Gay City New July 9, 2009

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JULY 9-22, 2009VOL. EIGHT, ISSUE 14

PRIDE IN PICS

16, 20-21

SACHA BARON COHEN, AS BRÜNO, TAKES ON HOMOPHOBES, AND MAKES US SWIRM

BY STEVE ERICKSON

T

here are moments in “Brüno”that suggest it could have beena brilliant satire on homopho- bia. Unfortunately, they’re few and far between. The film’s funniest and edgiest moments bring Brüno, the gay alter egoof British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen,into confrontations with real homo-phobes, including a pastor at an “ex-gay”ministry. The rest of the time, “Brüno”offers tired jokes about how shallow andinane showbiz is. What startling news!Cohen’s style of comedy works better the more he interacts with real people.I’ve never been able to sit through theentirety of his completely fictional vehi-cle, the feature film “Ali G in Da House.” The HBO series built around Ali G and“Borat” hewed closer to documentary.Recently, Cohen has been flirting withfiction again — no doubt the lawsuitsfiled by many of his subjects in “Borat”had something to do with this. Eminemhas admitted that the MTV Movie Awardsstunt where Brüno wagged his ass andcrotch in the rapper’s face was staged.“Brüno” credits four writers, includingCohen himself, with its screenplay. Theabsence of Cohen’s usual cutting humor owes much to this film’s obvious contriv-ances, such as its invention of an imagi-nary talk show hosted by Richard Bey. Isthe show’s audience comprised of actors?I’m not sure, but many of the film’s gagsring as false as this one.

Satire Dual-Edged,But Spare

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EDITORIAL

Some perspective on Washington

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12

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WITCH-HUNT SURVIVOR

Candidate Danny Drommrecalls the bad old days

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5

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DON’T ASK OPTIONS

Advocates debate fixes,executive vs. legislative

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8

In this issue:

BRÜNO P. 25

Gay City

NEWSNEWS

TM

U N I V E R S A L P I C T U R E S

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HUMAN RIGHTS

Sodomy VictoryIn India

BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD

A

regional high court in India hasoverturned that nation’s sodomy law, a vestige of British colonialrule. The High Court in the NationalCapital Territory in New Delhi ruled that Section 377 of the India Penal Code vio-lates constitutional guarantees of pri- vacy, liberty, and equality in its crimi-nalization of private, consensual, adult sexual conduct. The ruling came on a test case brought by a non-profit advocacy group, the NAZ Foundation. The Times of India reportedthat the nation’s Supreme Court hasmade clear that a ruling of this sort by the High Court of any province or stateon a constitutional question not previ-ously addressed by the judiciary hasnational application — in a country withan estimated population of more than1.1 billion. The government, which hadrecently made noises about sodomy law reform, can either accept the ruling or appeal to the Supreme Court. The tri-umphant advocates for the NAZ Foun-dation are Anand Grover, Trideep Pais,Shivangi Rai, Mehak Sothi, and Tripti Tandon.Section 377 was adopted by the Brit-

INDIA P. 10

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CRIME

Surge In EastSide HateCrimes

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

F

our days after being attacked, beaten on the head with a gun, andcalled “faggot,” Joseph Holladay’sforehead remained scarred with a large, blood-red gash, and his voice quavered ashe recounted the experience.“Suddenly, out of nowhere, I wasattacked by some men, they were call-ing me faggot,” he said at a July 1 pressconference. “They beat me hard, andunconscious, leaving me laying in a pool of blood.” The next thing Holladay, 36, remem- bers is waking up in New York Presbyte-rian Hospital, where he was treated in theemergency room and given multiple stitch-es in his head. The attack on Holladay is one of six vio-lent assaults on the Upper East Side that police suspect many have been carriedout by the same gang of four to six young white men. According to Sharon Stapel, executivedirector of the New York City Gay and Les- bian Anti-Violence Project (AVP), as of July 8 the police have identified two persons of interest in connection with one or more of these crimes.

EAST SIDE P. 4

2

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BY MELISSA SKLARZ

L

ast Monday afternoon, the day after Manhat-tan’s Pride Parade, Dan Tietz from Brooklyn andI hopped into a cab and told the driver, “WhiteHouse, please.” Not a typical Monday.Dan and I were among 400 guests invited by Presi-dent Barack Obama and his wife Michelle to the LGBT Reception to remember the 40th anniversary of Stone- wall. People were invited from all over the country,including Stonewall vets, SAGE members, entertain-ers, Frank Kameny, fired by the federal government for being gay in the 1950s, Democratic functionaries,activists, and me. Why me? Well, I know people, I’m involved in theDemocratic Party, and I’m part of the LGBT communi-ty. Also, I was recently elected co-chair of the Board of the National Stonewall Democrats, and that probably helped as well.Dan and I took the Acela down to DC in the morningand checked into a decent hotel. I was nervous. Thisis not the first time I have been out of my comfort zoneand will probably not be the last. The invite said East Entrance, a wing built by Theodore Roosevelt in 1902as a place for large parties. Today, it sits atop FDR’s bomb shelter and is where the first lady has her office. Walking up the sidewalk, we ran into Brad Hoylmanfrom the Village Independent Democrats, and I relaxed,figuring I would know some of my fellow invitees. We got on line, noticing that André Leon Talley of Vogue was at the head of queue. But looking around,I noticed other New Yorkers — Council Speaker Chris-tine Quinn with Kim Catullo, US Import-Export Bank chair Fred Hochberg with Tom Healy, Steven Latasa-Nicks, a member of the Obama campaign’s Pride NYCCommittee, with Fred Latasa-Nicks, State DemocraticParty co-chair Emily Giske, teachers’ union leader Randi Weingarten, and Neill Colemann, from the Stone- wall Democratic Club of New York. I also saw friendsfrom the trans community, like Kathy Padilla fromPhiladelphia, a fellow Democratic Convention delegate,Babs Siperstein from New Jersey, and Diego Sanchez,a trans man who works in Barney Frank’s office. I saw other National Stonewall people, like Jesse Garcia fromDallas; the chair of the Democratic National CommitteeLGBT Caucus, Rick Stafford; Ray Buckley, the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party; and finally BrianBond, the man who called to invite me and now worksin the White House.I realized I was among friends. We got there at about 3:15 and were met not by stony-faced men in sunglasses talking into their coat sleeves, but by smiling, very young — under 25 — folks who said, “Welcome to the White House.” Once we wereinside the reception area, all the cameras came out and we were on our way. There are life-sized oil portraits of the presidents, including John Adams and John Tyler,first ladies, like Hillary Clinton, and other dignitaries,such as Benjamin Franklin. The service staff offeredchampagne and water, and the attendees reconnected with old friends or made new ones. The reception area is, in fact, made up of six or seven rooms, all intercon-nected, the floors nicely polished and the couches rea-sonably plush. At about 4:10, we were politely shepherded into a larger area, with cameras in the back and a podium in

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POLITICS

An LGBT White House

Wonder and impatience mix as Barack Obamacelebrates Stonewall’s 40th anniversary



WHITE HOUSE

,

continued on

p.22

Veteran Washington gay activist Frank Kameny raises his hands as he’s recognized by President Barack Obama at the White House on June 29.

P E T E S O U Z A / T H E W H I T E H O U S E

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2009

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