The Gayly

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AUGUST 2016
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AUGUST
OCTOBER2016
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Vol.35,
34,Issue
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Back to school
pages 4-9
Black and queer
- by Arhia Ramsey
Special to The Gayly
The term “intersectionality” originates from Kimberle Crenshaw’s
1989 essay, “Demarginalizing
the Intersection of Race and
Sex; A Black Feminist Critique
of Antidiscrimination Doctrine,
Feminist Theory and Antiracist
Politics”. Intersectionality is a
term that most of us are familiar
with; it describes the way multiple
oppressions are perpetuated and
experienced.
In the wake of our nation’s most
recent headlines of police brutality
that resulted in the deaths of Alton
Sterling and Philando Castile, it’s important to let black people grieve and
speak about their own experiences,
but also to recognize that while there
is a place where black and queer experiences intersect, they are incredibly distinct.
Each day, black queerfolk maneuver the world of anti-blackness
compounded with hatred that
LGBTQIA people also undergo.
When anti-blackness rears its ugly
head in the gay community, it is terribly confusing and hurtful.
As a black, bisexual, cis-gendered
woman, I’ve witnessed this few too
many times. It’s exhausting that in a
community I love, I must still fight
systemic racism. I’ve been told by
white, gay cis-men that black people
no longer have a thing to be fighting
for. I’ve been told to direct my anger
elsewhere – to direct my anger towards the injustices experienced by
my non-POC queer counterparts.
That that is where the real fight is.
This type of thinking is erasure. It
simply forgets the multidimensional
identities of queer people of color.
This erasure is but another manifestation of anti-blackness.
Other times, I have been told by
non-POC members of the LGBTQIA
community that they “get it”. They
tell me they understand the racism
I suffer because they are gay. They
relate to the racial profiling I’ve become accustomed to because they
are trans. That they identify with
My blackness is an expression of
self that requires no explanation.
Arhia Ramsey, Oklahoma City member of the black and queer community. Photo provided.
my blackness as a result of their
queerness.
1. Acknowledge that oppression is
not experienced uniformly.
But, they cannot. My blackness is
an expression of self that requires no
explanation. My blackness cannot be
taken off or hidden. My blackness
is the first thing that anyone knows
about who I am before I have ever
spoken to them. Black queerfolk experience a coalescence of oppression
based on their blackness alone and
sexuality and gender-identity as well.
It’s invaluable for non-POC members of the LGBTQIA community to
remember that while they too suffer
injustice and oppression, their black
counterparts are suffering in ways
they truly cannot comprehend. Now
is not the time to relate, now is the
time to listen. Remember that while
LGBTQIA and black experiences
converge on the axis of oppression,
So, what can non-POC do?
Local Missourians connect
at JoMoeq
- page 10
education and more at
trANsKANsAs 4
- page 12
Going where the people are:
Bar Church
- page 15
See BLACK, page 28
sixth annual enid pride this
september. pics and more.
- pages 42 & 43
2
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Out & About
1.
AUGUST 2016
2.
3.
4.
5.
1. TULSA: Dame Edna checks her
make-up before a big show. Oh, the
life of a star!
2. FT. SMITH: Calvin Reed & Barbie
Farr.
6.
3. OKC: Cecilia Nguyen.
8.
7.
4. KANSAS CITY: Stacy Valencia &
Tracy Montgomery.
5. WICHITA: Kerry Wilks.
6. TULSA: Olivia Cotter.
7. OKC: Rosie Featherly, Big Sky
Travel Agent (see her ad on page 19).
8. ADA, OK: Eric Turner.
9. KANSAS CITY: Joseph Joseph, Max
Archimedes Levitt.
10. TULSA: Larry Elledge.
9.
10.
11. OKC: Todd Heath…looking fine,
Todd!
12. TULSA: Ernie Alcala & Jose
Vega.
13. FT. SMITH: Adrian Keriocus
performs in Ft. Smith.
14. KANSAS CITY: Matt & Mark
Brown.
11.
Photos by Tyler Bowen and Robin Dorner
12.
13.
14.
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
3
Even you can open your home to LGBT foster children and teens
-- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
You might see Misty Merideth
around. She extends her knowledge
and assistance at community gatherings, seeing what she can do to
get people involved in her passion –
fostering. As a Foster Care Recruiter
for Oklahoma DHS (Department of
Human Services), her job is to go out
into the community and find parents
for children in need. In particular,
LGBTQ children and teens.
“I honestly didn’t realize LGBT
kids were treated any different than
other kids,” Merideth says. “I didn’t
realize some people can’t accept it.
It’s hard for me to fathom.”
Merideth is not your average
mother. She and her wife have adopted four children, are fostering their
fifth and plan to finalize the adoption
late this year. But each of her children has special needs – as did her
late daughter, Annie, who lived with
Merideth and her wife for 22 months
before she passed away.
Merideth’s specialty not only lies
with LGBT kids, but with developmentally disabled children. Her passion knows no bounds, as she opens
her arms to many of the forgotten.
“The love and passion we have for
this is just unreal,” she says, noting
that she succeeds in finding a home
roughly 75 percent of the time.
“There is a need. A lot of kids,
they don’t come out until their teens.
They’re scared, because some homes
are accepting and some homes are
not. But once they turn 18, no one
will be there for them,” she explains.
This is the basest need: once a child
turns 18, what will they do?
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Misty Merideth and her family, dressed in superhero costumes. Photo provided.
from holiday and to have a family.”
But a lot of potential parents are
not accepting of LGBT children –
they want their kids to reflect their
interests, which can be alternative to
that of the LGBT community. “We
want homes that understand them.
We just need people to be accepting,
not to try to change them. They are
who they are,” Merideth says.
A common misconception about
fostering is that you may not qualify.
But you do qualify, and it is almost
a guarantee. “You can be single,
you can live in an apartment, as
“These are genuinely good kids who
just want somebody to come home to
from holiday and to have a family.”
-Misty Merideth
“When they are ready to age out
– when they turn 18 – they are on
their own. There is no one to mentor
them into college or adulthood [besides community resources]. These
are genuinely good kids who just
want somebody to come home to
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long as you have income and can
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it doesn’t matter, you can foster or
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See foster, page 21
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AUGUST 2016
Back to school: a look at what’s coming
- by Makalyn Kowalik
Op. Ed.
At the end of this previous school
year, Oklahoma’s largest school district, Oklahoma City Public School
District, learned it would be facing
$30 million total in budget cuts. As it
was announced, it felt very reminiscent of and parallel to Kansas’ own
$54 million in budget reductions.
Now, as the upcoming school year
is quickly approaching, many students are wondering what is to be
expected when they walk into their
classrooms this school year – or,
more specifically, what will be missing that was there before.
The quickest answer is: a lot. A lot
will be gone this coming school year.
Of course most of the buzz started
in conversation early last year was
with the teachers, when budget cuts
were only a possibility. Many teachers who were proudly working last
fall will no longer be occupying
their classrooms. The halls will seem
emptier and the class sizes will feel
tighter. Due to these cuts in teachers, class consolidations are a definite
Schools across “The Gayly” region suffered budget cuts in 2016, especially in Oklahoma and Kansas. File photo.
and strong possibility.
While most OKC public schools
are not used to receiving new textbooks, the process of getting even
revised ones will be pushed back
even further. Back in May when the
announcement of the $23 million in
cuts was fi rst given, delaying new
textbook purchases was on the list.
This leaves students continuing to
use outdated sources and books falling apart at the spine.
Another item on the list of the
money-saving agenda was altering
the bus route schedule, which in turn
will change the bell times for some
schools. There is now a three tier bell
time set up.
Tier 1: 7:35 a.m. to 2:35 p.m.
Tier 2: 8:20 a.m. to 3:10 p.m.
Tier 3: 9:10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
This effort to make the bus routes
more efficient is changing the start
and end time for a total of seven
schools within the district, putting
them in the tier three category.
These Okla. schools include:
Capitol Hill Elementary, Cleveland
E l e m e n t a r y, Ho r a c e M a n n
Elementary, Kaiser Elementary,
Mark Twain Elementary, Westwood
Elementary and Classen SAS (School
of Advanced Studies) HS/MS.
This system for bell times is not
singular to Oklahoma City schools,
though; Kansas City Public Schools
has also switched to the same tier
bell time set up due to their own extreme budget cuts and has its own list
of schools put into tier three as well.
Some of these schools include:
African Centered Prep Elementary,
Banneker Elementary, Hale Cook
Elementary, Faxon Elementary,
Foreign Language Academy, Rogers
Elementary, Melcher Elementary,
Phillis Wheatley Elementar y,
Success Academy at Knotts and
Wendell Phillips Elementary.
Since these schools will now be
switching to a 9:10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
school day, it will without a doubt
affect not only the students’ daily
lives but their parents’ and caretakers’ as well. For parents who may
have scheduling issues with the new
start and end times, these schools are
See sCHooL, page 20
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7101 Miramar Blvd
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405.478.1417
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AUGUST 2016
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Back to school
- by Paula Sophia
Special Issues Columnist
Last year when I started attending
the University of Oklahoma, I was
heartened to learn that the university
had published a non-discrimination
policy that included gender identity. I
sighed with relief, knowing that I had
some kind of standing, if not full legal standing in state law, at least some
kind of recognition in school policies.
Protections against discrimination
based on gender identity are an official recognition of my existence as
a human being, a path of recourse if
something should happen: discrimination, devaluation, or threat. In other
words, a place to feel safe.
Now, I know there is a raging debate in the higher education programs
across our country about whether or
not students have the right to feel safe
in an academic environment. Some
say these students need to grow up,
suck it up and meet the real world.
They say the university shouldn’t
have to baby young adults.
university can be a place of relative tolerance, a place where they
can fi nally be free to express their
true selves. For some, it is their true
adolescence, a time where they can
negotiate the awkward experimentations allowed teenagers in secondary
schools. For this reason, the univerOthers say, though, the university sity should set a tone that goes beis a place of growth, a place where yond tolerance, moving toward unpeople grow intellectually, maturing derstanding and acceptance.
into the young adults they’ll be upon
After all, there is a lot of inforgraduation. They say the university
mation
about transgender lives, in
ought to be a place to explore new
medical
and psychological literaideas, new identities, and new ways of
ture,
in
social
science and humaniliving. It is a reasonable expectation
for young people to want to feel safe ties. Transgender is the issue of our
time. Though new information is
during this time of exploration.
still coming through the academic
For transgender people, the pipeline, there is enough to engage
Paula Sophia is an author, a spoken word poet, a speaker and activist, a teacher, a parent, and a student (again). She’s been a cop, a soldier, and a minister.
Reinventing herself is her hobby.
an academic mind, enough to grasp,
enough to know that transgender
people are sincere in their identities
if awkward in their presentations at
times. All it takes is some study, some
empathy and some accommodation.
All students should have the best
opportunity to succeed, and I hope
the University of Oklahoma takes
their non-discrimination policy
to heart. I hope the University of
Oklahoma adheres to the new Title
IX guidelines, letting transgender
students be who they are in the academic environment, letting them feel
safe in the explorations like any other
student.
For transgender people,
the university can be a
place of relative tolerance, a place where they
can finally be free to
express their true selves.
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the
University of Oregon, the University
of Pennsylvania and others – all of
which are listed as five star schools
by Campus Pride, a leading LGBTQ
student advocacy organization that
strives to make campuses safe and
After all, there are universities welcoming places for all students.
around the country that have been doing this for several years. They have
www.gayly.com
gone through the growing pains of
learning how to accommodate transgender students, and I hope the powers that be will use the experience
of other places like the University
6
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You want to be cool (who doesn’t?)
- by Mary Turner
HIV/AIDS Health Columnist
Call or Text Shaun Kamiko
405.702.2620
EskridgeHonda.com
AUGUST 2016
August means different things
to different people. The parents of
school-age children typically rejoice
in the knowledge that there are only
a few days left before their children
go back to school every day. This
is exciting news for the kids who
are looking forward to the back-toschool purchases and catching up
with old friends and making new
ones. However, it’s a time of dread
for the kids who would really rather
have summer break all year.
Here in Oklahoma, August signals
the countdown to when college football starts. For some, though, August
is that time to start preparing for the
adventures of going away to college
for the first time. Historically, going
to college has been a transitional period, sort of a right-of-passage, from
being an adult-sized kid in your parents’ house to being an independent
adult.
For those students who actually
move away to go to college, this
represents the first real freedom they
have had from their parents. Sure,
many of us went to camp now and
then for brief periods of time or had
chances to spend a few days away
for academic or sport events, but we
were usually heavily chaperoned at
such events.
Going away to college means having extended free time without any
watchful eyes surveying what you
do. Even students who may choose
to live at home, or close to home
and attend college, experience a
new found freedom. This freedom,
though, can come with a steep price
tag if you are not mindful of what
you’re doing.
Without the worry of a school official calling your house or your parents demanding to know why you
aren’t in bed at 3 a.m., a young adult
can fi nd all kinds of adventures often sexual - to explore. Exploring
our sexuality is a normal part of
growing up, but we still have to be
mindful of all the potential risks that
are lurking out there. Being unsupervised can increase the possibility that you’ll engage in risky sexual
behaviors.
Once upon a time, the worst consequence might be an unwanted pregnancy or “the clap”. Both situations
were embarrassing and perhaps life
altering, but certainly not life threatening. Today, having unprotected sex
can lead to more serious STIs such as
syphilis, hepatitis, herpes or HIV. If
you’re very young and haven’t been
away from home before, it can be
hard to resist peer pressure.
You want to be cool (who doesn’t?)
and you may want to seem worldly,
especially to older students, so you
may deliberately do things that will
leave you vulnerable. Please know
and understand that you can still be
cool and do fun things in a responsible way.
Most colleges, especially residential ones, have offices, centers or
programs that will provide condoms
free of charge. They don’t necessarily encourage promiscuity or any
sexual activity. They simply know
that it happens because we’re human and sex feels really awesome
(especially when we think we’re in
love and nobody’s watching). So take
advantage of the free love and free
condoms.
Alas, college is also a time when
people get their party on, and you
may consume large quantities of alcohol or other substances. That can
be a problem because alcohol and
certain kinds of drugs shut down
the regions in your brain that are responsible for making decisions. The
result is that you can’t, at least not
good ones.
Again, most colleges have programs designed to teach you about
the risks, but if you’re like most
healthy young people, you’ll probably ignore them. I encourage you not
to. You can have a lot more fun if you
are aware enough to enjoy the moment in the moment and to remember
it later. Remember that you are the
person in control of you. Don’t let
someone make you feel uncomfortable or force you into something that
you don’t want to do.
As humans, we fall
on a sexual continuum
that ranges from lacking any interest to
can’t get enough.
As humans, we fall on a sexual
continuum that ranges from lacking
any interest to can’t get enough. You
fall somewhere on that continuum.
You’re normal. Everybody who gets
sexually aroused gets aroused by
someone. That’s also normal. You
might even get lucky and have really hot professors (you know, those
people who teach the classes you’re
supposed to attend).
So get out there and have a safe
fun time so that years from now you
can embarrass your grandchildren
with stories about what you once did
at college and not about the person
who gave you a “gift” you’ll live with
forever.
Mary Turner has been an educator for more than 30 years and is currently
the Learning Support Specialist at Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC)
where she provides health information for students & publishes the monthly
newsletter, Healthy Matters. She has a bachelor’s degree in English & a master’s degree in educational psychology from OU.
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AUGUST 2016
7
trying to be part of the high school crowd
It was the gayest thing I ever did
- by Bruce Hartley
Life Issues Columnist
teenager. I had not even had a real
boyfriend yet!
Going back to school in the late
70s was interesting for me, as a
frightened young man growing up
in the “Bible Belt” of Southwest
Missouri. It might have been easier
if I were a teenager living in 2016.
Our world views of LGBTQ people
are somewhat different than when I
was a young, closeted gay man.
