dcagenda

A night to national local

the lgbtq community’s news source

remember agenda agenda

Locals like Tia Terchila
prep for a prom night
do-over at 4th annual
Capital Queer Prom.
PAGE 26
Rep. Eric Massa's Gov. Bob McDonnell,
sudden resignation Va. college students
raises questions about react to att'y general’s
his sexual orientation. recent anti-gay attack.
PAGE 8 PAGE 4

dcagenda.com • vol. 2, issue 11 • march 12, 2010

‘Today was like a dream for me’

D.C. couples, politicians
celebrate arrival of
same-sex marriage
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@dcagenda.com
Under the watchful eye of nearly
two-dozen television cameras and
news photographers, three same-sex
couples exchanged wedding vows
Tuesday morning before about 150
guests at a ceremony held less than
a mile from the White House.
The weddings, held at the Human
Rights Campaign headquarters,
were among the first to take place
after the city’s same-sex marriage
law took effect last week.
D.C. residents Angelisa Young, 47,
and Sinjoyla Townsend, 41, who have
been a couple for 12 years, were the
first to say “I do” after exchanging rings
before a barrage of clicking cameras.
“Today was like a dream for me,”
Young said after the ceremony. “I always
felt like it would come true. But it’s here
now, and it’s really real, we want to thank
everyone who made this possible.”
Next to exchange their wedding
vows at the ceremony were Reginald
Stanley and Rocky Galloway, both 50.
As Rev. Sylvia Sumter performed the
wedding, the couples’ two 16-month-
old daughters watched with interest as
they were held in the arms of two adult
family members just a few feet away.
The last of the three couples to
marry during the HRC ceremony
were Rev. Elder Darlene Garner and
Rev. Lorilyn Candy Holmes, mem-
bers of the Metropolitan Community
Church of Washington, which has a
mostly gay congregation. Rev. DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
Dwayne Johnson, pastor of the
church, performed the marriage. Rev. Elder Darlene Garner (left) and Rev. Lorilyn Candy Holmes were married Tuesday at the Human Rights
Campaign headquarters by Rev. Dwayne Johnson, pastor of Metropolitan Community Churches, Washington.
Continues on page 14

Wone hearing to address S&M

Defense team says
devices have no
relevance to case
politicalagenda By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Joe Novotny enjoying role as openly gay 'voice' of lchibbaro@dcagenda.com
the U.S. House of Representatives. Page 10 A prosecutors’ request to introduce
evidence that police found a collection
of S&M devices in the home of three
gay men implicated in the 2006 murder
of Washington attorney Robert Wone
was expected to be debated Friday dur-
ing a D.C. Superior Court hearing.
The hearing follows a prosecu-
tors’ February court filing seeking
permission to submit evidence at
trial alleging that defendants Joseph
Price, Victor Zaborsky and Dylan
socialagenda Ward engaged in “conduct” not iden-
tified in the charges pending against
Nicholas Rodriguez, gay star of Arena’s ‘Piazza,’ them that could further link them to
headed to big screen in ‘Sex and the City 2.’ Page 28 the murder. The trial is scheduled to
begin May 10.
Visit dcagenda.com for updates
on today's Wone hearing.
The three have been indicted on
charges of obstruction of justice, conspir-
acy to obstruct justice, and evidence tam-
pering in connection with Wone’s August
2006 stabbing death inside their house
near Dupont Circle. Authorities have yet
to charge anyone with the murder.
The men have pleaded not guilty to
the charges and have said an unknown
intruder killed Wone after entering their
home through a rear door while they
slept in their respective bedrooms.
According to the prosecutors’ filing
last month, the new evidence includes
a collection of sex toys and S&M
Photo courtesy of Radio Free Asia
books and manuals seized from the
defendants’ home. Some of the Washington attorney Robert Wone
devices are used to tie and restrain
someone engaged in S&M activity
was killed in August 2006. Three gay
men face charges in connection with
while other devices seized are used to the case, but authorities have yet to
charge anyone with the murder.
Continues on page 6
2 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
 march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 3

T E R R E N C E M c N A L LY ’ S

From comedies and dramas to musical theater and movies, Terrence McNally
has secured his place among the great modern playwrights. This spring, the
Kennedy Center presents a collection of three McNally plays on one of his
favorite subjects—opera.

D.C. PREMIERE

Golden Age
Directed by Walter Bobbie
with
Rebecca Brooksher Jeffrey Carlson Benjamin Cook Roe Hartrampf
Marc Kudisch Hoon Lee Christopher Michael McFarland
George Morfogen Amanda Mason Warren

Now–Apr. 4 | Family Theater | All Tickets $49

The Lisbon Traviata

Directed by Christopher Ashley
with
Malcolm Gets John Glover Chris Hartl Manu Narayan

