Center Blog

By Zach Shultz

It was a hot and humid day in New York City on Thursday, May 16, as approximately 90 people crammed into a room on the third floor of the LGBT Community Center, waiting anxiously for the arrival of a legend. Holly Woodlawn, the last surviving member of Andy Warhol’s trio of trans superstars (Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis passed away decades ago) and star of cult film classics – such as “Trash” (1970) and “Is There Sex After Death?” (1971) – showed up with characteristic flare. She was surrounded by an eclectic posse and decked out in a teal blazer and purple dangling earrings, giving off the air of a more fabulous version of Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.

Howard Williams, the Center’s curator of the Second Tuesday series, introduced the cultural icon and author of “A Low Life in High Heels” by diving into a video montage showcasing the last 40 years of Holly’s fascinating acting career in independent films, followed by a screening of her 20-minute, black-and-white silent, “Broken Goddess.” After seeing this condensed glimpse of Holly’s work, I was immediately captivated by the wide range of personas she has taken on over the years, all the while managing to stay true to her quirky self. Admittedly, as part of a generation of gays coming of age in the era of drag visibility brought to you by RuPaul and Absolut Vodka, I knew little of the incredible talent that is Holly Woodlawn. Yet after the screening I wanted more and was left with a lingering question: Who is the real Holly Woodlawn?

As the night went on, I soon realized that this question is more elusive than I first thought. Holly is a character who resists simple categorizations by blurring the line between performer and everyday self. Her striking ability to mix the high and low, somberness with humor, gives her just the right amount of comic relief to mask her more melancholy side. For example, after being asked about the recent passing of fellow Warhol actor Taylor Mead, she replied tearfully, “You know, we’ve lost so many beautiful and artistic people that I don’t know what we’re going to do! But it’s funny how life just seems to regenerate itself…” After pausing, lost in thought for a moment, she went on to plug her latest launch of a lipstick, irreverently named “Cocksucker Red.”

The Puerto Rican-born, Miami-bred inspiration for the Lou Reed classic, “A Walk On The Wild Side,” at times came off disconnected and incoherent, most likely due to suffering a recent stroke which has placed her in a wheelchair. However, during her more lucid moments of the evening she shined through with incredible wit and self-awareness, performing bits of cabaret classics while recounting her run-ins with celebrities and counterculture idols from her past. Her stubborn refusal of seriousness coupled with an impeccable sense of timing was probably best exemplified when she was asked by the audience, “What is it like being trans then versus now?”—to which she replied without missing a beat, “Is that what it’s called these days?”

Given the recent string of homophobic attacks in Greenwich Village, this iconic blast from New York City’s Warhol Factory past left me asking, how far have we come as a society over the past several decades? Could it be that in many ways we might be digressing from the hyper-queer days of Holly’s New York and entering into a time of unprecedented social backlash against all things nonconformist? For the sake of my generation, I truly hope this is not the case. But at any rate, I left the event with one thing certain in my mind: Holly Woodlawn has indelibly left her mark on our culture and will continue to inspire us to keep taking a walk on the wild side.

Zach Shultz is a guest blogger for the Center and works in communications and development at AID FOR AIDS. You can follow him on Twitter @zach_shultz.

By Zach Shultz

In her famous breakthrough essay written in 1964, “Notes on Camp,” American writer and cultural critic Susan Sontag contends that the artistic sensibility known as camp is characterized by “its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration.” Now, nearly 50 years later, the LGBT Community Center continues to keep this spirit alive with its annual Summer “Camp” Festival, an entire month of events planned to celebrate this elusively queer aesthetic. This past weekend, the Center launched this year’s Summer “Camp” Festival on the streets of the East Village through a series of outrageously over-the-top performances, titled “Roughin’ It,” held underneath a tent at the New Museum’s IDEAS City StreetFest. The day was filled with a variety of performers and styles, all brought together because of their common appeal to campy tastes.

