Watermark Issue 24.07: Twenty-everything

watermark Your LGBTQ Life.

ISSUE 24.07 • APRIL 6 - 19, 2017 WATERMARKONLINE.COM

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

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2/6/17 10:06 AM

i keep wanting to learn. i’m very interested in how much better i can get; how much deeper i can go.

Departments 6 // mail 7 // eDitors Desk 9 // orlanDo news 13 // tampa bay news 17 // state news 21 // nation & worlD news 31 // talkinG points 51 // community calenDar 53 // tampa bay out+about 53 // orlanDo out+about 56 // tampa bay marketplace 57 // weDDinG bells/ announcements 58 // orlanDo marketplace

PAGE

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that’s why i like really good material, because it allows me to keep going farther. That’s it. I’ve been loving doing television for a while just to figure out the best ways to do it. that’s really been a lot of fun.

—beRNaDette peteRs

on the cover

PAGE these boots were maDe For walkinG:

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TWO DeCaDeS OF eQUaLITY FLORIDa: After numerous victories and many fights to win them, Equality Florida stands tall and proud as the state’s biggest advocate for the community. This is why.

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Photo by Jake Stevens

scan Qr coDe For

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Jim. J. Bullock opens up about his broken toes and rattled spirit as he slipped on the heels of Kinky Boots. It’s always too close for comfort, really.

watermark i ssue 24 .07 //apri l 6 - april 19, 2017

stop the violence

riDinG on the metro

trans trouble

the enD oF the worlD

PAGE Activist group Gays Against Guns comes to Orlando to make some noise. We’re listening. .

PAGE For 25 years, METRO Health, Wellness and Community has served the Bay area community. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s worth it.

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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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Columnist Maia Monet speaks out against the Trump administration’s attacks on the transgender community via Trumpcare.

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Our political column Uprisings dives into the mess that Donald Trump’s medical care initiative is creating and looks for a morsel of hope.

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JOin Us at WatermarkOnLine.COm fOr aLL Of the Latest neWs and hiLarity that Watermark is designed tO bring yOU.

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top web comments “It is nearly inconceivable that this issue has yet to be resolved on equal pay, equal treatment within the workplace.

At this point, we all need to be paying more attention as to who we elect to local, state and federal public office.”

—peacecmk

GARY A. FRACASSI, CPA, CGMA

218 S. Bumby Ave., Orlando, FL 32803 407.896.6858 • Gary@FracassiCPA.com

WatermarkOnline.com On Caribbean pastors asking U.S. to stop promoting LGBT rights abroad:

“A black bigot?? Sad.” —Norman Dostal

On Bob Marshall’s transgender challenger qualifying for June primary:

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On restaurants to dine at for hate-free eating:

“Chick-Fil-A is a well-known story, yet all of us have friends still eating at their chicken restaurants, claiming, ‘I cannot get enough of their food.’ I never understand when my LGBT friends and allies tell me that their values can be bought for a bag of waffle fries.”

—Todd Kachinski Kottmeier

community since 2006.

On Central Florida progressive groups, state representatives trying again for an equal pay act:

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“Could I suggest a different headline? ‘Danica Roem qualifies for primary as first step towards taking on trans-phobic incumbent.’

Don’t give him free real estate.”

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

“It is nearly inconceivable that this issue has yet to be resolved on equal pay, equal treatment within the workplace. At this point, we all need to be paying more attention as to who we elect to local, state and federal public office. Women do need to pay particular attention to whom they are voting to put into public

office, with regard to the subject of equality. I have not voted along a ‘party line’ for candidates in over 40 years of consistent votes cast based upon the individual running; what positions and ideology and specific proposals they bring to the table with them, along with a deep look into their records of personal, professional and political integrity and their personal honesty as well.

It takes time and energy to do, but the pay-off is the possibility of ‘hiring’ a good public representative to our government, and knowing we did the best we could to ensure that result by making an ‘informed vote.’”

—Peacecmk

Watermark’s Facebook:

On RuPaul thinking bachelorette parties should stay out of gay bars:

“I agree. It’s straight privilege exploiting LGBT spaces. Often they are obnoxious and feel they can do things that they couldn’t get away with anywhere else.”

—Veronica Drake

“Love you Ru, but no!

Especially at this time we need all the support we can get – even if it is a party at a gay bar. Why disenfranchise those who are not our enemies ?”

—Hen Ry Mays

On N.C. governor signing deal to replace, not repeal, HB2:

“He has done nothing and I hope the NCAA tells

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

them such. It seems that is the only thing they really care about.”

—Dawn Kallio

On Trump’s U.S. Census proposing, then immediately cutting LGBT survey questions:

“The addition of the questions regarding were done by Executive Order

by President Obama.

Sexual orientation has nothing to do with the intent of our national Census, which is mainly to make sure that the local population receives proper proportional representation in the legislative bodies (local, state, and national).

That representation is based on the number of citizens REGARDLESS of their sexual orientation.

I completely agree with this step. A census worker gathering information regarding sexual orientation is completely out of line. Consider how this information could be used by anyone on any side of the political aisle. Consider how this information could get into the hands of extreme anti-GLBT citizens who may use it to target these households. I support equality in all forms. Equal rights is not the same as special rights.”

—JP Ell

“Of course, they know we are here. But Census figures are used to justify spending or cuts or a lot of other things. So omission has consequences.”

—Larry D. Smith

editor’s

billy manes editOr

BIlly@WatermarkOnline.com

a

Desk

s sOme OF yOu might RecaLL,

I’ve been through a public battle with gun violence, suicide and gay marriage for the past few years. As some of you also know, I am married now to my best friend, Tony (two years and counting). The only reason I bring this up is that I couldn’t have survived the suicide of Alan Jordan, my partner of 11 years, without the assistance of Equality Florida and Orlando attorney Mary Meeks.

This issue, we celebrate 20 years of Equality Florida’s work throughout the state. This is an organization that came from virtually nothing and grew into the leading force for municipal and statewide rulings on LGBTQ rights at a time that most thought Florida was going to drip into the backwoods of the South.

Equality Florida published a letter that I wrote to Florida state senators in 2013, one year after Alan took his life in front of me, with a gun, in our

backyard. So, for the sake of posterity, as April 8 was the day he left me, I present you with a shortened version of that letter, and I wish you well as we persevere through these difficult times.

I met my partner, Alan Jordan, in January 2001. We were opposites – he a former football player at Auburn University with a southern drawl and the politics to match; me, a liberal extrovert. But nonetheless we quickly fell in love. In 2002, we bought a

house together, though my name wasn’t on the deed, and we set about forming our family – our dogs, our friends, our birthday parties and backyard barbeques.

When he got his pilot’s license, I bit my lip and �lew in his single-engine puddle-jumper. When his father died in 2006 and he made the decision to commute back and forth to Georgia to take care of his mother, I held down the fort in Orlando. When his health started to deteriorate, I was there every step of the way— doctors’ of�ices, therapists, disability, you name it.

In 2008, as Amendment 2 loomed, we contacted an attorney and executed all of the documents available to LGBTQ families in Florida: power of attorney, health surrogate, and a will, among others. We were as much a legal couple as the laws of the state of Florida permitted us to be.

On Easter Sunday of 2012, after a long battle with health problems and depression, Alan shot himself in the chest in the backyard of our house. I screamed; I tried to resuscitate him; I called 911. But it was no use.

Before I’d even washed his blood out of my hair, Alan’s brother showed up on my doorstep. In the next 24 hours, he identi�ied Alan’s body at the morgue, had it cremated without my knowledge or consent, changed his address with the postmaster, and began walking around my house identifying items that the family thought belonged to them: a lawnmower, tools, guns, the commitment rings on my �ingers.

They ignored the fact that everything in our house belonged to both of us. I was in shock and distraught, as you can imagine. But I still made clear to them, as I gave them the will that left everything to me, that I wanted to work with the family in a manner that was fair for both of us. I understood that they were in pain – and that they didn’t know that Alan was in a relationship with a man.

Before we could even �ile the will in Orange County court, I learned that the family had already opened

watermark staFF

this is an organization that came from virtually nothing and grew into the leading force for municipal and statewide rulings on lGbtQ rights. brings out the worst in people.

And so I’m here to ask you to right this wrong. I recognize that under the state’s constitution, I am unable to marry the person I love.

And he’s gone anyway. But how can we, as a state, in good conscience, even as we praise the family as the backbone of our society, deny even the most basic, fundamental rights to hundreds of thousands of your constituents who pay their taxes, go to work, and play by the rules? I don’t believe that I’m asking for much. All I’m asking for is compassion and dignity. Please don’t let that be too much.

Thank you, Equality Florida.

orlanDo oFFice

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a probate case listing Alan’s mother as his personal representative and sole bene�iciary. What followed was a nightmare. On top of my grief and uncertainty and horror, I found myself having to �ight to claim what our legal documents already said was mine. I obtained a court order to correct the probate and to get the items that had been removed from my house returned. However, after thousands of dollars and months and of legal wrangling I gave up. I sacri�iced most of the assets to which I was legally entitled for the sake of my sanity.

I don’t think that the family was acting capriciously – at least now I don’t. They, like me, were grieving, trying to come to terms with an unspeakable loss. Death so often

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contributors michaeL waNZie is

an Orlando-based playwright, actor and ordained minister. He is most recognized for his direction of productions at the Footlight Theatre at the Parliament House. Page 23

maia mONet is a photographer at Southern Nights in Orlando and a singer with the band Mad Transit. Page 27

samaNtha ROseNthaL

attended University of Central Florida and is a former Watermark editorial assistant. She is currently a freelance writer and regularly covers Wedding Bells. Page 41

aaron alper, scottie campbell, susan clary, krista Ditucci, kirk hartlaGe, Joseph kissel, Jason leclerc, mary meeks, stephen miller, DaviD moran, GreGG shipiro, GreG stemm, Dr. steve yacovelli, , michael wanZie

photoGraphy brian becnel, nick carDello, anGie Folks, bruce harDin, Julie milForD, travis moore, chris stephenson, lee vanDerGriFt, tinkerFluFF

Distribution lvnliF2 DistributinG, lisa JorDan, Jill bates, ken carraway CONTENTS of WATERMARK are protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publisher.

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central florida news

Day of Love and Kindness announced to honor Pulse anniversary Billy Manes

O

RLANDO | While there will certainly be a number of events launched in the coming months to pay homage to those who suffered from the June 12 massacre at Pulse, the city and the county are preparing for the event in the best way they know how. A “Day of Love and Kindness” has been planned to coincide with vigils at the Pulse site, Lake Eola and the History Center.

Orlando’s LGBTQ Alliance, which formed in the wake of the tragedy, is working with the municipal governments to make “love and kindness” matter.

Alliance member Jennifer Foster of Foster Productions Inc. says that June 12 should be a day where everyone makes a special effort to be kind in traffic, maybe donate blood and generally be good to locals.

The concrete plans are still in motion as the one year mark is two months away, but the purpose is already in play, Foster says.

“The initiative is to try to connect volunteers with nonprofits,” she says. “What we’re doing now is reaching out to them and then we’ll match volunteers to those opportunities. What we’re doing right now is we’re collecting the opportunities. Right now we just want organizations to submit through the website so we can get a master list.” That website is OCFL.net/ home/OrlandoUnitedDay. The plan’s roll out didn’t come without its share of controversy. Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan was vocal about her fear of this event being effectively washed clean of the LGBTQ community. She took her opinions to Facebook and found massive support.

She says she spoke to Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, and that Jacobs agreed when presented with the argument.

“I didn’t attack anyone,” Sheehan says. “I said that I thought it was important to have the [LGBTQ and QLatinx] community represented. I just work for the community. I don’t want to be the issue to come out of this. Let this be a teachable moment.”

The issue seems to have been resolved, however, as Sheehan posted on her Facebook account.

“I have been a woman of strong opinions and beliefs my entire life,” she wrote. “But a guiding principle in my life has been to express those opinions and try to effect change in a positive and respectful fashion. I want to be clear. While I believe it was a mistake in nomenclature and sensitivity to leave out the affected minority communities in the announcements relating to the Pulse memorials, I do not believe they were intentional. … I support Mayor Dyer and Mayor Jacobs and I will work with them to correct the mistakes and make this a united and beautiful day of events honoring those list in our LGBTQ, Hispanic, African American, and QLATINX communities.”

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Fight the Power: Gays Against Guns comes to Orlando.

Guns and Roses Orlando’s chapter of Gays Against Guns is officially launched David Thomas Moran

O

RLANDO | You might recall a group marching in the Orlando Pride parade last November with a huge rainbow banner that said “Gays Against Guns.” That wasn’t just a one-off parade stunt. GAG Orlando is still at it and recently met at The Center Orlando to layout some gun safety directives for the next few months, including joining the Florida Coalition to End Gun Violence.

The Orlando chapter of GAG also plans to step up pressure on gun retailers, lobbyists and elected officials to stop enabling gun violence. The group is part of a national network of GAG chapters focused on ACT UP-inspired direct actions and founded in response to the Pulse hate crime.

Sonia Parra and her wife Andrea showed up to the April 2 meeting sporting GAG t-shirts with their two kids in tow. Parra didn’t really like guns even before the shooting at Pulse. As the one-year mark approaches, her drive to change the gun laws has only intensified.

“Pulse hit me hard. I lost seven

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

friends that day,” says Parra.

“I joined GAG because I think guns encourage violence. It’s hard for some people to control themselves when they have a gun in their hand.”

Parra and her wife were supposed to go to Pulse that night but ended up staying home at the last minute.

Para and the others who attended the GAG Orlando meeting all shared personal stories about their overlapping ties with both the LGBTQ community and the gun violence epidemic. They collectively agreed that more must be done to prevent senseless gun violence like what occurred June 12 from happening again.

For Mark McMeley, a Valencia College professor, GAG is also deeply personal. He started the chapter not long after the massacre.

Seven of the 49 people who were murdered at Pulse were students at Valenica where he teaches. While McMeley appreciates the push for unity and efforts to support healing in the Orlando community, he also wants to see more action.

“We must get at the root of the problem: GAG is a movement of

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

people who will not stand by and wait to be the next victims of the absurdly lax weapons laws of our state and our country. Orlando was targeted last year and it’s up to us to fight back,” McMeley says.

Before the Pulse hate crime, gun safety wasn’t necessarily on the radar for many LGBTQ activists.

The gun safety movement’s fight to close background check loopholes on gun sales, ban assault weapons, address the role of guns in domestic violence and police brutality, and allow federal research on gun violence among other policies wasn’t a priority.

Since June 12, all of this has changed. Over the summer of 2016, the #sitinforthe49 coalition held three protests ending up with 10 protesters getting arrested and a direct confrontation with Senator Marco Rubio. GAG chapters spread out across the country from the backyard of the legendary Stonewall Inn in the West Village to L.A., D.C. and now Pulse’s hometown here in Orlando. The Pride Fund to End Gun Violence also launched in D.C. Equality Florida adopted a gun safety platform and joined the League of Women Voters-led Florida Coalition to End Gun Violence.

The Human Rights Campaign also joined the gun safety cause nationwide supporting Gabrielle Gifford’s Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC. GAG Orlando hopes to work with all of these groups and more to help amplify the gun safety movement locally, statewide and on the Continued on pg. 10 | uu |

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Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

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central florida news | uu | Gays Against Guns from pg.8

national level.

“We have a core group who will commit time and effort to getting the word out about the local firearms business and the politicians paid off by the weapons manufacturers. We must confront them publicly and with all legal means possible,” McMeley says.

“Continuing to memorialize our students, family and friends who we lost last year becomes meaningless unless we act now to stop the further spread of weapons. All of us are committed to this, and we heard that in very personal stories at our first meeting.

All of us want to live.”

The rainbow banner GAG marched with at Orlando Pride was created by artist and LGBTQ activist Gilbert Baker. He designed the original rainbow flag that is now an iconic symbol of the LGBTQ liberation movement.

Baker recently passed

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away unexpectedly.

The banner was on loan to the chapter from GAG New York. Natalie James, who was born and raised in Orlando and is one of the founding members of GAG New York, brought the banner to Orlando Pride.

James, who says she is thrilled to see a GAG chapter taking root in Orlando, recalled her time marching with GAG last November.