Mar. 20–Apr. 11 | Terrace Theater | Tickets from $55

Tyne Daly in
Master Class
Directed by
Stephen Wadsworth
with
Clinton Brandhagen Jeremy Cohen Laquita Mitchell Ta’u Pupu’a Alexandra Silber
®
Tony Winner for Best Play
Mar. 25–Apr. 18 | Eisenhower Theater | Tickets from $25
Theater at the Kennedy Center is presented with the generous support of Stephen and Christine Schwarzman.
Additional support for Master Class is provided by The Laura Pels Foundation.
4 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
localagenda
Uncertainty remains after Md. marriage opiniondon’t think it’s necessary for them to
Attorney general’s
finding brings more
questions than answers
By HARLEY DENNETT
Special to DC Agenda
Even the experts are uncertain
how Maryland courts will now treat
legally married same-sex couples.
Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) promised
state agencies would comply with
Attorney General Doug Gansler’s
finding two weeks ago that Maryland
may legally recognize out-of-state
same-sex marriages.
But circuit courts that handle fam-
ily violence protection orders and
divorce cases are not bound by
O’Malley’s directive and must consid-
er the opinion on its own merits,
according to several legal experts
who spoke with DC Agenda.
“It’s certainly their prerogative
whether to follow that. I would like to
think the courts would accept the
opinion, but we don’t know,” said
Barbara Babb, director of the
University of Baltimore’s Center for
Families, Children and the Courts.
“Legislative direction would cer-
tainly be a help to the courts, but I
Virginia colleges mum on Cuccinelli letter
Student groups push
back against anti-gay
attorney general
By HARLEY DENNETT
Special to DC Agenda
Public colleges and universities in
Virginia were considering their options
this week after state Attorney General
Ken Cuccinelli declared their policies bar-
ring discrimination against gays illegal.
Many student and LGBT groups
mobilized against Cuccinelli’s letter
March 4 to 40 school presidents, which
says the institutions cannot treat sexu-
al orientation, gender identity and gen-
der expression as protected classes in
non-discrimination policies. But the
schools largely reserved comment.
Only one major institution, Virginia
Commonwealth University, released
before DC Agenda deadline any official
statement, but it said only that students,
faculty and staff would be consulted.
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) seemed to
offer the schools a small reprieve earlier
this week. A spokesperson affirmed the
governor’s view that only the General
Assembly can extend anti-discrimina-
tion protections to a new class, a view
consistent with Cuccinelli’s advice.
But the spokesperson, Tucker
Martin, noted executive branch
appointments to school boards
would not focus on this issue.
“The governor will appoint board
members based solely on their abili-
ty and on their strong commitment to
educational excellence in Virginia.
The governor expects that no
do the right thing.”
Family law contains several rights
and administrative advantages
reserved for married couples and
designed to protect families in the
event of divorce. If the courts choose
to recognize Gansler’s opinion,
same-sex married couples would
have access to family breakdown
services, child support, alimony and
division of marital property.
Other safety-net statutes that are
currently available to same-sex fami-
lies but made easier with legal mar-
riage recognition include child-in-need
and civil protection orders in the event
of neglect or domestic violence.
But it gets more complex during
the creation of a family. Stepchild
adoption would be significantly
streamlined for married same-sex
couples, Babb said, but not all mar-
riage certificates are equal.
“Although Maryland currently
authorizes second-parent adoption,
it would be very clear — assuming
the judges follow the attorney gener-
al’s opinion,” she said.
But children who have not been for-
mally adopted by their non-biological
parent could be left in legal limbo,
Babb said, because presumptive par-
enting rights have not traditionally
One week after Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli declared college policies
barring discrimination against gays illegal, a spokesperson for Gov. Bob McDonnell
said the governor expects ‘no Virginia college or university, or any other state agency,
will engage in discrimination of any kind.’
Virginia college or university, or any
other state agency, will engage in
discrimination of any kind.”
Equality Virginia CEO Jon Blair
called on McDonnell to prove his
stance against discrimination by ask-
ing the General Assembly to send
him a bill adding sexual orientation to
the state’s policy.
“Attorney General Cuccinelli’s letter
was Gov. McDonnell’s opportunity to
prove whether he was the Robert
McDonnell who said through his entire
campaign that he opposed discrimina-
tion or he was the Robert McDonnell
been recognized in Maryland courts.
“That would be one of the really
interesting questions,” she said. “If
the second parent hasn’t adopted the
child, [would] the court give legal
guardianship or legal authority to the
non-biological parent? That’s a
remaining question that isn’t as clear
under the family law statute.
“I would suspect that in the law in
the state where the couple was mar-
ried, both parents would be seen as
the child’s parent. If that’s the case,
then Maryland would honor that. But
the courts have chosen not to follow
the de facto parent doctrine, so there
are certainly areas of law that the
court has taken pretty strident stand
on with regard to same-sex couples
raising children already.”
Other areas of law where courts
extend benefits to married couples,
such as the establishment of trusts,
wrongful death suits, presumptive
claims on estates, mutual debt respon-
sibility and spousal legal immunities,
also are dependent on whether courts
accept Gansler’s opinion.
A further set of rights for married
couples required of third parties are
automatic in theory, but may ultimately
have to be decided by courts, such as
extending health insurance benefits to
a spouse, the right to hospital visitation
Photo courtesy of McDonnell’s office
who wrote the thesis from 20 years
ago,” Blair said, referring to past writ-
ings where the governor opposed gay
rights. “I think if he fails to act on this,
he’s proven exactly which one he is.”
On Tuesday, the state House voted
down a motion to force a vote on the
bill that would have added sexual ori-
entation to the state’s non-discrimina-
tion laws. The measure failed 55-42.
The bill previously passed the state
Senate, but did not make it out of sub-
committee in the House.
One university’s diversity coordina-
tor, who spoke on condition of anonymi-
and making funeral decisions.
Jana Singer, a University of
Maryland law school professor, said
the attorney general’s opinion was
legally sound and would be treated
with greater weight than an ordinary
“friend of the court” brief.
She said that one case could be
all that is required to clarify the issue,
or it could take many cases in differ-
ent areas of law.
“If they decide to be narrower, they
could say within this particular statute,
Maryland law extends recognition in
this context,” Singer said. “It’s more
likely that we’ll get a broader opinion
where they say recognition applies
widely to Maryland law statutes.”
Equality Maryland’s study of state
law found 425 statutes that utilize mar-
ital status of familial relationship as a
basis for granting a right, privilege or
restriction. Such restrictions, where a
spouse has fewer rights than an indi-
vidual, include conflict of interest prohi-
bitions on areas like awarding of con-
tracts to family members, corporate
directorship limitations and exemptions
from first right of purchase.
Dan Friedman, Gansler’s counsel
and a former University of Maryland
professor of constitutional law, was
unable to speak publicly on how the
courts should rule, but said that
ty, said some schools would defy the
request if they could, but they would
face significant political pressure to
comply with the current administration.
Campus groups, meanwhile, have
begun campaigns asking school
administrators to ignore Cuccinelli’s
directive. University of Virginia’s
Queer & Allied Activism group began
by uploading to Facebook photos of
the attorney general that were doc-
tored to poke fun at him.
Inspired by the grammatically incor-
rect lolcatz pictures, some photos of
Cuccinelli included the words “In ur AG
office … hatin’ on ur gays” and “Gays?
We don’t have them in my state.”
One group on Facebook that stood
against Cuccinelli’s letter, “We Don’t
Want Discrimination in Our State
Universities and Colleges,” gathered
more than 4,000 members within days.
Seth Kaye, a second year engi-
neering student at UVA and member
coordinator of Queer & Allied
Activism, said he felt hurt by the
attorney general’s attack and wanted
to know why anyone thought it was
acceptable to go after LGBT people.
“I don’t understand how that can
pass a rational basis test,” Kaye said.
“It seems totally biased.”
UVA was making significant
improvements toward offering services
to LGBT students, Kaye said, including
starting a queer studies minor program
and a new gay fraternity.
“I hope the universities all come
together and say we’re not going to fol-
low this order,” he said. “Hopefully, if
the state sues them, it turns out in our
favor and maybe [we] even get sexual
orientation as a protected class.”
Gansler’s opinion was constitutionally
valid and the attorney general could not
be removed from office for issuing it.
Friedman wrote to House Speaker
Michael Busch this week regarding the
powers of attorney general after state
Del. Don Dwyer (R-Anne Arundel
County) threatened impeachment pro-
ceedings against Gansler.
The American Civil Liberties
Union of Maryland is standing in
support of Gansler’s opinion saying
the state should recognize out-of-
state same-sex marriages due to
the doctrine of comity, in which con-
tracts are valid anywhere in the
United States if they are valid in the
state they were created.
“Unless and until something con-
trary is said, same-sex families should
consider themselves married in the
state of Maryland and expect to be
treated as such,” said David Rocah,
staff attorney for ACLU of Maryland.
“But it will take some time for it to be
clear what rights are extended to them.
All of the things couples did to protect
their families, they should continue to
do, in addition to expecting to be treat-
ed like the married couples they are.”
ACLU, Lambda Legal and Equality
Maryland have created an informa-
tional sheet on the issue and are pub-
lishing it online at www.aclu-md.org.
With most students away from
campus on spring break, Kaye said
campaigning on the issue has been
largely performed online, with a par-
ticular focus on Facebook and e-
mail. He wondered if the letter’s tim-
ing was deliberate to avoid a more
robust student backlash.
For his part, Cuccinelli took to local
airwaves this week to defend his
advice to schools. He said his letter
was consistent with opinions of the
state’s previous five attorneys general,
which included three Democrats.
But on his Twitter profile,
Cuccinelli was less cautious: “Still
much sound and fury about simply
stating what the law is now and has
been pretty much forever in Virginia
… but on a touchy subject.”
Fears that the Republican would
use his office to advance a socially
conservative agenda, rather than
merely advise on law, were expressed
as early as his campaign launch,
including from vocal members of the
Log Cabin Republicans of Virginia.
“Just as we feared, Mr. Cuccinelli
is becoming an embarrassment to
the entire state with his extreme
views on this issue,” said David
Lampo, vice president of the Log
Cabin Republican Club of Virginia.
“We call on Virginia’s state colleges
and universities to resist this outra-
geous demand and to continue their
policies of hiring and firing on the basis
of merit rather than sexual orientation,
and we call on Gov. McDonnell to end
this legal limbo for gay and lesbian
state employees by supporting a bill to
outlaw employment discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation.”
march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 5
6 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
localagenda
D.C. schools get incomplete score on LGBT youth survey
Low response rate
means data not
fully representative
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@dcagenda.com
A survey of risky behavior by D.C.
youth, including LGBT youth, was so
flawed that its data cannot be weighted,
hindering local groups as they work to
help gay students and fight HIV.
Leaders of two groups that provide
services to LGBT youth told a D.C. City
Council hearing March 5 that the Office
of the State Superintendent of
Education, known as OSSE, failed to
ensure a required 60 percent response
rate for the survey among city middle
and high school students.
That failure, the group leaders said,
led federal officials to declare D.C. data
for the biennial Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance Survey nothing more than
a snapshot of student behavior rather
than an indicator of trends.
Andrew Barnett, executive direc-
tor of the Sexual Minority Youth
Assistance League, and Adam
Tenner, executive director of Metro
Teen AIDS, said the loss would
adversely impact their groups’ ability
to assess the needs of LGBT youth.
“This gap in data presents a
tremendous loss to SMYAL and the
LGBTQ youth of D.C.,” Barnett told
Council Chair Vincent Gray (D-At
Large), who presided over the hear-
ing. “We rely on the [survey results]
Defendants in Wone case seek separate trials
Continued from page 1
administer an electric shock to a per-
son’s genitals, the prosecutors say.
While noting that these devices are
not illegal and their use does not con-
stitute a crime, prosecutors say in the
court filing that “said evidence clearly
passes” federal rules of evidence “as
its probative value is exceedingly high
and the prejudicial effect is quite low.”
Police have said Wone was
restrained, immobilized with a paralytic
drug, sexually assaulted and then
stabbed to death, most likely in a guest
bedroom in the upscale townhouse
where the three men lived at the time.
Legal observers say the request to
use the S&M devices as evidence at
trial suggests that prosecutors might
use it to develop a possible motive for
the murder that the defense claims is
lacking in the government’s case.
But in a separate court filing in
February, defense attorneys accuse pros-
ecutors of seeking to use the S&M
devices, which the defense labels “erotic
accessories,” as sensational and inflam-
matory “evidence” that has no relevance to
the case and that would prejudice the jury.
“Here there is no evidence that
Wone was restrained in any fashion
and absolutely no evidence that any
one of the erotic accessories was
used on Wone for any purpose, never
mind in connection with his death,”
defense attorneys say in their filing.
Adam Tenner, executive director of Metro Teen AIDS, said the survey's low response
rate would adversely impact his group's ability to assess the needs of LGBT youth.
to understand the scope of problems
facing youth living in D.C.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control & Prevention,
which created and funds the survey,
said the CDC conducts a national ver-
sion of the survey by sampling about
15,000 high school students in schools
throughout the country.
Karen Hunter, the spokesperson,
said the CDC also arranges for states,
counties and cities to conduct their own
version of the survey using a set of
“core” questions established by the
CDC as well as additional questions
deemed important by local jurisdictions.
At the recommendation of a coali-
Among the items seized from the
Swann Street home of the three
men, according to the prosecutors fil-
ing, are “floggers,” “assorted dildos,”
“scrotal harness with weight attach-
ments,” and devices designed to
administer an electric shock to vari-
ous parts of someone’s body, includ-
ing the penis and anal area.
The 39-page defense filing, among
other things, disputes an assertion by
prosecutors’ that an autopsy finding
traces of Wone’s own semen inside
his rectum and on his genitals is evi-
dence that he was sexually assaulted
before being murdered. Defense
attorneys say in their filing that they
will present testimony at trial by
expert witnesses showing that the
traces of Wone’s semen on his body
did not contain any sperm cells.
The lack of sperm cells indicates
that the semen found on the body
was due to a normal discharge of
various bodily fluids including urine
and seminal fluids that occurs when
men die and internal muscles relax,
the defense filing says.
“There were no obvious, external
signs of sexual assault, restraint or
electro-torture,” says the defense fil-
ing. “Indeed, the government itself
did not claim that Wone was sexually
assaulted until after the FBI tested
the forensic swabs [of Wone’s genital
and anal areas] more than two years
after Wone’s death,” it says.
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
tion of local community groups,
including LGBT organizations, D.C.
school officials agreed to add a
question to the 2007 survey that
gave student respondents an oppor-
tunity to disclose whether they were
gay, lesbian or bisexual.
In response to a recommendation
of the same coalition, OSSE agreed
to add another question for the 2009
survey enabling respondents to dis-
close whether they are transgender.
The LGBT questions are expected to
be part of all future surveys.
“This was incredibly important,”
said David Mariner, executive director
of the D.C. LGBT Community Center.
Investigators said Wone, 32, who
was a college friend of Price, spent
the night at the men’s home after
working late in his downtown office.
Wone was married to a woman and
lived in Oakton, Va. Family members
have said he was straight.
Price and Zaborsky, who are
domestic partners, and Ward told
police an intruder killed Wone after
entering the home while they were
asleep in their respective bedrooms.
Police and prosecutors dispute that
claim, saying there’s no evidence of a
break-in. They point to an autopsy
showing Wone suffered from three
“clean,” surgical-like stab wounds, with
no signs of struggle. They also have
said the autopsy indicates the wounds
could only have been inflicted if Wone
was immobilized by a drug.
But the defense team says in its
court filings that the autopsy and
chemical tests of the body have not
found any traces of a paralytic drug,
and it disputes the government’s claim
that such drugs quickly dissipate with-
in the body and can’t be found by
chemical tests. The defense filing does
not address the issue of the “clean”
stab wounds that prosecutors say
could only happen if a person is immo-
bilized by an anesthesia-type drug.
Killer ‘known to’ men?
In their Feb. 5 court filing, which was
made public Feb. 15, prosecutors reit-
erate earlier statements that they
Mariner said that identifying LGBT
participants in the survey enables the
community to assess the problems
LGBT youth face and develop ways to
address those problems.
Among the core topics included in
the survey questionnaire that seek to
identify “health-risk behaviors among
youth” are: unintentional injuries and
violence, tobacco use, alcohol and
other drug use, sexual behavior,
unhealthy dietary behavior and men-
tal health issues.
Mariner and Tenner said the lack of
sufficient data from D.C. students in
the 2009 survey creates a four-year
gap in assessing the needs of local
LGBT youth because the results of the
next survey, set for 2011, won’t be
processed and released until 2012.
Chad Colby, an OSSE spokesper-
son, said that although the office is in
charge of coordinating the youth sur-
vey, it is administered by the city’s pub-
lic school system. Colby did not know
why school officials didn’t arrange for
more students to take the survey. A
school spokesperson could not be
immediately reached for comment.
Colby noted that the survey was “in
the field” before OSSE’s new director,
Kerri Briggs, was appointed to her
post as the city’s State Superintendent
of Education last year.
A fact sheet he released about
OSSE’s views on the survey also
says that the survey is not legally
mandated. “Therefore, school dis-
tricts are not legally required to com-
plete the survey,” says the fact sheet.
Colby said the lack of a 60 percent
lacked evidence to charge anyone with
the murder itself. But for the first time,
they say that they believe “the killer is
someone known to and being protect-
ed by” Price, Zaborsky and Ward.
“Given the sophistication and suc-
cess of the defendants’ cover-up of
the murder of Robert Wone, the evi-
dence obtained to date does not yet
establish beyond a reasonable doubt
who actually killed Robert Wone,”
says the court filing.
“Although the government investi-
gation into the murder continues, there
is ample admissible evidence demon-
strating the killer is someone known to
the defendants, and not, as the defen-
dants told the police, an unknown,
unseen, unheard, phantom intruder
who entered without force, took noth-
ing from the home, went to the farthest
reaches of the second floor of the
home, stabbed Robert Wone (while
Robert Wone lay immobile), and then
fled without a sound and without tak-
ing any item from the home or disturb-
ing anything therein,” it says.
The government’s filing also for the
first time suggests that Joseph Price’s
brother, Michael Price, could be a person
of interest linked to the Wone murder.
In October 2006, two months after
the murder, D.C. police arrested Michael
Price and an accomplice on a charge of
burglarizing the Swann Street home
where the murder took place, saying
they entered the then vacant home
return of the survey questionnaires
means the data cannot be “weighted,”
precluding it from being compared
against data from other cities and
states. He noted that the data can still
be used for some purposes.
“We’re still going to be reporting it
as un-weighted data,” he said. “It does-
n’t mean we won’t be able to use the
data to make the case for grant fund-
ing. It just means you won’t be able to
compare it to other states and districts.”
But Hunter said that un-weighted
data only “provides a snapshot of
what’s going on among the students
that were surveyed.”
She said the data cannot be used to
extrapolate the behavior of the entire
student population. Only “weighted
data,” which is obtained from a
response rate of 60 percent or greater,
can be used to assess the behavior of
the larger population group, she said.
Tenner said CDC officials told him
the D.C. survey response rate was 36
percent for high school students and
54 percent for middle school students.
“Many of us use the Youth Risk
Behavior Survey for our programs
and our grants,” Tenner said in an e-
mail to local activists. “From a city-
wide perspective, many of us were
excited to use YRBS data to objec-
tively measure the city’s effort to
improve the health of its youth and to
highlight the challenges that remain.”
He called on OSSE to present a
written plan on how the agency will
ensure that the 2011 survey is prop-
erly implemented “with adequate stu-
dent and school participation.”
using a key that Joseph Price had given
Michael Price sometime earlier. At the
time, police said they had no evidence
to link the burglary to the murder.
In their court filing last month, prose-
cutors say they found that Michael Price
had been enrolled in a course at
Montgomery College, studying to be a
phlebotomist from June through August
of 2006. A phlebotomist is trained to
draw blood from patients at hospitals or
other medical facilities through the use
of special hypodermic needles.
“Course attendance records reflect
that Michael Price attended each and
every scheduled class beginning on
June 7, 2006, and running through
July 31, 2006,” the government filing
says. “However, those same records
reflect that the first time he missed
class was on Aug. 2, 2006, the night
Robert Wone was killed.”
The filing adds in a footnote, “It should
be noted that Michael Price’s partner,
Louis Hinton, provided an alibi for
Michael Price at the time of the murder.”
In a related development, defense
attorneys last week filed motions
asking that the case against Joseph
Price, Zaborsky and Ward be “sev-
ered” so that each one would have a
separate trial.
These and the filings by prosecu-
tors seeking to introduce the S&M-
related evidence were expected to
be debated at Friday’s court status
hearing before Judge Lynn Leibovitz.
march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 7
8 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
nationalagenda
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Former U.S. Rep. Eric Massa, shown here in an undated campaign photo, resigned from Congress
amid reports that he’s under investigation for allegedly groping male staffers.
Massa denies reports that he
sexually groped male staffers
Want a subscription to Former congressman
dcagenda? allegedly exhibited
‘a pattern of behavior’
Contact
By CHRIS JOHNSON
Robbie Barnett at cjohnson@dcagenda.com
rbarnett@dcagenda.com A New York lawmaker who resigned from
Congress has been under investigation for
allegedly groping male staffers, according to a
media report, raising questions about his sex-
ual orientation.
Allegations that former Democratic Rep.
Eric Massa, who resigned Tuesday, had sexu-
ally harassed a male staffer emerged last
week, and the Washington Post reported this
week that the House ethics committee has
been investigating the first-term congressman
for allegedly groping multiple men on his staff.
One source told the Post that the allegations
surrounding the former lawmaker, whom DC
Agenda couldn’t immediately reach for comment,
have continued for at least one year and involve
“a pattern of behavior and physical harassment.”
Last week, the House ethics committee
acknowledged it was pursuing an investigation
of Massa, although the focus of their efforts
weren’t made public. The committee didn’t
respond to multiple requests from DC Agenda
to comment on the investigation.
According to the Post, Massa’s former
deputy chief of staff, Ron Hikel, provided the
information about the staffers’ allegations to
the House ethics committee three weeks ago.
Hikel had earlier consulted House Majority
Leader Steny Hoyer’s office about the com-
plaints, the Post reported, and was urged to
report the allegations to the committee.
Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of
GOProud, a gay conservative group, said the
Post’s reporting that the allegations go back at
least one year raises questions about how long
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic
leadership knew about this behavior without
taking any action.
“We all know that there are very few secrets on
Capitol Hill,” he said. “If this inappropriate behavior
was going on for that long, then other members
and the leadership surely knew about it.”
But in a recent press conference, Pelosi
said she was first notified by her staff about the
allegations surrounding Massa on March 3,
according to a transcript of her remarks.
“I asked my staff, I said, have there been any
rumors about any of this before?” she said.
Photo courtesy of Massa for Congress
“There had been a rumor, but just that, no formal
notification to our office that anything — a one,
two, three person removed rumor that had been
reported to Mr. Hoyer’s office that had been
reported to my staff, which they didn’t report to
me, because, you know what? This is rumor city.
Every single day there are rumors. I have a job to
do and not to be the receiver of rumors.”
LaSalvia compared the Massa situation to
the outing of former Republican lawmaker Mark
Foley in 2006. The revelation of Foley’s behavior
in that election year symbolized the sense at the
time that Republicans were out of control.
“Certainly there are allegations of inappro-
priate conduct with junior staffers and interns,”
LaSalvia said. “That’s similar to what hap-
pened in 2006.”
But Lane Hudson, a gay D.C. activist known
for his role in outing Foley, said the Massa sit-
uation doesn’t compare with the outing of the
GOP lawmaker. He commended Democratic
leadership for taking action.
“Anyone who compares Eric Massa to Mark
Foley is trying to further their own personal or
political agenda,” Hudson said. “Even if all of
the allegations thus far are true, it is still no
comparison. Democratic leadership did the
proper thing, which was to refer it to the Ethics
Committee for investigation. That’s a far cry
from Republican leadership covering up
Foley’s indiscretions for years.”
What kind of impact this news will have on
the November elections remains to be seen.
LaSalvia said the potential impact of the alle-
gations would become more apparent as more
information is revealed.
“The culture of corruption, I guess, is a
cliché term that we hear about in Washington,
and this is certainly an abuse of power by a
Democrat,” he said. “There will be implications
at the ballot box. Whether that spreads beyond
his district in New York is yet to be determined.”
But Hudson discounted the impact this
investigation would have on the November
elections and said Democrats would find elec-
toral victory if they enacted their campaign
promises from 2008.
“If the Democratic majority is worried about
the November elections, then they are best
served by focusing on passing the agenda they
were elected on,” he said.
In a Sunday interview on a New York radio
station, Massa characterized his perception of
the alleged sexual harassment and why he
thinks the ethics committee is investigating him.
Continues on page 20

