dcagenda

A night at social national

the lgbtq community’s news source

the opera agenda agenda

Tony Award-winning A special section Bi-national couple
gay actor John Glover showcasing LGBT- on their fight to stay
takes on showy role friendly places of together, despite bias
in 'Lisbon Traviata.' worship in the area. in U.S. immigration laws.
PAGE 30 PAGE 26 PAGE 14

dcagenda.com • vol. 2, issue 13 • march 26, 2010

DC Agenda photo by Michael Key

2 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010

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4 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010
localagenda
Two gay Republicans
join D.C. Council race
Candidates seek to
challenge Graham,
Thomas in November
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@dcagenda.com
Two gay Republicans have
announced they’re running for seats
on the D.C. City Council this fall, with
one challenging veteran gay Council
member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1).
Marc Morgan, who’s challenging
Graham, and Timothy Day, who’s chal-
lenging Council member Harry Thomas
(D-Ward 5), describe themselves as
moderates with progressive views on
social issues and moderate-to-conser-
vative stands on economic matters.
Both men say they’re strong sup-
porters of LGBT rights and would
have voted for the city’s same-sex
marriage law had they been on the
Council when it passed, 11-2. The
two also oppose holding a voter ref-
erendum or initiative on the gay mar-
riage issue, saying the matter has
been decided and the city should
move on to other issues.
“I support it 100 percent,” said
Day said when asked about the city’s
same-sex marriage law. He added
that he and his partner have been
together for 10 years and he consid-
ers marriage equality a basic right.
Morgan noted his own role in
working on campaigns in Arizona
against two ballot measures seeking
to ban gay marriage. Arizona voters
defeated the first one held in 2006,
marking the first time any gay mar-
riage referendum or initiative in the
U.S. was defeated. But voters
reversed themselves in 2008 and
passed a measure banning gay mar-
riage in the state.
“We were hit by a tidal wave from
Prop 8 in California and couldn’t
compete with the fundraising from
our opposition,” he said, referring to
the California ballot measure that
overturned the state’s same-sex
marriage law in 2008.
Morgan and Day said they would-
n’t challenge Graham and Thomas
on LGBT issues, and would instead
focus on economic development and
education, among other issues.
Graham, one of the Council’s most
outspoken supporters of LGBT rights,
has been highly popular in the ward
and among LGBT voters. In 2006, he
U.S. Senate may vote on D.C. marriage
The U.S. Senate was considering
Republican amendments to the
health care reconciliation package as
this issue of DC Agenda went to
press. One such amendment would
force a referendum on same-sex
marriage in Washington, D.C.
Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) was
Morgan photo by Michael Key; Day photo courtesy of Day
Marc Morgan (left) and Timothy Day
won the Democratic primary with 86
percent of the vote and the general
election with 97 percent. Graham and
Thomas also enjoy the support of
many local LGBT activists.
Morgan worked for 15 years as a
fundraiser for non-profit organiza-
tions addressing issues related to
HIV/AIDS, animal welfare and the
environment, according to his cam-
paign biography. He currently works
as deputy director of development
for the Carbon War Room, a non-
profit group that fights climate
change. He said his top campaign
issue is improved economic devel-
opment in Ward 1, especially for
small businesses.
Day, a native Ward 5 resident, is a
small business owner whose compa-
ny “focuses on aiding the non-profit
community,” according to his cam-
paign biography. He’s running to boost
economic development in the ward
and improve the city’s fight against
HIV/AIDS. He has been elected
twice as an Advisory Neighborhood
Commissioner in his ward.
Many local political observers said
that the two men — like all GOP can-
didates — face an uphill battle in chal-
lenging Democratic incumbents in a
city where Democrats outnumber
Republicans by a nine-to-one margin.
Graham must win his party’s nom-
expected to introduce the amendment
sometime Wednesday or Thursday.
The amendment was widely expected
to fail, but supporters said they would
pursue it in order to put all U.S. sena-
tors on the record regarding their
views on same-sex marriage.
The National Organization for
ination in the September Democratic
primary to compete against Morgan in
the November general election. Most
political observers expect Graham to
win the primary, where he faces a
challenge from former D.C. school
board member Jeff Smith.
Smith is considered supportive
of LGBT issues, but received a zero
rating from the Gay & Lesbian
Activists Alliance in his 2004 school
board race because he failed to
return a questionnaire. The group
automatically assigns such a rating
to candidates that fail to return its
questionnaire.
Thomas, who also has a strong
record in support of LGBT issues, is
facing at least three Democratic
opponents in the September pri-
mary. His support and vote for the
same-sex marriage bill was contro-
versial in Ward 5, where some vot-
ers denounced Thomas for voting
for the bill.
But similar to Ward 1, Ward 5 vot-
ers are overwhelmingly Democratic,
making it difficult for a Republican to
win there.
Although Republicans have won
at-large seats on the Council, no
Republican has won a ward
Council seat since the city’s home
rule government held its first
Council election in 1974.
Marriage, which opposes same-sex
marriage, issued an “emergency alert”
to supporters on Wednesday asking
them to e-mail their senators and urge a
vote in favor of the Bennett amendment.
Visit dcagenda.com for updated
reports on this story.
Home intruder gets 26 years
for targeting male students
A 24-year-old Virginia man has been sentenced to 26 years in prison
for a series of burglaries and assaults against male students living
in Georgetown University’s off-campus residences.
The sentence, handed down March 12, came after a D.C. Superior
Court jury found Todd Thomas guilty of 11 offenses, including one count
of fourth-degree sexual abuse under aggravating circumstances and two
counts of simple assault.
The simple assault charges involved separate incidents in which
police and prosecutors said one male student awoke to find Thomas
massaging his shoulders and another awoke while Thomas was mas-
saging his ankles. Police said the incidents occurred when the two
male students were asleep in their living room in the same house on
different days.
In another incident, Thomas allegedly entered a residence on the
1200 block of 33rd Street, N.W., and “sexually assaulted a victim who
was sleeping in a bed in his second-floor bedroom,” the U.S. Attorney’s
office said in a statement announcing the sentencing.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said all of the offenses occurred between
July 2007 and August 2008.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Lesbian & Gay Chorus
to cease operations
The Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington is indefinitely suspending
its performances and operations following a final concert on June 20.
“After 26 years as a grass-roots community chorus, [we] will be tak-
ing an indefinite break from rehearsing and performing,” says a state-
ment from the organization. “LGCW’s concert on June 20, 2010, will be
the chorus’s last performance for the foreseeable future.
“Facing challenges from decreasing membership, revenue and
resources, current members made the difficult decision to cease
LGCW’s traditional choral operations following the June concert.
“As a non-auditioned, consensus-based chorus, LGCW has changed
the lives of countless people in the D.C. area and beyond,” says the state-
ment. “The chorus has been a reliable presence at social justice events
around the metro area, including Capitol Pride, the March for Women’s
Lives, and the D.C. Vote Rally; raised thousands of dollars for a number
of local and national charities; and was the first lesbian and gay chorus
to produce a CD.”
Paul Heins, the organization’s music director, said the group will
retain its structure, including its tax exempt status, in the event a new
group of participants chooses to resume its activities.
“I think there will be a way to bring it back, but it will be different,” he
said. “I think some will say, ‘OK, now that it’s 2010, how can we rebrand
it to meet today’s needs and funding goals and membership’ and all that.”
The chorus’s remaining three performances include the April 23-24
performances of “Just Married: The Musical” at Capitol Hill Arts
Workshops; a June 12 preview performance Hillwood Museum &
Gardens of the final concert; and the final concert, “The LGCW
Farewell Concert: Our Love Song to You,” on June 20 at Capitol Hill
Presbyterian Church.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Capital Area Gay & Lesbian
Chamber celebrates 20 years
The Capital Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce will recog-
nize a “diverse group of local business and community leaders” as it cel-
ebrates its 20th anniversary April 9 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
Among those to be honored is gay businessman David von Storch,
who will receive the group’s business excellence award. Von Storch
opened the Capital City Brewing Company restaurant and Vida Fitness
health spas.
Also receiving honors is Cathy Renna, who’s set to receive the group’s
business leadership award for her role as managing partner of Renna
Communications, a public relations firm. Thomas Sanchez, will receive the
emerging entrepreneur award for his work as a web strategist and founder
of the web development and strategy firm Wamwaw LLC.
Jonathan Blumenthal, co-founder and president of Burgundy
Crescent Volunteers, a 4,000-member local volunteer organization for
LGBT-related causes, will received the volunteer of the year award.
Bob Summersgill, a longtime local LGBT rights and Democratic Party
activist, will receive the community advocacy award. Also honored will be
Wachovia, which will be recognized as corporate partner of the year for
serving as a “longtime champion of the local LGBT community.”
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
 march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 5

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localagenda

Cuccinelli dogged by protests at George Mason

‘A bigot is a bigot
is a bigot’
By HARLEY DENNETT
Special to DC Agenda

Virginia Attorney General Ken

Cuccinelli attracted 50 to 60 protest-
ers when he appeared Tuesday at
George Mason University — one day
ahead of the college’s decision on
whether it would follow his advice
and remove its LGBT anti-discrimi-
nation policies.
State Dels. Adam Ebbin (D-
Alexandria), Robert Brink (D-
Arlington) and Arlington County
Board Chairman Jay Fisette joined
students and alumni from the univer-
sity’s law school in condemning
Cuccinelli’s efforts to outlaw LGBT
anti-discrimination policies and block
federal health care reform.
“Ken Cuccinelli promised to
impartially carry out his role as attor-
ney general,” Ebbin told the crowd.
“He promised us not to impose his
personal agenda on the common-
wealth. When Cuccinelli breaks
those promises we will call him out. A
bigot is a bigot is a bigot.”
Ebbin said Cuccinelli wasn’t spend-
ing time on the office’s responsibilities,
such as protecting Virginians from
criminals, identity theft and fraud.
“To our attorney general, words
like toleration and diversity are dirty
words. He prefers words like discrim-
ination and persecution. But he’s
wrong. Hate is not a Virginian value
— it’s not an educational value.”
Inside the university, Cuccinelli told
law students that his March 4 letter to
universities describing LGBT anti-dis-
crimination policies as unlawful was
not an invitation to discriminate.
Third year law student Michael DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
Misiewicz asked if Gov. Bob McDonnell’s
subsequent executive directive, which Arlington County Board Chairman Jay Fisette joined other local officials and George Mason University students Tuesday to protest the appearance of Virginia Attorney
was purported to restore some anti- General Ken Cuccinelli.
discrimination protections to LGBT
state employees, changed the situa- “It would hurt this school [if it chose was intended as advice to schools to parent and family leave entitlement laws ognized married same-sex couples
tion. Cuccinelli said it did not. to repeal LGBT protections],” Misiewicz repeal LGBT protections. that would include same-sex families. have yet to be issued official advice
The executive directive was “an said. “It would detract the best students The attorney general noted that Morgan Meneses-Sheets, Equality on whether to file joint tax returns this
invention by the governor,” Cuccinelli who happen to be LGBT. … This school he personally opposes protections Maryland’s executive director, urged year. With the filing deadline of April
told the students, bearing “no legal has opened a lot of doors for me, but it based on sexual orientation, but he supporters to reach out to lawmakers 15 looming, the state comptroller’s
force or effect” and its weight would would really strip future LGBT students would uphold them if passed by the before the crossover deadline. Bills office told DC Agenda the issue was
have to be measured by the courts. of that opportunity to connect and raise General Assembly next year. must pass at least one chamber before still being investigated.
Misiewicz said he came to hear George Mason’s profile.” The state’s 2010 legislative session the deadline to advance this session. “We are still reviewing the tax impli-
Cuccinelli because he wanted the “George Mason already has a ended last week with the shelving of a Some lawmakers opposed to the cation of same-sex marriage,” said
attorney general to be held reputation for being very conserva- bill that could have restored LGBT pro- state’s recognition of out-of-state Caron Brace, an office spokesperson.
accountable for his policies face to tive. If we lost this, it would be that tections for state employees. The bill same-sex marriages also are attempt- “Comptroller Peter Franchot believes
face, but was unconvinced by the much worse.” passed the Senate but died in the ing to pass a moratorium on such that a comprehensive review of tax law
legal basis the attorney relied Cuccinelli said his own letter did House General Laws committee. recognition, and face a similar Monday should be thorough and thoughtful
upon, that LGBT protections were not hold as much legal weight as a In Maryland, that state’s legislature deadline to advance that effort. and no artificial deadline unless
currently federal domain. more detailed official opinion, but has until Monday to advance de facto Meanwhile, Maryland’s newly rec- required by legislation.”

Md. school district restores access to gay web sites

A school district in northeast
Maryland has stopped blocking stu-
dent access to LGBT-related web sites.
Two months after the American Civil
Liberties Union of Maryland challenged
Harford County Public Schools on the
issue, students and others thanked dis-
trict leaders for taking the “positive step.”
“This is a positive step toward
inclusiveness in HCPS policy,” says a
March 19 letter addressed to Robert
Tomback, the district’s superintend-
ent, and Mark Wolkow, who leads the
district’s board of education. Several
students, parents, teachers and attor-
neys signed the letter.
“We have brought together a group
of concerned HCPS students, parents,
teachers and alumnae to continue to
brainstorm how we can work with you
and to make our school system a safer
and more supportive place for our
LGBT and allied community members.”
A filter had prevented students
from accessing many well-known
state and national LGBT groups,
including the Gay, Lesbian & Straight
Education Network, as well as vari-
ous religious organizations that are
supportive of gay rights. The filter did
not impede student access to sites
that condemn homosexuality.
“One of the problems with Harford’s
filtering scheme is that it only allowed
students access to information on one
side of the public debate on LGBT
issues,” said Alli Harper of Baltimore’s
Brown, Goldstein & Levy law firm, which
cooperated with the ACLU on the issue.
Harper said that one female stu-
dent was blocked from researching a
paper “arguing the ‘pro’ side of the
marriage equality issue. She had to
get an extension to do the assignment
outside of school. Meanwhile, the stu-
dents making the ‘con’ argument were
able to access the information needed
via the school computers.”
STEVE CHARING/
BALTIMORE OUTLoud
 march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 7