I remember a hot summer between my sophomore and junior
year when my brother told me that a
friend asked why I was so “fruity.”
That made me really mad, because
I thought I was covering my “gayness” pretty well at that time. I told
him I have no idea what the guy was
talking about. I was not “out” and I
was living my fake life as a straight
When it was time for the dreaded
back to school clothing shopping
with my mother, I decided to do my
best to fi nd the most heterosexual
clothing possible for my junior year
of high school. Maybe that would
squelch the discussions about me being “fruity” among the straight boys.
My big purchases included a pair of
denim overalls, some Levi blue jeans
(long enough to have a cuff at the
bottom), baseball t-shirts, flannel
shirts, Nike white tennis shoes with a
red swoosh and a pair of Earth Shoes.
I thought I was going to be the
coolest closeted gay dude at Central
High. To my delight, I was right on
track when I noticed many of the athletes wearing overalls and baseball
Professor Bruce Hartley is on the faculty in the Mass Communications
Department at East Central University in Ada, OK. He instructs undergraduate courses (Communications, PR/Advertising and Mass Media), is
sponsor of CLUB PRAD, Students Against Human Trafficking and GSLA.
He has a long career in PR & Marketing and is an ordained minister.
Gentle Care Animal Hospital-Dr Chris Rispoli-05152015-GaylyNP-BA1-Rev4 w Marks.pdf 1 5/15/2015 3:07:22 PM
shirts to school during the first week
of school. Now I wonder how many
of those guys dressed just like me
ended up gay, too.
was looking.
It’s interesting for me to think back
and see how sad things were back
then. I was concerned about how
people saw me and what they thought
about how I acted or what clothing I
wore. I guess that is part of growing
up for everyone.
That was a good
year for me. I
started to feel like
I had arrived. I
was fitting in.
I applaud the Millennial generation that can wear what they want,
act however they chose and date and
marry whomever they love. I can’t
imagine what my life would look like
at 53 if was able to be open about my
homosexuality back in high school. I
would also give anything to have my
head full of brown curly hair back,
too.
That was a good year for me. I
started to feel like I had arrived. I
was fitting in with the crowd and my
teenager confidence grew to new levels. Heck, by the end of that year I
was dating girls publicly and found
me a handsome boyfriend from another high school. He was in the
same boat as me and together we perfected the game of acting straight and
having our private time when nobody
Enough already…happy back to
school everyone!
www.gayly.com
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Edmond, OK 73012
Tel: 405-285-WOOF (9663)
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AUGUST 2016
educational exclusion among LGBtQ youth
- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight
Education Network) researchers
Emily Greytak, PhD and Joseph
Kosciw, PhD discussed the drop out
rates and school-to-prison pipeline
among LGBTQ youth in a recent
webinar with The Gayly. For lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/
questioning youth in the school system, significant disciplinary action
can be taken against them due to harassment and discrimination.
In terms of school discipline,
LGBTQ students learn harsh lessons
in following the rules. This can be
because of zero-tolerance policies,
wherein you get one chance and then
you’re out, and ableist, racial and homophobic disparities.
So far, there is hardly any government data for LGBTQ youth. All
research is small scale and none of
it includes transgender youth. This
GLSEN study hopes to outline important aspects of the LGBTQ dropout rate.
Here are some facts from a 2013
national school climate survey, a biennial survey of LGBTQ secondary
school students that was populationbased. Sample characteristics were
surveyed from 7,898 middle and
high school students in all 50 states
and DC who were enrolled in school
from 2012-2013.
“Youth were eligible to participate
in the survey if they were at least 13
years of age, attended a K–12 school
in the United States during the
2012–13 school year, and identified
as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or a sexual
orientation other than heterosexual
(e.g., queer, questioning) or described
themselves as transgender or as having another gender identity that is
not cisgender (e.g., genderqueer).
Participants completed an online
survey about their experiences in
school, including their educational
aspirations, disciplinary experiences, and contact with the juvenile or
criminal justice system,” according
to GLSEN.
Two in five LGBTQ students reported being disciplined in school.
The most common response was that
they got detention, but 50 percent
were suspended. Stark disparities
found significantly more discipline
in LGBTQ students, such as being
called to the principal’s office, detention or suspension.
From the kids’ perspective, 9.2
percent were unfairly disciplined for
identifying as LGBTQ. PDA (public
displays of affection) was not disciplined for straight students, whereas
28.2 percent of LGBTQ students
were punished for holding hands
on the bus, even if there were no set
rules against PDA.
Disparities are particularly high
for trans students. In terms of enforcing gender norms, 19.2 percent
of LGBTQ students reported their
inability to dress in accordance with
their gender identity. 31.6 percent of
these students were trans.
In addition, 10.8 percent were prevented from using their preferred
name – and 42.2 percent of these
were trans students. To use the bathroom or locker room of choice was
limited for 18.7 percent of LGBTQ
students, and a whopping 59.2 percent of those students were also
trans. This is a giant leap against
trans kids.
On top of these disparities, 18.1
percent of LGBTQ students reported not being allowed to attend a
school dance with the same gender.
17.5 percent reported no LGBTQ
student clubs, and 15.5 percent said
they were prevented from wearing
LGBTQ supportive clothing, like
rainbows.
School victimization may lead
to increased rates of discipline, according to GLSEN. This may mean
third of LGBTQ students missed at
least one day of school that month
because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable due to these factors – low
academic performance due to lowered self-esteem and mental health
concerns. According to GLSEN, kids
with depression and low self-esteem
were more likely to drop out because
they could be “viciously tortured in
public school – so much anxiety...unable to cope with being there.”
New GLSEN research is coming
out in the Fall to help work with
schools and administrators about this
problem. “Schools are hostile environments for many LGBTQ students,
riddled with peer victimization, in-
“These hostile climates effectively function to
push LGBTQ students out of school, depriving them of
the right to learn and limiting future opportunities.”
-GLSEN
that although they were bullied or
harassed, they were disciplined for
their retaliation. One thing GLSEN
realized is that certain groups experienced higher rates of this than others: In this order, LGBTQ students
felt discriminated against and overly
disciplined if they were homeless,
disabled, transgender females, other
gender identities, lesbian, and then
gay.
stitutional discrimination, and unfair
disciplinary practices,” GLSEN says.
Of these, the multiracial kids and
kids with disabilities were most likely to consider dropping out, the kids
with alternative gender identities
were more likely than the cisgender
kids to drop out, and the homeless
LGBTQ students were twice as likely
as those with parents or guardians to
drop out of school.
So, administrators, stop the harassment – implement anti-bullying
policies. Eliminate policies that discriminate against LGBTQ youth, like
dress codes and gender-specific uniforms. Utilize graduated approaches
to discipline with the goal of keeping youth in class. Incorporate an
LGBTQ inclusive curriculum. Keep
kids in school!
Factors leading to dropping out
of a hostile or unsupportive school
climate consisted of victimization,
discrimination, absenteeism – one
www.gayly.com
“These hostile climates effectively
function to push LGBTQ students
out of school, depriving them of the
right to learn and limiting future opportunities. Some students are more
targeted and more vulnerable to both
school discipline, resulting in criminal and juvenile justice involvement.”
BACK to sCHooL
AUGUST 2016
GAYLY.com
9
Back to school, “pain perdue”
y
t
t
o
c
S
Chef
another summer! Happy cooking!
Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
1 pinch salt
- by Scotty Irani
Food Columnist
Girl, it’s French-toast!
First of all, for my Okies, pain is
the French word for bread and is pronounced “pan”. Second, this recipe is
all about French-toast!
Some in the community are gearing up for back to school. When seeing those precious little rug-rats off
to get their “learn on”, while you reclaim what’s left of summer and your
home, start a back to school breakfast tradition with my Pain Perdu!
The custard can be made up the
night before, the berries can be sliced
and macerated the night before, the
bread is already stale, so basically all
you have to do is pour your coffee
and start soaking your pain.
Congratulations on surviving
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 heavy pour of rum flavoring
1 tablespoon brown sugar
8 1/2-inch slices day old French
bread
2 cups strawberries, hulled and
quartered (sprinkled with 2 tbsp.
sugar)
Freshly whipped cream
Pancake or maple syrup
Make:
1. Hull (remove stem) and quarter whole fresh strawberries. Pace
in a bowl and sprinkle with sugar
to sweeten and extract those lovely
juices. Set aside.
2. Mix the milk, eggs, salt, spices,
brown sugar, flavorings and extracts
together into one delicious custard.
In a shallow dish, lay out the slices
of French bread and pour the custard
on top. Allow to soak completely
through.
3. Begin heating up a well-oiled
griddle or pan. Lay out the pieces
of soaked bread and fry to a golden
brown on both sides. Don’t rush this!
The custard batter is wonderfully
soaked throughout the bread and
needs to cook evenly.
4. Top with the sweet strawberries, your favorite syrup, and a
dollop of fresh whipped cream.
Enjoy!
tax breaks for college savings
- by Bill Schmick
Financial Columnist
As the cost of college continues
to soar in America, more and more
states are offering tax breaks to families who are trying to save as much
as they can for their kids’ educational
future.
for future college costs by contributing to a plan that can be used at any
school (not just those in your state)
and for all qualified higher education
expenses, including room and board.
The most commonly used vehicle
for that purpose is the ‘qualified tuition plan,’ more commonly known
as a 529 Plan. These plans are sponsored by states, state agencies or educational institutions and were originally authorized by Section 529 of
the Internal Revenue Service Code.
They are tax-free on a federal level
and all but eight of the 42 states that
have an income tax allow families
and individuals to claim a tax deduction on college savings.
Your plan contributions are invested by professional money managers
in what are called age-based portfolios. Some plans also offer a selection
of stocks and bonds as well. In the
age-based funds, your contributions
are tilted at first toward stock funds,
which have more risk but also higher
growth; and as your child approaches college age, the investments are
skewed more toward bonds, which
are normally more conservative and
less risky. There are no taxes on dividends, interest or capital gains and
withdrawals for college are tax free
by the federal government and by
most states that have an income tax.
The idea for savers is that the state
offers you two kinds of plans. One is
a plan to prepay for your children’s
college educational costs at today’s
tuition rates at a certain college. In
the other plan, rather than prepaying tuition, you are simply saving
These plans allow families to contribute as little as $25/month or as
much as you want, limited only by
the lifetime contribution limit set
by each state. Normally this limit
ranges from $100,000 on the low end
to $270,000 on the other end of the
spectrum.
One nice feature of
these plans (for those
who can afford it) is that
individuals can fund a
plan with up to $70,000
(or $140,000 with your
spouse) in the first year
without running afoul of
the gift tax. Normally,
any contributions you This graph is an example of the money you will save towards the
make on behalf of an future cost of tuition with the 529 Plan. Courtesy, 529.com.
individual that exceeds $14,000 an- individual or $2,000 per couple.
nually ($28,000 for a couple) is subAlthough some complain that the
ject to the gift tax. A 529 plan allows
performance
of these plans are not
you to contribute basically five years’
worth of gifts all at once without tax. that competitive, they are still one of
the only games in town for consumEach state decides what kind of ers to save for education and enjoy
tax break they will offer to their tax advantages while they do so.
residents. They vary substantially.
Prior to joining Wall Street, Bill
In Rhode Island, for example, the
Schmick
was an award-winning jourdeduction ranges between $500 to
nalist.
Since
then, he has worked in a
$1,000/year. But in states like North
variety
of
roles
in his 33-plus years in
Carolina you can deduct as much
financial markets. However, none of this
as $2,500 - $5,000. New York and
commentary is or should be considered
Connecticut offer as much as $10,000 investment advice. For individualized
to $20,000 in tax deductions. In investment, contact a qualified investMassachusetts, the legislature is ment adviser.
voting on a deduction of $1,000 per
10
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
JoMoeq provides support for Joplin’s mass of LGBt teens
- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
Joplin, Missouri was faced with
an issue: teens were coming out.
They were coming out of the closet
in flocks; their youngest member of
the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community was only 12, and
the kids needed support. But where
could they go?
If it were the late 1990s or early
2000s, they would have had a homeaway-from-home, a sanctuary. But
that safe space closed down. The
LGBT community in Joplin even
had to travel for Pride, which has
only been finally established in their
town for four years now. But from
that lack of resources, there came a
high demand for a center or group to
help these teens come out.
“ H i s t o r i c a l l y,
the
LGBT
community in Joplin has been disconnected. Older people don’t agree
with the younger people, nobody gets
along. So we came together and were
like, ‘OK, young kids are coming out
and literally have no one to support
them. It’s our role as a community.’
So the overall agreement was, we
need a safe place for kids to be supported and loved and to talk about
what’s happening in the world,”
says Mackenzie Garst, co-founder of
Joplin, Missouri Equality (JoMoEq).
“So we rented out the back of a coffee shop and we meet there twice a
month now.”
On the second Monday of every
month, JoMoEq meets at Joplin
Avenue Coffee Company for Health
Education and Resource Team
(HEART) meetings. They bring in
guest speakers from the community
to provide resources, such as suicide
prevention training or how to write
letters to legislators.
“We bring in a local lady who has
worked at the state level for years to
talk about bills in Missouri that affect the LGBT community and effective ways to talk to the legislature.
By the end of the meeting, we’ll have
a final copy of a letter to send out,”
Garst says.
Garst adds, “It’s important to be
able to support our local kids. There
are lots of suburbs and rural communities [outside of Joplin] where
they try to navigate their journey, so
our intention is to give them a safe
place to go be themselves and bounce
ideas off people, meet new people,
gain support. I’ve honestly seen so
“It’s important to be able to
support our local kids...so our
intention is to give them a safe
place to go be themselves.”
-Mackenzie Garst
“We’re excited about that because
people attending have voiced an
interest in advocacy work, which
wasn’t our original intention – it’s
more of a support group feel – but
people want education.”
On the fourth Thursday of every
month, JoMoEq maintains a general
support group meeting. They pick
a topic of the month that is affecting their local community, breaking
into small groups for discussion. This
month, August 25 marks their oneyear anniversary.
Sarah Woods, Jennifer Bernard and McKenzie Garst (l to r), co-founders of JoMoEq. Photo by
Robin Dorner.
people!”
“We started with six people in
attendance. In nine or 10 months,
we now average between 45 and 50
people per meeting. We’re growing...and growing quickly. Even our
Pride count [in June] was over 1,000
many kids come out of the woodwork. The need is definitely there.
It’s about reaching out and getting
them to those meetings.”
As for the long-term, JoMoEq aims
to have a centralized location, extra
resources and to host events. But because they are not even a year old, it
is still a distant thought. JoMoEq is
always accepting donations to work
towards these goals. Find out more
about their small but ever-expanding
community on Facebook at Jo Mo Eq
– Joplin Equality.
www.gayly.com
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
11
YoU: oKC kids who crave knowledge, discourse
- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
Walking through OKC Pride, Kris
Williams was shocked to hear backlash against Oklahoma City’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and
queer (LGBTQ) youth. It has become
somewhat of a trend – youth are stigmatized as lazy or reckless, some
say, as though those same people
have forgotten what it was like to be
young.
But, “Youth are amazing!”
Williams exclaims. Her previous
position as an LGBT youth leader
and current position as LGBTQ
Coordinator at Northcare has helped
her to develop a social support group
for kids in OKC called Young Okies
United (YOU), and the celebration of
gender identity and sexual orientation in youth is her main focus in the
development of YOU.
“They [young people] are the reason why we continue to gain our
rights. When they receive the proper
education that it’s OK to be gay...I
had several kids go on and become
advocates. Our kids come back and
support us and launch us even further if given a chance to do so and
foster those relationships. People are
just scared. Stop being scared!”
Williams has been known to educate teens into adulthood on the
importance of communication and
openness with both themselves and
the rest of the community. She has
worked with a few readily-established groups, such as Young Gay
and Lesbian Alliance in Redrock.
