Last night, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club—the city’s leading gay-and-lesbian political organ—wrapped up their endorsements for this year’s Democratic primaries, with picks for Ward 4, Ward 7, and at-large D.C. council seats. (Read LL’s rundown of what happened last month, when the club endorsed in Wards 2 and 7 and for the congressional delegation.)

Unsurprisingly, each incumbent—Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser, Ward 8’s Marion Barry, and At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown—won endorsements handily.

But LL goes to these things for reasons other that merely recording the outcomes. He speaks of the lively debate, the friendly company, and the distinct possibility that Rick Rosendall might freak the fuck out.

Which he did. The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance’s VP for political affairs did so while questioning Bowser about her vote last year against a council action to relocate the gay clubs dislocated by the construction of Nationals Park. Even though the measure had been heavily diluted by amendments, Bowser voted against it anyway. Asked why she did so, Bowser gave a classic cop-out line: I was just following the will of the councilmember in the affected ward (Ward 5’s Harry Thomas Jr.).

Bowser also claimed that the bill would limit neighborhood input, and Rosendall wasn’t having any of that. “That’s not true, Muriel!” he shouted. “You’re mischaracterizing it!”

As club president Mario Acosta-Velez tried in vain to keep order, Rosendall kept on, his voice quickly rising to freak-out levels. “They did have a voice! They do have a voice!…You know what the bill said!”

Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday afternoon, LL was watching the weather report with bated breath, as a line of thunderstorms threatened to put the kibosh on this year’s Capital Pride Parade, the centerpiece of the yearly gay-community celebration and the first chance for the players in this year’s campaign season to truly come out. (Yes, pun intended.)

Luckily, the show went on. The big news of the parade were the mystery signs:

All along the parade route, posted on lampposts were signs reading “Ask Carol Schwartz why she OPPOSES marriage equality” in Schwartz’ trademark yellow-and-white. The signs carried absolutely no indication of where they might have come from. Shady!

Gay activist Peter Rosenstein told LL he had seen folks on stepladders posting the signs earlier in the afternoon, but neither he nor anyone else LL consulted had any idea who they were. The challengers who marched in the parade—Adam Clampitt, Dee Hunter, and Patrick Mara—all denied having anything to do with the signs. (A Clampitt aide, in fact, phoned in a preemptive denial, before LL even showed up for the parade.)

Schwartz called it “the work of a cowardly liar” and furthermore implored LL not to “rain on my parade” (har har) by giving the cowards any ink—sorry, Carol! (For more on the does-Carol-support-gay-marriage theme, read Washington Blade articles by Rosenstein and by Schwartz.)

LL thought he might have solved the mystery when, right on the middle of the 17th Street NW commercial strip, a spectator holding one of the signs in one hand and a drink in the other marched right out to confront Schwartz, who was walking behind her yellow Pontiac Firebird. From a distance, LL seemed to see Schwartz saying to the interloper, “I do! I do!” in response to the sign’s query.

After Schwartz passed, LL asked the man, Andrew Campbell of Dupont Circle, whether he’d been involved in the signmaking. Nope, he said—”I pulled it off the lamppost.”

LL quizzed him further on the reasoning behind his anti-Schwartz stance. “I dunno,” he said. “Look at what the sign says!”

The crowd rest of the crowd seemed not to care much. Take this spectator reaction to the confrontation: “Tell him to fuck off, Carol!”

Many more pix after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve still got my gay pride beads on from today’s rain-soaked parade. But here’s a question for the rest of the folks who lined 17th and P streets today: is it just me, or has Capitol Pride gone a little corporate?

The parade started with the Chief of Police and the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit, followed by Mayor Adrian Fenty, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and a smattering of Councilmembers. But then it seemed like one business after another.

Citibank, Verizon, Bloom Grocery Stores all participated in the parade. Southwest Airlines had one of the coolest and biggest floats all day (they even gave out inflatable airplane toys). You should have seen the woman on the Maid to Clean float gyrate.