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8 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010
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Four demonstrators were arrested Thursday at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in D.C. following
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Activists call for
floor vote this month
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@dcagenda.com
Four activists demanding congressional
action on the Employment Non-Discrimination
Act were arrested March 18 at House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi’s office in D.C.
The arrests came about four hours after eight
activists arrived at Pelosi’s office for a presched-
uled meeting with staff to discuss ENDA. The
meeting later became a sit-in protest after con-
gressional staffers in Pelosi’s office wouldn’t
agree to the activists’ demand of bringing ENDA
to a House floor vote before month’s end.
An officer with the U.S. Capitol Police told DC
Agenda the activists were arrested for unlawful
entry. Not all the activists were arrested because
some didn’t stay for the duration of the protest.
Before entering Pelosi’s office, one of the
activists said she hoped to discuss the speak-
er’s “commitments around the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act.”
“We believe — and I believe — that as a cit-
izen of this country that everyone is entitled to
work environments that are safe and are pro-
tected from discrimination,” said Janine
Carmona, a D.C. resident and lesbian associ-
ated with GetEqual.org.
“Nancy Pelosi’s made a lot of promises
around the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
and we haven’t seen movement on it,” she
said. ”The bill has stopped and we’re essential-
ly going to ask for a vote at the end of the month
on a trans-inclusive and trans-positive bill.”
Concurrent with the protest in Pelosi’s D.C.
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
office, another small protest took place in the
speaker’s district office in San Francisco. Arrests
also occurred at that protest.
The protests in D.C. and San Francisco
were coordinated by GetEqual.org, a new
grassroots organization that advocates for
“bold action” in advancing LGBT rights.
Before the D.C. arrests, activists read aloud
the list of ENDA’s legislative sponsors and
chanted, “Equal rights now! ENDA starts here!”
As U.S. Capitol Police officers led the protest-
ers away in handcuffs, shouts of “get equal”
and “it’s all about ENDA” were heard.
In response to the protest, Pelosi spokesper-
son Drew Hammill issued a brief statement.
“The speaker believes passing ENDA is a
top priority and hopes that we can bring ENDA
up as soon as possible,” he said. “That being
said, the right time to bring the measure to the
floor will be when we have the votes.”
One of the D.C. protesters, Shannon Cuttle,
a lesbian from Royal Oak, Mich., wasn’t arrest-
ed because she left Pelosi’s office during the
sit-in protest and wasn’t allowed to return after
officers blocked the door.
After the arrests, Cuttle said she and the
other activists never intended to draw police
attention and that they simply wanted “peace-
ful dialogue and to be able to hold Speaker
Pelosi accountable.”
Moments after the arrested protesters were
taken away, a DC Agenda reporter spotted
Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) walking along a
nearby street. He chairs the House Education
& Labor Committee, which is handling ENDA.
Asked when ENDA would advance to a
markup, Miller replied, “Right after health care.”
All four activists who were arrested are
scheduled to appear in court April 6.
 march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 9
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10 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010
nationalagenda
General blames gays for Srebrenica massacre
Sheehan says open
military service
contributed to tragedy
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@dcagenda.com
A retired general who supports
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” raised eye-
brows last week when he said open
service by gays serving in a foreign
military led to a horrific massacre
and suggested that lifting the U.S.
ban would lead to sexual assaults.
During a hearing March 18 before
the Senate Armed Services Committee,
Gen. John Sheehan, a former com-
mander for U.S. Atlantic Command,
said lifting the ban on open service in
the Netherlands contributed to the
country’s inability to prevent the
Srebrenica massacre in 1995.
The event, in which the Serbian
military executed more than 8,000
Bosnian men and boys, occurred
after a United Nations protection
force of around 400 Dutch peace-
keepers failed to stop the massacre.
Sheehan, who retired from the U.S.
military 13 years ago, said the event
was a result of the Dutch — as well as
other militaries throughout Europe —
dropping their bans on “open homo-
sexuality” as part of the liberalization of
the armed forces following the col-
lapse of the Soviet Union.
“They declared a peace dividend
and made a conscious effort to
socialize their military,” he said. “They
did not believe the Germans were
going to attack again or the Soviets
were coming back. That led to force
that was ill-equipped to go to war.”
Sheehan said he heard from a
former Dutch military leader that the
Srebrenica killings were the result of
the liberalization of the armed forces,
which he called an effect of “social
engineering.”
But Senate Armed Services
Committee Chair Carl Levin (D-Mich.)
disputed the notion that the massacre
was the result of allowing gays to
serve openly in the Dutch military.
“Any effort to connect that failure on
the part of the Dutch to the fact that they
have homosexuals or did allow homo-
Immigration rally includes LGBT voices  islation before the year’s end.
Bi-national couples seek
inclusion in reform  reading “Reform not Raids” and
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@dcagenda.com
An estimated 200,000 demonstra-
tors descended on the National Mall on
Sunday to urge passage of compre-
hensive immigration reform, including
several hundred protesters advocating
for LGBT inclusion in the legislation.
As they danced to salsa music and
listened to speeches, participants at the
rally and the march that followed called
on President Obama and Congress to
keep their promise to enact reform leg-
Gen. John Sheehan, a former commander for U.S. Atlantic Command, said during
a congressional hearing that it would be problematic to end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’
sexuals, I think, is totally off target,” he
said. “I’ve seen no suggestion of that.”
Levin said the failures of Srebrenica
were the result of Dutch troops being
trained as peacekeepers.
In a statement provided by Levin,
Dutch Ambassador to the United States
Renée Jones-Bos said he “couldn’t dis-
agree more” with Sheehan’s comments
and that he’s proud that lesbians and
gays are allowed to serve openly in the
Dutch military.
“The military mission of Dutch
U.N. soldiers at Srebrenica has been
exhaustively studied and evaluated,
nationally and internationally,” he
said. “There is nothing in these
reports that suggests any relation-
ship between gays serving in the mil-
itary and the mass murder of
Bosnian Muslims.”
Sheehan also expressed concern
that open service would lead to sex-
ual assaults in the military, as well as
other problems should gay service
members engage in inappropriate
contact with other troops.
Recalling his days in the Vietnam
War, Sheehan said there was an inci-
dent in which a young Marine was
being molested by his sergeant in a
foxhole. Sheehan noted that the two
fought, and a machine gun section
near the foxhole opened up and
almost killed a combat patrol.
When the young Marine reported
this incident, Sheehan said there
Latino groups — waiving signs
“Obama Cumple tu Promesa” —
comprised the majority of those par-
ticipating in the demonstration,
although contingents of Asian and
Caribbean groups also took part.
The LGBT contingent, which
included about 300 people, advocat-
ed for their inclusion as part of the
broader immigration movement as
well as for incorporating the Uniting
American Families Act in reform. The
bill would enable LGBT Americans to
sponsor same-sex partners who are
foreign nationals for residency.
Rachel Tiven, executive director
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
was a disruption in unit cohesion
because the sergeant denied molest-
ing the young Marine and many did-
n’t believe the allegations.
“For about three days, that unit divid-
ed down the middle,” Sheehan said.
“Those that supported the popular
squad leader, [and] those that kind of
thought the new kid might be believable.”
Sheehan said the sergeant commit-
ted the same offense three days later.
“But the real tragedy of this story
is the young [private] continually
insisted for a long period of time that
nobody in his organization believed
that it happened,” he said. “He lost
faith in his chain of command.”
To further his case about con-
cerns of sexual assault, Sheehan
also cited a report from the Defense
Department last year noting a net
increase of 3,200 sexual assaults in
the military. He said 7 percent of
those incidents — or about 226 —
were male-on-male assaults.
“I would stipulate that from my days
in Vietnam in the early 60s, when I had
this sergeant that almost got a combat
patrol killed, to the 226 male soldiers
and Marines who were molested, that
there’s something wrong with our sex-
ual behavior policy,” he said.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-
Conn.), the sponsor of “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” repeal legislation in the
Senate, said he doesn’t share the
view that open service would lead to
of Immigration Equality, said the
showing was “a nice visible contin-
gent” that demonstrated “how much
the LGBT community is here for
comprehensive immigration reform
that includes all families.”
“First and foremost, we hope to
really be a part of the movement
that’s pushing for [comprehensive
immigration reform] to get going,” she
said. “Nobody knows better than
[LGBT] families how badly we need
immigration reform in this country.”
Advocates are pushing Sens.
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who are
developing bi-partisan comprehen-
sive immigration reform legislation, to
sexual assaults in the military.
“The episode you gave of the sexu-
al assault, Gen. Sheehan, with one
man assaulting another man, could, of
course, easily and unfortunately does
happen more with a man assaulting a
woman in uniform,” he said.
Lieberman said statistics Sheehan
cited of 7 percent of assaults being
male-on-male means 93 percent are
heterosexual assaults.
“I know there may be fears that if
we repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’
there’ll be behavior inconsistent with
good order and discipline, including
sexual assault,” Lieberman said. “But
if that happens, they’ll be held to the
same account and discipline.”
Two witnesses who testified in
favor of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” were Michael Almy, a gay former
Air Force communications officer,
and Jenny Kopfstein, a lesbian for-
mer Navy surface warfare officer.
Almy was discharged from service
under the ban in 2006 and Kopfstein
was discharged in 2002.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked
both Almy and Kopfstein whether
they favored a “thorough, complete”
review of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” as is
currently underway in the Pentagon.
Kopfstein said she didn’t have a
problem with the review, but that it’s
clear the law should be changed.
Almy, however, said he doesn’t
favor the study because other
changes have taken place in the mil-
itary without such work.
“We have not done this on any
other issues with regard to change to
the military — as far as, most recent-
ly, putting women in submarines,
women in the service academies,” he
said. “We did not survey the forces
then on those issues. The military is
not a democracy. I don’t see this
issue as any different, senator.”
McCain said he was “confused
about” the opposition to conducting
the Pentagon study as a means to
find out whether “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” should be repealed.
“I will continue to argue and fight
for whatever I can to make sure that
we have a thorough, objective review
of the impact on the military of the
change of this law,” McCain said. “I
think the men and women who serv-
include UAFA in the version of the bill
they introduce in the U.S. Senate.
As they marched among other
groups, members of Immigration
Equality’s contingent sported red
shirts with “LGBT families for immi-
gration reform” on the back as they
chanted, “Two, four, six, eight! Let our
families immigrate!” and “We’re here!
We’re queer! You are not alone!”
A number of demonstrators had a
personal stake in the passage of leg-
islation to protect bi-national same-
sex couples. Eric Stanley, a D.C. res-
ident, and Tim Lin, his partner of
nearly four years from Taiwan, said
they want UAFA passed so they can
remain together in the United States.
ing in the military deserve no less.”
A number of committee members
during the hearing expressed their
personal viewpoints on “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell.” Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.),
who’s seen as a swing vote on repeal
this year, emphasized the importance
of waiting for the completion of the
Pentagon review before taking action.
“I don’t want to predict at all where
this is going to go,” he said. “I just think
that it is vital that we can say to the peo-
ple in the military and the American peo-
ple that we’ve been responsible in terms
of how a decision has been made.”
But Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) said
that in response to the stories of those
who are being expelled under “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell,” a moratorium should
be enacted on the law’s enforcement to
prevent further discharges.
“I think that we need to put a
moratorium on this situation right
now — don’t let anyone be dis-
charged from the military because of
their sexual orientation until we can
change this law,” he said.
Following the hearing, Service-
members Legal Defense Network
Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis
said it showed “a stark, realistic divi-
sion” between young service mem-
bers and retired members of the mil-
itary from Sheehan’s generation.
“By and large, today’s warriors are
fine with gays and lesbians serving open-
ly,” he said. “Obviously, Gen. Sheehan,
like some of the joint chiefs, are express-
ing resistance, dragging their feet.”
But Sarvis said the process that’s
underway is examining how to bring
about open service in the military “in
a smooth, orderly way.”
“That’s what this debate should be
about — it should be how,” he said. “It’s
not if, it’s not whether, it’s about how
we bring about this change.”
Last week’s Senate Armed
Services Committee hearing
occurred alongside other events that
brought attention to “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell,” including Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network’s lobby day
on Capitol Hill; the Human Rights
Campaign’s rally on Freedom Plaza;
and an act of civil disobedience
by gay U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi, who
handcuffed himself to the White
House gates in protest of the law.
Under current law, they said it
would take Lin seven to 10 years for
him to receive a green card to remain
in the country.
“If I could marry him and give a
green card, I would,” Stanley said. “It
feels like Kansas controls what the rest
of country has to do in this situation.”
Although they’re pushing hard for
LGBT-inclusive immigration reform,
Lin said he isn’t optimistic that reform
will pass this year.
“I’m just hoping that with all these
people, they might start to think about
it this year, and eventually, in a year or
two, do something about it,” he said.
Continues on page 14
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nationalagenda

directoryservices Frank called ‘faggot’ during

Becky Carroll, Ph.D.
health care reform protests
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep.
Licensed Psychologist Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said protest-
Interactive Counseling, ers opposed to health care reform did
Psychotherapy and “more harm than good” last weekend
Somatic Experiencing when they used slurs against him
and another congressman.
www.LGBTC.com
202.332.8477 Frank told Talking Points Memo
B.Carroll@mac.com that the March 20 protesters on
Capitol Hill, which included Tea
3000 Connecticut Ave., NW Party members and others rallying
against the health care reform bill,
demonstrated an “unwillingness to
Cognitive-Behavioral be just civil.”

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called Frank a “faggot” and a group
punctuated chants of “kill the bill”
with the word “nigger” in the pres-
ence of Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.),
who’s black.
“[T]he objection to the health
care bill has become a proxy for
other sentiments,” Frank told Talking
Points Memo. “Obviously there are
perfectly reasonable people that are
against this, but the people out
there today on the whole — many of
them were hateful and abusive.”
Frank said it’s incumbent upon
“the leaders of the movement” to
condemn such behavior.
“If this was my cause, and I saw
Photo courtesy of federal government
this angry group yelling and shout-
ing and being so abusive to people, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said health care reform protesters
I would ask them to please stop it,” who called him ‘faggot’ and another congressman ‘nigger’
Frank told Talking Points Memo. “I March 20 demonstrated an ‘unwillingness to be just civil.’
think they do more harm than good.”
House Republican backs ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal bill
WASHINGTON — Legislation in the U.S. House that would repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
gained a Republican co-sponsor last week, according to the Log Cabin Republicans.
Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) signed on March 17 in support of the bill, making him one of two
Republican co-sponsors. The other GOP co-sponsor is Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).
In a statement, Cao said he supports the bill in part because “discrimination that puts our
202.255.5187 national security in jeopardy is a double threat.”
“America is a land where we embrace our diversity as a sign of strength, and where anybody
can work hard and be judged solely on the basis of their ability to do the job,” he said. “Nothing
about one’s sexual orientation impacts the ability to perform to the highest expectations that we
hold for our men and women in the armed forces.”
Representing a traditionally Democratic district, Cao could face a difficult fight for re-election
this year. Since he joined Congress last year, he’s voted for what are sometimes seen as
Democratic partisan bills. When the health care reform first came to the House floor, Cao was the
lone Republican vote in favor of the legislation.
In a statement, Terry Hamilton, Log Cabin’s board chair, commended Cao for his support and
said Log Cabin would continue working to build Republican support for the repeal bill.
“Congressman Cao’s commitment to the health and strength of our national defense and
speaking out against one of the last forms of state-sanctioned discrimination shows his strong
character, something that is missing in too many debates in Washington,” he said.
Cao’s support brings the number of co-sponsors for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal legisla-
tion to 190.
Tales of LGBT housing discrimination sought
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development last week launched
a web site to collect public comments for a national study on LGBT discrimination in housing

• Coming Out • Depression accommodation.