She says Austin Sims, advocate and
leader of the LGBT community, was
actually one of her kids in a past
group.
“In my last group, it was funny because these kids come from a communication age but they don’t know
how to communicate with each other.
They’d just sit and text and not engage. I found myself in an interesting
position: I had to engage them to get
them to do the same. This time [with
YOU], I was able to establish that
culture versus walking into the last
one [which was already established].”
In order to begin engagement,
they state their name, age, sexual
orientation – if they want to disclose
that – preferred pronoun and a fun
fact, then they complement someone
else in the group. “Shout outs, if you
will. That gave kids the opportunity
to learn enough that I wasn’t holding
their hands to talk with their peers,”
Williams says.
“It feels good to get a compliment
even though it’s awkward sometimes.
It’s a lot of coaching on my end. ‘Can
you compliment their shoes? You like
their hair; can you compliment their
hair?’ It helped them develop positive communication skills with their
peers. And I’ve used this model with
my new youth group.”
YOU has two social groups, one
located at a church for ages 13 to 17
and one located at Other Options,
Inc. for ages 18 to 25. Keeping these
groups separate provides specific discourse pertaining to their levels of
development. “Being 20 is a different
Kris Williams carries YOU member at gathering. Photo provided.
situation than being 13,” Williams
explains.
For the older group, Williams
says it is vital to introduce them to
the community at Other Options –
both for an older perspective and for
a look into the HIV community of
Oklahoma City. But for the younger
group, Williams says they may eventually need to engage in intergenerational levels of communication.
“Role-modeling is also important. In the near future, I’d like to
have them do things together. We
[LGBT people] are a unique population, because we’re not born into our
‘family’. I was not born into lesbian
parents; I was born into straight parents. So we have to find our ‘family’.
That’s what makes us unique.
“That makes it scary for not only
See YoU, page 37
To advertise in
The Gayly
call:
/thegayly
(405) 496-0011
or email: [email protected]
www.gayly.com
@thegayly
12
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
Ending discrimination against transgender Kansans through education
-- by Sarah Boone
Journalism Intern
“Knowledge and information are
the keys to acceptance and understanding,” a poem on the website for
the Kansas Statewide Transgender
Education Project (KSTEP) reads.
Executive Director and President of
KSTEP, Stephanie Mott, definitely
seems to agree. This is what makes
their conference, TransKansas, stick
out from the rest.
Mott says, “We [KSTEP] formed
with a mission to end discrimination towards transgender Kansans
and their families. In Kansas and
neighboring states, the discrimination is horrifying.” The need for
TransKansas is crucial for this reason
and many others.
KSTEP started in August of 2010.
They have been persistent in their
belief that education can end discrimination throughout their whole
journey. The education that they offer is through workshops, presentations, consulting, support and providing information and resources.
In summary, as Mott claims, they
offer “basically anything we can do
to help and support people who are
transgender.”
KSTEP holds an educational conference called TransKansas that provides all of this education. “We have
an attorney from Tulsa, Oklahoma
who is going to come up and talk
about the history of transgender
rights as well as new developments
in federal policy that is regarding
people who are transgender.
“We’re going to have workshops on
Two Spirit, language and transitioning on a budget. The local jail has
a transgender policy, so the director
of that department is going to come
do a couple of presentations about
how they work with transgender inmates. We’re going to have a variety
of workshops,” Mott explains.
“It’s basically two days of workshops and a total of about 30 workshops on all kinds of topics related to
being transgender.”
section, and have one section each
day on ‘Transgender and…’” wherein
you can be transgender and something else (for example, a person of
color).
She goes on to further explain,
“We’re trying to have four sections
each day, four workshops in each
“We’ll have those workshops on
intersexuality, transgender people
of color, transgender people who
are physically challenged, and then
transgender youth.
“What we want to provide is a
space where, for a couple of days,
people can just be who they are and
not have to worry about who’s going
to see them or worry about whether
See KANSANS, page 21
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
13
Upcoming organization provides love for loveless trans teens
Jerry Lynn, organizer for The Loveless Project. Photo provided.
- By Sarah Boone
Journalism Intern
When Leonidas “Leo” Loveless
made a post on social media requesting title ideas for his memoir, someone replied, “Loveless.” And thus, it
was formed: The Loveless Project is
a new organization hoping to offer
a home for transgender teens and
young adults who are struggling with
depression and suicidal thoughts.
Tammy Newton, organizer for The Loveless Project. Photo
provided.
people can wear them so other trans
teens or adults that can see their allies. I want to eventually turn it into a
non-profit organization and to be able
to donate money to shelters for the
LGBT community. I would like to
be able to maybe even start a center
for trans people,” he says.
Loveless started the organization
in order to host groups for the parents
of transgender children and to gather
“Right now, the trans movement
seems like it’s in a loveless state, and
I guess I felt it all just went together,”
-Leonidas Loveless
“Right now, the trans movement
seems like it’s in a loveless state, and
I guess I felt it all just went together,”
Loveless says.
The Loveless Project is very young,
founded in April of 2016. As of right
now, Loveless and two other people,
Tammy Newton and Jerry Lynn, are
directly involved with managing the
project.
Loveless explains that a close
friend of his who was transitioning
to male committed suicide because
of the struggles he faced for being
transgender. “You don’t ever expect
it to be somebody close to you,” he
says.
“The Loveless Project is dedicated
to him, and I want to make it nationwide. I want to make t-shirts and
youth groups for transgender kids to
get together and talk. He explains
that he would like to set up a suicide
line, or chat line, for transgender individuals. He wants Loveless to be
highly involved in the community.
“I want to be the voice that tells
people to call legislatures. I would
love for the Loveless Project to be
one of the organizations that the
‘bad’ politicians fear because we get
the message out and people hear us.”
Leo says that, currently, the best
way to get involved with the organization is to share the articles they
post, ‘like’ their page on Facebook
and to “reach out if they see somebody who’s transitioning.”
“Just be an ally. Send them to our
page!” Loveless exclaims. “They can
Leonidas “Leo” Loveless, founder and namesake of The
Loveless Project. Photo provided.
always contact anybody on that list
as an ally. It’s like a community. It’s
starting out small, but I hope everybody can eventually benefit from it.
“Every day is a new day, and I
know this [hate towards transgender
people] seems permanent because
it’s happening to us right now; but
if we look at things in history, the
good always wins. Sometimes, it’s
a long tough battle, but the good always wins.”
The best way to contact The
Loveless Project is on their Facebook
page, The Loveless Project.
14
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
president of pfLAG Norman captures the spirit of the town
‘You don’t have to be
ashamed. It’s OK to
have reservations.’
“‘At the end of
group, he’s going, ‘I
think I’m gay,’” Eller
laughs. “Of course
you are! But to say it
out loud, to admit it to
himself, it is a watershed moment for him.
It’s beautiful actually.
The group gives him
support, love, care,
tenderness.”
Following the tragedy in Orlando at Pulse
nightclub, the Chief
of Police in Norman
called PFLAG to meet
with Eller and other
leaders. Chief Keith
Humphrey reportedly
told Eller, “I am the
chief of everyone in
Jim Eller (l); Kay Holladay (c), PFLAG board member; and Don Holladay, attorney who helped make marriage equality
the community, rea reality, at a Norman City Council meeting last year. Photo provided.
spective of religion,
- by Sara Ritsch
“Not in my two years [in Norman] ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orienStaff Writer
has there been anything threatening. tation. What can I do to help you?
Although historically it wasn’t wel- We’re here to help you.”
Norman PFLAG (Parents, Families
coming, at this point, my experience
and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
Humphrey asked what the police
of Norman is that it’s a very welcompresident Jim Eller has been in
ing community. I’m old enough that department could do to make Pride
Norman for about one year, and
I can remember when the police did and their Pride Picnic feel more safe.
he absolutely loves it – with good
raids and the VICE squad impris- Not only did he station sympathetic
reason.
oned people for being out – this is officers at their event, he actually
gave them the honor of experiencing
night and day.”
an officer announce that he is gay
PFLAG Norman does a variety of too. “Talk about support!” exclaims
things, but mainly hosts a monthly Eller. “I don’t know if it gets more
support group meeting. It is usually
led by a board member who encourages people to introduce themselves
and share a bit of their lives. The
group evolves, depending on who’s
there. There are typically around
30-40 people who talk about what it
means to be LGBTQ, “somewhere in
the spectrum,” an ally or a parent.
Jim Eller and his PFLAG team at their Pride
Picnic. Photo provided.
PFLAG team members Tyler Sellers and
William Perry stand by the PFLAG promo car
at 2016 Pride. Photo provided.
welcoming.”
Support groups meet on the second
Thursday of each month at 7 p.m.
at St. Stephen’s United Methodist
Church in Norman. PFLAG also
usually has one or two public forums each year featuring a variety
of speakers. Last year, they discussed
what it means to be transgender, the
language behind the issue and the
bathroom bills. There were about 130
people at that forum at St. Stephen’s.
“We knocked it out of the park,”
Eller says. “People asked good questions, they were sympathetic, asked
how to use the gender pronoun – we
said, ‘Well, ask the person how they
prefer!’” he laughs.
“Part of our agenda is to try to
shape and form the culture of our
community. We’re going to continue
to move the Norman culture in that
direction.” And it is moving in that
direction – Norman is becoming as
progressive as its college culture suggests. In a symbiotic relationship,
PFLAG and its members are feeling
it, too.
Learn more about the group
and how you can get involved on
Facebook at PFLAG Norman, OK,
where it has a full five stars, or on the
web at www.pflagnorman.org. They
are always welcoming new members
- families, friends and parents alike.
“They’re fairly rich experiences,
actually,” Eller says.
“A family comes and says, ‘Our
14-year-old has gender identity questions and thinks he’s maybe trans,
gee, where do we turn?’ We’ve got
resources in group to make available
and network these kinds of things,”
Eller explains. “A man, probably 45,
says, ‘I can’t even say the word gay.’
He says, the g-word. ‘But I know I
am; I’ve always known I am. I’ve always been ashamed.’ The group says,
PFLAG Norman at the July 13 vigil at OU following the Orlando shooting. Photo provided.
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
15
Bar Church tulsa offers unique way to worship
- by Lauren Dow
Journalism Intern
Though bar meet-ups and churchgoing are not generally synonymous,
Bar Church Tulsa is “tabbing out”
of tradition and making the bar their
church.
The group, a branch of St. Paul’s
United Methodist Church on Cherry
Street in Tulsa, is led by Pastor
Travis Ewton, an associate pastor of
St. Paul’s. Though the group is run
by St. Paul’s, Bar Church is primarily
non-denominational Christian and
seeks to draw in those who, as Pastor
Ewton puts it, have “de-churched” or
separated from their church.
Britany James (center-left), Whitney Lee
(far-right), and others making blessing bags
for homeless people the group encounters
throughout the week. Photo provided.
butter and jelly sandwiches to the
homeless. St. Paul’s started the group
two years ago; last year Pastor Travis
Ewton took over the leadership of
Bar Church.
Ewton has a passion for drawing in those who have been burned
by the church but desire a spiritual
community. The group does not limit
themselves to bars, however; half of
their meet-ups consist of mission
work: handing out blessing bags,
peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches
and talking with locals. Blessing
bags are comprised of food, emergency blankets and thoughtful notes
of kindness.
Pastor Ewton says the goal is to
live as Jesus would have, in every
aspect of church and life. Bar church
seeks to provide regular opportunities for mission and service within
the community as well as a real
connection to a faith based group.
He says that the majority of his congregation is seeking a faith-based
community that practices what they
preach and “seeks to imitate Christ
in their lives.”
The mission half of their meet-ups
is the true life-blood of the church,
Pastor Ewton says, “Mission-oriented
folks get turned off to church when
they don’t feel like they are making
an impact in the community.”
Travis Ewton leading a discussion on faith and
racial justice at Fifteen Below. Photo provided.
“Bar Church Tulsa is for people
who have been beat up, put down or
turned off by church and want to act
out their spiritual lives outside of a
church setting,” according to their
website.
Tulsa’s church follows the model
of another Bar Church located in
Colorado that hands out peanut
The congregation is primarily
made up of 20 to 30-somethings who
don’t feel they fit in to a traditional
church. This includes members of
the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community as well as those
who feel the attitude of traditional
churches does not reflect their personal beliefs. Bar Church sermons
tackle “real-stuff”, like how to navigate relationships and community
Meagan Ewton (left) is handing out a PB&J sandwich at the Tulsa Transit station (4th and
Denver) with Bethany Pratt (right). Photo provided.
building.
Pastor Ewton said, “Our goal and
desire is to be a safe space for people
to have safe conversations and to be
a part of a faith community while
avoiding the negative aspects of traditional church.”
The Bar Church often incites double-takes or confusion, but the reception from the community has been
supportive, according to Ewton. The
two bars they utilize for meetings
are Inner Circle Vodka Bar and 15
Below Gastro Pub. Each bar offers a
different experience and atmosphere
for the congregation, but both enjoy
the increase in business on typically
slow Monday nights. The congregation is encouraged to grab a beer and
a bite to support the local businesses.
Bar Church meetings vary from
venue to venue. Ewton says members attend specific services based
on what they need from their faith
community, and that’s a “win” for
Bar Church; whose mission focuses
on loving and accepting, just as Jesus
would - without judgment.
Bar Church meets for services on
the fi rst and third Monday of the
month at Inner Circle Bar and 15
Below, respectively. They meet the
second and fourth Saturday of each
month at the bus station on Denver
Avenue Station to hand out blessing
bags and interact with the local community. They are always accepting
new members. Check them out on
Facebook at Bar Church Tulsa or on
the web at www.barchurchtulsa.org.
Travis Ewton leading discussion at Inner Circle Vodka Bar. Photo provided.
16
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
Mix Ultralounge features a big city feel in Springfield
Mix Ultralounge video bar. Photo provided.
- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
Jeremy Kirkland went from a fake
ID and dreams of being a pharmacist
to opening one of Springfield’s most
well-known straight friendly video
bars, Mix Ultralounge.
At Mix, there is something going
on every night of the week (besides
Sunday). It is impossible to have a
dull time when the audio and visual
aesthetics are so in sync – and that’s
the Mix specialty.
screens all around the building. So,
whatever you hear is accompanied
by its music video. “It’s more than
screens and lights, it’s actually the
video,” Kirkland explains. Did I
mention aesthetics?
Being a video bar means featuring
Modeled after video lounge Side
Track in Chicago, Mix Ultralounge
includes two projectors above the
bar. The bar itself, laid with bricks,
has LED lights above and below it
“for shadows and colors,” and to the
right and left are two 70-inch canvas
screens. There are four flat panels
throughout the bar.
To advertise call:
(405) 496-0011
or email:
[email protected]
/thegayly
@thegayly
www.gayly.com
After working as a DJ for years,
Kirkland decided to move forward
into the business of working with
people. “I thought I was going to be
a pharmacist,” he jokes. “Somehow
this happened.”
Quoting his regulars at his previous job at Martha’s Vineyard, an 18+
bar in Springfield, MO, he says, “’We
just come here to see you!’”
Kirkland knew he wanted more
than just to be a DJ or bartender. “I
needed to move on. There was a market for something different. I heard
this straight bar had been sold, and
struck up a deal January 1, 2012.
“The gay community, from the
beginning, jumped right on it. It’s
been fantastic,” Kirkland says. “The
city of Springfield is wonderful; we
haven’t run into anything negative at
all.”
Mondays feature show tunes and
one dollar well drinks, Tuesdays are
Bingo night with a Happy Hour all
evening, Wednesdays are karaoke
night – Kirkland’s personal favorite
– and Thursdays feature $3 Absolut
cocktails.
“Big J” of the Men of SKIN group from Kansas
City. Photo provided.
On Fridays, Mix Ultralounge features another evening of show tunes,
and Saturdays feature $4 “freezer
shots” with their top-shelf liquor.