During the festival, passersby enjoying the wonderful New York spring weather would stop as they approached the Center’s tent, alternately puzzled and amused, yet utterly transfixed by performances running the gamut from a deranged cheerleader to a dandy teller of homosexual horror tales. The wildly hilarious amalgam of performances spaced throughout the day was curated by the New Museum’s Assistant Manager of Visitor Services, Rick Herron, who worked with Paul Menard, the Center’s Director of Cultural Programs, to make the event possible.

This self-consciously ironic take on the experience of childhood summer camp brought together quite the motley crew. The designated Camp Counselor, Dandy Darkly, spent the large part of the day prancing around the sidewalk decked out in Victorian garb, ghoulish makeup and a black lace umbrella casting a menacing shade over his affected airs. Meanwhile, back in the tent Penelope Labradoodle Rockefeller—think of a bearded, grotesque, drag version of Dorothy in Oz—told groups of small children revised fairy tales to instill in them the lesson of valuing true beauty in all of its myriad, if somewhat contorted, forms.

After encouraging a group of sidewalk spectators to join in on a choreographed hoedown to One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” Penelope then introduced the next performer, Jenn Harris. Equipped with a plastic toy headset, pigtails, cheerleading leotard and horn-rimmed glasses, Jenn burst out of the tent in a frenzy to perform a hyped-up cheer routine to Lil Jon and LMFAO’s hit single, “Shots.” Afterwards, she brought her collection of dismembered Barbie dolls and tattered My Little Ponies for children to play with while she read excerpts from the classic 80s etiquette manual, “Girl Talk.” Becca Blackwell and her crew served up a gender-queer reading of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf,” offering a new tongue-in-cheek interpretation to his classic play. The day was topped off by a campfire sing-along, led by Jeffrey Marsh, as summer “campers” crooned the theme song to The Golden Girls and Petula Clark’s classic, “Downtown.”

If you missed the inauguration of Summer “Camp,” don’t fret. Camp goes till June 13 and is jam-packed with a number of events that are certain to make you say, “Oh girl… That’s so bad, it’s good!” If you’re in on the joke, check out gaycenter.org/camp for upcoming Summer “Camp” happenings.

Zach Shultz is a Guest Blogger for the LGBT Community Center and works in Communications and Development at AID FOR AIDS. You can follow him on Twitter @zach_shultz.

By Andy Cataldo

On March 19, friends of the Center and fans of Dusty Springfield gathered to hear Kirsten Holly Smith and Jonathan Vankin recount details of the legendary singer’s life, as well as to describe their journey in creating the Off-Broadway musical, “Forever Dusty.”

The talk opened with Kirstin performing “Wishin’ and Hopin’,” one of Dusty’s most popular numbers that is also featured in the musical. A recent fan of Dusty’s music, I wasn’t aware of the artist’s colorful past and early activism. The writers described her as “active in Swingin’ London’s lesbian nightlife scene” of the 1960s. The musical, which stars Smith in the title role, focuses on the artist’s two lives — first as Mary O’Brien, an Irish Catholic school girl growing up in 1940s England, and later as the performer and party girl, Dusty Springfield.

At the time, the Irish living in England were viewed as second-class citizens. Dusty’s upbringing followed her throughout her career. She began by singing in a folk band called The Springfields which provided the inspiration for her stage name. When she began to perform solo she also produced her own records. Even at the height of her success, though, icons like Paul McCartney would still describe her as “just a young Irish girl.”

It was Dusty’s interest in American soul music that would shape her identity. Drawing inspiration from popular songs like “Tell Him,” she began her solo career with the hit “Only Wanna Be With You” in 1963. She was one of the first blue-eyed soul vocalists. She is credited with bringing soul to England when she organized a televised special, “Sounds of Motown,” featuring legends including the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Temptations.