“It was an incredible experience to fly down from New York to my hometown for my first Pride. To march with a rainbow Gays Against Guns (GAG) banner hand sewn by the visionary Gilbert Baker. To march with the incredible folks in Orlando who have joined the GAG contingent – including several of the courageous individuals who engaged in civil disobedience at Marco Rubio’s office, just wow!”

Before Baker died, he donated his time to make a similar GAG banner for the Orlando chapter.

Pulse lawsuit moves from federal to state court Wire Report

O

RLANDO | A lawsuit brought by victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre against the gunman’s employer and wife was withdrawn from federal court and filed in state court in South Florida on Monday.

Attorneys for 61 Pulse victims and family members of those killed filed the lawsuit in state court in Palm Beach County, just days after a federal judge said in an order that he doubted federal court was the proper jurisdiction for the case.

The lawsuit claims Omar Mateen’s employer, international security firm G4S, and Mateen’s wife could have stopped the gunman before the attack last June but didn’t. Forty-nine

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

people died in the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history, and dozens more were injured at the gay nightclub.

The complaint said that G4S bosses knew Mateen was mentally unstable yet continued to employ him as a security guard and didn’t seek to have his firearms license revoked, even after he was investigated by the FBI in 2013 for telling co-workers he had connections to terrorists and a mass shooter.

The company has said in statements that it will vigorously defend itself and that the lawsuit was without merit.

The lawsuit also said that Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, knew her husband was going to carry out the killings ahead of time yet did nothing. Salman currently is in jail awaiting trial in a separate criminal case.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

She has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of aiding and abetting her husband, and obstruction of justice.

Separately, city and county officials in Orlando said Monday that they want the one-year mark next June of the Pulse massacre to be marked with acts of love and kindness.

Elected officials said that June 12 officially would be dedicated as “Orlando United Day – A Day of Love and Kindness.’’

Officials also announced a series of events planned throughout the day on June 12.

An exhibit of artwork collected from memorial sites set up around Orlando after the massacre will be shown at the Orange County History Center, followed by a memorial service at the site of the former gay nightclub.

Another memorial ceremony will be held in the evening around downtown Orlando’s Lake Eola.

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11

tampa bay news

DininG out For liFe supports tampa bay hiv/aiDs eFForts felicia Roopchand

T

ampa bay | Dining Out For Life is a charity event both your stomach and your wallet can get behind. In cities all across the world on April 27, selected restaurants will be participating in the event by donating at least 25 percent of their proceeds from that day to the licensed HIV/AIDS service agency in their city. In exchange for their financial support, restaurants are listed in a citywide marketing campaign in an effort to increase customer traffic. The Tampa Bay area will be among the various cities included.

“You know, Gulfport kind of comes in with a vengeance. All the restaurants in Gulfport participate and we’ve got a couple of new restaurants coming on over towards the Tampa side. I think we’re going to have a really good year.” said Joy Winheim, executive director of Empath Partners in Care (EPIC).

This is Winheim’s first of year getting to help with the organizational process of Dining Out for Life.

“It’s been really exciting. I’ve gotten an opportunity to go out to some of the restaurants, and I met the organizers down in Gulfport. They have their own group that helps us organize down there and they’re a force to be reckoned with.” Winheim says.

The Tampa Bay area currently has about 15 restaurants officially signed up for the event, but Winheim says they are expecting up to at least 35 participants.

As for the meals themselves, each restaurant lists on the website (DineOutTB.org) whether they would be participating for breakfast, lunch or dinner or any combination of the three. Many restaurants are going above and beyond, donating more than the 25 percent requirement. The Frog Pond in Redington Beach is donating 100 percent of its proceeds that day. “[The funds] go directly back into the organization to help support the programs that we run. So it’ll help our case management programs; it’ll help our food pantry; it just kind of helps where we need it,” Winheim says.

There are over 50 organizations that participate across the United States and Canada. The organization will get the proceeds from whichever restaurants are participating in their vicinity.

Fortunately, there are more ways to help than just dining out.

“We do send out ambassadors to the restaurants that are participating. The ambassadors will be there to talk about EPIC and the programs and services that we have, so if people are dining and they want to do more, they can donate right there at that restaurant that day,” explains Winheim.

To find out how you can volunteer to be a Dining Out For Life ambassador, and to find a full list of restaurants participating, visit DineTB.org.

Jeremy Williams contributed to this story.

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wiNNiNg team: (L-R)

METRO’s Joseph Santini, Michelle Joseph, Priya rajkumar and James keane accept their 2017 “Most Effective Local LGBTQ Organization” WAVE Award. Photo by Jake StevenS

MetrO celebrates 25 years As it continues to expand, the health agency looks back on a difficult path alexis Vilaboy

S

t. peteRsbuRg | Twenty-five years ago, the beginning of what is now METRO Health, Wellness & Community began in the upstairs 16-foot by 12-foot space of King of Peace Metropolitan Community Church with the mission to help those affected by and infected with HIV/AIDS in the early days of the disease’s discovery.

“I’ve been here, it’ll be 24 years,” recalls CEO Lorraine Langlois. “It’s so gratifying to see some really good people moving up and taking hold; I’m very pleased about that. My role now is really kind of mentoring and making sure the ship’s going where we need it to be.”

The nonprofit’s early days consisted of two employees, one case management service, a small budget and some funding from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program. Growth over the years, sometimes steady and sometimes skyrocketing, has led to over 100 employees and a $12.5 million 2017 budget that allows for

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

more than just HIV/AIDS treatment— counseling services, youth programs, educational opportunities, transgender services and more are included.

“When we decided we were doing Medicaid only and went to Ryan White [funding], that opened up a slew of opportunities for us in bringing on new people,” Langlois says.

Times were dark when METRO first opened its doors, serving six or seven clients and not touching all of the $47,000 they raised through grassroots efforts.

“Every month there was somebody you were losing,” Langlois said. “A lot of our clients were from the church.

Our role was to try to keep them out of the hospital. It was very tough.”

Langlois attributes the agency’s growth to the following of the path that she believed God was setting them upon. The team moved from space to space, bringing on more and more dedicated employees with them each time.

“Here we are now and [we’re] still having to expand,” Langlois said of METRO’s current construction project

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that entails a new health center, patient and client services and more.

“Keeping people in good health is still the struggle.”

Even though medical advancements have been made thanks to antiviral treatment options, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still serious.

About 1.1 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2015, according to the CDC. “We’re still losing people even though they fight very hard,” Langlois says. “A lot of things other than HIV are still keeping people in care. We’ve moved to a mode of prevention and treatment as prevention. If you’re on your meds and being treated, that lowers your risk of transmitting the virus to someone else.”

Langlois says she believes the only way to save a generation is to get them on PrEP, a once-a-day preventative anti-HIV medication that when taken consistently, has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by up to 92 percent.

“The mission when we first started was more related to HIV and being very supportive and trying to take care of folks [and] eradicate the disease,” the CEO recalls. “Our mission today is much more open.”

Langlois mentioned all the services they’ve since then adopted: treatment, support, education, prevention and LGBT-related services.

“It’s not just about HIV, it’s about your overall health and COntinUed On pg. 14 | uu |

ST PETE Gala 2017

SATURDAY, APRIL 15 • 7PM | THE MAHAFFEY THEATER Please join us for a wonderful evening, for a great cause. This year we are honoring Tampa Bay Rays President, Brian Auld, Largo City Commissioner Michael Smith, Attorney Joanna Garcia-Parkin, and Equality Florida volunteer, Karen Goforth. There will be delicious cuisine by Chouinard’s Cuisine, the new in-house caterer of the Mahaffey Theater, open bar, Kahwa Espresso Bar, dancing with DJ Fresh, a fantastic silent auction, and a State of the State Address by CEO and Co-founder Nadine Smith.

COC KTAI L ATTI R E

TICKETS $125

To RSVP and for more information on sponsorship visit eqfl.org/GreaterStPeteGala or contact Todd Richardson at Todd@eqfl.org or 727-822-2122 for details. statewide sponsors

PO BOX 20786, TAMPA, FL 33622-0786

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 VA 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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tampa bay news | uu | 25 Years of Metro from pg.12

wellness,” she says.

These days METRO provides aid to close to 15,000 people face-to-face and thousands more via outreaches. In one year, the nonprofit serves 800 people at their clinics alone.

“I see it as, let’s get one more person in the door and make the difference,” she says.

To make room for even more activities and services, construction will begin this April on METRO’s St. Petersburg location, which will be an almost 60,000-square-foot space.

“I’m excited, because the patient and clients will have services unlike anywhere else,” Langlois says.

“All the construction and design has been focused on the patient.

Anywhere they go in the building will all be along the windows, making it very bright.”

The nonprofit’s CEO says she is also looking forward to the construction that is soon to start on some lofts and apartments in the

14

immediate area near the St. Pete location because it will bring the community together.

“It will be exciting,” she says. “We want people to move in and we want our community to thrive here. We love that we’ll be the hub of all that.”

The community will have the opportunity to gather and celebrate METRO’s 25-year anniversary of service throughout this year at several events that will highlight the dedication of METRO’s hard working team members; including a celebration, the “Great Gatsby Gala,” November 11.

“I know the gala will be a huge success,” Langlois said. “We’re going all out for this one. It’s a big party. We chose November because that month will mark 25 years of service.”

Langlois said that METRO wouldn’t be where it is today without the devotion of its employees “This agency from day one has been full of heart and hope, and the people along the way who have come through the doors, as far as employees, have been incredible and devoted folks.”

Jeremy Williams contributed to this story.

The Grand Central District looks to celebrate coming out this October with a new event Jeremy Williams

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t. Petersburg | The Grand Central District Association announced plans for Come Out St. Pete, a series of events in St. Petersburg and Gulfport in October that will celebrate the LGBTQ community in the bay area in conjunction with National Coming Out Day Oct. 11.

“We want to acknowledge the importance of coming out and celebrate it in St. Pete,” says Shawn Connelly, committee chair for Come Out St. Pete. “Details like times and places aren’t all 100 percent confirmed, but we do have several events that we know we want to happen.”

These events include a community march in the Grand Central Business District, a

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

family values picnic in Gulfport and a street fair with various vendors along Central Avenue, among others.

The Come Out St. Pete committee, who is organizing these events, is a subcommittee under the Grand Central District Association, The announcement of the newly formed Come Out St. Pete committee comes less than a month after St. Pete Pride and the city of St. Petersburg came to an agreement to move June’s Pride parade downtown while leaving the Pride street festival in Grand Central. Originally, St. Pete Pride was going to move both the parade and street festival downtown but mayor Rick Kriseman threatened to pull city funding if they did so.

While many in the Grand Central District expressed displeasure in the move and talk

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of a rival Pride event made its way through the inner circles, Connelly says that the decision to have a coming out celebration in October has nothing to do with St. Pete Pride or any of the decisions they made in moving downtown.

“This is a new community event that is certainly not meant to detract from or is in opposition to St. Pete Pride.

This is a new event specifically meant to celebrate coming out and to add value to some of the other great events we have in the area,” Connelly says. “And this isn’t just for the LGBTQ community to come out, but also for our allies to come out and join us. We want to promote inclusiveness and promote acceptance and encourage a sense of community throughout St. Petersburg and the surrounding areas.”

Thursday April 27, 2017 All proceeds benefit the programs and services of:

EPIC Join the Premier Chamber in the Bay Area where our diverse membership puts the Diversity in Tampa Bay. Find participating restaurants at

DineTB.org

Restaurants will be added to the list up to the day prior to the event.

Please check website for updates.

www.diversitytampabay.org

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FND-17-0253

Sponsored locally by:

A copy of the official registration (#CH3696) and financial information may be obtained from the division of consumer services by calling 1-800-435-7352 toll-free within the state or visiting www.800helpfla.com. Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by the state.

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state news

anti-lGbtQ FloriDa attorney General pam bonDi rackeD up $253 million in taXpayer costs over siX years Wire Report

T

aLLahassee | Gov. Rick Scott and other top Florida Republicans frequently complain about government spending, but they have quietly spent more than $237 million on private lawyers to advance and defend their agendas, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Florida taxpayers also have been forced to reimburse nearly $16 million for their opponents’ private attorney fees. That means an overall $253 million has been spent on legal fights in the last six years, including a water war with Georgia and losing battles to test welfare recipients for drugs, trim the state’s voter registration lists and ban companies that do business with Cuba from bidding on government contracts.

“A quarter of a billion dollars is a gosh lot of money,” said Dominic Calabro, president of Florida TaxWatch, a business-backed group that scrutinizes state spending.

Much of the state’s legal spending doesn’t show up in the normal process of assembling the state’s $82 billion budget.

Attorney General Pam Bondi oversees a legal budget of nearly $309 million a year that helps pay for 450 state lawyers, but all that in-house legal firepower hasn’t stopped state leaders from hiring private attorneys. And no one in state government is closely tracking what their hourly rates add up to.

“We do not have that information and are unaware of a way to capture expenditures for the purchase of outside legal services that would not entail an exhaustive search of documents,” said Whitney Ray, a spokesman for Bondi.

The Associated Press came up with the figure by analyzing budget documents and the results of public records requests.

The AP review found that Florida has spent more than $237 million on outside lawyering since 2011, a figure that averages to nearly $40 million a year, plus nearly $16 million reimbursing private attorney fees on opposing sides.

Florida attorney general Pam bondi

Hiring private counsel in expenditures that fall outside the normal budget process seems common in state governments around the country, though perhaps not on the same scale as during the Scott administration.

New York has spent more than $86 million since 2012, or about $17 million a year, on outside lawyering, according to that state’s comptroller. California’s Democratic leaders recently approved payments of $25,000 a month to former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and his law firm to defend the state’s interests against President Donald Trump’s policies.

In Florida, it was the soaring cost of the state’s water war against Georgia – more than $41 million in the last 18 months alone – that started to raise eyebrows when the Department of Environmental Protection sought more money in January.

Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a Miami Republican and House budget chief, called the department’s legal spending a “runaway train.”

His response when told that the overall state tab for private legal fees is about a quarter-billion dollars?

“Insane,” Trujillo said.

Trujillo said “nobody is disputing” that defending Florida’s water rights is important, but “as taxpayers and constituents, we have the right to ask: ‘Is it necessary, are we overpaying?’”

House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who ordered a legislative review, was even more blunt: “We are getting gouged, and that needs to be fixed.”

A spokeswoman for Scott, Jackie Schutz, sought to downplay the outside legal costs during Scott’s administration, saying that private law firms are sometimes necessary.

“When there are complex legal matters or specific expertise needed, including defending laws passed by the legislature, we utilize available resources and, as required by statute, get approval from the Attorney General’s office,” Schutz said.

“It’s no surprise that our office vigorously defends the laws we sign,” she said.

Bondi’s office handed the case over to one of the world’s most prestigious firms, Latham & Watkins, whose lawyers charge up to $825 an hour. The firm’s bills to date almost doubled the funding Scott personally requested in late 2014 to repair the Apalachicola Bay watershed.

Ryan Matthews, the interim secretary for the Department of Environmental Protection, said last week that his staff “carefully reviews every invoice.” He also said that since July 2015, DEP has denied more than $3 million in legal expenses and hourly charges.

Ray, the spokesman for Bondi’s office, notes her agency’s lawyers are assigned to duties such as handling criminal appeals and Medicaid fraud cases. Bondi’s office must approve the hiring of outside attorneys by state agencies. Her office keeps a list of outside lawyers hired and hourly fees charged.

But no one keeps track of the overall spending. The governor, legislature and other state elected officials, such as Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, do not have to report their spending on legal fees to the state’s chief legal officer.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

lGbt activist interroGateD at miami international airport Michael K. Lavers of The Washington Blade couRTesy of The NaTioNaL Gay MeDia associaTioN

m

iami | I left the Dominican Republic on Sunday with the expectation that my trip home to D.C. was going to be uneventful. An agent with U.S. Customs and Border Protection who was working at Miami International Airport ensured that it was not.

American Airlines Flight 1481 took off from Las Américas International Airport in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo shortly after 3:45 p.m. It landed in Miami less than two hours later without incident.