• Phobias • Spirituality The web site is at http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/LGBT_Discrimination_Study.
• Traumas • Family Issues On the web site, HUD says a national study on discrimination against LGBT people in the sale
• Anxiety • Intimacy and rental of housing has never been conducted, although state and local studies “have sug-
gested this sort of bias exists.”
(703)212-8406 • DrMike@Deninger.com Leading the study is Raphael Bostic, assistant secretary of housing and urban develop-
ment for policy development and research. In a statement, he said it’s critical for researchers
to hear from people “who may have been denied housing based on their sexual orientation
Want a subscription to or gender identity.”
“The comments we received in our town hall meetings, and those we will gather from this new
dcagenda? web site, will help inform how we might test for housing discrimination in the sale or rental of hous-
ing based on LBGT status,” he said.
In addition to seeking comments through the web site, HUD has held a series of town halls to
Contact hear potential stories of discrimination. Events have taken place in Chicago, San Francisco and
New York City.
Robbie Barnett at Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) has introduced legislation that would amend the Fair Housing Act
to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill is pend-
rbarnett@dcagenda.com ing before the House Judiciary Committee.
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nationalagenda
LGBT families call for immigration reform
Continued from page 10
Stanley also said he doesn’t think
many LGBT people view protection
for bi-national couples as a priority.
“People who are not directly
affected don’t seem very interested,”
he said. “I couldn’t get any friends to
come today. But when you are direct-
ly affected, it does matter quite a bit.”
Guillermo Lopez, 22, a gay U.S.
citizen and student at Houston
Community College, said he came
to the march in D.C. to support
same-sex bi-national couples, even
though he’s not in a relationship
that would benefit from passage of
the Uniting American Families Act.
“If these people were straight or
were in heterosexual relationships,
they could easily sponsor their part-
ners and give them legal status,” he
said. “So we’re here trying to push for
the Uniting American Families Act,
which would bring that equality so that
Someday we’ll be together?
Bi-national couple
describes pain,
anxiety of navigating
U.S. immigration laws
By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO
You’re waiting on your partner and
he’s late.
Most gays in that situation might
be mildly irked, especially if a dinner
reservation or theater tickets are at
stake. Even if a few hours pass, you
realize the likelihood that something
serious has happened is small.
But when Kelly Cross, a local gay
attorney, found himself waiting more
than two hours at the Foggy Bottom
Metro station last summer with no sign
of his partner, who was scheduled to join
him following a stint in Europe, it was a
much more serious situation — it could
have meant the end of their relationship.
Because the United States doesn’t
recognize same-sex marriage at the fed-
eral level — where immigration is han-
dled — bi-national same-sex couples
have few options for staying together
long-term in the U.S. or anywhere else.
The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act fur-
ther complicates the matter.
Cross and his partner, who declined
to be identified because it could increase
his chances of being deported, had tried
to make a go of it in Europe, spending
more than a year together in Dusseldorf,
Germany, but a bounty of practical con-
siderations — most pressingly Cross’s
cancer-stricken mother in West Virginia
— made staying there untenable. Cross
returned in June 2009. But on the July
day when his partner was scheduled to
arrive at Dulles Airport, Cross’s panic
increased as time went by.
“I was going around calling all kinds
of people,” Cross says. “I thought he’d
gotten pulled over and sent to the deten-
tion center where they’re double- and
A comprehensive immigration reform rally March 21 on Capitol Hill drew an esti-
mated 200,000. About 300 people advocated specifically for LGBT inclusion in the
legislation.
gay people can sponsor their partner.”
Lopez said he thinks the rally put
pressure on President Obama and
triple-checking everything probably.
They want to make sure these folks are
not going to stay in the U.S. They have
no idea of his life here, his friends and
family. It’s terrifying to know that you
could be traveling and get the wrong
immigration officer and not be able to
get back into the country and I would not
be able to go back and say anything and
have no right to appeal anything. We’re
very much at their whim.”
It had already been a nerve-wracking
month for Cross, 31. Since he’d returned
to the United States, he’d spent a frantic
month trying to find someone willing to
give his partner a job. Without that, there
was no hope for the partner to stay.
Though the partner’s background is in
public policy, he had some experience
doing financial analysis in Europe and
that led to a D.C. opportunity but one that
they say is more of a temporary fix than
a long-term career plan.
For the couple, who got serious
quickly after meeting at Apex in
2007, it was just one more in a string
of seemingly endless obstacles. The
relationship is strong enough, they
say, that it’s worth the constant anxi-
ety and uncertainty.
Cross’s partner, also 31, came to the
states from his native Poland in 2003 to
study public policy at the University of
Northern Iowa. Disenchanted with Iowa,
he came to D.C. for an internship in
2006. Though he liked the U.S., he was
planning to return to Poland or possibly
somewhere else in Europe — wherever
he might find a good job. His plans
changed radically when he met Cross.
“This is an everyday concern, how
are we going to survive,” the partner
says. “In our situation, we’re lucky
that we have sufficient funds to live in
this not-very-pleasant situation, but I
just cannot imagine if somebody is
gay and working for McDonald’s and
he has a boyfriend who is working for
Burger King. I don’t think they are
going to make it. They won’t make it
for sure because they’re not able. But
DC Agenda photo by Chris Johnson
Congress to pass comprehensive
immigration reform.
“Hopefully it’ll put enough pres-
if there’s a couple who’s straight, they
have all the rights and all possibilities
to make it because it will be possible.
A law that gives them the opportuni-
ty, one piece of paper, a marriage
license, that gives all kinds of rights
and we don’t have it.”
The couple did enter a New Jersey
civil union last summer, but they say it
was purely symbolic and has little
practical benefit. The partner says
although he understands the argu-
ments of those who will settle only for
marriage, he’d be happy with a feder-
ally recognized civil union.
“That would be fine, I don’t give a shit,”
he says. “Just anything so I don’t have
this headache every morning. I would be
perfectly happy with a civil union.”
Cross and his partner are, of course,
not alone. Immigration Equality, a gay
rights advocacy group working to end
discrimination in U.S. immigration law
against LGBT people, points to Williams
Institute figures based on the 2000
Census that indicate there are about
36,000 bi-national same-sex couples
struggling to stay together in the U.S.
They’re hoping the Uniting American
Families Act, versions of which date back
to 2000, will solve the problem. Because
its wording says “permanent partner,”
activists say it wouldn’t conflict with
DOMA, though they’re hopeful — as are
virtually all gay activists — that DOMA
will eventually be repealed.
But how are the odds looking for
UAFA? Immigration Equality’s communi-
cations director Steve Ralls is optimistic.
“Now that health care is officially
behind us, there are indications that
Congress and the White House are
turning to immigration reform in the
coming weeks and months,” Ralls
says. “The White House has called key
lawmakers to plot a way forward for
comprehensive immigration reform
and as part of that process, we’re
working very hard to ensure that the
Uniting American Families Act is part
of that comprehensive bill.”
sure on them so that a comprehen-
sive reform bill will pass in 2010
before Democrats lose seats in the
election, which will make it harder for
us to push our agenda,” he said.
Before marching past the U.S.
Capitol to Robert F. Kennedy
Memorial Stadium, demonstrators
gathered on the Mall where a series
of speakers rallied the crowd. The
issue of helping same-sex couples
was only mentioned a few times.
A female speaker at the event said
immigration reform is supported by
many groups, including “disabled and
queer people.” Rep. Mike Honda (D-
Calif.), whose Reuniting American
Families Act includes language similar
to UAFA, was introduced at the event
as someone who wants gay and les-
bian families included in reform.
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), a gay
lawmaker, joined a group of mem-
bers of Congress on stage who sup-
port immigration reform.
Kelly Cross (right) with his Polish partner, who fears deportation and declined to
be identified, at their apartment in Silver Spring, Md. They hope a provision for per-
manent partners will be included in an immigration reform bill that will allow them
to stay together in the U.S.
If it fails there — and many are
opposed to its inclusion — it could
pass on its own but Ralls says
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, sup-
porters of the legislation, have told him
they want to tackle a comprehensive
bill before individual ones. U.S. Sen.
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who introduced
UAFA in the Senate last year, is a key
ally, Ralls says.
“He’s chair of the Judiciary
Committee, which has enormous influ-
ence on what immigration bills move
through Congress when,” Ralls said.
“He remains willing and determined to
pass UAFA as a standalone bill if nec-
essary. That gives us a legislative leg
up right out of the starting gate.”
But if it fails, what are the options for
couples like Cross and his partner?
They’re few, they say. Moving to
Canada is not practical because the
antitrust law Cross specializes in is not
viable to practice there. Cross says he
was lucky he spoke German and that
his England-based international law
firm was able to transfer him there, but
he took a large pay cut to do it.
His partner becomes indignant at the
mere suggestion of moving to Canada.
“This question is not really appro-
priate,” he says. “Who the heck is
Speakers at the event worked to
invigorate the crowd. Rep. Luis
Gutierrez (D-Ill.), a champion of
immigrant rights, was received par-
ticularly favorably by attendees, as
he urged them to continue to pres-
suring lawmakers to enact reform.
“If today we will raise our voices in
hope, then soon we will raise our voic-
es in victory,” he said. “Because our
day is coming. Together, we will turn
today’s hope into tomorrow’s victory.”
Gutierrez late last year introduced
in the U.S. House a version of immi-
gration reform intended as a more lib-
eral alternative to the working bill
expected later in the House. But
Gutierrez’s bill lacks a provision similar
to the Uniting American Families Act.
In addition to Immigration Equality,
other LGBT organizations participat-
ed in the demonstration, including the
Human Rights Campaign, the Latino
GLBT History Project and the
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
DC Agenda photo by Joey DiGuglielmo
going to tell me where I should live?
… I am entitled to decide where I
should like to live because I’m your
partner. We want to live here.
Nobody’s going to tell me what I’m
supposed to do with my life. I’m not a
random person who’s just coming
and pushing to want to settle in the
D.C. area. We have our life here.”
And though the immigration prob-
lem is by far the couple’s biggest
challenge, Cross says it’s compound-
ed by other factors that flair up occa-
sionally. They have cultural, interra-
cial and homophobic issues that pop
up, mostly externally. Cross encoun-
tered it often when he was trying to
arrange a job for his partner.
“There’s a different sort of worth peo-
ple ascribe to a heterosexual relation-
ship that they don’t ascribe to homosex-
ual ones,” Cross says. “There’s a pre-
sumption that if you’ve found a woman
and are in love with a woman, then that
must be love and there must be some-
thing there and you know, that’s your
family. People attribute that and assume
it’s real. But I think with gay couples
there’s a mentality that yeah, you could
find someone else or why go to the effort
for this, there’s plenty of other people you
could find. But it’s not true. When you
love somebody, you love somebody.”
march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 15
16 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010

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nationalagenda
Will arrests at White House usher new era of activism?
Gay soldier becomes
face of civil disobedience
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@dcagenda.com
A gay solider who handcuffed himself
to the White House fence last week in
protest of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has
emerged as a national figure who is chal-
lenging LGBT rights groups to take a
more militant posture in the fight for anti-
discrimination bills stalled in Congress.
Lt. Dan Choi, a West Point gradu-
ate and Arabic linguist who served as
an infantry officer in Iraq, was one of
three protesters arrested outside the
White House on March 18. Many peo-
ple see the action as a challenge to
gay groups aligned with the Obama
administration and Democratic Party
leaders in Congress.
“I want to explain why these actions
are exactly what we need to be doing
as American citizens,” Choi told DC
Agenda upon his release from jail
March 19. “When there’s a time when
our leaders are unable, unwilling to do
the right thing, somebody has to step
up to the responsibility.”
His arrest — and comments in a
Newsweek interview this week criticizing
gay rights leaders for being too closely
aligned with the Washington political
establishment — comes at a time when
some activists and donors are complain-
ing that President Obama and
Democratic leaders in Congress have
not pushed hard enough to advance
several LGBT rights bills, including the
repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Choi, who is in the process of being
discharged from the Army under “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell,” was joined in the White
House protest by Jim Pietrangelo, a for-
mer Army captain discharged in 2004
for being gay, and Robin McGehee, co-
founder of the new LGBT direct action
group GetEqual.org.
Pietrangelo also handcuffed himself
to the fence while McGehee assisted
the two. Police charged all three with
refusing to obey a lawful order to dis-
perse, a misdemeanor that carries a
maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine.
McGehee agreed to pay a $35 fine
to end the case against her in a
process known as post and forfeit. But
Choi and Pietrangelo pleaded not
guilty at an arraignment the following
day in D.C. Superior Court after being
held overnight in jail. A judge set an
April 26 trial date for the two.
Shortly after U.S. Park Police offi-
cers arrested Choi and Pietrangelo and
uniformed Secret Service officers
arrested McGehee, four other protest-
ers affiliated with GetEqual.org were
arrested by U.S. Capitol police for stag-
ing a sit-in at the Capitol Hill office of
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Other people were arrested around
the same time in Pelosi’s district office in
San Francisco. The Washington and
San Francisco protesters said they were
targeting Pelosi for not moving fast
enough to schedule a House vote on
the Employment Non-Discrimination
Act, or ENDA. The long-stalled legisla-
tion calls for banning employment dis-
crimination on the basis of sexual orien-
tation and gender identity.
Lt. Dan Choi, a gay West Point graduate and Arabic linguist who served as an
infantry officer in Iraq, was arrested last week after handcuffing himself to the
White House fence in protest of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’
“We had three simultaneous
actions happening at the same time
on the same day — with the simple
demand that we wanted “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” repealed immediately and
ENDA to be brought to the floor
immediately,” McGehee said.
“And we’ll be back in April,” said
McGehee, who lives in Fresno, Calif.
“I can’t tell you what we’re going to
do, but we’ll be back.”
Asked if future actions would
involve LGBT protesters getting arrest-
ed, McGehee said, “Yes, absolutely.”
“Some of these will include non-vio-
lent civil disobedience that will lead to
arrests and some of them will be
moments that you’re going to highlight
injustice through a creative action idea
that doesn’t include an arrest,” she said.
“But what we’re trying to do is cre-
ate the lunch-counter moment that
highlights the injustice and gives the
visual imagery that shows we really
are in a civil rights battle,” she said.
McGehee said the “lunch-counter
moment” was a reference to the
famous sit-ins staged by blacks at seg-
regated restaurants and lunch counters
in the South during the late the 1950s
and early 1960s, when civil rights
activists were arrested and jailed.
The non-violent civil disobedience
actions organized then by Martin
Luther King Jr. and his supporters have
been credited with laying the ground-
work for Congress to pass the 1964
Civil Rights Act. The act ended segre-
gation by banning discrimination based
on race and color in employment, hous-
ing and public accommodations.
Gay activists have engaged in civil
disobedience actions since the
Stonewall riots in New York City ush-
ered in the modern gay rights move-
ment in 1969. Gay and AIDS activists
involved with the AIDS protest groups
ACT UP engaged in widely publicized
civil disobedience actions in the 1980s
to challenge inaction on the part of the
government to fighting AIDS.
But since the early 1990s, when
President Bill Clinton emerged as the
first U.S. president to openly support
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
gay rights and gay-supportive
Democrats won control of Congress,
most of the nation’s LGBT groups
chose a path of more traditional lob-
bying and electioneering to build
support for gay rights causes.
McGehee’s reference to the arrest
actions by black civil rights activists
in the South, where police often
treated arrested demonstrators
harshly, paralleled Choi’s arrest out-
side the White House.
According to D.C. gay Democratic
activist Paul Yandura, who has served
as a spokesperson for Choi and
Pietrangelo, Choi recounted a harrow-
ing encounter with a police officer at
the city’s Central Cellblock, where the
two were taken after their arrest.
Yandura noted that Choi and
Pietrangelo wore their military uni-
forms to the protest and remained
dressed in their uniforms during their
overnight stay at the cellblock. He said
Choi told him an officer at the cellblock
ordered him to stand before him at
attention and “violently” ripped several
cloth insignias, including an American
flag insignia, from Choi’s uniform.
One by one, the officer ripped off
the flag insignia, cloth stripes indi-
cating Choi’s rank and a cloth U.S.
Army insignia, so as “to humiliate
him,” Yandura said.
Shortly after being asked about the
incident by DC Agenda, Assistant D.C.
Police Chief Diane Groomes said she
looked into the matter and confirmed that a
Park Police officer removed the insignias
from both Choi and Pietrangelo’s uniforms
at a Park Police holding facility.
She said the incident occurred
before the two men were taken to the
Central Cellblock, which is operated
by D.C. police.
“[D.C. police] were not involved in
said matter,” Groomes told DC
Agenda in an e-mail. She said Park
Police Lt. Phil Beck confirmed to her
that an officers with the Park Police
removed the gay men’s uniform
insignias, but she did not know why.
A Park Police spokesperson could not
immediately be reached for comment.
Choi challenges HRC
Choi appeared to take a swipe at
established LGBT rights groups,
including the Human Rights
Campaign, in an interview this
week with Newsweek, which raised
eyebrows among some activists.
“Within the gay community, so many
leaders want acceptance from polite
society,” he said in the interview. “I think
there’s been a betrayal of what is down
inside of us in order to achieve what
looks popular, what look enviable.
“The movement seems to be cen-
tered around how to become an elite,”
he said. “I would say to them: You do
not represent us if all you are looking
for is a ladder in to elite society.”
He also told Newsweek he
believes a “deep schism” exists with-
in the LGBT rights movement, with
many gay and transgender youth
becoming alienated from the more
establishment-oriented groups.
Choi’s own plans for the White
House protest last week were
announced about a half hour before it
began during a noon rally in Freedom
Plaza that HRC organized jointly with
comedienne Kathy Griffin in support of
efforts to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Choi was not a scheduled speak-
er at the rally. In a statement, HRC
spokesperson Trevor Thomas said
Choi first asked HRC President Joe
Solmonese if the soldier could have
a speaking role at the event.
“Joe explained that it wasn’t his
sole decision to make on the spot
given that there was already an
established program that included
Kathy Griffin, other organizations
and veterans,” Thomas said.
But Thomas and others familiar
with the rally said Griffin later invited
Choi to speak during her allotted
time period on the rally stage.
Once on stage, Choi urged rally
attendees to march with him to the White
House to send a message to “repeal
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ — not next year,
not tomorrow, but now. Now is the time.”
He made no mention of his plans
to handcuff himself to the White
House fence, saying only, “I’m going
to the White House right now. I want
you all to take out your cell phones
and any recording devices and docu-
ment this moment right now as we
together make history.”
He then turned to Griffin and
Solmonese and asked if they would
join him in a march to the White
House. Griffin said, “Of course,” and
Solmonese gave him a thumbs-up
signal. But the two later said that they
chose to remain at the rally to contin-
ue to push for lobbying efforts to
repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
About 200 people followed Choi and
Pietrangelo for the four-block walk from
Freedom Plaza to the White House.
HRC said more than 1,000 people
attended the Freedom Plaza rally.
Phil Attey, a gay D.C. activist and
volunteer coordinator for the Obama
for president campaign was among
those who attended the Freedom
Plaza rally. He expressed distaste
over Choi’s march to the White
House, calling it “politically unsophis-
ticated beyond belief.”
“It’s a shame that our community
needs to be educated about the polit-
ical process and they don’t get it,” he
said. “They don’t understand that
Congress needs to be moved on this
issue and that people across the
country have the power to do that.
And if they’re going to get them to yell
and scream at the president, we’re
going to fail, we’re going to lose.”
But Choi and McGehee said later
that Obama isn’t pushing hard enough
to prod Congress to repeal “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell.” The two said their arrest
action was aimed, in part, at pushing
the president into including language
to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in his
2010 Department of Defense authori-
zation bill, which could enable the
repeal to take place this year.
While saying he has great respect
for Griffin, a popular comedienne
with a large gay following, Choi said
he questioned HRC’s decision to
team up with a comedienne for a rally
addressing discrimination against
gays in the military.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not a
laughing matter,” he said in the
Newsweek interview.
HRC says differing
tactics no ‘schism’
Solmonese and two local activists
involved in lobbying for D.C.’s same-
sex marriage law took exception to
some of Choi’s comments.
“Any healthy and diverse social
movement will have a diversity of
voices and opinions,” Solmonese told
DC Agenda. “Individuals and groups
will take different approaches based
on their ideology, life experience and
other sincerely and deeply held
beliefs about the political process.
This is not indicative of a schism, but
rather a sign of vibrant engagement.”
And D.C. gay activist Bob
Summersgill, who coordinated strategy
for lobbying the City Council for
approval of a same-sex marriage law,
called Choi’s criticism of HRC off base.
“Direct action is a very good tactic,”
he said. “But it’s most effective when
you do it in conjunction with standard
lobbying. This past week, Dan Choi
had a dual message to pass ENDA
and repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but
also to attack HRC at the same time.”
Summersgill disputed Choi’s asser-
tion that national lobbying groups like
HRC are more interested in seeking an
elitist status than in passing laws.
“HRC is a federal lobbying organ-
ization,” he said. “To pass laws, you
have to talk to and build relationships
with members of Congress.”
Jose Zuniga, who was among the
first to challenge “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
in 1993 as a sergeant in the Army,
noted that civil disobedience has an
important place in civil rights endeav-
ors, including in the LGBT community.
“I respect Dan Choi’s passion and,
although I wish he had not engaged in
civil disobedience while dressed in an
Army uniform, I personally understand,
as someone who was discharged from
the U.S. Army … because I am a gay
man, the frustration he and our com-
munity rightly feel,” Zuniga said.
 march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 19