All the while, Dusty pushed the envelope. On a 1964 tour in South Africa, she caused a stir back in England when she refused to perform in front of segregated audiences. Vankin described that she worked with her manager to include a clause in the contract requiring her performances to be held in cinemas, which welcomed mixed audiences. She would send her bass player out before each show to confirm that there were black and white attendees; otherwise she would refuse to perform.

Smith sang other numbers featured in the musical including Dusty’s first #1 single, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,” which she produced in 1966 at the height of her success. Smith studied some of Dusty’s notable quirks for her performances. Some of the Irish Catholic school-girl awkwardness would come out in her animated arm motions, which some said were a covert method of reading lyrics she had written on her hands and forearms, as her nearsightedness would have prevented her from reading prompts. Her vision was not as bad as her stage fright however. One of her companions once said that she would smash plates before going on stage to settle her nerves.

Jonathan Vankin talked about Dusty’s significant relationships with both men and women, including photographer Faye Harris, musician Carole Pope and the abusive Teda Bracci, a man she met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. She spent a long period in the 1970s living in Los Angeles where she was a notorious partier, indulging in alcohol, cocaine and Quaaludes. She was ahead of her time with her openness about sexuality; however the reception of Dusty’s openness was not warm. Her career never experienced a resurgence after a famous September 1970 interview with journalist Ray Connolly when she spoke publicly about her involvement with women:

There’s one thing that’s always annoyed me…so many other people say I’m bent, and I’ve heard
it so many times that I’ve almost learned to accept it…Girls run after me a lot and it doesn’t upset me. It upsets me when people insinuate things that aren’t true. I couldn’t stand to be thought of as a big butch lady. But I know that I’m as perfectly capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy. More and more people feel that way and I don’t see why I shouldn’t.

One audience member added to the narrative by sharing that Dusty partnered with Richard Carpenter after the death of his sister Karen in 1983. Check out the track they created together: “Something In Your Eyes – YouTube” – Time (Richard Carpenter), 1987

Forever Dusty runs at New World Stages with final performance on April 7.

Did you party with Dusty in LA? Share your stories with the Center family by commenting below.

by Andy Cataldo

Filmmaker Antony Osso created a series of six shorts featuring the touching stories of queer couples, entitled “The Devotion Project.” On February 13, in honor of Valentine’s Day, he screened the films together at the LGBT Community Center – including the world premiere of the series’ final film “Foremost in My Mind” – and brought along a panel of some of the featured couples. Here’s a quick overview of each film along with links to access them:

● “More Than Ever” – Bill Campbell and John Hilton, who had been together more than 50 years since they met before World War II
● “Say Only Yes” – Brian Cantor and Paul Labrecque, who met in London in the 90s and stayed together for over 25 years in the face of hardships
● “Listen from the Heart” – a married lesbian couple, Laura and Jaime Fitch-Jenett, raise their son Simon with a heart condition
● “My Person” – a queer couple, Eric and Anne Plemons, share their experience raising their daughter Jonah while facing transgender issues
● “Build Your Wings” – a young couple, Victor Bragz Lara and Daniel Pando, who have been together for eight years, move to New York and shape an open relationship
● “Foremost in My Mind” - a former model, Audrey Smaltz, and Olympic medalist, Gail Marquis, fall in love and marry later in life

After the viewing the audience heard a recap of progress to date on marriage equality: nine states offer marriage benefits, and challenges over DOMA are soon to be heard by the Supreme Court. (The day after the event – Valentine’s Day – Illinois became the 10th state to legalize gay marriage). Then a discussion was opened with the panel of attending couples featured in the films, hosted by Michael Crawford of Freedom to Marry. It was touching to see them in person, including the inspirational John Hilton, who told us that his partner Bill passed away three weeks after filming.

The couples were asked what it meant to them to be able to marry in New York. Gail from “Foremost in my Mind” struggled with calling Audrey her partner due to the confusion that arose with this term as she is a business owner. Gail also felt that the term “lover” did not do justice to their relationship. Gail says to us with a beaming smile, “Wife. How easy is that to say?”