Marisa Hutchinson, an LGBT activist from Barbados, and José Angel Santoro, a Spanish man who is the secretary general of Rainbow Rose, the LGBT network of the Party of European Socialists, were also on my flight. We and more than 300 other people from across Latin America and the Caribbean attended a conference in Santo Domingo that the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute co-sponsored with Diversidad Dominicana, an advocacy group in the Dominican Republic, and Caribe Afirmativo, an LGBT rights organization that works in northern Colombia.

José Angel waited for me on the jetway. Marisa was behind us as we walked into the terminal.

The two CBP agents who were standing near the end of the jetway allowed José Angel and I to walk past them without incident. We stopped near a moving walkway and saw that one of the agents was questioning Marisa.

The agent — a man who was in his late 30s or early 40s — had taken Marisa’s passport and was increasingly aggressive as he asked her about why she was in the Dominican Republic and what she did as an LGBT activist.

The agent told us Marisa could not provide him the specific name of the conference – which was in Spanish – the three of us had just attended. José Angel told the agent it focused on LGBT rights and political participation. The agent asked us what LGBT means, so José Angel and I explained it to him.

The agent who was interrogating Marisa asked José Angel and I for our passports after we approached him. The agent then asked me what I do for a living.

“I’m a journalist,” I told him indignantly while holding my iPhone in my hand.

I asked CBP on Monday to provide me with information on whether agents have the expressed authority to question passengers who arrive in the U.S. on international flights before they enter customs.

A spokesperson emailed me a statement.

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection realizes the importance of international travel to the U.S. economy and we strive to process arriving travelers as efficiently and securely as possible while ensuring compliance with laws and regulations governing the international arrival process,” it reads. “All travelers arriving to the U.S. are subject to CBP inspection.”

The statement said there are “many reasons” that agents “decide to examine someone.”

“Everyone who arrives at a U.S. port of entry is subject to inspection,” says CBP on its website. “We do not assume that you have done anything wrong.”

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WHAT IS GENVOYA®?

Who should not take GENVOYA?

GENVOYA is a 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years and older and weigh at least 77 lbs.

It can either be used in people who are starting HIV-1 treatment and have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, or people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements. These include having an undetectable viral load (less than 50 copies/mL) for 6 months or more on their current HIV-1 treatment. GENVOYA combines 4 medicines into 1 pill taken once a day with food.

GENVOYA is a complete HIV-1 treatment and should not be used with other HIV-1 medicines.

Do not take GENVOYA if you take:

GENVOYA does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. To control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses, you must keep taking GENVOYA. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to reduce the risk of passing HIV-1 to others. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

• Changes in body fat, which can happen in people taking HIV-1 medicines.

• Certain prescription medicines for other conditions.

It is important to ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with GENVOYA. Do not start a new medicine without telling your healthcare provider.

• The herbal supplement St. John’s wort.

• Any other medicines to treat HIV-1 infection.

What are the other possible side effects of GENVOYA? Serious side effects of GENVOYA may also include:

• Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking GENVOYA.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

• Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. If you develop new or worse kidney problems, they may tell you to stop taking GENVOYA.

GENVOYA may cause serious side effects:

The most common side effect of GENVOYA is nausea. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or don’t go away.

What is the most important information I should know about GENVOYA? • Build-up of an acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Serious liver problems. The liver may become large and fatty.

Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turning yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; light-colored bowel movements (stools); loss of appetite; nausea; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness in the right side of your stomach area.

• You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking GENVOYA for a long time. In some cases, lactic acidosis and serious liver problems have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions.

• Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. GENVOYA is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV and stop taking GENVOYA, your HBV may suddenly get worse.

Do not stop taking GENVOYA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking GENVOYA? • All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection.

• All the medicines you take, including prescription and over-thecounter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Other medicines may affect how GENVOYA works. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. Ask your healthcare provider if it is safe to take GENVOYA with all of your other medicines.

• If you take antacids. Take antacids at least 2 hours before or after you take GENVOYA. • If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if GENVOYA can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking GENVOYA. • If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Important Facts about GENVOYA including Important Warnings on the following page.

Ask your healthcare provider if GENVOYA is right for you, and visit GENVOYA.com to learn more.

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S

P

T a p w t

GENVOYA does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.

SHOW YOUR

POWER Take care of what matters most—you. GENVOYA is a 1-pill, once-a-day complete HIV-1 treatment for people who are either new to treatment or people whose healthcare provider determines they can replace their current HIV-1 medicines with GENVOYA.

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IMPORTANT FACTS This is only a brief summary of important information about GENVOYA and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.

(jen-VOY-uh) MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT GENVOYA

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF GENVOYA

GENVOYA® may cause serious side effects, including: • Build-up of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Severe liver problems, which in some cases can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; light-colored bowel movements (stools); loss of appetite; nausea; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness in the right side of your stomach area.

• Worsening of Hepatitis B (HBV) infection. GENVOYA is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking GENVOYA. Do not stop taking GENVOYA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking GENVOYA for a long time.

GENVOYA can cause serious side effects, including: • Those in the “Most Important Information About GENVOYA” section.

• Changes in body fat.

• Changes in your immune system.

• New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure.

The most common side effect of GENVOYA is nausea.

These are not all the possible side effects of GENVOYA. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking GENVOYA. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with GENVOYA.

ABOUT GENVOYA • GENVOYA is a prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years

of age and older and weigh at least 77 lbs who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before. GENVOYA can also be used to replace current HIV-1 medicines for some people who have an undetectable viral load (less than 50 copies/mL of virus in their blood), and have been on the same HIV-1 medicines for at least 6 months and have never failed HIV-1 treatment, and whose healthcare provider determines that they meet certain other requirements.

• GENVOYA does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. Ask your healthcare provider about how to prevent passing HIV-1 to others.

Do NOT take GENVOYA if you: • Take a medicine that contains: alfuzosin (Uroxatral®), carbamazepine (Carbatrol®, Epitol®, Equetro®, Tegretol®, Tegretol-XR®, Teril®), cisapride (Propulsid®, Propulsid Quicksolv®), dihydroergotamine (D.H.E. 45®, Migranal®), ergotamine (Cafergot®, Migergot®, Ergostat®, Medihaler Ergotamine®, Wigraine®, Wigrettes®), lovastatin (Advicor®, Altoprev®, Mevacor®), lurasidone (Latuda®), methylergonovine (Ergotrate®, Methergine®), midazolam (when taken by mouth), phenobarbital (Luminal®), phenytoin (Dilantin®, Phenytek®), pimozide (Orap®), rifampin (Rifadin®, Rifamate®, Rifater®, Rimactane®), sildenafil when used for lung problems (Revatio®), simvastatin (Simcor®, Vytorin®, Zocor®), or triazolam (Halcion®).

• Take the herbal supplement St. John’s wort.

• Take any other HIV-1 medicines at the same time.

BEFORE TAKING GENVOYA Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

• Have any other medical condition.

• Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

• Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

• Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with GENVOYA.

HOW TO TAKE GENVOYA • GENVOYA is a complete one pill, once a day HIV-1 medicine.

• Take GENVOYA with food.

GET MORE INFORMATION • This is only a brief summary of important information about GENVOYA. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

• Go to GENVOYA.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit GENVOYA.com for program information.

GENVOYA, the GENVOYA Logo, LOVE WHAT’S INSIDE, SHOW YOUR POWER, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. Version date: December 2016 © 2017 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. GENC0125 02/17

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nation+world news

in other news

Creator of rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBTQ rights, dies at 65 Wire Report

N

EW YORK | Gilbert Baker, the creator of the rainbow flag that has become a widely recognized symbol of gay rights has died. He was 65.

Baker was found dead Friday at his New York City home. The city medical examiner’s office said Saturday that he had died of hypertensive heart disease.

Baker was born in Kansas and served in the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1972.

He was stationed in San Francisco in the early days of the gay rights movement and continued to live there after his honorable discharge.

According to Baker’s website, he taught himself to sew and began making banners for gay and anti-war marches, creating the rainbow flag in 1978.

Baker said in a 2008 interview

that he knew instantly from the way people reacted to the flag that it was “going to be something.

I didn’t know what or how … but I knew.”

Baker was part of a circle of San Francisco gay activists that included Harvey Milk, the city supervisor who was assassinated in 1978; and Cleve Jones, who created the Names Project AIDS memorial quilt in the 1980s.

In an interview Saturday, Jones recalled the rainbow flag’s first appearance at the 1978 gay pride parade.

“It was quite amazing to stand there and watch all these thousands of people turn off Market Street into San Francisco Civic Center Plaza and march beneath these giant flags that were flapping in the wind,” Jones said.

“People looked up and faces lit up and, without any explanation, this was now our flag.”

The flag was initially eight

N.C. governor signs deal to replace HB2 as LGBT advocates cry betrayal

colors, but it was cut to six because of the limited availability of fabrics, Jones said. He said Baker rejected advice to patent the rainbow flag design and never made a penny off it.

Baker also designed flags for civic occasions including the inauguration of Dianne Feinstein, now California’s senior U.S. senator, as mayor of San Francisco.

Baker moved to New York in 1994 and created a mile-long rainbow flag for the gay pride parade, which that year commemorated the 25th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising.

Current San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee said in a statement that the rainbow flag “has become a source of solace, comfort and pride for all those who look upon it.”

“Gilbert was a trailblazer for LGBT rights, a powerful artist and a true friend to all who knew him,” Lee said.

Caribbean pastors ask U.S. to stop promoting LGBT rights abroad Michael K. Lavers of The Washington Blade courtesy of the National Gay Media Association

N

early 300 religious officials from the Caribbean and Guyana have urged the U.S. to no longer promote LGBT and intersex rights abroad.

The 289 ministers who are from the Bahamas, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana made the request in a letter they sent to President Trump on Jan. 31.

“We write to you as concerned Christian ministers and churches from the Caribbean region (including the Bahamas) who hope and pray that the United States, under your leadership, will once again cast a light from ‘The City upon a Hill’ of which your American forefathers and

President Ronald Reagan so frequently spoke,” reads the letter.

“Sadly, during recent years, that City has too often cast shadows instead of light.”

“We refer specifically to the policies of the U.S. State Department and other government agencies involved in foreign policy that have undertaken to coerce our countries into accepting a mistaken version of marriage,” it continues.

The letter specifically notes the appointment of Randy Berry as the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBT and intersex rights in 2015 was central to “the promotion of same-sex marriage” in American foreign policy. It also questions then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2011 speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council in which she said “gay rights are human rights.”

“We have our rights by virtue

of being human beings and not by anything else — not our ethnicity, not our religion, not our race, not our tribe and certainly not our sexual orientation,” reads the letter.

The letter also points out to Trump that “several of your government agencies” are “using executive orders to foist transgender confusion through the bathroom issue on your public schools by threatening the loss of federal funds.”

“Please understand that this same kind of coercion is being used against our countries to force us to fall in line with the entire same-sex agenda,” it reads.

The Obama administration last year advised public schools that Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972 requires them to allow trans students to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Trump rescinded this guidance on Feb. 22.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Gay rights groups that fiercely supported Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s winning campaign last fall because of his pledge to repeal North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” now say he betrayed them by accepting the recent compromise, calling it a “dirty deal” with Republicans. Many fellow Democrats also were upset with the compromise, which got rid of the provision requiring transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to their birth certificate but kept state lawmakers in charge of future bathroom policies. That provision in particular angered businesses, the NCAA, the NBA and others who withdrew events and expansions from North Carolina at a steep cost.

Tennessee reporter sues over firing after story on lawmakers A National Public Radio affiliate reporter has sued over her firing after she covered meetings between high schoolers and legislators who said she secretly recorded them discussing LGBT issues. WUTC-FM reporter Jacqui Helbert sued University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which licenses the station. The Hamilton County Circuit Court lawsuit claims she was fired because lawmakers threatened retaliation against UTC. It claims she accurately reported Sen. Mike Bell’s inflammatory words and truthful, unpopular words by Rep. Kevin Brooks. UTC says Helbert was fired because her story didn’t treat lawmakers equally and she didn’t identify herself as a reporter.

Chechnya police arrest 100 alleged gays, 3 killed A respected Russian newspaper says it has uncovered information that police in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya have rounded up more than 100 men suspected of homosexuality and that at least three have been killed.

The report in Novaya Gazeta said it had confirmed the information with sources in the Chechen police and government, but gave no details. The report was denied

by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s spokesman, who suggested there are no homosexuals in the Muslim-majority region. Ali Karimov said, according to the state news agency RIA Novosti, “it’s impossible to persecute those who are not in the republic.”

German Cabinet OKs plan to annul homosexuality convictions Germany’s Cabinet approved a bill that would annul the convictions of thousands of gay men under a law criminalizing homosexuality that was applied zealously in post-World War II West Germany. The decision also clears the way for compensation for those still alive who were convicted under the so-called Paragraph 175 outlawing sexual relations between men. The bill still requires parliamentary approval. It foresees compensation of 3,000 euros ($3,230) for each conviction, plus 1,500 euros for every year of jail time that convicted men started.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

21

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771 West Canton Avenue Winter Park, FL 32789 From the $730s • 866-994-3639 See a David Weekley Homes Sales Consultant for complete details. Not valid with any other offer or previously written contracts. Visitors must register in person with a David Weekley Homes Sales Consultant in a participating city between April 1, 2017, and April 30, 2017, and will be entered into a drawing to win one of three prizes. Only one registration or entry per family. Employees of David Weekley Homes and their immediate family members are not eligible to win. Electronics and Appliance Packages and Smart Watch are awarded in the form of a Gift Card from Best Buy (or equivalent retailer, at Weekley’s option). Drawings will be held May 10, 2017, and winners will be contacted by a David Weekley Homes Representative to make arrangements to recieve Gift Cards. Cash will not be given in lieu of prizes. No purchase necessary to win. $5 donation to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Florida will be made for Visitors who register at a David Weekley Homes model or Showcase Home in the Orlando area between April 1, 2017, and April 30, 2017. Registration limited to one per family. David Weekley Homes reserves the right to terminate the program or change rules at any time. See a David Weekley Homes Sales Consultant for details. Prices, plans, dimensions, features, specifications, materials, and availability of homes or communities are subject to change without notice or obligation. Illustrations are artist’s depictions only and may differ from completed improvements. Copyright © 2017 David Weekley Homes - All Rights Reserved. CBC1257289 Weekley Homes.

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Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

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viewpoint

Michael Wanzie

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF WANZIE The lying liar who lies

“I

’m the President and

you’re not.” Nanny-nanny boo-boo. Henie-meaniewhoonie-Hinie-Ho!

What a fucking embarrassment this man is. Between the total disrespect he showed German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her recent visit to his outrageous lie regarding Great Britain and his slanderous unsubstantiated allegations against President Obama - one of the most decent men to have ever held the office – of committing a felony! I can’t even. So I won’t.

Suffice it to say our popular-vote-losing President Pinnochio continues to prove on a daily basis that he has no use for facts or truth and that he is completely clueless about how it is a head of state governs, let alone how one is expected to behave in the company of other heads of state.

Not a clue!

I used to love playing the game Clue as a child. If playing at school or among Boy Scouts I was always Professor Plum, but when playing in the safety of my own home with my sister and female cousins I always insisted on being Miss Scarlet.

Scarlett O’Hara famously said, “After all, tomorrow is another day” which is a sentiment I repeat in almost mantra-like fashion to calm myself to sleep after enduring a day of President Pinocchio’s relentless denigration of our free press.

Do they still make Lee Press-On Nails?

Jews are the ones who nailed Christ to the cross, or so they say. Mel Gibson went to great lengths to exploit this assertion in his horror/slasher film Passion of the Christ.

With Easter almost here and all the hope that spring brings with it, I am somehow reminded by this time of renewal how much I despise Mr. Gibson and how happy I am he did not win an Oscar for Hacksaw Ridge. Which reminds me; it was in Choctaw Ridge that Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off

the Tallahatchie Bridge.

A moment of silence please as we call to mind all those who sought release from this world by jumping off a bridge.

“Bridge Mix” is a curious thing. Boxed or bagged, tradition has it that a hodge-podge of milk and dark chocolate-coated almonds, pecans and raisins constitutes “Bridge Mix.” I would assume it came into fashion as ladies who lunch blended their snacks over a game of cards as opposed to riveters and steel workers mixing up their nuts atop the White Stone or Golden Gate.

