and TIGLFF superstar Renee Cossette,St. Pete Pride board member Stanley Solomons (Feb. 22).

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.

—Samantha Rosenthal

it’s tHat easy!

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 LGBTQ life.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

47

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

INCLUDES

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53

uprisings

an absurd nOtiOn

you’ve seen what happened in Paris and Nice. all over europe, it’s happening. It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported. And in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it.

They have their reasons, and you understand that.

—President donaLd trUMP

fOr the gOvernOr

E

verYbodY’s Favorite biLLboard santa and personal injury attorney John Morgan has been making some noise of late. That particular foghorn (leghorn!) tone has been an apparent set-up for Morgan to get himself in line to replace Gov. Rick Scott in November, of course.

Morgan, who is very wealthy, played a huge part in Gov. Charlie Crist’s gubernatorial and congressional campaigns. Morgan, who is based in Orlando, most recently went on a “talking tour” across the state, because Morgan talks quite a bit. He also generally speaks the truth.

Among the ideas being floated is a minimum-wage increase. As the Tampa Bay Times acknowledges, this initiative could be a sticky wicket for the Florida business lobby. The governor is already trying to fight a living wage ordinance in South Florida. Business interests will have to cough up their potential donations to fight Morgan while Scott pushes his snake-oil to U.S. Senate voters.

54

the seventh sign

r

everberations FroM President donaLd trUMP’s aMbitioUs – and presently “stopped” – immigration ban on people from seven countries he is not currently doing business with are popping up everywhere: from airports to political offices. On Feb. 6, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, nearly 50 people showed up at the Sarasota office of Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan.

Naturally, Buchanan wasn’t present – he was en route to Washington, D.C. – but a spokesman was at the ready to ignore a 12-minute presentation by activists.

The activists, however, weren’t buying the fear mongering presented by Buchanan’s press secretary, who said, “Vern’s highest priority is protecting Americans. That’s why we need to enforce federal immigration laws, and ensure we aren’t opening our borders to individuals who want to harm Americans.”

“We need to stop looking at refugees as a political issue and start looking at them as fellow human beings,” one told the paper. Indeed.

resistance silenced

T

He citY oF Ft. LaUderdaLe is a Lot oF tHinGs, but apparently having tolerance toward public opinion – no matter from whom it comes – is not one of them. For the past few years, a battle has been brewing between a gay homeless man and the city’s commission. At 63, Ray Cox is likely what you would expect from somebody who lives on the streets and wants life to be better. He antagonizes the city council dais regularly, something that has earned him a trespassing arrest dating back to 2015. Mayor Jack Seiler led the charge against Cox, who, it was suggested, would make meetings last too long. He had an incident with police officer, for which he apologized, but was still forced into a court appearance in January.

On Jan. 18, Cox accepted a plea deal of relative silence – he would not show up for any public hearings for one year – while the mayor went ahead with his move to limit public input in public hearings for the sake of expediency.

This is what democracy looks like.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

i

Billy Manes

t’s no secret tHat tHe LUnatics Have aLreadY overtaken the asylum known as the White House. Nor should it come as any surprise that there would be a learning curve for a sociopath sporting a curriculum vitae that smells of cheap musk and oppression.

Nor, we should note, is it any surprise that Democrats pulled an all-nighter to attempt to block President Donald Trump’s appointment of a novice with a terribly rich pedigree to the highest public education post in the United States, because his cabinet already reads like a punch line from the back of a Scooby Doo van.

And this is just after the first three weeks.

In short, Trump has unleashed the corner dwellers and given them permission – whether in suit-and-tie or jean shorts – to go to town on all of the beliefs we hold sacred.

But to come into Florida’s bedraggled borders and to pull the terrorism card is just plain tasteless.

“ISIS is on a campaign of genocide, committing atrocities across the world. Radical Islamic terrorists are determined to strike our homeland, as they did on 9/11, as they did from Boston to Orlando to San Bernardino and all across Europe,” Trump trumpeted at a Feb. 6 appearance in Tampa at the MacDill Air Force Base.

Even worse, though – if there is indeed a worse – is the subsequent release from his administration of a list of 78 “terrorist” attacks that Trump deemed “underreported” – as if we should be surprised, among that list was the mass murder of 49 people in Orlando and the 53 others who were injured on June 12, 2016.

I’m going to break code here for a minute and speak to this so-called underreporting, considering that myself and other Watermark staffers – not to mention city and county officials, representatives of the federal government, victims, families of victims, police, hospital officials and media across the world – were there on that Sunday morning after and the weeks and months that followed, keeping this story alive on national television, global networks, in print and online, because we couldn’t keep our family and friends alive.

It was the least we could do. And it is, even with traumatized sensibilities, that we remain vigilant in reporting this story and keeping the memory of the 49 present, important.

If the mission of this administration is absolute intimidation and reckless lies to which you assign your political machinations, then don’t count on it, Trump. Just because Kellyanne Conway could come on TV and create a Bowling Green Massacre out of her lying face – ostensibly the reason for these ridiculous comments and that list – that doesn’t mean that you get a pass.

Your lies only make us stronger, better, smarter.

And this revolution will be televised.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Feb rua ry 9 - F eb rua ry 22, 2017 // Issue 24 .03

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