Happy Hour is every day from 5 p.m.
to 9 p.m., when you can get a dollar
off on everything except shots.
Mix Ultralounge is 21+ and is
open nightly from 5 p.m. to 1:30
a.m. but closed Sundays. Dubbed
“a great place to mingle and tingle,”
it is great for parties or just an evening out. Visit their website at www.
SpringfieldMix.com.
www.gayly.com
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
fort smith’s gay bar gives back
- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
The legendary Kinkead’s was
started by Miss Gay Arkansas
America Kirby Kinkead (Kirby
Maggard) in 1994 and the bar has
changed hands several times. But in
2009, when Maggard almost had to
sell Kinkead’s to a straight man with
anti-LGBT tendencies, current barowner Rick Eubank stepped in.
the way the he felt they needed to be
loved.”
Within two months, the bar was
his.
Eubank was a pastor before a bar
owner. But, although he walked into
a completely new life, he has found
himself quite comfortable there. “I
have kept the bar because I actually
care about the people that come there.
When they hurt, I feel like sometimes I hurt with them. Likewise,
when they are happy, I’m happy to
celebrate with them.”
Eubank remarks that congregants
of his weddings, gay and straight, often are surprised to learn that he is
a gay bar owner. “Of course, my response is always something like, ‘Get
a little liquor in me and the queen
comes out!’”
Kinkead’s Bar in Ft. Smith, Ark. Photo by Robin
Dorner.
“From what everyone was telling
me, this straight guy didn’t want
gay folks in there – period. I called
Kirby and said, ‘Please don’t do that.’
[Kinkead’s] was the only place anywhere around for anybody [gay] to be
able to go,” says Eubank.
“His conditions were strict though.
He wanted it to go to someone that
would carry on with working with
our community, as well as someone
who would take the time to love them
The ‘90s were a different time for
Fort Smith, Arkansas’ only gay bar.
“I’ve heard stories from back when,”
Eubank says. “Bricks through the
window. Now I have as many straight
people as gay people. Everybody’s
pretty friendly.”
Friendly is less of a word than
the one that can be attributed to
Kinkead’s, though. Patrons and
employees alike consider this bar a
home – a family.
A good friend once told him, “‘It’s
just like being a pastor. When they
are sick, go see them in the hospital.
When they need food, go and take
them some. When they need an ear
to listen, listen to them,’” Eubank
recites. “She told me that if I would
do all of that, that I would be fine.
Well, it was honestly a bigger undertaking for me than I had ever had as
a minister.
17
“the mama” of the Davenport family. Sundays also feature brunch
with bottomless mimosas and a full
Bloody Mary bar.
“We’re a little different than most
bars. Mine is close-knit. Everybody
who comes in, I get to know and let
them fit in. I spend time inside and
outside the bar with everybody,” says
Eubanks.
And their reviews reflect the bar’s
popularity. One Facebook user says,
“The shows are addicting to watch,
the drinks are great and the people
are wonderful. This place will be my
one and only bar I attend from now
on.”
Their regulars agree that Kinkead’s
is their favorite bar – and it doesn’t
hurt that it’s the only gay bar within
their region. Otherwise, you would
have quite the drive.
So instead, Kinkead’s is open from
2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesday through
Sunday. On Wednesdays, Thursdays
and Sundays, it’s karaoke night, hosted by Ari Phoenix, their DJ. Every
Friday they have a live band, such
as Mos Isley, and every Saturday
there is a different queen who hosts
– Jazmyn Turrelle from Fayetteville;
Divine Reality, whose home bar is
Kinkead’s; Stefanie Paige, a local; and Tareal Davenport Phillips,
Kinkead’s “Day of Love” charity event logo.
Photo provided.
In July, Kinkead’s began opening at 8 a.m. to introduce a “coffee
house feel” to the LGBT community
in Fort Smith. The bar opens now in
the afternoon, but during the day it
is where you can go to get your caffeine fi x. Kinkead’s gives back to
the community in a thousand ways,
primarily with their homeless charity
event “The Day of Love”, in which
they feed over 280 people, provide
haircuts and give clothing.
You can find out about their
events, the charities they support
and more by searching them on
Facebook under the name Kinkead’s.
Cheers!
18
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
Younger seniors amass more end-of-life
care than oldest Americans, study finds
- by Rachel Bluth
Kaiser Health News
Americans in their 80s and 90s
are not the ones amassing the largest
medical bills to hold off death, according to a new analysis that challenges a widely held belief about the
costs of end-of-life care.
Younger seniors - those with potentially longer expectancies - are.
Medicare claims data for 2014
for beneficiaries who died the same
year shows that average Medicare
spending per person peaked at age
73 - at $43,353, the Kaiser Family
Foundation reported Thursday. That
compared with $33,381 per person
for 85-year-olds and among 90-yearolds, $27,779 per person. (KHN is an
editorially independent program of
the foundation.)
“This is a pattern we weren’t really expecting to see,” said Juliette
Cubanski, the associate director of
the program on Medicare policy for
the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Kaiser researchers said their findings suggest that providers, patients
and their families may favor costlier,
lifesaving care for younger seniors,
and turn to hospice care when patients are older.
The Kaiser team said spending on
people who die in a given year represents a small and declining share of
traditional Medicare spending - 18.6
percent in 2000 but 13.5 percent in
2014.
“It kind of goes against the notion
that doctors are throwing everything
including the kitchen sink at people
at the end of life regardless of how
old they are,” Cubanski said.
Overall, the aging baby boomer
population is leading to a decrease in
the growth of spending on patients’
last years of life. More beneficiaries
are younger and healthier, and they
are living longer, so their last years
of life are cheaper.
Medicare covered eight of 10 people in the U.S. who died in 2014, establishing it as the largest insurer of
medical care provided at the end of
life, according to the Kaiser report.
Kaiser’s analysis covered only traditional Medicare beneficiaries during the calendar year in which they
died and did not include spending
in the full 12 months before their
Overall, the aging baby boomer
population is leading to a decrease
in the growth of spending on
patients’ last years of life.
Medicare spent an average of
$34,529 on each of them, and most
of that money (51 percent) went to
inpatient hospital expense. The rest
was spent mostly on skilled nursing
facilities, home health care and hospice (23 percent) or physicians (13
percent) or medication, 6 percent.
Overall, the largest portion, 31 percent, of per capita spending for all
beneficiaries goes to inpatient hospital expenses.
deaths. The report also did not include spending on beneficiaries in
Medicare Advantage because data
was unavailable.
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is
an editorially independent program of
the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
should you save enough to live to 100?
- by Liz Weston
NerdWallet Columnist
First, you were supposed to die at
85. Then 90. Now 95 and even 100
are common defaults when financial
planners tell people how much to
save for retirement.
Except that’s nuts.
In the U.S., the typical man at age
65 is expected to live another 18
years. The typical woman, about 20.
Yet many financial planners contend
we should save as if we’re all going
to be centenarians.
That notion so offends adviser
Carolyn McClanahan that she confronted a speaker at a financial planning conference who contended that
death at 100 should be the default
assumption.
100, and she’ll need about $1.7 million. (These figures assume 3 percent average annual inflation and a 7
percent return on investments. Your
mileage may vary.)
Currently most workers (54 percent) have less than $25,000 saved
for retirement, according to the latest survey by the Employee Benefit
Research Institute.
Encouraging people to save too
much can have consequences:
1. You might not start because
you’re discouraged by the vast
amounts you supposedly need.
2. You could put off retirement too
McClanahan watched lives change
in seconds during her stints in emergency rooms and pathology labs.
“You come into the emergency room
and you die, or I’m telling you that
you have cancer,” McClanahan says.
“That makes it really hard for me to
tell people to save, save, save.”
“I defi nitely have concerns that
many advisers are being way too
conservative,” says Michael Kitces,
a certified financial planner and partner at Pinnacle Advisory Group in
Columbia, Maryland.
If a 35-year-old wanted to replace
60 percent of her current $60,000 salary at age 65, she would need about
$1.2 million at retirement age if she
expects to live to 85. Stretch that to
Livingto100.com. Then she and the
clients discuss the results to see how
they want to handle the possibility of
outliving their savings.
-Bob Veres
long, working when you could have
been playing or relishing your good
health, which doesn’t last forever.
Some sav i ng is essent ial.
Obviously. But saving for a retirement that ends at age 100 means
you’ll need a nest egg that’s about 40
percent larger than what you’d need
for a normal life expectancy.
Liz Weston, columnist for personal finance website NerdWallet.com. Photo by Dylan Entelis.
“Uncertainty about longevity is just one
of many unknowns in financial planning.”
“Even when you have a 350-pound
guy who smokes?” says McClanahan,
who happens to be a medical doctor
as well as a certified financial planner with Life Planning Partners in
Jacksonville, Florida. Advances in
medical science “aren’t happening
that fast.”
Investment companies want as
much of our money as possible, so
it makes sense for them to promote
the idea that all or even most of us
should aim for triple-digit ages and
save accordingly. Plus, financial advisers don’t want to get sued, either
by their elderly clients or the children
who have to take them in when the
old folks run out of cash.
19
3. Once retired, you might stint on
the fun stuff because you’re so worried about running short.
Kitces points out that while there’s
a 70 percent chance that at least one
member of a married couple will
make it to 85, the odds are only 20
percent either partner will make it to
95, and even lower that anyone will
see 100.
“Most of our improvements in life
expectancy are coming from the decline in child mortality,” Kitces says.
“The actual survival rate of people
in their 80s and 90s is not increasing
very fast.”
McClanahan plans for 100-year life
spans for her clients who take good
care of their health and who have
plenty of money. She predicts average life spans for those with average
health. If clients have health challenges or not enough money to last
a typical retirement, she sends them
to a life expectancy calculator, www.
“Uncertainty about longevity is
just one of many unknowns in financial planning,” says Bob Veres, a
financial planning industry consultant and publisher of the trade publication Inside Information. So-called
“safe” withdrawal rates of 4 percent
annually may actually be too conservative in most markets, Veres says.
Also, people often spend less as they
age, which makes planners’ typical
assumptions that spending will increase with inflation each year too
conservative.
“Cautious assumptions may stave
off lawsuits,” Veres says, but they
“diminish the spending capacity of
people who retire today.”
See sAVe, page 20
20
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
sAVe, page 19
“I think only the client knows
whether the inconvenience of spending less in retirement is more or less
painful than the risk of cutting back
drastically later in retirement if the
markets don’t cooperate,” Veres said.
Working longer, saving more or
planning to spend less in retirement
are the typical prescriptions when
people aren’t saving enough. But
there are a few other ways to help
insulate yourself in case you guess
wrong and wind up living longer
than you plan for:
Put off claiming Social Security:
This means a bigger benefit from an
income stream that you can’t outlive.
Your check will be about one-third
larger if you wait until at least your
full retirement age (currently 66, rising to 67 for those born in 1960 and
after) instead of starting at 62. Delay
until 70, and your benefit would be
more than 75 percent higher than at
62.
Consider an annuity: You give
an insurance company a chunk of
money and get a stream of monthly
Working longer, saving more or
planning to spend less in retirement are the typical prescriptions
when people aren’t saving enough.
checks that can last for life.
tap as much of your nest egg.
A 65-year-old man could buy
a $100,000 immediate annuity,
where payments start right away,
and get about $530 a month without inflation protection, or around
$380 with increases tied to the
Consumer Price Index, according to
ImmediateAnnuities.com, an annuity
marketplace.
Or you could set up a reverse mortgage line of credit that you would
only use if markets tanked, to give
your investments time to recover. Or
you could keep a reverse mortgage
as your last-resort option, turning to
it after you’ve exhausted your other
assets.
Another option is a longevity annuity, where you hand over the money but payments don’t kick in until a
later age, often 85.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This column was provided to The
Associated Press by the personal finance
website NerdWallet.
Investigate reverse mortgages:
You can turn your home equity into
cash, but you don’t have to repay the
loan until you die, sell or move out.
Payments could start early in your
retirement so that you don’t have to
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed.
needed for any additional art supplies, which schools are already lacking; as well as any sports equipment
and uniforms, which are already in
desperate need of an update.
struggling to keep their heads above
water.
sCHooL, page 4
said to be working on before-school
activities for students.
Mark Myers, public information
officer for Oklahoma City Public
Schools, said these specific schools
were moved to this time schedule because of their central location within
the district. The district said this will
eliminate the daily need for up to 18
additional bus routes.
“Whether it is tires, oil changes or
the salaries of these bus drivers, it’s
going to save us $700,000 dollars
that we estimated,” Myers said.
I find it hard to be
excited...when I know
that not only my school
but the ones around
me are severely struggling to keep their
heads above water.
All schools in the district will still
be affected by the upcoming 25 percent cut in the arts and sports budgets. This will delay any purchases
Nearly all adjunct coaching positons are being revoked from the
schools. This means that when you
go back to school this fall, there is a
strong possibility your favorite adjunct-coach will not be there to give
you a pat on the back into the new
school year.
All of these things are especially
hard to hear as a student going into
her senior year in the OKC public
school district, who is not only involved in sports but also in the arts.
I find it hard to be excited for my last
year of high school education when
I know that not only my school but
the ones around me are severely
Once graduated, though, what
is to be expected for college life?
It has to be better than this, right?
Unfortunately, no. Other states such
as Arkansas, Texas and Missouri
fortunately have not had as bad of a
hit due to the economic downfall in
the region when it comes to school
budget cuts; however, they were not
completely untouched. More than
their public high and elementary
schools are being affected – it’s their
public and community colleges that
are taking the blow.
So what can we look forward to? A
lot of changes, hardship and neglect.
Class, welcome to Fall 2016.
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
foster, page 3
one party is able.”
Katelynn Burns, spokesperson for
DHS, says there is a severe lack of
knowledge. “We want to spread the
word to the community that we need
more foster parents, period. As many
more as we can get.”
The hardest children to place in
homes are transgender, developmentally disabled and teens. Most of the
children are left in their custody due
to abuse or neglect from their caregiver, giving the court power to remove them from their homes. This
is at no fault of their own, but the
fault of the person who was meant
to care for the child or teen. These
kids need love.
“If you are interested, single or
married, just reach out to us,” Burns
says. “We will walk you through
your questions and concerns. Just
pass a background check
and be able to financially
support yourself. We can
work with you, and if
there are any discrepancies we can let you know
up front.”
Remember, when these
kids turn 18, they have
only the community for
support. “We can only
do so much – we’re not
a family. They just want
to have those connections
and those relationships
built to help support them
through their journeys.”
There are a little over 10,000 children currently in state custody. The
minimum age is 21 to foster, though
many “empty nesters” find foster parenting to be an incredibly rewarding
experience. If you are interested in
becoming a foster or adoptive parent,
Remember, when these kids
turn 18, they have only the
community for support.
KANsANs, page 12
or not they’re safe or anything like
that.”
Mott says that TransKansas is able
to be so affordable to attendees because of their amazing sponsors. She
explains that they have spaces lent
to them, and they have never had
to pay for somewhere to hold their
conferences.
The TransKansas 2016 conference is the fourth annual conference.
“The first two [conferences] had 100
people, maybe 110. Last year we had
about 150, which I’m expecting to
break this time,” Mott excitedly says.
“There’s a lot of misunderstanding
on what it means to be any sexual
origin or minority. We’re just a part
of the natural spectrum of creation
and I’m not sure why people have
so much of a problem with it. But
education seems to be a big part of
the answer,” Mott says.
The TransKansas conference is being held on August 26 and 27 at the
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
of Topeka, which is located at 4775
SW 21st St. in Topeka, Kansas.
Tom Witt, Executive Director of Equality
Kansas, speaks at a workshop at TransKansas 3
in Manhattan, KS. Photo by Stephanie Mott.
Admission costs $10, $5 for students,
or free for individuals who volunteer
four or more hours.