nationalagenda
Lieberman unveils ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal bill in Senate
Gives Pentagon more
time to implement change
than House version
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@dcagenda.com
U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.)
introduced a bill last week to repeal “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell,” all the while acknowledg-
ing Congress may have to settle with a
moratorium as legislative action this year
as opposed to outright repeal.
Lieberman touted the legislation —
the first Senate bill introduced to repeal
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — during a press
conference March 3 on Capitol Hill.
“This legislation will repeal the
current policy of discrimination based
on sexual orientation in America’s
armed forces and offer in its place a
policy of equal opportunity to serve
and defend our country,” he said.
The Military Readiness Enhancement
Act of 2010 would repeal the 1993
law barring gay, lesbian and bisexual
people from open service in the U.S.
military and put a non-discrimination
policy in its place.
To accomplish repeal, the bill would
require the Pentagon working group
considering “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to
submit recommendations on how to
best repeal the law to Defense
Secretary Robert Gates no later than
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
Despite an initial lack of GOP sup-
port for his bill to overturn ‘Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell,’ U.S. Sen. Joseph
Lieberman said he anticipates
Republican backing for the legislation
as it moves forward.
270 days after the bill is enacted.
Additionally, the bill would require
Gates to issue regulations to enact the
bill within 60 days of receipt of the
working group’s report, and it requires
the secretary of each military depart-
ment to revise regulations as needed
no later than 60 days after that.
Kevin Nix, spokesperson for the
Servicemembers Legal Defense
Network, said the Senate bill is identi-
cal to House legislation, sponsored by
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), except
the Senate bill gives the Pentagon a
longer time for implementation.
“This bill reflects the fact that the mili-
tary wants some time to do the best tran-
sition possible to open service,” Nix said.
The Senate bill has 11 co-spon-
sors. Many appeared at the press con-
ference with Lieberman, including
Senate Armed Services Committee
Chair Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Sen. Mark
Udall (D-Colo.), Sen. Roland Burris (D-
Ill.), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).
Levin said he’s opposed “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” since before it was
enacted into law in 1993.
“It diminishes our readiness, it
diminishes our strength, it denies us,
robs us of the men and women to the
defense of our country,” he said.
To follow up on the hearing that
took place last month, Levin said he’ll
hold another hearing on gays in the
military March 18 with an outside
panel of experts.
Burris, who’s black, called the
introduction of the legislation a “very
personal issue of basic fairness,”
recalling how his family members
were once only allowed restricted
roles in the U.S. military.
“For all their skills, all their talents,
their intelligence and their valor, they
march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 9
were forced to choose between two
or three roles when they were in the
service: working as a cook, or dig-
ging ditches or driving trucks,” Burris
said. “That memory is especially
crisp as I stand here today to bring
an end to this discriminatory policy.”
Gillibrand criticized “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” for what she said was its extreme-
ly harmful impact on the U.S. military.
“This policy is one of the most corro-
sive, destructive policies to the strength
of our armed services, to our military
readiness, to our national security and
to the morale of our troops,” she said.
Gillibrand said “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” was particularly detrimental to
women in the armed services.
She said women represent 17
percent of the armed services, but
more than one-third of those
expelled, including more than one-
half in the Army, are female.
Absent among the co-sponsors is
any Republican senator. Despite this
initial lack of GOP support, Lieberman
said he anticipates Republican support
for the legislation as it moves forward.
“I believe we’re going to have
some Republican support in this,” he
said. “There’s a core group that is
openly — that is actively concerned.”
While touting the standalone leg-
islation, Lieberman and Levin said
the defense authorization bill would
be the most likely legislative vehicle
to advance repeal.
The lawmakers also said that if they
can’t find the votes this year to overturn
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” they would instead
try to enact a moratorium on discharges.
During the markup for the defense
authorization bill in May, Lieberman
said the committee would try for a
vote in the Senate Armed Services
Committee first on repeal, and if that’s
unsuccessful, committee members
would pursue a moratorium.
“We’re going to try for a full repeal,”
Lieberman said. “If the votes aren’t
there in committee or on the floor, a
moratorium, I think, is a good interim
step and I’ll certainly be open to it.”
But Nix said his organization is
still pushing for outright repeal this
year as opposed to a moratorium.
“I think it’s premature to talk about
the moratorium because we have, as
the chairman said, until May to really
focus on full repeal, so let’s try to do
that first,” Nix said.
In a statement, Joe Solmonese,
president of the Human Rights
Campaign, heralded the introduction
of Lieberman’s bill as “continuing the
momentum to repeal ‘Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell’ this year.”
“His introduction of the Military
Readiness Enhancement Act of
2010 is a bold, patriotic move that will
long be remembered as key to
removing the stain of the discrimina-
tory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law from
the U.S. code,” he said.
10 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
nationalagenda
Gay man is official ‘voice’ of U.S. House
Novotny ‘tremendously
proud’ of role as
reading clerk
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@dcagenda.com
It’s part of making history.
That’s part of the reason Joe
Novotny enjoys his role as reading
clerk for the U.S. House.
Just last week, he had the distinc-
tion of reading to House members
Rep. Charlie Rangel’s (D-N.Y.) mes-
sage announcing his intent to resign
as chair of the Ways & Means
Committee. That message, issued by
Novotny, went through the media to
reach people across the country.
Other milestones in which Novotny
may soon take part could include the
passage of health care reform — or
the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“You just feel the energy when
you walk out on the House floor,”
Novotny told DC Agenda. “If there’s a
vote, or even just a heated debate, if
something’s happening — the feeling
that you get from that room is proba-
bly unlike anything everywhere else
that you could really describe.”
And yet, Novotny is making history
simply by holding the job. The 34-year-
old Chicago native is the first openly gay
Joe Novotny, the first openly gay U.S. House reading clerk, reads bills, resolutions
and messages from the president to Congress.
person to work as a clerk in the U.S.
House. Charged with reading mes-
sages to lawmakers and having his per-
formance broadcast across the world
on C-SPAN, Novotny is one of the most
visible figures in House proceedings.
“I’m tremendously proud,” he said. “I
feel like it’s an opportunity to represent
the community. When you think about
the diversity in this House now — and
the fact that we have the first woman
speaker and we have the first African-
American clerk of the House — this is
sort of a Congress of firsts, so to be a
part of that is a tremendous honor.”
As reading clerk for the House,
Novotny is charged with reading mes-
sages to House members and ensuring
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
legislative measures before the cham-
ber are clearly articulated to lawmakers
and the public. He also tracks changes
to bills made on the House floor.
“As House reading clerk, you’re
responsible for reading all the bills
and resolutions that come up
throughout the day — and so there
are all these other letters that come
and messages from the president,
and so you are responsible essen-
tially for reading and representing
these people,” Novotny said.
Novotny is one of two reading
clerks for the House. The other read-
ing clerk, Susan Cole, was appointed
by Republican leadership. Novotny
and Cole are under the jurisdiction of
Lorraine Miller, the House clerk and
chamber’s official record keeper.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
appointed Novotny to his role in
December, and he’s served in the posi-
tion for six weeks. No newcomer to
Capitol Hill, Novotny was a congres-
sional page when he was 16. For 15
years, he was a staffer for the House
Education & Labor Committee, most
recently as chief clerk for the panel.
Now as someone who sits on the
podium with the speaker or speaker
pro-tempe as lawmakers debate
bills, Novotny is one of the more visi-
ble figures in the House.
In a statement, Pelosi highlighted the
importance of Novotny’s job and his
qualifications for taking on the position.
“As reading clerk, Joe will be the voice
of the House of Representatives and will
play an integral role in the daily operations
of Congress,” she said. “Joe brings his
experience and professionalism from the
Education & Labor Committee, and we
are grateful for his service.”
Novotny said his sexual orienta-
tion hasn’t made his job any more
difficult or impaired relationships with
his colleagues.
“I’ve been very, very lucky that
throughout my career on the Hill, I’ve
always been met with people who
have looked at me pretty much just at
face value, and it’s never been an
issue,” he said. “I’ve always been open
about who I am and it’s always been
met with understanding and respect.”
But one challenge Novotny has
encountered in his new role is need-
ing to recognize all 435 House mem-
bers immediately.
“Basically you have to learn every
single person by name and by sight,”
he said. “If somebody’s coming up and
you’re at the podium, you’re responsi-
ble for announcing who that member
is as they’re voting at the end of the
vote or announce their changes.”
Since his years at George
Washington University, where he stud-
ied political communications, Novotny
said he’s had an affinity for politics.
“I’ve always been fascinated by pol-
itics,” he said. “I think that people lose
sight of the fact that politics is not just
about policy, it’s about relationships.”
Novotny said people “use politics
every day in our lives” in relationships
with colleagues, loved ones and friends.
“So, I guess I’m fascinated by
relationships that people have and
how everybody uses politics in form
or another,” he said.
It’s that fascination with politics that
led him to take a position as staffer on
the House Education & Labor
Committee under the supervision of
Chairman George Miller. Novotny said
leaving his old job to become reading
clerk was “bittersweet” because Miller
is “such a great boss.”
 march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 11

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nationalagenda

directoryservices HRC committed to

Becky Carroll, Ph.D.
‘Don’t Ask’ repeal in 2010
Smith: As far as I understand, the plan right
Licensed Psychologist DP benefits, early HIV now is that he put forward some broad outlines
Interactive Counseling, treatment also on agenda in terms of how the Senate bill can reconcile
Psychotherapy and with the House bill. And every particular wasn’t
Somatic Experiencing By CHRIS JOHNSON included in those policy proposals, so it is still
cjohnson@dcagenda.com our hope that DP tax and ETHA will be includ-
www.LGBTC.com
202.332.8477 ed in whatever fix is — whatever they come up
B.Carroll@mac.com The Human Rights Campaign is affirming its with to reconcile those two bills.
commitment to repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this Agenda: What about the Domestic
3000 Connecticut Ave., NW year as part of its legislative agenda in Congress. Partnership Benefits & Obligations Act? What
HRC President Joe Solmonese outlined do you see as the path for that legislation now?
during a Feb. 27 fundraising dinner speech in Smith: Well, as you well know, it’s been
Cognitive-Behavioral Raleigh, N.C., expectations for the passage of passed out of both committees in both the

Therapy pro-LGBT federal legislation in Congress,

including the repeal of the 1993 law barring
Results-Oriented ▼ Affordable open service in the U.S. military.
In an interview with DC Agenda following
Larry Cohen, LICSW the event, David Smith, HRC’s vice president
22 years serving the glbt community of programs, elaborated on the remarks that
202-244-0903 Solmonese gave during the dinner.
socialanxietyhelp.com Smith restated HRC’s commitment to seeing
See website for NPR story on my work this year the enactment of domestic partner bene-
fits for federal workers, domestic partner tax relief
and the Early Treatment for HIV Act, as well as
Individuals u Couples u Sex
repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He also cautioned
Helping People against reading too much into the Solmonese’s
remarks and said HRC is working on other tasks
Grow Stronger beyond what Solmonese mentioned.
in Rough Times DC Agenda: Joe said during the dinner that
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would be brought to an end
Michael Radkowsky, Psy.D. this year. What is your plan for making that happen?
Licensed Psychologist u 15 years experience
David Smith: Well, Chris, we’ve been talk-
Near Woodley & Cleveland Park metro ing about that for months, and there’s been a
( 202) 234-3278 lot of public dialogue on a path to repeal “Don’t
www.personalgrowthzone.com
Ask, Don’t Tell.” There are obviously a number
of options on the table. Somebody just remind-
Sidney W. Binks III, Ph.D. ed me you have our campaign, so you are well
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Joel C. Ang, M.D. aware of how we hope to move forward on that.
Family Medicine, HIV Diagnosis & Treatment Agenda: What has the White House been
Individual & Couples Therapy saying on this issue? Does the White House
202-667-5041 for the LGBT Community want repeal this year or does it want to wait
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Smith: The White House has publicly said that
Red Line Metro • Dupont Circle they’re following this process that was set up with
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Same Day Appointments
lowing the process that was outlined at the
Insurance Accepted
Copies of records at each visit
Senate Armed Services Committee however
many weeks ago that was now.
Instant HIV/Syphilis/Herpes Testing Agenda: What about two items Joe men-
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tioned that were in the House version of the health
care reform: the domestic partner tax penalty
Sylvia R. Medley, M.D., M.P.H. elimination and the Early Treatment for HIV Act?
Internal Medicine, HIV, Women’s Health They’re not in the president’s proposed legislation.
Weight Management Do you plan to have those provisions moving for-
202-667-5041 ward as part of the health care package?
House and Senate in various committees of
jurisdiction. It is probably our most ripe piece of
legislation in terms of how many times it has
had a hearing and markup, so again it is our
ripest piece of legislation and indications are
that it will happen this year.
Agenda: Do you have any expectations for a
timeline on when we can see floor votes on this
legislation in either the House or the Senate?
Smith: No. I mean, I think the rest of the
[congressional] calendar is completely up in
the air this year.
Agenda: Joe mentioned four things that
were part of the calendar this year. Why wasn’t
[the Employment Non-Discrimination Act]
included among those four?
Smith: Joe spoke about ENDA in those
remarks. It was one speech in one part of the
country. It’s not going to be — one speech is
not reflective of what we’re working on.
Clearly, there’s a very good possibility there
could be movement on ENDA in the House. As
you reported, there are issues with the Senate.
We’re all, as a coalition, [we] are continuing to
work through those issues. And you come to
work every day trying to pass legislation, and
ENDA is one of our top priorities. And each and
every day we’re fighting for it, and you keep
pressing until these things happen.
Agenda: But do you think there is as strong
a possibility of passing ENDA as the other four
things we just talked about?
Smith: Again, I think there are issues in the
Senate, which I think are challenges, and we’re
working through those challenges with our col-
leagues and our coalition.
Agenda: Another thing that wasn’t men-
tioned in Joe’s speech was the Uniting
American Families Act. Do you think attaching
as part of comprehensive immigration reform
can lead to passage of UAFA this year?
Smith: We continue to press to get UAFA
into the process. UAFA is one our priorities,
and we continue to work on that as well.

