A M E R I C A’ S L A R G E S T C I R C U L AT I O N G AY A N D L E S B I A N N E W S P A P E R !
Gay City
S E R V I N G G A Y, L E S B I A N , B I A N D T R A N S G E N D E R E D N E W Y O R K • W W W . G A Y C I T Y N E W S . C O M
■ CRIME
Hate? Politics?
Or Both?
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
S
tanding with openly lesbian City
Council Speaker Christine Quinn
at a March 3 press conference,
the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles
J. Hynes, denounced the killing of Jose
Sucuzhanay, saying “a vile and vicious
murder is made all the more senseless
when it is motivated by anti-gay and
anti-immigrant views.”
Jose and his brother, Romel, were
allegedly assaulted by Keith Phoenix
and Hakim Scott last December 7. The
brothers were walking to Jose’s home
in Bushwick after attending a church
party and huddling close together in the
near-freezing temperature. Police said
they were mistaken for a gay couple and
attacked.
Phoenix and Scott face multiple
counts of second-degree murder, man-
slaughter, assault, and attempted
assault, with some charged as hate
crimes. If found guilty, they could face
a sentence of 78-years-to-life in prison.
“All of those counts, we feel confident,
can run consecutively,” Hynes said at
the press conference.
The hate crime tag increases the
minimum sentence on second-degree
murder, the top count, from 15-years-
to-life to 20-years-to-life. While the pros-
HATE? P. 4
VADIM SHEPEL
FUNDING FOR AT-RISK YOUTH
3 including households headed by gay
ANDREA BATISTA SCHLESINGER AT BLOOMBERG CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS
Progressive
Cred &
the Mayor
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
I
n the early 1990s, while growing up
near Coney Island, Andrea Batista
Schlesinger served as the high school
student representative on the Board of
Education, which oversaw New York
City schools prior to the current regime
of mayoral control. During the fractious
fight over a proposed — and ultimately
rejected — “Children of the Rainbow”
curriculum that, among other things,
would have explored family diversity,
© GAY CITY NEWS 2009 • COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TM
NEWS YOUR FREE
LGBT
NEWSPAPER
APRIL 2-15, 2009
VOL. EIGHT, ISS. 07
■ CRIME
Are Judges
Minding the
Store?
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
On January 14, Judge Michael D. Stall-
man ruled that a police department legal
unit lawsuit against Unicorn DVD, a porn
shop at Eighth Avenue and 27th Street,
could advance to trial.
Cops from the Manhattan South Vice
Enforcement Squad arrested five men
there for prostitution in late 2008, though
four of those men pleaded not guilty and
are fighting the charges. The shop was a
nuisance, police charged in the civil suit,
and had to be closed immediately.
Either because of community outcry
over questionable prostitution arrests
of gay men in Manhattan porn shops or
because the evidence in the Unicorn suit
was slim, police withdrew the suit, without
explanation, less than two weeks later.
VADIM SHEPEL
The Unicorn suit is one of seven brought
against Manhattan porn shops since 2004
after police arrested at least 50 men for
prostitution in those businesses. Police
handled five, and the city Corporation
Counsel’s office brought the other two.
Five of the suits came in 2008 or 2009,
JUDGES P. 6
In this issue:
■ BEST SIDE STORY
and lesbian parents, she fought hard to
Still the most beautiful
sound you’ve ever heard
—————————————————
■ 15
have students represented on a Board
■ ASENTIC BIO-POLITICS
committee weighing the best course of
action. Serbian ontology on a
Batista Schlesinger succeeded in get- dance stage works!
ting students appointed — but was dis-
appointed that they were given no vote.
■ 16
After high school, she headed to the —————————————————
■ POUNDS OF GOWNS
Midwest to earn a public policy degree at
the University of Chicago, a sort of small- Imperial Court of New
scale Harvard, except that the students York dazzles yet again
at U of C are really serious about their
■ 26
PROGRESSIVES P. 8 —————————————————

2/ Books
A Timely Telling
Nathaniel Frank writes the definitive Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell exposé
BY DOUG IRELAND
A
round March 1, the 15th
anniversary of Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT),
Barack Obama’s White House
began to leak that it was “open-
ing a dialogue” with military
leaders about lifting the ban on
homosexuals in uniform. But,
in a March 29 interview on Fox
News Sunday, Obama’s secre-
tary of defense, Bush holdover
Robert Gates, let it slip that
the dialogue hadn’t really even
begun, that the administration
had other important fish to fry at
the moment, and that any revis-
iting of DADT would have to be
postponed. How long? “Down the
road” was as far as Gates would
go.
Just in time to influence the
dialogue that isn’t happen-
ing — yet — comes Nathaniel
Frank’s superb critical history
of DADT that is also a brilliantly
researched brief for opponents
of the absurd policy. “Unfriend-
ly Fire” demonstrates how the
policy was conceived based on
lies and deception; why it has
increased, not decreased, the
number of queers being thrown
out of the military; and why it
is the height of inefficiency and
wastefulness of human talent for
a nation simultaneously fighting
two wars.
As an anti-militarist (though
not a pacifist), I have to admit
that for a long time I didn’t have
the issue of gays in the military
very high on my list of priori-
ties. Then, as Bill Clinton was in
the last year of his presidency, I
wrote a cover story on the issue
for The Nation magazine (a link
to which appears in the online
version of this story at gayci-
tynews.com). What had made
me interested was that “military
homophobia is also a class issue:
The overwhelming majority of its
victims are young recruits who
joined up to get an education or
career, lured by the bright prom-
ises of flashy ad campaigns and
aggressive high school recruit-
ing, often before they admit to
themselves they’re gay.” And my
reporting showed that DADT had
turned thousands of innocent
and idealistic working class kids
into victims of institutional prej-
UNFRIENDLY FIRE: HOW THE GAY
BAN UNDERMINES THE MILITARY
AND WEAKENS AMERICA
By Nathaniel Frank
St. Martin’s Press/
Thomas Dunne Books
342 pages; $25.95
udice encouraged from the top
— with the gay-baiters and gay-
bashers just as much victims of
the climate of fear and suspicion
created by DADT as the gays
themselves.
In the decade since my story,
Nathaniel Frank has steeped
himself in the history and work-
ings of DADT and become the
country’s foremost expert on
this failed policy from his base
as senior research fellow at the
Palm Center at the University of
California-Santa Barbara. Frank
brings passion to his meticulous
and carefully documented schol-
arship and the result is a superb
book that ought to be force-fed
to those in the Obama adminis-
tration who’ve decided that the
president, with a 66 president
approval rating, doesn’t need to
spend any of his political capital
on overturning the ban.
The first major purge of gays
in the services took place in 1919
at the naval base in Newport,
Rhode Island — with the autho-
rization of then Assistant Navy
Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt
— when a chief machinists mate
recruited a squad of comely vol-
unteers from the ranks who
“entrapped suspected gay sail-
ors by soliciting and having sex
with them.” The US Senate,
which subsequently investigated
this inquisition, condemned the
purge’s “shocking” and “indefen-
sible” tactics, adding that “per-
version is not a crime… but a
disease that should be treated in
a hospital.”
But during the inter -war
years, “the military took the
process out of the hands of psy-
chiatrists and relied on the most
crass and degrading character-
ization of gay people.” However,
it was World War II that “sys-
temized discrimination against
homosexual people,” Frank
writes, and the Cold War, with
its paranoia about queers being
blackmailed into spying for the
Communists, did noting to lib-
eralize views on homosexuals in
the military.
But a universal ban on same-
sexers in uniform only came in
the final week of Jimmy Carter’s
administration, when his deputy
defense secretary managed to
put through a service-wide ban
“removing any discretion that
different branches or individual
commanders previously enjoyed”
in dealing with the gays in their
ranks. As a result, “in the 1980s,
the military lost 17,000 troops to
gay exclusion.”
It was a “sweeping purge of
suspected lesbians at the Par-
ris Island Marine training center
in South Carolina in 1988” that
crystallized opposition to the gay
ban. “Threats, naming names,
informants, revealed affairs, and
broken promises of immunity…
were the order of the day.” As a
result, 18 women were kicked
out of the Navy and three were
jailed; one committed suicide
while under investigation. This
Parris Island purge prompted
a handful of gay and women’s
groups to launch the Gay and
Lesbian Military Freedom Proj-
ect (MFP) at the end of 1988, the
first organized effort to fight the
ban and aide its victims. Thanks
to the MFP’s agitation, the ban
made its way onto the agenda of
the gay citizenship movement,
fueled by lawsuits by Joe Stef-
fan, who’d been one of Annapolis’
highest rated midshipman before
being booted just weeks before
his graduation; Lieutenant JG
Tracy Thorne, an A-6 bombar-
dier navigator who announced
his homosexuality on ABC
News, as did Petty Officer Keith
Meinhold, a navy flight systems
instructor; and Colonel Marga-
rethe Cammermeyer, a 50-year-
old grandmother who was chief
of nursing for the Washington
State National Guard.
In 1992, looking for a way
to impress wealthy gay donors
and the growing gay-identified
electorate, Bill Clinton stum-
bled almost by accident into
announcing his support for an
end to the ban when asked about
it at a Harvard Kennedy School
appearance. Then, just a week
after Clinton’s election, a federal
judge in San Francisco ordered
the Navy to reinstate Meinhold.
This convergence of events
put the gay ban and Clinton’s
Harvard pledge into the national
spotlight — and was the signal
for an unprecedented mobiliza-
tion in support of it by the puis-
sant Christian right that had
helped elect Ronald Reagan. The
week after Clinton’s inaugura-
tion, Congress was deluged with
434,000 phone calls in a single
day, five times the average daily
number of calls, and nearly all of
them in opposition to lifting the
ban.
Frank’s long and detailed
account of the tawdry story that
followed should embarrass both
Bill Clinton, whose spinelessness
in the face of a well-orchestrated
religious rebellion soon became
evident, and our military’s lead-
ership, with Colin Powell at its
head. The generals and admirals,
Frank’s book shows, admitted
they lied about the threat that
openly gay and lesbian soldiers
posed to “unit cohesion,” their
favorite catch-word, and repeat-
edly concealed or repressed stud-
ies commissioned by the military
showing there was no justifica-
tion for the ban. They also used
propaganda materials prepared
by the religious right, includ-
ing a video purporting to prove
that gays would “undermine the
military,” and stacked the work-
ing group eventually tasked with
examining the military ban with
top brass who were religious
fanatics.
In the end, Bill Clinton caved
in to a silent coup d’etat led by
Colin Powell that shredded the
historic constitutional principle
of civilian control over the mili-
tary — and if I have any criticism
of Frank’s fine book, it’s that he
skips over this anti-constitution-
al angle too quickly.
Frank puts all the studies
of gays in the military under
the microscope, exhaustively
sifts through the evidence, and
comes to the inescapable conclu-
sion that “it is the pressure gen-
erated by gay exclusion rules to
fixate on the private lives of ser-
vice members [that] is the threat
to cohesion and morale” in our
armed forces.
Basing his account on hun-
dreds of interviews with service
members, as well as individual
2 - 15 APR 2009
case studies and institutional
reviews, and wielding his facts
like razors, Frank demonstrates
irrefutably the disastrous results
of DADT: “Gay and lesbian men
and women were hauled before
discharge boards not only when
they chose to ‘tell’ but when
they were outed by coworkers,
ex-lovers, psychologists, chap-
lains, Internet chat rooms, and
even their own parents. Pursuits
remained rampant, with flimsy
evidence used as the basis of dis-
charge proceedings. Mass witch
hunts continued and threats
and intimidation were all too
routine. Gays and lesbians were
still thrown in prison for private
consensual sex; their education
and retirement benefits were
vengefully snatched from them
once they were discharged; their
mental health suffered as they
were denied access to support
services that all other troops
could use.”
Just as I’d found in my report-
ing for The Nation a decade earli-
er, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has con-
tinued to lead to ever-escalating
levels of harassment, abuse,
intimidation, threats, physical
violence, and even murder within
the uniformed services, against
which those perceived as gay
have no recourse: They cannot
complain to their superiors, for
that would be “telling,” and they
would be summarily expelled.
Frank also reviews the experi-
ence of the many countries that
have ended their bans on gays
and the military and embraced
them; in each one, unit cohe-
sion has improved, as has troop
morale.
Yet, while banning gays, the
armed forces — so desperate for
manpower — has put tens of
thousands of criminals in uni-
form. As Frank shows, “Between
2003 and 2006, thanks to the
military’s moral waivers pro-
gram, 4,230 convicted felons,
43,977 individual convicted
of misdemeanors, including
assault, and 58,561 illegal drug
abusers were allowed to enlist.”
During the war in Iraq, “between
2004 and 2007, the number
of convicted felons nearly dou-
bled, rising from 824 to 1,605.
䉴 DON’T ASK, continued on p.13
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 2 – 15 APR 2009 3
■ YOUTH

Budget Beefs of Youth Advocates

LGBT center in the Bronx, Metropolitan Community Church shelter cry foul
BY PAUL SCHINDLER that pays for the other ten beds. more than 500 for HIV, identify- for DYCD, noted that Cardinal Michaels said that without the
However, according to Theresa ing 29 positive clients. The loss McCloskey specifically wrote drop-in center contract, Sylvia’s

W
ith a recent city cen-
sus finding that more
than 1,000 LGBT
youth are homeless in New York
and often have to spend the night
on the streets, advocates for that
population are expressing con-
cerns about a number of budget
cuts that could reduce services
and even the scarce supply of
emergency and transitional beds
available.
Green Chimneys, which cur-
rently provides 20 of the rough-
ly 100 beds available citywide
to homeless youth in settings
specifically tailored to provide
a safe space for queer youth, is
at risk of losing half of that total
because of funding cuts at the
city Department of Youth and
Community Development. DYCD
informed Green Chimneys its
contract funding those ten beds
would not be renewed in the fis-
cal year beginning July 1, leaving
the agency with only state money
Nolan, a senior staffer at Green
Chimneys, the agency has now
learned that additional state
money going to DYCD might
enable it to retain funding for
as many as seven of the beds it
risked losing.
In the Bronx, the lack of a
contract renewal is likely to
prove more problematic. For
the past three years, the Bronx
Community Pride Center, an
LGBT-focused facility on East
149th Street, has been the des-
ignated borough drop-in center
for homeless youth of all back-
grounds, receiving funding of
$300,000 annually. Accord-
ing to Lisa Winters, during that
period, the Pride Center has
experienced about 16,000 youth
visits, provided crisis referral
and intensive case management
to more than 700 youth, LGBT
and straight from the Bronx and
Upper Manhattan, served more
than 5,000 meals, and tested
of the city contract eliminates
a quarter of the Pride Center’s
$1.2 million budget and elimi-
nates its entire youth-specific
programming.
Though the Pride Center had
received Very Good ratings in
each of three annual city audits,
it lost out in this year’s competi
tive bidding to Cardinal McClo-
skey Services, a large social
services agency that works in
the Bronx, Westchester, and
Rockland. Though it is osten-
sibly non-sectarian, Cardinal
McCloskey obviously has a
Catholic background, and its
website describes its mission
in “support[ing] the sanctity of
the family.” Winters noted that
statement, and said that the
Catholic Church’s historic hos-
tility to LGBT people would dis-
enfranchise many Pride Center
clients. “My kids won’t go to Car-
dinal McCloskey,” she warned.
Ryan Dodge, a spokesman
about serving LGBT youth in
its proposal, and added that the
Pride Center’s loss of the con-
tract was no reflection of the
quality of the program it has
run.
In Manhattan, Sylvia’s Place,
the homeless LGBT youth pro-
gram of the Metropolitan Com-
munity Church (MCC), in Mid-
town, lost out in its effort to be
designated as the Manhattan
homeless youth drop-in center.
That contract, which has been
held by the Streetwork program
run by Safe Horizon, will now
go to the Door. Arguing that the
Door is not specifically geared to
LGBT youth, Lucky Michaels,
who directs MCC’s Homeless
Youth Services, said the Soho
agency offered a “warehous-
ing approach” to meeting youth
needs. Other advocates, howev-
er, note that the Door has long
worked effectively with queer
youth among its population.
Place might not be able to con-
tinue providing all 26 overnight
spots that it currently offers.
MCC staged a protest in City
Hall Park on March 31, where
it was joined by homeless youth
advocates including Carmen
Quinones from Green Chim-
neys, Nancy Downing from Cov-
enant House, and Margo Hirsch
from the Empire State Coalition
of Youth and Family Services.
The largest provider of hous-
ing for homeless LGBT youth,
the Ali Forney Center, mean-
while, announced this week
that it is receiving new DYCD
and state Department of Health
funding of $400,000 in 2009,
bringing its total annual budget
to $4.3 million. The group added
18 beds this year, and now pro-
vides 48 slots — 24 for emer-
gency housing, and the other
half for transitional living aimed
at preparing youth to find per-
manent housing on their own.

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Whoever you are, wherever you are on life’s journey,
you are welcome at Judson!
 2 - 15 APR 2009

4/ Crime
䉴 HATE?, from p.1
ecutor would contend that the
hate crime charges reflect the
crime’s motivation, given how
many years in jail Hynes could
seek given all the charges, those
additional five years seem more
symbolic than substantive. But
it also illustrates the extent to
which Hynes has promoted the
use of the hate crime statute.
“If you have leaders who
declare that this is something
that is a priority... they would
be more likely to go forward with
a case,” said Jack McDevitt,
associate dean at the College of
Criminal Justice at Northeast-
ern University.
Over the past four years,
Brooklyn had more reported
hate crimes of any type than any
other New York county, rang-
ing from 111 in 2005 to 122 in
2006, climbing to 126 in 2007,
and with 115 reported in 2008,
according to data from the state
Division of Criminal Justice Ser-
vices. From 2001 through 2008,
Brooklyn had 142 convictions
on hate crime charges, with the
Bronx posting 138 for that peri-
od. No other county in the state
had more than 100 convictions
during that time.
“You need leadership to
encourage their investigation
and prosecution and you need
leadership from the top,” said
Jeannine Bell, a law professor
at the Indiana University School
of Law and the author of “Polic-
ing Hatred: Law Enforcement,
Civil Rights, and Hate Crime,” a
2002 book.
Hynes successfully used the
Brooklyn had 142 convictions, with
the Bronx posting 138. No other
county had more than 100.
hate crime law in prosecuting
the four men who killed Michael
J. Sandy in 2006. In that case,
the prosecutor asserted it was
a hate crime because the defen-
dants selected a gay man as
their victim. There was no evi-
dence at trial that any of the
four held anti-gay views. On the
contrary, one defendant had
had sex with men.
The statute makes it a crime
to intentionally select a victim
or commit a crime “in whole or
in substantial part because of a
belief or perception regarding”
the victim’s membership in any
one of several protected classes,
including sexual orientation,
whether or not the perpetrator’s
belief or perception is correct.
Defense attorneys loathe the
hate crime label, believing that
it inflames juries. Opponents of
such laws see them as dividing
society by identity, punishing
thought, and privileging certain
classes of victims. They suspect
that politics plays a role in their
enforcement. Other New York
state data would likely give
opponents fits.
From 2005 through 2008,
three counties — Brooklyn, Suf-
folk, and Nassau — accounted
for roughly half of the report-
ed hate crimes in the state in
each year. Twenty-two of the
state’s 62 counties reported
no hate crimes at all in those
four years. From 2004 through
2008, 1,132 anti-Jewish hate
crimes were reported, followed
by 565 anti-black crimes, and
358 anti-gay, anti-lesbian, or
anti-bisexual crimes. There
were 11 gender identity-based
hate crimes reported for that
five-year period.
That data gives supporters
fits as well. “If certain commu-
nities are more likely to report,
then this is what happens,”
McDevitt said. “We get a distort-
ed picture. I don’t think that’s
a fair representation of hate
crimes in New York. I would
have expected more anti-black.”
Clearly, the label is important
in some communities, includ-
ing the gay community, and
those groups demand that their
political leaders respond.
Sucuzhanay was married
with two children and every
indication is that he was het-
erosexual, but many gay men
and lesbians, including Quinn
and openly gay State Senator
Thomas Duane, who both rep-
resent Chelsea, joined a Decem-
ber 14 protest over the killing.
In a separate Brooklyn case
— the murder trial of Omar
Willock, the killer of Roberto
Duncanson, a 20-year -old
gay man — there were angry
objections on rodonline.type-
pad.com when Neil J. Firetog,
the trial judge, dismissed the
hate crime charges. Despite
that dismissal, the prosecu-
tor closed with the argument
that Willock stabbed Duncan-
son because he was gay. The
18-year -old defendant was
found guilty of second-degree
murder.
One reason police and prose-
cutors may avoid using the hate
crime law is because it creates
additional work. Under New
York law, they are not required
to prove motive in a criminal
case, though most prosecutors,
knowing that juries like to hear
why a defendant broke the law,
make some effort at that. When
bringing a hate crime case,
prosecutors must prove beyond
a reasonable doubt that the
defendant intentionally select-
ed the victim or committed the
crime “in whole or in substantial
part because of a belief or per-
ception regarding” the victim’s
membership in the protected
classes.
“It is an extra thing that they
have to prove,” Bell said.
Then, too, crime frequently
becomes a political football and
hate crimes are no exception.
Law enforcement may wish to
avoid that. In 2009, an election
year, the politics may be more
pronounced. At press confer-
ences and the protest, elected
officials and candidates for
office condemned the killing and
praised Hynes. At the March
3 event, Quinn said Hynes is
“someone who has a passion for
justice and a passion for equal-
ity.”
The indictments against
Phoenix and Scott were released
at that press conference. Quinn
noted New York City’s diversity
and, implicitly, the district attor-
ney’s defense of it. “Anyone out
there who thinks they can rip
apart that diversity, this grand
jury sent a message, not in New
York,” she said.