The couples were also asked to discuss advice for young gays hoping to find a loving relationship. Some valuable points came out that can be applied to all relationships, gay and straight. Brian and Paul, who began their relationship when one was living in the US and the other in London, encouraged people to recognize and remove obstacles preventing them from getting close to someone special. Their advice was that often people have an expectation of perfection when, in actuality, healthy relationships are built around compromise. One shouldn’t be afraid of taking a risk, they advised.

Finally the couples on the panel were asked how they got involved in the project. Bill and John met the filmmaker as a result of frequenting cabaret acts in New York including Kiki & Herb and Bridget Everett. Brian and Paul got involved with the hope of making life easier for just one kid in a small town facing the familiar struggles of gay youth. Audrey felt it was important to get involved to provide a healthy relationship role model to younger African Americans. Audrey and Gail were quite a charismatic couple and won the audience over quickly with their charm. (You can read their New York Times wedding announcement here.)

If Antony Osso’s goal was to start a dialogue about love, this event was clearly a huge success. Now it is up to us to watch and share these incredible films on YouTube and spread that message to the rest of the country.

www.gaycenter.org

by Andy Cataldo

Choreographer Karole Armitage and voguing pioneer Benny Ninja appeared just as you might expect them to – she a tall blonde with the perfect posture of a seasoned dancer, he quite stylish in a hat, sports coat and loud red Louis Vuitton scarf.

They came together recently at the Center’s event, Strike a Pose: Choreographer Chat with Karole Armitage and Benny Ninja, to share their experience with an audience of fans. The tone was surprisingly conversational; each icon took turns speaking about his or her background and asking the other questions as they told the story of their involvement in the phenomenon that is ballroom culture and particularly voguing.

Karole built a reputation in the early 80s as a “punk ballerina,” a marginal and wild free-spirit. She was introduced to the scene when she was invited to judge a ball at the Roseland Ballroom in 1983. She recounted the experience as she remembered it – someone shouting out categories such as “eyeglasses” and “handbags” followed by participants walking accompanied by motions down a runway. She described the movement as “guerrilla warfare” – a non-capitalist form of dance existing purely outside of mainstream culture. That is, until Madonna caught on.

Benny entered the scene as a protégé of the late Willi Ninja in 1988 after seeing a quick flash of voguing on TV during coverage of the Love Ball, an AIDS fundraiser. It was that brief introduction that led him to the Red Zone, a historic New York City nightclub of the late 80s.

When asked about how he learned to vogue, Benny explained that he observed everything. He would pay to enter a club or attend a ball and study his surroundings for as long as eight hours, sitting on a speaker, taking in the movement, the emotion. He spoke of meeting Willi Ninja on the dance floor, asking “What is it you’re doing?” Willi responded “What I’m doing is called voguing.” When asked to define what that was, Willi replied “Darling, it is an exaggerated interpretation of the runway model.”

Benny explained that he saw voguing as an art form, where a dancer painted a portrait for others to interpret. During his lessons with Willi, the icon expressed that he wanted someone to take voguing to the next level, i.e. corporate (where the money’s at).

So can you blame Madonna really? Described by Karole as someone who has a knack for picking things just when they’re ready to be consumed by the mainstream, even though she has the reputation of being an envelope pusher. Karole says she has “a certain kind of genius” in that respect, but perhaps not the genius of a true creator. She took advantage of the desire expressed by Willi himself. Perhaps a contribution, enabled by Karole’s choreography in the music video “Vogue,” acted to preserve the cultural movement in time. Benny spoke of the true story of voguing – the houses involved and the disadvantaged wanting to emulate what they could not have. In that sense Madonna’s interpretation was a robbery of the true spirit of voguing.