Michael Deninger PhD

Licensed Professional Counselor
Certifed in Hypnotherapy and NLP
HRC lobby day draws 300
An estimated 300 citizen lobbyists from across the country came to Capitol Hill on March
INDIVIDUALS, COUPLES & GROUPS
4 to urge lawmakers to advance pro-LGBT legislation.
• Relationships • Habits
ASL Used Here

• Coming Out • Depression During the lobby day, led by HRC, participants pushed members of Congress to support
• Phobias • Spirituality repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and enactment of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
• Traumas • Family Issues “One of the worst things that you can hear when you are lobbying is that ‘no one in my dis-
• Anxiety • Intimacy trict is gay and no one in my district wants me to vote for this.’ We know that’s not true of any
district, but we have to prove it,” said Joe Solmonese, HRC’s president. “We come with the
(703)212-8406 • DrMike@Deninger.com most powerful message of all: I am your constituent, and your constituents, like the rest of
America, have had enough of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’”
Phil Attey, a gay D.C. activist who attended the lobby day, emphasized the importance of
Want a subscription to talking directly to lawmakers to advance pro-LGBT legislation in Congress.
“The one-on-one interaction is invaluable,” he said. “So when we have these lobby days,
dcagenda? it’s important for our community to realize their role as citizens, whether they’re here in
Washington or whether they’re back home.”
Additional lobby days are set to take place on Capitol Hill this spring on “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Contact Tell” and other matters. The list includes National Center for Transgender Equality’s lobby day,
March 14-16; Servicemembers Legal Defense Network’s lobby day, March 19; and a joint
Robbie Barnett at lobby day between Servicemembers United and HRC on May 11.
CHRIS JOHNSON
rbarnett@dcagenda.com
 march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 13

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localagenda
Fenty joins couples to celebrate same-sex marriages
Continued from page 1
“Today, the love you have is rec-
ognized by the District of Columbia,”
Johnson said. “I now declare you
legally married.”
HRC Vice President David Smith
said the building’s first-floor meeting
hall, known as the Equality Forum,
has been host to numerous same-
sex commitment ceremonies in the
past and the group was delighted to
provide its facility for some of the first
same-sex marriages in the District.
But while the three weddings at
the HRC building drew most of the
media spotlight, two other same-sex
weddings Tuesday morning held at
the D.C. Superior Court building are
believed to have been the first such
marriages to take place under the
city’s Religious Freedom & Marriage
Equality Amendment Act.
District residents Jeremy Moon, 31,
and Bryan Legaspi, 30, both of whom
work in the Obama administration, wed
shortly after the court opened at 8:30
a.m. in a courtroom ceremony per-
formed by Judge Brook Hedge.
At the same time, D.C. residents
Robb Hawthorne, 24, and James
Betz, 23, were married on a plaza
outside the courthouse by Rev.
Bonnie Berger. Hawthorne and Betz,
who met while they were students at
George Washington University, both
work at the university’s affiliated clin-
ic, Medical Faculty Associates.
Hawthorne said the two met Berger
through her role as a chaplain at
George Washington University Hospital.
“We arrived at the courthouse at
3:30 in the morning to get in line,”
Hawthorne said, noting that the cou-
ple wanted to be among the first to
pick up their marriage licenses.
The city’s existing marriage law
requires a waiting period of three busi-
ness days between the time people
apply for a marriage license and the
time it is issued by the court. More
than 200 same-sex couples applied
for marriage licenses beginning
March 3, when the same-sex mar-
riage law took effect, through March 5,
according to a court spokesperson.
Tuesday was the first day same-sex
marriages could be performed.
Among those attending the cere-
mony at the HRC building were D.C.
Council members David Catania (I-At
Large), who wrote and took the lead
role in advancing the same-sex mar-
riage bill, and Jim Graham (D-Ward
1), a long-time supporter of same-sex
marriage rights. Both are gay.
The two were joined after the cer-
emony by D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty,
who stood alongside the newly mar-
ried couples to congratulate them
and talk to reporters. Fenty signed
the marriage bill shortly after the City
Council passed it 11-2 in December.
“It’s tough to represent a city,” he
told the couples. “It’s tough to represent
a community, and it’s also tough to rep-
resent a nation. But the six of you today
do that. Whether you realize it or not,
whether you like it or not, you represent
what this entire country is about.”
Fenty added, “As mayor of the
District of Columbia, I cannot be more
excited or proud to be here. I think this
is not only a great step forward for all
six of you, but…it is also great step for-
ward for equality in general, for our
great city…and for our great country.”
Catania, who called the cere-
monies “incredibly moving,” drew
nods of approval when he compared
them in at least one respect to most
other weddings.
“Council member Graham said
we all cry at weddings and that was
especially true today,” Catania said.
“This is one of the most profoundly
rewarding experiences I’ve ever had
the privilege of being a part of.”
Catania and Graham said they
never thought they would see same-
sex marriage happen in their lifetime.
“There’s been no event in my life
that has been more uplifting, more
positive, more affirming than these
three marriages this morning,”
Graham said, “because it says so
much about human dignity, about valu-
ing each other or who they are and
nothing less — nothing short of that.”
Also attending the ceremony and
participating in the press conference
was veteran D.C. gay activist Frank
DC Agenda photos by Michael Key
Kameny, who is credited with found-
ing the city’s LGBT rights movement.
“This represents a major victory,
one that has been in the making for
35 to 40 years, although back then
we never remotely thought it would
really come to pass,” Kameny said.
“And hopefully it sets the tone for
other victories. This is not the last
that we need. There are others that
are in the making, and we’re going to
have to continue working on those
and hopefully with equal success in
the very near future.”
The ceremonies at the HRC build-
ing were sponsored by the Campaign
for All D.C. Families and D.C. Clergy
United for Marriage Equality, two
groups that were part of a coalition of
gay and straight organizations that
lobbied for the same-sex marriage bill.
Rick Imirowicz, 43, and Terrance
Heath, 41, both District residents and
a couple for 10 years, were married
Tuesday afternoon at All Souls
Unitarian Church in Northwest D.C.
Rev. Robert Hardies, pastor of the
church, performed the ceremony.
 march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 15

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16 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
nationalagenda
Pentagon officials outline scope for ‘Don’t Ask’ study
Review due Dec. 1
to focus on military
readiness, unit cohesion
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@dcagenda.com
Officials leading the Pentagon study
examining “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” out-
lined for lawmakers the general scope
of their work last week, but offered lim-
ited details and were tight-lipped on
their personal views of the law.
Both co-chairs of the Pentagon work-
ing group testified before the House
Armed Services personnel subcommit-
tee March 3. Jeh Johnson, general
counsel for the Defense Department,
and Gen. Carter Ham, commanding
general of U.S. Army Europe, discussed
how their work would build on President
Obama’s call to end the 1993 law bar-
ring gays, lesbians and bisexuals from
serving openly in the U.S. military.
The hearing marked the first time
the House heard testimony on gays
in the military since a similar commit-
tee hearing took place in 2008.
Also present was Clifford Stanley,
undersecretary of defense for per-
sonnel and readiness. He would
oversee the implementation of repeal
at the Pentagon should Congress
overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Witnesses said the study underway
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and others are consid-
ering placing a moratorium on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ discharges.
at the Pentagon, due for completion Dec.
1, would identify the effects of repeal on
military readiness, unit cohesion, recruit-
ing, retention and military families.
Johnson and Ham also noted that
the working group has been broken
down into four teams: a survey team;
a legislative, regulatory and legal
team; a policy development team;
and an education and training team.
Ham said the working group intends
to gather information with “wide out-
reach to get a wide variety of views.”
“That survey must be enriched by
personal contact — focus groups, if you
will — some of them specifically target-
ed to specialized groups and families
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
within the Department of Defense,
active reserve and guard,” Ham said.
Ham said he anticipates outreach
through “social media” so that infor-
mation can be gathered from the
widest possible pool.
“A wide variety of individuals —
both within the Department of Defense
and without — who will have views on
this matter will have an opportunity for
their voice to be heard,” he said.
Still, the witnesses said the work-
ing group is in its early stages and
there was little information to share
at this point.
Aubrey Sarvis, executive director
of the Servicemembers Legal
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Defense Network, said the hearing
was “largely process driven,” but it
affirmed that there’s still an opportu-
nity for repeal to happen this year.
“Clearly Congressman Patrick Murphy
and other members of the subcommittee
underscored to [Defense Department]
General Counsel Johnson and Gen. Ham
that repeal can get done this year as the
working group does its job,” he said.
A number of lawmakers at the
hearing asked whether Congress
should take legislative action against
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before the
working group’s study is complete.
Murphy, a Pennsylvania Democrat
who’s sponsoring the House repeal bill,
said if lawmakers were to pass repeal
as part of the upcoming defense
authorization bill, it would likely not be
signed until October, which he said
would give the Pentagon time to review
the process for implementation.
But Johnson said he wasn’t inclined
to endorse legislative action on “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” before the working group
had a chance to complete its study.
“The secretary of defense believes
that we should go about repeal in a
careful methodical way, and first study
… all of the impacts of repeal on the
current policy,” Johnson said. “I would
think that the Congress would like to
hear from us first before undertaking
to consider repeal.”
Still, Johnson said he wouldn’t advise
Congress what action they should take
on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this year.
“I’m not here to oppose or support
any congressional action,” he said.
“We’re here to do an exhaustive,
thorough, comprehensive review of
the impact of repeal of the policy.”
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), ranking
Republican on the subcommittee, said
he maintained some reservations
regarding the study given its scope.
Wilson said he wants the working
group to examine whether “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” as it stands under-
mines readiness and whether repeal
would contribute to military effective-
ness “in measureable ways.”
“If the study does not address
these issues, then its overall credibil-
ity and usefulness for the congres-
sional decision-making process will
be significantly undermined,” he said.
Questioning the need for repealing
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Wilson said
8,300 service members were dis-
charged under the law from fiscal years
1999 and 2008. The lawmaker said this
number was infinitesimally small given
that the military separated about 1.9
million people during that time.
“That’s about 800 people dis-
charged per year, and unless you con-
tradict me, it’s not a significant loss
from an overall [Defense Department]
manpower perspective,” Wilson said.
Story continues at
dcagenda.com.
 march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 17
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18 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
nationalagenda
Service chiefs’ opposition could
impair ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal effort
Air Force head says Congress
should not ‘perturb the force’
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@dcagenda.com
As the defense budget hearings on Capitol
Hill came to a close, the service chiefs’ oppo-
sition to repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before
the Pentagon study is complete — as well as
the effect their views could have on lawmakers
— has become clear.
Discussion of the service chiefs’ positions
peaked March 4 during a Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing on the Air Force budget. Air
Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told
lawmakers he backed the study of “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” underway in the Pentagon, but not leg-
islative action at this time to change the law.
Schwartz said repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” shouldn’t undermine the effectiveness of
the armed forces and cautioned lawmakers
against taking legislative action now.
“This is not the time to perturb the force that
is stretched by combat operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan and important missions elsewhere
without due deliberation,” he said.
Schwartz also expressed concern regard-
ing “inadequate current scholarship on this
issue” and “insufficient current survey data on
our airmen and their families.” He also said he
wants to make sure Air Force standards con-
tinue to apply to airmen in the event of “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.
“[Defense] Secretary [Robert] Gates’ effort
to carefully evaluate and study this issue is
obviously essential to our getting to the right
spot on this,” Schwartz said.
The Air Force chief’s comments mean the
chiefs for all four services are urging Congress
to refrain from legislative action at this time on
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Army Chief of Staff Gen.
George Casey, Chief of Naval Operations
Adm. Gary Roughead and Marine Corps
Commandant Gen. James Conway voiced
their opposition in previous testimony.
Standing in contrast to their remarks is tes-
timony given last month by Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, who
said he personally believes gays should be
allowed to serve openly in the military.
The service chiefs’ views also are contrary
to the position of Air Force Secretary Michael
Donley, who endorsed both the review and
repeal during last week’s hearing.
Donley said he supports the review current-
ly underway at the Pentagon. Noting he was
involved in the Defense Department when
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was instituted in 1993,
Donley said the process put forward by Gates
“has put us in a much better situation than we
were in 1993.”
Pressed further by Senate Armed Services
Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) on
whether he supports repeal at this time,
Donley replied, “I do.”
Despite these views, the service chiefs’
viewpoints could influence lawmakers who cur-
rently are on the fence on voting for either full
repeal or a legislative moratorium.
After the hearing, Senate Armed Services
Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told
DC Agenda he believes the service chiefs’ oppo-
sition would drive how lawmakers would vote on
either legislative item, but couldn’t say how much.
“I think it will have some impact,” he said. “I
can’t gauge the amount.”
And opponents of repeal are emphasizing
the service chiefs’ position in their attempt to
keep “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in place.
During the hearing, Sen. John McCain (R-
Ariz.), a leading opponent of repeal in the
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
‘ ’
Sen. Roland Burris said former Joint Chiefs of
Staff Chair Colin Powell ‘probably never’ would
have achieved that rank ‘if we had started study-
ing’ whether blacks should be allowed to serve.
“We’ve had an African
American who’s chairman of
the Joint Chiefs ... under this
program, if we had started
studying and waiting, Colin
Powell … probably never
would’ve made it.”
Senate, seized on Schwartz’s remarks as evi-
dence that military leaders don’t want
Congress to change the law.
“This idea out there that’s being pushed that
the service chiefs somehow support — [are]
supporting a campaign promise made by the
president of the United States is obviously not
true,” McCain said.
Asked by McCain whether passing a mora-
torium “would be foolish,” Schwartz replied, “I
think, sir, that any interim change” would not be
appropriate.
McCain said he wanted to “congratulate”
the service chiefs for coming out in opposition
to both repeal and a moratorium at this time.
“Clearly, a moratorium would be a change in the
policy — just a backdoor way of doing it,” he said.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), the spon-
sor of repeal legislation in the Senate, attempt-
ed to allay Schwartz’s concerns by saying the
Air Force standard of conduct would remain
even if “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” were overturned.
“There must be an understanding that …
standards of conduct of Air Force members,
and that of members of other services, cannot
be altered in any way if ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is
repealed,” he said. “We would be eliminating
one policy, but then everybody in the military
has to live by those standards.”
Lieberman asked Schwartz whether he
believes that service members should be dis-
charged solely because of their sexual orientation.
“Sir, I have to tell you that the answer to that
question is more complex than ‘yes’ and ‘no,’”
Schwartz said. “It is dependent on the conse-
quences given a change a policy.”
Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) urged Schwartz
to recall the discrimination that blacks and
women once faced in the military.
“We’ve had an African American who’s
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Burris
said. “Now, under this program, if we had start-
ed studying and waiting, Colin Powell … prob-
ably never would’ve made it because of the
delays and the understanding.”
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nationalagenda

