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2009
14 DAYS14 NIGHTS
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FRI.MAR.6
FILM A Different Look at Jamaica
Staggering stories of anti-gay vio-lence have come out of Jamaica inrecent years, but documentary film-maker Selena Blake says, “The Jamai-ca I know is one that is characterizedmore by tolerance, if not open accep-tance. There is the majority who couldnot care less about someone’s sexualpreference. We want the world toknow that we are not a nation ruled byhomophobes and the barbaric actionsof a handful of ignorant natives.”Through a series of interviews in“Taboo… ‘Yardies,” Blake sheds a dif-ferent perspective on homophobia inJamaica. Lesbian Cinema Arts,
LGBTCommunity Center, 208 W.13th St.,reception, 6:30 p.m.; program, 7:30p.m.
Admission is $8 at gaycenter.org;$10 at the door.
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DANCEModern MusicalMélange
Doug Elkins hosts a remarkable pro-duction presented by DancenowNYC,which invited eight choreographers topresent a new work inspired by theirfavorite Broadway musical. Thoseparticipating are Gina Gibney Dancewith cabaret singer Carol McCann(“Mary Poppins”), Nicholas Leichterand Monstah Black (“The Wiz”), AdHocBallet | Deborah Lohse (“Company”),Stefanie Nelson (“Song and Dance”),Claire Porter, (“No Strings”), Singh +Dance (“How to Succeed in Business”),Tami Stronach (“Cabaret”) and MeganWilliams and John Heginbotham(“Grease”).
Joe’s Pub at The PublicTheater, 425 Lafayette St., belowCooper Sq. Mar. 6-7, 9:30 p.m.
Tick-ets are $20 at joespub.com or 212-967-7555. For a table reservation, with aminimum, call 212-539-8778.
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Things Gone Awry
Director Aaron Draper, a memberof nicholasleichterdance, collaborateswith fellow choreographer KimberlyAlmquist, musicians Jeff Bybee, JasonEwald, Damien Foxton, Gillian Harwin,and Tom Laurie, and performers Chris-tine Bodwitch, Richard Grebanier, andNicole Mitchell to present “SomethingStolen…Well, Borrowed,” an inter-mingling of dance, theater, comedy andlive music like “a penguin in bondage.”
Abrons Arts Center, Henry StreetSettlement, 466 Grand St. at Pitt St.Mar. 6-7, 8 p.m.
Tickets are $15; $10for students & seniors at theatermania.com or 212-352-3101.
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Marching Toward Equality
A decade later, St. Pat’s For All is Sunnyside tradition
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Community
BY WINNIE MCCROY
T
hroughout the courseof the last decade, a small St. Patrick’s Day parade in a New York boroughhas made a lasting mark onthe world. The all-inclusiveSt. Pat’s For All Parade, heldon March 1 in Sunnyside,Queens, has evolved from an“alternative” holiday parade,organized by gay activist Brendan Fay, to a remark-able example of a community embracing diversity.“When we began this parade we couldn’t have imaginedthe friendships and com-munity spirit that sustainedand helped the parade grow beyond the streets of Queensto include annual concerts at the Irish Arts Center and localschools,” said Fay. “People get it. It’s still the parade that hasthe aspect to it that ‘We wel-come you,’ that ‘We’re inclu-sive.’” This year’s grand marshals, Terry George, a director (“TheBoxer”) and screenwriter (“Hotel Rwanda”), and song- writer and folksinger SusanMcKeown — both of themIrish-born — led the parade. As in years previous, commu-nity organizations, dancers,musicians, and puppeteersmarched under their own banners, celebrating Queens’cultural diversity. An NAACPgroup carried the banner of Frederick Douglass, recallinghis visit to Ireland during thefamine. The Mexican commu-nity honored San Patricios andhow Irish immigrants defendedthem in the US-Mexican War of 1846-1848. Ecuadoreanscelebrated the founder of their navy, Irishman ThomasCharles Wright. Native peoplefrom the Choctaw and Shin-necock tribes rememberedhow their outreach in 1847helped save starving Irishpeople during the great fam-ine.Even the African-Americanand Latino children fromthe Irish dance group theKeltic Dreams of P.S. 59 inthe Bronx witnessed how,in stark contrast to Ancient Order of Hibernians’ paradeon Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, which bars participants fromidentifying themselves asLGBT, this event invites all toshow their connection withIrish culture and heritage. This year, parade atten-dance was higher than ever, with the route lined with spec-tators despite brisk tempera-tures and morning flurries. A parade that originally drew anti-gay protesters and only a small turnout of curious com-munity members gatheredalong Skillman Avenue hasundeniably become a cher-ished neighborhood tradition.“We come together as diversecommunities of New Yorkersto celebrate Irish heritage andculture,” said Fay. “Exclu-sion in 2009 — whether froma community parade, a family table, or an institution suchas marriage — is wrong andunfair.”If politicians represent a fair barometer of popular attitudes,the St. Pat’s For All’s philoso-phy seems to have gainedascendancy in Sunnyside.“Every year, more and moreelected officials realize that
St. Patrick’s Day has an inclusive and friendly face each March in Sunnyside.