Saint Louis is the Gateway to the West. The West Wing of the White House is where precious real estate has recently been allocated as office space for the daughter of the President of the United States. Ivanka Trump has no official status and will not be on the payroll, but she now enjoys security clearance of the highest level. This turn of events is sort of like “Bridge Mix”: a curious thing.

Those of us of a certain age will remember “Thing” from The Addams Family as being a detached hand that would spring up from a black box whenever his able-handed assistance might be necessary.

Which begs the question: Is it necessary to at least attempt to be semi-truthful as a matter of routine while holding the position of President of the United States of America? And unfortunately, the answer is a resounding NO! We have a president who lies to us every single day.

Even when it is proven to him on camera that the shit he is spewing bears no resemblance to the truth he’ll tell that exact same lie again without skipping a beat. And he will continue to tell that lie as often as it may suit him, because his approach to the presidency is one of head games and deflection. One of created chaos and reality show showmanship. It’s an amazing and unprecedented set of circumstances. We have a sitting president who has proven time and again that he lies with great ease and regularity, and has no regrets

for having done so. We now know we simply cannot and should not trust our president to speak the truth. Ever. We have a president who quite possibly lacks the capacity to tell the truth. Ever. Not only is this scary, but it makes me profoundly sad and

supper at Lenny’s Dog House – planning and scheming my running away from home.

Which I did to come to Orlando to be a fearless Jungle Cruise skipper. You can learn the whole true-life-adventure being portrayed through witty repartee and song-and

wherein 24 mature-audience shows will present teasers.

I will be emceeing the mature-audience program.

This event sells out every year, so I encourage you to reserve your tickets now: www.

OrlandoFringe.Showare.com P.S. Dear Blue Fairy,

embarrassed and worried for your country.

Did you know that Lion Country Safari is still a going concern? The venerable drive-thru zoo attraction has been operating in placid Loxahatchee, Florida, since 1967!

In 1967 I was 10 years old and living in Shelton Connecticut – singing for my

dance in my upcoming show WANZIE WITH A Z set to debut at the 2017 Orlando Fringe Festival in May. Orlando Fringe will present its annual evening of previews on Monday evening, April 17, 2017. Twenty-four general-audience shows will present two-minute teasers followed by a second and separately ticketed program

Can you please transform President Pinnochio into a real human?

Scarlett O’Hara famously said, ‘After all, tomorrow is another day’ which is a sentiment I repeat in almost mantra-like fashion to calm myself to sleep after enduring a day of President Pinoc-chio’s relentless denigration of our free press.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Michael Wanzie is a playwright and theatrical producer residing in Orlando. You may subscribe to his weekly WANZeGRAM performing arts & cultural e-newsletter by logging onto WANZIE.com

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Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

What has changed since June 12, 2016?

Since the tragic event at Pulse, tell us all how Orlando has changed, for the better or for the worse, whatever you want the rest of the city to hear and know. In the aftermath of the tragedy, a lot of people said a lot of things, and some plans were put into motion, but the question remains What Has Changed? Please express yourself; Sam Flax will ensure that you are heard.

Following the Paint Strong Orlando model of last year, Sam Flax will be handing out supplies free of cost to those who wish to create a piece of art in response to the year since Pulse. All you have to do is come into the store, fill out a materials request form; you will then be notified when the materials are ready for pick up.

Here are the relevant dates: SUBMIT MATERIALS REQUEST DEADLINE:

Saturday, April 15th PICK UP MATERIALS DEADLINE:

Sunday, April 23rd SUBMIT ARTWORK DEADLINE:

Sunday, May 21st This new collection, What Has Changed? is scheduled to go on display at the Orange County Public Library downtown June 15th, 2017. After that, it is impossible to say where the collection will travel, but if the Paint Strong Orlando Collection is any indication, it will be seen by tens of thousands of people in Orlando and beyond.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: LYNDA@FLAXORL.COM

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

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Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

viewpoint

Maia Monet

trans oF thouGht Being Trans in the age of Trump

a

s yOu ReaD this,

Transgender Day of Visibility will have just passed on March 31. It is a day where some trans people choose to make themselves known for the sake of putting a human face you know on a previously hidden condition.

No doubt, greater awareness of us in society has improved our fortunes, but it has also been greeted with a backlash of resistance. I recently read of a bus touring the east coast of the United States from Boston to Washington, D.C. with a message painted on its side that reads, “It’s biology: Boys are boys, and always will be.

Girls are girls, and always will be. You can’t change sex.

Respect all.” For emphasis, silhouettes of boys and girls, with the letters XX and XY printed conspicuously close to the genital region, adorn the sides.

According to Joseph Grabowski, spokesperson for the anti-LGBTQ group and bus sponsor National Organization for Marriage, the purpose of their rolling billboard is to embolden citizens to express views of trans people as unnatural. In their twisted logic, it is an exercise of free speech and not transphobia. Presumably, it is this concept to which the “Respect all” portion of their slogan refers, but as we have seen through hate crimes across the U.S. in the wake of electing an anti-intellectual president who wears his prejudices on his sleeve, the respect they seek is the ability to not respect at all.

However, research by professional medical and psychological associations find that being transgender is a legitimate condition that requires medical and societal accommodations to allow for our wellbeing.

Unfortunately, basic human rights to health, sustenance, and to exist outwardly in society are too much to ask of those who prefer when we were relegated to the shadows. It appears that many of those who elected Trump anticipated a return to those days and he seems to be willing to oblige.

The Trump administration, while generally inept at media messaging and the legislative process, has been cagey enough to know that full frontal assaults on new institutions like marriage equality would risk angering an American public that is largely supportive of its gay citizens. Nonetheless, if you’ll permit me a moment of gloating, in a previous article I sounded the alarm bell on how the administration could chip away at all of our rights by exploiting the misunderstanding of transgender people and the schism between the T with the rest of the LGB. Well, the administration must have had a look at my playbook, because that is exactly the strategy they are executing.

I also expressed a fear that, outside of LGBTQ orgs and trans people, on the whole the reaction from the community would be initial outrage followed by a lack of action. Again, to my chagrin, that fear has proven to be well founded.

You may think I’m being unduly harsh, but this isn’t a time to be asleep at the wheel. The administration took two steps to possibly put a bigger play in motion with repercussions that will eventually impact all of us.

The Department of Justice indicated they would not prosecute cases of gender identity discrimination based on Title IX sex discrimination, saying it is unclear if it is applicable, despite more than a decade of precedent. They also rescinded the Obama era guidance on protecting gender identity in our public schools by stating it was a local issue.

It is that last piece that is so dangerous. Instead

of attempting to create legislation, like a national version of HB2 in North Carolina that would be sure to meet with protest and resistance, they will literally do nothing to enforce existing federal law. They are leaving it to individual school districts and states to take the heat

to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and now faces an uncertain future.

If this tactic proves successful for Trump, it could be applied to other larger issues. So-called “religious freedom” bills to discriminate against gay people in largely Republican-controlled

these bills. So what started as a strategy to curtail the rights of transgender people might soon be employed to discriminate against our entire community.

Perhaps I’m being alarmist, but anyone who has been paying attention to Trump’s first 100 days

for active discrimination and rolling the dice that the lawsuits to come might break in their favor or at least take years to wind through the court systems. The immediate impact has been that a pending March case before the Supreme Court brought by trans student Gavin Grimm, which would have created a national precedent on gender identity for schools, was instead remanded back

state houses all around the country would seem to be the logical next step and indeed have already been introduced. All the while the Trump administration, with its stalling tactics, is buying time during which one more liberal or moderate Supreme Court justice might leave, and increasing the chances that a conservative-leaning high court would support any new such laws resulting from

in office, can’t help but be alarmed. True, he has been blocked in some of his more radical executive actions, but he has also been stealthily successful in others. I’m fearful we won’t wake up to the ramifications until it is too late.

What started as a strategy to curtail the rights of transgender people might soon be employed to discriminate against our entire community.

Melody Maia Monet operates a YouTube channel on transgender issues. You can view her videos at https://www.youtube.com/melodymaia

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

27

What is TRUVADA for PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis)?

u You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver

TRUVADA is a prescription medicine that can be used for PrEP to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection when used together with safer sex practices. This use is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This includes HIV-negative men who have sex with men and who are at high risk of getting infected with HIV-1 through sex, and male-female sex partners when one partner has HIV-1 infection and the other does not.

Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to prevent getting HIV-1. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

Who should not take TRUVADA for PrEP?

problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking TRUVADA for a long time. In some cases, these serious conditions have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions. u Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you also have HBV and take TRUVADA, your hepatitis may become worse if you stop taking TRUVADA. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider. If your healthcare provider tells you to stop taking TRUVADA, they will need to watch you closely for several months to monitor your health. TRUVADA is not approved for the treatment of HBV. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status.

If you are HIV-1 positive, you need to take other medicines with TRUVADA to treat HIV-1.

TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time.

Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you also take lamivudine (Epivir-HBV) or adefovir (HEPSERA).

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about TRUVADA for PrEP? Before taking TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: u You must be HIV-negative. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1 infection. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-negative. u Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. If you have flu-like symptoms, you could have recently become infected with HIV-1. Tell your healthcare provider if you had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting TRUVADA for PrEP or at any time while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin.

While taking TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: u You must continue using safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1. u You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. u To further help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1: • Know your HIV-1 status and the HIV-1 status of your partners.

• Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months or when your healthcare provider tells you.

• Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV-1 to infect you.

• Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior.

• Have fewer sex partners.

• Do not miss any doses of TRUVADA. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection.

• If you think you were exposed to HIV-1, tell your healthcare provider right away. u If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time.

TRUVADA can cause serious side effects: u Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, nausea, vomiting, stomach-area pain, cold or blue hands and feet, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or fast or abnormal heartbeats. uSerious liver problems. Your liver may become large and tender, and you may develop fat in your liver. Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, and/or stomach-area pain.

What are the other possible side effects of TRUVADA for PrEP?

Serious side effects of TRUVADA may also include: u Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider may do blood tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with TRUVADA for PrEP. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking TRUVADA for PrEP. u Bone problems, including bone pain or bones getting soft or thin, may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones. u Changes in body fat, which can happen in people taking TRUVADA or medicines like TRUVADA. Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP are stomacharea (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking TRUVADA for PrEP?

u All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you

have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection. u If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if TRUVADA can harm your unborn baby. If you become pregnant while taking TRUVADA for PrEP, talk to your healthcare provider to decide if you should keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Pregnancy Registry: A pregnancy registry collects information about your health and the health of your baby. There is a pregnancy registry for women who take medicines to prevent HIV-1 during pregnancy.

For more information about the registry and how it works, talk to your healthcare provider. u If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. The medicines in TRUVADA can pass to your baby in breast milk. If you become HIV-1 positive, HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. u All the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. TRUVADA may interact with other medicines. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. u If you take certain other medicines with TRUVADA for PrEP, your healthcare provider may need to check you more often or change your dose. These medicines include ledipasvir with sofosbuvir (HARVONI).

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Important Facts about TRUVADA for PrEP including important warnings on the following page.

TVDC0083_A_9-25x10-1_Watermark_p2.indd 1-2

28

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

Have you heard about

TRUVADA for PrEP™?

The once-daily prescription medicine that can help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 when used with safer sex practices.

• TRUVADA for PrEP is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV through sex.

• You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Ask your doctor about your risk of getting HIV-1 infection and if TRUVADA for PrEP may be right for you.

visit start.truvada.com

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

3/21/17 1:34 PM

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

29

IMPORTANT FACTS (tru-VAH-dah)

This is only a brief summary of important information about taking TRUVADA for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. This does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your medicine.

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF TRUVADA FOR PrEP

Before starting TRUVADA for PrEP to help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: • You must be HIV-1 negative. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1 infection. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-1 negative.

• Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include flu-like symptoms, tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin. Tell your healthcare provider if you have had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting TRUVADA for PrEP. While taking TRUVADA for PrEP to help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: • You must continue using safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1.

• You must stay HIV-1 negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. • Tell your healthcare provider if you have a flu-like illness while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. • If you think you were exposed to HIV-1, tell your healthcare provider right away.

• If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time.

• See the “How to Further Reduce Your Risk” section for more information.

TRUVADA may cause serious side effects, including: • Buildup of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, nausea, vomiting, stomach-area pain, cold or blue hands and feet, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or fast or abnormal heartbeats.

• Severe liver problems, which in some cases can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, and/or stomach-area pain.

• Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you have HBV and take TRUVADA, your hepatitis may become worse if you stop taking TRUVADA. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking TRUVADA for a long time.

TRUVADA can cause serious side effects, including: • Those in the “Most Important Information About TRUVADA for PrEP" section.

• New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure.

• Bone problems.

• Changes in body fat.

Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP include stomacharea (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight.

These are not all the possible side effects of TRUVADA. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with TRUVADA for PrEP.

• Take 1 tablet once a day, every day, not just when you think you have been exposed to HIV-1.

• Do not miss any doses. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection.

• You must practice safer sex by using condoms and you must stay HIV-1 negative.

ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP (PRE-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS)

HOW TO FURTHER REDUCE YOUR RISK

TRUVADA is a prescription medicine used with safer sex practices for PrEP to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection in adults at high risk: • HIV-1 negative men who have sex with men and who are at high risk of getting infected with HIV-1 through sex.

• Male-female sex partners when one partner has HIV-1 infection and the other does not.

To help determine your risk, talk openly with your doctor about your sexual health.

Do NOT take TRUVADA for PrEP if you: • Already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status.

• Take lamivudine (Epivir-HBV) or adefovir (HEPSERA).

• Know your HIV-1 status and the HIV-1 status of your partners.

• Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months or when your healthcare provider tells you.

• Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV-1 to infect you.

• Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior.

• Have fewer sex partners.

• Do not share needles or personal items that can have blood or body fluids on them.

TRUVADA, the TRUVADA Logo, TRUVADA FOR PREP, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, and HEPSERA are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. Version date: April 2016 © 2017 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. TVDC0083 03/17

TVDC0083_A_9-25x10-1_Watermark_p2.indd 3

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BEFORE TAKING TRUVADA FOR PrEP Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

• Have any other medical conditions.

• Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

• Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you become HIV-1 positive because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

• Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with TRUVADA for PrEP.

HOW TO TAKE TRUVADA FOR PrEP

GET MORE INFORMATION • This is only a brief summary of important information about TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection.

Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more, including how to prevent HIV-1 infection.

• Go to start.truvada.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit start.truvada.com for program information.

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talking points

People don’t know how to place me in their consciousness.

NORTH CAROLINA’S

they think, ‘Oh, you must be here to make me look good. that’s what gay guys are, right? you’re an accessory for my straight life.’ Just because your limited view is that everyone’s there to serve you and that you’re the only person in the world. it doesn’t work that way.

ANTI-LGBTQ LAW

KNOWN AS HB2

$3.76

WiLL COst the state

BILLION

— RupauL ON “the DiNNeR paRty DOwNLOaD” pODcast abOut hOw stRaight peOpLe view gay meN.

orAnGE is thE nEW BLAck star samira WiLey and Writer LaUren mOreLLi Wed

O

RANGE IS THE NEW BLACK staR samiRa wiLey wed her longtime girlfriend Lauren Morelli in Palm Springs on Saturday. Wiley and Morelli’s ceremony and reception will be featured in the June issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. The magazine reports the couple wore dresses designed by Christian Siriano. Wiley’s parents, who are pastors at Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ in D.C., officiated the ceremony. Morelli, a writer for Orange is the New Black, met Wiley on set. Morelli was married to her husband, Steve Basilone, but they divorced in 2014 after working on the show helped her realize her attraction to women. “I realized I was gay in fall 2012, one of my first days on the set,” Morelli wrote in an essay for Mic.com.

Wiley and Morelli began dating and became engaged in October.

IN

BUSINESS EXPANSION CANCELLATIONS,

PERFORMERS NIXING EVENTS AND

VISITOR BOYCOTTS

Over the COUrse Of

A DOZEN YEARS

.

— an Associated Press analysis

sarah paULsOn Wants tO pLay dOnaLd trUmp in AMEricAn horror storY seasOn 7

S

aRah pauLsON is iNteResteD in playing Donald Trump on the election-themed seventh season of American Horror Story. While at PaleyFest, Paulson was asked by The Hollywood Reporter who should play the president in the upcoming season. “I’d like to play Donald Trump,” Paulson said.