New study finds high HIV, syphilis rates in gay, bi men

HIV infection rate
44 times greater
among the group
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@dcagenda.com
A new analysis released Wednesday
by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
& Prevention shows that the rate of
new HIV infections among men who
have sex with men, also referred to as
MSM, is more than 44 times greater
than that of other men and 40 times
greater than that of women.
The study also shows that the
rate of primary and secondary
syphilis among MSM is more than 46
times that of other men and more
than 71 times that of women.
“While the heavy toll of HIV and
syphilis among gay and bisexual men
has been long recognized, this analy-
sis shows just how stark the health
disparities are between this and other
populations,” said Kevin Fenton, a
physician and director of the CDC’s
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral
Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted
Diseases & Tuberculosis Prevention.
“It is clear that we will not be able
to stop the U.S. HIV epidemic until
every affected community, along with
health officials nationwide, prioritize
the needs of gay and bisexual men
with HIV prevention efforts.”
The CDC released the new data
analysis at the 2010 National Sexually
Transmitted Disease Prevention
Conference, which occurred this week
in Atlanta.
In a statement summarizing the
findings of the analysis, the CDC said
its researchers developed an estimate
of the size of the U.S. gay and bisexu-
al male population for the purpose of
determining the rates of disease for
men who have sex with men.
The analysis defines the estimat-
ed MSM population as the proportion
of men who reported engaging in
same-sex behavior within the past
five years.
“Based on an analysis of national-
ly representative surveys, CDC esti-
mated that MSM comprise 2.0 per-
cent (range: 1.4-2.7 percent) of the
overall U.S. population aged 13 and
older, or 4 percent of the U.S. male
population (range 2.8-5.3 percent),”
says the summary statement.
It says the analysis found that the
range of new HIV diagnoses per
100,000 MSM was 522 to 989. By com-
parison, newly diagnosed HIV cases
came to just 12 per 100,000 for other
men and 13 per 100,000 for women.
For syphilis, the range of newly
diagnosed cases for MSM was 91 to
173 cases per 100,000 compared to
2 per 100,000 for other men and 1
per 100,000 for women.
“This analysis gives us a clearer
picture of the continued alarming dis-
parities in HIV and syphilis rates that
gay, bisexual and other men who have
sex with men experience compared to
other men and women,” said Rich
Wolitski, deputy director for behavioral
and social sciences at the CDC’s
Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.
“These data tell us that health
departments and community-based
organizations, that leaders in the gay
community and that leaders in
African American and Latino commu-
nities, as well, all need to recognize
the severe impact that the epidemic
is continuing to have on the lives of
gay and bisexual men in the United
States,” Wolitski told DC Agenda.
He said the CDC continues to
fund local and state HIV prevention
programs and is developing new
strategies for prevention efforts tar-
geting gay and bi men.
Rebecca Haag, executive director
of the AIDS Institute, a national advo-
cacy group, said she views the new
analysis as an example of a more
aggressive approach by the Obama
administration in focusing on the AIDS
epidemic’s impact on gay and bi men.
“For nearly eight years before
this, we did not see an aggressive
approach in this area under the pre-
vious administration,” Haag said. “So
I see this as very good news.”
Haag said AIDS Action and other
AIDS advocacy organizations are
looking forward to the Obama admin-
istration’s release this spring of a
detailed national HIV strategic plan,
which, among other things, is expect-
ed to highlight improved prevention
programs targeting MSM.
Gary Gates, a nationally recog-
nized expert in LGBT population
trends with the Williams Institute, an
arm of the UCLA School of Law, said
the CDC’s 4 percent estimate of the
number of MSM within the U.S. male
population is consistent with other
national population surveys.
He said the CDC’s 2 percent esti-
mate of MSM within the overall U.S.
population appears slightly lower
than the findings in other studies.
Gates noted, however, that other
studies have also shown that the per-
centage of MSM in major U.S. urban cen-
ters is far higher than the national figure.
Michael Kharfen, spokesperson
for the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration,
said a CDC study of U.S. cities pub-
lished in a medical journal last year
showed that MSM comprised 17 per-
Photo courtesy of CDC
cent of D.C.’s male population.
He said a D.C. Department of Kevin Fenton of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said a new
Health study of HIV trends among study shows stark health disparities between gay and bisexual men and other
MSM in D.C. is expected to be populations.
released within the next week or two.