NEWS BRIEFS By ANDY HUMM

NY High Court
Takes Up
Gay Marriage
Recognition
New York’s Court of Appeals
has agreed to decide whether the
state is acting properly in recogniz-
ing same-sex couples legally mar-
ried in other jurisdictions as mar-
ried here. In 2006, the high court
ruled that it was constitutional to
deny same-sex couples the right to
marry. But New York State is one
of the few in the US with no legal
or constitutional prohibition on rec-
ognizing legal same-sex marriag-
es, and, since 2004, an increasing
number of governmental bodies
here have treated gay couples
married elsewhere as married.
Last February, an intermediate-
level Appellate Division panel
upheld this policy, establishing a
statewide precedent.
The challenge to this policy has
been brought by the right-wing,
Arizona-based Alliance Defense
Fund, whose Brian Raum told the
New York Times, “The law in New
York states it will not recognize
marriages that conflict with pub-
lic policy in New York.” The cases
concern recognition of same-sex
marriages by Westchester County
Executive Andy Spano and the
state’s Department of Civil Service.
Lambda Legal’s Susan Sommer
told the newspaper that her group
had hoped the high court would
not accept the appeal, but is opti-
mistic that gay marriage advocates
will prevail.
Gates: DADT
Repeal Not
“Progressed
Very Far”
President Barack Obama’s
defense secretary, Robert Gates,
a holdover from the Bush admin-
istration, said on Fox News March
29 that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
policy that excludes out gays and
lesbians from serving in the armed
forces “continues to be the law
and any change in policy would
require a change in the law. We
will follow the law, whatever it is.
That dialogue, though, has really
not progressed very far at this point
in the administration.” Gates also
said, “”The president and I feel like
we’ve got a lot on our plates right
now and let’s push that one down
the road a little bit.”
Obama’s press secretary, Rob-
ert Gibbs, when asked in January if
the new president would overturn
DADT said, “You don’t hear politi-
cians give a one-word answer very
much. But it’s ‘Yes.’”
Meanwhile, on March 31, a
thousand-plus retired military offi-
cers issued a letter urging Obama
to keep the policy as is. Gen-
eral Carl Mundy, a former Marine
Corps commandant, told the Asso-
ciated Press, “We just see a great
many downsides to attempting to
enforce on the military something
I don’t know is widely accepted
in American society.” The letter
supports the view that open gay-
ness is “incompatible with military
service” and destroys “unit cohe-
sion,” views widely discredited
by surveys of military personnel
and the experience of most other
Western nations.
New Hampshire
House Approves
Marriage
Equality Bill
New Hampshire, which
approved civil unions in 2007, is
moving towards legalizing same-
sex marriage now. The state’s
House of Representatives voted
186-179 in favor of opening mar-
riage to gay couples on March 26,
the last day the chamber could
send a bill to the Senate. Out gay
Representative David Pierce gave
an impassioned speech about his
life with his partner of 20 years,
Bob, and their two children.
John H. Sununu, the state
Republican chairman in New
Hampshire, urged Governor John
Lynch, a Democrat, to veto the bill.
The governor opposes same-sex
marriage but has not announced
whether he will veto it if passed by
the Senate.
An amendment to issue two
kinds of marriage licenses in the
state — one for religious and the
other for civil marriages — was
defeated 306-34. In a lecture at
Emory University on March 30, out
gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robin-
son was reported by Pink News to
have said “that despite religious
officials frequently signing marriage
licenses, the state should handle the
legal aspect of the ceremony, leav-
ing churches to provide the bless-
ings” as is mostly done in Europe.
HRC Board
Votes for
Inclusive ENDA
The Human Rights Campaign
took tremendous flak in 2007,
especially from state LGBT groups,
for reneging on its pledge only to
support a federal Employment
Non-Discrimination Act if it
included transgender coverage
as well as sexual orientation.
Massachusetts out gay Demo-
cratic Congressman Barney
Frank pulled “gender identity and
expression” from the bill, assert-
ing it would prevent passage,
and the watered-down passed
235-184 with HRC’s support.
On March 25, the HRC Board
voted not to support an ENDA
that excludes gender iden-
tity and expression. The policy
statement says that the LGBT
lobby group “made a one-time
exception to our policy in 2007
because we strongly believed
that supporting this vote would
do more to advance inclusive
legislation.”
䉴 BRIEFS, continued on p.26
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 2 – 15 APR 2009 5

Join us during

HAtOLY W
St. Mark’s
EEK
St. Mark’s Church
in-the-Bowery
An Episcopal Church
in the Diocese of New York
131 East 10th St. at 2nd Ave.
(212) 674-6377
www.stmarkschurchbowery.org

Wednesday, April 8

GAY CITY NEWS

Tenebrae 7:00 p.m.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes spoke at a December 14 rally in Bushwick protesting the murder of Jose
Meditation Music 8:00 p.m.
Sucuzhanay.

■ CRIME April 9
Maundy
Just A Thursday
“Ghetto Fight”? Foot-washing,
Eucharist with Supper 7:00 p.m.
Suspects in anti-gay, anti-Latino murder say
it was a traffic dispute April 10
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE door of his SUV and swearing at him. Good Friday
Phoenix saw that Scott had exited the
Blues
T
he two men who are accused of car and was “fighting with both of these
killing Jose O. Sucuzhanay as they guys,” so he got out.
yelled anti-gay and anti-immigrant “The guy who kicked my door was on MUSIC, DRAMA AND DANCE 12:00 - 3:00 p.m.
slurs told police the 2008 attack resulted the ground and he looked like he was
from a traffic dispute. grabbing for something, so I got scared
“First, I want to say this ain’t nothing
like the TV and newspapers are saying
and went to the back of my truck and
took out a bat,” Phoenix said. “I took the
Saturday, April 11
how it happened, cause it ain’t,” Keith
Phoenix told police according to a tran-
script of an oral statement he made after
bat and hit him a couple of times. He tried
to get up so I hit him again with the bat a
couple more times.”
Easter Vigil 7:00 p.m.
his arrest. “This is nothing more than In a separate written statement, Phoe-
fight in the ghetto, that’s it.” nix asserted, “I saw one on the ground
Phoenix, 29, said he was driving home reaching so I went to my truck to protect April 12
to the Bronx on December 7 after attend- me my friend cousin.” He later inserted
ing a party in Brooklyn with Hakim
Scott, a friend, when they encountered
the words “for a gun” after “reaching.”
The party Phoenix attended was for
Easter
Jose and Romel Sucuzhanay, two broth-
ers originally from Ecuador, at an inter-
section in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neigh-
his cousin, identified as Demetrius in
the statement. Demetrius was in the car
in the front seat. He is not charged in the
Sunday
borhood. crime.
Followed by
When the light turned green, Phoe- Scott, who was seated in the back seat, Children’s Easter
nix honked his horn because “these said the driver’s “side, front, and rear
guys were taking their sweet-ass time windows were down because I was smok- Egg Hunt 11:00 a.m.
crossing,” he said. One of the two men, ing and the music was turned up loud.”
The Rev. Winnie Varghese
presumably Jose in Phoenix’s account,
Priest-in-Charge
responded by kicking the driver’s side 䉴 MURDER, continued on p.13

6/ Crime
䉴 JUDGES, from p.1
and the police legal unit handled
four of those five.
Now the police department
has backed off making busts in
porn shops, and the Manhat-
tan district attorney is promis-
ing to investigate the porn shop
arrests. This prompts a question
— why did judges approve these
nuisance abatement lawsuits
for trial in the first place?
“When the city brings an
application to a city judge,
there’s some bias there,” said
Eric W. Siegle, a partner at
Siegle & Sims, LLP, who has
defended clients in nuisance
abatement suits and stressed
he was not commenting on any
particular judge or case. “The
city gets away with things.”
Certainly, the police depart-
WHAT ABOUT NO CRIME
EVEN BEING ALLEGED?
Did Judge Edward H. Lehner
approve a 2007 nuisance abatement
lawsuit against a Manhattan location
where no crime was committed? He
may have done just that. In 2007, two
undercover officers from the Manhat-
tan South Vice Enforcement Squad,
who were identified by badge numbers
in court records, investigated a so-
called dungeon on West 38th Street.
The officers — 3371 and 2015 —
made three visits, with both entering
the location in June and 2015 returning
alone in August. Altogether, they made
seven arrests for prostitution and unli-
censed massage.
During the June visit, 3371 told the
woman he met, “I want to be spanked,
I’ve been a bad boy... I also told her
that I wanted her to give me a mas-
sage then to penetrate me anally with
a strap-on dildo.”
The undercover officer said the
woman agreed and started to mas-
sage him.
Also in June, 2015 wrote, he told
a female he wanted her “to tie me
up and massage me... I told her that
I wanted her to touch me while I
motioned to my crotch.”
The officer wrote that the woman
said, “Ok, but I’m not a prostitute so
you’ll have to finish on your own, but
don’t worry, you’re really going to
enjoy yourself.”
Of the August visit, 2015 wrote, “I
said I wanted her to anally penetrate
me with a dildo and for her to ‘rub me
off’ while I motioned to my crotch... She
said ‘Ok just take off your underwear.’”
ment legal unit has dramati-
cally increased the use of the
city’s nuisance abatement
law. While the scope of the law
has been expanded by the City
Council at least five times since
it was enacted in 1977, it was
only after the police department
established its own legal unit in
1991 that cases shot up.
Police filed 214 cases citywide
in 1994, according to “NYPD
Battles Crime: Innovative Strat-
egies in Policing,” a 1999 book
by Eli B. Silverman. That num-
ber climbed to 709 in 1996 and
712 in 1997.
The police department press
office told Gay City News that
the legal unit brought 899 cases
citywide in 2008. Just over 200
of those cases were in Manhat-
tan. The increases could not
have happened without approv-
The defendants were not identi-
fied in the lawsuit, and Gay City News
could not determine the disposition of
the criminal cases, but in 1994 a Brook-
lyn court ruled that a dominatrix could
not be prosecuted under New York’s
prostitution laws because the services
she provided were not sex as that law
defines it.
The police department’s legal unit,
which brought the suit against the West
38th Street location, appears to have
understood there were problems with
the case they were trying to make.
Police sought a temporary restrain-
ing order and preliminary injunction
against the building on November 14 of
that year, Lehner approved them on the
21st, and the police department with-
drew the suit the next day.
The city’s 1977 nuisance abatement
law allows the city to bring civil suits
against locations where criminal activ-
ity, such as prostitution or drug dealing,
is taking place. If successful, the city
can close the locations for up to a year
and levy hefty fines.
Gay City News hand-delivered a
letter to Lehner asking about his rul-
ing in this and other cases. He did not
respond.
Undercover 3371 also made many
of the arrests of gay and bisexual men
in Manhattan porn shops in 2008. He
has also arrested men in two spas —
one on West 34th Street and another
on East 37th Street — that serve male
customers, and he has arrested alleged
male prostitutes on the streets in the
West Village. — Duncan Osborne
al from judges.
In a typical nuisance abate-
ment case, the police first
request a temporary restraining
order and a preliminary injunc-
tion from a judge that allow
them to close the offending busi-
ness.
To support the request, which
is made ex parte, or without the
other side seeing the evidence or
knowing the orders are sought,
police submit affidavits from offi-
cers who have investigated the
business for prostitution, drug
dealing, the sale of counterfeit
goods, or other illegal activities.
David E. Duhan, an attorney
in private practice in Queens, left
the New York City police depart-
ment in 2003 after a 20-year
career. In his final years there, he
was the second in command in
the legal unit.
“Some of the judges may scru-
tinize the initial application more
than others, but it’s ex parte,”
Duhan said. “It’s rare, from my
experience, that they wouldn’t
sign them.”
Sidney Baumgarten ran the
Midtown Enforcement Project,
now the Mayor’s Office of Spe-
cial Enforcement, from 1974 to
1978, and was part of the group
of lawyers who wrote the nui-
sance abatement law. He said
judges must take a hard look at
the city’s initial filing, called an
order to show cause, to be cer-
tain the police evidence supports
the lawsuit.
“A judge is supposed to scru-
tinize an order to show cause,”
said Baumgarten, now an attor-
ney with Michael J. Devereaux
& Associates. “The judge has an
obligation to look at it and see if
there is any efficacy to it.”
When seeking to close a loca-
tion for prostitution, the nuisance
abatement law requires that the
city show two or more prostitu-
tion convictions at a location or
provide evidence of the “common
fame and general reputation” of
the business. Duhan said police
relied on the second of the two
standards almost exclusively.
“Most of the time, I would
say 90 percent of the time,” he
said. Arrests, not convictions,
for prostitution are enough to
establish that. The problem
with using only arrests has
become apparent in at least
some of the porn shop cases.
The police method was to
send in young, undercover offi-
cers who aggressively solicited
men, sometimes much older
men, for a consensual sex act
outside the store. Only when
the men agreed was money
mentioned, it was always first
mentioned by police, who
were the ones offering to make
the payment, and sometimes
money was brought up right
before the men were busted.
Gay City News reviewed doz-
ens of nuisance abatement
The police department legal unit has
dramatically increased the use of the
city’s nuisance abatement law.
suits, which alleged many kinds
of criminal activity, brought by
the police department’s legal
unit in Manhattan in 2007,
2008, and 2009. The evidence
ranged from highly detailed
and convincing to scant, with
officers doing little more than
asserting that a crime had been
committed.
It was typical — though not
uniformly so — in prostitution
cases that police supplied little
beyond arrest dates, sometimes
the badge number of the arrest-
ing officer, and sometimes the
defendants’ names. The slight
evidence disguised what may
be misconduct by police in the
arrests of gay men in the porn
shops.
Undercover of ficers were
usually identified only by badge
numbers in the lawsuits, and
Gay City News found that the
officers who made the porn
shop busts made other arrests
of men and women in spas and
alleged brothels.
For Baumgarten, the fact
that the police legal unit is
bringing the nuisance cases
raises an issue. Under criminal
law, police are primarily respon-
sible for gathering evidence and
then a district attorney decides
whether or not to bring a case.
Before 1991, the nuisance suits
were brought by the Corpora-
tion Counsel’s office.
But under the approach
most prevalent now, would an
attorney in the police depart-
ment’s legal unit challenge a
police officer’s evidence?
“One of the things that I’ve
objected to... is the fact that
they’ve handed this over to the
NYPD legal bureau,” Baumgar-
ten said. “I think they’re taking
it out of the hands of at least a
2 - 15 APR 2009
somewhat neutral legal bureau
and putting it into the hands of
the very guys that are trying to
enforce the law.”
In an email, Paul J. Browne,
the police department’s chief
spokesman, wrote, “A civilian
attorney here is acting with the
delegated authority under the
law in the same fashion any
city attorney would. Police offi-
cers and detectives are always
involved in the investigation
and the gathering of evidence
in cases brought by the city,
whether criminal or civil. A
judge ultimately determines the
merits.”
But this also means that the
judges are the only indepen-
dent arbiters in these cases and
it appears that no judge asked
any questions about the porn
shop arrests in the civil suits.
Judge Nicholas Figueroa,
who heard the case against
B l u e D o o r Vi d e o , a n E a s t
Village porn shop, failed to
observe that eight of the 12
men arrested there were 42 or
older, unlikely ages for male
prostitutes. The fact that two
men were from out of state and
another two were from Europe
and would have traveled signifi-
cant distances to earn insignifi-
cant sums also eluded him.
Just four judges — Stall-
man, Figueroa, Joan Madden,
and Edward H. Lehner — have
heard the vast majority of nui-
sance cases in the past two
years. Figueroa heard four of
the porn shop cases. Lehner
and Stallman each heard one.
Gay City News hand-
delivered letters to Stallman,
Figueroa, Lehner, and Mad-
den, asking about their rulings
in some specific cases as well
as their views on the legal stan-
dards in nuisance abatement
cases.
In a letter, Stallman’s law
clerk said the judge was barred
by the Code of Judicial Con-
duct from responding. Figueroa
forwarded his letter to the
state courts press office, which
promised, but did not deliver, a
response. Madden and Lehner
never responded.
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 2 – 15 APR 2009 7

Celebrate Holy Week & Easter

Founder of Metropolitan Community Churches

Palm Sunday, April 5th, 9am, 11am and 7pm: Blessing of the Palms
Wednesday, April 8th, 7pm: Taize Service with Reverend Edgard Danielsen-Morales
Thursday, April 9th, 7pm: Maundy Thursday Service with Reverend Edgard Danielsen-Morales
Good Friday, April 10th, 7pm: The Reverend Troy Perry preaching and The Lavender Light Gospel Choir!
Holy Saturday, April 11th, 7pm: Easter Vigil Liturgy and with the Lighting of the New Fire,
The Reverend Troy Perry preaching
Easter Sunday, April 12th: The Reverend Troy Perry preaching at all services:
9am: Traditional Liturgy of the Resurrection
MCCNY All-Church Retreat
11am: Celebration Liturgy of the Resurrection at Kirkridge Center in Bangor, PA
7pm: Praise and Worship Service of the Resurrection Friday, April 24 - Sunday, April 26, 2009
Open to the Public!
Join us for a weekend of spiritual insight, fellowship,
and communion with God and nature. Kirkridge Center
is located in the Kittatinny Ridge of eastern PA.
Approximate cost: $230 per person includes retreat program,
lodging and meals. Contact Rev. Edgard Danielsen-Morales
with any questions at RevEdgard@mccny.org
or 212-629-7440, ext. 223.

a church of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - open to all

The Reverend Pat Bumgardner, Pastor
Weekly Sunday Services: 9 am (Traditional), 11 am (Celebration),
3 pm (Mandarin) and 7 pm (Praise & Worship)
11 am features ASL interpreter (1st, 2nd and 3rd Sunday of each month and holidays)
446 West 36th St. bet. 9th & 10th Ave. NY, NY 10018 212-629-7440
website: www.mccny.org email: info@mccny.org
CHECK OUT www.MCCNY.org for information about our progams, services, and events, including CHURCH LADY BINGO and MCCNY'S JACKSON HALL ART GALLERY.