The D.C. Cowboys were great, and PFLAG’s “I Love My Gay Son” signs always make me a little teary. And far be it from me to judge how a marginalized community celebrates itself. But it made me a little sad that the guys in leather were so far behind SunTrust Bank’s ATM puppet.

The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club’s endorsements are usually noteworthy for no other reason than the fact they happen so damn early in the election cycle. This time though, there was plenty of drama on offer at the club’s meeting tonight at the John A. Wilson Building aside from the timing.

The big scoop: Eugene Dewitt Kinlow took the Stein Club event as an opportunity to drop out of a shadow senator race he’d entered little more than 72 hours prior. That race was shaping up to be a civil war of sorts between Kinlow, outreach director for DC Vote, and Paul Strauss, shadow senator since 1994 and an old friend of Kinlow’s. LL was super-excited about the prospect of another contested race and had hyped it up in a Friday blog post.

Strauss, sources tell LL, raised concerns to folks in the voting-rights crowd about the fact that a paid employee of the District’s best-funded voting-rights advocacy group would run for his unpaid seat. Asked his feelings on the matter, Strauss demurred: “I hope none of us in the movement would do things do divide the movement when we need to unite the movement.” He says he met with Kinlow privately after learning of his run.

Kinlow says he “reevaluated what it is I do seven days a week,” explaining that he didn’t want to drive an unpaid volunteer out of the voting-rights-activism ranks; he insists “it was a personal decision” his employer had nothing to do with.

Even his extremely short run, Kinlow says, had its accomplishments: “Since Friday, there’s been a tremendous amount of interest in this position,” he says. “Even by thinking about running I became a catalyst in recruiting more soldier” to the voting-rights cause.

The next big surprise: Ward 8 civil-rights activist/man-of-all-seasons Phil Pannell stepped into the void after he heard of Kinlow’s decision. Pannell, who is gay and a longtime Stein Club member, had a home-field advantage and forced a runoff vote with Strauss, which he won. But because the vote was so close, 26 votes to 21, no endorsement was made.

Says Strauss: “I was very gratified to win the first ballot, which is the one I think that indicates the true support.”

Kinlow made no endorsement, but his wife, D.C. Public Schools ombudsman Tonya Vidal Kinlow rose before the group in support of Pannell. Says her spouse: “She’s a smart woman. She’s a smarter person than I am.”

Other big drama:

• OK, no huge drama in the Ward 2 endorsements. Incumbent Jack Evans was squarely on home turf. He outflanked challenger Cary Silverman by playing up his record on issues close to the gay community over his four terms. (He held up to the crowed a framed ad run in 1992 by then Whitman-Walker Clinic Director Jim Graham touting Evans as the gay community’s “advocate.” Asked how long he’s been toting that ad to Stein Club endorsement meetings, Evans said, “No comment.”)

  Silverman did score some points with his full-time-councilmember pledge and his response to a question on liquor-license voluntary agreements, but then proceeded to blow it while answering a testy question from Pannell on how the gay community hasn’t been able to get a meeting with the Washington Nationals. Silverman tried to to make a point about a bad stadium deal: “We gave away the store….I don’t know what we can do. I look forward to Councilmember Evans’ answer,” he said.

  Well, Evans promised the Stein Club a meeting with Nats President Stan Kasten, to wild applause. Evans won the endorsement (and a $500 campaign contribution), 54-5, with 3 abstentions.

• One of the last uncommitted superdelegates in the District’s Democratic delegation has made up her mind: Anita Bonds, chair of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, had long said it was her job to remain neutral while her group assembled the delegation. Now, with that job complete, Bonds says she’s “leaning heavily” toward Barack Obama, pending a meeting with the Illinois senator.

  Bonds says she hopes the meeting with Obama will happen soon—”I don’t want to have to go to West Virginia”—and she says she hopes to meet with Clinton, too. Asked if Clinton could say anything to change her mind at this point, Bonds says, “I don’t think so.”

• Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s congressional delegate, won the club’s endorsement by acclamation after one of her trademark rambles. Incumbent shadow rep Mike Panetta also won an endorsement without a vote. Lots of other big names came out for the festivities. Besides the combatants, Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser showed, as did Ward 8’s Marion Barry. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray also made a brief appearance, and At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown was in the house.
• As far as verbal fireworks, the highlight of the evening was certainly Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander’s questioning from Rick Rosendall and Bob Summersgill of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance. Alexander’s speech was pretty darn anodyne, pushing her advocacy for getting rid of discriminatory practices in health insurance during her time as a District insurance examiner and her hard-line stance against sex harassment in a Ward 7 firehouse.

  Summersgill, though, brought up Alexander’s decision during her last election campaign to support civil unions but not marriage for gays and lesbians in the District. After citing her “devout Catholic” beliefs, Alexander said she was “willing to look at those options,” but initially was unwilling to commit to marriage. “That’s still a no!” Summersgill, past president of the GLAA, said repeatedly. Rosendall leapt in Summersgill then added: “In this town, if you don’t support gay marriage, you don’t deserve to be on the council.” Alexander finally said, “I guess I’m in support of it; I’m in support of equal rights.”

  That wasn’t all, though: Rosendall, the GLAA’s VP for political affairs, then went after Alexander for her support of Ward 5 colleague Harry Thomas Jr. on his efforts to keep gay strip clubs displaced by the baseball stadium out of his ward. (Rosendall had earlier, while standing to endorse Evans, announced that he wasn’t speaking on behalf of the GLAA.) Alexander said she tends to defer to the home-ward councilmember in such situations, but Rosendall blew a gasket at that line of reasoning: “She betrayed us on that bill!…You didn’t care about us!” he shouted, while other club members groaned. Said Rosendall, “If you’re more mad at me than at her, then there’s something wrong with you.”

  Alexander won the endorsement by a show of hands, 36-3, with an abstention.

Nicholas Cassadine was sent to the Middle East to perform vulnerability assessment on U.S. military bases. He ended up designing an underwear line for gay men.

“I was in the mountains of Afghanistan and had a lot of time on my hands,” admits the 28-year-old naval officer. It was there, in Taliban country, that clothing company Disco Valante was born.

Cassadine says that Disco Valante’s model skivvies–like a skimpy brief with a star-shooting boom box printed on its ass–aren’t targeted exclusively toward gays. In a press release, Cassadine writes that the line aims to “speak to everyone’s sexiness,” but admits that “strength and interest would be more prevalent in the gay/metro-sexual community.”

With the catchprase “Style.Underwear.Lyfe,” it’s clear that Disco Valante aims to promote a lifestyle along with its underthings. The clothing line’s blog provides lifestyle tips including how to sculpt “killer biceps” to emulate tennis player Raphael Nadal, and “how to choose a great fitting T-shirt” (”if you have items not from Disco Valante, we recommend finding a local tailor and having him/her adjust your clothes to fit your body,” the website suggests). According to the blog profile, Disco Valente’s favorite music includes Michael Jackson, Sade, and George Michael.

The Village People’s “In The Navy” notwithstanding, the lifestyle isn’t one that typically jibes with military culture. But “there’s no conflict,” insists Cassadine, currently stationed in Qatar. “It’s just business.” Still, his mock-up underwear designs have raised some eyebrows around the base. “Some people in the office, they can’t help but look over my shoulder,” he says. “When they see me looking at a picture of a guy with his ass cheeks hanging out of the bottom of his shorts, yeah, they can wonder what’s going on.”

So far, nobody’s asking or telling. Cassadine says his own heterosexuality has not been questioned. “It’s just the oddity of a young guy starting a clothing label,” he says. “A clothing label that’s mostly underwear.”

Following his return to the District this summer, Cassadine hopes to debut his first pair of briefs as early as September, with t-shirts and other graphic apparel rolling out later. Cassadine plans on selling the underwear for 25 to 35 dollars a pair.