Massa denies sexually groping male staffers

Continued from page 8
According to Roll Call, Massa
said he believes the ethics inquiry is
based on comments he made dur-
ing a wedding for one of his staffers.
The newspaper’s account noted that
Massa attended the event with
about 250 people, and made
remarks after he danced with a
bridesmaid and sat down at a table
with several of his staffers.
“One of them looked at me and as
they would do after — I don’t know,
15 gin and tonics, and goodness only
knows how many bottles of cham-
pagne — a staff member made an
intonation to me that maybe I should
be chasing after the bridesmaid and
his points were clear and his words
were far more colorful than that,”
Massa was quoted as saying. “And I
grabbed the staff member sitting next
to me and said, ‘Well, what I really
ought to be doing is fracking you.’”
Massa said he then “tossled the
guy’s hair” and left for his room
because he thought “the party was
getting to a point where it wasn’t right
“On Wednesday, he announced
he would not seek reelection
because of a health problem that he
said was a recurrence of cancer; on
Thursday, he said he wasn’t running
because … of his use of salty lan-
guage; on Friday, he seemed to
take some responsibility for his
actions at a different event,” Gibbs
said. “I don’t know why I would give
any weight to what he said on the
fourth day any more than I would on
the previous three days.”
In an appearance Tuesday on
conservative commentator Glenn
Beck’s Fox News program, Massa
Photo courtesy of Massa for Congress acknowledged he had touched a
male staffer, but described it as
Former Rep. Eric Massa, shown here in a campaign photo, resigned this week. “tickling” and said it wasn’t sexual
Asked whether he sexually groped male staffers, Massa replied, 'No, no, no.' behavior. The former lawmaker
recalled tickling the staffer at a
for me to be there.” of his vote against the House health birthday party.
During the interview, Massa report- care legislation last year. “Now they’re saying I groped a
edly added the staff member to whom But Democratic leadership has male staffer,” Massa said. “Yeah, I did.
he made the comments never said he disputed that notion. In a press con- Not only did I grope him, I tickled him
felt uncomfortable. The former law- ference Tuesday, White House until he couldn’t breathe and four guys
maker also suggested the real pur- Press Secretary Robert Gibbs jumped on top of me. It was my 50th
pose of the inquiry was to remove him called Massa’s accusation “silly and birthday and it was kill the old guy.”
from the health care debate because ridiculous.” But when asked whether he sexu-
ally groped anyone, Massa replied,
“No, no, no.”
“It doesn’t make any difference
what my intentions were, it’s how it’s
perceived by the individual who
receives that action,” Massa said.
“I’m telling you I was wrong. I was
wrong. ... My behavior was wrong. I
should have never allowed myself to
be as familiar with my staff as I was.”
Massa’s remarks and the informa-
tion reported by the Washington Post
raise the question of whether Massa,
who’s married to a woman and has
children, is gay or bisexual.
Mike Rogers, a D.C.-based blog-
ger known for outing gay politicians,
said he has no information on
Massa’s sexual orientation.
“He was — when I met him in
Chicago at [Netroots Nation] — very
pro-gay,” Rogers said. “Running in a
fairly conservative district, he sup-
ports axing [‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’]”
Massa last year voted for the hate
crimes bill. He was also a co-sponsor
of the Employment Non-Discrimination
Act and the Military Readiness
Enhancement Act.
march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 21
22 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
personalagenda
An answer to our prayers
Local Methodist church
embraces same-sex
marriage in District
By REV. MARY KAY TOTTY
While some religious organizations
are grabbing headlines with their same-
sex marriage protests, an equally pas-
sionate group of Christians rejoices in
the District of Columbia’s new marriage
equality law. For more than 20 years,
we at Dumbarton United Methodist
Church have been praying and work-
ing for an end to the civil and reli-
gious discrimination against gay, les-
bian, bisexual and transgender peo-
ple. Legal same-sex marriages are
an answer to our prayers.
Recognizing such marriages is a
logical step for my 238-year-old congre-
gation, Dumbarton United Methodist
Church — the first Methodist church in
the District. In 1987, seeking to open our
hearts, minds and doors, we publicly
welcomed lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people and their families
into full participation in the life and min-
istries of the congregation and we con-
tinue to do so today. We rejoice that at
this point in history, the arc of justice
now bends toward equal recognition of
marriage for all couples.
Why do so many Jews support gay marriage?
Loving relationships are
part of God’s bounty
By RABBI TOBY MANEWITH
The law enacted last week, allow-
ing same-gender couples to legally
marry in the District of Columbia, is a
governmental matter. Yet, as a mem-
ber of the clergy, I’ve been asked
over and over again about my reli-
gious opinion on the matter.
Of course, the spheres of spiritual
and civil life often overlap. The Hebrew
Bible includes many laws, such as
those governing commerce or dam-
ages, which would be considered civil
law in today’s society. Further, the text
demands its adherents step into the
public sphere when the rights of his-
torically oppressed groups are threat-
ened. Members of the Jewish commu-
nity have a long history of supporting
— and working toward — civil rights
for many who were once considered
voiceless in society.
The rabbinic body of Reform
Movement in Judaism, the denomi-
nation through which I was ordained,
voted, in 1977, to oppose any legis-
lation that would limit the civil rights
of gay men and lesbians, quite a bold
move at the time. In 1996, a smaller
body of the same group, while deny-
ing religious marriage as it was tradi-
tionally understood, encouraged its
members to welcome homosexual
individuals and couples into their
congregations and work toward
inclusiveness at a time when parity
seemed impossible. During this
same year, the movement’s leaders
‘ ’
Marriage equality is another
mile marker on the road to “liberty
and justice for all.”
Now, with marriage equality in the
District of Columbia, our congregation
will give its full support and blessing to
those who have been excluded from
this sacred rite. We will honor and cel-
ebrate the wedding of any couple,
licensed in D.C., who seek to commit
their lives to one another in marriage.
We are painfully aware that same-
sex weddings are not sanctioned by
our denomination, and therefore, the
clergy in our congregation who per-
form these weddings do so at some
risk. However, marriage equality is
about justice and civil rights. While this
country is still dealing with the vestiges
of sexism and racism, our law
acknowledges that it is not acceptable
to discriminate against people based
upon gender and race. With its new
law, the District of Columbia acknowl-
edges that it is wrong to discriminate
against people based upon sexual
orientation. Marriage equality is
another mile marker on the road to
“liberty and justice for all.”
Photo courtesy of
istockphoto.com/Andrew Rog
affirmed the rights of gay men and
lesbians to have access to the insti-
tution of civil marriage.
Four years later, in 2000, the
Reform Movement’s rabbis voted over-
whelmingly in favor of allowing the
movement’s clergy to officiate at
same-sex commitment ceremonies.
It’s important to note that the Reform
movement is not the only Jewish
denomination that is supportive of
either civil or religious marriage (or
both) for same-gender couples.
Members of the Reconstructionist
Movement in Judaism as well as some
Conservative Jewish leaders have
also affirmed and worked toward civil
and religious rights in this area.
Marriage equality is also a faith
concern. Scripture, tradition, reason,
and experience all point to the impor-
tance and value of stable, committed
relationships. Those same sources
teach me that all people are to be
treated equally. As a pastor, I am
called to extend care to all people
even as Jesus did.
Jesus kept trying to teach people
to see each others’ hearts, to recog-
nize the good and righteousness in
one another. Jesus also saved his
harshest words for the Pharisees who
were so bound up in their narrow
legalisms they could not extend grace
to all God’s children. Jesus extended
grace and ministry to all persons
whether they were Hebrew, Gentile,
Pharisee or Samaritan. Today, Jesus
would extend grace to people no mat-
ter where they are from, what they
look like or who they love.
Twenty plus years of ministry
have woven the pastoral role into my
very being. I am called to make my
‘ ’
I support civil and religious marriage
not despite my understanding of
Jewish tradition but because of it.
Even if you’ve never read the
Bible, you’re likely aware of the verse
from Leviticus (18:22) widely under-
stood as banning male homosexuali-
ty. The verse is often translated: “You
shall not lie with a male as one lies
with a female; it is an abomination.”
Though the word abomination is an
imperfect, and perhaps somewhat
harsh, translation of the Hebrew origi-
nal, the verse is correctly understood
in its sociological context as placing
homosexuality on the category of
things that ought not be done.
With Jewish law so firmly in the “no”
column, why have I and many of my
colleagues said “yes” so loudly and
clearly? I can only answer for myself,
though I know that at least some of my
views are shared by colleagues.
In the stage version of “Fiddler on
the Roof,” the main character, Tevye, in
lamenting the encroachment of modern
life on his small, yet comfortable exis-
tence, laments to his wife, “It’s a new
world, Golda.” Judaism, though
steeped in tradition, is an evolving reli-
gion. It is impossible for me, as a 21st
century American Jew, to live by a strict
interpretation of laws that were first
introduced in a societal context com-
pletely foreign to modern experience
not to mention current knowledge of
gender and sexual identity formation.
priestly acts available for anyone
seeking them. I do not refuse anyone
communion. I officiate at funerals for
members and strangers. I have
served as a volunteer in the pastoral
care department of several hospi-
tals. With John Wesley, the founder
of Methodism, I see that the world is
my parish. I will treat all couples that
seek to be married at my church
equally without regard for sexual ori-
entation. This is both justice and a
pastoral issue.
When it comes down to it, marriage
is about love and loyalty – about two
people taking the big, bold, audacious
step of committing themselves to each
other for life — for better, for worse; for
richer, for poorer; in sickness and in
health. When two people marry, they
entwine their resources and well-being
together, which the state recognizes
and the church supports.
State and church should provide
such legal recognition and spiritual
support for all couples. Dumbarton
United Methodist Church is committed
to marriage equality. We celebrate love
and loyalty wherever it is found. And
we rejoice that the District of Columbia
stands ready to do the same.
Rev. Mary Kay Totty is the pastor
of Dumbarton United Methodist
Church in Washington, D.C.
I support civil and religious mar-
riage not despite my understanding
of Jewish tradition but because of it.
In the biblical story of creation,
human beings are said to be made
btzelem elohim, in the image of God. If
we are all created to reflect God’s good-
ness, then I believe we should all have
equal access to God’s bounty. Loving
relationships are part of that bounty. In
the second telling of the creation story,
a partner is formed for Adam, the first
man, because “It is not good for a
human being to be alone.” Though not
all in our society have found partners, it
seems like unspeakable cruelty to deny
some who have the right to live and
affirm that partnership.
Judaism is a religion based on a
covenantal relationship — one
between God and a people — and
highly values covenants and oaths. In
Judaism, marriage is known as kid-
dushin, or holiness. If two people,
regardless of gender identity or sexu-
al orientation, choose to sanctify their
relationship and publicly and legally
affirm their commitment to one anoth-
er, it not only strengthens their individ-
ual bond, it serves to make our com-
munity stronger as well.
Rabbi Toby Manewith is with Bet
Mishpachah. Reach her via betmish.org.
dcagenda
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personalagenda
With thanks for D.C. marriage equality
Today we celebrate,
tomorrow the struggle
for equality continues
By DAVID MEADOWS
It seems like yesterday, when in
May 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court
ruled that existing marriage laws dis-
criminated against gays and lesbians,
a ruling our D.C. Board of Elections &
Ethics has repeatedly rendered late-
ly. Coincidentally, it was about this
same time that I started to test my sea
legs in the arena of LGBT politics and
I remember many residents at the
time starting to clamor for such rights
here in the District of Columbia, which
has always been at the forefront of the
gay rights movement.
Of course, there were such calls
for same-sex marriage years before
a young and powerful group called
the Human Rights Campaign helped
to make this a nationwide issue. I
wish I could say that these efforts are
what have brought us to this day in
which same-sex couples can legally
register for marriage licenses in the
District of Columbia.
I wish I could say that Harry Hay,
Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny and
others laid the foundations for such a
possibility.
I wish I could say that it was the tire-
less advocacy of Gay & Lesbian
Activists Alliance's Bob Summersgill,
Craig Howell, Barrett Brick, Kevin
feedback
The following comments were
posted to our web site. Visit dcagen-
da.com to join the conversation.
Re: “Three gay nominees among
the 27 confirmed by U.S. Senate”
(news story by Chris Johnson)
I’m glad to hear these low-level
appointees finally got their votes in
the Senate, but I really want to see
Obama appoint an openly gay per-
son as a cabinet secretary or some
appointments to the federal judici-
ary. An LGBT member of the cabinet
or federal judiciary tends to catch
people’s attention; whereas a few
appointments to minor positions
within the administration doesn’t get
a great deal of attention and accom-
plishes very little for the LGBT com-
munity. I am still waiting for
Congress to pass the Domestic
Partnership Benefits & Obligations
Act and the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act, both of which
would bring significant benefits to
the LGBT Community. — Tim
Re: “Gibbs: ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal
off to ‘strong start’” (news story by
Chris Johnson)
Peculiar, isn’t it, how Gibbs, yet
again, did not answer the question that
was asked, which included words
solely referencing repealing “RIGHT
NOW”… and that the “process for
evaluating, studying and ULTIMATELY
repealing” DADT Gibbs is crowing
Davis and Rick Rosendall, working
with the support of the Gertrude Stein
Democratic Club’s Kurt Vorndran,
Bradley Lewis, and Mario Acosta and
the support of the D.C. Coalition’s
Carlene Cheatam, Phillip Pannell and
Sterling Washington to agree with the
strategic decision to incrementally
bring these rights.
I wish I could say it was the
Foundation for All DC Families’ Peter
Rosenstein, Cornelius Baker, Andy
Litsky and Steve Gorman, who quiet-
ly raised the funds to conduct a poll
on the issue five years ago. Or the
late Wanda Alston, who organized
the community to defeat a proposed
ballot referendum back in 2004. I will
always fondly remember Wanda’s
passion at that first meeting in the
16th Street church basement.
I wish I could say it was because
of our LGBT business owners like
Deacon Maccubbin, Eric Little, Ed
Bailey, Babak Movahedi, David
Franco, Eric Hirschfield and David
Lewis who generously offered their
venues and financial backing.
I wish I could say it was the local
Democratic Party, the Statehood Green
Party, the leadership of the local
Republican Party or the numerous
Advisory Neighborhood Commissions
and neighborhood associations
that endorsed and lobbied for mar-
riage equality.
I wish I could say it was the product
of former D.C. Council Chair Arrington
Dixon, who first proposed such legis-
lation more than 30 years ago or
about would not end until AFTER
midterm elections, which, unless the
whole world is wrong, means there
wouldn’t be enough [votes] in
Congress open to repeal to make it
happen, study or no study. It’s time to
admit Gates played us, regardless of
whether or not it was on Obama’s
instructions. — Michael
“Played” is right. Gibbs admits to
the playwriting required of all political
theatre when he says, “…we have
talked to many about the process for
this. We have talked to them prior to
making some of these announce-
ments and prior to some of this testi-
mony.” They’ve formulated the play-
book of our lives, and again, it says
“WHEN IT COMES TO BASIC
HUMAN RIGHTS IN AMERICA, WE
WILL DO WHAT WE WANT TO DO –
BUTT OUT.” So, HRC, are you help-
ing write the playbook? Or getting
played by the players? I’m sick of the
playing. What a cesspool Washington
is. — Peter the Saint
Re: “Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia,
Inc. purchases Washington Blade
assets” (news story, staff reports)
Congratulations. I’m very proud
that your team pulled together and
kept this vital newspaper alive. You
have quickly developed a successful
new brand with “DC Agenda.”
Nonetheless, your team deserves
the legacy that is embodied in “The
Council members Phil Mendelson and
David Catania who worked together to
create today’s bill or Council Chair
Vincent Gray for his stewardship or
Mayor Adrian Fenty for his signature.
Or the nearly 300 people who came to
testify at the longest Council hearing
ever held in the District of Columbia.
I wish I could say it was because
of the thousands upon thousands of
D.C. LGBT voters and our straight
allies who helped elect these pro-
gressive politicians.
I wish I could say it was because
of the commitment from new leaders
like Jeffrey Richardson, Chris Dyer,
David Mariner, Brian Watson, Paquita
Wiggins and Tim Mahoney or D.C. for
Marriage’s Michael Crawford, Lane
Hudson, Hilary Treat, Donald
Hitchcock, Rev. Christine Wiley, Rev.
Rainey Cheeks, Rev. Monique Ellison
and Nick McCoy who educated our
residents and faith communities.
I wish I could say it was because
of the men, women and couples who
simply have had the courage to
come out to their friends, families
and workplaces in their daily lives —
an individual act that means more
than all those listed above.
I can’t say these things because,
unfortunately, the residents of the
District of Columbia are beholden to
the will of Congress. If the D.C. gov-
ernment had true legislative autono-
my, marriage equality would have
become law in this progressive city
years ago. I strongly believe that any
earlier attempt to enact full marriage
Washington Blade.” I wish you much
success. — Iver K. Nielsen
Congrats indeed: those 40 years of
original photo images are not found in
any other local archives! It would have
been a shame to have them dis-
pensed or thrown away by the court or
any other buyer. — Paul K. Williams
What a great victory for you and
the LGBT community! The archives
are priceless in documenting our his-
tory. — Greg Alexander
Re: “Last hurdle removed to
start of D.C. same-sex marriages”
(news story by Lou Chibbaro Jr.)
Excellent! When will this hate mon-
gering preacher from Maryland, (the
obnoxious Bishop Jackson) buzz off and
let the people of Washington, D.C.,
decide to do the right thing and allow
same-sex marriage. In fact, I think it’s
time for the Maryland General Assembly
to get moving on passing same-sex
marriage in Maryland. — Tim
Re: “Md. may recognize out-of-
state gay marriages” (news story
by Lou Chibbaro Jr.)
Hey, does this mean that Harry
Jackson will go home to Maryland
and re-register to vote there so he
can oppose this? He won’t even have
to rent an apartment or buy a condo
to pretend he lives there, as he’s
doing now in the District. — John B.
march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 23
equality these past 17 years would
have backfired and a Republican-
controlled Congress, with support of
Blue Dog Democrats, would have
imposed a forever binding Defense of
Marriage Act upon the District. In
hindsight, I am glad we waited.
What I can say is that when
Osama bin Laden unleashed his
hate upon our nation’s shores, our
President George W. Bush used the
attack to declare war against Iraq.
This initially popular war gradually
lost favor with the American public
and opened the door for a young
senator named Barack Obama.
I can say thank you President
Obama for your unifying message of
change and hope that not only pro-
pelled you into office but helped to cre-
ate the unprecedented “super majority”
in Congress for the Democratic Party.
I can say I’m thankful for the conver-
gence of these events, and within this
two-year window, that enabled the lead-
ership of our community and the District
government to work with Del. Eleanor
Holmes Norton, Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
Sen. Harry Reid and many congres-
sional staffers — gay and straight alike
— to offset congressional intervention.
This is why it is more important than
ever for us to continue to advocate for
D.C. voting rights and statehood. We
need a full voting member in the
Congress of the United States. We
need Eleanor Holmes Norton to serve
as a full voting member who can devote
her talents to legislative pursuits and
not have to serve in the role of sentry
Since I am not a lawyer nor partic-
ularly well versed in the law, I have to
ask for some help. If a man and
woman get married in Massachusetts,
or the Netherlands or Spain, I believe
that the state of Maryland and all
other states and the District recognize
those marriages as valid. If two men
or two women marry in a jurisdiction
that recognizes such marriages, what
legal basis is there for a state to
refuse recognition? — Jerry
The LGBT community in Maryland
really needs to run candidates against
the anti-gay Democrats who sit on key
committees and replace them with pro-
LGBT Democrats. The Republicans
(like Del. Dwyer) are almost always
against us, but really, it’s a handful of
homophobic Democrats on these com-
mittees that are keeping Maryland
from recognizing and allowing same-
sex marriage. — Tim
Re: “Sullivan, Gallagher trade
barbs on marriage at forum” (news
story by Chris Johnson)
I grew up Catholic, although I’m no
longer involved in religion. I have no
great opposition to the church despite
its numerous errors and have only
warm memories of church life and
being an altar boy back in the days of
the old Latin Mass. But we were
taught to tell the truth at all times. In
other words not to tell lies to suit a
purpose. Conservative Christians,
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton
guarding against potential congression-
al intervention that at any time could
overturn D.C. marriage equality or any
other progressive legislation passed in
the District of Columbia.
We must not let a new Congress
negate this historic law!
I ask you to join me in sending a big
thank you to our District and congres-
sional leaders and many other com-
munity advocates whose names I have
not mentioned and I encourage you to
continue to speak out for equality.
Today we celebrate! Tomorrow we
continue the struggle.
David Meadows is former presi-
dent of the Gertrude Stein Democratic
Club and a member of the D.C.
Democratic State Committee.
including Catholics, have no qualms
whatsoever about falsifying state-
ments about homosexual persons,
despite the cascade of deleterious
effects like violence and bloodshed. To
pick up on something another com-
menter said, “they” try to explain how
the Bible is literally true except what
they cherry pick. Our level of tolerance
for ideological sewage disguised as
religious belief is inexcusable. I am
way past caring about their accept-
ance, but their tolerance under the
law, I demand. — H. (Bart) Vincelette
Re: "Conservative Calif. state sen-
ator comes out as gay in radio inter-
view" (news story by Chris Johnson)
I am happy for him that he came
“out”, but isn’t it hyprcritical that he
fought against us for so long and now
all of a sudden we find out he was a
closet case, I think he owes the gay
community a heartfelt apology. — BJ
Re: "Filibuster threat makes
ENDA unlikely in 2010" (news story
by Lou Chibbaro Jr.)
So let me try to understand this
stupidity – people who are transgen-
der should not be given the opportuni-
ty to work because some str8s don’t
want to go to the bathroom with them?
I suppose in some heteroidiotic way
this would make sense in heterosu-
premacy land, but in the real world
everyone has the right to earn a living
without fear. — PlanetSpinz
24 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
socialagenda
friday, march 12
“IT’S BRITNEY BITCH” features Britney
look-a-likes, karaoke, trivia, music and
more at Town, 2009 8th St., N.W., 202-
234-TOWN or towndc.com. Doors open
at 10 p.m., drag show at 10:30 p.m.; 18+.
Cover is $5 from 10-11 p.m. and $10 after
for those 21+ and $10 all night for 18-20.
Visit Apex, 1415 22nd St., N.W., for
CALIENTE GRANDE! Expect the
hottest Latin music from DJ Michael
Brandon with doors opening at 9
p.m. 18 to get in and 21 to drink.
The second Friday of each month at the
Green Lantern, 1335 Green Court,
N.W., offers “JACOB’S LADDER,”
music of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and ’00s.
The DJs for the evening will be T&T
Music Factory (DJ tim & DJ Timothy
Mykael make up this electrifying
team). Two DJs playing 90 minutes
each. All you can drink Smirnoff
Vodka flavors buffet for $15; $5 cover.
GAY DISTRICT is a weekly, non-church
affiliated discussion and social group for
GBTQ men between 18 and 35. The
group meets from 8:30-10:30 p.m at St.
Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 1820
Connecticut Ave., N.W. For more infor-
mation, e-mail gd@gaydistrict.org.
WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES will
meet at the DC Center, 1810 14th St.
N.W., at 8 p.m. WiTT is a social discus-
sion group for lesbian, bisexual, trans-
If you love Cezanne, there are two blockbuster exhibits to check out, one at the Corcoran and another at the BMA.
gender and other interested women in
the D.C. area. The group is led by sev-
eral facilitators on a rotational basis.
New participants are always welcome.
The discussion is followed by dinner at
a nearby restaurant.
saturday, march 13
MIXTAPE at EFN Lounge/Motley
Bar, 1318 9th St., N.W., from 10 p.m.
to 3 a.m. MIXTAPE is an alterna-gay-
disco-electro-pop-indie dance party for
queers, gays, lesbians, trans, queens,
kings, boys, girls, and every combina-
tion thereof. 21 and over; $5 cover.
The second Saturday of each month
Sean Morris presents “FLY” at Mova,
1435 P St., N.W. Expect music from
1990 through 1999, with your favorites
from the decade that brought us grunge.
Tracks from Nirvana, Soundgarden,
Stone Temple Pilots and, of course, your
favorite divas in their prime like Whitney
Houston, Madonna and even Amy
Grant! 99 cent shot special from 10-11
p.m.; no cover, 21 and up.
Black Cat, 1811 14th St., N.W., 202-
667-4490, hosts its long-running
MOUSETRAP, a Brit-pop dance night,
on the main stage beginning at 9:30
p.m. Tickets are $10 general admission.
Visit blackcatdc.com for information.
NATIONAL SHAMROCKFEST, billed
as the largest St. Patrick’s Day festival
in the mid-Atlantic, features 40+
bands, including the Roots and Train.
Held at RFK Stadium, 2400 E.
Capital St. (Stadium-Armory Metro).
Gates open at 11:30 a.m.; tickets start
at $24.99. Call 877-77-CLICK or visit
shamrockfest.com.
THE WASHINGTON WIZARDS take
on the Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. at
Verizon Center. Tickets start at $10.
Visit ticketmaster.com for information.
WOMEN ARTISTS/WOMEN HEALING
II: “HEALING POWER OF MYTH,
RITUAL & CELEBRATION,” features
mostly women artists, writers and
healers for workshops in dance/
movement, storytelling and more.
Free, open to the public, 12:30 p.m.,
1420 Columbia Rd., N.W. Visit wom-
enartistswomenhealing.org or call
202-332-4200 x1041 for information.
sunday, march 14
“TURNER TO CEZANNE: MASTER-
PIECES FROM THE DAVIES
COLLECTION” continues at the
Corcoran Gallery, 17th Street and
New York Avenue, N.W. Tickets are
$10; $8 for students. And if you can’t
get enough Cezanne, don’t miss the
BMA’s “CEZANNE AND AMERICAN
MODERNISM” now through May 23,
10 Art Museum Dr., Baltimore, 443-
573-1700, artbma.org. Tickets are $15.
Photo courtesy of Spears
Celebrate all things BRITNEY SPEARS at Town on Friday night.
BURGUNDY CRESCENT, a gay vol- nastage.org for information.
unteer organization, volunteers today PACKING PARTY at EFN Lounge/
for D.C. Central Kitchen. To partici- Motley Bar, 1318 9th St., N.W., from
pate, visit burgundycrescent.org. 7-8 p.m. Volunteers will be assem-
Check out Cobalt, 1639 R St. N.W., bling safer sex kits and enjoying drink
for X and party the winter blues away specials, 7-10:30 p.m.
by welcoming daylight savings time.
This Month: DJ Glanson (NYC) with wednesday, march 17
opening Set by DJ Pete Glow. THE TOM DAVARON SOCIAL
Dancers, live drag performance by BRIDGE CLUB will meet at 7:30
Isis Deverreoux; 21 and up, $7 p.m. at the Dignity Center, 721 8th
cover ($5 from 10-11 p.m.). St., S.E. No partner needed. Visit
lambdabridge.com; click “Social
monday, march 15 Bridge in Washington, D.C.”
Acclaimed singer JOHN HIATT per-
forms at the Birchmere, 3701 Mt. thursday, march 18
Vernon Ave., Alexandria, Va., 7:30 p.m. “American Idol” favorite DAUGHTRY
Visit ticketmaster.com for tickets or call performs at 1st Mariner Arena, 201 W.
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socialagenda: wedding bells ring in d.c.