8/ Politics
䉴 PROGRESSIVES, from p.1
studies. Since then, she ran a
nationwide effort by the Pew
Charitable Trusts to forge a dia-
logue among college students
about the future of Social Secu-
rity, handled public relations at
Teach For America, a non-profit
that aims to reduce education-
al inequality, and served as an
educational advisor to Fernan-
do Ferrer while he was Bronx
borough president and also
making his 2001 mayoral bid.
From 2002 until early this
year, she has led the Drum
Major Institute (DMI), a Man-
hattan think tank, with a staff
of 13 and a budget approaching
$2 million, that aims to counter
the influence of similar groups
on the right and to promote pro-
gressive government solutions
to the social and economic chal-
lenges facing what she terms
“current and aspiring middle
class people.”
Years ago, Batista Schlesing-
er was involved with the Out
People of Color Political Action
Club, a nonpartisan group that
twice endorsed Ferrer for mayor,
and also Brooklyn’s Lambda
Independent Democrats. Yet,
in early February, she became
the tenth staff member hired
by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s
reelection campaign.
What does her appointment
to the campaign say about just
how tough a slog Democrats
face in challenging Democrat
turned-Republican turned-
Independent Michael Bloomberg
this November?
“The goal of my career as
well as the Drum Major Insti-
tute’s work is to advance pro-
gressive ideas,” she explained
in a recent interview. “And you
have a mayor here — who is a
progressive thinker, who the
Drum Major Institute honored
a few years ago, who we’ve also
criticized and pushed — reach-
ing out and asking me to be on
the team. He’s popular. If my
mission is to move ideas, if the
Drum Major Institute’s mission
is to move ideas, how could one
say no to that opportunity?”
How many other progres-
sives, how many other Demo-
crats — mindful of the 64-per-
cent Bloomberg approval rat-
ing that Batista Schlesinger
noted and also of the politics of
advancing their issues — will
come to the same conclusion?
Daily News columnist
Errol Louis apparently thinks
there’s strong likelihood that
many will — but he’s dubi-
ous about their motives and,
in any event, not happy about
that prospect. In a February
5 article, he wrote about three
well-known Democratic opera-
tives — Howard Wolfson, Hank
Sheinkopf, and Basil Smikle
— who had “jumped ship” to
join Bloomberg, but saved his
harshest fire for Batista Schle-
singer. Louis predicted that she
would be “humored until the
“I am very sensitive, maybe because
I’m a policy person and not
a politics person.”
election is over, after which an
administration that scorned
and ignored DMI policy sug-
gestions for years simply will go
back to business as usual.”
Not content to question her
political judgment, Louis went
a step further, writing that she
was “now within sniffing dis-
tance of the Bloomberg bonus
pool.” In past campaigns, the
mayor handed out post-election
bonuses totaling tens of thou-
sands of dollars each to valued
staff.
The charge stung Batista
Schlesinger. “I am very sensitive,
maybe because I’m a policy per-
son and not a politics person,”
she explained. Noting Louis
never called her for comment,
she continued, “I was wound-
ed and I was angry because
I thought this is what the left
does. They eat their own. And
because too many people who
have the power of a microphone
have no power analysis. People
have to have an analysis of how
power operates and how we can
drive our agenda.”
Emphasizing that she’s “a
believer in the cause,” Batista
Schlesinger disputed the notion
advanced by some pundits that
appointments like hers signal
the mayor’s intention to move
left for the upcoming election.
“I think there’s continuity in the
mayor’s approach,” she said.
“On every policy from attacking
poverty to public health to edu-
cation to immigration — very
important issues to the city —
I think he’s been solidly in the
progressive camp.” Bloomberg,
she said, “believes that govern-
ment can play a positive role in
people’s life”; she pointedly con-
trasted him with former Mayor
Rudy Giuliani, who she said
only worked “to police them and
to punish them and to ignore
entrenched problems.”
Batista Schlesinger described
the mayor’s 2007 Earth Day
speech, in which he laid out
PLAN-Y-C, a comprehensive
climate change plan for the
city, as pivotal, and recalled
her reaction as she sat in the
audience: “Now this is real pro-
gressive thinking. Not electoral
cycle thinking but 20, 30 years
down the road.” DMI honored
Bloomberg for that speech. She
also particularly praises the
mayor for his call for progres-
sive immigration reform three
years ago, “when he was still a
Republican.”
Batista Schlesinger con-
ceded that while at DMI and
since joining the campaign,
she has not closely examined
issues on which the mayor has
clashed with some LGBT and
HIV/ AIDS advocates, though
in some cases she expects she
will dig into the fundamental
policy questions. Despite her
education policy background,
she of fered no view about
Bloomberg’s longstanding
refusal to implement the anti-
bullying Dignity for All Schools
Act (DASA) passed by the City
Council over his veto in 2004,
or the progress made in imple-
menting the mayor’s alternative
Respect For All program finally
rolled out last fall. She would
only say, “You can’t always
interpret the mayor’s response
to some bill as encroaching
on his authority as him being
opposed to the spirit of the bill,”
referring to Bloomberg’s objec-
tion to the bullying law. “It’s
easy to draw that inference,
and it’s not always correct.”
Batista Schlesinger was
similarly noncommittal about
Bloomberg’s failure to meet
the goal he laid out in 2003 of
halving HIV infections within
several years, or his administra-
tion’s cut of nearly $5 million in
HIV/AIDS services in the cur-
rent year’s budget, despite the
fact that infection rates among
gay and bisexual men have
remained constant during his
two terms.
Only regarding the may-
or’s stewardship of the 2004
Republican National Conven-
tion — when police aggressive-
ly went after protesters, and
some detainees were held on
Hudson River piers in defiance
of a federal court order — did
Batista Schlesinger offer criti-
cism: “My personal reaction
in ’04 was, ‘This is excessive.’
But beyond that I don’t have
too much of an analysis. When
you work for any leader, you
are going to accept that not
everything is going to hew to
your position.”
Batista Schlesinger — whose
partner of two and a half years is
Ana Maria Archila, co-director of
Make the Road New York, a well-
regarded community organizing
group that works for social jus-
tice, primarily in Brooklyn and
Queens — believes her work
in the Bloomberg campaign
falls on a continuum of efforts
among local progressives. She
noted that none of the allies
she’s worked with in politics
or other progressive efforts
have given her flak; many of
them, in fact, have “come here
and shared their ideas about
what they think of the mayor.
And how do they get invited?
Because I invited them.”
As for the criticism the Daily
News’ Louis offered, Batista
Schlesinger argued his think-
ing is counter-productive: “It
will paralyze other progressives
from entering into government
and getting involved in cam-
paigns. It will ghettoize us into
positions of dissent and protest.
And we need to be in places of
dissent and protest, but we also
need to be around the table.”
She described a program DMI
has developed to train college
activists to enter policy careers.
Of the alumni of that effort,
Batista Schlesinger said, “They
were so proud when they saw
that I was going to take this.
Because that’s the same mes-
sage I was giving them — you
need to be around the table.
What does that column say
to them, that to be around the
table means that they are not
pursuing the path of the righ-
teous activist? That’s the wrong
message for them. So I take this
very seriously.”
2 - 15 APR 2009
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
COMEDY
THU.APR.2
Seasonal Jollies
In Homo Comicus’ “Spring Baccha-
nal,” hosted by Michelle Bueteau, Clau-
dia Cogan, Jason Dudey, Marc Maietta,
Bob Smith, and Jodi Wasserman will
crack your face. Gotham Comedy Club,
208 W. 23rd St., 8:30 p.m. Admission is
$15, with a two-drink minimum. Reser-
vations at 212-367-9000.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
PERFORMANCE
Kan’t-Miss Kicks
With “Keigwin Kabarets,” Larry Keig-
win promises “a vaudevillian-like fusion
of contemporary dance, burlesque,
comedy, and side show entertainment,
all in a Warholesque spirit.” Murray Hill
is the special guest emcee. Symphony
Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th St.,
Apr. 2-4, 9-11, 16-18 at 8:30 p.m. Tick-
ets are $25 at symphonyspace.org or
212-864-5400; $20 for Symphony Space
members; $30 at the door.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
When the EV Had
Variety
Steve Bird hosts “Hysterical Demen-
tia,” a character-driven variety show for
the way Off-Broadway crowd, classically
East Village in the pre-gentrified mean-
ing of the phrase. The evening includes
a collection of monologues, personae,
riffs, and non-sequiturs interspersed with
music and video and features Shecky
Beagleman, Audrey Crabtree, Myles
Goldin, David Leopold, Mike Raphone,
Stephanie Sabelli, and Bruce Smolanoff.
Under St. Marks, 94 St. Marks Pl.,
btwn. First Ave. & Ave. A. Apr. 2-4 at
8 p.m. Admission is $10. Information at
646-861-8792.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
GALLERY
FRI.APR.3
Sweet Painted
Boys
Harvey Redding of the Leslie/ Lohm-
an Gay Art Foundation and Steven Leven-
berg present “The Painted Boy Gay Erotic
Art Fair,” an art orgy featuring more than
60 artists and 2,000 erotic and afford-
able works. The opening night reception
tonight includes the unveiling of “Lover
Man, Oh, Where Can you Be,” a collec-
䉴 APR 3, continued on p.12
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
■ POLITICS
Bloomberg: Move Marriage Now
Mayor saying the moment right, reiterates pledge to lobby Albany
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
I
n his most specific articulation of
what he is prepared to do to help
make marriage equality a real-
ity in New York State, Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg “promise[d] to go with Chris-
tine Quinn up to Albany and to tes-
tify and to do whatever it takes to keep
the pressure on.” The mayor made his
remarks at a gala dinner March 25 at
the Hammerstein Ballroom in Midtown
hosted by the LGBT Community Center
to honor Richard Burns, who recently
stepped down as its executive director
after more than 22 years at the helm.
The mayor has pledged to lobby Albany
on a gay marriage bill for at least the past
four years. In 2005, when asked by Gay
City News how strong his commitment
to getting a law passed was, Bloomberg
responded, “I will go and testify the way I
said I would. You don’t know very much
about me. When I say I’ll do something,
I’ll do something.”
The mayor has not, however, played a
significant role in the Albany debate so
far. The State Assembly, overwhelmingly
Democratic, passed the marriage mea-
2 – 15 APR 2009
ARTURO JIMINEZ
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Richard Burns, and City
Council Speaker Christine Quinn at the Hammerstein
Ballroom on March 25.
sure in 2007 by an 85-61 margin. What
influence he had, if any, in helping deliv-
er votes, either among city Democrats
or the four upstate Republicans who
joined the winning majority, is unknown,
but there were no public hearings, with
the issue debated openly in the Assem-
bly only when the bill was on the floor.
During the 2007-2008 legislative ses-
sion, the Senate was led by the Repub-
licans, whose two leaders, Joseph Bruno
and later Dean Skelos, were adamant
in their opposition to marriage equality,
Bloomberg’s advocacy notwithstanding.
This year, the Democrats hold a nar-
row 32-30 majority in the Senate, but
with some in their ranks, particularly
Bronx Senator Ruben Diaz, a fiery Pen-
tecostal minister, opposed, marriage
equality advocates know they need some
Republican votes to carry the day. State
campaign finance records show that the
mayor supported the state Republican
Party to the tune of just under $1 mil-
lion in 2007-2008, with the bulk of that
money going to the State Senate Repub-
lican Campaign Committee. Given these
donations and the strong likelihood that
Bloomberg will have the Republican line
in his November reelection bid, advocates
will no doubt look to him to lobby target-
ed GOP senators. (This reporter was mis-
quoted on this point in the print edition
of one of the city’s dailies on March 26,
though that was soon corrected online).
Acknowledging that, with the change
in party control, marriage equality has
the chance of coming to the Senate floor,
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9
the mayor, said, “We now stand closer
than we ever have before to a dream that
I think we all share — a law guarantee-
ing marriage equality.” He added, “The
tide is turning. Support is mounting. It’s
still not going to be easy. There are peo-
ple who don’t agree.”
“I think it’s time for Albany to set
politics aside and do the right thing,”
Bloomberg concluded, perhaps wrapping
into his marriage advocacy a shot at leg-
islative leaders for their failure to date to
avert a pending significant subway fare
hike.
The mayor disappointed many in
the community in early 2005 when he
mounted an appeal to a Manhattan
Supreme Court ruling in favor of mar-
riage equality. That appeal led to a ruling
at the state’s highest court in July 2006
finding no right to marriage for same-sex
couples in the New York Constitution.
Bloomberg first announced his sup-
port for marriage equality at the time
the appeal was filed, and since that time
reiterated his stand on numerous occa-
sions. In fact, regarding the outcome of
䉴 BLOOMBERG, continued on p.12
 2 - 15 APR 2009

10/ Perspective
■ ALBANY REPORT
PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER
JOHN W. SUTTER
Repeal Is Real
JWSutter@communitymediallc.com BY NATHAN RILEY
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER

R
ockefeller Drug Law those were the sensible priori- until we recognize the simple pass quickly, the Commis-
TROY MASTERS
troy@gaycitynews.com
repeal has reformers ties years ago. truth that some people use sion’s recommendations will
hungry, and waiting Despite the withering criti- drugs, some people don’t. Now be ready for the new Congress
EDITOR IN-CHIEF & CO-FOUNDER
PAUL SCHINDLER
to see if the 32 Democratic cism of the budget process in go have your morning cup of that starts in January 2011. It
editor@gaycitynews.com Party chefs in the State Sen- Albany, Governor David Pat- coffee. was a similar body, the Wick-
ASSOCIATE EDITOR ate can provide a meal. As this erson, Senate Majority Leader The maven of the anti- ersham Commission, that rec-
Duncan Osborne is being written, a leadership Malcolm Smith of Queens, drug forces, Ethan Nadel- ommended the end of Prohibi-
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS agreement is in place, but no and Speaker Sheldon Silver of mann, executive director of tion as Congress was seated
Christopher Byrne (Theater), Susie Day, one knows if the Senate Dem- the Lower East Side could be the Drug Policy Alliance, has in January 1931.
Doug Ireland (International), Brian McCormick ocrats will stay united and on track to earn a place in his- announced that New York A former marine and secre-
(Dance), Dean P. Wrzeszcz
pass this legislation as one tory. 2009 may prove a turn- reformers are preparing new tary of the Navy, Webb, in one
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Betsy Andrews, Seth J. Bookey,
part of the state budget. It is ing point in the war against campaigns that will plant “the of his 18 books, wrote, “Afri-
Anthony M.Brown, Kelly Jean Cogswell, assumed that all 30 Republi- drugs. Prison sentences will seeds for even more far reach- can-Americans, who make up
Dean Daderko, Tate Dougherty, Andres Duque, cans will vote against it. no longer be the bulwark in ing change, including reform about 12 percent of our soci-
Michael Ehrhardt, Steve Erickson, Nick Feitel,
Jim Fouratt, Joe Fyfe, Deborah Garwood, Passage of what has been the effort, and the imprison- of the state’s marijuana laws ety, comprise more than half
Erasmo Guerra, Emily Harney, Andrey Henkin, agreed to would be the real ment of a disproportionately and a paradigm shift to a of all our prison inmates; 20
Frank Holiday, Andy Humm, James Jorden, Brendan deal reform-wise. This is large number of people of color ‘harm reduction’ drug policy years ago they made up only
Keane, David Kennerley, Gary M. Kramer, Arthur S.
Leonard, Rachael Liberman, clear from the state budget. for minor crimes will hopefully grounded in health rather one-third.” Nobody can make
Michael T. Luongo, Lawrence D. Mass, New York, to “save taxpayers decline. than criminal justice,” issues a credible accusation that this
Winnie McCroy, Eileen McDermott,
Gregory Montreuil, Ioannis Mookas, Carrie Moyer,
money,” will close three pris- Still, this marks just the he termed “debates that have veteran is soft on crime, and
Stephen Mueller, Christopher Murray, ons and nine juvenile justice first act. The debate over the been simmering beneath the everybody is paying atten-
David Noh, Wayne Northcross, Lori Ortiz, facilities, according to an Alba- best way to protect youth and surface for decades.” tion to his accusations that
Pauline Park, Sheila Pepe, John Reed,
Nathan Riley, Andrew Robinson, Gerard Robinson, ny press release describing public safety will continue, as Nationally, the debate has the criminal justice system is
Chris Schmidt, Sarah D. Schulman, the budget deal. Social justice reformers make just their first broadened as well. Virginia unfair.
Jason Victor Serinus, Linda Shapiro, seasoned with budget cuts is nibble at the ideologies sup- Democratic Senator James Moments when history is
David Shengold, Gus Solomons Jr., David Spiher,
Drew B. Straub, Stefen Styrsky, Jerry Tallmer, a meal legislators can feast on porting aggressive police tac- Webb announced bipartisan made and social injustices are
Stefanos Tsigrimanis, Kathleen Warnock, during a period of falling reve- tics that result in thousands legislation to create a blue-rib- corrected should be savored.
Benjamin Weinthal, Lee Ann Westover,
James Withers, Kai Wright, Susan Yung
nues. The specifics of drug law of drug arrests every month. bon commission charged with Repeal of the worst provisions
reform — and the resolution Eur ope has survived with “conducting an 18-month, of the Rockefeller Drug Laws
ART DIRECTOR
Mark Hasselberger
of a face-off between district comparable rates of drug use top-to-bottom review of the is the precursor to what many
attorneys and drug reform — without mass arrests, and its nation’s entire criminal justice hope will be a more profound
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Jamie Paakkonen are less important than the citizens live long healthy lives. system and offering concrete shift celebrating an individu-
budgetary decision to control Only some users of dangerous recommendations for reform.” al’s privacy and an individual’s
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING
FRANCESCO REGINI prison costs. New York State is substances such as cigarettes, Pennsylvania Republican autonomy. Drug prohibition’s
francesco@gaycitynews.com changing the overall menu — alcohol, marijuana, and hero- Arlen Specter, the ranking hardnosed application of state
health and education become in suffer real harm from their member of the Judiciary Com- power to compel uniform hab-
ADVERTISING MANAGERS
larger priorities than locking activity, and the obligation is mittee and a former prosecu- its is still with us, but its hold
COLIN GREGORY
colin@gaycitynews.com up individuals who sell drugs. to help them, not jail them. tor, is the lead GOP cospon- on government policy keeps
Most New Yorkers concluded The drug war will not end sor. Should this legislation weakening.
ALLISON GREAKER
allison@gaycitynews.com
JASON SHERWOOD
■ A DYKE ABROAD
jsherwood@gaycitynews.com

DALE KANZLER
dale@gaycitynews.com
Today, I Hate Men
BY KELLY JEAN COGSWELL
JASON SPARKS

I
jsparks@gaycitynews.com used that title in my blog former soccer star Eudy Simela- this kind of masculinity.” Call it an afterthought did the New
FERN WALLACH last month, and could have ne was gang-raped and stabbed what you want, the perpetrators York Times offer a report reveal-
wallach@communitymediallc.com used it several times since. to death last year. are men. And I do hate them. ing that a sizable number of
Please call (212) 229-1890 for Why not? It gets your attention. The rapes and murders of Like in Brazil, where there’s Brazil’s legal abortions were for
advertising rates and availability.
Responds to the most common all black females have acceler- an epidemic of stupid, vicious, under-aged girls who had been
ACCOUNTING message out there, unspoken, ated in South Africa, though criminal rapists otherwise raped by men in their family.
DAVID JAFFE
david@gaycitynews.com and hidden between the lines, you wouldn’t know it, what known as fathers, stepfathers, Even younger ones are raped,
NATIONAL DISPLAY ADVERTISING declaring, “I Hate Women. with the government and police brothers, grandfathers. Last used as blow-up dolls at six or
Rivendell Media / 212.242.6863 Always.” responding with an inverse pas- month’s big fuss over a nine- seven, but don’t turn up in the
Web master In South Africa, it’s written sivity, doing almost nothing for year-old girl who aborted twins statistics because they’re too
Arturo Jimenez large in sexual violence. Les- dykes. Nothing even for straight after her stepfather raped her young to get pregnant. No fod-
Arturo@gaycitynews.com
Gay City News, The Newspaper Serving Gay and Lesbian NYC, is pub-
bians, especially, are raped to females. Leaving rapists and wouldn’t have existed at all if der for the anti-abortion activ-
lishedby Community Media, LLC. Send all inquiries to: Gay City News,
145 Sixth Ave., First Fl., NYC 10013 Phone: 646.452.2500 Written “cure” us of our sexual orienta- murderers free to do their thing. not for the fact that some idiot ists and priests. No media hook.
permission of the publisher must be obtained before any of the contents
of this paper, in part or whole, can be reproduced or redistributed. All tion, and keep us in a female’s Carrie Shelver, an activ- local priest summarily excom- Yep, today again, I’m hat-
contents (c) 2009 Gay City News. place, which is somewhat lower ist with women’s rights group municated everyone involved, ing men. Enough to be trem-
Gay City News is a registered trademark
of Community Media, LLC. than the sole of the masculine Powa, told Britain’s The Guard- including the doctors who per- bling. To fall silent. Thinking
John W. Sutter, President
Fax: 646.452.2501;
foot. On par with the worm. So ian, to blame “the increasingly formed the surgery and the of all those little girls out there
E-mail: JWSutter@communitymediallc.com often relegated below ground macho culture, which seeks to woman who tried to care for her facing this man’s world. Once,
Subscriptions: to the grave, women’s violent oppress women and sees them abused daughter. twice, or a hundred times a day
26 issues, $90.00 deaths look like a slow-motion as merely sexual beings. So So the priest made the head- they’ll be reminded of what they
(c)2009 Gay City News. genocide. It’s actually picked up when there is a lesbian woman, line, along with the Vatican’s
All rights reserved.
speed since lesbian activist and she is an absolute affront to jockeying afterwards. Only as 䉴 TODAY, continued on p.11
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 2 – 15 APR 2009 11
■ SNIDE LINES

Bernie Breakout Shocker! Madoff Almost Made Off!