The most interesting perspective shared by both Karole and Benny was the explanation of voguing as a form of dance. Benny spoke of the hardships and physical injury encountered in learning to vogue, which included for him pain and hospital visits. Karole chimed in “that’s exactly what being a dancer is!” Both spoke of structure and fitting a motion to sound: combined with deliberate movements of the body as well as the spiritual connection that performers have to the work. “It’s my way of praying. It makes me feel free,” Benny told us. “Each movement should be saying something. If not, it’s wrong.” While ballet is made up of five positions, voguing according to Benny, is made up of ten points, sides of the face, lines and broken lines (clicks).

Karole spoke of how dance slipped away from the spotlight it once had in American culture, making her work less in public demand. But she spoke of the strength of her passion, much in the same way as Benny spoke of his.

Today Benny teaches upcoming legendary children the art of voguing all over the world – Moscow, Taiwan, here in New York. Even now, Karole draws inspiration from what she experienced in the 80s. She incorporates the rawness and the emotion into her work. Voguing has truly evolved into a form of dance.

At the end of the discussion we – the audience – got what we wanted: a live voguing demonstration by two female students of Benny’s, which he joined in the end. Click here to see for yourself how things got legendary.

Last Saturday, February 2, the Center’s Youth Enrichment Services team (YES) was invited to the band fun.’s concert at Radio City Music Hall as part of their new LGBTQ rights initiative, The Ally Coalition (TAC). TAC was created by fun. and designer Rachel Antonoff as a platform for inspiring their fans and peers – especially those in the music, fashion and entertainment industries – to take action in support of LGBTQ equality. They believe that LGBTQ rights are human rights and that everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, has a responsibility to fight for LGBTQ equality.

fun.’s project is remarkable because they use their enormous influence (particularly over young people) as a means to affect social change through education, awareness and advocacy. Before each concert, attendees are given the opportunity to interact with TAC and a partnering nonprofit to learn about LGBTQ issues and show their support. At Saturday’s show, YES Arts & Media Specialist Raul Rivera and a volunteer presented an informational table to raise awareness about the Center’s mission and programs. The event lasted a mere two hours, but in that time Raul spoke to over 100 people, raised funds to benefit the Center and received donations of winter clothing and accessories for YES. However, for Raul, the most powerful outcome of the event was the impact that exposure to information about the LGBT community had on the young people and their families.

Raul explained that distributing information about Center programs and resources served a vital purpose at the event: for many young people in attendance, interacting with a representative from the Center allowed them to experience an affirmation of their identities. Raul shared the story of a young woman, at the concert with her mother, whose eyes lit up when she saw the Center’s rainbow-covered table. Raul could tell that she was interested in speaking with him, but was clearly hesitant about approaching a table associated with LGBT issues. However, once the mother and daughter walked over and struck up a conversation, Raul could immediately see the difference.

“The young woman felt better and the mother was educated,” he said. “Learning about LGBT youth allowed the mother to have a conversation with her daughter, one you could tell they’d never had before. Families like theirs may have never heard of the Center otherwise.”

When the family left, the young woman was wearing the rainbow Center custom created bracelet that Wristbands.net had donated for the event – and a huge smile on her face.

Raul’s experience demonstrates the tremendous impact that education and visibility can have on young LGBT people and their families. Just knowing that supportive people and resources exist can change young people’s lives by empowering them to embrace their identities.

by Andy Cataldo

Note – This posts contains some racy content that might be a little much (or downright unsuitable) for some readers.

Having come to New York within the last decade I know very little about the East Village arts scene of the 1980s. Most of what I have read about the city in those days focuses primarily on the crime rate and the AIDS epidemic. In her book “Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz,” biographer Cynthia Carr documents the life of Wojnarowicz, an artist and activist. Carr puts art at the forefront to paint a picture of pre-hipster, pre-gentrified downtown Manhattan. The story she tells is a biography not just of Wojnarowicz’s life but of a period that should not be forgotten by gays, artists or anyone who came to the city looking to make an impact on the world regardless of industry.