TransKansas information can
be obtained by visiting www.
TransKansas.com, on the Facebook
page TransKansas or by emailing
[email protected]. There
is also a website for the Kansas
Statewide Transgender Education
Project at www.kstep.org.
you can visit www.okfosters.org.
If you are interested in helping the
cause, Merideth is in need of items
for a back-to-school bash. She will
be collecting supplies such as new
backpacks, pens and pencils, shoes,
socks and underwear. So far, there
are not enough donations to hold the
event. But you can donate by contacting her at (405) 408-2162 or at
[email protected].
21
22
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
Despite opioid concerns, seniors often exit the hospital with prescription
- Michelle Andrews
Kaiser Health News
It’s a common scenario: Someone
checks into a hospital for surgery or
an illness and leaves with a prescription for an opioid painkiller, opening
the door to long-term use and dependence. A recent study examined this
pattern and found the prescriptions
are used and renewed more often
than you might imagine.
Researchers analyzed the pharmacy claims of a random sample of
more than 623,000
Medicare beneficiaries who were hospitalized in 2011. They
only included people
who did not have a
prescription claim
for opioids for at least
60 days before being
hospitalized.
The results, first
published online
in JAMA Internal
Medicine in June,
showed that 14.9
percent of the hospitalized beneficiaries
filled a prescription
for an opioid within
a week after being
discharged. Of those
who filled the first prescription, 42.5
percent had another pharmacy claim
for an opioid painkiller at least 90
days later.
“Presumably they were prescribed
it and continued on it because of
some sort of chronic pain,” said
Dr. Anupam Jena, associate professor of health care policy at Harvard
Medical School and the study’s lead
author. Still, there are many ways
to treat pain, Jena noted, and hospitals are supposed to look at other
approaches.
In 2013, nearly 44,000 people died
from drug overdoses, including more
than 16,000 from opioid painkillers
such as hydrocodone and morphine,
In addition, hospitals that were
ranked higher by patients for inpatient pain control had modestly higher rates of opioid use after discharge.
“For patients who are similar
across a broad range of characteristics…there appears to be a large
range in the propensity of hospitals to prescribe opioids,” Jena said.
14.9 percent of the hospitalized beneficiaries
filled a prescription for an opioid within
a week after being discharged.
according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Drug overdoses involving opioids nearly quadrupled between 1999 and 2013.
As part of a federal initiative to
improve opioid prescribing practices,
last week the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services proposed to
stop incorporating patient satisfaction responses regarding pain man-
“The variation is alarming because
it means some hospitals are doing it
too much and some too little.” More
research is needed to determine what
the appropriate opioid prescribing
standards should be, he said.
Please contact Kaiser Health
News to send comments or ideas for
future topics for the Insuring Your
Health column.
In 2013, nearly 44,000 people
died from drug overdoses.
THE GAYLY IS HIRING:
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agement into hospital Medicare payment calculations. Some physicians
have said they feel pressure to prescribe opioids in order to get good
scores.
The JAMA Internal Medicine study
found significant variations in the
rate of new opioid use by Medicare
beneficiaries across hospitals, from
10 percent on the low end to 20 percent on the high end.
KHN’s coverage of aging and
long term care issues is supported
in part by a grant from The SCAN
Foundation.
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is
an editorially independent program of
the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
23
the Bella foundation spCA fosters literacy and responsible pet ownership
with pet therapy team members. OK
Messages provided the books and
backpacks with five books inside for
each child in attendance, while The
Bella Foundation handed out 186
toys and brought pet therapy dogs.
The pet therapy team makes regular visits to the local VA hospital,
The Daily Living Center and local
elementary schools.
This program focuses on teaching the next generation about pet
ownership and responsibility, along
with promoting reading. The team is
made entirely of volunteers who take
two or three dogs out several times a
week. With children, they read two
books: one focusing on pet ownership and another that is about being
loving and accepting of all people.
a pet foster and adoption service
that places unwanted or neglected
animals in homes. The program is
entirely foster-based, meaning they
have no brick and mortar location to
house their rescues. The foundation
depends entirely on a network of foster families who will regularly accept
two to three pets into their homes,
but in the wake of disasters have accepted up to five dogs at a time.
Busche says, “Without our fosters
and our volunteers we would not exist. They are essential to our cause.”
They then divide the kids into
groups and show them how to pet the
animals. Some children are frightened at first, but with the help of the
pet therapy facilitators they learn to
be less afraid. The take-away for the
kids is a love and respect for not only
animals, but also for reading.
This program sets The Bella
Foundation apart from other pet
adoption options. Placing the dogs in
foster care allows them to really get
to know the animal before placing it
with a family. The Bella Foundation
does everything they can to be involved in the community; they are
based entirely on donations and fundraising to continue their work. Their
website reads, “Stray or abandoned
animals are cared for with no stipulation attached,” and they truly embody that idea throughout their work.
The Bella Foundation is primarily
See BeLLA, page 35
A participant of The Oklahoma Messages Project holds one of The Bella Foundation SPCA’s therapy
dogs. Photo provided.
- by Lauren Dow
Journalism Intern
The pet-oriented Bella Foundation
SPCA, in partnership with the
Oklahoma Messages Project, a local organization providing support
to children with one or both parents
in prison, hosted a reading event for
children served by the organization.
perfect fit. Both organizations focus
on literacy; OK Messages records
incarcerated parents reading books
so that children can learn to read
with their parents, and The Bella
Foundation promotes literacy with
their pet therapy team.
The event allowed the kids to sit on
an enormous bean bag (large enough
HOME DECOR, DESIGN & GIFTS
15020 Bristol Park Blvd.
The Bella Foundation SPCA Pet Therapy Team with their dogs, (names to come). Photo provided.
OK Messages got in contact with
The Bella Foundation, and president
Jeremy Busche said the event was a
to seat four people comfortably),
hang out with dogs and have the opportunity to read with them along
Edmond, OK 73013
On West 33rd St. between Kelly & Santa Fe
(405) 753-4466
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24
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
You don’t have to live in fear
Dear Alli,
With all the violence in the country
lately, I am more scared as a trans
person. What advice do you have to
trans people for us to be safe?
I just don’t know what to do. I don’t
want to live in fear.
#BlackLivesMatter
#TransLivesMatter
#BlueLivesMatter
#AllLivesMatter
Thanks for all your great advice
columns,
Kelli Barret
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Kelli,
Yes, the past months have really
shown how ugly people can be in this
country. I know that as a trans person
we are typically more at risk for hate
and violence and that our safety is
important usually only to us.
Many people make us out to
be perverts, pedophiles and an
abomination in the religious eyes.
The truth is that we are some of the
few that actually live our lives truthfully, once we have accepted who we
are as humans.
In the past I have told people that
the best way to stay safe is to always
know your surroundings; to never
keep your eyes set on one thing for
too long.
When I attended OKC Pride this
past June, many people asked me if I
was afraid. I told them that the only
thing I was afraid of was not getting
to see all my friends and not enjoying myself.
People would ask, “But what about
Orlando?” I said, “Well, the reality
is that since then we have been safer
in events like this, though by learning and knowing my surroundings it
helps me stay safe.”
Since I transitioned, I do not do
many activities on my own. If I am
going to go out to a club, bar, event or
gathering I always go with someone.
I also let people know that I am going out and where I am going to be. I
also use my cell phone locator when
I am out for when I do my social media postings. This lets people know
where I am.
I also find doing small talk through
text helpful, as it helps people know
what is going on. For example, “Hey,
I am up at ZZY club with Pam, are
you coming out tonight?” This is a
way for someone to know where I
am, even though they are not going
out.
At the end of the night when I am
leaving places like clubs, events, and
so forth I always tell my friends to
text me when they get home, and
usually it is me texting, “Hey, I made
it,” and then they will respond.
When it comes to bad situations,
like what happened in Orlando, and
you are at the club having fun with
friends and there is gun fire, the
worst thing you can actually do is
run with your back to the person or
sound of gun fire.
As I mentioned above, know your
surroundings and keep your eyes out
for all things. If you happen to be in
that situation take cover (meaning get
behind something that separates you
and the person), then stay low if not
completely on the floor. It is better to
play dead than to be dead.
There is going to be ugly and hate
in the world. As transgender people,
we are some of the most beautiful
people there are. We live our lives
like no one else, we are true to ourselves and we want to be happy.
By knowing what is around us at
all times and keeping ourselves one
step ahead, we can keep each other
safe and strive to make the world
a happier place. We are lucky in
so many ways to be our authentic
selves, and with that, we get to share
our stories like no one else can.
Alli
www.gayly.com
Here are my “top five” things to do
to keep you safe.
To advertise call:
1. Buddy plan. Try to always have
another with you when going out.
2. Let people know where you are
going.
(405) 496-0011
or email:
[email protected]
/thegayly
@thegayly
www.gayly.com
Write to
3. Limit your alcohol consumption
when out.
“Dear Alli”
4. Know your surroundings and
keep your eyes out for anything different/out of the norm.
Send emails to
5. Let people know when you get
home safely.
[email protected]
Allison Andrea is a transgender woman who is living life to the fullest. She
has been part of the LGBTQ community and is always looking for ways to
help spread knowledge about the transgender community as well as fighting
for rights of equality for all.
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
25
the marriage of Black Lives Matter and the LGBtQ rights movement
- by Mahkesha Hogg
Black Issues Columnist
I don’t know how else to describe
the day of the protest other than as
a beautiful marriage. I waited nine
years of human rights activism for
that day. It was poignant, touching
and filled with equality.
On Sunday, July 10, thousands
gathered at Harkins Theater in
Oklahoma City, Okla. to peacefully
protest the recent shootings of black
men and other people of color by
police officers. The Oklahoma City
chapter of Black Lives Matter (BLM)
organized, via Facebook, a peaceful
protest and vigil to bring awareness
of the alarmingly high rates of black
people being killed unnecessarily.
The reason I call it a marriage is
because for the first time at a black
protest I saw several rainbow items
that were worn or brought by people.
As an activist, I have been encouraging black and brown people in
Oklahoma City to get involved in the
fight for LGBTQ rights. To me, you
can’t see one without the other, and
together we are stronger.
Organizations such as Freedom
Oklahoma have fought for the rights
of racial minorities in this state on
many occasions. They have encouraged people of color to share their
discrimination stories with them
throughout the years.
Hundreds of BLM supporters gathered in
downtown OKC last month for a peaceful
protest. Photo provided.
Maybe the marriage happened because the Orlando nightclub shooting
occurred less than four weeks from
the recent loss of these AfricanAmerican individuals. The universe
has a weird way of connecting people, but I am certain that everything
happens for a reason. Those rainbow lives lost are fresh. Many black
Oklahomans showed up to the OKC
Orlando vigil and a black minister
even prayed.
The Oklahoma City LGBTQ community showed up so strongly. The
merging of our communities, on
a larger level, was bound to happen. One of the ogranizers of the
event, Sheri Amore, who is African
American, is on the board of OKC
Pride. She is also one of the ogranizers for the annual Martin Luther
King Jr. Day parade.
The Executive Director of Freedom
Oklahoma, Troy Stevenson, spoke
about how your [Black Lives] struggles are our [LGBTQ] struggles,
and that all of us are one. The crowd
cheered. I was in awe of everything.
I was thinking to myself, “I hope
there are young black LGBTQ people
here who may be in the closet. I want
them to see the support.”
On that day, my big hippie dream
happened in my state – in my city!
I feel so hopeful. I know that anything is possible and I have been a
witness. Just a few weeks ago, the
city of Oklahoma City sent out a
message that they were going to light
Civil Rights activist and Gayly columnist
Mahkesha Hogg shows her support at the
peaceful protest in OKC. Photo provided.
up the Skydance Bridge over I-40 in
rainbow colors to honor the Orlando
victims. They followed through.
If you stay in Oklahoma long
enough, good things can and will
happen.
A Champion for Oklahoma’s Working Families
TOM GUILD
Lifelong Educator
Does not accept PAC or Special Interest
donations.
Strongly supports development of Green
Energy.
Consistently favors raising the minimum
wage to a living wage.
Consistently supports LGBTQ Rights.
Will invest in repairing Oklahoma’s
crumbling infrastructure to create millions
of good paying jobs.
AL McAFFREY
Career Politician
Voted to lower the gross production tax on Oil & Gas
Companies from 7% to 2% taking $250,000,000
annually from OK public schools. HB 2562—2014
Failed to vote on the bill banning municipalities from
raising the local minimum wage. SB 1023—2014
The resolution to oppose marriage equality passed the
OK State Senate with McAffrey present. He failed to
raise objection. HCR 1009 — 2013
Failed to protect Oklahoma homeowners by being MIA
on a bill that imposes a fee on residents who produce
their own renewable energy. SB 1456—2014
Accepted PAC contributions from Oil Companies.
Accepted a PAC contribution from the Pay Day
Lending Industry.
26
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
We don’t understand what it means to be black in America
- by Rob Howard
Political Columnist
I guess we just don’t get it. And
surprisingly, Newt Gingrich does.
After the horrific police shootings
in Baton Rouge and St. Paul, after
the tragic assassination of five police
officers and the wounding of seven
more in Dallas, Gingrich said, “If
you are a normal white American
the truth is you don’t understand being black in America. And you instinctively underestimate the level of
discrimination and the level of additional risk.”
Those words are still true after the
murder of three police officers, and
the wounding of three more, in Baton
Rouge. We need to put a stop to violence against police and against black
persons. Everyone seems to agree
that “This must stop.”
All four events are tragedies. All
four left grieving families. All four
left communities in turmoil and fear.
And we react with demonstrations,
prayer vigils, visits by President
Obama, promises of action – and
nothing happens.
In July, I wrote about gun violence
and the tragic toll it takes on America
every year. And the easy access to
guns is part of the problem. But it is
far from all of it.
The force of history is against solving the problem of how the races get
along in our country. From the earliest days of European colonization of
North America, there were African
slaves. When we became a nation, we
didn’t view black people as human.
In the Constitution, enslaved laborers
were counted as three-fifths of a person for congressional representation.
We fought the Civil War to get
rid of slavery, and replaced it with
Rob Howard politically has been on all sides of the political spectrum and
is now a very liberal Democrat. He has been an LGBT activist since 1984,
and a senior activist since 2004. He has served organizations such as Prime
Timers, Cimarron Alliance, DBA Metro Business Assn, and Respect Diversity
Foundation.
America’s greatest problem is
race, and how we treat people
who are different than us.
repressive laws that diminished the
lives and futures of black citizens. It
took another hundred years before
we had a national Civil Rights Act.
And fifty years later where are we?
We have institutionally criminalized black people with mandatory
sentences, the “war” on drugs and
mass incarceration. Of the 1.4 million male prisoners in federal and
state prisons, 37.2 percent are black,
roughly three times the 12.2 percent
of our population that is AfricanAmerican. Another 22.3 percent of
imprisoned males are Hispanic. So
our prison population is nearly 60
percent people of color.
We ignore the fact that people of
color are segregated in our schools.
We ignore their poverty and focus on
crimes, many of them non-violent.
And then we wonder why people
in the black and Latinx communities
are mad. As Newt Gingrich says, we
“instinctively underestimate the level
of discrimination and the level of additional risk.”
America’s greatest problem is
race, and how we treat people who
are different than us. And the problem is most obvious in our criminal
justice system. The front end of that
system is our police departments.
Those of us who aren’t people of
color have just become aware, in
the past few years, of the problem
of unarmed, young black males being killed by police. People of color
know that it has been going on a lot
See UNDerstAND, page 37
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
27
Black Lives Matter to the trans community
- by Amanda Kerri
Trans Issues Columnist
I loathe writing about issues of race
because I’m white, and frankly I’m
terrified that I’ll say something that
is wrong, misguided or slightly out
of touch. I agree with the philosophy
of Black Lives Matter; I believe in
what they are trying to accomplish.