BY SUSIE DAY

T
oday at dawn, New York
City police surprised a
gang of free market fanat-
ics just before they could set
off a massive dynamite explo-
sion that would have blown
away the entire northern wall of
lower Manhattan’s Metropolitan
Correctional Center. The gang
members, clad in black Armani
ski masks and tasteful Chris-
tian Dior jogging suits, fled the
scene, leaving behind a commu-
niqué identifying themselves as
the Wealthy Underground Orga-
nization, a militant clandestine
group dedicated to the “libera-
tion” of disgraced businessman
and former NASDAQ chairman
Bernard L. Madoff.
According to police, the
Wealthy Underground Orga-
nization is one of a growing
number of capitalist extremist
groups borrowing tactics from
the 1960s nostalgia craze in
order to fight what it sees as the
“socialist menace” brought on
by President Barack Obama’s
response to the economic crisis.
News of the daring rescue
attempt quickly spread through-
out radical capitalist circles,
bringing tycoons, magnates, and
entrepreneurs — from corpo-
rate CEOs to ice cream vendors
— to the Correctional Center to
demonstrate in support of the
Wealthy Underground. Picketing
and chanting, protestors held
signs reading “FREE BERNIE!”
and “THE BANKERS, UNITED,
WILL NEVER BE INDICTED.”
Muffy-Ayn Randsworth, Har-
vard Business School senior
and president of Students for
an Autocratic Society (SAS),
grabbed a bullhorn, climbed
onto the hood of her Mini Coo-
per, and began lecturing the
crowd, calling Bernard Madoff
the “Che Guevara of free market
capitalism.”
“Bernie brought down the
System, baby!” proclaimed Ms.
Randsworth. “By defrauding
thousands of innocent people
and charitable organizations to
the tune of $65 billion, he said
NO to oppressive fiscal regula-
tions and petit-bourgeois guilt.
Like a heroic professor, perse-
cuted for teaching evolution,
Bernard Madoff is behind bars
today for demonstrating his
belief in social Darwinism. OFF
THE REGS!”
The crowd roared its approv-
al, then began spontaneously to
chant: BERNIE MADOFF, LIVE
LIKE HIM — DARE TO SWIN-
DLE, DARE TO WIN!
The protest was generally
peaceful, except when a pass-
ing driver got out of his Meals
on Wheels van and shouted,
“You don’t like it here? Go back
to the Cayman Islands.” Calm
was quickly restored, however,
when several Goldman Sachs
executives beat him senseless.
Although the radical free
enterprise movement appears
to have started with a few fanat-
ics in society’s upper reaches,
it has quickly gained wider
popularity than the 1960s anti-
war movement ever had. Many
Americans, embittered by their
government’s economic mea-
sures, which have bilked them
out of jobs, homes, and hard-
earned tax dollars, are begin-
ning to take clues from Bernard
Madoff, who was able to priva-
tize a similar — albeit illegal—
scheme for vast personal gain.
Bobby Cy-Bot, iPod salesman
who attended the rally on break
from his Apple Computer store,
said that, after Darth Vader,
Bernard Madoff is his biggest
hero. “The pigs hate how Madoff
put a cool super-villain face on
human greed,” opined Mr. Cy-
Bot. “Thanks to Madoff, any-
one in America can be a psycho
super -crook with superpow-
ers to wipe out every life form
on the planet in an insatiable
quest for lucre, pelf, and power.
Madoff brought reality to the
world of video games, man.”
Sallie Faye, mother of three,
who was in the area to visit her
unemployment office, agreed.
“The whole stock market is
basically lotto for the rich – but
with fewer regulations, more
people can play! Pretty soon,
due to all the acquisitions and
mergers and stuff, there’ll be
only one big gimongous mega-
corporation left on earth, with
one person controlling it. It’s my
right as an American to waste
my life, hoping that one person
will be ME.”
Ms. Faye then walked over
to a vendor’s table to pick up
a pamphlet and buy an extra-
tight pink T-shirt with sequins
that spelled out “FIGHT THE
POWERLESS.”
Given the scope of the Wealthy
Underground’s influence,
authorities have no clue where
or how the gang will strike next.
Intelligence efforts have so far
failed to penetrate Underground
activities, although a few lurid
reports have surfaced about
secret cadre meetings with “ten-
der offers,” “put options,” that
lead to “hostile takeovers,” and
members sucking gold bullion
cubes to achieve a hallucinatory
high. There are also rumors of
plans to kidnap known social-
ists, such as Paul Krugman and
Rachel Maddow.
According to anonymous
sources, the Wealthy Under -
ground Organization may even
have installed “soft on capital-
ism” sympathizers at the high-
est levels of government. This
could explain why, when Secre-
tary of State Hillary Clinton was
informed of the Wealthy Under-
ground’s attempt to blow up the
jail holding the perpetrator of
history’s biggest investor fraud,
she remarked, “I didn’t do it, but
I dug it.”
Meanwhile, Bernard Madoff’s
aboveground support committee
is planning a series of bake sales
and al fresco puppet shows to
raise money for Mr. Madoff’s
prison commissary fund. His
attorneys, however, caution
potential contributors not to
expect returns on their “dona-
tions” for at least four years.

䉴 TODAY, from p.10
aren’t. What they don’t have. Or
should be. Men will rape it into
them, or beat it, or just sneer
it in. Even I, in my protected
cocoon of enlightened societies
and on the verge of middle age,
have a bull’s eye on my face.
There was that guy I chased
down the street after he almost
ran me over on his motorcycle. I
called him an asshole. He came
right back with words he meant
to wound — “woman” “lesbian.”
Oh, and “foreigner.”
After a couple minutes of
that, the passersby laughing,
with amusement at first, then
discomfort, I wanted to smash
his face in like they do ours,
while shouting, “fucking man,
fucking man.” I wanted to rip
his cock off. I didn’t, though;
just screamed and sounded
ridiculous. Angry females
always do. Ridiculous and
shrill, not because of a natu-
rally more high-pitched voice,
but because that’s the sound
humans make when you thrust
pins in their heart, stick bam-
boo under their delicate nails,
and grin.
There was that trial on the TV
news a couple weeks ago. North
African guy got a couple years
in prison for spraying acid on
a girl’s face out in one of Paris’
suburban housing projects, if
I remember correctly. And on
her upper body. He didn’t like
her uppity ways at the time, but
is sorry now, and told her so in
court when it came to sentenc-
ing. He’s not as sorry as the girl
who had half her face melted off
and needs the neighbor’s help
to put a pot on the stove and
take it off.
All those men are doing what
they can get away with. You,
too. Indifferent to the violence.
Indifferent to our invisibility
and silence. How many females
write for anybody’s press? How
many sit in the Senate? How
many run the investigations
that solve rapes and murders?
How many make the laws that
bind us? Should we have to beg
for equality?
Yes, apparently. You’ve done
enough. Your conscience is
clear. Which is why I write, and
despite all signs, why I’m often
at a loss for words to tell the
truth. To rouse you. I so clearly
need more. Hardware maybe.
Steel-toed shoes at least for that
well-placed kick to the groin.
Check out Kelly Sans Culotte
at http://kellyatlarge.blogspot.
com/.

■ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
March 25, 2009
To the Editor:
I am writing in response to claims made by the
Human Resources Administration (HRA) in the
article “AIDS Advocates Grade City, State,” (by
Paul Schindler, Mar. 20-Apr. 2). While HRA would
like New Yorkers to believe that the number of
people living with HIV and AIDS who are housed
in the city’s commercial single room occupancy
system (SROs) fluctuates, the trend is clearly —
and steeply — up.
According to the HIV/AIDS Services Adminis-
tration Fact Sheets, in June of 2007, 788 HASA
clients were living in SROs. In June of 2008, the
number was 905. In the last six months of reports,
the number remained above 950 and peaked in
January at a shocking 1,027. Clearly, HASA is not
succeeding in permanently housing its clients. At
a time when Mayor Bloomberg and HRA Commis-
sioner Doar have proposed cutting AIDS support-
ive services and housing programs, it is safe to
say that the number will get worse before it gets
better.
HASA’s plan to cut funding for community-
based case management services — reiterated
this week by HASA Deputy Director Matthew
Brune at the city’s welfare budget hearing — will
only corrode the city’s AIDS housing infrastruc-
ture even further. At the hearing, Brune made the
ludicrous and offensive claim that HASA case
workers and on-site community-based case man-
agers are performing many of the same functions
and that the former group can do the job of the
latter. Will HASA case workers get out of bed in
the middle of the night to help a client in crisis?
Or help a client physically walk into a treatment
program when he relapses? Will they counsel
clients about adherence to HIV medications and
accompany them to doctors’ visits? That’s what
community-based case workers do. It’s also what
HASA case managers, gatekeepers to city ben-
efits, most certainly do not do.
HRA and HASA need to face up to the reality
of the city’s growing AIDS housing crisis — and
understand that community-based case managers
are a critical to preventing that crisis from becom-
ing a genuine catastrophe.
Kristin Goodwin
Director of NY Policy and Organizing
Housing Works
WRITE US!
Address letters to the editor, of no more than 250
words, to: Editor@gaycitynews.com.
Please include your phone number, for confirma-
tion purposes only. The editors reserve the right to
edit all letters due to space constraints.
12
■ POLITICS
Schumer for Gay Marriage
Repudiating DOMA, New York’s senior senator says “it’s time”
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
M
ore than 12 years after
voting in favor of the
Defense of Marriage
Act while a member of the US
House of Representatives, New
York Senator Charles Schumer
has concluded that law must
go and that same-sex couples
should be given the right to
marry.
At a private dinner March 22
at Manhattan’s Gramercy Tav-
ern, organized at Schumer’s
behest, the state’s senior sena-
tor told a group of LGBT advo-
cates and elected officials that he
now supports marriage equality,
would vote to repeal DOMA, and
would sponsor an intermedi-
ate measure on the way to full
DOMA repeal providing federal
recognition of legal marriages by
same-sex couples.
Such an interim law would
repeal one of the two major pro-
visions of the 1996 law. DOMA
forbids federal recognition of
same-sex marriages and allows
states to deny their recognition to
such unions from other jurisdic-
tions. Since DOMA was enacted,
most of the states have formally
denied same-sex marriage rec-
ognition, either through statute,
state constitutional amendment,
or both.
New York is an exception.
Though the state’s highest court
ruled in 2006 that there is no
constitutional right to marriage
by same-sex couples, an appel-
late court precedent established
last year holds that New York
must recognize valid gay mar-
riages from other jurisdictions,
such as Connecticut, Massachu-
setts, and Canada.
If the partial DOMA repeal
Schumer talked about became
䉴 BLOOMBERG, from p.9
the city’s appeal of the favorable
marriage ruling, he told Gay City
News in 2005, “My hope is that
the court will say that it is legal
under the Constitution.”
The mayor took note of US
Senator Charles Schumer’s
statement earlier in the week
throwing his support behind
marriage equality, and said the
Democrat had told him, “You
know, it was time.”
law, then, a New York gay couple
married a Metro North ride away
in Greenwich would enjoy all the
state and federal rights of mar-
riage back at home.
The March 22 dinner resulted
from outreach that Schumer
made to Jeff Soref, a longtime
gay activist in New York who has
chaired both the Empire State
Pride Agenda and the National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force
boards and held senior posi-
tions in the Democratic Nation-
al Committee. Soref, who said
he’s been in conversations with
Schumer about DOMA and mar-
riage equality for years, worked
with Alan Van Capelle, the Pride
Agenda’s executive director, in
putting together a guest list,
which Schumer’s office vetted,
according to Van Capelle.
Attendees at the dinner, first
reported by the Daily News’ Liz
Benjamin on March 23, included
Daniel O’Donnell, the out gay
Upper West Side assemblyman
who steered a marriage equal-
ity bill to passage in his cham-
ber in 2007, his LGBT Assembly
colleagues Deborah Glick of the
West Village and Micah Kellner
of the East Side, City Council
Speaker Christine Quinn, an
out lesbian from Chelsea, and
Emily Giske, an out lesbian who
is a vice chair of the State Demo-
cratic Party. Out gay State Sena-
tor Thomas Duane, who will lead
efforts to pass a marriage equal-
ity bill in that chamber, where the
measure had been blocked by the
former Republican leadership,
was in Albany that evening.
According to Soref, Schumer
said efforts to repeal any provi-
sions of DOMA would be dif-
ficult, even with Democrats in
charge of Congress, but that
lifting the ban on federal recog-
Bloomberg also stated that
the city’s Board of Health has
voted unanimously to allow mar-
ried lesbians to put both of their
names on their infant child’s
birth certificate when it is first
issued. Last May, Governor
David Paterson directed all state
agencies to conform their prac-
tices to a statewide court prec-
edent that found New York must
accord recognition to legal mar-
riages by same-sex couples in
other jurisdictions, such as Con-
2 – 15 APR 2009
nition would provoke less oppo-
sition than ending the express
statutory okay for states to deny
recognition. Like Schumer, Pres-
ident Barack Obama supports
full repeal of DOMA, but during
the primary campaign last year,
his chief rival, then-Senator Hil-
lary Clinton, warned that trying
to get rid of the provision allow-
ing states to deny recognition of
gay marriages from other juris-
dictions could reignite demands
for a federal anti-gay constitu-
tional amendment.
Some among those who
attended the dinner were appar-
ently sensitive to any perception
that Schumer had “flip-flopped,”
particularly in light of New York’s
new US senator, Kirsten Gilli-
brand, making it clear immedi-
ately upon her appointment in
January that she supports mar-
riage equality. On her blog, Ben-
jamin wrote she had received
“pressure from several fronts”
because her initial use of the
word “flip” had been “upsetting
to some people as it has a ‘nega-
tive connotation.’”
Asked for his view of what
brought Schumer to his change
of heart, Van Capelle said, “My
feeling is that Senator Schum-
er’s journey on this issue is very
similar to our families’ and a lot
of other New Yorkers’ who ten
years ago were in one place and
are now in another place.”
O’Donnell was less diplomatic
than Van Capelle in responding
to questions about Schumer’s
timing. “We can be the rudest
people in the world,” he said.
“When people say the right thing,
we complain about how long it
took to get there. Chuck showed
a lot of bravery to take the hit of
a charge of flip-flopping.”
One top Democratic Party
necticut, Massachusetts, and
Canada. State health authori-
ties had already acted on the
birth certificate issue, but New
York City, unlike the rest of the
state, administers its own health
records system.
Christine Quinn, the out les-
bian speaker of the City Coun-
cil, ushered Bloomberg through
the dinner crowd of roughly 400
when they arrived. Many pun-
dits have suggested that Quinn
might throw her support behind
activist, who insisted on ano-
nymity, said Schumer had pre-
viously been constrained by two
political calculations. First, dur-
ing the 2006 and 2008 campaign
seasons, he headed the Demo-
cratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee, and was unwilling
to bring any controversy about
gay marriage into an effort that
helped his party grow from a
minority position to nearly 60
seats.
Perhaps more significant was
Clinton’s presidential campaign.
An embrace of marriage equal-
ity by Schumer, the Democratic
insider suggested, would have
put Clinton, his state’s junior
senator, under pressure at home
just as she was taking center
stage nationally.
Schumer himself has not
spelled out the specifics of his
evolution in thinking or what
steps he’s prepared to take to
sponsor the intermediate DOMA
repeal measure Soref said he
committed to. His office put out
a statement on March 23 con-
firming he now supports mar-
riage equality, explaining simply,
“It’s time.”
O’Donnell said that Schumer
also discussed other LGBT legis-
lative initiatives, including a fed-
eral hate crimes measure, the
long-stalled Employment Non-
Discrimination Act, and funding
for AIDS. Schumer supports a
version of ENDA inclusive of pro-
tections for transgendered Amer-
icans, O’Donnell said, “though
he seemed to be deferential to
LGBT members of House” on
how to proceed in making that
happen. The House’s failure to
include transgender protections
when it passed ENDA in 2007
unleashed a storm of protest in
the LGBT community.
the mayor in the coming cam-
paign rather than endorse a fel-
low Democrat. But after Michael
Urie, the “Ugly Betty” star who
was the evening’s emcee, voiced
support for Bloomberg serving
as “mayor for life,” the speaker
jokingly insisted there were lim-
its to how long she was willing to
see him in Gracie Mansion. “By
the way, I don’t want the mayor
to be mayor for life,” Quinn said,
when she followed Bloomberg on
the podium.
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 APR 3, from p.8
tion of works from gay artists envisioning
the man of their dreams, produced in the
Queer Men’s Erotic Art Workshop Redding
led. The cocktail reception, from 7-10
p.m. will include some of the city’s hottest
gay artists and the models who inspire
them. LGBT Community Center, 208 W.
13th St. Exhibition hours are Apr. 4, 11
a.m.-7 p.m.; Apr. 5 noon-6 p.m. Admis-
sion to the cocktail reception is $35.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
PERFORMANCE
One Woman’s Erotic
Journey from
Gayland to Gaza
As part of the Bronx Academy of Arts
Dance’s BAAD!ASS Women Festival
2008, Jennifer Jajeh presents “I Heart
Hamas,” her one-woman cross-cultural
journey between San Francisco and Pal-
estine, as she navigates checkpoints, dat-
ing taboos, and a 450-year family lineage
while striving for fame, love, and a place
called Home. BAAD, 841 Barretto St.,
btwn. Lafayette & Garrison Aves.,
Hunts Point (#6 train to Hunts Point
Ave.), 8 p.m. Tickets are $15. Information
at bronxacademyofartsanddance.org.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
Defying Gravity
Elizabeth Streb and her Action Fac-
tion take a closer look at the ordinary,
inanimate things around us in “Streb:
Catapult,” the company’s spring season.
David van Tieghem’s sinuous, evocative
soundtrack is the perfect accompaniment
to STREB’s ongoing romantic adventure
with gravity. SLAM, the Streb Lab for
Action Mechanics, 51 N. First St.,
btwn. Kent & Wythe Aves., Williams-
burg. Fri., Sat., 7 p.m.; Sat., Sun., 3 p.m.
through May 17. Tickets are $20; $10 for
children at streb.org or 212-352-3101.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
NIGHTLIFE
My People Call It
Trash
Tubway’s Gant Johnson joins forces
with notorious bad boy Daniel Nardi-
cio, plus Joey Israel and JC Powers.
Throw in superstar go-gos Brian Kenny,
Chase, Pony, and “it” boy Shay? What
results? “Trash,” that’s what. Freshpair.
com donates 20 pair of 2Xist undies for
an “Underwear Makeover!” Wear your
worn out undies and a team of hot go-go
studs will take you in the back, strip you
down, and get you into a fresh new pair
of undies!. Splash, 50 W. 17th St., Apr.
3 & 10. Admission is $15.
䉴 14 DAYS, continued on p.15
2 - 15 APR 2009

䉴 MURDER, from p.5
The altercation occurred at roughly 2
a.m., and Cornell University’s Northeast
Regional Climate Center put the tempera-
ture outside in New York City at that hour
at 36 degrees. Police have said that one
reason the two brothers were taken for a
gay couple was because they were hud-
dling close together to stay warm.
Scott, 25, said the one man who kicked
the car also spat at them. Some saliva
came through the window and hit him.
“I was pissed off and I grabbed an
empty 12-ounce Budweiser bottle that
I had in the backseat of the truck and I
got out on the passenger side,” Scott said
according to the transcript of his oral
statement.
Scott said he came around the rear of
the car to the driver’s side and wrestled
with the “Hispanic guy who spit on me.”
He then hit that man in the head with
the bottle.
“At that time, the other Hispanic guy,
who I now know is his brother, came by
and punched me real good in the face
and then he ran away,” Scott said.
Scott is 5’10” and Romel, seen at a
March 3 press conference and a March
20 court date for Phoenix and Scott,
appears to be no more than five feet tall.
“I then turned around to go back to
the truck and I saw the guy I had hit
with the bottle on the ground,” Scott
said. “Keith was standing over him with
a baseball bat, and I saw him reach back
over his shoulder two times and strike
the guy in the head with the bat.”
In his written statement, Scott
expressed regret for his role in the kill-
ing.
Both men are charged with mul-
tiple counts of second-degree murder,
manslaughter, assault, and attempted
assault, with some charged as hate
Crime /13
crimes. If found guilty, they could face a
minimum sentence of 78-years-to-life in
prison.
“All of those counts, we feel confident,
can run consecutively,” said Charles J.
Hynes the Brooklyn district attorney, at
a March 3 press conference.
Hynes also rejected the assertions
by Phoenix and Scott that they were
responding to aggressive actions by
Romel and Jose.
“There is absolutely no evidence that
supports any idea of there being any
more than two victims in this case, Jose
and Romel,” Hynes said. “We absolutely
deny that Jose Sucuzhanay ever carried
a weapon... The only weapon that night
was wielded by Mr. Phoenix and Mr.
Scott.”
At their March 20 arraignment, Phoe-
nix and Scott pleaded not guilty to the
charges. They are being held without bail
on Rikers Island.