Cynthia spoke at the Center on December 11 as part of the Second Tuesday lecture series, the organization’s longest running cultural program. She knew the artist through her involvement in the art world in the 1980s as a contributor to the Village Voice and Art Forum. Cynthia spoke about Wojnarowicz’s life and work, kicking off by addressing the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery’s 2010 decision to censor an 11-second clip of Wojnarowicz’s silent film, “A Fire in My Belly.” She then talked about the artist’s early life describing an abusive father and negligent mother, his experience hustling in Times Square as a teenager, a period of living on the street, frequenting the sex piers in the 70s, periods of living in Paris, his rage and the relationship with his mentor, photographer Peter Hujar.

She told us about Wojnarowicz’s central struggle over how much of himself to reveal to others and in his work, as well as his tendency to create pieces that he knew would never survive to be collected. Carr writes, “He liked painting directly on the world. It was a gesture of defiance – this work done on some decrepit pier or busy intersection or gallery door, this work destined to be destroyed.”

The highlight of Carr’s lecture was the slide presentation of the artist’s work that she selected and described in detail in terms of the influences that went into each piece. Some of my favorites were Wojnarowicz’s photo series of French poet Arthur Rimbaud in New York, featuring various acquaintances wearing a mask made from a print of the writer’s face posing on the subway, in Coney Island, at the sex piers, jerking off and even in Paris pretending to shoot heroin in front of the Eiffel Tower. Rimbaud was one of Wojnarowicz’s muses. Coincidentally they both died at the age of 37 – Rimbaud of cancer, Wojnarowicz of AIDS.

Carr showcases the rage through pieces including “Fuck You Faggot Fucker,” displaying an image of two men kissing painted on a flier the artist found reading those words. And ultimately she speaks of the activism that finds its way into Wojnarowicz’s work toward the end of his life, including a painting done over the paper diagnosing Hujar with AIDS and a series of photographs of Hujar’s body taken in the hospital just moments after his death. She ended the presentation with an audio recording of David, known by his friends for his impactful deep voice, reading something he wrote that was silk-screened over a photograph of skeletons that he had shot in a Native American burial ground:
When I put my hands on your body on your flesh I feel the history of that body. Not just the beginning of its forming in that distant lake but all the way beyond its ending. I feel the warmth and texture and simultaneously I see the flesh unwrap from the layers of fat and disappear. I see the fat disappear from the muscle. I see the muscle disappearing from around the organs and detaching itself from the bones. I see the organs gradually fade into transparency leaving a gleaming skeleton gleaming like ivory that slowly resolves until it becomes dust. I am consumed in the sense of your weight the way your flesh occupies momentary space the fullness of it beneath my palms. I am amazed at how perfectly your body fits to the curves of my hands. If I could attach our blood vessels so we could become each other I would. If I could attach our blood vessels in order to anchor you to the earth to this present time I would. If I could open up your body and slip inside your skin and look out your eyes and forever have my lips fused with yours I would. It makes me weep to feel the history of your flesh beneath my hands in a time of so much loss. It makes me weep to feel the movement of your flesh beneath my palms as you twist and turn over to one side to create a series of gestures to reach up around my neck to draw me nearer. All these memories will be lost in time like tears in the rain.

Check out “Fire in the Belly” for Carr’s full account of the life and work of David Wojnarowicz. http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Belly-Times-David-Wojnarowicz/dp/1596915331

by Andy Cataldo

On Friday, October 19, mere hours before Chelsea Clearview’s midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a coalition of marriage equality activists gathered for the East Coast premiere of Question One, a film about Maine’s road to marriage equality through 2009.

Attendees “shivered with anticipation” of the upcoming election, during which equality would be voted on by the state for a second time. Now knowing the outcome of this month’s pro-marriage equality vote solidifies Question One as an historic account of the personal struggles of marriage supporters including facing fear and intolerance from the opposition.