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nationalagenda
LGBT provisions cut from health care reform bill“Millions of people across the coun-
Tax on DP benefits
remains; anti-bias
language removed
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@dcagenda.com
The health care package
President Obama signed into law
Tuesday drew mixed reactions from
LGBT rights advocates who praised
the legislation for bringing sweeping
reform, but expressed disappoint-
ment at the exclusion of some LGBT
and HIV/AIDS provisions.
After he signed the $940 billion
package in the East Room of the
White House, Obama touted that the
bill would set up insurance
exchanges to extend coverage to 32
million uninsured Americans.
“But now what we’re going to do is
create exchanges all across the
country where uninsured people —
small businesses — they’re going to
be able to purchase affordable, qual-
ity insurance,” he said. “They will be
part of a big pool, just like federal
employees are part of a big pool.”
Rea Carey, executive director of
the National Gay & Lesbian Task
Force, praised the legislation. In a
statement, she called it “a historic step
toward ensuring access to health care
for roughly 32 million people.”
try are suffering from a lack of ade-
quate, affordable health care and
experience unfair, inhumane treatment
at the hands of the health insurance
industry,” she said. “Lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender people and
our families are among those affected
by this broken and imbalanced health
care system, which this law aims to fix.”
But the legislation that made its
way to the president’s desk lacked
any of the LGBT-specific or
HIV/AIDS language passed last year
in the House version of the bill.
Gone from the final package
was a provision eliminating the tax
paid on domestic partner health ben-
efits received under an employer
plan, as well as language authorizing
states to cover low-income people
with HIV before they develop AIDS.
Also missing is language providing
for non-discrimination in health care
and a provision authorizing the feder-
al government to collect health care
data on the LGBT population.
In a statement, Terry Hamilton,
board chair of the Log Cabin
Republicans, lambasted Obama and
Congress for excluding those provi-
sions from the final health care bill.
“It is disheartening to see the
Democratic congressional majority
continue to sideline LGBT agenda
items — especially critical health care
issues — in the name of political expe-
diency,” Hamilton said. “How much
longer do they expect gays and les-
bians to support them as they contin-
ue to take a pass on every opportuni-
ty to support our community?”
Acknowledging the lack of those
provisions, Carey said the Task
Force would continue to fight for
additional health care reform that
specifically targets LGBT people and
disadvantaged groups.
“Every April 15, same-sex couples
and our families write an extra check to
the [Internal Revenue Service] to pay for
domestic partner and spousal benefits
— the very same benefits opposite-sex
married couples get tax free,” she said.
“The federal government must add sex-
ual orientation and gender identity-spe-
cific questions to all national health sur-
veys in order to get a more accurate pic-
ture of the community’s needs.”
A House Democratic leadership
aide, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, said the early treatment
for HIV and data collection provisions
weren’t included in the final bill
because they had no budgetary
implications and thus were ineligible
under parliamentary rules.
Congress is passing health care
reform through the reconciliation
process so that only 51 votes are
required in the Senate for passage
for the final bill as opposed to the 60
that would be needed to overcome
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changes the House wanted to make
to the previously approved Senate
bill had to be part of a sidecar recon-
ciliation package. But under reconcil-
iation, only matters related to the
budget are eligible for a vote.
As for the domestic partner tax
elimination provision, which may
have budgetary implications because
it deals with taxation, the House aide
deferred to the White House on why
the provision wasn’t included in the
final bill. A White House spokesper-
son declined to comment.
Although the LGBT and HIV/AIDS
provisions unique to the House legis-
lation weren’t included in the recon-
ciliation package, the final bill has
one provision aimed to help to
HIV/AIDS community that was
included in both the House and
Senate versions of the legislation.
The language would enable AIDS
Drug Assistance Program expenditures
to count toward out-of-pocket expenses
under Medicare Part D. People with
HIV/AIDS on Medicare who receive
help purchasing HIV drugs would thus
have a lightened burden for other pre-
scription drug costs.
Other provisions in the final bill —
less explicitly directed at people with
HIV/AIDS — would assist people liv-
ing with the disease.
The final health bill eliminates dis-
crimination based on health status or
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Medicaid eligibility for people with
incomes below 133% of the federal
poverty level, allowing more low-income
people with HIV to access Medicaid
and its prescription drug coverage.
Although the House LGBT provi-
sions were missing from the final bill,
advocates on Capitol Hill pledged to
work to pass this language through
other legislative vehicles.
In a statement, Jerilyn Goodman,
spokesperson for lesbian Rep.
Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis), an advo-
cate of the LGBT legislative lan-
guage, said the lawmaker looks for-
ward to passing the health care bill
and pursuing “every available option
to pass the other LGBT provisions.”
In a message on the Human Rights
Campaign web site, Brian Moulton,
HRC’s chief legislative counsel, said
his organization was “deeply disap-
pointed” the LGBT language was omit-
ted. Still, he noted that HRC would con-
tinue working for the provisions.
“While we are saddened that the
House has abandoned provisions that
would make care more accessible and
affordable to our community, we rec-
ognize that the health reform measure
will still help all Americans, including
LGBT people,” he said. “Important
reforms like eliminating pre-existing
condition limitations and expanding
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nationalagenda

HRC president responds to Choi protest

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
Joe Solmonese, president of the
Human Rights Campaign, jumped into
the debate triggered this week by gay
Army Lt. Dan Choi over whether LGBT
leaders and organizations are doing
enough to advance LGBT equality,
saying there should be a place for dif-
ferent tactics and strategies, including
civil disobedience.
In response to questions from DC
Agenda, Solmonese disputed Choi’s
assertion that a deep “schism” exists
in the LGBT movement over tactics
and strategy.
Here are Solmonese’s responses
to our questions:
DC Agenda: Dan Choi told
Newsweek that groups like HRC “do
not represent us if all you are looking
for is a ladder to elite society.” He also
said there’s a “deep schism” in the gay
movement over strategy and tactics.
What’s HRC’s response to this?
Joe Solmonese: Any healthy and
diverse social movement will have a
diversity of voices and opinions.
Individuals and groups will take dif-
ferent approaches based on their
ideology, life experience and other
sincerely and deeply held beliefs
about the political process. This is not
indicative of a schism, but rather a
sign of vibrant engagement.
Differences over tactics are nothing
new; they have been a part of the LGBT
rights movement since its
inception. While there are some differ-
ences over strategy and tactics, there is
a wide and deep consensus about
movement priorities — LGBT non-dis-
crimination laws (ENDA, DADT repeal,
education, housing, credit, etc…), hate
crimes protections and relationship
recognition (marriage, DOMA repeal,
domestic partnership benefits, adop-
tion). Again, some in the community dis-
sent from one or more of these goals,
but these objectives enjoy significant
support across the LGBT community.
Quick facts on our work:
• Our recent efforts across the coun-
try, with particular emphasis on 103 pri-
ority congressional districts, have result-
ed in over 190,000 phone calls and e-
mails to members of Congress.
• 2,500 veterans recently said in a
survey they’re willing to take action to
repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
• Our members submitted over
1,300 letters to editors in papers in
priority media markets.
• Earlier this month, HRC sent
275 of our members to lobby on the
Hill in support of ENDA, DADT and
other key legislation.
• Beyond the Beltway, our mem-
bers conducted over 250 in-district
lobby visits.
• In 41 cities, we held events that
highlighted veterans who are opposed
to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Over the next
several months, we will conduct at
least 20 more of these events.
• In May, we will send an even larger
number of veterans to the Hill to lobby for
repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
DC Agenda: What’s HRC’s view on
how, or whether, non-violent civil dis-
obedience action — as Dan Choi and
Robin McGehee of the new national
group GetEqual.org are now calling for
— fits into the overall efforts to advance
LGBT rights that HRC is working for?
Solmonese: The beauty of our
movement is that we have a dedicated
community that is constantly searching
for new and innovative ways to effect
change in Washington and at
home. Whether it be the actions last
week or meeting with a senator in a dis-
trict office, these are ways that our com-
munity continues to advocate for LGBT
equality. Activism by Dan Choi and oth-
ers has one common intent in mind that
we also share: to advance equality in
the fastest way possible. As we said last
week, this is the nature of social
change and everyone has a role to play.
DC Agenda: Members of
GetEqual.org, as you know, were
arrested in the Washington and San
Francisco offices of House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi in a protest over what
they say is Pelosi and Congress’s fail-
ure to hold a vote this year on ENDA.
HRC has not included ENDA on its list
of LGBT-related bills it expects
Congress to vote on this year. What is
HRC’s understanding of why ENDA
hasn’t been scheduled for a mark up
in the House and Senate and may not
be voted on in the Senate this year?
Solmonese: The Human Rights
Campaign and the entire LGBT commu-
nity have worked hard over the last two
years to build support in Congress to
pass a fully inclusive Employment Non-
Discrimination Act (ENDA). In recent
weeks, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.),
the lead sponsor of ENDA, has publicly
stated on a number of occasions that he
believes that the House should move
ENDA in the coming weeks and that we
can pass an inclusive bill. We agree. We
also agree with Speaker Pelosi that
ensuring we will win that vote and protect
the bill from harmful amendments is a
critical factor in timing of floor action.
DC Agenda: Dan Choi and others
have suggested that mainstream
LGBT groups like HRC are too
accommodating to the White House
and congressional Democratic lead-
ers on issues like ENDA and DADT.
What is HRC’s current count of U.S.
senators on an up or down vote on
ENDA right now? Can you release a
list of which of the 17 Democratic sen-
ators who are not ENDA co-sponsors
will vote for or against ENDA?
Solmonese: There has been under-
standable frustration in the community
at the pace of progress at advancing
some of the pieces of key legislation
that are important to the lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender community.
We continue to press the president and
Congress to live up to the promises they
made to advance real, substantive
equality for LGBT Americans. It is critical
that everyone in the LGBT community
and our allies engage in this effort.
All senators (or House members)
who are not co-sponsors of ENDA,
DADT or other LGBT bills are pur-
sued as key votes needed in order to
pass pro-equality legislation.
DC Agenda: Robin McGehee of
GetEqual.org says her group wants a
vote on ENDA, even if there aren’t
enough votes to pass it. What is
HRC’s view on this?
Solmonese: An unsuccessful vote
can be very harmful to an issue and
prevent successful action for many
years. In some cases, having the vote
can be a useful marker. Particularly in
regard to ENDA, bringing the bill to the
Senate floor without very careful con-
sideration could result in some incredi-
bly harmful amendments, some related
to ENDA and other anti-LGBT-related
amendments. Harmful congressional
votes can spill over into fights over state
legislation and into state and federal
court cases. In addition, it is unusual for
congressional leaders to schedule
votes that are expected to fail.

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22 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010

personalagenda
dcagenda
Vol. 2, Issue 13

Beautiful day for a protest

Kathy Griffin gets rather have HRC staffers welcomed march with me to the White House
Address: 1810 14th St., N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20009
Phone: 202-747-2077
E-mail: news@dcagenda.com
Internet: www.dcagenda.com
Publisher: Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia, Inc.

a dose of reality as
Lt. Choi reminds us
what activism looks like
By KEVIN NAFF
It was a beautiful day for a protest last
Thursday. And so, under sunny skies,
much of professional gay D.C. took their
lunch break at Freedom Plaza to hear
the inspirational words of comedian
Kathy Griffin as she denounced “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell,” all while plugging her
reality TV show. The only thing missing
was a product placement Starbucks cof-
fee cup in her hand during the speech.
This is what now passes for
activism in some circles. But just as the
lunch bell was about to ring and send
the crowd back to its government-issue
cubicles, something remarkable hap-
pened. Lt. Dan Choi, the Arabic-speak-
ing West Point grad being expelled
from the military because he’s gay,
asked if he could address the crowd.
He implored those gathered to march
with him to the White House where he
would chain himself to the fence. Many in
the audience complied; Griffin and her
sponsor for the day, the Human Rights
Campaign’s Joe Solmonese, did not.
Choi made good on his promise,
handcuffing himself to the fence in
front of a crowd of tourists and LGBT
rights supporters. Police swooped in,
secured the area and issued Choi a
fresh set of cuffs before hauling him
away along with former Army Captain
Jim Pietrangelo II and GetEqual co-
founder Robin McGehee.
I watched from behind the police
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
Lt. Dan Choi led a group of protesters
to the White House last week, where
he was arrested after handcuffing
himself to the fence.
tape as Choi was led away; a few vocal
supporters applauded. Just then an
HRC employee recognized me and
approached to make sure I under-
stood that the organization had noth-
ing to do with the White House action.
“Don’t worry,” I replied, “I would
never assume HRC had anything to
do with activism.”
That’s not a criticism of HRC, it’s
simply a fact. HRC’s work is to lobby
Congress and the administration on
behalf of LGBT rights and to encour-
age its supporters to do the same on
the local level. It’s important work and
we need lobbyists with access to
members of Congress and other
decision makers. That’s how the
process works, like it or not, and I’d
behind those White House gates than
Tony Perkins and James Dobson,
who had President Bush’s ear.
But HRC is not ACT UP and no one
should expect a lobbyist organization to
storm the speaker’s office. New voices
must join the cause to fill that void and
play the role of instigator. President
Obama has on multiple occasions
encouraged LGBT Americans to do just
that and to hold him accountable for
his many promises to us. Time is
short, ticking down to November
when the Democrats will lose seats
and use their losses as yet another
excuse to bump our concerns to the
bottom of the to-do list. And so Choi,
Pietrangelo and McGehee deserve
our thanks for stepping up.
Choi spent the night in jail and,
rather than pay a small fine to have
the whole incident go away, chose to
plead not guilty and go to trial.
There was predictable criticism
from some who accused Choi of
“hijacking” Griffin’s event. HRC and
Griffin would have preferred a script-
ed, happy ending to their day, but
that’s the inconvenient thing about
reality — it’s unpredictable. Shortly
after his release, Choi gave a refresh-
ingly candid interview to Newsweek
“‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is not a jok-
ing matter to me,” he said. “To be at
Freedom Plaza and not at the White
House or Congress? Who are they
trying to influence? I felt like they
were just trying to speak to them-
selves. If that’s the best the lobbying
groups and HRC can do, then I don’t
know how these powerful groups are
supposed to represent our communi-
ty. Kathy Griffin and [HRC president]
Joe Solmonese said they would
but didn’t. I feel so betrayed by them.” PUBLISHER
LYNNE J. BROWN
He alluded to a growing schism in the lbrown@dcagenda.com ext. 8075
LGBT movement between cocktail-sip- EDITORIAL
ping Washington insiders and youthful Editor
antagonists anxious for immediate KEVIN NAFF
change. It’s not a new observation.
knaff@dcagenda.com
News & Multimedia Editor
ext. 8088
Younger LGBT people are rightly impa- JOSHUA LYNSEN
tient and have sometimes channeled that jlynsen@dcagenda.com ext. 8086
Features
anger in meaningful ways as we saw dur- JOEY DiGUGLIELMO
ing the nationwide Prop 8 protests and jdiguglielmo@dcagenda.com ext. 8081
Sr. News Reporter
last year’s National Equality March. LOU CHIBBARO JR.
But street protests, including actions lchibbaro@dcagenda.com ext. 8079
like those last week, and inside-the- News Reporter
CHRIS JOHNSON
Beltway lobbying are not mutually cjohnson@dcagenda.com ext. 8083
exclusive. We need effective practices Staff Photographer
MICHAEL KEY
of both if real change is ever to come. mkey@dcagenda.com
“Being in chains, for me, matched PRODUCTION
what was in my heart the whole time Creative Director
I was serving and was closeted,” ROB BOEGER
rboeger@dcagenda.com ext. 8074
Choi told Newsweek. “ … To me that
symbolizes what it is to live under WEB
Project Manager
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ the only law CHEVROCK
that enforces shame. Those chains chevrock@dcagenda.com
symbolized how my country is trying SALES & ADMINISTRATION
to restrict my movement, how we are Sr. Acct. Executive
only allowed incremental, tiny steps” BRIAN PITTS
bpitts@dcagenda.com ext. 8089
Without more targeted protests Sr. Acct. Executive
combined with effective lobbying ANDREW HARTSFIELD
efforts, tiny steps will be all we can ahartsfield@dcagenda.com ext. 8078
Acct. Executive
expect. True progress will come only JERYL PARADE
with sacrifice, something Choi under- jparade@dcagenda.com ext. 8072
Marketing Sales Executive
stands better than most. DION JORDAN
“When I get messages from people djordan@dcagenda.com ext. 8084
who want to be a part of this I ask Classified Advertising
PHILLIP G. ROCKSTROH
back: what are you willing to sacrifice,” prockstroh@dcagenda.com ext. 8092
he said. “ … I’m giving up my military Distribution Coordinator
ROBBIE BARNETT
rank, my unit, which to me is a family, rbarnett@dcagenda.com ext. 8080
my veterans’ benefits, my health care, Accounting services provided
so what are you willing to sacrifice?” by Martin & Wall, P.C. C.P.A.
It’s a question we must each pon- Distributed by MediaPoint, LLC
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sentation does not necessarily indicate the