䉴 DON’T ASK, from p.2
Allowable offenses under the program
include murder, kidnapping, and ‘mak-
ing terrorist threats.’”
“Unfriendly Fire” is a compelling
read, an impressive piece of com-
passionate scholarship, and a dem-
onstration that the young men and
women being drawn into our armed
forces today do not share the anti-gay
prejudices of the older military brass
— unless they are placed in an atmo-
sphere that stigmatizes homosexuality.
The book comes with jacket endorse-
ments from former Joint Chiefs of Staff
chairman General John Shalikashvili,
who calls it “mandatory reading,” and
Ronald Reagan’s former assistant sec-
retary of defense, Lawrence Korb, who
says, “Our military and our nation owe
Frank a debt of gratitude.”
But will Barack Obama be rolled by
the military like Bill Clinton was? Only
time will tell. We can only hope our new
president reads this terribly important
book.

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14/ Theater
Ghosts and Zombies
“Blithe Spirit” is a living joy, while “Zombie” is dead awful
BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE
A
s frothy comedies go,
few produce more
delightful bubbles than
Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit.”
From its over-the-top premise
— a first wife is called back from
the other side during a séance
and causes havoc for the sur-
viving husband and his second
wife — to its rapid-fire banter in
the best English drawing room
style, this is pure, delicious
escapism.
It couldn’t come at a better
time, just as when it first opened
with the world at war in 1941.
A couple of hours of dotty non-
sense won’t make the troubles
of the world go away, but if ever
we needed a carefree laugh, the
time is now, so go and indulge.
Michael Blakemore has
directed the splendid revival
with a keen understanding of
Coward’s wit and a heavy dose
of low humor as well. The bal-
ance of silliness and sophisti-
cation has always been one of
the charms of this play, and to
watch the staid British upper
crust coming unhinged is inher-
ently comic. Rendering the ele-
vated ridiculous is a comic sta-
ple, and, in Blakemore’s hands,
it’s positively delicious and per-
fectly balanced.
Charles Condomine, a novel-
ist, wants to do research for a
murder mystery. So he invites
Madame Arcati, the local medi-
um whom he considers a crack-
pot, to perform a séance at his
home with his current wife,
Picture Imperfect
Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen try to make banter an art form
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
I
t’s been roughly two
decades since either Jer -
emy Irons or Joan Allen
graced a Br oadway stage.
Irons, you may recall, won a
Tony Award for his turn in the
Tom Stoppard drama “The Real
Thing,” and Allen originated
the title role in Wendy Wasser-
stein’s “The Heidi Chronicles.”
As the story goes, both of
Christine Ebersole, Rupert Everett, and Jayne Atkinson in Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit,” directed
by Michael Blakemore.
Ruth, and two friends. Though
the urbane sophisticates laugh
at Madame A. behind her
back, she conjures the ghost of
Charles’ first wife, Elvira, whom
only Charles can see and speak
to. The rest of the play is about
getting rid of her, which, since
Elvira rather likes it back on this
side and has designs on hold-
ing Charles in a more eternal
way, is easier said than done.
All of this is peppered with Cow-
ard’s mordant observations on
marriage and the relationship
between men and women — a
staple of his comedy.
What makes “Blithe Spirit”
so memorable among Cow-
ard’s light work, though, is the
character Madame Arcati. And
here Blakemore plays his ace
in the form of Angela Lansbury.
Lansbury is magnificent, all
IMPRESSIONISM
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 W. 45th St.
Tue.-Sat. at 8 p.m.;
Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.;
Sun. at 3 p.m. through Jul. 5
$66.50 to $116.50; telecharge.com
Or 212-239-6200
these film and television stal-
warts were lured back to the
boards in New York because
of a promising new American
BLITHE SPIRIT
Shubert Theatre
225 West 44th Street
Tue. 7 p.m.; Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m.;
Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.
$31.50-$116.50; telecharge.com
Or 212-239-6200
ZOMBIE
Theater Row Complex
410 West 42nd St.
Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.
Through Apr. 26
$21.25; ticketcentral.com
ROBERT J. SAFERSTEIN
Or 212-279-4200
She plays her as a bombshell,
smart but sensual, the diamet-
ric opposite of the more settled
Ruth. She bats her sparkling
eyes at Charles and looks with
quirks and double takes, a slow weary disdain on the effect she
burn here, a raised eyebrow has on those who can’t see her.
there. Girlish excitement at one Jayne Atkinson is perfect as
moment over what she’s done Ruth. As her life is shaken up,
gives way to smoldering con- her true colors emerge, and her
descension at those who ques- truth pales by comparison to the
tion her craft. It is a suitably façade she has put up for years.
outrageous performance, and I have seen many produc-
dressed in the brilliantly eccen- tions of this stalwart play over
tric outfits of Martin Pakledinaz, the years, and all have made
Lansbury doesn’t miss a trick. me laugh heartily, but this one
By the end of the play, Madame stands out. In fact, it downright
A. seems the least ridiculous shimmers, and sweeps you up
and most human of all the char- in its many charms.
acters, the rest of them trapped
“Z
in their social conventions. ombie” is one of the
Lansbury is supported by a most assaultive piec-
stellar cast. Rupert Everett as es of theater I have
Charles, caught between the ever experienced. The hour-long
more passionate Elvira and the monologue of a man who has
more sensible Ruth, is hilari- decided to kidnap little boys and
ous as his controlled British- turn them into zombies he can
ness slowly unravels. Christine have sex with is adapted from
Ebersole is divine as Elvira. a novella by none other than
play by Michael Jacobs titled up evenings with their families
“Impressionism,” a sketchy and their lavish Hollywood sal-
meditation on the art of love — aries?”
and the love of art. Even Irons has admitted he
And yet, as I observed the can’t pinpoint what made him
proceedings, it became clear do it. Allen, who has described
that Jacobs was so bent on the script as “pr etty” and
spinning his oh-so-intimate “funny,” claimed that direc-
art metaphors, he largely for- tor Jack O’Brien — who won
got about the drama. The only Tonys for “The Coast of Utopia”
arc that moved me was the and “Hairspray” — insisted she
query, “What about this play take the role.
drove these huge stars to give The waif-thin Allen plays
2 - 15 APR 2009
Joyce Carol Oates.
It is a violent and disturbing
piece, but the violence is nei-
ther poetic nor artistic; it’s just
an amateur slasher movie. The
descriptions of picking up boys,
attempting to lobotomize them
with an ice pick, and then hav-
ing sex with them as they are
dying or dead are graphic in the
extreme, and I found myself feel-
ing physically ill at times.
The obvious and grimly pre-
dictable performance by Bill
Connington, who also adapted
the novella, as Quentin P. large-
ly alternates between affectless
droning and screaming. Bug-
eyed intensity is not character
development, sorry to say. The
point seems to be to shock the
audience, but do we really need
this? And why should we care?
The character is neither com-
plex nor interesting enough,
especially under Thomas Car-
uso’s scattered direction that
muddies the arc of the story.
Moreover, it’s not particularly
original; this is the convention-
al way a lunatic has been por-
trayed in movies, TV shows, and
elsewhere.
I realize that I am in the
minority on this one. This play
and the performance were wide-
ly praised when it played in the
Fringe Festival, and the run has
been extended. For what it is, it
may be effective for some. Still,
there’s a difference between
being truly harrowing and just
disgusting. If I want the former,
I’ve got “Psycho.” I have no use
for the latter.
Katharine, a lovelorn, middle-
aged gallery owner who’s so
attached to the works on her
walls that she thwarts would-
be buyers. Irons plays her
assistant, Thomas, a world-
weary National Geographic
photographer who exhibits a
“great love of the minuscule,”
but has lost his passion for his
camera.
䉴 IMPERFECT, continued on p.15
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
14 DAYS Best Side Story
14 NIGHTS After a half-century, still the most beautiful sound you ever heard
䉴 14 DAYS, from p.12
BOOKS
SAT.APR.4 “I
Wisdom of Our
Ages
Members of the creative writing
class sponsored by SAGE, Services
and Advocacy for GLBT Elders, and
the New York Writers Coalition, share
their work, celebrate their newly
published “ChapBook.” LGBT Com-
munity Center, 208 W. 13th St., 3:30
p.m. For more information, call Alex at
212-741-2217.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ventions of classics like “All My
PERFORMANCE
2B2B4Gotten
As part of the Bronx Academy of Arts
Dance’s BAAD!ASS Women Festival
2008, B-girl/modern dancer/oral histo-
rian MiRi Park, in “Dancing Like a Girl:
NYC B-girls in the 1990s,” shakes up
hip-hop history by looking specifically
at the experiences of B-girls who were
instrumental in the third revival of break-
ing in New York City. Their perspectives
on dealing with gender, femininity, and
race provide insight as to how their life
decisions filter into a larger conscious-
ness about plural identities. MiRi will
be joined by B-Girl Paulito, Miss Twist,
Honey Rockwell, Rokafella, Big Tara, and
other of her interviewees/co-writers.
BAAD, 841 Barretto St., btwn. Lafay-
ette & Garrison Aves., Hunts Point
(#6 train to Hunts Point Ave.), 8 p.m.
Tickets are $5. Information at bronxacad-
emyofartsanddance.org.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ Sharks. Whether the mid-1950s
Telling Twisted
Tales
Most Shasta Cola, aka Glen Rumsey
— in couture, of course — presents
another edition of “Family Matters,” a
showcase of dance, theater, hip hop,
and folklore, featuring Steve Elm’s
interactive Native American epic to
Deborah Black’s rendering of choreog-
rapher Deborah Hay’s picturesque “The
Runner” (2007), Zach Morris’ playful
duet set to bluegrass riffs, Matthew
Brookshire’s meditative melodies, and
the good vibrations of hip hop emcee,
poet and beatboxer Baba Israel. Dance
Theater Workshop, Bessie Schön-
berg Theater, 219 W. 19th St., 2 p.m.
Tickets are $20 (kids get in free) at
dancetheaterworkshop.org or 212-924-
0077.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ her mother after her father
䉴 APR 4, continued on p.16
■ THEATER
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
see no point of doing
a revival of anything,”
the legendary librettist/
director Arthur Laurents recent-
ly declared, “unless you have a
fresh look at it.” Or, as the bur-
lesque strippers in “Gypsy,” one
of Laurents’ iconic shows, so
bluntly put it, “You gotta get a
gimmick.”
Yet as we have witnessed with
a number of Broadway reviv-
als this season, gimmicks don’t
always fly. Critics faulted rein-
Sons” (inscrutably ethereal),
“Hedda Gabler” (too contempo-
rary), “American Buffalo” (mixed-
nut casting), and “Guys and
Dolls” (all glitz, no heart).
With a score by Leonard Bern-
stein, lyrics by Stephen Sond-
heim, and choreography by
Jerome Robbins, many purists
would consider re-conception of
“West Side Story” a sacrilege.
That said, the 91-year old Lau-
rents is helming a “refreshed”
version of the beloved musical he
wrote in 1957, itself an updated
“Romeo & Juliet” tale transplant-
ed to Hell’s Kitchen in New York
City. The star-crossed lovers,
as most everybody knows, are
Tony, a young white guy of Polish
descent, and the lovely Maria, an
immigrant from Puerto Rico, who
are caught in a race war led by
rival teen gangs, the Jets and the
time period remains the same is
open to interpretation.
So then, what’s the gimmick
for the first Broadway revival
of “West Side Story” in three
䉴 IMPERFECT, from p.14
Their wry repartee, trad-
ing barbs about baked goods
and mangrove estuaries, and
debating whether life is realis-
tic or impressionistic, is spo-
radically interrupted by clunky
flashbacks sparked by various
pictures in the gallery.
For example, Mary Cas-
satt’s famous “The Child’s
Bath” reminds Katharine of
her pained relationship with
ditched them when she was
six. A demure Modigliani
2 – 15 APR 2009
WEST SIDE STORY
Palace Theatre
1564 Broadway
Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.;
Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.
$46.50 to $121.50; ticketmaster.com
Or 212-307-4100
decades? The biggest and most
daring attention-grabber, you’ve
surely heard by now, is an
attempt to make the piece grittier
by adding elements like patches
of Spanish dialogue and actors
of Latino descent.
It actually works, injecting a
new level of realism that deepens
our emotional connection to the
characters and indeed makes
the production seem fresh.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony-
Award winning mastermind
behind “In the Heights,” crafted
the Spanish translations.
They’ve also introduced some
racy touches. When Anita tries
to warn Tony and gets man-
handled by the Jets, for exam-
ple, the violation is more sexu-
ally explicit than in past pro-
ductions. Likewise when Tony
climbs on top of Maria in bed
to consummate their love, just
hours after he accidentally kills
her brother, Bernardo (George
Akram).
To boot, the dialogue is spiked
with obscene gestures unthink-
able onstage 50 years ago.
This thrilling new production
soars. With the lush 31-piece
orchestra and cast of 36, you
truly feel like you’re getting your
money’s worth. For the most
part, the cast is extraordinary.
Standouts include the Argentin-
ian unknown Josephina Scogli-
nude invokes a mortifying
incident when she reluctantly
modeled for her lover, a self-
absorbed painter (is there any
other kind on Broadway?),
and discovered he had both a
wife and a younger mistress.
And then there’s the
photo of a weeping young
boy, sitting in a tree, watch-
ing an orange sun setting
over a seared plain. Thomas
snapped the portrait on his
last trip to Africa, and we are
meant to be horrified upon
learning the boy died of an
AIDS-related illness a few
Cody Green as Riff, seen here with the Jets, is truly a triple threat.
one as the blossoming Maria and
Karen Olivo (“In the Heights”) as
the fiery Anita.
Cody Green — remember him
as the studly winner of Bravo
TV’s “Step it Up and Dance” con-
test? — in his role as Riff, the Jets
leader and Tony’s lifelong pal,
truly is a triple threat. As Action,
Curtis Holbrook, who took over
for Cheyenne Jackson as the
lead in “Xanadu” last summer,
gives “Gee, Officer Krupke” the
updated edge it needs.
The intricate Robbins cho-
reography, which includes
extended balletic sequences, is
as stupendous as ever. Never
mind that the lean, grand jetee-
ing juvenile delinquents are
more mincing than menacing. It
wasn’t until the acrobatic num-
ber “Cool” ended, seeing the
performers chests heaving, that
I appreciated just how demand-
ing the vocals and dance moves
really are. These experts make it
seem effortless.
Despite the triumphs, this
“West Side Story” is not without
its weak spots. Matt Cavanaugh
— one of the highlights in the
under-appreciated “Urban Cow-
hours later. I was unmoved,
however.
Nevertheless, it is fascinat-
ing to watch these two screen
icons valiantly breathe life
into the flaccid material. Allen
fleshes out the emotionally
stalled Katherine with heroic
intensity; Irons is at his best
when delivering dr oll bon
mots, reminiscent of his deli-
cious “Reversal of Fortune”
role. The 60-year old, gravelly
voiced actor, while engrossing
as the travel photojournal-
ist who has lost his way, has
trouble delineating his sec-
15
JOAN MARCUS
boy” some years back, who also
made an impression in “Grey
Gardens” — is woefully miscast
as Tony. He looks more like a
pampered Abercrombie model
than a seasoned former gang
leader. The night I saw him, he
was vocally off his game, with
pitch problems and operatic war-
bling that departed from the rest
of the cast.
To be fair, he overcame these
problems in Tony’s supremely
touching duet with Maria, “One
Hand, One Heart.”
And there’s a secondary gim-
mick that I found head-scratch-
ing — the costumes. Not content
with the traditional cuffed blue
jeans and white T-shirts of the
1950s, David C. Woolard opts
for a mishmash of styles and
hues, presumably to make the
story more timeless. Some of the
jeans look like they’re from Die-
sel. Skirts are slit too high and
cropped too short. Cavenaugh’s
top looks exactly like the long-
sleeve broken-in no-pocket crew-
neck T (color: “ocean”) from the
current J. Crew catalogue.
So much for gritty authen-
ticity.
ondary roles as Katherine’s
father and her former lover.
“Impr essionism,” whose
opening was delayed two
weeks so they could rejigger
the play from two acts to one
(reportedly to prevent baffled
audience members from flee-
ing at inter mission), tries
hard to distract us from its
shortcomings with imagina-
tive stagecraft. The pictures,
often projected onto framed
scrims, appear and vanish at
the blink of an eye, lending an
䉴 IMPERFECT, continued on p.24