Update: I give you “Sex Panther,” a mock-up from Disco Valante’s underwear line-in-progress.

This ad in bus shelters all over the District is brought to you by Baltimore-based Christian nonprofit Campaign for Our Children, which is “targeting the attitudes of teens aged 15 to 19 with a bold new program, aimed at promoting one of the world’s most cherished institutions: marriage.”

First: 15- to 19-year-olds?

Second: CEO of Campaign for Our Children, Hal Donofrio, told D.C. gay pub MetroWeekly: “I would say, it’s not your issue. It has to do with the birth of babies and preventing unwanted pregnancy. Grind your axe somewhere else. We’re not in that arena. We don’t want to dictate to anyone. We just want to prevent teen pregnancy.”

Third: Not only are these ads offensive to gay people, they’re offensive to single people who have a bunch of smug-marrieds as friends, and married people who remember what it was like to be single and have a bunch of smug-marrieds as friends.

How long this campaign will last is unclear. Clear Channel Outdoors, which maintains D.C.’s bus shelters and sells its ads, has not yet returned a call. When they finally get back to me, what should I ask them?

It’s curious that the Web site for Cobalt would be the place (still) promoting the Halloween high-heel race, since the club turns away anyone who’s not wearing sneakers, flats, or flip-flops.

The club’s no-heel rule is nonnegotiable, at least for women, as a friend and I found out this weekend when we tried to take a dance-happy 50-year-old out for his birthday. Turns out this is not a new policy, and is rumored to be rooted in either a lawsuit or a new floor the owners don’t want scratched. The official reason is it’s “simply for safety reasons.” Or here’s another thought: It’s a gay club. They don’t want straight chicks.

I have a message out to them inquiring if drag queens or Halloween racers are allowed to emphasize their calves. I’ll let you know if I hear back…

A document distributed by the Washington Nationals has gay and lesbian activists up in arms.

The memo [PDF] outlines the Nats’ “Vendor Procurement Program,” which, the document says, “is a significant business, public relations, and legal issue for the Nationals.” It goes on to outline a five-point affirmative-action policy, the last point of which is a promise that the team not “discriminate against any employee or applicant…because of race, color, ethnic status, religion, sex, age, national origin, disabled veteran status, Vietnam era veteran status, or disability.”

Conspicuously absent: any mention of sexual orientation.

Legally speaking, the omission doesn’t mean a whole lot, considering that anti-gay discrimination is prohibited under the D.C. Human Rights Act, which covers all of the criteria in the Nats’ policy, plus sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, familial status, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income, and place of residence or business. And the employment policy for the team itself, as listed on its Web site, includes sexual orientation as a protected class.

But relations between the baseball team and gay activists are particularly touchy considering that the Nationals’ stadium required the destruction of the city’s largest—well, only—gay entertainment district, meaning even perceived or inadvertent slights are grounds for mistrust and bad feelings.

Soon after receiving the document in a September meeting, longtime activist Philip Pannell dispatched an e-mail to Gregory McCarthy, the Nationals top local-affairs liaison, explaining his concerns and asking for a meeting.

“It is no secret that Major League Baseball has a history of being one of the most homophobic enterprises in our country and the omission of sexual orientation in its printed anti-discrimination policy may not be a simple omission…,” Pannell wrote. “Having a Gay Day once a year is not enough.

McCarthy, a former aide to Mayor Anthony A. Williams, wrote back, saying he’d asked the team’s general counsel to “ensure that our policies reflect local law (and local sensibilities)” and asked for more time to formulate a response.

Pannell followed up with a note last week, and when he did not hear a response from McCarthy, he took his concerns to the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, which had a meeting Monday.

Rick Rosendall, VP of political affairs for the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, says his group has also gotten involved.