Photos by Joe Tresh

Three couples wed at Human Rights Campaign headquarters on Tuesday morning, the first day legal same-sex wedding ceremonies could be held. Sinjoyla Townsend and Angelisa
Young (top left) a Ward 8 couple of 12 years, were wed by Rev. David K. North, pastor of Holy Redeemer of Metropolitan Community Churches, College Park, Md. Rev. Elder Darlene
Garner and Rev. Lorilyn Candy Holmes (far right) were married by Rev. Dwayne Johnson, pastor of Metropolitan Community Churches, Washington, D.C. And Reginald Stanley and
Rocky Galloway (top center) were married by Rev. Sylvia E. Sumter, pastor of Unity of Washington, D.C.

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26 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010

socialagenda

a prom-inent affair
Queer dance helps
gays replace high
school injustices with
fun memories  Spirit of Washington on the waterfront.
By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO
Ebone Bell did the whole prom
thing in 1999 when she was an 18-
year-old senior at Sherwood High
School in Olney, Md. But she wasn’t
out yet and went with a guy to con-
form to societal expectations and the
whole evening just felt off.
“I was going through the motions,”
the 28-year-old lesbian says. “I had the
whole long hair, nails, long dress, make-
up and everything. And I’d even say I
had a good time because I was with my
friends. But I didn’t have that monumen-
tal rite of passage that it’s supposed to
be. I was obviously battling something
and I guess I kind of knew then.”
Nobody can go back in time, of
course, but local LGBT people can find
prom nightmare redemption in
Saturday’s fourth annual Capital Queer
Prom, which runs from 7 to 10:30 p.m.
at the Almas Temple (1315 K St., N.W.).
Tickets are $50 per individual through
today (www.capitalqueerprom.com).
Bell, a local party and events promoter,
got the idea watching a teen movie with
a de rigueur prom scene. She’d heard
of similar events for gays on college
campuses and realized she could
adapt it to a broader forum.
She was right. She started in 2005
with a women’s only event. It sold out
with about 200 people boarding the
The next year she opened it up to men
and it grew to nearly 300. The real
marker of success, though, she says,
is the money that’s raised each year for
local LGBT non-profits. The Women’s
Collective, Wanda’s Will and One in
Ten were the recipients the first three
years. This year it’s the Wanda Alston
House, D.C.’s transitional home for
homeless LGBT youth, managed by
Transgender Health Empowerment.
“We look for groups that don’t get
as much funding or promotional help
as some of the bigger non-profits,”
Bell says. “The Wanda Alston House
lost some funding last year and it’s a
shame, it really is. It’s the only place
like it in this area so we really want to
do our part to help it as much as pos-
sible. Even if you don’t go to prom,
please go online and make a dona-
tion to the Wanda Alston House.”
Proceeds come from sponsors and
ticket sales but mostly from a silent
auction. Queer Prom has raised about
$2,000 for each of its charities in pre-
vious years, a figure Bell hopes to
exceed this year. Miller Lite is the
event’s sole corporate sponsor but
many locals have made donations.
A new dimension this year is Queer
Prom’s Casino Royale theme. Metro
Casinos is bringing gambling para-
phernalia to the party and attendees
can play poker, blackjack, roulette and
craps. Fake money and chips will be
used to play and each ticket comes
with $500 worth of chips. Additional
chips can be purchased reasonably for
real money — it’s meant to be more fun
than high stakes and Bell says prom
goers who don’t know the games can
learn at the event.
“I just thought it sounded like
something unique and different that
hadn’t been done before in the LGBT
community,” she says.
And though drinking and gam-
bling are antithetical to high school
prom, Bell does have more tradition-
al elements planned. A prom court
and king and queen — who could be
of either gender in either category —
will be named again this year.
Tia Terchila, a local activist and drag
king who performs as Rusty Nutz, was
named prom king last year, in part for
her extensive volunteer efforts. She
says the honor meant more than it
might appear to on the surface.
“It totally had a deeper meaning,”
Terchila says. “It really made my
entire year. It was really special and
made me feel good and made me
want to keep helping others.”
Terchila, who graduated from
Albuquerque’s Cibola High School in
Queer Prom founder EBONE BELL (left) at last year’s prom with her girlfriend,
ANGELL GARRIGAN.
1998, was out in high school but still
sorting through identity issues and
didn’t feel comfortable going to prom
with a girl so she stayed home.
“I had a girlfriend but I didn’t know
how to properly identify myself back
then at prom. I was nervous. I didn’t
want to wear a dress or a suit. I didn’t
know who I was. If I was a girl, if I was
a boy, if it mattered. Why I think prom is
cool now, for those of us who didn’t get
to experience prom in the open way we
wanted to, we can dress how we want
to dress and not be judged. It’s fun
without the pressure of high school.”
Liz Steggemann, an Alexandria,
Va., lesbian, also skipped her high
school prom. She heard about Queer
Prom last year through some of her
friends at Burgundy Crescent
Volunteers and offered to help.
Photo by Penny Hoelting; courtesy of Bell
“I had never been to my prom,” she
says. “I just thought, ‘OK, whatever,’ and
I got over that, but when my friends told
me about Queer Prom, I thought, ‘Oh,
that sounds fun. Why not?’”
She went last year with a friend and
says it was an incredible evening.
“I had an awesome time,” she says.
“I don’t think I would have had that much
fun at my high school prom. I wasn’t
really interested in it and I couldn’t see
what everybody was so excited about.”
Last year Steggemann wore a
black and blue pinstripe suit with a
white dress shirt and rainbow tie. She
has another suit chosen for this year.
Bell says the event is formal but
attendees don’t have to feel any
pressure to spend a lot of money.
“It’s a gay prom so I expect all kinds
of creativity,” Bell says.

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theateragenda
gay actor reflects on a booming career
Star of Arena’s ‘Piazza’
headed to big screen
in ‘Sex and the City 2’
By PATRICK FOLLIARD
Special to DC Agenda
Out actor Nicholas Rodriguez can’t
shake the bad memory of a gay bash-
ing that ended with a trashcan full of
garbage being poured over his head.
Fortunately, the hate crime wasn’t real,
but rather a dramatization on ABC’s
daytime drama “One Life to Live.” While
Rodriguez describes playing earnest
but sexy activist Nick Chavez, the third
man in a tumultuous gay love triangle,
as an intense but positive experience,
the Broadway hunk is happy to return
to his musical roots for now.
Through mid-April, Rodriguez is at
D.C.’s Arena Stage playing Fabrizio, the
handsome Italian lover in Adam Guettel’s
gorgeous musical “The Light in the
Piazza.” The Tony-winning work follows
the experiences of American matron
Margaret Johnson (Hollis Resnick) and
her daughter, Clara (Margaret Anne
Florence) as they tour Italy in the early
1950s. When Clara and Fabrizio fall in
love, Margaret is torn over whether or not
to reveal her daughter’s well kept secret
that might surely end the young lovers’
happiness, as well as her own.
“Playing Fabrizio, I get to use my
full palette of colors,” says Rodriguez,
31. “The show’s soaring, deceptively
uncomplicated score taps my operat-
ic training and musical theatre expe-
rience, and it’s an emotional role that
requires real acting too. I’m confident
in my performance, but once or twice
during rehearsal I had misgivings, it’s
not an easy part.”
Penned by gay playwright Craig
Lucas, “The Light in the Piazza” is
based on Elizabeth Spencer’s novel.
The show premiered to acclaim at New
York’s Lincoln Center in 2005. At the
time, Rodriguez was considered for the
coveted Fabrizio role but didn’t get the
part. So, when the opportunity came up
for him to be part of the Arena Stage
production, Rodriguez jumped at the
chance: “Working with Molly [Smith, the
show’s director and Arena’s artistic
director] has been great,” says
Rodriguez. “Arena possesses both
artistic integrity and equally important —
resources. I worked with both an Italian
instructor and a dialect coach [because
Fabrizio and his family speak in Italian],
allowing me to get the accent right and
concentrate on my performance.”
A native Texan, Rodriguez holds
both undergraduate and graduate
degrees in vocal performance from
the University of Texas at
Austin. Though educated in classical
voice, he knew that his professional
path would lead elsewhere. “I
absolutely love opera, but as a
‘The Light in the Piazza’
Through April 11
Arena Stage in Crystal City
1800 South Bell St., Arlington
$25-$74
202-488-3300
arenastage.org
career, it requires rigid discipline —
it’s a tough life,” says Rodriguez.
“Early on I envisioned a career that
included musical theater.”
He saw correctly. Shortly after arriv-
ing in New York City, affable Rodriguez
with his good looks and golden throat
began to get cast. In addition to origi-
nating the role of Tarzan on Broadway,
he has appeared off-Broadway in “The
Toxic Avenger,” “Almost Heaven,” and
“Bajour” and toured in “Jesus Christ
Superstar” (Jesus), “Evita” (Che), and
“Hair” (Claude). This summer, he can
be seen in the film “Sex and the City 2,”
about which he’s unfortunately been
sworn to secrecy and would not Photo courtesy of Arena Stage
divulge any details.
“Being out professionally is very Out actor Nicholas Rodriguez plays Fabrizio in ‘THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA,’
freeing,” shares Rodriquez who lives now featured at Arena Stage.
in New York City with his partner of
seven years. “You no longer have that ly as a positive force in the gay com- Rodriguez doesn’t have any immedi-
nagging worry about slipping up or munity, especially gay youth.” ate plans. He may take a breather at
blowing your straight cover in some At home in New York, he’s volun- his getaway in the Catskills, but
way. Instead, you can simply be your teered at the Harvey Milk High mostly he likes to work. “With every
authentic self and put all that energy School, and while in D.C., hopes to new part,” he says, “comes an adven-
into the work and your life in general. do some work with gay youth. ture and a lesson. I never, ever dread
What’s more I’m able to serve open- After the Arena production, starting my next job.”
Want a
subscription to
dcagenda?
Contact
Robbie
Barnett at
rbarnett@dcagenda.com

filmagenda
losing the oscar, teaching a lesson
Pentagon Papers doc is
a profile in courage
By DAVID J. HOFFMAN
Special to DC Agenda
Daniel Ellsberg — the man who
brought the Pentagon Papers to light
in 1971, those secret U.S. govern-
ment documents detailing the path of
deception leading to the war in
Vietnam — is today the darling of a
feature-length film that was nominat-
ed for the Best Documentary Oscar
(it lost to “The Cove”).
The film is playing at the Cinema
Arts Theatre in Fairfax as well as in
downtown D.C. at the Landmark E
Street Cinema on 11th St., N.W.
Ellsberg is the onetime Cold Warrior
and Marine platoon leader in Vietnam,
who as a young soldier brandished an
automatic weapon in combat and later
a doctorate in political science from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ellsberg was famously dubbed by
President Nixon’s national security
adviser Henry Kissinger as “the most
dangerous man in America,” when he
and Nixon feared that Ellsberg was
ready to make public Nixon administra-
tion papers about deception and chi-
canery over the Vietnam War.
Ellsberg went underground in
1971, on the run while he feared arrest
in the days before the New York Times
Photo courtesy of mostdangerousman.org
‘THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA’ lost the Oscar this week, but
holds important lessons related to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
began to publish the secret history of
how the Kennedy and Johnson admin-
istrations had misled the American
people as we stepped — almost
sleepwalking — “waist deep into the
big muddy” of the Vietnam civil war.
“The Most Dangerous Man in
America: Daniel Ellsberg and the
Pentagon Papers” is a remarkably dra-
matic, fast-paced drumbeat of a feature-
length documentary film that is must-
viewing for anyone who wants to under-
stand how we got into — and then final-
ly out of — a mistaken war in a remote
corner of the globe. Sound at all familiar?
The film is a gripping montage of
high political drama complete with secret
derring-do and an audacious bid for
redemption as Ellsberg sought to
change the course of history by setting
the dominos falling to bring that awful
war to an end and in the eventual course
of things also to help topple Nixon him-
self, for the origins of Nixon’s Watergate
“high crimes and misdemeanors” were
planted in the efforts to uproot the
whistleblower Ellsberg and others on the
White House “enemies list.”
It all began in the bureaucratic bow-
els of the Pentagon when then Defense
Secretary Robert S. McNamara in 1967
authorized a top-secret history of U.S.
decision-making in Indochina. As a
strategic analyst with the RAND
March 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 29
Corporation, Ellsberg was an MIT-
trained specialist in decision-making.
The documents known as the Pentagon
Papers comprised 7,000 pages of high-
ly classified documents dating from
1945 to 1967 and was completed in
1969 when Nixon had meanwhile suc-
ceeded Johnson in the White House.
As he read through the documents,
Ellsberg became convinced that it was a
virtual mother lode of proof that the U.S.
government had used systematic
deception about our purposes in
Indochina since the 1940s when we first
aided the French into trying to retrieve
their colonial power there against the
popular nationalist forces of Vietnamese
seeking an end to the French empire
there, and then, after the French defeat,
the U.S. tried to manipulate a puppet
regime in the south of the country. And
the rest, as they say, is history — deeply
tragic history for hundreds of thousands
of those killed and maimed.
So Ellsberg then faced the ulti-
mate uncertainty — whether to risk
everything, throw away his career,
incur possible imprisonment — all in
the uncertain hope that he could
make a difference, so he rolled the
dice, copied the documents and then
began an odyssey to bring them to
public attention. In so doing, he would
also change his life and his footsteps
would lead him to a lifetime of resist-
ing U.S. militarism up to and including
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The film chronicles one man’s
political and spiritual odyssey and
reveals what great risks Ellsberg
took at the time. Now 78 but decades
later still boyishly slender and hand-
some as a silver fox, he stood before
the audience at a recent special
screening of the film in D.C. with film-
maker Rick Goldsmith and former
U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel, who also
risked prison to make the docu-
ments public at a congressional
hearing, after Ellsberg passed him a
set of the documents in a secret ren-
dezvous one night in front of the
Mayflower Hotel.
After the screening, Gravel mod-
erated an audience Q&A with
Ellsberg and Goldsmith, and asked
Ellsberg about the differences
between the anti-war movement dur-
ing the Vietnam conflict and today.
Ellsberg replied that one difference is
that today “grownups, if we can use
that term, are not filling the role that
they did in the 1960s and 1970s.”
Noting that he had taken “an action
at some risk” in leaking the Pentagon
papers, he pointed out that “without
that, the war would have gone on.”
For more information on the
film, go to www.mostdangerous-
man.org. For a videotape of the
Ellsberg-Gravel-Goldsmith dis-
cussion, go to www.afterdown-
ingstreet.org.
30 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010