16/ Dance
Modes Of Production
Informed opinions re: Cleveland, New York, and the East
BY BRIAN MCCORMICK
I
f you were going to phone
in a review of GroundWorks
Dance Theater’s New York
debut performances at the West
End Theatre (WET) March 5-8,
you could compare it to the work
of other ten-year-old repertory
companies that also showcase
the choreography of the artistic
director. But such an aesthetic
side-by-side taste test evalua-
tion that often passes for critical
response ignores the more note-
worthy aspect of the presenta-
tion as it relates to structures of
power, forces of labor, and the
system of dance distribution.
Cleveland-based Ground-
Works has exceptional dancers,
technically proficient, and fully
engaged in their eclectic mod-
ern dance choreographies. Of
course, it’s easier to attract and
retain dancers when you can
offer them a 52-week contract
and health care — something
very few companies in New York
can do.
This kind of stable work envi-
ronment makes all the difference
when it comes to sustainability
— of quality and growth — and
developing a body of distinct
work. It has enabled the compa-
ny to commission works by sev-
eral New York choreographers
over the years — including Gina
Gibney, Zvi Gotheiner, Keely
Garfield, and David Parker.
Bringing the company to New
York to perform expands the
dialogue. Parker, who produces
two dance series a year at WET
deserves much credit for mak-
ing this happen. It’s important
for artists, audiences, advo-
cates, and assholes alike to see
what’s going on in other cities,
states, and regions — not just
what’s happening in New York,
Beijing, and Berlin.
Despite the restrictions of the
space, a semi-circle designed for
theater, the performers put their
all into each of the four dances
— two by artistic director David
Shimotakahara and one each
by Garfield and Seattle-based
KT Niehoff.
Garfield’s “Iron Lung,” to
music by Aqualung, was the
most neatly structured work
— with repeating phrases and
GroundWorks’ Felice Bagley and Mark Otloski in Keely Garfield’s “Iron Lung.”
In “My private bio-politics,” Serbian artist Sasa Asentic deconstructs the absurd processes,
expectations, and outcomes produced by the creative distribution system.
canonic movements that accu-
mulated, dissolved, and reap-
peared in an appealing finish
that resolved the tension of the
choreography. Along with the
lyrics, transmitting movement
via touch and lots of falling,
catching, and sweeping of part-
ners while turning in twos gave
this piece a semi-sweet roman-
tic aura that Garfield excels at,
and the GroundWorks dancers
wear well.
“Circadian,” a duet, and the
group work “Nano” by Shimo-
takahara both featured music
by Gustavo Aguilar, and the
composer performed live for the
latter work — a series of kinetic
experiments in response to the
sounds made on a single snare
drum. In between these dances,
Niehoff’s semi-comic improvisa-
tion-based duet added levity to
the program.
while constructing his argu-
ment and, by extension, this
particular performance.
On the first anniversary of
the creation of his work, he
began presenting it as “a work
in regress,” replacing live per-
formance sections of the origi-
nal with video documenta-
tion he made so he could have
something to send to festivals
for consideration. On the sec-
ond anniversary of the work, he
presented only video.
Now the work is in its third
edition, which he must also
DALE DONG
document to send to festivals.
This is still the sad but true
means by which presenters
force artists to make an unnec-
essary product. In America,
they still ask for DVDs, but
inevitably tell artists they can’t
make any decisions without
seeing the work live anyway.
At one point, Asentic hands a
video camera to an audience
member and asks him to record
a section of dancing.
Asentic explains his own
process, including the fact that
he uses performance as a “dis-
cursive platform,” to transform
it into archaeology. He shares
DIETER HARTWIG
solos he has created that have
twice been “evacuated” from the
project; they are elusive for the
audience, but traces remain.
He quotes Jerome Bel, and
Xavier Le Roy, two Western
The main critique relates to European artists working from
the overall programming, which different theoretical perspec-
was, to borrow a term from tives as it pertains to the body.
Cleveland’s Plain Dealer, pro- In quoting them, Asentic says,
tracted. Not that it was long so the intent is not to be the copy,
much as that it was too much but to present a translation,
variety — in technique, music, with the quotation as refer -
style, and energy — all in one ent. Translations of this kind
sitting. New Yorkers are gener- can be more important that
ally more about brunch, and the original, especially, Asentic
less about buffet. explains, when it comes from a
marginalized position, such as
I
n “My private bio-politics,” that of an artist from the East
a lecture-performance pre- working within the systems of
sented at Dance Theater the West.
Workshop March 5-7, Serbian As an analogy, he recalls how
artist Sasa Asentic directly he was once asked to use an
addresses the question of the existing lighting plot for his per-
creative distribution system, formance — a notion he found
deconstructing the absurd pro- shocking, but one that is all too
cesses, expectations, and out- real a constraint for many per-
comes it produces. He uses forming artists. Then he turns
linguistic tricks borrowed from this around on itself, illustrating
theorists, picking apart their
practical quandaries, all the 䉴 PRODUCTION, continued on p.17
2 - 15 APR 2009
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 APR 4, from p.15
GALLERY
Darkness at the
Edges
Daryl-Ann Saunders and Jill Water-
man curate “night moves exploring the
horizon,” an exhibition of photographs
by: John Dowell, Mark Jaremko, Lance
Keimig, Toby Keller, Maria Passarotti,
Saunders, Lynn Saville, and Barbara
Yoshida. Safe-T-Gallery, 111 Front
St., btwn. Washington & Adams
Sts., suite 214, DUMBO. Wed.-Sat.,
noon-6 p.m. through Apr. 11. More
information at safetgallery.com or-718
782-5920.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
TELEVISION
SUN.APR.5
Gender
Broadcast
“In the Life,” public television’s
monthly LGBT newsmagazine, exam-
ines the controversy raging over the
inclusion of Gender Identity Disorder
in the American Psychiatric Associa-
tion’s Diagnostic and Statistical Man-
ual. National Center for Transgender
Equality executive director Mara
Keisling and political theorist Paisley
Currah discuss legislation designed
to protect trans-people from discrimi-
nation at work and in gender-specific
public spaces. And the Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence, a global collec-
tive of queer performance artists who
defy expectation using the power of
parody to promote human rights, are
featured. Apr. 5, WNET channel 13,
10:30 p.m. Apr. 6, WLIW channel
21, midnight.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
COMEDY
Ask Me, Just
Ask Me
Queer comedy host Brad Loekle
brings on four of the most highly
requested LGBT performers around
— Zach Toczynski (DC Comedy Fes-
tival); Brian Barry (Broadway’s “Pal
Joey”); Kate McKinnon (Logo’s “Big
Gay Sketch Show”); and headliner
Michelle Buteau (Comedy Central).
“Electro Shock Therapy Comedy
Hour,” Therapy, 348 W. 52nd St., 10
p.m. No cover charge; $6 cosmos all
night long.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
䉴 14 DAYS, continued on p.18
2 - 15 APR 2009
Naharin to the Max
Genders clash in relentless martial movements
BY GUS SOLOMONS JR
W
atching the ten men and
women moving in uncanny
unison without any apparent
cueing, except their own internal rhythms,
is utterly astonishing. The extended open-
ing section of Ohad Naharin’s “Max,” the
hour-long dance performed by his Bat-
sheva Dance Company at BAM March
4-7, offers up this phenomenon.
The feat impresses as only slightly less
supernatural when one realizes that the
dancers are receiving audio cues through
tiny earphones, allowing them to start
their twitchy spasms in sync after random
pauses, or tumble across the stage as one,
like tumbleweed in a windstorm.
Naharin’s deftly composed “Max” opens
sedately with five couples in ballroom
stances, but the men are in a deep knee
bend with the women standing. The men
capsize to one knee with a gentle clunk,
then they stand and the women squat.
This equality of power recurs throughout
the dance. Men and women share the
heavy lifting.
Not that there’s much actual contact
among the dancers — a lift or two — but
Naharin’s joint-battering phrases, done
at blistering pace, keep our attention riv-
eted on the ever surprising gyrations of
his firmly rooted and infinitely articulate
dancers.
The sound score by Maxim Waratt (a
pseudonym of the choreographer) main-
tains a variety of electronic hums between
passages of silence and eclectic patches of
instrumental and vocal music. Often the
music begins as the lights are fading on
one scene, and ends when they rise on a
new configuration of dancers.
䉴 PRODUCTION, from p.16
the light of other performances that have
happened in the space — by Lar Lubo-
vitch, Susan Marshall, and Jerome Bel.
He also uses tape to mark traces of Ser-
bia on the dance floor.
Asentic questions whether he has lost
his unique position now that he is rec-
ognized as a contemporary dancer in the
West. But, to fit in with the mainstream,
he posits, dance must be purified of its
local context, of all traditional, local, awk-
ward, ethnic Otherness — this from the
guy who started his performance by plac-
ing an icon of St. Sava, founder of the Ser-
bian Orthodox Church, on the floor.
He follows through on this with a
well executed parody of “contemporary
movement with all the elements of con-
temporary dance,” including dramatic
Dance /17
— “One, One-two, One-two-three...” in a
strange, made up language, the dancers
comply with accumulations, adding one
new move for each number. The aural
ostinato becomes as intimidating as a
sadistic military interrogation.
In separate groupings the dancers per-
sist, but with every iteration, each new
accumulation, it’s as though no matter
how they try to change tactics, their kinet-
ic answers cannot appease the relent-
less, disembodied taskmaster. The pas-
sage climaxes with them flailing through
JULIETA CERVANTES
simultaneous, individual accumulations
in a cathartic, chaotic counterpoint before
resuming the gesture wedge, this time
shouting back defiantly.
Batsheva’s dancers prove themselves both masterly technicians and trans-human creatures in Ohad Naharin’s “Max.” What are we to make of this brief but
intense display of exhilarating dancing?
Remarkable lighting by Avi Yona Bueno crew, robotically matching every snap, Male energy permeates it, and the power
(Bambi) turns the bare stage — bordered crackle, and pop of the electronic percus- battle between genders winds up in a
by low black wing flats — from claustro- sion accompaniment with sharp moves. draw. But everyone is subservient to the
phobic to expansive, using banks of side- Their strong, beautiful bodies clad in omnipresence of the invisible commander.
light in hot contrasting colors and cool undershirts and briefs by Rakefet Levy Whether you read “Max” as political man-
down-washes from overhead. seem vulnerable, despite their physical ifesto, social commentary, or simply an
The cast assembles front and center in prowess. When an ominous, booming essay in heightened emotions, its kinetic
a wedge formation doing fast and furious voice counts repeatedly from one to ten ferocity is undeniable.
gesturing — arms wagging, hands flick-
ing, heads bobbing. Almost as soon as it’s
begun, it’s over.
By turns, solos break out of the group;
extremely distorted postures suddenly
morph into deep lunges and balletic ara-
besques, reminding us what masterly
technicians these dancers are even as
they transform themselves into trans-
human creatures.
In one passage, they turn insect-like,
as two arched women push each other
around with their protruding bellies.
Later, the whole cast stares down the
audience then impersonates a hip-hop
lighting, video projection, internalized
emotion, and shredded paper confetti
shaken loose while walking backwards.
Critical and self-reflexive, Asentic
exposes and exploits the absurd condi-
tions that exist within our cultural sys-
tems, laughing but aware of the conse-
quences that come when those at the
margins are brought into the center.
What’s particularly enticing about the
artist’s implicit thesis is that by par-
ticipating as audience members at his
debut US performance — that is, in
purchasing his performance product
through the distribution modes of the
West — we become part of the dialectic
in the immediate moment of the perfor-
mance as it happens.
It’s hard to make ontological plural-
ism or theory of any kind entertaining,
but Asentic succeeds spectacularly.

18/ Film
A Nation in Sheep’s Clothing
Sergey Dvortsevoy’s US premiere engages Kazakhstan the place, not the people
BY STEVE ERICKSON
W
hen Sacha Baron
Cohen made his alter
ego Borat a Kazakh
TV host, part of the joke was
that the country, formerly a
part of the USSR, is so remote
and isolated no one in the US
would know what its customs
are. “Tulpan,” made by Kazakh
director Sergey Dvortsevoy,
is certainly a more authen-
tic depi c t i o n o f t h e c o u n -
try’s life than “Borat,” which
used Romania to stand-in for
Kazakhstan.
Just how authentic is it?
Few Americans are in a posi-
tion to judge.
The history of cinema is full
of examples of the use of the
medium for vicarious tourism.
One of the attractions of the
movies has always been the
ability to see exotic locales with-
out venturing far from home.
With a small but significant
portion of the American art-
house audience, this desire
remains strong. Fifteen years
ago, it made a cult hit out of
the previously obscure Tony
Gatlif’s Roma music docu-
mentary “Latcho Drom.”
Dvortsevoy’s prospects for
commercial success in the
US depend on “Tulpan” click-
ing with this audience; the
fact that it’s even getting a
two-week run testifies to its
chances of doing so. The reso-
lutely un-exotic films of Dvort-
sevoy’s compatriot Darizhan
Omirbaev are much harder to
catch in New York.
After finishing Russian
naval service, Asa (Askhat
Kuchinchirekov) returns to
the Hunger Steppe of Kazakh-
stan to live with his sister’s
(Samal Yeslyamova) nomadic
family of shepherds. In order
to get a flock of his own, he
must first marry a woman.
Unfortunately, there are few
likely candidates around.
Asa courts Tulpan, who
remains silent and mysteri-
ous –– and off-screen. She com-
plains that his ears are too big
and doesn’t want to have any-
thing to do with him. Asa tries
to impress her, but his efforts
seem useless. Ten minutes
Askat Kuchinchirekov as Asa in Sergey Dvortsevoy’s “Tulpan.”
TULPAN
Directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy
Zeitgeist Films
In Kazakh and Russian
with English subtitles
Film Forum
209 W. Houston St.
Filmforum.com
Apr. 1-14
is devoted to a sheep giving
birth, and ultimately Asa has
to decide whether he wants to
stay on the steppe or take his
chances in the city.
Dvortsevoy began as a docu-
mentarian, and his roots in
non-fiction are still visible in
There’s plenty of artifice
here alongside genuine glimpses
of desert life.
“Tulpan.” Rarely has the urge to
document day-to-day life been
coupled with such a larger -
than-life appetite for spectacle.
Many major scenes rely on ani-
mal behavior for their impact.
Unless one thinks Dvortsevoy
can give directions to a sheep
giving birth, this automatically
lends “Tulpan” an air of reality,
as does the constant presence
of infants.
But the director didn’t simply
cast peasants as themselves.
Two of the actors — Yeslyamova
and Ondasyn Besikbasov, who
plays her husband — had to
spend a month living as shep-
herds in order to fully inhabit
the roles. Dvortsevoy proves
to be brilliant at creating the
illusion of realism, but there’s
plenty of artifice here alongside
genuine glimpses of desert life.
For some, the appeal of a
film like “Tulpan” lies in its dis-
tance from the clamor of mod-
ern Western life. Dvortsevoy
conjures up a land that seems
to exist outside of time. Boney
M’s ‘70s disco hit “Rivers of
Babylon” is the only piece of
pop music heard in the film.
Asa’s friend Boni’s penchant for
taping pornographic pictures
of women to his car seems
more pleasantly eccentric than
misogynist. These characters
live without running water or
electricity, and, for the most
part, they seem to get along fine
without them. One wonders
what they do in medical emer-
gencies, but the film doesn’t ask
such questions or tell us the
location of the nearest hospital.
At heart, “Tulpan” tells a story
that’s not so exotic –– young
ZEITGEIST FILMS
people from small towns and
rural areas wanting to escape to
the city.
Asa’s dilemma may be par-
ticularly extreme because he
lives in such an isolated area,
with almost no women around,
but ultimately one can imagine
a young man from Montana
dreaming the same dreams
and sharing the same desires.
The conceit of a man courting
a silent woman recalls Abbas
Kiarostami’s 1994 “Through
the Olive Trees” so closely that
I’d be amazed if Dvortsevoy
hasn’t seen that film.
Critic Michael Sicinski has
noted that “Tulpan” is stronger
at depicting the natural world
than engaging with human
drama. Its attempts at humor
are more goofy than genuinely
witty.
It would be nice to report
that “Tulpan” has pleasures
beyond gazing at foreign land-
scapes, yet it’s most successful
at its simplest. Dvortsevoy cre-
ates brilliantly choreographed
counterpoint among people,
animals and the ground and
sky. But he’s much less adept
at conveying his characters’
emotional life.
“Tulpan” evokes quite a
few superior films — from
Robert Flaherty’s “Nanook of
the North” to T ian Zhuang-
zhuang’s “The Horse Thief” —
but it winds up feeling like a
deluxe Animal Planet program.
2 - 15 APR 2009
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 14 DAYS, from p.16
PERFORMANCE
MON.APR.6
Take It Off,
Take It All Off
The “Seminars in the City” series of
CUNY’s Center for Lesbian & Gay Stud-
ies (CLAGS) presents some of the leading
neo-burlesque performers in New York to
perform, as well as provide the theoretical
and historical context for their work. The
seminar participants will have the oppor-
tunity to read about, observe, and engage
with this unique form of performance art
that advances the artistic expression by
constantly challenging the political and
cultural authorities. LGBT Community
Center, 208 W. 13th St., 6-8 p.m. For
more information on the seminars and the
reading material, visit clags.org or email
clagsevents@gc.cuny.edu.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
CABARET
Avenue Queer
Erin Quill, a dazzling star of the original
Broadway cast of “Avenue Q,” makes her
debut at Scott Nevins’ “Curtain Call.” Quill,
an endearing comic talent, is in from Los
Angeles to sing some of the best songs
from the Great White Way. Splash, 50 W.
17th St., 11:30 p.m. Admission is free until
10 p.m.; $5 after that. You must be 21.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
MUSIC
Global
Heartwarming
Kagero’s sound has been described as a
melting pot of tonalities and rhythms from
Asia, the Middle East, South America, and
Eastern Europe; cultural confusion in other
words. Sometimes the songs are beauti-
ful imagery, sometimes sad folk tales, and
sometimes silly songs about drinking. But
the tunes are always fun, and the show
is high energy dancing good time. Living
Room, 154 Ludlow St. near Stanton St.,
7 p.m. No cover charge. You must be 21.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
MUSIC
TUE.APR.7
A Classical Gas
The Viola da Gamba Society of Great-
er New York will present the legendary
Wieland Kuijken in concert with two of
his distinguished colleagues, Eva Legêne,
䉴 APR 7, continued on p.20
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 2 – 15 APR 2009 19