“If Donald Trump is going to be a character in it … Why not? That’s an acting challenge to be sure.”

American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy revealed the seventh season would focus on the 2016 presidential election while on “Watch What Happens Live” in February.

Murphy confirmed to E! that Trump and Hillary Clinton have not yet been cast.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

ap styLebOOk adds gender-neUtraL prOnOUn ‘they’

T

he assOciateD pRess upDateD its styLebOOk, a style guide for journalists, to include the gender-neutral pronoun, “They.”

“We offer new advice for two reasons: recognition that the spoken language uses ‘they’ as singular, and we also recognize the need for a pronoun for people who don’t identify as a he or a she,” Paula Froke, lead editor for the AP Stylebook, said. The stylebook also added “LGBTQ” but adds that the “queer” part of the abbreviation could be considered a slur in some cases. The entry for gender has been modified to read that gender is “not synonymous with sex” and there is now an entry for homophobia.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

fan COLLapses at hELLo, doLLY! says he’d ‘rather die than miss aCt tWO’

O

Ne bette miDLeR FaN wasN’t gOiNg tO Let anything get in the way of seeing her perform live on Broadway in Hello, Dolly!, not even his health.

Page Six reports a 53-year-old man from Los Angeles fell ill during Act One but refused to leave the theater until the show was over. “[He] started to feel dizzy and made his way to the aisle. But he lost consciousness and collapsed before the end of his row,” sources said. “When he regained consciousness, they checked his vitals and insisted he should go straight to the hospital.” According to the sources, the man responded “I’d sooner die than miss Act Two.” Producer Scott Rudin reportedly offered the man free tickets to another showing.

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LOve is eveRythiNg: Supporters rally in 2015 for marriage victory. Photo CourteSy eQFL

in-depth: 20 years Of eqfL

Twenty-everything eQuality FloriDa celebrates two DecaDes oF makinG chanGe happen For our lGbtQ community

“D

Billy Manes

Oes this LOOk Ok?”

There are yachts. There is a breeze.

There is Charlie Crist’s condo out of the corner of the eye. But on this day in St. Petersburg, March 22, there is only one figure that absolutely matters, and she’s sitting on a tree close to Cassis American Brasserie, posing for her cover shot.

Nadine Smith is the force behind most LGBTQ measures that have changed Florida’s societal landscape. Her calm tones weighted by heavy thoughts have come to define the nature of Equality

Florida, the organization she formed with Miami’s Stratton Pollitzer 20 years ago. She played rugby at the Air Force academy, she says, but she didn’t know where the score would go thereafter.

“I went to the Air Force academy right out of high school, it was pre-don’t-ask-don’t-tell and I played rugby at the academy.

So if you want to be under the suspicion of being gay, play rugby at the Air Force academy,” she laughs. “I often say I was glad I went and I was glad I left. But I saw people getting kicked out in their senior year.

First-class cadets kicked out on dishonorable discharge and then being dispelled to pay their entire education, and so it was such a visible thing. I mean, up until that point in my life, homophobia was in the air but it wasn’t as clearly structural.”

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

So she made her own structure. Equality Florida, which exists as both a political action committee and an activist organizing group, built inroads in Florida for 20 years, standing up to municipal commissioners and state legislators alike. The bullying fight. The adoption fight. The marriage fight. All of them have been driven by the purposefulness of EQFL and its ever-growing field of supporters.

In its two decades, Equality Florida has gained more than 270,000 supporters. It has been instrumental in winning marriage equality as that house of hate cards tumbled nationwide. It

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has been behind the passage of more than 170 municipal bills that would not let more discrimination see the light of day, including those involving schools, employment, housing and domestic partnership. It has, in short, stood up to the bullies from the right by using reason, calculation and dignity.

And the fight continues.

Watermark caught up with some of the key players on the EQFL team, past and present, to look back at 20 years of running up that hill, and to see what keeps the team going.

COntinUed On pg. 35 | uu |

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Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

of marriage act. That legislative session was a really crazy one for the LGBTQ community. Nadine [Smith] had been involved in creating the predecessor-organization to Equality Florida, which was called the Human Rights Task Force of Florida, and that was the group that formed to try stop Hillsborough County from repealing an anti-discrimination ordinance.

This precedes me: P.S. – pre-Stratton.

| uu | 20 Years of EQFL frOm pg.33

nadine smith

cO-fOunder And eXecutive directOr

“I remember our teacher telling us the girls have to marry boys and boys have to marry girls, which I literally took to mean that a boy would be assigned to me if I didn’t pick one. And I found the gayest little boy in class, who I will call Billy.

“Those experiences really helped to galvanize me around becoming an activist, though that process was sort of accidental. In college, I got involved in the Gay Student Union, which was mostly white gay men, it was mostly social club, and I literally didn’t even get the jokes they were making. I mean like socially, we were just worlds apart. I didn’t get the jokes, so I got more involved on the political side.

“So those were the things that sort of led me to the local organizing that became the regional organizing that became the statewide organizing that became the national organizing for the March on Washington. And the big thing in ’93 in the March on Washington that I co-chaired was ‘everybody don’t move to the big cities, make change where you live.’

When we passed the ordinance for repeal in Tampa and in other cities, we began to, we were sort of a lab, we passed in Tampa and then Hillsborough and other cities said how do you counter this and that’s how we sort of became statewide. We were helping other cities do that and that’s the origin of what has become Equality Florida.

“I think the things that we have taken on have come from the bottom up and the safe-schools work we did came because teachers and students and young people were calling, and in those early days you didn’t see a lot of LGBTQ groups working a lot with young people because of all of the stigma and all of the fear. Like no, they actually do have to see us, not just allies creating a safe environment.

“I remember very vividly the moment that our organization said we’re about to go all-in on marriage, and there was no polling that showed us winning. In 2008, 60 percent of our neighbors said, ‘No, you can’t have what I have. Your kids can’t have what my kids have.’ And none of the national groups that were doing marriage work prioritized Florida, and the message we got was: Florida will get it when the

yOu’ve gOtta Fight: 2014 Marriage Equality Plaintiffs press conference in South Florida. Photo CourteSy eQFL

“But my understanding is when they incorporated the Human Rights Task Force of Florida, because people in Pinellas County wanted to help the folks in Hillsborough County, they decided to make it a dual-county entity, and I think that there was something about the agreement that made it a statewide organization as opposed to just a Tampa-based organization. Even though their mission was really regional, they technically were the statewide LBTQ group. At the time, as legislation was moving in Tallahassee, we didn’t have anybody on the ground up there.

“We got destroyed in that fight.

The House voted 107-13, voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, and I met Nadine just as that fight was coming to a conclusion. I went to a monthly meeting of the Human Rights Task Force just to find out what the local LGBTQ group was.

EQFL Co-Founder and Deputy Director Stratton Pollitzer. Photo CourteSy eQFL

country gets it. So we put out a call for people willing to potentially be plaintiffs if we pursued a lawsuit and in 24 hours we got 4,000 people responding. It blew our doors off and people were sending their stories about their families and their lives and some had been tragic: my husbands dying, we’re married in Kansas, but strangers to each other here in Florida.

“We said we would pursue it in a way that allows us to do the public education to open the door for the kinds of decisions that we think about actually legally sound and culturally of the moment. And so we launched this campaign and these other victories started racking up and other lawsuits. We wanted to make sure that we vetted the folks who were going to get into it.

One, to really know that they were in it because they wanted to secure marriage, not because they were

bRick by bRick: EQFL executive director nadine Smith speaks to the Hillsborough County Commision in 2013. Photo by niCk CarDeLLo

craving the spotlight but also to make sure they understood that they we’re going to be under a microscope.

“I think all of the plaintiffs in all of the lawsuits were remarkable, and that it was I think, when our judge lifted the ban and immediately started granting marriage in Florida [on January 6, 2015], I think our server might have crashed four or five times that day, just because of the notes and the wedding pictures and everything that people were sending us. It was incredible and I think that the other thing that’s important is that because in Florida, not because the Supreme Court ordered them to, but because judges in Florida made the beautiful case, the eloquent case for why marriage equality was so fundamental, that was part of the context in which the Supreme Court would later make it’s decision and having the south – this wasn’t just clusters of the states you would

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

expect – it mattered a great deal.

“We have an absolute, unshakeable commitment to transgender equality; it is woven into the DNA of the organization, we are, our Trans-Action program is being replicated in other states.

“All over the state, you’re seeing young voices from the trans community tell their stories and there’s no way under any circumstance that well go back from here. That is who Equality Florida is and will always be.”

strattOn pOLLitzer

cO-fOunder, deputy directOr

“I moved to St. Petersburg in 1997. My at-that-time boyfriend, now husband, was finishing his college degree at Eckerd. That’s why we moved up there. This was all happening in the year that Florida passed its Super-DOMA, it’s defense

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

“She wanted to know if I would be willing to sit in the office 20 hours a week. I had just moved there, casting about for work. So one of the things I was doing was helping Pride sell its Pride booth and sponsorships.

So I would go in 20 hours a week. To think that was a modest endeavor was the understatement of the year.

We didn’t have a computer. We had a telephone. For a desk I had these two rusty file cabinets with a door plank that could be bought for $20 across the top of them.

“That would have been April of 1997 when we first started [EQFL].

What was really clear was that there was this huge need for some kind of a statewide organization. And a defeat around DOMA just really put a spotlight on it. You had this loosely knit group of advocates around it and no central strategy. Over that summer of ’97, we began having conversations with the advisory board of the Human Rights Task Force about launching a statewide organization, with Nadine and I together agreeing to go full time at ridiculously small salaries. My full-time salary was $180 a week.

And Nadine’s was barely a sliver more than that. I think she was making $200. But like we said, we

COntinUed On pg. 37 | uu |

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Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

I got started as an intern in 2007 and I got hired on full-time in 2009 to work on our safe-schools program and worked with 10-15 school districts in Florida to strengthen gay-straight alliances in schools and enact anti-bullying policies. I was a little green then; I’m sure as a 19- or 20-year-old I was a little angry about it and definitely emboldened.

| uu | 20 Years of EQFL from pg.35

can’t ever have another session go buy without a full-time lobby, because not even imagining proactive legislation, just being able to block the bad stuff was important.

“In terms of Amendment 2 [the 2008 anti-gay marriage amendment] and the challenges for the local organizations, it really started in 2004. The country saw this wave of anti-marriage ballot measures. It was the re-election of President George Bush and people thinking that maybe these ballot measures were helping to shift presidential politics by turning out the base. There was a lot of discussion of that. So we knew that Florida was on the list. We knew that they were going to come here. They announced it right away, and they tried to get it on the ballot in 2006. We said from the get-go it’s pretty obvious that we can’t win. The polling just wasn’t there.

We have to fight like hell, anyway.

We have to use this opportunity to educate Floridians about who we are. And losing by 20 percent would be so much better than losing by 90 percent, like it did in Alabama. We thought, ‘We’ve got to keep this close enough to tell this story that Florida isn’t this uniquely homophobic state.’ We built a coalition of 240 progressive organizations that were committed to working with us, the largest progressive coalition that had ever been assembled in Florida.

“What happened was, in 2006, Florida amended its constitution to raise the threshold for new amendments to 60 percent. And all of the sudden there was a sense in Florida that we might actually be able to beat this. At the time, there was just a belief that state organizations were not themselves sophisticated and strong enough to lead the multimillion dollar campaigns.

“I think the strategy at that point was to raise enough media funds so that we can run television ads. I think anybody who goes back today and watches those ads, and I have, will recognize what a messaging mistake they were. They were from a time when we believed that the only way that we could win was to hide gay people.

“I do think that it was a painful lesson that took some time for everyone to get past. The other thing, I think we’ve always believed, and see much more often now: When There’s a big fight like HB 2 in North Carolina, and it requires all of these resources, one of the first questions

“Part of my paradigm shift that happened when I starting working with Equality Florida, when we fought for the domestic partnership registry in Orange County, as somebody who grow up here and was born and raised in Apopka, I never thought that there would be any kind of recognition for gay couples in the state that I was in. That really reshaped how I knew my work could make things possible.

No on 2: EQFL Marching in the 2008 Come Out With Pride Parade.

Equaity in tears: The faces and names of a tragedy at 2016 St.

Pete Pride. Photo Courtesy EQFL

that movements should ask and national donors are leaning in to help, one of the first questions should be, ‘Is what we are doing here to help lead this fight, will it leave them stronger? How can we make sure it leaves them stronger?’ Sometimes these big campaigns have crushed state organizations.”

Gina Duncan

diversity trainer, director of transgender inclusion

“We really didn’t have a focus on [transgender issues], and it was in meeting with Nadine that the charge was made that my job was to be to make sure that transgender inclusion was woven into everything we did at Equality Florida. And looking back at that, it was very insightful because it was right before this rapidly emerging wave of the transgender movement. It kind of took off, so our timing was really good in reference to that and it was a very positive experience because Equality Florida threw all their resources into giving me all the things I needed to do my job.

“It’s interesting because my corporate training influence experience and Wells Fargo certainly

Former EQFL field director Joe Saunders.

Photo by Jake Stevens

did train senior management in everything. It all just comes into different attributes of leadership and training. I was able to bring that corporate dialogue and tenor perhaps so that when I’m speaking to other corporations. Coming from that background, we kind of spoke the same language so I think that’s what made it so successful and continues to be successful in reaching out to these major employers.

“That really was Nadine’s attraction, as well. She thought that she needed someone coming from that environment to be able to speak to that environment. It’s proven to be right and the structure, kind of the background that I’m bringing is not only in the training facility but developing a structure across the state. As regional manager for Wells Fargo, I have area and branch managers in all the major metropolitan areas in the state so first thing I saw was we needed bandwidth, we needed scope so we developed Trans Action which is having branch managers in all the major metropolitan areas who are volunteer, transgender and gender nonconforming advocates in major markets that we can call on.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

“I felt like we were just starting to [break through], even though the bathroom issue is just you know, basically, backless, just a heinous hate speech against the transgender community. I felt let’s put it on the table, let’s vet it, let everyone realize, hopefully, the majority of folks would realize how just fact-less this is and has no merit in fact whatsoever so we could vet that. But it’s really been kind of the tipping point that I’ve already seen is when the Trump administration rolled back trans-student guidance. It came from the Obama administration, and there was this unanimity in that everyone agreed you don’t attack our kids, so we’ve seen a lot of engagement and a lot of school boards going, ‘You know, it’s OK if adults are fighting, but when you start going after kids and stripping away protections from our young people, that’s just wrong.’

So yeah, we’ve seen that kind of momentum that’s come from that, that’s been pervasive and has been rewarding to see that.”

Michael Farmer

statewide deputy director of development

“I’ve been a little bit of everything.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

“Ultimately, Equality Florida, when I joined the team there were six of us. With each big fight we’ve taken on, we’ve just gotten bigger and stronger. It really started around the marriage amendment in 2008, but the marriage lawsuit in 2014, and into 2015, it was really incredible to all of our programming.

It made us more visible. I think LGBT organizations struggle to build branding, but to be a force, that was an immense boost for us who were doing the work.

“In the state of Florida and the south, you have to do it all.”

Carlos Guillermo Smith staff member, state representative

“I got involved on the advice of Joe Saunders. I had just moved back from my stint in Georgia. It was maybe a year or a year-and-a-half after Barack Obama was inaugurated.

I was at a point in my life where I really wanted to get more politically engaged. I wanted to start advocating for the thing that I cared about the most. I talked to Joe, because he was somebody that I felt like really cared about the community and the LGBTQ population. How do I get involved? I’m a manager at the Men’s Wearhouse.

“They offered me an internship in 2010. I was an intern for Michael Farmer at first. We were doing a lot of back work. I was working for a lot of equality candidates in the 2010 election and knocking on doors.

But also, I was working Pride for Equality Florida, tabling for those kinds of events.

“What really pushed me over

Continued on pg. 39 | uu |

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| uu | 20 Years of EQFL from pg.37

the edge was when I was acting as an advocate, when I was at Equality Florida, fighting the transgender bathroom bill in 2015. I was so frustrated that these hostile, terrible anti-LGBT bills had been filed. I felt that I could be most effective in advocating for the issues that I really care about, not as a lobbyist for Equality Florida, but instead as a member of the Florida Legislature.