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NEWS BRIEFS
By ANDY HUMM
MajorChallenge toDOMA FromMassachusetts
For the first time, a majorLGBT legal group has filed a chal-lenge to the constitutionality ofthe 1996 Defense of MarriageAct (DOMA).Gay and Lesbian Advocatesand Defenders (GLAD), the groupthat won the right for same-sexcouples to marry in Massachu-setts in 2003, has filed suit infederal district court on behalf ofeight couples and three survivingspouses who have been deniedfederal benefits such as SocialSecurity spousal payments andthe right to file joint tax returnswith the IRS.For years, the LGBT legalestablishment has opposedgoing to federal court to overturnDOMA because they believedsuch a suit was a sure loserthat would set a bad precedent.While individual couples havebrought suits challenging DOMA,they haven’t gotten very far.GLAD is only going after thesection of DOMA that deniesfederal recognition of legal same-sex marriages, arguing that thefederal government recognizesall other marriages licensed bythe states even though the lawsgoverning which different-sexcouples can marry varies widelyfrom state to state. The groupnoted that the federal govern-ment does not itself license anymarriages, “only states do.”GLAD is not challenging theother part of DOMA that allowsstates to deny recognition tolegal same-sex marriages per-formed elsewhere. Most stateshave laws or, increasingly, consti-tutional amendments forbiddingsame-sex marriages and banningrecognition of those performedelsewhere.If the suit is successful, how-ever, gay and lesbian couplesfrom states like Nebraska thatprohibit same-sex marriage couldmarry in Massachusetts andreturn home with federal rightsand responsibilities, but no staterights.Beyond a carefully craftedand compelling legal argument,GLAD seems to be counting on afederal judiciary that will becomeincreasingly hospitable as Presi-dent Barack Obama selects newjudges. Obama’s solicitor generalwill be obligated to defend thelaw as with all congressionalacts, but is seen as less likely toraise the kinds of arguments thatthe Bush administration wouldhave.There is some concern, voicedfervently by some LGBT blog-gers from states that often voteRepublican, that this suit willtrigger a renewed campaign fora federal constitutional amend-ment to completely ban same-sexmarriage in the United States, aneffort that failed several yearsago even when the Congresswas in Republican hands. Theyare also worried that it will leadtheir states to pass anti-gay stateconstitutional amendments thathave thus far been kept at bay, asin North Carolina, which turnedblue only in Obama’s sweepingelectoral victory.GLAD is calling for a parallelpolitical effort to overturn DOMAin the Congress, a move sup-ported by Obama but not viewedas likely to happen soon, even byout gay Massachusetts Repre-sentative Barney Frank. In 1996,DOMA was passed by a five-to-one margin in both houses ofCongress and signed by PresidentBill Clinton. New York’s SenatorCharles Schumer voted for it asa House member and has yet tocall for its repeal or to supportsame-sex marriage — the onlystatewide official in New Yorkholding out on marriage equality.One of the plaintiffs is DeanHara, the widower of Massa-chusetts Democratic Congress-man Gerry Studds, who has beendenied the health benefits thatother surviving spouses of Housemembers receive.You can read about all of theplaintiffs and GLAD’s legal argu-ments at glad.org/doma. A legalanalysis written by Arthur S.Leonard, Gay City News’ legalcorrespondent, can be found atnewyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/.“In our view,” Mary Bonauto,GLAD’s civil rights project direc-tor told the New York Times, “it’sa straightforward equal protec-tion issue.”
Anti-GaySenator Out;LGBT FestivalCelebrates
Chris Buttars, the UtahRepublican state senatorfamous for racist and anti-gayoutbursts, was removed from
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