Kathy Griffin is no lobbyist

HRC can do better than
using a foul-mouthed
comic to represent us
By PETER ROSENSTEIN
It was a sunny, warm lunch hour in
D.C. on March 18. It boded well for the
rally that the Human Rights Campaign
was holding to support repeal of “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell.” I arrived 10 minutes
before noon and there were about 250
people there, which was disappoint-
ing. But as the noon hour approached
the crowd grew, American flags were
distributed and the rally began.
HRC’s Joe Solmonese spoke, as
did Eric Alva, the first Marine wound-
ed in Iraq. Alva, who is gay, has trav-
eled the country to rally support for
the repeal of the military’s gay ban.
He is impressive and passionate and
it was an honor to meet him. He is a
man who served his country valiantly
and is still a proud Marine and an
example to people across the nation
that want to know what a gay mem-
ber of the military looks like.
Then came a speaker from the
Servicemembers Legal Defense
Network, and then the star of the
rally — Kathy Griffin. That was the
low point of the rally and where it all
went off track. Maybe we shouldn’t
be surprised. Kathy Griffin is a foul-
mouthed comedian, who I admit can
sometimes be funny, but totally inap-
propriate as a lobbyist representing
the largest LGBT human rights
organization in the nation.
She made fun of Congress and our
elected representatives, which is not
exactly the way to make friends. I have
no problem challenging Congress, but
let’s do it with some respect, at least for
our friends up there, if we want to make
headway. Then after using a curse
word in every sentence for the TV cam-
eras, she introduced Lt. Dan Choi. He
basically castigated her and said, “This
is not a joke to me,” which got a huge
round of applause. Then he proceeded
to hijack the rally and asked people to
follow him to the White House where
he and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo hand-
cuffed themselves to the White House
gate and were arrested.
I am not opposed to people chain-
ing themselves to the White House
fence. In October 1978, one week
after I got to D.C., I participated in a
demonstration of handicapped individ-
uals and their advocates who chained
themselves to the White House gates.
But if we are to do this, let’s at least
plan it out and get something other
than an arrest out of it. I believe that
like ACT UP fighting AIDS in the ’80s,
we could plan a huge demonstration
around the White House. They called
it, “Hands around the White House.”
We can let the White House know and
arrange for a delegation to be invited
in to talk and make the points we want
to make, namely that the president
needs to tell Congress that he wants
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ended this year.
We can be more active than HRC, but
let’s do it intelligently.
We need to sit down with our
most loyal supporters in Congress
and get them to join us. They can be
part of the delegation. With the prop-
er planning, Reps. Barney Frank,
Jared Polis, Tammy Baldwin, along
with our straight congressional sup-
porters would join us. They are get-
ting as frustrated as we are.
For many years, I was a vocal critic
of HRC. I thought that they were wast-
ing money and that the time had come
for them to get their act together, work
on elections out in the states, and use
their clout more intelligently. I think that
in some ways they have. But this use of
Kathy Griffin as a lobbyist for repeal of
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” looks like the old
HRC — the one many of us labeled
“the Champagne fund.”
I agree with Lt. Choi that repeal of
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not a joke. It is
a serious human rights issue, and one
that we should be focusing on in a
serious way with serious people. I
thank Kathy Griffin for traveling abroad
to entertain the troops because that is
what she is, an entertainer. But I
wouldn’t ask her to be my lobbyist.
Using an entertainer to attract
crowds is fine. But Griffin couldn’t
even do that as so few people showed
up. So if we work with entertainers
let’s not allow them to use us like
Griffin did for her TV show. And let’s
get some big name supporters and
leave the Kathy Griffins for the dinners
where her schtick may be appropriate.
Our community must be strategic.
We must hold the president’s feet to
the fire and do the same to
Congress. But surely we can do bet-
ter than this. And so can HRC.
Peter Rosenstein is a D.C.-
based LGBT rights and Democratic
Party activist.
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personalagenda
‘ ’
No time to waste in ‘Don’t Ask’ fight
Find the kind of
activism that suits
you and do it  calls and e-mails to members of
By MARTY ROUSE
We have an unprecedented
opportunity to repeal “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” — a law that not only
harms our national security but also
one that devalues every LGBT
American by placing a stamp of
“unworthy” on our service. We elect-
ed a president who supports repeal
and have congressional leadership
who will bring it to the floor. But that
doesn’t mean it’s in our pocket and
the harsh political reality is that we
won’t enjoy this scenario forever.
We have to spur action and we
have to do it fast — both with our
allies and those on the fence.
Over the past several weeks, the
HRC field staff has been on the
ground in our six targeted states
where Senate votes are critical to
repeal — Florida, Indiana,
Massachusetts, Nebraska, Virginia
and West Virginia — and we’ve been
laying the groundwork for months
before that. At the same time we’ve
seen other types of actions in D.C.
and around the country demanding
‘ ’
feedback
The following comments were
submitted as letters to the editor or
posted to our web site. Visit dcagen-
da.com to join the conversation.
Re: “The guiding hand in win-
ning marriage equality” (viewpoint
by Lane Hudson, March 5)
I appreciate the accolades from
Lane Hudson in the DC Agenda. I’m
extremely pleased with our success
in achieving marriage equality. There
were quite a large number of people
who contributed to our win and we
can all take some credit.
I do have a different recollection
of how our effort progressed. At the
founding meeting of DC for Marriage,
I presented the on-going incremental
plan that I had been working on for
several years, at first while repre-
senting the Gay & Lesbian Activists
Alliance (GLAA) and later in concert
with them, especially Rick Rosendall,
who was critical to the success of
marriage equality in the District.
The assembled group seemed
very pleased with my legislative plan
and the criteria that I outlined for when
the Congress would not interfere with
us and how we could deal with an ini-
tiative. They also agreed that the time
to move a bill hadn’t arrived, but we
could do a lot to prepare for that day.
DC for Marriage’s embrace of my
general strategy was quite a relief. I
had worried that they were going to
push for a marriage bill right away, or
pull some other stunt that would delay
or harm our efforts. Under Michael
Crawford’s direction, DC for Marriage
We all have different roles to play in our fight for
equality and no one should be diminishing others’
work or questioning their commitment.
our equality from groups like Get
Equal and Lt. Dan Choi and Capt.
James Pietrangelo making a stand at
the White House.
There are no lack of pressure
points we must hit to repeal this dis-
criminatory law and every LGBT per-
son needs to ask her or himself, how
important is our equality and what
action can I take to advance the
cause. The answer will certainly be
different for each of us but the point
is we all need to actually get involved
if we want to create the world in
which we want to live.
My job at the Human Rights
Campaign is about mobilizing people
to move their legislators to vote with
us. When our lobbyists in Washington,
D.C., go to a congressional office, the
worst thing that they can hear is “no
one in my district cares about this
issue” or “there are no gay people in
my district.” Our leaders are not going
I applaud Lt. Choi. It is an incredibly
gutsy thing to chain yourself to the White House
fence while in uniform. This is one president
who might actually take notice.
worked to create the public support
we needed for our win. Michael creat-
ed a social media and traditional
media campaign, a direct contact and
pledge effort, and other outreach that
resulted in thousands and thousands
of supporters. Countless other people
found ways to make a difference and
grow support for marriage equality.
A legislative, judicial or ballot loss
could have set us back a decade or
more. Going too soon would mean
that we would be delayed in getting
marriage equality. There would be a
time when all the pieces came togeth-
er and we would need to be prepared.
GLAA, the Gertrude Stein Club,
and DC for Marriage leaders all
agreed in January 2009 that the time
for a marriage equality bill was not
right. By April, we all agreed that the
time had come for the marriage
recognition bill and by summer we all
agreed that it was time for the final
bill, the Religious Freedom and
Marriage Equality Act.
The careful incremental strategy
didn’t rush us forward, but it moved us
forward with deliberate steps. Each
to vote with us just because of an
opinion poll, or because of a persua-
sive legal argument — though those
things certainly matter, and we deliver
them too. They need to hear from the
most persuasive voices — the people
whom they represent — and also
understand there will be conse-
quences for not standing with us.
Lobbying for votes is critical, but it
is by no means the only good work
that is happening. People are march-
ing, rallying, sitting-in, demanding
action, standing up publicly and shar-
ing their stories. I commend every
person who is out there working for
this; I know that no matter what part
of the job we’re performing, we’re all
doing it for the same reason, and to
serve the same goal.
Lately there has been a lot of talk
about disagreements in strategy, and
divisions among us. That’s a natural
outgrowth of how diverse our commu-
legislative victory carefully changed
the laws that could have been used
against us while increasing the rights
of couples. In the end, everyone was
on board and recognized that the
moment had arrived and we were
ready for it. — Bob Summersgill
Re: “3 arrested at White House
protest” (news story by Lou
Chibbaro Jr., March 18)
Funny how these rich self-con-
gratulating queens, who do nothing
for the cause themselves, apart from
attending $1,000 a plate dinners,
have the nerve to criticize those who
are actually willing to put it all on the
line. “Politically unsophisticated,” look
who’s talking! These rich sellouts are
telling us to mindlessly stand by
President Obama and the Dems in
Congress when they haven’t done
jack for us for over a decade. It really
is time for us to demand our rights,
and tell President Obama and the
Dems in no uncertain terms that if
they don’t deliver on their promises
to the LGBT community, they can for-
get about us volunteering for their
march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 23
nity is, how complex the problems,
and how many forms of activism can
be effective in making change. We
can and should make one another do
better, but not at the expense of letting
this moment pass us by.
We all have different roles to play in
our fight for equality and no one should
be diminishing others’ work or ques-
tioning their commitment. Furthermore,
a healthy and fair dialogue that holds
people accountable for successes
and failures makes us stronger.
Since the beginning of the LGBT
rights movement people have taken
different positions on strategy, but
moments of success have not come
from when we’ve fought each other,
but used our individual methods to
fight our real enemies.
For our part at HRC, we’re organ-
izing the grassroots — particularly
veterans — to put pressure on the
administration and Congress to
campaigns, giving them money or
showing up for them on Election Day,
because true enough, that is what
they understand. We must insist that
they pass the Domestic Partnership
Benefits & Obligations Act, ENDA,
and repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” this
year, before the election. — Tim
American history was largely
made by people who, under that stan-
dard, were “politically unsophisticated
beyond belief.” — Doctor Whom
Obama never would have come to
HRC’s dinner if Robin McGehee hadn’t
organized the march on Washington.
What will this direct activism generate?
McGehee is becoming a genuine
LGBT hero. — Joe
I applaud Lt. Choi. It is an incredi-
bly gutsy thing to chain yourself to
the White House fence while in uni-
form. This is one president who might
actually take notice. We need more
gay servicemen and women to take
similar action so that the president,
Congress and the rest of America
deliver on DADT repeal. We’ve iden-
tified 2,500 veterans ready to take a
larger role in the repeal effort. We’ve
put in more than 190,000 phone
Congress and submitted more than
1,300 letters to editors in newspa-
pers in priority media markets.
We’ve organized in-person citizen
lobby visits with 275 of our members
in Washington and more than 250
visits in-district. Our ground troops
have held events in 41 cities and
over the next several months we will
conduct at least 20 more.
This weekend at my younger
brother’s wedding, a relative who is
in the military brought up DADT and
told me, “if repeal is passed, we will
implement it just fine.” I know our
women and men in uniform will con-
tinue to make us proud but it’s up to
us to repeal this law that gets in the
way of their mission.
Time is short so find the kind of
activism that suits you and do it. Our
Repeal DADT site (hrc.org/RepealDADT)
has plenty of ways you can take
action. However you want to help the
cause, do it today. We don’t have any
time to waste.
Marty Rouse is national field direc-
tor for the Human Rights Campaign
and can be reached via hrc.org.
can’t continue to ignore this
deplorable situation. — Lee H
Way to go! If everyone did their part
in spotlighting this issue it would be
passed speedily. Certain people, like Lt.
Choi, are lighting rods that can be used
like today. As far as the “gay activist” Phil
Attey, to each their own. You shouldn’t be
negative toward others means of
expression. Your way isn’t the only right
way to progress the topic no matter what
opinion you might have! Yes, Congress
is where laws are made but the passion
of the people cannot be contained in a
bill. We must be vocal! We must be
steadfast and use the media to remind
Obama of his promise. — Michael A
Phil Attey may no longer work for
HRC, but he sure as hell still thinks like
someone getting a paycheck from
them. The folks who need educating
are the executives, board members
and staffers at HRC, and what they
need to be educated about is that a
big portion of the gay community is fed
up with being told to wait.
In the spring of 1993, before
President Clinton proposed DADT,
Tim McFeeley of HRCF and Tonya
Domi of NGLTF organized a lift-the-
ban rally. Guess where it was held?
Freedom Plaza! Now, 17 years later,
HRC takes us back there, but this
time, the rally was turned into a
march — to the White House.
Bravo to all who took action over
HRC’s “wait and let’s put on some
more gala dinners” approach today.
— MPetrelis
24 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010 • SPIRITUALITY & RELIGION SECTION

DIGNI Y
Washington and Northern Virginia
Celebrating the Liturgies of

Holy Week
PALM SUNDAY
Saturday, March 27th @ 6:30pm
Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill
3606 Seminary Road
Alexandria, VA.
Sunday, March 28th @ 6:00pm
St. Margaret's Church
1820 Connecticut Ave. NW
Dupont Circle Metro

HOLY THURSDAY (4/1)

8:00pm @ Immanuel
GOOD FRIDAY (4/2)
8:00pm @ St. Margaret’s
EASTER VIGIL (4/3)
8:00pm @ Immanuel
(Dessert Social Follows)
EASTER SUNDAY (4/4)
6:00pm @ St. Margaret’s

Info: 202-546-2235
Info: 703-912-1662

www.dignitynova.org
www.dignitywashington.org
 SPIRITUALITY & RELIGION SECTION • march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 25

CALENDAR OF SERVICES:
HOLY WEEK AND EASTER
Celebrating the wholeness and holiness of Lesbian, Gay, • Palm Sunday: Palm Liturgy, reading of Luke’s
Bisexual & Transgender Catholics in Washington, D.C. Passion, and Holy Eucharist: 8:30 and 10:30 a.m.;
Evening Prayer at 5 p.m.
Catholic AND gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender also? How can the two • Maundy Thursday: simple meal, 6:30 p.m.;
coexist? The fact is they do exist. For us, Dignity-Washington is a refreshing,
informal Eucharist, 7 p.m. in the sanctuary
supportive network of people who remind us we are not alone. We cherish
the unique way Dignity validates our reality and offers a welcoming, • Good Friday: Service of 7 Last Words, 12 - 1:30 p.m.
supportive, non-judgmental environment but also maintains traditional at Holy Trinity, 37th and O (procession leaves from
Catholic practices in a respectful way for the GLBT Catholic community. Grace, 11:30 a.m.); Solemn Liturgy, 7 p.m. at Grace
Right away we felt invited and included and there’s no better way we can
think of to celebrate our upcoming Holy Union! • Easter Sunday: Holy Eucharist at 8:30 a.m.,
— Theresa Bosanek and Ellen Lee, 10:30 a.m. (with special choral music) and 5 p.m.
Dignity-Washington members since 2009 Grace Episcopal Church, Georgetown
Mass (sign interpreted) and social: Sundays at 6:00 PM Contact us at: 202-546-2235 (phone) 1041 Wisconsin Ave NW, DC
At St. Margaret’s Church 202-521-3954 (fax) www.gracedc.org; 202-333-7100
1820 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington Visit online at www.dignitywashington.org
26 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010