The issues that face the black community directly concern me because
black people live in the same country
I do, and I want them to experience
all the privileges and rights I do.
Still, I rarely say these things because I don’t want to say anything
that might get taken the wrong way,
or say something that shows my ignorance about what it’s like to be a
person of color and have my good intentions ruined. However, I’m going
to make an attempt, since there is a
particular overlap of the black community that I share with and whose
issues I worry about in many ways,
and that is trans people of color.
Every November, we remember
all the trans people who have been
victims of violence. These people,
mainly transwomen, who have been
victims of such heinous acts of murder, tend to lean heavily to a certain
demographic – they are racial minorities. One thing that I constantly fear
is being the victim of violence for
being transgender. While I am quite
boldly out and open about it, every
time I chat with a potential date online, or out in public, I fear the ‘trans
panic’ effect.
That’s where someone is initially
interested in you but suddenly becomes violent, usually after becoming physically intimate, and proceeds
to physically assault you. For every
transwoman killed this way, there are
dozens more who are simply beaten.
A reason, but not the sole reason,
that there is such a disproportionate number of these transwomen of
color killed is that they are having
to participate in sex work in order to
simply survive. Transpeople suffer a
massively disproportionate amount
of job discrimination, with 15 percent of all transpeople earning less
than $10,000 a year, but with 34
percent of black transgender people
experiencing the same. A full third
of all black transfolk make as much
as a high schooler working 20 hours
a week at a fast food joint.
I have been lucky enough to have
been able to make a comfortable living. Nothing spectacular of course,
after transitioning, but I can understand the difficulties. Back 2010, I
lost my job. In my desperation to find
one, I began de-transitioning to go to
job interviews.
Fortunately, I found an accepting
job, but the idea that I might have
to work jobs well below my qualifications or even turn to sex work
to survive frightened me. I cannot
fathom the desperation, despair and
humiliation one must experience to
have to turn to sex work unwillingly
just to merely eat. This is one reason
my feelings about sex work changed.
I know now that those working these
jobs need legal protection in order to
ensure they are not being exploited.
Of course this does not mean that
all black transwomen are sex workers, but many think exactly that.
With the general lack of respect
people can treat black people, it gets
compounded when it comes to black
transwomen. Last year in Iowa, a
black transwoman was arrested after checking into a hotel. The only
reason that happened is because her
driver’s license had her old gender
markers on it in addition to the manager thinking they were prostitutes
because ‘they were dressed a little bit
over-the-top.’
She wasn’t a ‘hooker,’ as the manager called her; she was traveling
cross-country to attend a funeral. Yet
what happened was the stereotypes
See trANs, page 30
Amanda Kerri is a Mississippi born and OKC based transgender stand-up
comedian and writer. She lives alone, so terribly alone, with her two dogs and
cat named after sci-fi characters. Buy her a drink if you see her out. She’s
probably broke.
Discount.Discount.
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you’re saving all you can. And it’s free.
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Leslie Blair, Agent
5801 W Britton Road Suite C
Oklahoma City, OK 73132
Bus: 405-722-8118
www.leslieblair.net
1101246.1
State Farm, Home Office, Bloomington, IL
28
GAYLY.com
BLACK, page 1
they are not the same.
2. Listen to the black voices around
you.
Give your POC friends the opportunity to be heard. Sometimes it’s
more important to hear the stories
about racism your black peers endure than to tell a narrative of your
own oppression in an attempt to
sympathize.
3. Allow your black peers to grieve.
We are sad. Oh, we are truly hurting. The black community is, was,
and has been grieving for a long
time now. We have become all too
aware of the targets on our backs;
black LGBTQIA people even more
so. Surround your black friends with
AUGUST 2016
support in however best suits them.
Allow them to process their pain in
their own time and way.
4. Unpack your own racism.
This is probably the hardest and
most important piece of advice I
could give to non-POC. There’s no
sure-fire way to do this, and it’s going to take time. Be cognizant of the
language you use and stereotypes
you hold true. Confront privilege and
anti-blackness at full force. Educate,
inform, and empower yourself with
the knowledge of how non-POC benefit from white supremacy.
5. Speak up when you observe
anti-blackness in the LGBTQIA
community.
At Oklahoma City’s Black Lives
Matter march and rally, I saw a
POC = People of Color
LGBTQIA = Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex,
Asexual/Ally
sign that read “White
Silence = Violence”,
and it really is as succinct as that. Not addressing racism, big or
small, makes you complicit to it. Remaining
silent gives that individual permission to
continue using rhetoric
or behaving in a way
that is malignant to
black lives.
I have always said
that before I am anything else, I am black.
But, I am also a bisexual woman navigating my way through a
world that hates me for
both of these things.
As important as allies Black Lives Matter rally sign by Liz Sholar, Oklahoma City, July
10, 2016. Photo provided.
are to the LGBTQIA
examiner after completing her bachelor’s
movement, so are non-POC
LGBTQIA allies to black queer folk. degree. She is loud and proud about her
Support us. Uplift us. Love us. We pro-blackness and is a self-proclaimed
really need it right now.
eyebrow enthusiast.
Arhia Ramsey was born and raised
in Oklahoma and currently resides in
OKC with her four-year-old son and
partner. She is an LPN and hopes
to work as a sexual assault nurse
www.gayly.com
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
29
Don’t be afraid: Don your rainbow apparel year-round
-- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
It’s the end of the summer, but
somehow, despite a traumatic year
for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, our
pride lives on. But, you may ask,
how will I show my pride in a month
other than June? Well, never fear:
The Pride Store is here.
More than just Tulsa, the
Pride Store is mobile. “We travel. Oklahoma City, Fayetteville,
Tahlequah – we try to go to as many
Prides as possible. We also have a
Pride roadshow,” says Oklahomans
for Equality (OkEq) Program
Coordinator José Vega.
Vega may be known for more than
his position at OkEq. This year, he
was assaulted at a Tulsa Walgreens
wearing a rainbow clad t-shirt from
the Pride Store. His car mirror was
kicked in, he was spat on and he
was called “faggot.” But Vega says
instances like these and ones of more
severity should never stop anyone
from sporting rainbow apparel.
“Am I gonna stop wearing rainbow
apparel? No. It’s not going to change.
The Orlando incident isn’t going to
make me afraid of Latinx nights at
clubs,” he relates.
“We must reclaim
our freedom, our
rights.
“Don’t be afraid,” Vega says.
The Pride Store sells more than
just the American f lag. Donned
with rainbow colors, the store provides the Mexican flag, Canadian
flag and a few neighboring states.
“We know people travel and move
but miss their home town, so we try
to have their home state in rainbow.”
Vega continues, “Not only rainbow stuff, but we have flags for
transgender people, bears, leather,
nonbinary, gender fluid – almost
every identity.” He laughs, “No, we
don’t have a lipstick lesbian flag. But
we can order it!”
Profits from the Pride Store go directly to Oklahomans for Equality,
who then uses it to advocate and educate the community about LGBTQ
issues. Business has been good,
thankfully, because it is one of the
main sources of profit for OkEq.
The Pride Store at OkEq in the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center in Tulsa. Photos provided.
“Some people cannot wait to get
their Pride merchandise. We’re the
only one [store] in Tulsa, and so
some people are just anxious. When
Orlando happened, Brookside and
Cherry St. businesses rushed in asking for flags – for anything – to go
outside the store to show their support. When we saw that, we were
like, ‘That’s why
we need a Pride
Store.’”
Eve r y ye a r
“I f you se e
during legislasomething, retive session from
port it. Keep an
January to May,
eye out. Let your
they make a tneighbors know.
shirt. Last year
Find your allies.
on the shirt was
But still be proud
the Oklahoma
t o wave t h a t
flag in rainbow.
rainbow f lag,”
This year is a
he refers to an
rai nbow f lag
Oklahoma City
that says, “The
incident wherein
revolution cona couple received
tinues.” It seems
and Steven Mumford with their Pride Flag
an angry letter Fred
apt.
that hangs outside their home. Photo by Sara
about their rain- Ritsch.
“T hese sell
bow American flag.
like crazy because people want
Steven and Fred Mumford were to support what we’re doing, what
subject to a hateful and immeasur- we’re fighting. We want to create our
ably “patriotic” letter due to their own shirts every year,” says Vega.
own show of pride. In the letter,
they were told that their rainbow
The store also sells necklaces,
American flag was offensive and to bracelets, wallets, stickers – funny
take it down. They did not, and will
See RAINBOW, page 37
not, take it down.
The OkEq pride Store sells “Anything you can imagine that’s rainbow.” Photo provided.
The OkEq Pride Store is the only one of it’s kind in Tulsa. Photo provided.
30
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
Guess what? tulsa’s planned parenthood has trans services
- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
Did you know Planned Parenthood
of the Heartland has transgender services? Initial consults, bloodwork,
physicals and hormone therapy have
been a service to transgender populations since 2014 at the Midtown
Health Center in Tulsa, and people
come in weekly – almost every
day. This year alone, PPHeartland
has provided care to 74 individuals
through 308 visits.
“It’s been a great support and resource,” Mary Jones, Affordable
Care Act Navigator, says. “Services
are available to anyone. We also work
with insurance, on a sliding scale –
and these are resources for an entire
community.”
“PPHeartland is the only provider
in Tulsa accepting new transgender
patients, and recently, we have begun
receiving requests from transgender
individuals to transfer their primary
care to our provider as they feel uncomfortable or have had negative
experiences with their current care
provider,” says Lily Pina, Advanced
Practice Nurse.
“We have a part-time bi-lingual
clinician who is trained and provides
a wide range of services including
comprehensive exams, hormone
therapy and monitoring as well as a
wide range of reproductive and general health services including STI
testing and treatment, cancer screenings and well and sick visits.”
Kate Neary-Pounds, Director
of Strategic Partnerships and
Development in Oklahoma and
Arkansas, says, “Several people
around the country are currently
really interested in the clinicians
trained.”
According to Pina, a male to female transgender patient in her senior years attempted for most of her
life to live as a ‘typical male’ as accepted by society.
“She had resigned herself to live as
a male until the end of her days, but
after experiencing a traumatic personal loss, she felt bereft and adrift.
She had kept her true self hidden in
In Memory
Keith Douglas
reding
December 26, 1954
- July 10, 2016
He is survived by his father,
Forrest Reding, Jr.; sister, Debi
Reding; step-son, Brandon Zukosky;
cousin, Barbara Reding; and longtime friend, Victoria Johnson, as
well as numerous other extended
family and loving friends. He was
preceded in death by his mother Gay
Reding in 2008.
“The question presented
over and over, ‘stay hidden
in the darkness of her bedroom or present herself to the
world?’
“She visited Plan ned
Parenthood of the Heartland
during that time, confused
and uncertain of how to continue her life. ‘What was the
point now? Is it too late for
me?’ she asked. As she continued her visits and made
the bold and difficult decision to live as her true self,
we at Planned Parenthood
were able to experience her
transformation into whom
she really had been all along.
Lily Pina, Advanced Practice Nurse, Planned Parenthood
of the Heartland. Photo provided.
“It was truly rewarding
to see the heaviness drift from her
face as she came in each month with
a beautiful dress and high heels to
show us how happy she was. She
is fi nally able to present herself to
the world, and her appreciation and
gratitude for our services is not only
expressed verbally with every visit;
it is visible in her expression.”
PPHeartland also assists transgender individuals with navigating
the health care system by connecting them to other needed medical
and social services including mental
health counseling, substance abuse
treatment, housing and other social
support systems in the community.
Oklahoma City - Keith Douglas
Reding, self-described Culture
Vulture and Bon Vivant, left this
life Sunday, July 10, 2016.
After graduating from Shawnee
High School in 1973, he later moved
to Amsterdam, Netherlands where
he owned successful businesses
and studied arts and culture at
the University of Amsterdam. He
owned Keith Reding Designs, Inc.
and helped to beautify many homes
and businesses within Oklahoma
City.
order not to bring any emotional pain to her loved ones,
but now she questioned her
very existence,” says Pina.
to ensure transgender individuals
have the information they need to
make informed decisions in order to
feel safe, comfortable, and supported in accessing care in their health
center.
Patients may self-pay, use private
insurance or bill SoonerCare for other health needs. Some services may
qualify for a discount depending on
the patient’s income and family size.
The patients must be age 18 or older.
Planned Parenthood hosts events
throughout the year and encourages
supporters to visit their website or
Facebook page for information at
www.ppheartland.org.
Providing education and outreach
in the community, PPHeartland collaborates with community partners
A beautiful service celebrating
his life was held last month in OKC
where his friends celebrated his life
and gathered to remember him.
Keith will be remembered for his
caring and passionate nature and
support as well as his exuberant
smile.
trANs, page 27
for being black, trans and having a
particular choice in clothing all came
together to send this woman to jail
for possessing her hormones allegedly without a prescription. So add
the stereotype of being black and using drugs to the mix.
I’ve stayed in very few hotels or
rarely flown on a plane since I transitioned, but I get nervous anytime
someone has to look at my driver’s
license and might question why
some of the information doesn’t
seem to match up. I get anxious at
the thought of possibly running afoul
of an overzealous crusader or cop
who might find an excuse to make
my life difficult. I don’t fear a lot, but
I’m terrified of going to jail, and a
bad cop can make that happen.
While what I experience as a
transwoman is only similar to what
black people, and especially black
transpeople experience, it’s enough
to extremely bother me. If I don’t
want these things to happen to me,
how can I, as any sort of a compassionate human being, want it for
anyone?
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
31
Planned Parenthood Great Plains offers HIV, menopausal care
-- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
Gather ‘round, people – if you are
HIV positive or a woman over 50,
this great news could very well apply to you.
Planned Parenthood of Central
Oklahoma welcomes Planned
Parenthood of Kansas and mid-Mis-
She warns that she is not a clinician, but informs The Gayly about
PEP, as well. “I think of PEP as the
emergency contraception for HIV. If
you feel like you just have had a sexual experience where you may have
been exposed to HIV, that’s what
PEP is there for. PEP is immediately
taken in a window of time, like emergency contraception is if you feel at
risk for an unintended pregnancy.”
PPGP’s focus on PrEP and PEP is
really oriented towards women and
communities of color, although they
will provide it to anyone who needs
it. PrEP has mainly been marketed
towards white men who have sex
with other white men – so they are
trying to introduce it in OKC as a
preventative regimen for communities who don’t know they can take it.
“So many people are shocked
they’re even candidates for it. So
we’re thrilled to serve a broad community of women and people of
color.”
Laura McQuade, Planned Parenthood Great
Plains President and CEO, at their merger.
Photo by Sara Ritsch.
souri as their new sister in providing
healthcare to menopausal women,
transpeople and – finally – those affected by HIV. Beginning in August,
menopausal, PrEP and PEP care are
available at a newly merged Planned
Parenthood of Great Plains (PPGP),
providing healthcare to marginalized
communities who may not even realize they are at risk.
PrEP, or Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis,
is “a way for people who do not have
HIV but who are at substantial risk
of getting it to prevent HIV infection by taking a pill [Truvada] every day,” according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
Studies show that PrEP is 92 percent
effective if taken as required.
Laura McQuade, PPGP President
and CEO, says PrEP is a preventative
regimen. “Take it if you are in a situation where you feel you are more at
risk,” she says. “Perhaps your partner
already has HIV. Maybe your lifestyle or professional life puts you at
an elevated risk for HIV. This is a
regimen you can take prophylactically to prevent yourself from contracting HIV.”
There has been much discourse
in the past months regarding Black
Lives Matter, particularly the lives
of women of color. Even Beyoncé’s
Lemonade album discusses the
disparity of care for black women
in modern culture. But Planned
Parenthood plans to level out this
discrepancy, beginning with healthcare and services for women of color.
through education, too. Even if you
are having care, you have to be coming in for that annual exam. Certain
communities have different needs
and need to start educating.