Rosendall says this is “an opportunity for the Nats to show their respect for, and connection with, the D.C. community of which they are a part.” Adding sexual orientation and other categories covered by the Human Rights Act to the Nats’ policy, he says, “would be an affirmative way to show their commitment to and embrace of the District’s policy.”

McCarthy referred questions on the matter to Nationals spokesperson Chartese Burnett, who says that Nationals President Stan Kasten had called Stein Club leaders today to ease their concerns. “They did have a conversation, and it was a positive one,” she says.

And after the issue was brought up at the club’s Monday meeting, At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown, who was present, contacted the Nationals on the club’s behalf.

“They’re working together to clarify the policy,” says Brown spokesperson Mike Price.

While the country is on the topic of bathroom trysts, it may want to peer into the archives of Washington City Paper. This piece, by yours truly, provides a deep look at the scene at the MLK Jr. library circa 1997. Give it a read.

From time to time, gay men, congressional pages, activist bloggers, and undercover police officers will accuse Idaho Senator Larry Craig of getting uncomfortably close.

Last February, my friend Erik sat next to Craig on a flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport–the scene of the senator’s latest run-in with gay-sex solicitation. Now, Erik’s as boyishly handsome as any undercover gay-sex-room cop on the beat.

But, according to Erik, though he and Craig chatted for the entire flight, the senator didn’t so much as tap his right foot suggestively in his direction. “We had a seat between us, and he never moved over, nor did he ask me to,” Erik says.

In fact, he says, Craig stayed uncomfortably far away. “My neck,” Erik says, “was sore from looking so far to the side the whole time.”

If hair and paint can make a man what he ain’t, then why the hell do they need the silicone and the pasties over at Perry’s? I’ve never considered myself anti-tranny, but after finally getting in line to see the famous drag brunch around the corner from where I live, it just seems clear to me: The queens with the “real” boobs rely on the boobs. The queens with the socks, or whatever it is they’re using to fill their bras, rely on talent.

Take Shi-Queeta-Lee (pictured), a stuffer and easily the best of the performers. Her Tina Turner’s dead on: legs up to her armpits, jaw with a perfect quiver, a “Proud Mary” routine that shows Beyonce who’s boss. And she actually knows the words.

That wasn’t the case with the more boobalicious among the performers, one of whom, instead of actually performing, decided it would be hilarious to take her one-boob-in-one-boob-out act to the space behind my friend’s chair, grab two big handfuls of said friend’s goods and shake them up and down for what seemed like a solid 20 minutes. But that wasn’t quite enough. A fellow bruncher then came up behind my friend, who was not (a) a tranny (b) being paid or (c) exactly comfortable being felt up, and decided to grab her breasts and give them a similar butter-churn. “It’s OK,” he says. “I’m gay.”

Actually, dude, it’s not. Your mother did not raise you right. I changed places with her, figuring I had less to grab, but it was too late. The Perry’s brunch for us had played itself out, $40 later (food, drinks, tip). Not exactly worth it, in my opinion, which is too bad. Dressing up in bad, itchy bridesmaid dresses (I have three in my closet right now if anyone wants to borrow one) to celebrate a friend’s upcoming wedding with mimosas and a drag show sounded like a blast… but, Perry’s, take the hint. Hire a few more Tinas. And tell your Lil’ Kims that if they like breasts so very much, they should stick to feeling up their own.

According to an e-mail circulated this morning by Rick Rosendall of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, police Chief Cathy Lanier has decided to “decentralize” the department’s Gay and Lesbian Liason Unit—much to Rosendall et al.’s concern. The unit had been working out of a Dupont Circle storefront, but according to Rosendall’s e-mail, GLLU members will be assigned to the seven district commands.

Earlier this year, the unit lost its longtime leader and most familiar face, Sgt. Brett Parson, after he was transferred to patrol duty in the 3rd District.

Rosendall’s e-mail, including “10 Reasons Not to Decentralize MPD’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit,” after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

To all the people I hit in the face while throwing Frisbees for City Paper in the Capital Pride Parade: I’m sorry. I was aiming for your hands. I really was. But it was impossible to control those little discs. If you don’t believe me, try throwing one from your own moving vehicle; I swear you won’t hit what you aim for.