SPIRITUALITY&RELIGIONGUIDE
directory of lgbt-friendly places of worship
Many Washington-area places of Foundry United Methodist Church PALISADES COMMUNITY CHURCH
worship are LGBT friendly and have 1500 16th St., N.W. 5200 Cathedral Ave., N.W.
taken steps to become officially “open foundryumc.org 202-966-7929
and affirming.” Beyond that, the degree palisadescommunitychurch.org
to which gays are integrated into church EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
life varies as some defy denominational CENTER OF WORSHIP RIVERSIDE CHURCH
teachings to include gays, so marriages Church of the Holy City 680 I St., S.W.
and commitment ceremonies are kept 1611 16th St., NW riverside-dc.org
low-key if allowed at all. 202-462-6734
theswedenborgcenter.org ROCK SPRING
For others, such as Metropolitan CONGREGATIONAL
Community Church of Washington, EPISCOPAL CHURCH UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
Inner Light Ministries and Unity OF THE ASCENSION 5010 Little Falls Rd.
Fellowship, welcoming LGBT people 633 Sligo Ave. Arlington, VA 22207
is their raison d’être. This list isn’t Silver Spring, MD 703-538-4886
meant to be exhaustive. All the 301-587-3272 rockspringucc.org
places of worship listed have publicly ascensionsilverspring.org
welcomed gays but contact them SAINT MARK’S
individually to find out their same- GEORGETOWN EPISCOPAL CHURCH
sex marriage policies. LUTHERAN CHURCH 118 3rd St., S.E.
1556 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. stmarks.net
ADAT SHALOM georgetownlutheran.com
RECONSTRUCTIONIST SAINT THOMAS
CONGREGATION GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH EPISCOPAL CHURCH
7727 Persimmon Tree Lane 1041 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. 1771 Church St., N.W.
Bethesda, MD 20817 202-333-7100 stthomasdc.org
301-767-3333 gracedc.org
adatshalom.net UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST &
INNER LIGHT UNITED METHODIST
ALL SOULS MEMORIAL MINISTRIES 1920 G St., N.W.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH 1525 Newton St., N.W. 202-331-1495
2300 Cathedral Ave., N.W. innerlightministries-dc.org theunitedchurch.org
202-232-4244
allsoulsdc.org MACHAR, THE WASHINGTON UNITY FELLOWSHIP CHURCH
Photo by iStockphoto.com/TriggerPhoto CONGREGATION OF WASHINGTON
ALL SOULS UNITARIAN for Secular Humanistic Judaism 1226 Vermont Ave., N.W.
Universalist Church CAPITOL HILL UNITED CLEVELAND PARK 202-686-1881 ufcdc.com
1500 Harvard St., N.W. METHODIST CHURCH CONGREGATIONAL machar.org
all-souls.org 421 Seward Square, S.E. United Church of Christ UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
chumc.net 3400 Lowell St., N.W. METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF ARLINGTON
AUGUSTANA LUTHERAN CHURCH cpcchurch.org CHURCH OF REHOBOTH 4444 Arlington Blvd.
2100 New Hampshire Ave., N.W. CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY Rehoboth Beach, DE Arlington, VA 22204
augustanadc.info 1317 G St., N.W. • epiphanydc.org COVENANT BAPTIST CHURCH 302-393-3265 703-892-2565
3845 South Capitol St., S.W. mccrehoboth.com. uucava.org
AXIOS DC CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMS cbcwdc.org
FELLOWSHIP OF GLBT 2201 P St., N.W. METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY VAJRAYOGINI
EASTERN CHRISTIANS churchofthepilgrims.org DIGNITY NORTHERN VIRGINIA CHURCH OF WASHINGTON BUDDHIST CENTER
(Members are Orthodox and 202-546-2235 474 Ridge St., N.W. 1803 Connecticut Ave., N.W.
Byzantine Catholic) CHURCH OF THE dignitynova.org mccdc.com 202-986-2257
202-997-6489 RESURRECTION meditation-dc.org
axiosdconline.tripod.com/ 2280 North Beauregard St. DIGNITY WASHINGTON TEMPLE MICAH
Alexandria, VA 22311 721 8th St., S.E. 2829 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. WASHINGTON NATIONAL
BET MISHPACHAH 703-998-0888 202-546-2235 202-342-9175 CATHEDRAL
1529 16th St., N.W. • betmish.org welcometoresurrection.org dignitywashington.org templemicah.org 3101 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.
nationalcathedral.org
CAPITOL HILL CHURCH OF ST. CLEMENT DUMBARTON UNITED NATIONAL CITY
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 1701 North Quaker Lane METHODIST CHURCH CHRISTIAN CHURCH WESTERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
201 4th St., S.E. Alexandria, VA 22302 3133 Dumbarton Street, N.W. 5 Thomas Circle, N.W. 2401 Virginia Ave., N.W.
capitolhillpreschurch.org 703-998-6166 • saintclement.org dumbartonumc.org nationalcitycc.org westernchurch.net

Presbyterian Want a
subscription to
churches welcome you
The following churches are committed to full GLBT inclusion in the life and ministry of the Church. Those
marked by an asterisk ( * ) are members of More Light Presbyterians organizing to change denominational policy.
Bradley Hills 6601 Bradley Blvd., Bethesda, MD 301-365-2850
dcagenda?
Clarendon* 1305 N. Jackson St., Arlington, VA 703-527-9513
First 601 N. Vermont St., Arlington, VA 703-527-4766
New York Avenue* 1313 New York Ave., NW, Washington, DC 202-393-3700
Contact
Pilgrims* 2201 P St., NW, Washington, DC 202-387-6612
Oaklands* 14301 Laurel-Bowie Rd., Laurel, MD 301-776-5833 Robbie
Barnett at
Takoma Park* 310 Tulip Ave., Takoma Park, MD 301-270-5550
Western* 2401 Virginia Ave., NW, Washington, DC 202-835-8383

Check Out & About for other More Light Presbyterian (MLP) events.
rbarnett@dcagenda.com
 SPIRITUALITY & RELIGION SECTION • march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 27

Asbury United
Methodist Church
Seeking
Sunday March 28, 2010 Palm Sunday
Asbury Performing Arts Theatre
Dramatic Skit: “Jesus and the Little Girl”
Permanent
10:30 AM Worship
Higher Praise Gospel Chorale
April 1, 2010
Maundy Thursday Service (Holy Thursday)
Pastor
Stripping of the Santuary @ 7:30 pm
Friday April 2, 2010 Good Friday
Weslyn Choir & Higher Praise Gospel Chorale

MCC
Seven Last Words 12 noon - 3:00 PM
Sunday April 4, 2010 Easter Sunday
6:00 AM Sunrise Service ®
8:30 AM Worship Service - Weslyn Choir
10:30 AM Worship Service - Higher Praise METROPOLITAN
Gospel Chorale
COMMUNITY CHURCHES
926 11th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Rev. Dr. Louis Shockley, Senior Pastor
Regular Sunday Morning Services
Metropolitan Community
8:30 AM and 10:30 AM Church of Rehoboth
www.asburyumcdc.org

OUR DOORS ARE ALWAYS OPEN TO ALL

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
www.mccrehoboth.com
“REHOBOTH” – Room for Us, Room for ALL !
(Genesis 26:22)

MCC Rehoboth is seeking a permanent pastor for

a small but enthusiastic congregation which is poised to
grow. We are located on the shore of Coastal Delaware,
and our ministry is open and inclusive for ALL who wish
to join us on our journey.
We seek a people-loving, outgoing pastor who is
dynamic in nature, visionary in thinking, and proficient
in attracting, maintaining, and supporting congregational
growth.
Our pastor would demonstrate joy and affirmation
of everyone as a child of God, welcome in our growing
fellowship and sharing our common lives.
MCC Rehoboth offers this position half-time to start,
increasing to three-quarters and then full time as quickly
as our growth in membership and finances allow.

Please submit letter of interest and CV or resume to:

Metropolitan Community Church of Rehoboth
Pastoral Search Committee
PO Box 191
Rehoboth Beach DE 19971
28 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010
socialagenda
friday, march 26
PANDEMONIUM returns to Cobalt,
1639 R St., N.W., with “Pandemonium’s
Sultry Funhouse!” The main attrac-
tion is famed circuit DJ Wendy Hunt
with a midnight performance by Sue
Nami. Doors open at 10 p.m.; 21+
with a $7 cover. Open vodka bar from
11 p.m.-12 a.m.
THE GAY COMEDY SHOW is
returning to the EFN Lounge, 1318
9th St. N.W., with host Shawn
Hollenbach (Logo’s “Gayest Week
Ever”). Hollenbach will be accompa-
nied by Paul Case (MTV and here!
TV’s “Hot Gay Comics”). There is a
$10 admission for the show, which
runs from 8- 11 p.m.
THE WHITMAN-WALKER HIV
MOBILE TESTING UNIT will be at
the Giant Food located at 1245 Park
Rd., N.W. from 3:30–7 p.m.
GAY DISTRICT is held from 8:30-
10:30 p.m. at St. Margaret’s
Episcopal Church, 1820 Connecticut
Ave., N.W. Gay District is a weekly,
non-church affiliated discussion and
social group for GBTQ men between
18 and 35. For more information, e-
mail gd@gaydistrict.org.
Friday night EREV SHABBAT
SERVICES are held 8:30–10 p.m. at
the Jewish Community Center, 1529
16th St., N.W. Friday Night Services
are followed by an Oneg social. Please
use the Q Street entrance.
Comedian CHELSEA HANDLER brings her latest show to DAR Constitution
Hall on Saturday.
WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES will
meet at the DC Center, 1810 14th
St., N.W., at 8 p.m. WiTT is a social
discussion group for lesbian, bisexu-
al, transgendered and other interest-
ed women in the D.C. area. The
group is led by several facilitators on
a rotational basis. Facilitators lead
the group in discussion topics (seri-
ous and silly, LGBT-related or not).
Newcomers are always welcome.
BEACH HOUSE plays the Black
Cat, 1811 14th St., N.W., at 9 p.m.
Tickets are $15; visit blackcatdc.com
for tickets and information.
saturday, march 27
THE 2010 NATIONAL CHERRY
BLOSSOM FESTIVAL will be held
beginning today and running through
April 11. This year’s festival marks the
98th celebration of the original gift of
the 3,000 cherry trees by the city of
Tokyo to the people of Washington,
D.C., in 1912. Family day and open-
ing ceremony at the National Building
Museum, 401 F St., N.W.
The famous DJ duo, THE
FREEMASONS, is returning to the
states to spin at Town Danceboutique,
2009 8th St. N.W., for a second time.
The Freemasons have produced some
of the biggest songs played on gay
dance floors, including “Million Dollar
Bill” by Whitney Houston. Tickets are on
sale at the Town box office. Advance
Photo courtesy of Handler
The 98th annual CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL kicks off this weekend. The LGBT events of Cherry Weekend, spon-
sored by the Cherry Fund, will be held April 8-11.
tickets are $15; $20 at the door. Tickets
can also be purchased at groovetick-
ets.com for $27. Doors will open at 10
p.m. Drag show starts at 10:30 p.m.
Music and videos downstairs by Wess;
21 and over.
Comedian CHELSEA HANDLER
brings her “Bang Bang” tour to DAR
Constitution Hall, 18th & C streets,
N.W., at 8 and 10 p.m. Call 202-638-2661
for tickets, which cost $53.50-73.50.
LAMBDA SCI-FI hosts a video party
for LGBT science fiction, fantasy and
horror fans and their friends. Bring a
dish or a non-alcoholic beverage to
share, as well as some favorite
DVDs, Blue-rays, or AVI files on a
USB drive. Noon until 10 p.m., 7015
Sycamore Ave., Takoma Park, MD.
For more information, e-mail Teresa
at coda_red_tango@yahoo.com, call
301-270-6373 or visit lambdasf.org.
JONATHA BROOKE and LORI
McKENNA play the Birchmere, 3701
Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA, at 7:30
p.m. Tickets $27.50, visit birchmere.com
or call 703-549-7500 for information.
sunday, march 28
“THE WIZ” production at University
of the District of Columbia, 4200
Laser Hair Removal
% off
0
3 all laser
ces
servi
Photo by istockphoto.com/ jcarillet
Connecticut Ave., starts at 7 p.m. safer sex kits and enjoy drink spe-
Tickets are $12.50 for general admis- cials at Motley.
sion, $7.50 for all students, $5 for
children 12 & under. wednesday, march 31
Don’t miss the final performances of MEGAFAUN and SHARON VAN
Alfred Hitchcock’s “THE 39 STEPS” at ETTEN play the Black Cat, 1811
Warner Theater, 13th Street between 14th St., N.W., at 9 p.m. Tickets are
E&F, N.W., at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Call 202- $10; visit blackcatdc.com for tickets
783-4000 for ticket information. and information.
WIZ KHALIFA with YELAWOLF and CAREER DEVELOPMENT at the DC
JASMINE SOLANO play 9:30 club, Center, 1810 14th St. N.W., from 3-4
815 V St., N.W., at 7 p.m. Tickets are p.m. RSVP to careerdevelopmentthed-
$15; visit 930.com or call 202-265-0930 ccenter.org. For more information, con-
for information. tact the Center at 202-682-2245.
monday, march 29 thursday, april 1
SUBSTANCE ABUSE SUPPORT SMYAL FOOLS: THE PROGRESSIVE
GROUP will meet at the Max DINNER DESSERT TEAM will raise
Robinson Center located at 2301 money for SMYAL on April Fools’ Day
MLK Ave., S.E. from 5:30 – 6:30 pm. at the Town Tavern, 2323 18th St.,
Relive your big hair ’80s days as N.W., in Adams Morgan from 8 p.m.-
BON JOVI rocks the Verizon 2 a.m. A $5 donation per guest at the
Center, 6th and G streets, N.W., at door is requested, of which 100 per-
7:30 p.m. Visit ticketmaster.com for cent will go to SMYAL (Sexual
information and tickets, which range Minority Youth Assistance League).
from $49.50 to $503. TOM GOSS performs live, launching
his new marriage equality EP “Politics
tuesday, march 30 of Love” at the DC Center, 1810 14th
PACKING PARTY at EFN Lounge/ St. N.W., at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 in
Motley Bar, 1318 9th St., N.W., from advance and $20 at the door and can
7-8 p.m. Volunteers will assemble be purchased at thedccenter.org
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 march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 29

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30 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010
theateragenda
exploring diva worship
and gay relationships
Glover takes on showy
role in ‘Lisbon Traviata’
By PATRICK FOLLIARD
Special to DC Agenda
The Kennedy Center’s mini-festi-
val “Terrence McNally’s Nights at the
Opera,” a celebration of the gay play-
wright’s opera-themed plays, contin-
ues with “The Lisbon Traviata.” A
tragic-comic tale told in two acts, this
work centers on Maria Callas-
obsessed Mendy and his simpatico
pal Stephen, who is losing his long-
time doctor lover to a considerably
younger college guy.
It’s an exploration of diva worship
and gay relationships, and this par-
ticular production just happens to be
shaped by an amalgam of gay talent
including lead actors John Glover
and Malcolm Gets, and director
Christopher Ashley.
Indisputably, Glover’s character
Mendy, a flamboyantly bitchy opera
queen, is an irresistible, showy role
— it won many awards for out theater
star Nathan Lane when he created
the part off-Broadway in 1989.
Still, when McNally appealed to the-
ater and stage veteran Glover to take
on the part, he was resistant. “From
what I’d heard, Nathan’s performance
couldn’t really be improved upon, and I
knew very little about opera. The
prospect was scary,” recounts Glover,
whose impressive resume boasts a
Tony for his bravura dual performance
in McNally’s “Love! Valor! Compassion!”
“Smartly, Terrence advised me that
those things that scare you are precise-
ly the challenges that artists must
accept, and of course he was right.”
A boundlessly inquisitive actor,
Glover rejects stereotypes: “Mendy is
so much more than the paunchy old
opera queen (the very fit Glover dons
a fat suit for the play). Surprisingly, he
has an ex-wife and children. He really
possesses a wealth of human quali-
ties. I’ve come to love him. And that’s
what is so great about Terrence. He
has the wonderful ability to create
these universal, sometimes hilarious,
characters that audiences can relate
to despite their differences.”
Glover, who grew up in Salisbury,
Md., and studied acting at Towson
University, credits a long and
serendipitous working relationship
with McNally with giving him his
career. Now splitting time between
the lisbon traviata
Through April 11
The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre
$25-$65
202-467-4600
www.kennedy-center.org
New York and L.A., the 65-year-old
actor works hard to maintain an
incredibly vibrant career and relishes
artistic growth. He’s immensely
enjoying playing Mendy and discov-
ering the world of opera.
“I’ve learned so much,” says
Glover. “For months I’ve been blaring
Maria Callas’ arias day and night. I’ve
nearly driven my partner [sculptor
Adam Kurtzman] insane.”
Similarly, the production’s director
Christopher Ashley knew relatively
little about opera when he accepted
McNally’s invitation to be a part of
“Nights at the Opera.”
“The months preceding rehearsal I
really crammed,” he explains. “I learned
a lot about opera, but ultimately I real-
ized that the play is about obsession,
and that’s something we all understand.
Just about everyone thinks they know
everything about something.”
Photo by Carol Rosegg; courtesy of Kennedy Center
Gay actor John Glover, who grew up in Maryland, stars in the Kennedy Center’s
‘THE LISBON TRAVIATA.’
Some faultfinders claim that “The
Lisbon Traviata’s” first and second acts
read like two separate plays: The first
is all dish and laughs between old
friends Mendy and Stephen at
Mendy’s apartment; whereas, the sec-
ond — when Stephen returns to his
place to confront his unfaithful lover Dr.
Mike and his hot new young lover — is
operatic high drama.
Ashley, who is the artistic director
at the esteemed La Jolla Playhouse in
California and counts the staging of
Broadway hits “Memphis” and
“Xanadu” among his list of theatrical
feats, notes that unifying the play isn’t
impossible: “I’ve been able to lace the
dark humor from the first half of the
play into the more serious, darker hap-
penings in the second. This definitely
brings the piece together.”
And Ashley couldn’t be more
pleased with his leads, citing his
belief about gay actors portraying
gay characters.
“They have a leg up because
they’re more familiar with the people
and what’s happening on stage,”
explains Ashley, 45. “That certainly
seems to be the case here. As
Stephen, Malcolm [Gets] gives a fully
realized, compelling performance, and
every director should have the chance
to work with John. His talent and
enthusiasm are an inspiration. We’re
creating something very special here.”
 March 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 31