And that was what pushed me to decide to run for office.

“When I decided to run for public office, I thought I knew what my goals and priorities would be in terms of public service, but all of that changed on June 12. The tragedy was a painful and horrific reminder that homophobia still exists, and must be disarmed.

“Now especially, not only because the tragedy at Pulse, but now, especially, because it’s Donald Trump’s America. We must stand with those who are vulnerable, especially the transgender community and LGBTQ people of color who, across America, are most vulnerable to discrimination.

That’s why it’s still important for our organization to keep doing the work that it’s doing.”

Ed Lally

Tampa Bay development officer

“I’ve been involved from the very beginning, 1997. I was even involved with the Human Rights Task force before that. I think early on, I was just glad to see that there was an organization out there looking out for me and my community. I think Stratton and Nadine have grown tremendously in 20 years. I’ve been really heavily involved since 2003.

Nadine is probably the best in the country at what she does.

“I was actively going before the City Council and county commission… when they reversed the ban on a human rights ordinance.

I even put meetings together with some of the county organizations.

I brought one of them in to see the members of the community, then I brought in families. I don’t think he realized the damage of not being supportive.

“I think when we finally figured out that telling our stories to anyone who would listen, that’s when the majority of Floridians would listen to our story. Now we’re suffering the backlash.

“I just try to tell it as a story and

Fight the power: Gina Duncan (right, speaking) and Michael Farmer (center) join others to fight hate in 2016. Photo courtesy EQFL give people life examples of either the hurt of how it is to be an LGBT person or in an LGBT family. People thought once we get married, it’s all over with. My biggest message is we now are going to fight harder than we have to get these measures.”

Joe Saunders

former field director

“I was a student at UCF doing LGBT advocacy on campus. I had come up with this idea to link all the LGBT student organizations in college campuses around the state together. We had our initial conference when I was a junior in college. We did it in Miami. That’s when I first learned about Equality Florida because we were like, ‘We’re doing statewide work. Who else is doing statewide work?’

“And I don’t think Nadine spoke at that one; she was our keynote at the second one that we did my senior year in Tallahassee. I came across them in 2003-2004. I began to work with them in 2004-2005.

Nadine was our keynote speaker and it was the Florida Collegiate Pride Conference; FCPC is what we called it.

“And then also that year while we were organizing the conferences, Mallory Wells and I decided to team up and launch a statewide program led by students against the adoption ban called Kids Come First, which Watermark covered, actually. We were very excited about it. It was the biggest deal. Commissioner Patty Sheehan came and spoke at UCF. There were, I think, 2,100 kids in foster care that we were saying come out and get adopted by LGBT parents against the adoption ban.

So, we went out and raised like $6,000 or $7,000, which was a huge deal to us, and bought a bunch of stuff that represented the children.

We had 2,100 items. We toured around college campuses and universities collecting postcards to send to Tallahassee. So we did that in partnership with Equality Florida. Nadine spoke at some of that stuff . She knew she wanted to have a relationship and open up an Orlando office.

“I got hired in the summer of 2005; I was finishing my undergraduate political science degree at UCF. Mallory had already been hired. She came at it through HRC. Mallory was, I think, on staff

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

at the time, but hadn’t opened an office. And in 2005, that summer, we opened up our very first Orlando office. I cannot, for the life of me, remember where it was. There was one point where we were in the Watermark building. We had an office before that and that must’ve been the first one. The Watermark office was the second one.

“The staff meetings were always my favorite. We would come together twice a year and there was a summer and winter meetings. It was a place where we could come together and process all of the things that we had done. Nadine doesn’t mind talking about feelings and thinking really big, and that’s my favorite thing to do is think really big for everybody. She was always three steps ahead, and she would let everybody talk, and it would fit in with everything everyone had talked about, but it was more developed than anything we had talked about.”

Hannah Willard public policy director

“It’s only my third year, so I’m much newer than any veterans there. My background was actually in international human rights

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

and human traficking. I really had no inteniton of working for a domestic nonprofit, let alone a nonprofit in Orlando.

“When I started, the state of Florida was about to come under a seismic shift. Joining EQFL in May 2014, it was like being at the very top of a rollercoaster. To be at the center of it, to watch how we built a movement on real stories from real people, on dignity, and fairness. This really raw emotional plea that we wanted the same things as everyone.

“I feel incredibly lucky to be representing LGBT issues. I feel that more and more it’s a human issue.

I feel really humbled. It’s a huge privilege and a huge responsibility.

“We are investing deeply in shaking up Florida from the inside out. The reality is that Equality Florida’s work, it doesn’t always feel tangible. We don’t have a direct service modell. We are and our work is all about changing culture and changing policy.

“When you look at the last 20 years, you can see how EQFL has moved the needle. It’s slow. We are making huge strides and a ton of baby steps.”

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PROGRAM ANNOUNCED! ON SALE NOW Visit floridafilmfestival.com PRIMARY SPONSOR

40

PUBLIC PARTNER

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

arts and entertainment

DOIN’ WHAT COMES

NATUR’LLY

Broadway legend bernadette peters heads down south for a concert at Dr. Phillips

F

Jeremy Williams

ew iN bROaDway’s histORy aRe as LegeNDaRy

as Bernadette Peters. Nominated for seven Tony Awards (winning two plus an honorary award), nine Drama Desk Awards (winning three) and genuinely understood by those in the wings to be the greatest songstress to ever sing Sondheim, Peters commands every stage she steps on. But to be Broadway royalty wasn’t enough for this talent. watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Peters is a Golden Globe winning actress who has been a part of classic films such as the movie musical Annie, Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie and starring opposite Steve Martin in The Jerk and Pennies From Heaven. She is also a recording artist, a children’s book author, a humanitarian who fights for equal rights for both people and animals. And, to top it all off, she is currently a part of not one but two television series – Amazon Prime’s

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Saturday April 22nd 10am-6pm @Lake Eola Park 512 E. Washington St, Orlando, FL

Speakers Presentations Earth Kids Zone Animal Haven Artist Corner Restaurant Booths Environmental & Humane Education Live Music & Entertainment plus 250+ Eco-Friendly Vendors A FREE event brought to you by VegCF.org

To learn more or get involved visit CFEarthDay.org

LEGENDARY PERFORMER

Bernadette Peters Friday, April 21 • 8 p.m.

This award-winning actress and singer always dazzles. Be part of the moment when one of Broadway’s most critically-acclaimed performers takes the stage.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

drphillipscenter.org | 844.513.2014 42

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Mozart in the Jungle and CBS’ The Good Fight.

When Peters is not filming movies and TV shows or raising money to fight HIV/AIDS and rescue shelter dogs, she is touring across the U.S. performing with local orchestras as she belts out the songs she is known for.

All of this as she just turned 69 earlier this year.

One of her upcoming concerts will be in Orlando at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts where she will perform with the Phillips Center’s brand new jazz orchestra April 21. Peters took a few moments out of her whirlwind schedule to speak with us about how she does it all.

Watermark: You keep quite the busy schedule – concerts, charity events, award shows, you’re on two television shows.

How do you do it?

Bernadette Peters: [Laughing] Honestly I don’t know sometimes.

I just do one thing at a time. I stay in the moment. That’s important in life, anyway.

Your career in show business has spanned five decades. What keeps you motivated and passionate about the work?

I keep wanting to learn. I’m very interested in how much better I can get; how much deeper I can go. That’s why I like really good material, because it allows me to keep going farther. That’s it. I’ve been loving doing television for a while just to figure out the best ways to do it. That’s really been a lot of fun. It’s written so well.

That’s been really interesting.

You’re a regular on two series right now. One of them is the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle. Who knew that the world of the symphony and orchestras was so compelling and dramatic?

Yes, I love it. I just found out what the storyline will be for [season four]. We’re going to start filming in June. As they say, music can soothe the savage beast and this show shows that it reaches something within all of us. There are so many aspects of trying to keep an orchestra alive and viable, raising money and having it be exciting. Just

Peters from Heaven: Broadway legend Bernadette Peters performs with the Dr. Phillips Center’s jazz orchestra in Orlando April 21. Photo by Andrew Eccles like the L.A. Symphony brought in [Gustavo] Dudamel, my character Gloria brought in Rodrigo [Gael Garcia Bernal’s character in the show], which is like the Dudamel you know, he’s sexy and exciting, and Gael is amazing in the part. We have a wonderful cast.

How did the role of Gloria come to you?

My agent got the script and thought it would be great, and all the producers agreed. I had lunch with [Mozart in the

Jungle main writer/producer] Paul Weitz, and we had a little discussion about Gloria and the show, and that was it.

One of the things I like about the show is you and Malcom McDowell have this great screen chemistry. Did you know each other prior to starting the show?

No, we didn’t. Of course, I have admired him for many years.

I didn’t even know he was in the show when I did the pilot. I showed up going, “Oh, my God!

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

It’s Malcom McDowell!” He’s just fabulous. We were playing off each other right then and there. Now in the show we have this romance going on that’s going to continue next season.

Last season we were in Venice for a month and he was there with his family – his three boys and his wife. We’d all meet in the morning for breakfast and we’d just stay there on this little rooftop garden. You could imagine the view from up there.

We’ve all became very close.

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You also started a recurring role on CBS’ The Good Wife spin-off The Good Fight. Tell me about your character on that show.

It’s a really interesting show. I play a Bernie Madoff-type wife.

In other words, my husband, his brother and I are in the business.

We’re in finance and somebody devised a Ponzi scheme. The great part about being in that show is that you never know the ending.

Who’s the guilty party? It could be

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me. So, it’s so interesting to play.

It’s really wonderful writing.

Christine Baranski, who stars in The Good Fight, is an amazing actress and has an amazing stage presence, just as you do. Have you worked with her in the past?

I’ve worked with her twice already. We did an off-Broadway show together, a two character play called Sally and Marsha. I played Sally; she played Marsha.

Two very different New York neighbors living in the same building. That was wonderful.

And then she was in a workshop of Sunday in the Park with George.

I love when she does comedy, she’s a riot. She has a more serious role in this show and is amazing in it as well.

Both shows that you’re doing are on streaming services: Mozart in the Jungle is on Amazon Prime and The Good Fight is on CBS All Access.

Are shows on streaming services easier to do than traditional network shows?

Yes. First of all, there’s only 10 episodes in a season. Christine was saying how they would do 23 or 24 of The Good Wife. To keep the quality up and the scheduling, it’s just exhausting to be able to do that. It’s a little looser as far as what you’re going to wear too.

For a network, you have to send photos of what you’re doing and what you’re wearing all the time.

Then they come back and say, “Oh, we need to change the belt.”

You are one of the most critically acclaimed stage performers ever – multiple nominations and wins at both the Drama Desk and Tony Awards – complete Broadway royalty. Any plans to head back to Broadway in the near future?

Not that I can see. I would need for something to be irresistible, and I haven’t seen anything yet.

Meanwhile, I’m very busy. I’d have to stop doing something.

You are coming to pay us a visit in Orlando April 21 for a concert, and we are your only stop in Florida. What made you want to play Orlando?

I love to revisit the songs that I have sung throughout my career because there’s sentiment that I need to be reminded of, and it’s good for people to hear the songs they know me for.

I know that I’m there to entertain and hopefully at the end of the show everyone will go home feeling satisfied.

—Bernadette Peters

You have that brand new Dr. Phillips Center now and I have to come see it. I did a little bit of a fundraiser for that center to raise money when it was being built.

So I have a connection way back when. I’m kind of excited about this jazz orchestra. It’s the world premiere. That should be exciting.

What can we expect from the show?

Well, you know, I love to do Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein. Which is so interesting because Steven Sondheim’s mentor was Oscar Hammerstein. Basically, I love to revisit the songs that I have sung throughout my career because there’s sentiment that I need to be reminded of, and it’s good for people to hear the songs they

know me for. I know that I’m there to entertain and hopefully at the end of the show everyone will go home feeling satisfied.

Do you like doing the concerts?

I do, because I get to pick what I want to sing and say what I want to say. Things can happen spontaneously, which I love.

There’s no fourth wall, so it’s a lot of back of forth. I can look right at them. In a show it’s a little hard to look right at them. Although when you’re in a show, you still feel that energy going back and forth with the audience.

You are the queen of Sondheim. Hands down no one can play a Sondheim role like you, I dare even

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

say not even Meryl. What is it about his music and words that you are able to understand and interpret them so beautifully?

I don’t know. I’m fortunate. He’s so pure and he’s so thorough.

Every time he writes a show, he becomes a new character. I gave him the Marlon Brando Award and I hadn’t discussed this with him, but I told him I believe every time he writes a show, he’s like an actor taking on a new persona.

Like Sunday in the Park with George is about pointillism and the music is also. He writes a character and he figures out every single thing that could possibly be happening. The deeper you go, the more you’ll uncover. It’s true to what that character is going through. When a person has an

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emotion, there are so many layers to an emotion so you can reveal more and more and more.

I want to ask you about your charitable work. You are a huge supporter of animal rights. You started “Broadway Barks” with your good friend, the very talented and deeply missed Mary Tyler Moore. How did that venture come about?

I was in Annie Get Your Gun and we were raising money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS twice a year on stage, and we raised the most money that year for the Easter bonnet. We were feeling really proud of ourselves and we said, “What else can we do? Who else can we help?” I said, “I’ve been to the city shelter and they really need our help.” And so we said, “Let’s put on an adoption event.” Gerald Schoenefeld let us have The Alley.

We said, “We’ll get the celebrities from the shows to come out between shows.” And now it’s become their event. They love it.

It’s like pet therapy. They look forward to it. It’s just wonderful.

You’ve had several puppies of your own, and you’ve written children’s books about them. Have you always wanted to write children’s books?

No, I was asked to write a children’s book to benefit my charity. My publisher helped me write the first one. And she said we needed a song so I wrote the song, which I had never done either. It happened when I was on a plane, this song with music and lyrics came to me. I rushed home and I sang it into a tape recorder.

The second book became easy to me. There’s a whole prose section in the middle. The first book is called “Broadway Barks.” The second book is called “Stella is a Star” about my other dog, about a pitbull who thinks nobody likes her so she pretends to be a pig ballerina. Then the third one was when my Kramer died; then I had to get Stella a puppy because she was grieving. So it’s about Charlie meeting Stella.

You have any more puppy adventures in the future?

I have another pitbull now named Rosalie, so I’ve sorted jotted down a book, but I haven’t done anything with it yet. I’ll keep you posted.

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theater

Comfortable shoes

‘80s sitcom star Jim J. Bullock kicks up his heels as he heads to Clearwater for Kinky Boots

(above)

Raise you up:

The traveling cast of the 2013 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, Kinky Boots.

Photo courtesy of Kinky Boots

M

Christina Diaz and Jeremy Williams

any will remember Jim J.

Bullock as the flamboyant Monroe Ficus in the 1980s sitcom Too Close For Comfort, starring Ted Knight and Nancy Dussault. Bullock’s over-the-top and endearing personality shined through his character and left the audiences at home wondering is he or isn’t he? Spoiler alert: he is.

After six seasons of Too Close For Comfort, Bullock went on to become a fixture on Hollywood Squares, appeared in films such as Spaceballs and Kissing Jessica Stein and even had a short-lived talk show with famed televangelist Tammy Faye.

Bullock fell into a dark place in the 1990s after losing his partner to complications from AIDS, and became involved in drug use that led to an arrest outside of a West Hollywood bar.

Bullock all but disappeared from public life, resurfacing in theater.

“I came out on the other side and I’m super-duper grateful to God and to the angels and Hairspray for getting me through that period of time in my life,” he says.

Bullock is now touring with the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots, which will play at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater April 11-16. Bullock spoke with us ahead of his Sunshine State trip

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

to talk about Kinky Boots, where he was and who he is today.

Watermark: How has the tour been so far with Kinky Boots?