Lec\jjpfl
Ëi\Y`j\olX
c

20/ Opera
Star Power
Dessay, Florez, Bartoli, Fleming, Blythe & Goerke!
BY DAVID SHENGOLD
S
everal highly touted stars
formed part of New York’s
early March operatic
skyscape. Whether they shone,
fizzled, or crashed depended very
largely on the context in which
their talents were presented.
March 9 brought back Otto
Schenk’s lovely fairy-tale stag-
ing of “Rusalka”, largely an out-
standing night. Laurie Feld-
man’s direction, sure through-
out, added some thoughtful new
touches since the last revival. Jiri
Belohlavek didn’t quite attain the
sublimity and nuance Dvorak’s
score merits but was certainly a
strongly positive element.
Rusalka remains a great
role for Renee Fleming; it’s a
shame New York has missed her
Marenka and Jenufa while she’s
attempted Imogene and Violetta.
Despite pronounced weakening
of her middle register and some
gratuitous writhing, she excelled
in the soaring top writing and
made a gorgeous, sympathetic
heroine.
Isn’t Fleming secure enough
not to have Belohlavek stop the
orchestra for applause after her
admittedly lovely “Song to the
Moon”?
Still, she moved me for the first
time in some years.
Stephanie Blythe, now palpa-
bly an audience pet, thrilled with
chest resonance but got unchar-
acteristically shrill in Jezibaba’s
upper reaches. Christine Goerke
assumed the Foreign Princess’s
thankless duties with bright tone,
a plush lower register, and enjoy-
ably projected bitchery — all bod-
ing well for her Houston Ortruds.
Note to Albany cost-cutters: all
three divas are SUNY grads. Sup-
port arts education!
Latvian dramatic tenor Alek-
sandrs Antonenko made an
exciting, highly promising debut
as the wayward Prince — tall and
“opera handsome,” with good
pitch and a well-projected bronze
tone capable of dynamic nuance.
No company Water Gnome has
surpassed Sergey Kopchak —
Kristinn Sigmundsson proved
solid but rather approximate lin-
guistically and musically. David
Won’s offstage Hunter sounded
splendid.
Rusalka remains a great role for Renee Fleming, who excelled in the soaring top writing.
Kathleen Kim showed particu-
lar distinction as the First Wood
Sprite — truly lovely light lyric
singing.
The evening’s main demerit
was endless intermissions, par-
ticularly the second one, last-
ing well over 40 minutes. Now
an endemic Met problem, this
doubtless contributed to unjustly
lax applause. It inconveniences
everybody. Is this policy perpe-
trated to boost restaurant, bar,
and shop revenues?
O
n March 3, Carnegie
Hall hosted Cecilia Bar-
toli, touring behind
her latest album, an homage to
Maria Malibran, one of history’s
truly legendary divas. Mali-
bran — like Callas — had some
youthful years in New York,
singing with her father Manuel
Garcia’s company. Then she
returned to Europe and inspired
composers, painters, and writers
before dying at 28. Bartoli has
researched her extensively and,
in principle, a program of music
connected with her held much
promise.
It had its moments — it was
interesting to hear one of Gar-
cia’s overtures, and Bartoli was
spellbinding in Desdemona’s
immortal scene from the Rossini
“Otello.” But, fabulous as she
looked in a blue gown with major
diamonds, the program accentu-
ated the interpretive sameness
of Bartoli’s current approach to
music and the somewhat ropy,
over -vibratoed quality of the
of a theatrical director clueless at
staging an opera.
Dessay entered as an interna-
tional diva with cell phone; “Sovra
il sen” found her rejecting shoes
and wigs. This characterization
went nowhere. Her best moments
showed that she can indeed play
pathos. She achieved some nice
quiet vocal moments, especially
in duet with Juan Diego Flórez,
but too much of her singing was
KEN HOWARD/ METROPOLITAN OPERA
cautious — or, when she dared a
forte, raspy or shrill.
Contemporary choristers and
dancers reacting to Amina’s sup-
posed infidelity by trashing the
set beggared belief. So did Amina
writing “ARIA” on a chalkboard
before singing “Ah, non credea
mirarti.”
sound she now produces. Flórez — even if his technically
In her previous — and fasci- astonishing voice lacks much
nating — “project” tours centered inherent beauty — offered a phe-
on Gluck, Vivaldi, and Salieri, nomenal showing as Elvino. The
Bartoli worked with excellent ovation after his excellent “Ah,
early music ensembles. Except perché non posso odiarti” was the
for fine clarinet soloist Rob- evening’s most enthusiastic dis-
ert Pickup, the Geneva-based play.
Orchestra la Scintilla largely Who Count Rodolfo is in this
failed to live up to its name. context remained puzzling. A
In sum, the Malibran evening
proved more “personal appear-
ance” for the cheering fans than
manager? A recording magnate?
Then why didn’t the “cast” know
him? His entrance destroyed the
a connection with the music per- logic of Zimmerman’s concept.
formed. Bartoli at her best has Why was this suave character in a
accustomed us to more. camel hair coat staying overnight
in the rehearsal room? Michele
T
he Met’s intermittent, Pertusi offered soigné dignity,
largely dispiriting new native Italian, and good style, but
production of Bellini’s “La lacked the requisite plushness
sonnnambula” was heartbreak- and steadiness.
ing for the wrong reasons. As at Jane Bunnell’s Teresa main-
Santa Fe in 2004 (under the same tained quality. Jennifer Black
uninspired, complaisant conduc- (Lisa) has a substantial, slightly
tor, Evelino Pidò), Natalie Des- harsh soprano ideal for Nedda.
say went on record in interviews She provided “body” in ensembles
against a traditional staging. — in which Dessay’s voice disap-
Indeed, Dessay, director Mary peared altogether — but couldn’t
Zimmerman, and Peter Gelb trill in a trill-based aria. Odd cast-
(in an unfortunate pre-dress ing.
rehearsal speech) publicly deni- The chorus sang superbly, with
grated Romani’s perfectly work- impressive ensemble and dynam-
able libretto to an alarming ic gradations. Mara Blumenthal’s
degree. well-judged “street clothes” cos-
Dessay insisted on ironic dis- tumes helped create an “every-
tance. Be careful what you wish day” reality during brief stretches
for! Zimmerman perpetrated a
“rehearsal” production in which
the work performed was shown
where Zimmerman managed
to carry her off Konzept. Daniel
Ostling’s rehearsal room set was
during the creative process, very attractive.
with Pirandellian interrelations
between art and life, between David Shengold (shengold@
onstage and offstage identities — yahoo.com) writes about opera
an approach usually the dodge for many venues.
2 - 15 APR 2009
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 APR 7, from p.18
recorder, and Arthur Haas, harpsichord.
The program will include works of J. S.
Bach, Marin Marais, Georg Philipp Tele-
mann, Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, and Jan
van Eyck. Kuijken will perform Marais’
great “Suite in E-Minor.” Church of
Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, 263
West 86th St. at West End Ave., 8 p.m.
Tickets are $25; $10 for students at 914-
806-7407 or jmrozendaal@earthlink.net.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
VISUAL ARTS
The Nude as Kitsch
Lisa Yuskavage, a figurative painter
best know for her overtly sexualized female
nudes, will discuss works chosen by stu-
dents for this event. Eleanor Heartney, writ-
ing in Art in America, said of Yuskavage’
work, “Echoes of Vermeer and Goya jostle
against the spirit of calendar pinups and
Catholic kitsch.” Presented by the School
of Visual Arts’ Fine Arts and Visual and Criti-
cal Studies Departments. SVA, 209 East
23 Street, third fl. Amphitheater, 7 p.m.
Free and open to the public.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
NIGHTLIFE
WED.APR.8
Daddy’s Coming
A new weekly party paying homage to
the Lure, Daddy, is launched tonight, with
drink specials all night long. Dress is raunchy.
HK, 405 W. 39th St., 9 p.m. Cover is $5.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
Porno Bingo to a
Beat
Antton Harri, star of “To the Last Man,”
and gay pop star Noa Tylo appear for a spe-
cial evening of porn, sin, booze, and bingo to
raise funds for LIFEbeat, the music industry
organization devoted to the fight against
AIDS. Let’s get Antton naked while playing
the All American Game with Will Clark’s All
Adult Twist. Pieces, 8 Christopher St. at
Sixth Ave., 8-10 p.m. Over the past five
years, Porno Bingo has raised more than
$80,000 for New York GLBT charities.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
NIGHTLIFE
THU.APR.9
Y’All Come Now
Daniel Nardicio and Sweetie take the
crowd to Hillbilly Heaven with a kooky,
䉴 APR 9, continued on p.22
2 - 15 APR 2009

Opera /21
Proud History in a Gala
With the greatest stars alive, Peter Gelb harkens back to those who came before
BY ELI JACOBSON

I
n planning the 125th Anni-
versary Gala, Peter Gelb
stated he wanted the con-
cert to be a visual experience
rather than simply a parade of
opera singers in evening dress
performing in front of unre-
lated scenery. Not content to
round up all the available front
rank stars in their favorite
showpieces, he conceived the
framework of recreating some
of the greatest milestones in
the Metropolitan Opera’s histo-
ry using cutting edge projected
scenery and animation.
All the current divos and

KEN HOWARD/ METROPOLITAN OPERA

divas would wear costumes
harking back to the original
designs wor n by such leg-
endary singers as Caruso,
Ponselle, Lilli Lehmann, and
Chaliapin. Long lost produc-

䉴 GALA, continued on p.24 Placido Domingo recreated Enrico Caruso’s Dick Johnson in the final act of “La Fanciulla del West.”

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■ IN THE NOH
Beauty, Splendor, and Wonder 14 NIGHTS
Gavin Creel grows “Hair”; Natalie Dessay at 125; best film in “August”
BY DAVID NOH
S
ome actors were just
bor n to play certain
parts and, from every-
thing I now know about Gavin
Creel, the role of Claude, who
gets drafted and then killed in
Vietnam, in “Hair” was meant
for him.
“I don’t think of it as a leg-
endary part,” he told me,
“because that will intimidate
me and I won’t be able to do it.
My approach is a human sense
of him, which I hope comes
across. I don’t wanna play a hip-
pie — he’s a young man who’s
stuck between his sense of duty
and his love of expression in a
world his parents didn’t show
him. I sort of feel like him, in the
sense that I’m from Ohio, a very
structured place, and came to
New York to be in musical the-
ater with all kinds of people, an
incredibly diverse profession.
“I did the Encores! revival in
2000, as part of the Tribe. I’d
auditioned for Claude then and
didn’t get it and now I’m so glad,
because then I wouldn’t have
understood how to play the part.
I met [the show’s creators] Ger-
ome Ragni and Jim Rado, who’s
still such a hippie, an amazing
free spirit who is not stuck in an
era, but completely present and
beautiful. He showed me an old
Gavin Creel as Claude (center) with the cast of the Broadway revival of “Hair,” directed by Diane
Paulus and choreographed by Karole Armitage.
2 – 15 APR 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
14 DAYS
䉴 APR 9, from p.20
the biggest straight ally on the
planet, came to me with this queer country evening of classic coun-
lyric ‘Don’t be alarmed, Mom/ try, rock-a-billy, Southern rock, square
Don’t be ashamed/ I’m still dance, gospel, and enough Dolly to raise
your baby/ I’m still the same.’ the roof! Plus late-night karaoke. The
He asked, ‘Can you write this?’ Hose, 225 Ave. B, btwn. 13th & 14th
I wasn’t publicly out then, but St., second fl., 10 p.m. Cover charge is
had to finish that lyric: ‘Feelings only 99 cents.
come quickly/ Some pass you ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
by/I feel a stillness in not ask-
KEN HOWARD/METROPOLITAN OPERA
ing why/ There’s a road that’s GALLERY
divided in two/ All of us here The Thing Itself
have to find/ Most everyone Artist Michael St. John, opening his
goes the same way/You just love second solo exhibition, “That’s Just the
me as I go my mine.’ I can’t tell Way It Is,” has invited six artists — Alex
you how many young men con- McQuilkin, Josh Smith, Nate Lowman,
tact me on Facebook and write Thomas McDonell, Caroline Polachek,
Natalie Dessay as Violetta in Verdi’s “La Traviata,” in a costume based Jonel Jorgulesco’s design stuff like, ‘I want you to know and Sebastian Errazuriz — to include
for a 1935 production. that my Mom and I listened to works in his show. His motive is to chal-
that song together and cried,’ or lenge the solipsistic quality of the solo
character synopsis for Claude drove down to 45th Street, and ‘Thanks for speaking my heart exhibition and stress the social aspect of
that said, ‘He doesn’t play the just took over the abandoned Al ––my parents kicked me out,’ or art-making. Drawing reference to Andy
end –– he’s a lover and the ulti- Hirschfeld Theater. We snuck whatever.” Warhol’s commemoration of the day’s
mate flower child, who doesn’t in and set up shop everywhere When I mentioned all the events, William Eggleston’s tributes to
want to go to war and die but he — backstage, the hallways, our other out and proud Broadway the discarded, and Robert Rauschen-
does, and doesn’t know what’s dressing rooms are decorated actors there are now — Chey- berg’s involvement with the world, St.
going to happen.’ — much of what the audience enne Jackson, Malcolm Gets, John’s work arrives reminiscent of the
“What’s cool about this pro- doesn’t even see. And the way Christopher Sieber — Creel Wallace Stevens poem, “it’s not about
duction is that it honors the time our brilliant set and lighting interrupted me, “Cheyenne is the thing, but it is the thing itself.” Mar-
but is completely new, without designers have done it with totally inspiring to me. I didn’t velli Gallery, 526 W, 26th St, second
being anachronistic, i.e., ‘this is Diane, it’s not just happening really say this in the press — I fl., Tue.-Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m., through
Iraq.’ No, it’s Vietnam, and the on the stage, but in the audi- never read message boards or May 9. Opening reception tonight,
way Diane Paulus has staged ence — you’re not gonna be able reviews, I’m too insecure and 6-9 p.m.
it makes it just as relevant in to escape us!” don’t wanna know what hor- ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
2009. ’Hair’ had this amazing The essential spirit of rebel- rible things people are saying
run in the park this summer, lion has been on Creel’s mind a about me — but I met Cheyenne
which I wasn’t a part of, and
Diane’s concept was the whole
Tribe got in their Love Bus and
lot: “I’m waking up and started
a foundation, a grassroots coali-
tion of the theater community
when he was my understudy in
‘Thoroughly Modern Millie.’ I
don’t know when he came out, PERFORMANCE
FRI.APR. 10
in support of marriage equality, but he just owned it and he’s a Jamaican Word
Broadway Impact. Right after fuckin’ superstar –– a knockout, Jam
Proposition 8 passed, Join the super-talented, and a wonderful As part of the Bronx Academy of Arts
Impact organized big rallies in guy who lives an exemplary life. Dance’s BAAD!ASS Women Festival
300 cities and we were inspired He’s way more fabulous than I’ll 2008, award-winning, HBO Def Poetry
by them. Broadway Cares’ Tom ever be. He’s shiny; I just avoid Jamming, Cultural Amazon Staceyann
Viola is mentoring us and we’re the camera. I actually read the Chin makes her debut at BAAD! with
working with Empire State Pride interview with him in Gay City powerful one woman show followed by
Agenda and Marriage Equality News and that inspired me. He’s a book signing of her new book, “The
New York. a rock star!” Other Side of Paradise.” BAAD, 841
“It’s an awesome time to be Asked if he has a partner Barretto St., btwn. Lafayette & Gar-
alive and love yourself and not himself, Creel said, “I don’t –– rison Aves., Hunts Point (#6 train to
be apathetic, which is as bad that’s all I’m gonna say. You Hunts Point Ave.), 8 p.m. Tickets are
as being on the other side. I’ve know how people are like, ‘You $20. Information at bronxacademyofart-
been stuck myself because for don’t wanna talk about your sanddance.org.
the longest time I wasn’t out in sexuality.’ No. I tell them I’m gay ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
the press and was like ‘I don’t and that’s all. My life is pretty
wanna talk about this –– what simple –– it’s not scandalous or
if I don’t get jobs?’ Fuck that
shit–– fuck it! If I don’t get a job
because I’m gay, then I don’t
interesting. I put my pants on
just like everybody else. I’m 32
now and came out to my fam- NIGHTLIFE
SAT.APR.11
want that job. At the end of the ily seven years ago, when I was You Gotta Have a
JOAN MARCUS.
day, it’s really boring if you’re in ‘Millie,’ because I thought, Gimmick
not living your life. they’re coming to opening night Dance 208 pays homage to the spirit
“I just woke up. I have a pop of my first Broadway show and of Gypsy Rose Lee, Blaze Starr, or even
album, ‘Good Time Nation,’
and my co-writer Robbie Roth, 䉴 IN THE NOH, continued on p.23 䉴 APR 11, continued on p.24
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
䉴 IN THE NOH, from p.22
it’s huge for all of us. Even if they kick me
of the house, even if they don’t wanna
talk about it and ignore me, they’re
gonna come and cry and see their son
up there, hopefully kickin’ some ass.
And the way they responded was the
best, and it’s not been easy for them.
They’re registered Republicans and
very conservative. I talk to them about
marriage equality and they say, ‘We
don’t agree. It’s not right –– you don’t
have the same rights as us.’
“But then my father is on their
church board and someone in the
church came out and my father said, ‘I
just want you to know that I’ve prayed
about it, and if for some reason they
don’t allow this person to worship with
us, I’m going to the board and say,
“I respect all your opinions but I’m
withdrawing,” and I just cried. He’s
the most incredible man I know. My
Grandma –– Guey –– was my idol, just
angelic and he is her son, without a
doubt.”
The role of Claude came to Creel cir-
cuitously: “Christina Miller, who played
Dion in the park, was a Facebook friend
I didn’t really know, but she wrote me:
‘Jonathan and I were talking and we
thought you’d make a brilliant Claude.’
I didn’t know who she meant and she
said, ‘Groff,’ and I thought, ‘That’s
weird –– why are you telling me this?
Well, he’s not going to do it.’
“I auditioned on Thursday, got
called back Friday, and heard I got it
Friday night. It’s funny, because I’ve
been pretty lucky, but 2008 was a
rough year. I loved doing Bert in ‘Mary
Poppins’ in London, and auditioned
for ‘Godspell’ and got it very quickly.
I waited nine months for that, and six
days before rehearsals, it was can-
celed. So all that year –– no income, no
health insurance. I called my agent to
ask about the availability of ‘Mary Pop-
pins,’ which I would love to play again.
But if I’d taken that, I wouldn’t be in
this incredible ‘Hair.’
“In 2008, my bike got stolen, I
invested in the stock market –– every-
thing went to pot, except for Obama
and I got a great dog. One of my favor-
ite things to do is teach master classes
around the country, and I always tell
my students, “You just can’t know…’”
G
eneral Manager Peter Gelb
threw another extravaganza
with the Metropolitan Opera
125th Gala, lavish with its use of com-
BIG FUN! SMALL BUCKS!
>Ê˜œÜ
Sun. $3.50 Screwdrivers & our famous Bloody Mary’s,
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“One of the 63 best bars
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281 W 12th St @ 4th St. NYC 212-243-9041
2 – 15 APR 2009 23
puter-driven visuals and recreations of
historical performances, replete with
costumes inspired by the original garb
worn by the stars.
I met up beforehand with Natalie
Dessay –– who was to sing the First Act
arias from “La Traviata” –– in her West
Side aerie, decorated with Hirschfeld
caricatures. Dressed in black velvet
Betsey Johnson and rocker boots ––
no “important’ gown for this youthful
diva –– she was the perfect, easy host-
ess, despite the pre-performance pres-
sure she was doubtlessly feeling. She
made me an espresso and then eas-
ily warmed up, while expressing some
uncertainty about the gown she was to
wear, an enormous hoop-skirted affair
inspired by Bidu Sayao (which impeded
the abandoned movement she’s famous
for), a certain nervousness (“I hate con-
certs!”), and humor, as when, learning
that James Levine was to conduct the
entire program, I said, “It’s an orgy of
opera!” (“And then we’ll all throw up!”).
Dessay is the kind of ultra-rare, men-
schy opera star who pulls dollars out of
her purse before hailing a cab ride to
the Met, instead of expecting that the
bill will somehow be taken care of (of
course she didn’t pay, but quel gesture!)
And her nervousness was completely
unwarranted as, despite thrilling con-
tributions by singers Joseph Calleja,
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Renee Fleming,
and Placido Domingo (simultaneously
celebrating his 40th Met anniversary), Gay,
there was little doubt as to who stole
the show. Str8,
Dessay sang and acted with a pierc- Bi,
ing delicacy which built to an electri- Curious?
fying high E-flat –– the note many say
James Levine traditionally bans –– at
the end of “Sempre Libera,” making
you want to immediately book tickets
for her first “Traviata,” this summer in
Santa Fe, directed by the brilliant Lau-
rent Pelly.
B
est film I’ve seen this year is
Gianni Di Gregorio’s endearing
“Mid-August Lunch,” screening
at New Directors/New Films Festival,
Walter Reade Theater, on April 3 and 4
(filmlinc.com/ndnf/ndnf). The tale of a
middle-aged guy living in Rome with his
aged mother, who finds himself suddenly
having to care for three other old ladies
as well, is deeply human, hilarious, and
a joy in every way.
Contact David Noh at Inthenoh@aol.
com and check out his new blog at http://
nohway.wordpress.com/.
/ÀÞʈÌÊÀiiÊUÊ
646-731-6657
1800GayLive.com MC 7002 Ent only 18+ *Limited Free Trial Photography by Kevin E. McPherson
24
䉴 IMPERFECT, from p.15
air of dynamic beauty. Scott
Pask designed the sets, and
Elaine J. McCarthy created the
projections.
What’s more, the play gets
a welcome shot of adrenaline
from Andre de Shields (“The
Full Monty”) in his dual roles of
a sharp-witted African philoso-
䉴 GALA, from p.21
tions would come to life again,
combining projected scenery
utilizing set designs preserved
in the Met archives with clev-
erly versatile scenic units.
The hero of the afternoon
was the redoubtable Placido
Domingo, celebrating the 40th
anniversary of his debut, his
career representing nearly one
third of the Met’s glorious his-
tory. The past and the present
truly became one, as a friend
commented afterward. Many
of the superstars on the bill
sounded as good as Placido,
but none sounded better.
The direction and design
wer e done by the “Shock-
headed Peter” duo of Phelim
McDermott and Julian
Crouch, with costume design
by Catherine Zuber and video
animation design by Leo War-
ner and Mark Grimmer. The
staggering creativity of their
work culminated in a visual
fantasy set to the overture of
Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote.”
Marc Chagall’s paint-
ing “The Triumph of Music”
seemed to be created piece by
piece on a scrim that spanned
the entire proscenium (some-
times spilling beyond the
stage). The painting came to
animated life, and the angels
and spirits flew around in
a pool of shifting colors and
shapes.
This was followed by a mon-
tage showing a visual history
of the Met stage, with rapidly
changing views of the old Met
stage being bor n and then
demolished and the new Met
rising from tenements. The
stage of the new Met was seen
reconfiguring itself for doz-
ens of operas including the
Chagall “Magic Flute.” In the
space of seven or eight min-
utes, an entire world of fan-
tasy illuminating reality and
gaycitynews.com
pher and a kindhearted bak-
ery owner. Margarita Levieva
morphs convincingly between
her three roles, and is particu-
larly captivating as the jealous
model/mistress. Other famil-
iar talents, Marsha Mason and
Michael T. Weiss, add depth to
the proceedings.
If Jacobs’ name doesn’t ring
familiar, you’d be forgiven. His
reality tur ned into fantasy
flashed before our eyes in the
very space it celebrated.
Even greater poetry, visual
and musical, was achieved
with the Act III finale of “Par-
sifal” harking back to the out-
lawed 1903 Metropolitan pre-
miere production. The Tem-
ple of the Grail with its tall
romanesque arches and cupo-
la with Moorish decorations
was projected onto a scrim
at the rear of the stage. The
choristers and soloists were
arranged on risers before it.
During the ecstatic final
Many of the superstars sounded
as good as Placido, but none
sounded better.
measures, on a front scrim,
another cupola with a skylight
revealed the dove, described
in Wagner’s stage directions
but rarely seen, flying down
into the temple and demateri-
alizing into a shaft of light.
Throughout, old-fashioned
staging methods such as sce-
nic tableaux arranged before
elaborate, false perspective
painted scenery met ultra
high-tech sophistication on a
mutual plane of pure imagi-
nation and visual poetry. It
was like seeing the old “Victor
Book of the Opera” animated
by Walt Disney in an operatic
“Fantasia.”
Musically, the level was
high, led by two veteran
superstars — Placido Domin-
go onstage and James Levine
in the pit. Domingo recreated
Enrico Caruso’s Dick John-
son in the final act of “La Fan-
ciulla del West” with a trans-
posed but burnished “Ch’ella
mi creda” that belied his 68
2 – 15 APR 2009
last play, “Cheaters,” flopped
31 years ago. Since then, he’s
made a career out of creat-
ing mushy message sitcoms
(“My Two Dads,” “Charles in
Charge”), and it shows here,
especially in the schmaltzy,
predictable ending.
The play’s central theme,
taking a cue from the dappled
technique of the impressionists,
years. He went from strength
to strength with a stalwart
Parsifal and a death of Otello
that showed him still supreme
in shading and legato.
His preview of the baritone
title role of Simon Boccane-
gra was a mixed success.
Singing the recognition duet
with Angela Gheorghiu, his
interpretation was humane
and noble but the voice is
still definitely that of a tenor.
The range gave him no prob-
lems but high phrases like the
ecstatic final “figlia” seemed
to lie in his middle range. Cli-
maxes were too easy and lower
phrases emerged dry and the
sound lacked gravitas.
Several other artists were
previewing future major roles
at the Met. Deborah Voigt’s
“Siegfried” Brunnhilde was
sensuous of mien but not of
voice, sounding tired even
after her long sleep. Tenor
Ben Heppner as her Siegfried
was musical in phrasing and
steady of tone but lacking in
youthful ring. Voigt seems to
be losing her high C, and her
high B in the “Rosenkavalier”
trio was a raucous squall.
Stephanie Blythe as Amn-
eris unleashed an oceanic
contralto-tinged tone that
was imposingly rich but com-
pressed on the high notes.
Rene Pape canceled due to
illness, thus depriving us
of a sneak peek at his Boris
Gudonov. However, veteran
bass Sir John Tomlinson’s
substitution proved to be a
major coup. His death of Boris
is basically, “Sometimes you
must step back to clearly see
what’s right in front of you.” Not
the most compelling insight.
Come to think of it, from my
fourth-row seat, I did feel a bit
too close to the action, being
forced to focus on discrete ele-
ments. Perhaps if I’d been seat-
ed further back, I might have
taken a kinder view.
was hauntingly sung and
shatteringly acted.
James Morris replaced Pape
as Wotan in the “Das Rhein-
gold” finale, seemingly having
eaten some of Freia’s apples
during intermission; his ear-
lier Filippo in “Don Carlo”
sounded as tired and gray
as his Wotan sounded sono-
rous and refulgent. Mariusz
Kwiecien as Don Giovanni
sounded more a lightly lyrical
Masetto than imposing Don,
but the Champagne Aria rare-
ly shows any seducer at his
best.
Scoring triumphs were
Renee Fleming, with radiant
tone and beauty in lilac silk
singing Marietta’s Lied from
“Die Tote Stadt,” Natalie Des-
say as a febrile Violetta in the
Act I scena from “Traviata,”
Joseph Calleja as a honey-
toned Rodolfo in “La Boheme,”
Dmitri Hvorostovsky show-
ing endless breath supply in
Yeletsky’s aria from “Pique
Dame,” and newcomer Alek-
sandrs Antonenko as a
bur nished C a v a r a d o s s i i n
“Tosca.”
Juan Diego Florez showed
a swaggering high B but
overly boyish slender tone
in “La Donna é Mobile” from
“Rigoletto.” Angela Gheo-
rghiu and Roberto Alagna
showed familiar strengths
and weaknesses — hollow
middle tones but blazingly
free tops for her, sweetly soft-
grained lyrical tones marred
by some leathery oversinging
for him.
The sheer level of achieve-
ment onstage and backstage
for this one-off event made
one grieve that it was not
transmitted in high-defini-
tion to movie theaters. This
gala seemed a Met milestone
in and of itself and deserved
to be seen around the world
for generations to come.
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 APR 11, from p.22
Lindsay Lohan in “I Know Who Killed
Me!,” with an evening of burlesque
dance. Get in touch with your inner
stripper and shake it out and in your
face, while dancing to the tunes of DJ
Miss Honey Dijon (Hiro, Mr Black, G
Bar, Cock). LGBT Community Center,
208 W. 13th St., 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Admis-
sion is $8 at gaycenter.org or $10 at the
door.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
Partners for 11
Years
For the past 11 years, Big Apple
Ranch, with a huge dance floor open
to people of all abilities, has hosted a
weekly country-western partner-dance
party for the LGBT community. Tonight,
celebrate this special anniversary at half-
price. 39 W. 19th St., fifth fl. Two-step
lessons at 8 p.m.; in-line lessons
at 8:30; dancing from 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
Admission is $5, and includes the
8-9 p.m. lessons. Wear leather-soled
boots or shoes. More information at big-
appleranch.com.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
PERFORMANCE
It’s Definitely Pink
Bridget Everett, whom the Village
Voice’s Michael Musto dubbed “Wynona
Judd meets Melissa Etheridge, via the
local bar floozy, on a rocket ship out of
Twin Peaks,” and Kenny Mellman (of
Kiki and Herb) join forces with a tight
little band in “Fill Me Up,” an evening of
songs from their hit Off-Broadway show
“At Least It’s Pink,” the smash Joe’s Pub
series “Sexercise: The Songs of Millie
Jackson,” and an array of today’s pop
hits, including Taylor Swift’s “Fifteen.”
Highline Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., 8
p.m. Doors open at 6. Tickets are $20 at
ticketweb.com; $22 at the door.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
Lift Every Voice
As the final evening of the Bronx
Academy of Arts Dance’s BAAD!ASS
Women Festival 2008, three amazing
singers and music acts —the seduc-
tive jazz stylings of Chaney Sims, the
out Latina rapper Sargenta G, and the
earthy, political, and commanding Mahi-
na Movement — appear in “Lift Every
Voice.” BAAD, 841 Barretto St., btwn.
Lafayette & Garrison Aves., Hunts
Point (#6 train to Hunts Point Ave.),
8 p.m. Tickets are $20. Information at
bronxacademyofartsanddance.org.
✯ ✯
䉴
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
14 DAYS, continued on p.26
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■ NIGHTLIFE