The event, co-hosted by Gay City News and the Center’s Cultural Programs Department, began with remarks from US Congressman Jerrold Nadler, sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which is designed to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed by Bill Clinton in 1996. He spoke of the national climate with respect to marriage equality, how it has become less an issue of “if” but rather of “when.”

The film’s directors Joe Fox and James Nubile were also in attendance. Joe spoke about the filmmaking process in general, comparing it to the five stages of grief: anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This analogy particularly rings true when thinking of the citizens of Maine who experienced the joy and relief of a state legislature passing marriage equality then having to accept the loss of it after the 2009 ballot initiative at the center of Question One. Thankfully we now know that the grief has been replaced with joy and accomplishment, as the state voted on November 6 to pass same sex marriage.

The film began with an overview of how Question One became a ballot initiative in 2009: the state legislature passed marriage equality, followed quickly by the efforts of opposition led by religious groups petitioning for a ballot initiative to overturn the law in November 2009.

Viewers are introduced to key players from the Yes on 1 side working against marriage equality, including Linda Seavy, a campaign volunteer and canvasser who believes that gay marriage is not an issue of civil rights. She declares that she doesn’t hate “their people,” speaking of the other side. The film shows meetings of Yes on 1 in churches where preachers speak of the familiar, specious statistics about Dutch gay marriages that “last an average of 1.5 years and involve up to 8 extra partners per year.” The other recurring argument we hear on Yes on 1’s side is about the exposure of children in schools to curricula describing how gays have sex.

We also meet same-sex families, including Darlene Huntress, Grassroots Director of the No on 1 initiative and her partner, as well as Sarah Dowling, a volunteer who was present at the screening. She and her family – partner Linda and daughter Maya – attended the election night headquarters in 2009 to be together as a family when the results were announced.

The most surprising element of this story comes from Marc Mutty, co-chair of the Yes on 1 campaign. In interviews, it’s clear that he’s deeply conflicted with his position as well as envious of Frank Schubert, a political consultant hired by the campaign for his success in other state campaigns against gay marriage, for stealing the spotlight. Mutty spells out his own internal struggle, claiming to be doing what he’s told only because it is his job (he’s the Director of Public Affairs for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland) as well as his power struggle with handing authority over to Schubert. Mutty represents the first leak in the dam of opposition not just in Maine, but the nation as a whole, as Maryland, Washington and Minnesota also cast votes in favor of equality this month

While the larger story continued beyond the scope of this film on November 6, Question One remains a relevant profile of what each state must face along the country’s path to equality. For more information about Question One visit www.Q1-themovie.com.

by David Webb

I should confess a couple of things. First, until recently, I hadn’t heard of Alan Turing. Second, I vacillate between the notions that nothing is merely coincidence and that everything is random. Right now, I’m more convinced of the former. It was in that mindset that I saw the New York premiere of Codebreaker, a docudrama on the life of Alan Turing.

As I watched Codebreaker, the sense of connection I felt with Turing, his on-screen psychotherapist and the other people in the cinema was strong. We were all together for a purpose. I didn’t know what it was at the time, and more likely will be revealed in days ahead, but purpose did show itself.

If you, like me, also haven’t heard of Alan Turning, you should know that he was a brilliant British mathematician whose thesis laid the groundwork for modern computers. During World War II, he cracked the Germans’ Enigma machine, a device they used to send coded messages; the most difficult to crack were the codes coordinating U-boat attacks on British vessels. Without Turing, the Nazis either would have won or, at the very least, would have fought longer. Oh, another important detail – Turing was gay.

A few years after the war, Turing reported the theft of a family heirloom to the police, along with the name of the man he suspected, the friend of a lover. Instead of investigating the theft, authorities charged Turing with “gross indecency,” the legal term for sodomy laws in the UK. To avoid jail time, he pled guilty and was sentenced to be “treated” for his homosexuality. For two years, he was forced to take synthetic estrogen, effectively causing chemical castration. After his body failed to return to normal, he committed suicide.