“I think of a hierarchy,” she says,
bringing up a real issue. “You have
the white male population. Then
men of color, then white women,
then women of color. The stigma and
barriers they face are tremendous because of so many areas of divide they
have to cross.”
“I ain’t sayin’
nothin’
without my
ATTORNEY!”
(405) 236-1800
228 Robert S. Kerr, Suite 910
OKC, OK 73102
www.robertbcarter.com
With PrEP, PPGP intends to do all
of the counseling and consultation.
“HIV remains incredibly stigmatized, particularly in certain communities,” she says. “So you really
have to counsel people. Sitting and
counseling is about destigmatizing
and getting to the core of healthcare.
It’s a process we follow as a drug
regimen, so people can get all their
care through us.”
PPGP is “feeling good” about the
future of women’s healthcare and the
Texas decision to stop limiting access to abortion services. McQuade
See planned, page 35
Since 1948
“Planned Parenthood has long
been a provider and partner with
some of the least heard, least enfranchised, least serviced communities.
I think we will continue to have real
opportunities to grow and strengthen
these partnerships,” McQuade says.
“African American women are two
times more likely to have HIV and
breast cancer. We have to start looking at health indicators and have to
start providing access to Latina and
African American communities and
beyond.”
McQuade explains that PP’s
merge into Great Plains, the unity of Kansas, mid-Missouri and
Oklahoma, is vital for healthcare for
women of color. The recent decision
not to cut Medicaid for PP has been
quite the blessing for the community. “If we had lost that, extending
to these marginalized communities
would be more difficult,” she says.
“But we have to meet their needs
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AUGUST 2016
OKC PRIDE 2016
1.
OKC Pride Grand Marshal 2016,
Lee Burris with Grand Marshal
2015, Mary Arbuckle. Photo
provided.
1. OKC Pride 2016 weekend kicked
off with a fun flashback to the ‘80s
with the First Ladies of Disco pictured
here (l to r): Anita Ward, Martha
“It’s Raining Men” Wash and Evelyn
“Champagne” King.
2.
3.
2. Amazing local talent Norma Jean
Goldenstein (l) and Kitty Bob Aimes
(r) entertain the crowd and interview
a “nice lil’ straight boy” they pulled
on stage from the crowd.
3. Thousands of fans and supporters
lined the streets as far back as the eye
could see along the 39th Street Strip
from the Boom all the way to Angles’
parking lot.
4. Before the show, guests met entertainers in the VIP lounge at Angles
(l to r): Lee Burris, Grand Marshal,
2016 OKC Pride with Martha Wash,
Anita Ward, Evelyn “Champagne”
King and Jason Mann.
4.
5.
5. (l to r): James Seth, Martha Wash,
Anita Ward, Evelyn “Champagne”
King and Taylor Brunwald.
6. At the Festival on Saturday, Cris
Carey with Carey Pet and Home Care
(see ad page 21).
7. Giving FREE hugs the entire weekend: Jan Pezant, Sara Cunningham,
Leanna Jackson, Jennifer Hanckock
& Jane Moody from Oklahoma Moms
who love LGBTQ kids.
6.
8.
7.
8. Steve Robinson, Lynn Nichols,
Jenellis Alford, Pastor Tonnie Keith
& Lloyd Stidham from Expressions
Today (see ad page 22).
9. Anjie King, Jeni Markham Clewell,
Virgil Stout & Eric Brown from Mosaic United Methodist Church (see ad
page 20).
10. Susan Lawrence, Stacy Long &
Matt Burdt from The Indigo Attic
located at 5012 N. Meridian in OKC
(see ad page 42).
11. Gary Shelton, Farmers Insurance
Agent (see ad page 5).
12. #LoveIsLove – OKC Pride held its
fourth annual mass wedding ceremony
at OKC Pride 2016.
Photos by Robin Dorner
10.
9.
11.
12.
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
1.
3.
2.
1. Enjoying the festival, Tanya & G.
4.
2. Jayce Henry, Kieran Crawford,
Thomas Maxey, Ross Ferris, Callie
Dewees & Caroline Hawthorne.
3. Dallas Strong, “Straight Outta The
Closet!”
5.
4. Seedie Mae, “The Gay Groomer,”
shows his Pride and his love for dogs!
(see his ad page 35).
5. At the outset of the parade, excited
guests were lined up and ready!”
6.
6. Along the route, Kara & Kirsten
Najar.
7. Vidia Hargues & Casey Stone.
8. Your Emcee for the OKC Pride
Parade, Renee Hilton (l) with Amanda
Kerri, OKC Pride board member, and
Michael Clark, OKC Pride President.
9. At the beginning of the parade is
Lee Burris, Grand Marshal of the
2016 OKC Pride Parade. He was selected for his many past and ongoing
contributions to the LGBTQ community.
7.
8.
10. Members of the military from
Tinker Air Force Base receive hugs
and high fives along the route as they
show their Pride at the beginning of
the parade.
11. Cathedral of Hope, UCC is all
about LOVE. Inset photo is Dana
Johnson (l) and Rev. Kayla Bonewell,
Pastor of both Cathedral of Hope
and Church of the Open Arms (see ad
page 39).
9.
10.
12. It may have “rained on our parade,” but everyone marched on.
13.Team Lesbians OK kept on smiling
through the rain!
11.
Photos by Robin Dorner
12.
13.
33
34
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
DNC platform recognizes LGBt rights the horrors of the Gop platform
- by Robin Dorner
Op. Ed
Democrats pride themselves on
the last eight years’ progress. This
country has seen 75 straight months
of private-sector job growth and
added 14.5 million new jobs, twenty
million people have gained health insurance coverage, the American auto
industry just had its best year ever,
we are getting more of our energy
from the sun and wind, and we’re
importing less oil from overseas.
In addition, Democrats have a
long and proud history of defending
all civil rights, expanding marriage
equality, and equal federal rights
for LGBT couples and expanding
opportunity for LGBTQ Americans.
In fact, on
page two of the
Preamble of
the Platform of
the Democratic
National Convention, the LGBT
com mu nit y is
qu ick ly recognized with equal
rights. “We believe in protecting
civil liberties and
guaranteeing civil
rights and voting rights, women’s
rights and workers’ rights, LGBT
rights and rights for people with
disabilities. We believe America
is still, as Robert Kennedy said, ‘a
great country, an unselfish country,
and a compassionate country.’”
The LGBT community even has
their own LGBT Rights statement
in the platform: “Democrats applaud
last year’s decision by the Supreme
Court that recognized LGBT people
like every other American have the
right to marry the person they love.
But there is still much work to be
done. LGBT kids continue to be bullied at school, a restaurant can refuse
to serve a transgender person, and a
same-sex couple is at risk of being
evicted from their home. That is unacceptable and must change.
“Democrats will fight for comprehensive federal non-discrimination
protections for all LGBT Americans
and push back against state efforts
to discriminate against LGBT individuals. We will combat LGBT
youth homelessness and improve
school climates, and we will protect
transgender individuals from violence. We will promote LGBT human rights and ensure America’s
foreign policy is inclusive of LGBT
people around the world.”
The acronym “LGBT” was used a
shocking seven times in that statement alone.
Under the “Protect Our Values”
information of the Platform, LGBT
is used yet again. “Our values of inclusion and tolerance inspire hope
around the world and make us safer
at home. The world will be more secure, stable, and peaceful when all
people are able to reach their Godgiven potential and live in freedom
and dignity.
“We strive to ensure that the values upon which
our country was
built, including
our belief that all
people are created equal, are
reflected in everything our nation
does. That is why
we will promote
peacebuilding and
champion human
rights defenders.
We will fight to end child labor. And
we will seek to safeguard vulnerable
minorities, including LGBT people
and people with disabilities.”
There’s so much more covered in
the Democratic platform for all citizens: equal pay/raising income and
restoring economic security for the
middle class, overturning the disastrous Citizens United decision, restoring the full power of the Voting
Rights Act, fight for economic fairness and against inequality, racial
and criminal justice.
Further, the Democratic Party supports legal immigration, rather than
“building a wall.”
There’s so much more information
contained in the platform supporting
equality and fairness. And to all of
this, I think our community should
respond with a resounding, “ yes!”
www.gayly.com
- by Sara Ritsch
Op. Ed.
The attack on transgender individuals by limiting their bathroom
and locker room access, the Orlando
shooting, the threats to same-sex
marriage and the outing of so many
gender identities have made 2016 one
of the most emotionally taxing years
the LGBT community has ever seen.
Finally, through coded language,
religious exemptions and freedom
of speech, that same harassment and
discrimination has leaked through
the pages of the Republican National
Committee’s platform for the 2016
election.
Getting ‘straight’ to the point, the
Grand Ol’ Party platform states:
“ We a s s e r t
ever y citizen’s
right to apply
religious values
to public policy
and the right of
faith-based organizations to participate fully in
public programs
without renouncing their beliefs,
removing religious symbols, or
submitting to government-imposed
hiring practices. We oppose government discrimination against businesses due to religious views.”
Here, the Republican platform
discernably says businesses should
maintain their right to discriminate
and withhold services according to
their religious beliefs. That means
us: the feared, the queers.
“We support the First Amendment
right of freedom of association of the
Boy Scouts of America and other
service organizations whose values
are under assault and condemn the
State blacklisting of religious groups
which decline to arrange adoptions
by same-sex couples.”
If there is one thing the LGBT
community is known for, it’s not assault. This rhetoric sets our community up as the oppressors, not as the
oppressed, heavily implying that the
LGBT community and our allies oppose civil rights and religious liberty.
“We condemn the hate campaigns,
threats of violence, and vandalism
by proponents of same-sex marriage against advocates of traditional
marriage and call for a federal investigation into attempts to deny religious believers their civil rights,” the
Republican Party continues.
The court-ordered redefinition of
marriage to include same-sex is appalling to the GOP, as stated in their
platform as “dangerous” and a “serious threat”. The platform states,
“This [redefi nition of marriage] is
more than a matter of warring legal
concepts and ideals. It is an assault
on the foundations of our society,
challenging the institution which, for
thousands of years in virtually every
civilization, has been entrusted with
the rearing of children and the transmission of cultural values.”
The platform
persists, highlighting the
e n a c t m e n t of
the Defense of
Mar r iage Act,
which may affirm
the right of States
and the federal
government not to
recognize samesex relationships
licensed in other jurisdictions, further limiting the LGBT scope of
freedoms.
“The current Administration’s
open defiance of this constitutional
principle—in its handling of immigration cases, in federal personnel benefits, in allowing a same-sex
marriage at a military base, and in
refusing to defend DOMA in the
courts— makes a mockery of the
President’s inaugural oath,” the platform states.
“We reaffi rm our support for a
Constitutional amendment defining
marriage as the union of one man
and one woman. We applaud the citizens of the majority of States which
have enshrined in their constitutions
the traditional concept of marriage,
and we support the campaigns underway in several other States to do
so.”
The good ol’ boys state directly
that a home is not a home without
a father and a mother, united under
God and the Constitution in holy
matrimony. Although they say that
See Gop, page 35
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
Gop, page 34
they both recognize and honor the
“courageous efforts of those who
bear the many burdens of parenting
alone,” they continue to encourage
nuclear families. But what about the
many single mothers and fathers who
are independently succeeding in the
rearing of their children?
“The union of one man and one
woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for,
encourage, and promote through
laws governing marriage,” the GOP
says to these parents.
“The institution of marriage is the
foundation of civil society. Its success as an institution will determine
our success as a nation. It has been
proven by both experience and endless social science studies that traditional marriage is best for children.
Children raised in intact married
families are more likely to attend
college, are physically and emotionally healthier, are less likely to use
drugs or alcohol, engage in crime,
or get pregnant outside of marriage.”
I just want to know what an “intact” family is, really. I was raised
in a nuclear home, but I have many
peers who were raised by single (and
gay) parents and who have turned out
exponentially more successful and
societally influential than I have.
These efforts to comprise childrearing into laws have no bearing
on our progressive society, in which
multitudes of different tactics coalesce to form productive, influential
adults.
And yet, they continue onward
with their homegrown advice for
sex education. “We renew our call
for replacing ‘family planning’ programs for teens with abstinence
education which teaches abstinence
until marriage as the responsible and
respected standard of behavior.
“Abstinence from sexual activity
is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against out-of-wedlock
pregnancies and sexually-transmitted
diseases including HIV/AIDS when
transmitted sexually. It is effective,
science-based, and empowers teens
to achieve optimal health outcomes
and avoid risks of sexual activity.”
But what about the youth who use
that lack of safe-sex education and
get pregnant?
“We oppose school-based clinics
that provide referrals, counseling,
and related services for abortion and
contraception. We support keeping federal funds from being used
in mandatory or universal mental
health, psychiatric, or socioemotional screening programs.”
You mean the federal government
cannot support these young people
through therapy? Well, maybe not
that kind of therapy for those kinds
of people.
Coded language distracts the average reader from the subject of conversion therapy. But in the statement
by the platform, full rights are advocated for parents who may insist
on reparative counseling for children
with alternative gender identities or
sexual orientations.
It reads, “We...support the right
of parents to consent to medical
treatment for their children, including mental health treatment, drug
treatment, and treatment involving
BeLLA, page 23
food trucks and, of course, dogs.
The Bella Foundation plans to do
further work with The Oklahoma
Messages Project in the fall, but
their next big event is their Dog
Walk Fundraiser. The event will
be held October 1 at Duffner Park.
Participants can create a page and
collect donations to “sponsor” their
dog walk. The Dog Walk will have
The Bella Foundation SPCA is always accepting volunteers for their
Saturdays at Petsmart, as well as
foster families. More information
can be found on their website at
www.thebellafoundation.org.
35
pregnancy, contraceptives and
abortion.”
However, the Ethics Committee
of the American Counseling
Association (ACA) suggests that
ethical counselors avoid conversion
therapy at all costs and, if they intend
to follow through anyway, fully inform clients of “the unproven nature
of the treatment and the potential
risks,” taking “steps to minimize
harm to clients.”
But the GOP platform continues,
stating that all medical professionals should also be able to deny their
services to anyone according to their
religious beliefs.
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“No healthcare professional or organization should ever be required
to perform, provide for, withhold, or
refer for a medical service against
their conscience,” it reads. “We support the ability of all organizations
to provide, purchase, or enroll in
healthcare coverage consistent with
their religious, moral or ethical convictions without discrimination or
penalty.”
The ACA has also strongly opposed this ideal, saying that laws
such as Tennessee’s anti-LGBT
counseling bills, Senate Bill 1556
and House Bill 1840, were “in clear
violation” of the ACA’s Code of
Ethics.
This GOP platform is being called
the most anti-LGBTQ in history. The
progressive world has spoken, but
the Republican Party is shouting obscenities over our pleas. And to this,
I think our community should respond with a resounding, “F--- that.”
pLANNeD, page 31
says PP is continuing to look at options to extend contracts. Along
with the introduction of HIV care
to PP, menopausal care is also being announced in August. This will
open their clientele to more than
their regular demographic, as well
as extend the lifespan of personalized care for their clients.
“This is about healthcare and access to services. The fact that it remains a political football is really
unfortunate,” she says. “So I want
Planned Parenthood to be part of
the solution; part of moving away
and part of moving forward.”
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AUGUST 2016
first Amendment Defense Act is radical, anti-LGBt legislation
- by Rob Howard
Associate Editor
In yet another effort to roll back
the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender people, Congress is
considering the “First Amendment
Defense Act” (FADA). This discriminatory bill, according to the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), “would
allow individuals, many businesses,
and nonprofit organizations – even
nonprofit organizations and businesses contracting with the federal
government – to circumvent critical
federal protections and allow blatant
discrimination against LGBTQ people and their families.”