Jim J. Bullock: Oh, it’s a fantastic adventure, I’ve been with it for 18 months; it’s been a long time now. I didn’t really know anything about Kinky Boots. When I got the audition, I rented the movie and watched it I went, ‘Oh, what a great story’ and then went in and auditioned in Los Angeles and New York, and I saw the show on Broadway and I went, ‘Holy shit, this is a great show.’ Initially I didn’t get [the part], but a year went by and I got a call from my agent and they wanted me to join the tour. I came not knowing what to expect, just grateful to have work and grateful to be in a show that I believe in. Not only is it an entertaining show with great music, but I really believe in the message of this show and it’s sort of been like a ministry ever since. We’re

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bringing this wonderful message of love and acceptance to people. it’s really great when you can make a living doing something you really truly believe in.

What was that transition like, getting back into theater and going right into Kinky Boots?

Hard, because I hated the boots. I broke my toe like two days before joining the show. I really truly stubbed my toe getting out of bed and I broke it. I’ve never broken anything in my life, and they were like, “you can’t fix it, you just have to let it heal.” So stuffing my foot into those boots every night, it was a quick change for me when I get into my boots at the end for the finale and it was not natural. It was ugly, so I really had a hard time enjoying the experience for the first couple months. It was a painful journey for me, but you know, of course, broken bones heal eventually.

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What’s your character like in Kinky Boots?

I play George the Foreman of the factory, so I say my name is George Forman [laughs]. They really left it up to me to make it my own character. My George is the boss, he keeps things running smoothly, but you know, maybe some George’s are a little more all business, but I’m a very likeable George. Everybody in the factory likes George, and it’s early on that you sort of realize my fascination with Lola and what side my bread is buttered on.

What’s been your favorite experience so far playing George?

My favorite performance was in Worcester, Massachusetts, and it was a 10:00 a.m. performance and it was for the surrounding high schools and the tickets were given free to these kids; these were kids that didn’t come from a lot and would otherwise probably never ever get to see a Broadway show, and that theater was packed and like 250 of the kids were of the LGBT community. They had learned the finale and, I get chills still thinking about this. So here we are at 10 in the morning, which is really an unheard of time to do a show. You’ve got this theater packed with these amazing teenagers and they love everything you do. I’ve never done anything where everything was so appreciated. And when we started the finale, these 250 teenagers came down the aisle and they had worked on choreography and they come up on stage with us. I’m telling you I was just weeping, I couldn’t even sing, none of us could sing, I think only the band was playing. It was so beautiful and so emotional and that ovation went on and it was like we could not applaud enough for them because what they had given us was far more valuable than what we had given them. So it was really a reverse situation for me and it just made, I mean, we had another performance that night, but it was just like it was electric.

You were a part of Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs in the ‘80s, you played Prince Valium. The movie is packed with comedy legends from beginning to end.

What was it like performing with so many legends?

Oh my God! It was the time of my life, but I was so sick during filming.

I only worked on that film for a week. I walked in that first day and

Foreman, George: Jim J. Bullock plays

foreman George in Kinky Boots. Photo courtesy of Kinky Boots

there’s John Candy and, of course, Mel Brooks and all these amazing people, but I have a really bad stomach flu and I was just, if I wasn’t filming, I was in my dressing room.

Had that happened today I would say “Look, I’m sick. Can we arrange for me to come in later? But I was young and I thought, “they’ll re-cast me.” The experience I did have was wonderful. John Candy was super nice and came up to me and said, “My family and I just love your show and we watch it every week,” and that was really lovely. I didn’t get to

Boot Spurs: Curt Hansen (L) stars as Charlie and Timothy Ware as Lola in Kinky Boots. Photo courtesy of Kinky Boots that’s the title.” So they interviewed me, and when we met we got along immediately, I mean, it was like Frick and Frack. So that’s how it all started.

What would you say you remember most about Tammy Faye that sort of surprised you?

It was an odd pairing, and at the same time it was genius. Tammy had done the Lisa Gibbons show. I mean

It was ahead of its time. We all kind of knew it was on the cutting edge, and we couldn’t get celebrity bookings for the show because

you’ve gone through a lot in your lifetime. what’s the biggest thing you learned from your struggle with drug addiction in the past?

people were fascinated with her and she was a fabulous person, truly a lovely women, who had some shit happen in her life. So she did Lisa Gibbons and one of the producers called over to Fox said, “Listen, Tammy Faye was just on this show.

You need to develop a show for her because she needs to be back on TV.” So they met with Tammy and they all agreed she does need to be back on television, but she needs to be coupled with somebody; it can’t just be the Tammy Faye show. They started thinking co-host situation and everybody was thinking, “Who, who, who,” and someone said whoever it is, they have to be gay, and my name came up, and they were like, “Oh my god, an openly gay and Tammy Faye. “There you go,

they were afraid to come on. They didn’t know what they were going to get. Rosie O’Donnell was a huge fan of Tammy and she went on the show and she saw that they were not allowing the show to be what it was and she said, “Look, I’ve got three months before my show starts up and I want to stay here and donate my time to make sure you get this show back on the track it should be. It should be Jim J. and Tammy Faye. It shouldn’t be Jim J. trying to be Regis and Tammy trying to be someone else.

You should let Tammy cry and talk about Jesus and let Jim be as gay as he is.” They turned her down and sure enough the show didn’t work.

When they tried to force it to be what it wasn’t.

up with someone on tour who is involved in it and he mentioned that too and he said Mel wants to use the original cast. I would happily come back and yawn for Mel.

Later on in the ‘90s, you had a short-lived talk show, the Jim J and Tammy Faye Show. On the outside looking in, that seems like an odd pairing.

How did you meet Tammy?

That show was definitely ahead of its time. It would probably be a huge hit today, but it wasn’t well received back then.

I had always, since I’d very first came out way back in 1977, known what I wanted and who I was and I lost that, and so I had to regain all that. So I’m just grateful I made it out — Jim J. Bullock on the other side. sit around shooting the shit, so to speak, with these people, because I was too busy exploding in my dressing room.

I read that they are making a sequel to Spaceballs. Would you be open to becoming Prince Valium again if that opportunity arose?

Of course I would. The weird thing about Spaceballs is it didn’t do well.

It was not critically received and it was sort of a box office blunder and it was not timely. Too much time had gone by since Star Wars and the spoof on it, you know. But as time has gone on, you know, it developed this cult status and I heard last year that a sequel has been green lit and that it is being written. I even met

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

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That she was genuine. She truly was genuine and I know it’s hard for people to believe that. Her faith was genuine; it wasn’t an act. That was who she was and you know, she just lived who she was.

That time came out of such a point in my life where I had lost my partner to AIDS and I was grieving and I was also turning 40, and I just decided I wanted to grab life by the balls and celebrate life after being witness to someone losing their life. And you know, it all started so innocently, but I didn’t just dip my toe in. I went into the pool house, put on a Speedo, turned back and did a swan dive into it all. I’m just grateful I got out of it. I don’t have any profound message to impart. It was the experience I went through, and I guess I needed to go through it, and I came out on the other side. It’s very easy to lose your soul and I had started to lose my soul. I had lost my purpose; I had to find out who I was again and I had never not known that. I had always, since I’d very first came out way back in 1977, known what I wanted and who I was and I lost that, and so I had to regain all that.

So I’m just grateful I made it out on the other side.

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community calendar

event pLanner

arts+entertainment

OrLandO

OrLandO

Aids Walk Orlando: twilight

2017 orlando women’s Conference, April 7, Loews Sapphire Falls Resort at Universal Orlando, Orlando. 407-503-5000; OrlandoWomensConference.com 4th annual Gala, Cheers to Change, April 7, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando. 407-896-4231; VictimsServiceCenter.org unleashed. uncorked. unframed., April 8, Orlando Science Center, Orlando. 407-514-2000; UnleasedFundraiser.info Call to artist for thornton 2nd thursday wine & art walk, April 13, Thorton Park District, Orlando. 407-701-9382; ThortonParkDistrict.com Star wars Celebration orlando 2017, April 13-16, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando. 407-685-9800; StarWarsCelebration.com whiskey business 2017, April 14, Cheyenne Saloon & Opera House, Orlando. 321-202-5855; OrlandoWeeklyTickets.com Suzanne westenhoefer Live!, April 14-15, Footlight Theatre at the Parliament House, Orlando. 407-425-7571; ParliamentHouse.com the Great inflatable race orlando, April 15, Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake, Orlando. 407-246-4486; TheGreatInflatableRace.com Chris rock, April 16-17, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Orlando. 407-839-0119; DrPhillipsCenter.org Dancing with the Queens, April 17, The Abbey, Orlando.

407-704-6261; AbbeyOrlando.com Dinner of tribute honoring orlando Mayor buddy Dyer, April 20, Rosen Plaza, Orlando.

407-996-9700; HolocaustEDU.org art of Fashion 2017, April 20, Snap! Space, Orlando.

323-646-8947; ArtOfFashion2017.

EventBrite.com

satuRDay, apRiL 15, 4:00- 8:00 p.m.

Lake eOLa paRk, ORLaNDO Hope & Help will be taking this year’s AIDS Walk into the evening with AWO: Twilight. The new Twilight theme features an evening with tons of fun for everyone, including a bounce house for younger children, face painting, an art show, food trucks and performances by the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra and Central Florida Sounds of Freedom. For more info, call 407-645-2577; or visit HopeAndHelp.org.

everyboDy

LOves

babes in bonnets 2017

CHRIS

mONDay, apRiL 10, 7:00- 10:00 p.m. paRLiameNt hOuse, ORLaNDO

Comic legend Chris rock performs his no-holds-barred standup at the Straz Center in Tampa April 14 and 15, and at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando April 16 and 17. Photo CourteSy oF ChriSroCk.CoM

watermark’s third thursday, April 20, Fairvilla Megastore, Orlando. 407-425-6005; Fairvilla.com

Drag Queen Spring olympics, April 9, The Flamingo Resort, St. Pete. 727-321-5000; FlamingoFla.com

it’s a Drag Show, April 14, The Space at 2106, Tampa. 813-575-0230; TheSpaceAt2106.com

tampa bay

imperial Symphony orchestra, April 11, The Lakeland Center, Lakeland. 863-834-8100; TheLakelandCenter.com

the Chainsmokers, April 14, Amalie Arena, Tampa.

813-301-6500; AmalieArena.com

bianca del rio- not today Satan tour, April 7, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa.

813-229-7827; StrazCenter.org Tosca, April 7-9, Opera Tampa, Tampa. 813-222-1000; OperaTampa.org

Kinky Boots, April 1116, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater. 727-791-7400; RuthEckerdHall.com

Little river band with rock Symphony and Firefall, April 8, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater. 727-791-7400; RuthEckerdHall.com tampa bay Coffee & art Festival 2017, April 8, The Noise Box, Brandon. 813-431-5082; DCNoise.com Miss richfield 1981- 2020 vision, April 8, HCC Ybor Performance Theater, Tampa.

813-879-4220; TIGLFF.com

one woman Sex and the City, April 11-13, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa.

813-229-7827; StrazCenter.org

wordier’s LGbt book Club, April 12, LGBT Welcome Center, St. Petersburg. 727-201-4925; LGBTWelcomeCenter.org Chris rock, April 14-15, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa. 813-229-7827; StrazCenter.org Jurassic Glow: a blackout Party!, April 14, Honey Pot, Tampa.

813-247-4663; Facebook.com/ Honey-Pot

sarasOta the elaborate entrance of Chad Deity, April 7-30, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Sarasota. 941-351-8000; asolorep.org Sarasota equality Connection, April 19, Polo Grill and Bar, Sarasota. 941-782-0899; PoloGrillAndBar.com LGbtQ & black identities in Media, April 9, The Starlite Room, Sarasota. 941-702-5613; starlitesrq.com Inherit the Wind, April 11-30, Venice Theatre, Sarasota.

941-488-1115; venicestage.com

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

Babes in Bonnets is back for another year. The fabulous bonnet auction benefits the Orlando Youth Alliance, a group who has provided a safe support group for LGBTQ youth for the last 25 years. Come out and bid on your favorite bonnet, each of which will come with a luxurious prize.

You can find more information at ParliamentHouse.com.

tampa bay

balance tampa bay’s 7th annual Kickball 4 Kids satuRDay, apRiL 8, 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m. hyDe paRk sOFtbaLL paRk, tampa Come out and support Balance Tampa Bay for the annual Kickball 4 Kids. This year’s funds go to ANYTOWN, a residential leadership and diversity education program that brings together adolescents, ages 14 to 18, to build a culturally diverse community from the ground up. Food provided by Fresh Kitchen, Tickets for Kickball 4 Kids this year are $20 per individual, $10 for ages 13-17, and $175 for a team of 10. For more information, visit BalanceTampaBay.org.

2017 equality florida Greater st. pete Gala satuRDay, apRiL 15, 7:00 - 10:30 p.m. mahaFFey theateR, st. peteRsbuRg Join Equality Florida, now in their 20th year, for the Greater St. Pete Gala at the Mahaffey Theater. EQFL will honor Tampa Bay Rays President Brian Auld, Largo City Commissioner Michael Smith, Attorney Joanna Garcia Parkin and volunteer Karen Goforth. Food provided by chef Joseph Chouinard, open bar, Kahwa Coffee Espresso Bar, silent auctions and more; as well as a State of the State address by Co-Founder and CEO Nadine Smith. For more information visit EQFL.org/GreaterStPeteGala.

event planner anD community calenDar is brouGht to you by curtis protective services • 1-800-551-8368 • curtissecurity.com watermark Your LGBTQ life.

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BEST C O M E D Y

OFF-BROADWAY

APR 11-13 JAEB THEATER

APR 27-30 JAEB THEATER

STRAZ CENTER IT’S MORE THAN JUST A SHOW. 813.229.STAR (7827) • STRAZCENTER.ORG Group Sales (10+ get a discount): 813.222.1016 or 1047 Events, days, dates, times, performers and prices are subject to change without notice. Handling fees will apply.

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overheard

T

the brOnze age

ime tO wRap a LOveLy pReseNt and get ready to flock to the Flamingo Resort as it is celebrating its eight-year anniversary.

I believe an eight-year anniversary gets either pottery or something bronze, so maybe cover singer-turned-politician Clay Aiken in some bronzer as a possible gift to the party? Just an idea. Anyway, Flamingo’s eight-Year anniversary dinner happens April 6 and includes a three course meal (will you be having the chicken or the steak?

And what meal wouldn’t be complete with some cheesecake... thank you for being a friend) and a meet and greet with the amazing and talented Flamingo cast, as well as a special performance

by Iman. The dinner is just the opening act to a night of celebration which includes “a little burlesque and a little drag, all in one night” with performances by Mayven Missbehavin and Ashlee T. Bangx. April 8, the Flamingo Resort continues the celebration with the “8-Year Anniversary Casino Night.” Luck be a lady tonight as the Flamingo goes Vegas baby with blackjack, roulette, craps, Texas Hold-Em poker, slot machines and the big wheel. Come out for a night of drinking, gambling and anything else your heart desires, just remember... what happens at the Flamingo, stays at the Flamingo!

What a grand OLd pride!

F

tampa bay OUt+abOUt

OR the thiRD yeaR iN a ROw, Tampa Pride exceeded expectations as tens of thousands of people poured into the Ybor City’s Historic District on March 25. Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn was out at the festivities, along with U.S. Representative Kathy Castor, Tampa’s police chief Eric Ward and survivors from the Pulse Orlando shooting. The street festival made its way back to 8th Avenue after being moved to Centennial Park last year. The droves of people met with local organizations, hit up the food trucks and picked up the latest issue of Watermark. The streets went into a frenzy as the parade kicked off down 7th Avenue with more than 120 floats. Grand Marshal, and the always entertaining Joey Brooks rode down the street on the back of her black convertible chariot, waving to her subjects in a dress of American stars and rainbow stripes. Pride’s other grand marshal, former Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner (tight blue t-shirt and all!) walked the parade route, handing out small rainbow flags.

Speaking of rainbow flags, the parade also featured a 100-foot section of the Sea-to-Sea Key West Pride Flag. As if that wasn’t enough to make you explode all over Centro Ybor with Pride, singing sensation (and super hunk) Steve Grand rode atop one of the floats wearing tight jeans, leather suspenders and waving a rainbow Pride flag. For those who didn’t get enough of the All-American performer in the parade, Grand went from the parade route to the main stage at HCC to sing a few songs to his adoring fans. Pride partiers finished out the night packed into the GaYbor clubs for one of the hot and happening after parties. Until next year Tampa Pride!