Fundraising’s A Drag 14 DAYS

Not that there’s anything wrong with that — at the Imperial Court of New York
BY WINNIE MCCROY cause lifts your spirits.”
14 NIGHTS
䉴 14 DAYS, from p.24
Celebrity guest performanc-

T
he leather and drag com- es included comedy by Jackie
munities gathered at the
Marriott Marquis Hotel
in Times Square on Saturday,
Hoffman, and music by caba-
ret star John DeMarco, Broad-
way star Christopher Sieber, BENEFIT
SUN.APR.12
March 21, for the 23rd annual and singers Michelle Williams, All That Broadway
Night of a Thousand Gowns, a Lucas Silveira of the Cliks, and Beauty
charity coronation ball to benefit Ari Gold. Williams, a Grammy Michael Urie of “Ugly Betty” and
LIFEbeat, the music industry’s Award-winner, performed sev- Seth Rudetsky are judges for “Broadway
AIDS effort, and the Metropoli- eral songs, including her new Beauty Pageant,” a stunning night of
tan Community Church of New hit, “Break the Dawn.” talent and swim-suit hunkdom featur-

York’s Homeless Youth Services,
commonly known as Sylvia’s
Place. The event, which drew 600
paying guests, raised $275,000.
“The Imperial Court of New
York is good at pulling together
the leather, bear, and drag com-
munities into one for a good
cause,” said Emperor XVI Craig
Hollywood. “We put the fun into
fundraising.”
Out lesbian City Council
Speaker Christine C. Quinn
was honored with the Imperial
Diamond Award. “Tonight is a
fun night, but it’s a very impor-
tant night,” Quinn said. “For 23
years the Imperial Court has
gotten together and had a lot
of fun, but made a lot of money
for very important community
groups.” She termed the found-
ing of the gala nearly a quarter
century ago “a pretty ballsy thing
to do,” commending the Court’s
members for having the courage
to be themselves.
“I have been doing fundrais-
ing for years, starting with Sis-
ters of Perpetual Indulgence in
San Francisco, and I’ve found
this group is warm, loving, and
accepting,” said new Court
member Lady Lacey-Susan.
“There’s nothing better than to
marry fun and philanthropy,
and these people get it.”
“You could dress up and go
to any party, but when you’re
doing it and it’s helping others,
it means that much more,” said
Emperor XVII Tony Monteleone and Empress XXIII Anne Tique cheerfully assume the burdens of
the crown.
Prince Royal Vanity Society, a
court member known for his cre-
ative ensembles. “Even with the
economy, people are still willing
to help, and hopefully, will have
a really great time doing it.”
To judge by the number of
participants who had traveled
a distance to attend the event,
the allure of Night of a Thousand
Gowns superseded any con-
cerns about the poor state of the
economy.
“We look pretty and do lots
of things… but at the end of
the day it’s about the charities
that we support,” said Empress
Mardi Gras from Edmonton,
Alberta. “I spend my time and
my money because I believe in
what we’re doing, I’m passion-
ate about what we do, and you
can see this room in here is filled
with people who feel the same
way.”
Guests Malibu Breeze and
Emperor XVIII Christopher
Hempel from the Imperial Court
of Buffalo proclaimed the eve-
ning a success, Hempel saying,
“With all the government cut-
backs, we have to do it for our-
selves. Besides, this is one of
the most fabulous balls in the
DASHA GAVRYOLVA
“I think it’s really impor -
tant as an out member of the
LGBTQ community… to bring
youth causes to the forefront,
and support a cause like raising
money for AIDS,” said Silveira.
“Homeless youth is a
entire country. I think tonight is big issue that needs to be
an immense success, especially addressed, and the fight for
in light of the current economy. AIDS research and education
New York City is not a cheap is not over, so it’s really great
destination for anybody, and the when people can come togeth-
large turnout, especially of out- er, have a great time, and look
of-towners, is really wonderful.” fabulous, all for a great cause,”
The Night of a Thousand echoed Gold. “And it really is a
Gowns is famed for its stunning community event. Some chari-
performances, and this year was ties are all show, but this event
no exception. The members of has so much show and, at the
the Imperial Court entertained same time, is so real.”
the crowd with dazzling dance In a midnight coronation cere-
numbers including a country- mony, reigning leaders Emperor
western themed opener, “The XVII Rob Hunter de Woofs and
Chicken Ranch,” directed by Empress XXII Charlene Chi-
Empress X Ran-Dee, and an voe passed their crowns on to
elaborate Italian-themed coro- Emperor XVII Tony Monteleone
nation ceremony honoring the and Empress XXIII Anne Tique.
heritage of the incoming Emper- This represented the first time
or XVIII Tony Monteleone and formerly reigning monarchs
Empress XXIII Anne Tique. have been reelected to represent
Guests were treated to a spe- the Imperial Court. The duo hit
cial appearance by three finalists the ground running.
from the new Logo reality show “We can’t wait! We’re going to
“Ru Paul’s Drag Race” — Bebe raise lots of money and have so
Zahara Benet, Nina Flowers, much fun, and represent New
and Rebecca Glasscock. Benet York to the fullest,” Emperor
said, “We are doing a lot for the Monteleone told Gay City News.
community to raise so much “We’re ready to go!” exclaimed
money for different causes. To Empress Anne Tique, standing
see all these people, regardless beside him with a proud smile
of what’s happening, just com- on her face as the pair greeted
ing and celebrating for a good their new court.
ing James Brown III (“Little Mermaid”),
Adam Fleming (“Wicked”), Anthony Hol-
lock (“Hair”), Tony James (“Lion King”),
David Larsen (“Billy Elliot”), Jonathan
Sandler (“Mary Poppins”), John Selya
(“Guys and Dolls”), and past winners
Frankie James Grande (“Mamma Mia”)
and Marty Thomas (“Xanadu”). Who are
we to quibble that Cheyenne Jackson is
missing? The evening is a benefit for the
Ali Forney Center, which provides critical
housing and social services to home-
less LGBTQ youth across New York City.
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at
95th St., 8 p.m. Tickets are $50-$150 at
symphonyspace.org, with premium tick-
ets including a post-performance recep-
tion. For more information on Ali Forney,
visit aliforneycenter.org.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
COMEDY
AC/ DC
Tonight at “The Electro Shock Ther-
apy Comedy Hour,” Brad Loekle hosts a
mixed bag of straight and gay comedi-
ans. Either way, you’ll be bent over with
laughter. Steve Hofstetter (the most
requested straight man at Therapy) is
joined by Jackie Monahan (the lesbian
love child of Andy Kaufman); Shawn
Hollenbach (Comix Ochi Lounge’s
resident queen); and Diana Saez (so
straight that she’s eight months preg-
nant, with her man).Therapy, 348 W.
52nd St., 10 p.m. No cover, $6 cosmos
all night.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

NEWS BRIEFS By ANDY HUMM
䉴 BRIEFS, from p.4 status at the time of death” on city
death certificates on January 1.
Domestic They also provide another box for
Partners Now “other.” The old death certificates
on NYC Death listed just the categories married,
Certs married but separated, widowed,
The New York City Board of divorced, never married, and
Health, without fanfare, started unknown. Gay City News inquired
listing “domestic partnership” about the omission of domestic
under the category of “marital partners, who have been able to
register in New York since the
early 1990s, in March 2008 and
were informed the department
was “working to find a solution.”
It apparently voted to make the
change last June 18, putting it
into effect on January 1.
The new certificates also ask
for “surviving spouse’s/partner’s
name” instead of just “spouse’s
name.” It continues to read, “if
wife, name prior to first mar-
riage,” even though there is the
rare husband who takes his wife’s
name.
Palin’s AG
Calls Gays
“Degenerates”
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
has picked Wayne Anthony Ross
as her new attorney general.
Pam’s House Blend reports that
when Anchorage lawyers were
being organized to support an
ordinance banning discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation,
Ross wrote a letter to the Bar
䉴 BRIEFS, continued on p.27
BOOKS
MON.APR. 13
Tragedy Must Be
Remembered
GLAAD Media award winner Dave
Cullen, who has written extensively
on the issue of gays in the military and
evangelical Christians, talks about his
new book, “Columbine,” a riveting por-
trait of an American tragedy. Barnes &
Noble Bookstore, 2289 Broadway
at 82nd St., 7 p.m. Free. Information at
212-721-5282.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
䉴 JUMP, continued on p.26
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
NEWS BRIEFS
䉴 BRIEFS, from p.26
Association newsletter calling gay
people “immoral,” “perversion”
and “degenerate.” Ross himself
ran for governor of Alaska in 1998
and 2002.
Limbaugh Anti-
Dike
Rush Limbaugh’s meds need
to be checked again. Towleroad
reported that in response to stories
on the floods in North Dakota, he
objected to news reports referring
to the need to “fill in the dikes.”
“Isn’t there a more appropriate
word? Do we have to say, I mean,
we don’t have any dikes here. The
dykes are over there. They’re filling
in the dikes. Couldn’t we change
that to ‘they’re filling in the contin-
gencies’ or something… We really
need to change that word.”
Barney Defends
Attack on Scalia
Attacked for explicitly stating
that US Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia is “a homophobe,”
Congressman. Barney Frank, an out
gay Massachusetts Democrat, fired
back in an article for the Huffington
Post that Scalia “is prejudiced”
against LGBT folks based “entirely
on the angry minority opinions” he
wrote in the 2003 sodomy case
and the 1996 decision overturning
Colorado’s anti-gay Amendment 2.
Frank wrote that while conser-
vative Justice Clarence Thomas
called the Texas sodomy law
“remarkably silly” while voting to
uphold its constitutionality, Scalia
wrote, “So imbued is the Court
with the law profession’s anti
anti-homosexual culture, that it is
seemingly unaware that the atti-
tudes of that culture are obviously
not ‘mainstream’…”
In the Colorado case, Scalia
wrote, “But though Coloradans
are, as I say, entitled to be hostile
By ANDY HUMM
toward homosexual conduct, the
fact is that their degree of hostil-
ity reflected by Amendment 2 is
the smallest conceivable.” The
amendment barred any form of
law protecting gay people from
discrimination in the state. The
court declared it unconstitutional
in a 6-3 vote.
Some Gay Icons
at Brit Exhibit
Not
The National Portrait Gallery
in London is mounting an exhibit
from July 2-October 18 of 60 liv-
ing and dead Gay Icons, picked
not by a jury but by letting some
prominent LGBT people pick
two apiece. Sir Ian McKellen, a
gay icon himself, picked Harvey
Milk and Grethe Cammermeyer.
But Billie Jean King, the out les-
bian tennis pro, went with Nel-
son Mandela “on the grounds
that he is everybody’s icon, gay
or straight,” the UK Guardian
reported. She also picked African-
American tennis pioneer Althea
Gibson.
Sir Elton John went with two
non-gay Gay Icons, his songwrit-
ing partner Bernie Taupin and cel-
list Mstislav Rostropovich.
Out gay novelist Alan Hol-
linghurst went with Joe Dall-
esandro, the hunky star of Andy
Warhol films like “Trash,” and
Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hop-
kins. Chris Smith, the first out gay
member of Parliament, picked
Virginia Woolf and Alan Turing,
the mathematician who broke the
German code in World War II and
killed himself in 1954 after being
arrested for homosexual activity
at age 41.
Out Lesbian
Mayor for Zurich
Corine Mauch, 49, an out lesbi-
an, won a runoff to become mayor
of Zurich on March 29, also mak-
2 – 15 APR 2009 27
GAY CHRISTOPHER STREET
ing her the first woman mayor of
the city. She is a center-left Social
Democrat, the Advocate reported,
DUGOUT
has a longtime partner, and played
with two rock bands in the 1990s.
Out Lesbian On Christopher
Jurist Named by
Obama
Marisa Demeo, a Latina and 185 Christopher St., New York, NY 10014
out lesbian, has been nominated
by President Barack Obama to
the DC Superior Court and must
be confirmed by the US Senate.
HAVE FUN AT THE DUGOUT
212-242-9113
She is now a judge in criminal
division of the district’s Supe-
212-242-9113
rior Court and once worked as a
paralegal in the Justice Depart-
ment’s Civil Rights Division, as
well as serving as a prosecu-
tor in the US Attorney’s office.
In addition, she has worked
for the AIDS Service Center of
Lower Manhattan and Lambda
76
Legal. She describes herself as a Christopher St.
devout Catholic. at 7th Ave
Heroes of False
Arrest Case to HAPPY HOUR 12-9 P.M. // Monday Night Karaoke
be Honored by
MCC
At their Easter Banquet on
April 11 at 3 p.m. the Metropoli-
tan Community Church will honor
two of the leaders in exposing the
false arrests of gay men for pros-
titution by the NYPD — Robert
Pinter, a victim of the stings who
came forward and founded the
Coalition to Stop the Arrests, and
Gay City News reporter Duncan
Osborne who dug into the police
and court records to uncover the
pattern of false arrests over sev-
eral years. Also being honored are
A Village Landmark
John Burke and Jeffrey Wallach, Serving The Community
For Over 30 Years
two Church Lady Bingo stars, and
the late Jackson Hall, a stained
glass artist. For tickets, at $60, call
Bradley Curry at 212-629-7440.
The event will be held at Union
Theological Seminary at Broad-
way and 122nd St.
114 Christopher St. ©
Btw Bleecker & Hudson St.
212 -741-9641
2nd Tuesday Of T he Mont h 6pm -1a m Fi re F lag/E ms
TOWNHOUSE NYC
236 East 58th Street (Between 2nd and 3rd)
212-754-4649
World Famous
Gentlemen Piano Bar
WWW.TOWNHOUSENY.COM Live Music Nightly
28 2 – 15 APR 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

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