nightlifeagenda

safe haven for service members

Motley Bar’s ‘Active
Duty’ parties offer a
place to meet openly
By TYRONE FORD
Special to DC Agenda
About 13,000 service members
have been abruptly fired from their jobs
with the U.S. military as a result of 15
years of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” poli-
cy. In 2005, a bill (H.R. 1059, the Military
Readiness Enhancement Act) was
introduced to repeal the law and replace
it with a policy of non-discrimination
throughout the U.S. armed forces; it
never made it out of committee.
Reintroduced in 2007, again the
bill never made it out of committee. In
2009, the bill was reintroduced as
H.R. 1283, the Military Readiness
Enhancement Act of 2009 and is cur-
rently awaiting action by the
Democratic leadership in Congress.
Starting out as a group of service
members who were concerned about
the small numbers of Iraq and
Afghanistan veterans being included
in the debate over “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell,” Servicemembers United was
born. The mission statement for this
non-partisan and non-profit organiza-
tion includes the following list of goals:
• To engage in education and
advocacy on issues affecting gay
Motley Bar at EFN Lounge is sponsoring a unique, weekly party that provides a safe space for active duty military to mingle openly.
and lesbian troops and veterans.
• To serve as an associational organ-
ization for the gay and lesbian military,
veteran, and defense community.
• To represent the voice of
Iraq/Afghanistan-era gay and lesbian
troops and veterans.
• To advance and inform public
debate on the U.S. military’s “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
Servicemembers United provides
“substantive representation for gay
and lesbian troops and veterans in
the discourse and debate of the
issues that affect their service and
their lives.” As a non-profit organiza-
tion, Servicemembers United
requires donations and fundraising
efforts to operate.
And that’s where Motley Bar, the
upstairs of EFN Lounge, enters the
picture. Motley Bar, 1318 9th St.,
Photo by Joe Tresh
N.W., has thrown its support behind
this organization with a weekly
fundraising event aptly named
“Active Duty Thursday”.
Billed as a “safe haven” for those
serving in the military, “Active Duty
Thursdays” at Motley Bar offers an
open, comfortable, familiar environ-
ment for military personnel, which
eases the tension caused by frequent-
ing an openly gay establishment.
When presented with the concept of
a military night at Motley Bar,
owner/manager Bill Gray quickly adopt-
ed the idea. The weekly event has been
built on a word of mouth platform using
such social networking tools as
Facebook and Twitter with numbers of
attendees increasing weekly.
With the help of Servicemembers
United, Motley Bar uses this night to
help bridge connections between
those in attendance. When caught up
in the storm of being discharged from
the military there are many questions
that require answers not so easily
obtained; the connections made on
any Active Duty Thursday could
potentially provide answers.
From 9 p.m.-2 a.m. each Thursday,
“Active Duty” includes a mix of veterans,
military supporters and family members
of active duty personnel along with a
sizable number of active duty person-
nel. The bar is filled with various musi-
cal genres outside the normal dance
beats you find elsewhere: rock, punk,
ska, etc. Motley Bar also enables
iPhone users to access the bar’s
music library and control the playlist
via Apple’s “Remote” application.
Check out Motley Bar’s Active Duty
Thursdays Facebook page and
Servicemembers United has a
detailed site that provides much more
information. For general inquiries
about Servicemembers United, e-mail
info@servicemembersunited.org.

“A SUPERCHARGED
EROTIC THRILLER!”
-Caryn James, MARIE CLAIRE
D
D
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JULIANNE LIAM AMANDA

MOORE NEESON SEYFRIED
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32 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010

socialagenda: mautner project’s 20th anniversary gala

DC Agenda photos by Michael Key

PW’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL

Twice voted Maryland’s Best Gay Bar
(Baltimore Outland News, Maryland R-Group)
Top Ten List Area’s Best Burgers
(WTOP Listeners Poll)

Sundays
• Happy Hour All Night
• Games on the Big Screen

Mondays
• Trivia and 50 Cents Off Bottles and Drafts
• Games on the Big Screen

Tuesdays
• Happy Hour All Night

Wednesdays
• Free Pool, 50 Cents Off Bottles and Drafts

Thursdays
• Karaoke in the Show Lounge

Fridays
We Offer • Alternating Weeks, 1st and 3rd DJ,
a Full Menu 2nd and 4th Drag Show

Saturdays
A short drive from DC, Baltimore and Annapolis. • Karaoke
Come see what you’ve been missing! • Drag Bingo 3rd Sat. of Every Month

PW’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL

9855 Washington Blvd. N • Laurel, MD 20723
301-498-4840 • www.pwssportsbar.com
march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 33
34 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010

dcagenda lgbt nightlife guide

dceagle.com
washington, dc The popular Levi/leather bar’s origins date
to the 1960s. Features billiards, regular
LARRY’S LOUNGE
1836 18th St., NW
30 DEGREES tournaments and other special events. Washington, DC 20009
1639 R St., NW Located near the convention center, two 202-483-1483
Washington, DC 20009 blocks north of Gallery Place Metro. Dupont Circle area bar and restaurant
202-462-6569 popular with both men and women.
cobaltdc.com DELTA ELITE
In Dupont Circle area; popular with men 3734 10th St. NE MIXTAPE
but check schedule for other events. Washington, DC 20017 Different locations
202-546-5979 mixtapedc.com
1409 PLAYBILL CAFÉ thedeltaelite.com twitter.com/MIXTAPEdc
1409 14th St., NW Longtime bar popular with African- Alternative dance party for queer men and
Washington, DC 20005 American men in Brookland women featuring electro, alt-pop, indie
202-265-3055 neighborhood; hosts regular ladies night. rock, house, disco and New Wave. Check
Logan Circle area restaurant and bar Check web site for special events. web site for 2010 schedule of events.
(Dupont Circle Metro) popular with the
theater crowd and featuring open-mike DIK BAR MOVA
nights, karaoke and other special events. 1637 17th St., NW 1435 P St., NW
Washington, DC 20009 Washington, DC 20005
ACADEMY OF 202-328-0100 202-797-9730
WASHINGTON dupontitaliankitchen.com halodc.com
thewashingtonacademy.com In Dupont Circle area, above Trendy Logan Circle bar and lounge
Longtime organizers of drag events in the Dupont Italian Kitchen. popular with men features regular happy
city; most events held at Ziegfeld’s. See hour and other specials. Formerly known
web site for full list of upcoming events.

ANNIE’S
DUPLEX DINER
2004 18th St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
as Halo, MOVA re-launched in early
2010 as a environmentally friendly bar
with an emphasis on community service.
DC Eagle
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
1609 17th St., NW 202-265-9599
Washington, DC 20009 duplexdiner.com NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
202-232-0395 Popular restaurant and bar in the 900 U St., NW
In Dupont Circle area; popular longtime Adams Morgan area; happy hour Washington, DC 20001
restaurant and steakhouse with recently
renovated Upstairs Lounge.
specials and many other special events.
See web site for updated schedule.
202-332-6355
nelliessportsbar.com
baltimore LEON’S/
TYSON PLACE
Sports bar featuring poker events, drag 1722 870 Park Ave.
APEX EFN LOUNGE/MOTLEY BAR bingo, trivia contests and other specials. 1722 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21201
1415 22nd St., NW 1318 9th St., NW Popular bar with massive outdoor deck Baltimore, MD 21201 410-539-4993
Washington, DC 20037 Washington, DC 20001 and plenty of TVs for watching sports. Multi-level after-hours dance club attracts leonsbaltimore.tripod.com
202-296-0505 202-341-8281 • 202-642-4537 a mixed crowd but remains gay-friendly. In business for more than 50 years,
apex-dc.com efnlounge.com • motleybar.com OMEGA Leon’s is the oldest gay bar in
In Dupont Circle area; popular with men, but twitter.com/EFN_Lounge 2122 P St., NW BALTIMORE EAGLE Baltimore and among the oldest in
check schedule regularly for other events. Funky, edgy neighborhood lounge in Washington, DC 20036 2002 N. Charles St. the country. Friendly bar with jukebox
Logan Circle with special events galore. 202-223-4917 Baltimore, MD 21218 gets especially busy on Sunday nights.
BACHELOR’S MILL Popular with men and women; features omegadc.com 410-82-EAGLE Tyson Place is a restaurant bar
1104 8th St., SE dancing, videos. Check web site for Dupont Circle area bar and club popular Longtime Levi/leather bar not far located behind Leon’s with a
Washington, DC 20003 event schedule. with men featuring dancing, drag and from Mount Vernon offers friendly bar, separate entrance.
202-544-1931 other special events. billiards, outdoor patio, videos and a
Longtime bar popular with African- FAB LOUNGE full store for your leather needs. PORT IN A STORM
American men in Capitol Hill area. 1805 Connecticut Ave., NW PHASE 1 Mostly men, but welcoming to women. 4330 E. Lombard St.
Washington, DC 20009 525 8th St., SE Baltimore, MD 21224
BANANA CAFÉ 202-797-1122 Washington, DC 20003 CLUB PHOENIX 410-534-0014
500 8th St., SE thefablounge.com phase1dc.com 1 W. Biddle St. Friendly neighborhood lesbian bar gets
Washington, DC 20003 In Dupont Circle area; popular with men twitter.com/phase1dc Baltimore, MD 21201 especially popular when the Ravens
202-543-5906 but hosts regular women’s events. The Phase opened in 1970 and remains 410-837-3906 play. Features billiards, music and more.
bananacafedc.com a popular lesbian bar and club. Features Mount Vernon-area downstairs bar
Popular Capitol Hill area restaurant and FIREPLACE regular special events, including Jell-O attracts men and women; friendly service. QUEST
bar (Eastern Market Metro) for both men 2161 P St., NW wrestling, 80s theme nights and more. 3607 Fleet St.
and women. Features Cuban, Mexican Washington, DC 20037 Check web site for details. DRINKERY Baltimore, MD 21224
and Puerto Rican cuisine. 202-293-1293 205 W. Read St. 410-563-2617
In Dupont Circle area; neighborhood bar REMINGTONS Baltimore, MD 21201 Neighborhood bar in Highlandtown
BLOWOFF popular with men. 639 Pennsylvania Ave., SE 410-225-3100 area is popular with men and women
815 V St., NW Washington, DC 20003 Another of Baltimore’s friendly neighbor- and offers billiards.
Washington, DC 20001 GREEN LANTERN 202-543-3113 hood bars in Mount Vernon featuring
blowoff.us 1335 Green Court, NW remingtonswdc.com billiards, jukebox and welcoming service. SAPPHOS
Created by musicians Bob Mould and Washington, DC 20005 twitter.com/remingtonsWDC 1001 N. Charles St.
Richard Morel, Blowoff is an occasional greenlanterndc.com Popular country/Western nightclub in Capitol GALLERY Baltimore, MD 21201
dance event popular with men. Events are twitter.com/greenlanterndc Hill neighborhood with more than 6,000 1735 Maryland Ave. 410-752-7133
held in clubs around the country; D.C.’s Friendly bar for men hosts regular happy square feet of space for dancing and billiards. Baltimore, MD 21201 centralstationpub.com
Blowoff parties are held at the 9:30 club hours and special events, including One half block west of Eastern Market Metro. 410-539-6965 Part of the Grand Central complex,
in the popular U Street corridor. karaoke and shirtless drink special Longtime bar and restaurant popular Sappho’s attracts a lesbian crowd
nights. Check web site for details. TOWN DANCEBOUTIQUE with African-American clientele. and offers comfy couches, outdoor
B.O.I. PRODUCTIONS McPherson Square Metro. 2009 8th St., NW patio and more in its second
boimarketing.com//community.html Washington, DC 20001 GRAND CENTRAL floor location.
Organizes regular women’s events around JACK’S 202-234-TOWN 1001 N. Charles St.
town. Check web site for updated information. 1527 17th St., NW towndc.com Baltimore, MD 21201
Washington, DC 20036 Dance club and bar popular with men 410-752-7133
COBALT
1639 R St., NW
202-332-6767
jacksdc.com
and women, features regular drag per-
formances. U Street Metro.
centralstationpub.com
Large entertainment complex featuring
northern va
Washington, DC 20009 Dupont Circle area restaurant popular friendly pub, lesbian bar Sappho’s upstairs FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
202-462-6569 with men and women. ULTRABAR and a dance club on the first floor. 555 23rd St. South
cobaltdc.com 911 F St., NW Arlington, VA 22202
In Dupont Circle area; part of complex JR.’S Washington, DC 20004 HIPPO 703-685-0555
of LGBT businesses at this address, 1519 17th St., NW ultrabardc.com 1 W. Eager St. Freddie Lutz’s Virginia establishment
including Level One restaurant on Washington, DC 20036 twitter.com/UltraBar Baltimore, MD 21201 includes a restaurant and friendly bar,
street level and 30 Degrees bar. 202-328-0090 Large dance club with gay-friendly 410-547-0069 regular specials and is popular with
jrswdc.com events and vibe located downtown near clubhippo.com men and women. Crystal City Metro.
CREW CLUB Longtime friendly Dupont Circle area Metro Center. Large club popular with men and
1321 14th St., NW bar popular with men; videos, regular women featuring billiards, top
Washington, DC 20005 special events. ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS DJs/dancing, karaoke, videos and
202-319-1333
crewclub.net LACE
1824 Half St., SW
Washington, DC 20024
more. Opened in 1972, Hippo’s motto
is “where everyone is welcome.”
laurel, md
Men’s 24-hour gym in Logan Circle area, 2214 Rhode Island Ave., NE 202-863-0670 PW’S
featuring steam rooms, lounges, Washington, DC 20018 secretsdc.com JAY’S ON READ 9855 N. Washington Blvd.
private dressing rooms and more. 202-832-3888 Featuring all-nude male dancers 225 W. Read St. Laurel, MD 20723
lacedc.com Wednesdays-Sundays, drag performances, Baltimore, MD 21201 301-498-8202
DC EAGLE Every night is ladies night at Lace; large dance floor and many regular 410-225-0188 pwssportsbar.com
639 New York Ave., NW features regular special events for women special events, contests and more. Piano bar attracts a mostly male Restaurant and bar is popular with gay
Washington, DC 20001 in Brookland neighborhood. Check web Large parking lot available; located in crowd, though welcoming to women and lesbian sports fans and is known
202-347-6025 site for details on happy hour specials. Buzzard’s Point warehouse district. and straight patrons. for its superb burgers.
 march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 35

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what you’ve been
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Private Rooms & Lockers
Must have valid I.D.