literaryagenda
delve into a mature love story
Gay author explores
race, sex and related
issues in new book
By DAVID J. HOFFMAN
Special to DC Agenda
In a truly distinctive genre of LGBT
literature — dubbed here “the stroke
love story” — the blow-by-blow
steamy sex doesn’t begin until page
115. And by then it will blow the white-
walls off your tires. That’s the welcome
character of the new novel, “Nothing
Can Tear Us Apart” by gay African-
American writer Wyatt O’Brian Evans,
a native Washingtonian.
Spoiler alert! This is not a Harlequin
romance of the sort where the lovers
court and spark and sulk and simmer
but then the action suddenly ceases
when the tight, straining bodice is final-
ly torn away from the heaving bosom,
or the sleek six-pack abs.
Read this novel, yes by all means,
for its steamy sex scenes, for they truly
sizzle with sexy-cool and super-hot,
get-it-on, hard-core action. But first,
also get to know the two lead gay char-
acters: fabulously wealthy black enter-
tainment mogul and stand-up comic
Wes Kelly, and his lover Antonio Rios,
also his fabulously muscled bodyguard.
Get to know them first, in other words,
as real, three-dimensional, “manly men
Local gay author WYATT O’BRIAN EVANS will read from his new book March 20
at the DC Center.
of color,” real men, facing challenges in
the relationship as they are caught up
in the undertow and cross-currents of a
powerful romance, their lives etched
sharply in an intensely erotic love story,
not as mere erogenous images.
Get to know them also on Saturday,
March 20 when the author — now a
resident of Silver Spring, Md. — brings
them fully alive as they were formed in
his imagination when he gives a book
reading at the DC Center.
In an interview exclusive to DC
Agenda, Evans acknowledged how
much his protagonist Wes embodies
his own identity but also that he is no
carbon-copy cutout. “Some of me is
DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
Wes, some of me is not, but the core
of me is,” says Evans.
“Wes is like me in that he has core
values,” pointedly including a belief in
God and Jesus Christ, true also for
Evans, who puts it bluntly about his
own life: “I wouldn’t be here today
without a strong belief in God and
Jesus Christ,” adding, “I’m very spiri-
tual — I pray several times a day.”
“Wes is like me, very loyal, some-
times to a fault, and he is affectionate —
manly affectionate — and not afraid to
show it,” says Evans. “I want to blow
away all the stereotypes in this novel.”
But the author believes he is unlike his
creation in key respects, for while “Wes
is no fool for love, he can be just a tad
needy, and I’m not like that, oh no no no!”
Wyatt points out that Wes “enjoys
power.”
“I also enjoy power,” Evans says,
“but I don’t enjoy it probably as much
as Wes does, in other words I’m a soft-
er version of him.” In person, however,
“soft” is the very last adjective that
would come to mind, for Evans is pow-
erfully gym-built with a cocoa com-
plexion and gleaming pate and laugh-
ing eyes exuding sensuality and com-
mand, from years spent on the stand-
up comic circuit — a career he plans
to reactivate later this year.
In addition, Evans has had a long
career as a journalist. He holds two
bachelor’s degrees from George
Washington University — in journalism
and in political science — after gradu-
ating from D.C.’s McKinley Tech High
School. His career in journalism really
began in boyhood when, he recalls, “I
created my own comic book company,
and I would write dialogue, draw and
color the panels. … I love to write, and
journalism has always fascinated me.”
The novel is a fascinating blend of
mature love story, dogged by the real-
life challenges of worry over being
cheated on, and also questions of
vying for who’s on top (literally), as
well as a seductively sexy and slam-
bam account of nights and days spent
in the proverbial sack, when all inhibi-
tions are cast aside in a tangle of
naked abandon. So rest assured that
the novel is replete with happy end-
ings, even if the ultimate happy ending
remains in doubt until the very end —
will they wed or will the green-eyed
devil drive them apart?
Wes is stalked by a crime-lord
eager to exploit suspicions Wes and
‘Tonio have about their mutual fideli-
ty. For issues of monogamy and also
partner abuse are just as central to
this tale as are real-life credible ten-
sions within the LGBT community, as
seen in the relationship between
Wes and ‘Tonio in veiled disquiet and
even sometimes outright hostility
between Latino brown and African-
American black in what Evans calls
“racism” pure and simple.
“We’re not in a post-racial society,”
he says, adding, “I have white friends,
I have black friends and Latino friends
and I’ve been screwed by them all.”
The ultimate purpose of the ideology
of white supremacy, Evans says, is “to
prevent white genetic annihilation on
Earth, a planet on which the overwhelm-
ing majority of people are classified as
non-white by white-skinned people.”
Evans’ book reading takes place 6-9
p.m., March 20 at the DC Center, 1810
14th St., N.W., and copies of ‘Nothing
Can Drive Us Apart’ can be purchased
then at a $20 special discount price.
Copies can also be obtained for $24.95
at wyattobrianevans.net or directly from
lulu.com/content/83337.

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Want a
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Robbie
Barnett at
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32 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010

socialagenda: the academy of washington’s 33rd royal ball

Photos by Joe Tresh

 march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 33

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34 dcagenda.com • march 12, 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. DUPLEX DINER as Halo, MOVA re-launched in early
2004 18th St., NW 2010 as a environmentally friendly bar
ANNIE’S
1609 17th St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
Washington, DC 20009
202-265-9599
duplexdiner.com
with an emphasis on community service.

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR

202-232-0395
In Dupont Circle area; popular longtime
restaurant and steakhouse with recently
renovated Upstairs Lounge.
Phase 1
Popular restaurant and bar in the 900 U St., NW DC Agenda photo by Michael Key
Adams Morgan area; happy hour Washington, DC 20001
specials and many other special events. 202-332-6355
See web site for updated schedule. nelliessportsbar.com crowd, though welcoming to women

APEX EFN LOUNGE/MOTLEY BAR

Sports bar featuring poker events, drag
bingo, trivia contests and other specials.
baltimore and straight patrons.

1415 22nd St., NW 1318 9th St., NW Popular bar with massive outdoor deck 1722 LEON’S/
Washington, DC 20037 Washington, DC 20001 and plenty of TVs for watching sports. 1722 N. Charles St. TYSON PLACE
202-296-0505 202-341-8281 • 202-642-4537 Baltimore, MD 21201 870 Park Ave.
apex-dc.com efnlounge.com • motleybar.com OMEGA Multi-level after-hours dance club attracts Baltimore, MD 21201
In Dupont Circle area; popular with men, but twitter.com/EFN_Lounge 2122 P St., NW a mixed crowd but remains gay-friendly. 410-539-4993
check schedule regularly for other events. Funky, edgy neighborhood lounge in Washington, DC 20036 leonsbaltimore.tripod.com
Logan Circle with special events galore. 202-223-4917 BALTIMORE EAGLE In business for more than 50 years,
BACHELOR’S MILL Popular with men and women; features omegadc.com 2002 N. Charles St. Leon’s is the oldest gay bar in Baltimore
1104 8th St., SE dancing, videos. Check web site for Dupont Circle area bar and club popular Baltimore, MD 21218 and among the oldest in the country.
Washington, DC 20003 event schedule. with men featuring dancing, drag and 410-82-EAGLE Friendly bar with jukebox gets especially
202-544-1931 other special events. Longtime Levi/leather bar not far busy on Sunday nights. Tyson Place is a
Longtime bar popular with African- FAB LOUNGE from Mount Vernon offers friendly bar, restaurant bar located behind Leon’s
American men in Capitol Hill area. 1805 Connecticut Ave., NW PHASE 1 billiards, outdoor patio, videos and a with a separate entrance.
Washington, DC 20009 525 8th St., SE full store for your leather needs.
BANANA CAFÉ 202-797-1122 Washington, DC 20003 Mostly men, but welcoming to women. PORT IN A STORM
500 8th St., SE thefablounge.com phase1dc.com 4330 E. Lombard St.
Washington, DC 20003 In Dupont Circle area; popular with men twitter.com/phase1dc CLUB PHOENIX Baltimore, MD 21224
202-543-5906 but hosts regular women’s events. The Phase opened in 1970 and remains 1 W. Biddle St. 410-534-0014
bananacafedc.com a popular lesbian bar and club. Features Baltimore, MD 21201 Friendly neighborhood lesbian bar gets
Popular Capitol Hill area restaurant and FIREPLACE regular special events, including Jell-O 410-837-3906 especially popular when the Ravens
bar (Eastern Market Metro) for both men 2161 P St., NW wrestling, 80s theme nights and more. Mount Vernon-area downstairs bar play. Features billiards, music and more.
and women. Features Cuban, Mexican Washington, DC 20037 Check web site for details. attracts men and women; friendly service.
and Puerto Rican cuisine. 202-293-1293 QUEST
In Dupont Circle area; neighborhood bar REMINGTONS DRINKERY 3607 Fleet St.
BLOWOFF popular with men. 639 Pennsylvania Ave., SE 205 W. Read St. Baltimore, MD 21224
815 V St., NW Washington, DC 20003 Baltimore, MD 21201 410-563-2617
Washington, DC 20001 GREEN LANTERN 202-543-3113 410-225-3100 Neighborhood bar in Highlandtown
blowoff.us 1335 Green Court, NW remingtonswdc.com Another of Baltimore’s friendly neighbor- area is popular with men and women
Created by musicians Bob Mould and Washington, DC 20005 twitter.com/remingtonsWDC hood bars in Mount Vernon featuring and offers billiards.
Richard Morel, Blowoff is an occasional greenlanterndc.com Popular country/Western nightclub in Capitol billiards, jukebox and welcoming service.
dance event popular with men. Events are twitter.com/greenlanterndc Hill neighborhood with more than 6,000 SAPPHOS
held in clubs around the country; D.C.’s Friendly bar for men hosts regular happy square feet of space for dancing and billiards. GALLERY 1001 N. Charles St.
Blowoff parties are held at the 9:30 club hours and special events, including One half block west of Eastern Market Metro. 1735 Maryland Ave. Baltimore, MD 21201
in the popular U Street corridor. karaoke and shirtless drink special Baltimore, MD 21201 410-752-7133
nights. Check web site for details. TOWN DANCEBOUTIQUE 410-539-6965 centralstationpub.com
B.O.I. PRODUCTIONS McPherson Square Metro. 2009 8th St., NW Longtime bar and restaurant popular Part of the Grand Central complex,
boimarketing.com//community.html Washington, DC 20001 with African-American clientele. Sappho’s attracts a lesbian crowd and
Organizes regular women’s events around JACK’S 202-234-TOWN offers comfy couches, outdoor patio
town. Check web site for updated information. 1527 17th St., NW towndc.com GRAND CENTRAL and more in its second floor location.
Washington, DC 20036 Dance club and bar popular with men 1001 N. Charles St.
COBALT
1639 R St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-332-6767
jacksdc.com
Dupont Circle area restaurant popular
and women, features regular drag per-
formances. U Street Metro.
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-752-7133
centralstationpub.com
northern va
202-462-6569 with men and women. ULTRABAR Large entertainment complex featuring FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
cobaltdc.com 911 F St., NW friendly pub, lesbian bar Sappho’s upstairs 555 23rd St. South
In Dupont Circle area; part of complex JR.’S Washington, DC 20004 and a dance club on the first floor. Arlington, VA 22202
of LGBT businesses at this address, 1519 17th St., NW ultrabardc.com 703-685-0555
including Level One restaurant on Washington, DC 20036 twitter.com/UltraBar HIPPO Freddie Lutz’s Virginia establishment
street level and 30 Degrees bar. 202-328-0090 Large dance club with gay-friendly 1 W. Eager St. includes a restaurant and friendly bar,
jrswdc.com events and vibe located downtown near Baltimore, MD 21201 regular specials and is popular with
CREW CLUB Longtime friendly Dupont Circle area Metro Center. 410-547-0069 men and women. Crystal City Metro.
1321 14th St., NW bar popular with men; videos, regular clubhippo.com
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
Washington, DC 20005
202-319-1333
crewclub.net
special events.

LACE
Men’s 24-hour gym in Logan Circle area, 2214 Rhode Island Ave., NE
featuring steam rooms, lounges, Washington, DC 20018
private dressing rooms and more. 202-832-3888
lacedc.com
DC EAGLE Every night is ladies night at Lace;
639 New York Ave., NW features regular special events for women
Washington, DC 20001 in Brookland neighborhood. Check web
202-347-6025 site for details on happy hour specials.
1824 Half St., SW
Washington, DC 20024
Large club popular with men and
women featuring billiards, top
DJs/dancing, karaoke, videos and
laurel, md
202-863-0670 more. Opened in 1972, Hippo’s motto PW’S
secretsdc.com is “where everyone is welcome.” 9855 N. Washington Blvd.
Featuring all-nude male dancers Laurel, MD 20723
Wednesdays-Sundays, drag performances, JAY’S ON READ 301-498-8202
large dance floor and many regular 225 W. Read St. pwssportsbar.com
special events, contests and more. Baltimore, MD 21201 Restaurant and bar is popular with gay
Large parking lot available; located in 410-225-0188 and lesbian sports fans and is known
Buzzard’s Point warehouse district. Piano bar attracts a mostly male for its superb burgers.
 march 12, 2010 • dcagenda.com 35

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36 dcagenda.com • march 12, 2010
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