To all the people who deserved a Frisbee but didn’t get one: I’m sorry. Don’t take it personally. Yes, I was trying to throw at a diverse cross-section of readers, but we all have our faults. Mine was that I usually threw to pretty girls.

To all the people who bucked the police line, dashed toward the wheels, or otherwise endangered their lives to grab a Frisbee: You make me uneasy about the human condition.

I’ve been a serious gym obsessive for several years now, in several different cities. I had the scuzzy, muscle-man gym in Philly, the hip, scenester gyms in Portland and Seattle. All three have had a dominant pack of gay men who basically run the place. Like most straight girls, I find the homosexual presence pretty comforting in a setting that involves sweating and tight clothes. You don’t get ogled and hit on all the time, and you can ogle men without risk of anything other than them thinking you have a staring problem.

But the gay-male presence at the “Dupont Circle” Results I recently joined is way beyond dominant. The gym is all men. And they’re a little territorial. On my tour I was shown the special women-only weights area. I thought it was great, an added comfort zone. After joining I realized it’s more like the women’s ghetto. I get icy stares when I work out anywhere else, and our little play lot doesn’t have as many weights or as nice of equipment as the two floors of weights used freely by lots and lots of men.

So I’ve decided to rebel. I’m going to stake out space in man land and see what happens.

Mayor Adrian Fenty will soon have a tough choice to make when it comes to selecting a new director of the Office for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs. But the discussion about the post will probably be less intense than the battle among D.C. gay activists.

Darlene Nipper, who ran the office under Mayor Anthony A. Williams, left her post last week, according to Fenty administration sources. The jockeying within the gay community for Fenty’s attention—and the gay liaison slot—has begun.

Even before Nipper resigned last week, Fenty’s self-proclaimed link to the gay community, fundraiser and activist Peter Rosenstein, was working on a replacement for her. Few expected Nipper to be rehired by the Fenty team.

Weeks ago, the Fenty brain trust thought they had a consensus choice to lead the office: decorated lesbian activist Sheila Alexander-Reid. (Reid works as Washington City Paper’s business development manager.). But Reid decided against taking the job for personal reasons, Nipper was asked to stay on as interim director, and Fenty was left in the lurch.

Now Rosenstein and rival elements in the gay community are facing off.

Sources say Rosenstein is pushing Jeff Marootian, 27, the director of the Metropolitan Police Department’s community partnerships program. Marootian is a former advisory neighborhood commissioner who has been with the D.C. government since 2003.

In an interview, Rosenstein said during his conversations with top Fenty staff he’s discussed only the attributes of a good director, and he’s not recommending anyone for the job.

Others in the gay community who have met with top Fenty officials are pushing Khadijah Tribble, an activist who serves on the board of Women in the Life Association, a nonprofit group started by Reid. Tribble also works with a variety of other boards in the city and previously worked at Covenant House.

Tribble’s detractors are already hard at work trying to undermine her nascent candidacy, pointing out that her commitment to the District has been fairly recent. On her resume, Tribble lists her address on 24th Street SE. But according to public records searches, she has no residence in the District. Bill O’Field, a spokesperson for the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics reports his records search revealed no one named Khadijah Tribble on the D.C. voter rolls.

“I felt very confident that I will meet the requirements of residency,” says Tribble, who claims to have lived in Ward 8 for about a year and a half. “The fact is, I live and work and do my business in the District of Columbia.”

A call placed to the Prince George’s County, Md., number listed for Tribble was answered by a young man, who identified himself as Tribble’s son. “Where I decide to spend my personal time isn’t anyone’s business,” says Tribble.

Funny thing is, the Fenty team is the only one not stressing out about having to decide between Marootian and Tribble. “We haven’t interviewed anyone for the position,” says Carrie S. Brooks, Fenty’s spokesperson.