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DReamgiRLs: It’s showtime for (L-R) Lexx De La Mer, alexis Mateo and Dean Cass at Hamburger Mary’s in St. Petersburg April 2. Photo

CourteSy oF LeXX De La Mer

2

sOciaL bOLts: Hot 101.5’s Miguel Fuller (L) and holly o’Connor take over the social media accounts of the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena in Tampa April 1. Photo

CourteSy oF MiGueL FuLLer

3

NO pLace Like hOme: Watermark contributor krista Di tucci is ready to dance at the ALSO Youth Gala at Lido Beach Resort in Sarasota April 1. Photo CourteSy oF

4

5

kriSta Di tuCCi

4

pROuD siNgeR: All-American Steve Grand rides a float down 7th Avenue for Tampa Pride in Ybor City March 25. Photo by

JaMarCuS MoSLey

5

haRLess haNgOut: (L-R) Stephanie Lewis-McClung, Jacob Smith, Jon Stewart, alex Sink, barclay harless and nick Janovsky get together for a fundraiser for Harless’ campaign at The Hanger Restaurant & Flight Lounge in St. Petersburg March 24. Photo CourteSy oF niCk JanovSky

6

FaNcy & FiNe: (L-R) Gabe alves-tomko, Jason Fields, aron alves-tomko and Channing Floyd are all dressed up at the annual Coronation Ball at the Museum of Fine Art in St. Petersburg March 26. Photo

6

CourteSy oF JaSon FieLDS

7

that’s eNteRtaiNmeNt: Judy b. Goode and Piano Paul entertain the crowd at the Tampa Pride VIP Party at the Downtown Hilton in Tampa March 23. Photo

by Mark biaS weSt

8

cOmmuNity LeaDeRs: (L-R) Carrie west, Tampa Mayor bob buckhorn and vince Pardo in front of Tampa Pride’s main stage in Ybor March 25. Photo by Mark biaS weSt

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

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Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // Issue 24 .07

overheard

T

OrLandO OUt+abOUt

ash yOU Like it

he paRLiameNt hOuse’s RaiNbOw caFÉ has maDe a recent and well known acquisition.

The locally celebrated chef from Hell’s Kitchen with Gordon Ramsey, Ashley Nickell is their new chef.

Prior to her reality show stint, Ashley was one of the chefs at Funky Monkey Wine Company, owned by her two dads Nick Oliveria and Eddie Nickell. Sometime last year, Nick and Eddie opened Restaurant ASH alongside with Ashley as the chef. No longer at ASH, Ashley really wanted to hone her skills to help the LGBTQ community.

She hopes to work with the Parliament House to tweak the menu at the Rainbow Café to make it “more exciting and vibrant, just like the community”.

Ashley tells Watermark her time in Orlando is limited since she plans to move to NYC in August with her fiancé. We asked what she has lined up in NYC, and currently Ashley plans to work at a private chef.

O

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5

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girLz WhO rOCk!

veR a twO-week spaN iN Late maRch, Old Town in Kissimmee held their first ever Battle of the Bands hosted by local comedian Rauce and judged by local performer Chris Hampton and Watermark’s own Danny Garcia.

The contestants ranged from a Christian metal band to a solo acoustic guitar singer. After two rounds, four bands played for the audience and their judges. According to the judges, the decision was a difficult one, since there was so much talent on the stage. But the big winners that included a contract for paid gigs at Old Town was the all-female group that brings the “L” in LGBTQ, the Cover Girlz! Congratulations to the ladies, and we hope to hear more from the Cover Girlz.

bands Of brOthers

O

2

N the mORNiNg OF apRiL 2, a member of the Central Florida Softball League’s Orlando Circus Team passed away. His name was Steven Rix, but he was often just called Rix or Rixee by his fellow friends and team members.

As much of a shock as this was for the team, fellow team members and spouses Daniel and Dallas Ziegler came together to help raise money for Steven’s family. They ordered 350 armbands hoping to sell them at $2 apiece, thinking they would raise at least $700; at last count the expected totals are now exceeding over $2500 with more armbands being ordered to accommodate the demand.

According to Daniel, he’s doing this for Steven because he was not only a teammate but a family member; he was a brother. The team’s sponsor Kiwi’s Pub and Grill in Altamonte is also assisting by collecting donations on Friday, April 7.

4

1

bLue RibbON: Commissioner Patty Sheehan joins Orlando mayor buddy Dyer and the Orlando Police Department for the cutting of the ribbon to the new Orlando Police Headquarters in Orlando March 22. Photo

CourteSy oF Patty Sheehan

2

pOweR cOaLitiON: The Zebra Coalition speaks at the Youth Empowerment and Leadership Learning Conference at UCF Rosen College in Orlando April 1. Photo

CourteSy oF the Zebra CoaLition

5

hOmetOwN heROes: The folks at The Hammered Lamb receive an award March 31 from the Fraternal Order of Police Orlando for their fundraising efforts to the Orlando Police Heroes Foundation. Photo CourteSy oF JaSon LaMbert

6

bROaDcast News: (L-R) WFTV’s Jorge estevez, Martha Sugalski and Tom Terry ready themselves in the studio to bring you the local headlines in Orlando March 29. Photo CourteSy oF Martha SuGaLSki

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Photo CourteSy oF CarLoS GuiLLerMo SMith

CourteSy oF XL 160.7

west cOast bOuND: angel Colon (L) and Carlos Guillermo Smith on their way to the airport March 31 to head to Los Angeles for the GLAAD Media Awards.

4

aLL DResseD up: Stonewall General Manager David bain waits backstage for Stonewall Bar’s turnabout fundraiser for Genesis Community Program in Orlando April 1. Photo CourteSy oF

7

iN the hOuse: Members of XL 106.7’s morning show “Johnny’s House” with the Cheapshots charity basketball team benefiting Hoops for Haiti March 28. Photo

8

peOpLe’s champ: Watermark’s creative assistant adam McCabe shows off his championship belt at WrestleMania 33 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando April 2.

Photo CourteSy oF aDaM MCCabe

StonewaLL bar orLanDo

8 watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

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head over to watermarkonline.com and click on the Digital Publications link to read a digital version of the printed newspaper!

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• Join • Volunteer • Donate

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

announcements

Wedding beLLs

sarah speight and Jodi zocchi from Orlando, FL

local birthDays

years toGether:

5 years

enGaGement Date:

January 25, 2015

weDDinG Date:

February 16, 2017

weDDinG venue:

The Postcard Inn on St. Pete Beach

weDDinG planner:

Kristy Rapp with Kristy Rapp events

weDDinG caterer:

The Postcard Inn

weDDinG colors: Ivory

First sonG:

“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”

by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes

interestinG Fact:

Both women are english teachers

Kristine Palmer Photography

“T

heRe aRe a LOt OF thiNgs

I love about her,” Jodi says. “She’s very loving and caring. She will think about someone else before herself pretty much in whatever she does. I know that she’s always thinking about me, and that’s very important to me and I appreciate it.”

Sarah Speight and Jodi Zocchi met in December 2004 when Jodi got her first teaching job at a school where Sarah worked, so they were first introduced to each other as co-workers.

“Immediately, it was really easy to talk to one another,” Sarah says. “We had a really good time together, laughing and just built a really nice friendship.”

In 2005, Sarah left the school she worked at with Jodi and went to another school. They didn’t talk again for about five-to-six years.

Then, the school district that they work for coincidently put them both on a curriculum writing team together, so they ended up writing curriculums for about a week together. They picked up where their friendship left off, and Sarah ended up getting Jodi a job at the school where she worked.

They continued being really good friends, and Sarah said she was the one who, as she says, “Let the toothpaste out of the tube” in February 2012. They then began to date.

Jodi says Sarah has taught her to be more patient and a better listener because she believes Sarah is a great listener.

Jodi started looking for an engagement ring before there were any solid proposal plans. She said she couldn’t come up with a solid plan that she thought Sarah would like because Sarah does not like to be the center of attention. After having the ring for maybe a month or two months, Jodi proposed to Sarah at home one night.

The couple didn’t plan anything for the first year of their engagement. They talked about ideas they had but didn’t plan

anything. Jodi says she told people at their wedding that when they were planning it there were three guidelines for making decisions: It had to be simple, it had to be fairly cheap, and it had to be fun.

Both women were very excited and full of emotion the day of their wedding. Jodi’s sister, Lauren Gardner, married them.

“One of my favorite parts is we had our wedding ceremony on St. Pete Beach – that was amazing,” Jodi says. “I think my favorite part about that specific moment was after the ceremony we walked down the aisle to the Star Wars theme.”

They took dance lessons and did the Dirty Dancing “(I’ve Had) Time of My Life” dance at the end of the movie.

“It’s a gay marriage, so that kind of always [made me] wonder would I feel comfortable; would I be worried about other people that aren’t there for the wedding staring?” Sarah explains. “The whole time it just felt like a normal wedding, and that’s really what I was hoping for. That I wouldn’t ever stop and go, ‘Oh gosh, is somebody looking?’ – that just never happened.”

G2H2 founder and president Donny hill, Orlando accountant Leah James (April 6); graphic designer Jason Donnelly, Sarasota real estate e-marketing director ken Demmons, intrepid traveler Jon taylor, Rollins College costume studio manager Seth Schrager (April 7); St. Petersburg HIV/ AIDS activist Joe Dobson (April 8); Halcyon co-founder Stephanie Callahan (April 9); Orlando lovebird bobby McCall, Fort Lauderdale-based singer Sean ensign, St. Petersburg Metro employee Mike hollis (April 10); Tampa MCC’s facility manager Mac williams, HRC’s Joe Saunders, Orlando Log Cabin Republican Patrick howell (April 12); Florida Hospital Altamonte social worker Stacy Pease, former OGC director aubrey Connell, derby girl becca “tbex” Fisher, St. Petersburg ROTC twirler Scott heli, radio show host and Hamburger Mary’s Tampa performer esme russell (April 13); elizabeth “Sister koochie koo” of the Orlando Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, former Flamingo Resort cast member andromeda Strain, drag chanteuse Chantel reshae (April 14); Ocala-based horse trainer randy eeckhout (April 15); St. Petersburg artist John L. Gascot, Orlando The (GLBT) Center board member will Perry (April 16); Tampa insurance specialist and community volunteer Mitchell ryan, Serial Thriller and swing dancer kalyn rushing (April 17); Orlando arts patron Jerry baumeister, former Georgie’s Alibi-St. Petersburg server John Fletcher, St. Petersburg Stonewall Democrat beth Fountain (April 18); Olde Town Properties Realtor Patrick James, retired Tampa weatherman andy Johnson (April 19).

Do you have an announcement? havinG a birthDay or anniversary? DiD you Get a new Job or promotion?

See your news in Watermark! Send your announcement to editor@watermarkonline.com or go to watermarkonline.com/Submit-a-transition.

it’s that easy!

—Samantha Rosenthal

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

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

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Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

yOUth serviCes Changing the lives of LGBTQ teens and young adults for over 25 years Social support groups Make friends Scholarships for college Weekly groups in Orange, Seminole & Polk counties

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

61

Uprisings

heaLth and hOrrOr All of you need to get your phone and call your legislators and say, ‘stop this foolishness. stop it now.’

—tampa mayOR bOb buckhORN

I

hate War

N what pROmises tO be aN iNspiReD taNtRum, President Donald Trump made news this week by nominating Tennessee state Sen. Mark Green as United States Secretary of the Army. Green would replace Eric Fanning, who was put into the position just last year by President Barack Obama.

Fanning made history by being the first gay man to hold the position.

What makes it more alarming is that Green authored Tennessee SB 127, one of dozens of “religious freedom” bills plaguing the country’s dockets right now.

SB 127 reads: “A government entity shall not take discriminatory action against a business entity on the basis of the internal policies of the business entity, including, but not limited to, personnel and employee benefit policies that are in compliance with state law.”

The Human Rights Campaign is actively fighting the bill’s passage.

62

king Of the state

W

e’Re stiLL mORe thaN a YeaR OUT from our release from Gov. Rick Scott, but the potential candidates – especially those on the left of the aisle – are jumping into the rat race with vigor. On the heels of “For the People” person John Morgan, former congresswoman Gwen Graham and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (among others), a new face has appeared: businessman Chris King.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, King is a “progressive entrepreneur.”

So that means his chocolate is in his peanut butter sometimes.

“I am somebody who believes in the values of equality and justice and care for the neediest among us,” he told the paper, adding, “I believe in financial stewardship and hard work and in discipline. And I think the marriage of those things is going to be unique for a Democratic candidate.”

King also stands against Florida’s decision to expand Medicaid, which would have helped nearly a million people. Things are getting interesting in the Sunshine State.

the penaLty Of virtUe

W

heN FLORiDa state attORNey aRamis D. ayaLa weNt pubLic with her stance against the death penalty last month, mouths were chomping at the bit about whether it was her right to do so. Ayala refused capital punishment as an option in a case in which a husband murdered his pregnant wife, saying that “[p]unishment is most effective when it happens consistently and swiftly.

Neither describe the death penalty in this state.”

Florida’s chairman of the Senate Justice Committee Randolph Bracy went as far as to pen an op-ed for the New York Times on the issue, saying, “Mr. Scott’s executive orders appear to be without precedent in Florida. They are meant to punish the state attorney, Aramis D. Ayala, Florida’s first black elected prosecutor, for announcing she would no longer seek the death penalty because it was not in the best interest of her jurisdiction, which stretches from Orlando to Kissimmee.”

Scott has since reassigned many of Ayala’s cases to other attorneys.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

h

Billy Manes

ave yOu eveR beeN sick? I mean, so sick that you really needed help of the professional kind, maybe even a friend to drive you to the hospital? With Obamacare – or, as it’s really called, the Affordable Care Act – passage fading in our rearview mirrors right now, there are a lot of things we need to talk about in moving forward. But what we’re talking about now – namely, the failed Trumpcare plan – is a daunting wisp of comb-over terror. Republicans have seized on this notion that, when squinted at, reads like, “Support big pharma; screw the little guy.”

There is nothing to this rhetoric that doesn’t reek of opportunistic capitalism, and there is not a brown pill bottle around to smooth over its side effects. What we’re talking about now – thankfully also in the past tense – is an illegible plan to make health an investment, to make people suffer more.

It may sound a little socialist, and for that I smile, but the health of our nation is certainly the best investment possible from a government. We buy things. Just four years ago, I watched a friend deal with the death of a single mother as she fell apart and fell down while trying to sell vacuum cleaners on the side for extra money. Her condition was treatable. Her bank account was not. Charlene Dill became a symbol of all it is that we are doing wrong in terms of taking care of our citizenry. Charlene Dill is dead.

So, in the past week, there has been much discussion about this so-called alternative to Obamacare – which, surprise, didn’t go over so well with the large insurance companies who were held responsible for the first time in history for their charges and practices – and it’s a tragedy in the making. Initial proposals have failed to roll back the ACA, mind, but further discussions are poisoning the air.

What you need to know is that pre-existing conditions, trans-issues, mental health, women’s health and many other platforms upon which our community walks are on the chopping block. We wanted single-payer; we didn’t get it. Instead, we compromised with all of the love in our hearts. I remember the day the ACA passed and it felt like a rebirth; it felt like our nation was New-Dealing our health. Awesome.

Now we’re in a tug-of-war between the Freedom Caucus and a tail-tucked Trump on the issue. The optics are terrible. The players are horrible. This is an unmitigated disaster.

Take a bow, Paul Ryan.

And as Republicans near their apex of hate, pushing through some sort of “compromise” to make it all better, the millions of us out here on our own will have to wait and see if we still have any rights to our own bodies and our own collective health. Or death. Sad.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

P E r P K L TA PrEP is an HIV prevention option. When taken daily it can greatly reduce your risk of getting HIV. You can protect yourself even more if you use condoms and other prevention tools.

There are more HIV prevention options than ever before.

Learn more about PrEP to decide if it is right for you. www.cdc.gov/StartTalkingPrEP /ActAgainstAIDS /StartTalkingHIV @TalkHIV

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Apr il 6 - A pr il 19, 2017 // issue 24 .07

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