www.inspot.org
All STD/HIV testing Information
36 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010
dcagendaclassifieds
LEGAL NOTICES
SUPERIOR COURT OF
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
CIVIL DIVISION C.A. NO. 0001815-10
IN RE: HOWARD LEE SMITH, Applicant
ORDER OF PUBLICATION - CHANGE OF NAME
Howard Lee Smith, III having filed a complaint for
judgement changing Howard Lee Smith, III name
to Cookie Lee Smith and having applied to the
court for an Order of Publication of the notice
required by law in such cases; it is by the Court this
22 day of March 2010. Ordered, that all persons
concerned show cause, if any there be, on or
before the 1st day of May 2010, why the prayers of
said complaint should not be granted; provided that
a copy of this order be published once a week for
three consecutive weeks before said day in the DC
Agenda. Provided further that pursuant to SCR
205(b) notice be sent to applicants creditors by
registered or certified mail and that proof of service
mailing be made in the manner provided in SCR
Probate Rule 19(b). A True Copy Test: Clerk
Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
MASSAGE
MARCH MADNESS MASSAGE SALE: Buy 2 & get
3rd for ONLY $40.00. Reg price is $55/hour. Package
price is only $150 for 3 massages prepaid! A fantas-
tic massage at a bargain price. Trained, certified w/18
years of experience. Call Ron 202-641-1078.
INDULGE YOURSELF WITH RELAXING, deep tis-
sue massage. Feel the stress leave your body. CMT
with 15 years experience. Located in Logan/Dupont
Circle. www.DCMassageTherapist.com. Visa, MC.
David (202) 213-9646 Lic#MT410
N.ARLINGTON CMT - Enjoy your massage in a pri-
vate, in-home studio. Great location. Clean, quiet, dis-
creet. mymassagebygary.com - 301-704-1158
GREAT TOUCH! Full sensual body massage by
Latin Male. Swedish, deep tissue. Relieve stress!
Parking available. In/out. 703-401-9093.
ITALIAN JOCK Give full body massage. Masculine,
muscular, VGL masseur, offers, full-body, Swedish,
sports, deep tissue massage on a table, near fire-
place, including stretching. See my photos on
www.massagem4m.com/jockguy. Located down-
town, parking available. Brian 312-961-7724.
DUPONT MEDICAL BLDG
English experience massage & acupressure thera-
pist. Take away the pain & De-stress. Enjoy a great
treatment. Professional studio, great location. Peter
(202) 468-Heal (4325). ww.acupressuredc.com.
RELAXING, SOOTHING MASSAGE by
experienced massage therapist. Convenient
Arlington location. Evenings and weekends.
$60/hr, $85/90 min. Visa/MC
Errol (703) 525-4616. www.goodhands2.biz
RELAX, REGENERATE, REJUVENATE The
3 Rs to Health. Experienced Certified
Massage Therapist helps you with the 3Rs:
Swedish, Deep Tissue, Reiki, Energetics. Call
Bruce (202) 491-8306. MT0697.
ASIAN MALE MASSAGE Swedish, Deep Tissue,
Sports, Shiatsu, Stretching Techniques. Intuitive,
Therapeutic. Glebe Rd/395. $70/hr; $90/1.5 hrs.
Dant65@hotmail.com. (202) 425-5105.
EXPERTLY CRAFTED MASSAGE BY DAVID.
SWEDISH, DEEP TISSUE, ATHLETIC, PAIN
MANAGEMENT. DUPONT. (202) 257-9726
WEDDINGS & SERVICES
RC PRIEST, AMERICAN CATHOLIC AFFILIATION,
licensed DC marriage officiant. Many years experi-
ence working with gay & straight couples in secular &
religious services. No venue too small. Let me help you
make your special day simple, elegant, memorable.
Call Ed (202) 445-0366, ed.ingebretsen@gmail.com.
PHOTOGRAPHY
STEVE O’TOOLE PHOTOGRAPHY Fine Art
Photographer for portraits, weddings & dating
photos for the internet. Call (703) 532-3031.
www.steveotoolephotography.com
LIMOUSINES/DRIVERS
KASPERS LIVERY SERVICE Since 1987 Gay
Owned Luxury Sedan or Stretch Limousine 24 HR
Reservations (202) 554-2471 or (800) 455-2471.
www.KasperLivery.com
COUNSELING
LGBTQ AFFIRMING THERAPY AT DUPONT
METRO. Individuals, couples, families, adolescents.
Over 15 years serving the community. Mike
Giordano, LICSW. mike.giordano.msw@gmail.com,
www.WhatIHearYouSaying.com. 202/460-6384
COUNSELING FOR GAY MEN. Individual/couple
counseling with volunteer peer counselor. Gay
Men's Counseling Community. 202-265-6495. gay-
menscounseling.org. No fees, donation requested.
MONDAY EVENING GAY MEN'S THERAPY
GROUP seeking new members to join some prior
members for range of topics including relationships,
family, dating, gay marriage, faith, and positive self-
image. Rosslyn location. Twelve week duration
begins on April 5. Contact Doug Nelson, LPC at
703 470 2938 or dnlpc@aol.com for enrollment.
LEGAL SERVICES
FULL SERVICE LAW FIRM Representing the GLBT
community for over 25 years. Family adoptions, estate
planning, real estate, immigration, employment. (301)
891-2200. Silber, Perlman, Sigman & Tilev, P.A. &
Kirstin Gulling, Of Counsel. www.SP-Law.com
EMPLOYMENT LAW ATTORNEY - Wrongful
Discharge, Sexual Harrassment, Contract Review,
Whitleblowers. The Law Office of Carl Roller
(202) 531-2777, www.carlroller.com
BUY/USED BOOKS
ALL GAY THEMES. G BOOKS. 1520 U St, NW. 202-
986-9697 Brandonchan99@msn.com. 4pm-10pm.
P.S. our lubes, DVDs & gear cheaper than online.
IT'S TAX TIME!!!
Tax Return Preparation -
Professional Tax Advice -
Serving the Entire Community -
Specializing in
Same Sex Couples
Michael L. Fine, CSA
(202) 664-2490
2035 2nd St. NW - #GL-05,
Washington, DC 20001
finessetax@gmail.com
www.finessetax.com
Voted Washington Blade's "Best
Business person of the Year"
'06, '07' & '08.
PETS & SUPPLIES
ADOPT AN ADORABLE PUPPY OR DOG All-breed,
non-profit rescue. 100% volunteer run. Donations wel-
come & needed. www.aforeverhome.org.
FURNITURE FOR SALE
GLASS AND CHROME. As good as new. Drop
leaf table with no drop. Extensions swing under
table in fluid easy to execute motion. Best offer.
LBrown@dcagenda.com
MATCHING MODERN CHERRY COFFEE TABLES.
Immaculate. Chrome appointments. Best offer.
LBrown@dcagenda.com
NO LONGER AVAILABLE: “PAVILION
CHAIRS” and matching sofa. Get the look with-
out spending big bucks. High quality reproduc-
tions barred from further production. Get the look
now for less. Chairs $1800 each Sofa $2500
LBrown@dcagenda.com
EAMES OFFICE CHAIRS. Modern design com-
bined with function and comfort. Take one or all
five. $300 each. LBrown@dcagenda.com
MOVING
JOHN HENRY MOVERS Since 1990, the area's
favorite gay owned crew. Expert packing, pianos.
Experienced, equipped & punctual as hell.
Cheapskates love us! 703-597-5561
GULLIVER'S MOVERS - Swift & gentle reloca-
tion's. Packing, pianos, antiques. Local & long dis-
tance 202-483-9579 www.gulliversmovers.com
ROOFING CONTRACTOR
REPAIRS • NEW ROOFS • GUTTER CLEANING
Sheet Metal Certified Applications
Roofing of General Tire &
Slate Tile Firestone Products
Gutters EPDM
Skylights Tin
Cedar Shake Copper
Shingles Built In Gutter
Chimney Restoration Roof Inspections
P.J. McTavish & Co., Inc.
Licensed • Bonded • Insured
301-476-8551
EMERGENCY REPAIRS – 24 HOUR SERVICE
Serving the community for over 20 years!
BBB · Washington Checkbook · Angie’s List
NRCA · NSA · Energy Star Rated System
CLEANING
TOO NEAT GUYS INC. Residential & commercial
cleaning in DC & Northern VA. Over 12 years
experience, gay owned, licensed, bonded &
insured (703) 622-5983.
POWER CLEANERS, LLC. Experienced, depend-
able service seven days a week. Gay owned and
operated. Call Matt for free estimates at 202-352-
0739 or visit www.powercleaningdc.com
A CLEANING SERVICE invites you to relax
while our team of experienced, dependable &
friendly professionals provides top-quality
cleaning service to your home or office.
Excellent refs, satisfaction guaranteed.
Licensed, bonded & insured. Reasonable rates.
Call today for a free estimate. (703) 892-8648.
www.acleaningserviceinc.com
FLOORING
GREEN, ECO-FRIENDLY HARDWOOD FLOOR
REFINISHING Specializing in all areas of wood
floors, installations, dust-free sanding and refin-
ishing. Call 202-468-2660 for a free estimate!
HOME
SHARE/DC
CAP HILL (2-1/2 blocks eastern mkt) small bright
furn/unfurn BR share w/ 3 leather friendly men,
$595+, Pete 202-544-5688
SALE / MD
SILVER SPRING $265,000
Terrific Brick/Stone House! Fireplace!
Remodeled! Fenced! Yard! Driveway!
Walk to Grocery/Shopping Plaza!
LARRY PERRIN, Realtor (R)
301.983.0601 LJPerrin@aol.com
RENT/VA
FURNISHED APT, 1 BR, 1 BA, $995/ month,
Walk To Huntington Metro, All utilities included.
703-485-5239, http://www.idkent.com/apartment
SHARE/VA
ALEX $650 Private furnished BR & BA w/ Shower
& Jacuzzi Tub, near So. Towers & Express bus to
Pentagon. Several parks, quiet, treed neighbor-
hood, 2 Westies, Wi-Fi, Sat. TV + 1/3 utilities. Call
Steve 571-228-3033.
HERNDON – Seeking prof NS M to share
newly remodeled, 3 lvl, 3 BR, 3.5 ba TH.
11x11 rm & priv BA. $800/mo. Util incl. Call
Kevin (703) 955-1982
 adult
WHEN QUALITY COUNTS Male/TV/TS,
202-487-3660, www.tops69.com
SENSUOUS BOD 2 BOD Friendly, creative, erot-
ic massage…Your willing body, for a toe curling
experience! Chad (202) 329-7097
THAI-AMERICAN – NUDE BODY MASSAGE, 27
yrs., 5'8", 150 lbs., friendly, handsome, smooth,
nice body. In (Alexandria VA)/out 10AM - 10PM
Call Robert (703) 655-2130
MICHELANGELO BODY + Ivy League Brain at
your service 24/7. Escort/Model for Men &
Couples, Blond/Blue 6'2", 195#, 46ch 34w, toned
tanned smooth (571) 255-0584.
HI! I’M ERIC Nationally Certified, Irish-Italian, Ex- US
Navy, Swimmer, Gymnast offering exceptional deep
tissue/bodywork for IN SHAPE GENTLEMEN.
Private Studio (Shower, Metro 2.5 blks, Prkg). Call
(202) 544-7905 or (202) 321-8439. In Calls only.
ALL-AMERICAN BOY 24y/o, 5'9, 138lbs, 29w.
Very cute & clean-cut, w/a smooth lean build.
Affectionate & versatile, loves older guys.
HotDCkid@gmail.com 202-365-9065
ENASARIS 5 11" 155lbs 30yo 9X6 Versatile
Top 202.271.0440
COMBAT DUNGEON MASSAGE
Former British Army Drill Sgt, ready to take on
new recruits for dungeon/military training! Sgt
Cain, 'Sir'. 202-544-8094.
M2M SENSUAL MASSAGE, by Latino, 45, in-shape,
shaved head. OUT CALLS ONLY! 202-276-9272
HAIRY HANDSOME MASCULINE endowed
bodybuilder call (202) 714-3030
SPANIARD, 6'1, 190 LBS, masculine, hazel eyes,
swimmers' body, big biceps and well-endowed.
Dario, 202-258-2989
BODYWORK
MASSAGE SILVER SPRING Spanish/Irish,
160 lbs, 5'10" great shape, beach tan,
strong soothing hands. Full-body erotic
experience, masculine energy. Stress
release. Comfortable studio, private home.
$70/hr. Days/evenings, metro. BRUNO
(301) 580-2716.
march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 37
bodi contac two and four hand massage all day
and early evenings call kit 240 604 3843
EXPERT SENSUAL SWEDISH, Thai Nude
Massage by Hot Asian Boy. Smooth, very hand-
some, very athletic. Visiting from LA until early May.
In/Out call available. Call anytime 323-317-8970.
EROTIC MASSAGE by attractive certified therapist.
Deep tissue, Swedish, table, Established clientele,
In/Out, Hotel calls welcome. David (202) 421-8900.
MALE MASSAGE by 31 yo, 5’ 9”, 170 lbs, Hot
Latino with a special touch. Offering full body
release in a private atmosphere. In/out. Parking
Available, hotels welcome, 240-462-8669
STRESSED OUT? Relax your body, mind and
spirit with strong,skilled & caring hands.
Give it a try! No calls after 10 PM! Call Manuel at
202-251-1652, Bodywork202@hotmail.com
"SATISFACTION GUARANTEED"
BLONDE GI 6’0”, 165LBS Good looking, athlet-
ic, well-endowed. Sensual Massage & More.
Eli (703) 599-2668.
Want a
subscription to
dcagenda?
BEAR HUNTING Strong sensual paws for
Contact
your willing body. Tom (202) 289-7367.
Robbie
Barnett at
rbarnett@dcagenda.com
Looking to advertise in
dcagenda
BEST TOUCH in ADAMS MORGAN. Deep tis-
sue, therapeutic sensual combo, all kinds of pres-
sure, 8 yrs experience. Call VLAD 646-463-2804
classifieds?
Contact Phil Rockstroh
EROTIC SWEDISH MASSAGE - healthy clean cut
guy, 6'1", 160lbs, Dupont Circle, massage table, noon at prockstroh@dcagenda.com
to 1:00 a.m., indulge your body. Bill 202-728-0238
38 dcagenda.com • march 26, 2010

Arlington N. STELLAR BALLSTON LOCALE! $629,900

JUST LISTED • OPEN SUNDAY 1-4PM

Stroll to Metro and the surrounding urban amenities from this
fantastic 2 BR/2.5 Bath end unit townhome in the heart of Ballston.
Enjoy quality all brick construction, 3 finished levels, walk-in level
family room opening to privately fenced backyard patio, remodeled
eat-in kitchen, updated baths, formal dining room and living room
with fireplace, master BR w/bath ensuite, and a 1 car garage plus
parking and lots of storage space. All conveniently located just steps to
Ballston Metro, movies/entertainment, restaurants/dining, and
Ballston Commons. 4400 N. 7th Street.

DAVE LLOYD & ASSOCIATES

703-593-3204 • WWW.DAVELLOYD.NET

DEENNY
NNY H ORNER
EVERS & CO. Real Estate, Inc.
703.629.8455 (c) 202.464.8400 (o) Denny@DennyHorner.com

Owned and Operated
by NRT Incorporated
A tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers and up to $6,500 for qualified current
home owners is available for those buyers under contract on or before April 30 with a closing by June 30.
Time left to purchase: 34 DAYS Time left to close: 93 DAYS
DUPONT
1506 17th ST #12
$399,900
• Top Floor Overlooking Dupont
• One Bedroom with Sitting Area
• Granite, Stainless &
Hardwoods
• Two Fireplaces
STANTON SCHNEPP
202-997-5192
WWW.STANTONSCHNEPP.COM
ADAMS MORGAN
1616 Belmont St
NW #D
$569,900
Fabulous Community in a
Convenient Location.
Wood Burning Fireplace,
Built-In Bookcases, Brand
New French Doors to a
Private Fenced Patio,
Renovated Eat-In Kitchen
w/Granite Counters &
Ceramic Tile Floor, 3
Renovated Baths, Wood
Floors Throughout, Crown
Molding, Bike Storage &
Unassigned Parking for 2
Cars! Harris Teeter 1 Block
Away & Walk to Metro.
COLDWELL BANKER DUPONT
202-387-6180
“The most tools, the most technology, the most leads, the best working environment. Sound interesting?
Call me to discuss the advantages of Coldwell Banker. We offer more so our agents can do more for our clients.”
Kevin McDuffie, GRI, Managing Broker
kmcduffie@cbmove.com • 202.439.2435 (c) • 1606 17th Street NW
march 26, 2010 • dcagenda.com 39
Countdown to savings -
the tax credit provides an outstanding
opportunity for home buyers!
202-387-6180
OPEN HOUSE LOGAN CIRCLE
SUNDAY 1-3PM 1606 13th St. NW
LOGAN CIRCLE $1,129,000
1111 11 St NW #105 Gorgeous 4 story
$419,900 Victorian townhome in
2 Bed/2 BA historic Logan Circle.
Like new, light Completely renovated,
filled end unit on top floor master suite,
the first floor. drop-dead gourmet
Two Bedroom, kitchen, 4 f/p, hdwd. flrs,
2 full baths, front & rear gardens,
dbl. sink in master CAC, Fam. Rm.........this
bath. Black granite exquisite home has it
kitchen and bam- ALL!! Stroll to Metro,
boo floors. In-unit DUPONT restaurants, shopping,
central air, washer/ 1607 S St NW etc... the finest in Logan
dryer. Loads of $1,595,000 Circle living! DON'T MISS!
closet and cup- Grand Victorian Town home with modern ameni-
board space. ties. This beautiful home features 4 bedrooms, 2 OPEN SUNDAY,
Close to Metro. bathrooms in the master unit as well as a 1 bed- MARCH 28TH 1 - 4
room, 1 bathroom in the separate suite below. SIMPLY THE BEST!
Includes 2 car parking space in the
heart of Dupont Circle.
MICHAEL MARRIOTT DWIGHT MORTENSEN 202-361-4400 JOHN LUMSDEN
801-201-7373 CELL DAVID BEDIZ 202-352-8456 202-288-3185
WWW.DCGOTOGUYS.COM WWW.DWIGHTANDDAVID.COM JBLUMSDEN@AOL.COM
COLUMBIA U ST/LOGAN
HEIGHTS
1309 Euclid Street, NW
$1,300,000 909 T Street NW
Great 4 unit, 4 level $999,900
Victorian in Columbia
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Tickets at the Box Office or charge by phone (202) 467-4600

Order online at kennedy-center.org | Groups (202) 416-8400 | TTY (202) 416-8524
Theater at the Kennedy Center is presented with the generous support of Stephen and Chris
Christine
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