Before the movie, I told a friend what I was doing, along with the movie’s synopsis. She remarked, “Sometimes people just absolutely disgust me.” I felt her frustration. Here was a man who recorded the theories of mechanical computation, developed binary code and played an integral role in defeating the Nazis. But egad! He loved men. Punish him! Cure him!

What a terrible waste. Everyone in the audience expressed disgust at the film’s end when it was revealed that, in September 2009, the British government finally apologized for Turing’s treatment. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s official statement included this: “Sorry. We should have treated you better.” Seems a bit too little too late, doesn’t it?

Ah, but back to the purpose. During the Q&A with the film’s Executive Producer, Patrick Sammon, a young gentleman behind me shared in a quaking voice that he had been sent to reparative therapy in California to be “cured” of his homosexuality and how grateful he was that Governor Jerry Brown recently signed legislation banning this barbaric treatment in his state. He concluded with the determination that New York must follow suit and that it shouldn’t be allowed anywhere. When he finished, everyone applauded.

Alan Turing solved one enigma and was done in by another. As his story is told, heard and shared by more and more, perhaps his example will solve the enigma of ignorant, mean-spirited homophobia by those who would rather “cure” what’s not broken than break the code of living in harmony.

by Andy Cataldo

It’s Bear Season! At least according to the Center’s OctoBEARfest programming this month, an expanded set of activities leading up to the ever-popular Fur Ball. It seems the whole world has gone bear-crazy these days. Even The New York Times has reported the trend. In any case, the summer’s behind us and it’s time to find something warm to curl up with. That’s what was on the minds of all the attendees of Bear Baiting, a spin on traditional speed dating targeted at men of the ursine persuasion that took place at the Center last Thursday, October 4.

As this was the inaugural Bear Baiting event, Paul Menard, Director of Cultural Programs, developed a model that addressed the gripes about traditional speed dating: feeling uncomfortable or nervous, being matched purely based on chance and not having a good time overall. “I’ve tried to design an event that’s fun and surprising…where everyone can participate as much as they’d like,” Paul explained.

Upon arrival each bear, cub, otter and unspecified woodland creature was given a numbered sticker showing either Yogi Bear or his furry sidekick Boo Boo. I had the opportunity to participate in the event as Yogi Bear #4. We enjoyed sodas and cocktails by sponsor El Dorado Rums while we discussed our expectations of the event.

“It’s a Grindr alternative,” one participant said, starting a discussion about how Grindr has changed the way some gays socialize. Attendees ranged from those who arrived in New York as far back as the 1970s to as recently as two weeks ago. I asked if anyone had done this before – most of us were speed dating virgins. One guy had met a boyfriend at a similar event, he told us. Another commented that he wasn’t expecting necessarily to meet Mr. Right tonight. “Who knows? I might make a friend here who could introduce me to someone special down the road,” he said. That’s really what these events are about – stepping outside of your comfort zone and expanding your social network.

The first half of the event was structured as a series of multiple choice questions that had bears shuffling around the corners of the room to stand near the letter representing their answer. The questions, such as the following example read by Paul, aimed to allow individuals to identify similar personalities: “When you watch a movie, it usually involves A) Subtitles, B) Bette Davis, C) Fart Jokes or D) The Evil Dead?” or to identify other levels of compatibility: “If you were on a baseball team, what position would you play?”

Only after guests had a chance to break the ice and get to know each other through the series of questions did the speed dating portion begin. Yogis were paired with Boo Boos for five-minute conversations while seated across from each other at a long table. In keeping with campy bear culture, each mini-date ended at the sound of a Madonna song playing on the stereo. If you liked your date you would write down his number and the Center sent match confirmations and email addresses to the lucky furballs who picked each other.

Did you meet someone special? Share your stories with us in the comments section below!