FADA prohibits the federal government from taking discriminatory
action against a person on the basis
that such person believes or acts in
accordance with a religious belief or
moral conviction that: (1) marriage is
or should be recognized as the union
of one man and one woman, or (2)
sexual relations are properly reserved
to such a marriage.
a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be
recognized as the union of one man
and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a
marriage.”
In other words, regardless of what
laws and rules based on Title IX of
the Education Act of 1972 or Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
say, people, organizations and companies could discriminate against
same-sex married couples and unwed mothers in the provision of services and face no penalty.
Anti-LGBT organizations like the
Family Research Council and the
American Family Association immediately hopped on the bandwagon of
support for FADA. Liberty Counsel
called for “quick and decisive action.” All three organizations have
been designated as hate groups by
the Southern Poverty Law Center.
But more groups that might be
considered mainstream are also
The text of the bill is decidedly
focused on opposition to
same-sex marriage.
The text of the bill is decidedly
focused on opposition to same-sex
marriage. At its very beginning, it
says, “Congress finds the following:
Leading legal scholars concur that
conflicts between same-sex marriage
and religious liberty are real and
should be legislatively addressed.”
It outrageously also “fi nds” that
“Laws that protect the free exercise
of religious beliefs and moral convictions about marriage will encourage
private citizens and institutions to
demonstrate tolerance for those beliefs and convictions and therefore
contribute to a more respectful, diverse, and peaceful society.”
The specifics of the bill are,
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Federal Government
shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person
believes or acts in accordance with
beating the drum for FADA. The
US Conference of Catholic Bishops
(USCCB) issued a statement supporting FADA, saying, among other
things, that, “The Act provides broad
protections against adverse federal
actions directed toward individuals
and organizations that act on such
beliefs.”
Futher, USCCB says, “The Act
would prohibit the federal government from denying or revoking a
nonprofit entity’s tax-exempt status. It would also prohibit the federal government from denying or
excluding an individual or organization from a federal grant, contract, or
employment.”
In other words, Catholic Charities
could refuse to consider same-sex
couples or unwed mothers as foster
parents or adoptive parents, and continue to receive federal tax dollars
without fear of losing their federal
“Enough
is enough.
It’s far past
time to stop the
legislative attacks
on LGBTQ people
and their families...”
-David Stacy, HRC
contracts that support such work.
The HRC, among other organizations, has condemned FADA as “radical legislation that would sanction
unprecedented taxpayer-funded discrimination against LGBTQ people.”
“‘The misleadingly named First
Amendment Defense Act has nothing to do with the First Amendment
and everything to do with sanctioning taxpayer-funded discrimination
against LGBTQ people. Enough is
enough. It’s far past time to stop the
legislative attacks on LGBTQ people and their families,” said HRC
Government Affairs Director David
Stacy.
HRC continues in its statement,
saying, “Following the U.S. Supreme
Court decisions in U.S. v. Windsor
and Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex
married couples are entitled to all
federal spousal benefits regardless
of where they live. Under FADA,
however, individual businesses could
run roughshod over the civil rights
of these couples and deny them the
spousal benefits they are entitled to
under the law.”
According to HRC, “A similar anti-LGBTQ measure that was signed
into law in Mississippi was blocked
by a federal judge on June 30 as a
violation of both the Establishment
Clause and the Equal Protection
Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”
The Gayly will continue to follow
the progress of the First Amendment
Defense Act, and report to its readers
online and in print. Stay tuned.
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
Open for about a decade, OkEq
has no plans to close the store, especially at a time when the need for
justice and human rights is at a peak.
The Pride Store is open Monday to
Saturday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. and
Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., so
you can almost always clad yourself
in rainbows. If they don’t have what
you want, they will order it for you.
To order online, visit www.okeq.org,
click “Store” and hit “Pride Store
Merchandise”.
“If you buy from the store, you’re
helping an organization,” Vega says.
“It’s for a good cause – it’s giving
back to our community.”
José Vega, OkEq Program Coordinator. Photo
by Robin Dorner.
rAINBoW, page 29
ones, saying things like, “Come
out, come out, wherever you are!”
– hats, Christmas apparel, gloves,
“Anything you can imagine that’s
rainbow.”
Oklahomans for Equality (OkEq)
seeks equal rights from Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals and families through advocacy, education, programs, alliances
and the operation of the Dennis R. Neill
Equality Center.
www.gayly.com
UNDerstAND, page 26
longer – certainly decades, maybe
centuries.
And we are becoming aware, sadly, of the risk of violence that police
officers face every day, and the fear
their families have that they might
not come home at the end of their
shift.
It is sad, and ironic, that a murder of five police officers happened in Dallas. The Dallas Police
Department under the leadership of
Chief David Brown has established
a reputation as a leader in police/
community relations. Chief Brown,
since he became the department’s
head in 2010, has transformed a police department that had a very bad
reputation.
Brown, who is African-American,
grew up in Dallas, and saw much of
what was wrong with the Dallas police department when he was growing up. In 2009, the year before he
took over the department, there were
147 excessive force complaints; in
2015 that number had dropped to
13. He is not reluctant to fire violent
officers.
Solving the
problems of race
relations doesn’t
end with police
departments.
In 2012, Dallas police shot 23
people; the number declined to 11
in 2015, and so far in 2016 there has
been one. Brown changed the requirement for lethal-force training
from once every two years to once
every two months.
He instituted a program of transparency in relations with all communities in Dallas, including minority
communities. He is very proactive
in having officers communicate with
the community.
Solving the problems of race relations doesn’t end with police departments, but a big first step would be
for the 18,000 police departments
across the country to pay attention
to what Chief David Brown is doing
in Dallas, and do the same.
YoU, page 11
the outside world, but our own community, because of the fear of adults
and youth interacting due to past and
current stigmas. We are not child
molesters,” Williams emphasizes.
“Get that out of your stinkin’ head!”
She continues, “The reality is, a lot
of people aren’t politically-minded.
If we’re going to make a difference,
we must start with our kids. We foster those relationships, offer support
to families.” Williams’ girlfriend,
Beka Wilson, is involved in PFLAG
(Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays), where Williams
may refer a family for further support, as well.
“A trend I have found is these kids
are looking for safe places, acceptance, love, role models – and we
know the rate of suicide is stupid
high, bullying is absolutely ridiculous, self-harm is extremely high –
so by giving this to kids, the chances
reduce drastically. Without positive
community support, these kids will
have worse behavior,” she says.
“They have risky behavior anyway,
but any opportunity to reduce those
risks and we’re obligated to respond.
To advertise in
Kris Williams and girlfriend Beka Wilson.
Photo provided.
There is a great need for our youth
to be supported.”
YOU’s younger group meets at
Mayflower United Congregational
Church of Christ on Tuesdays from 5
to 9 p.m. The older group is facilitated at Other Options on Wednesdays
from 6 to 10 p.m. They spend about
an hour of social time, sit and have
a formal group meeting for about an
hour, then have social time again.
YOU is a nonclinical group,
and although it is founded under
Northcare, you are not required to
sign up for mental health services.
Find out about more programs at
www.northcare.com.
The Gayly
call:
(405) 496-0011
or email:
[email protected]
/thegayly
37
@thegayly
www.gayly.com
38
GAYLY.com
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AUGUST 2016
Looking at the man in
the mirror
iQueerGayly’s
The
“ Dear Abby”
- by Phillip Eugene Zee
iQueer Columnist
Dear Phillip,
So, I’m really working on myself
and trying to figure out why relationships don’t work out for me.
I’m trying to look at myself and my
behaviors, actions and such, and to
not blame the other person all the
time.
Someone I trust suggested I ask
people for their thoughts and advice on this matter. So, any advice?
Thanks,
Colton Mac from Arkansas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey Colton,
Thanks for your email. Behavioral
education is one of my favorite subjects to discuss. Hopefully I am able
to give you the advice you are looking for. It sounds like you are learning through experience, which can
be a double edged sword, so what
I am going to do is try and align
you with yourself so you don’t have
to guinea pig this with anyone but
yourself.
I am a huge fan of pencil to paper,
and I believe it’s the strongest form
of reinforced energy. From time to
time I grab my notebook and go to
town. I love it, it helps me see me
from a different prospective. Take a
piece of paper, and on the left write
down all the things you desire in a
partner while in a relationship. On
the right, write down the things you
don’t want in a relationship, like
iQueer would LOVE
to hear from you!
Write to:
[email protected]
your red flags or deal breakers.
Light bulb moment one: Which list
is longer?
On a separate piece of paper, take
your list on the right, start with the
top and write out how you would
typically respond, followed by how
you should respond. Do this for all
things listed, read it out loud when
you are done. Over your dating
course, look back at it and read it
out loud.
I know what you are thinking,
What is this crazy mo talking about?
Trust me, what you are doing is
training yourself by natural energy
and repetitive behavior. You are, in a
sense, setting yourself up for success
by providing yourself the tools not
only to avoid or curb men who are
not ‘the one’, but just in case you put
your blinders on and get yourself in
a situation with the wrong one, you
will know how to handle yourself
upon exiting.
Most of the time
it’s not ourselves,
our character or
who we are that
need to change
– it’s our choices
and reactions.
Most of the time it’s not ourselves,
our character or who we are that
need to change – it’s our choices and
reactions that need to be tamed from
time to time. I say this because I’m
a lot to handle at times, and I say “at
times” because I never did have an
off switch – it took a lot of pencil to
paper for me to realize how I was
treating situations, and people.
Curious to know if you will take
note…BOOM!
p.s. Take notes!
Phillip Eugene Zee, a.k.a. iQueer, is an activist, a writer and works in local
government. He is working on a book in his spare time and looks forward to
letters from The Gayly readers at [email protected].
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
Your voice matters – take it from this guy
- by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
Zachary Mallory, 19, has seen the
trauma LGBTQ youth endure on a
daily basis. He has been through bullying, harassment and intimidation
to the point of three separate suicide
attempts – but these trials have not
only made him a stronger adult, they
have inspired him to do well for other
lesbian, gay, transgender and queer
(LGBTQ+) teens and youth.
The VoiceMatters Project was
founded by Mallory as a social
media platform for young LGBT
adults seeking guidance. Its genesis
stems from his own hardships in
Independence, Missouri, where he
has mostly lived.
“I came out at the age of 14; shortly
afterwards, I attempted suicide the
first time,” Mallory begins. “During
school it was basically hell for me. I
was bullied, I never participated in
any school activities. I was never really physical.
“P.E. was like torture for me, because I was always by myself. No
one ever wanted to play with me. I
was ‘too girly’. I’ve always struggled
with my weight; I was never happy
with my self-image. I didn’t like what
The VoiceMatters Project logo in memory
of the Orlando shooting at Pulse Nightclub.
Photo provided.
I saw in the mirror. I wanted to be
something, but it didn’t happen. I felt
like I never got a chance to be a star
because they pushed me away from
it.”
But Mallory’s stray from stardom
eventually came to a close. In 2014,
he was awarded the HALO Award
(Helping and Leading Others) from
Nickelodeon. He also received the
FOX4 Reaching 4 Excellence Young
Achiever Award in Missouri. But
most recently, he was anonymously
nominated for and won the Spirit of
Matthew Award, and so far, this one
is the closest to his heart.
The Spirit of Matthew Award,
given by the Matthews Shepard
Foundation, highlights a young
person who is creating a change in
the community by promoting diversity, acceptance and understanding through words and actions.
Mallory will be receiving this award
in October because of his advocacy for Mental Health and Suicide
Prevention amongst the LGBTQ+
community.
“The past year has been filled with
amazing adventures for me. I enrolled in college at Kaplan University
for online classes to earn my
Undergraduate studies of Bachelors
of Science in Communication. I became a Volunteer Crisis Counselor
with the Crisis Text Line, shared my
story about growing up with mental
illnesses and being bullied throughout school as well as talked about my
attempts at suicide,” he explains.
But mainly, his impact has been
through VoiceMatters, his social
media initiative. Mallory recently
released a series of stories written
by LGBTQ+ people of all different
backgrounds, ethnicities and orientations from all over the world. “That’s
what brought the attention and the
life,” he says.
39
“[This award] means the world to
me,” he continues. “I look back and
I’m like, ‘Damn, I actually made it.
I overcame this.’ I share my story to
inspire others to do the same. That’s
why I founded the project, as an outlet to share stories. Mental health,
suicide, advocacy – it’s a community
resource. We can all make a difference; we can all make a change. It
only starts with one.”
Find the VoiceMatters Project on
their Facebook page for more information or to find your guidance.
To learn more about his award, visit
www.MatthewShepardFoundation.
org.
Zachary Mallory, founder of The VoiceMatters
Project and recipient of The Spirit of Matthew
Award. Photo provided.
40
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
We are all holy
- by Weasel
Special to The Gayly
she posts on facebook
asking god for forgiveness—
to spare us for legalizing basic human rights
protesting through prayers
she keeps her hatred
through peaceful resolve
spouting horseshit about her religious freedom
but no one ever discusses our
freedom
from her religion
we must remember to be mindful
of their disgust
to respect them
with each step we take towards
growing
but they are never mindful
of our bodies each time
they burn scars into our flesh
herd us into churches
and force us to pray ourselves away
we are not sins waiting to be
absolved
we do not spit arrows into anyone’s
god
we simply want to be human
how you have suffered
poor soul
watching your people
set themselves on fire in protest
because their pain is the last resort
they haven’t scarred well
they have to show us that
pain works on both sides
we have yet to feel the acid rain
from god’s mouth; he hasn’t
waved his hands to dissolve us
from the existence he bled from
his fingers. we are all holy. Your
embers will not lift you to heaven.
the ashes will only further the
hell we’ve worked hard to create.
we have yet to feel the acid
rain down from god’s mouth
he hasn’t waived his hands to dissolve us
from the existence he bled from his
fingers
your embers will not
lift you to heaven
37 Ne 37th st
oKC, oK 73105
AUGUST 2016
robert D. Lemon
Publisher Emeritus
[email protected]
robin Dorner
Editor in Chief
[email protected]
Ken townsend, CFO
[email protected]
rob Howard, Associate Editor
[email protected]
sara ritsch, Staff Writer
[email protected]
Lori Nguyen, Graphics Intern
[email protected]
Communication Interns
Morgan Allen
Grace Babb
Sophia Babb
Sarah Boone
Micah Elliot
Makalyn Kowalik
sally Gilbert, JD, General Counsel
[email protected]
Chrys Lemon, JD
Washington, DC bureau
[email protected]
we are all holy
- by Weasel
Special to The Gayly
Vol. 35 Issue 4
The Gayly
(405) 496-0011
rDt Media, LLC
Publisher
Columnists & Contributors
Vick silkenpen
paula sophia
scotty Irani
Bill schmick
Mary turner
Bruce Hartley
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Mahkesha Hogg
taylor
Brunwald
phillip eugene
Zee
ray freer
Allison Blaylock
okeq press
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the heavens are not yet full
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MEMBERS OF:
I slid the ring across your finger the day love was free
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some folks do not understand
what it is to really love
they only speak angel to their wives and husbands
so that you and I can suffer
for the good of our society
the heavens are not yet full
god is not littered with misinterpretations
he is waiting for sin
for us to find our own joy
while we operate through vows
gifting ourselves to each other
it will our hour of god
the hour we say I do, I do, I do...
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of Eureka Springs
From The Publisher...
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GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
41
Springfield Pride
Photos by Bruce Hartley
Greater Ozarks Pridefest
Equality March.
Bill Grider & Bruce Hartley.
s of
Men’s Choru
the Ozark s.
Jessamyn Orchard, featured artist.
Expedia pa
rade entry.
Pridefest Royalty.
Ladonna Spore, Clarksville, TN and Ezra Blair,
Springfield, MO with Bruce (rainbow bandana).
Bill Grider, Sparta, MO.
Downtown Springfield, MO decked out for Pridefest.
Jayme Handley and Jon Donigan, Lebanon, MO.
Ft Smith Pride
The Pride team from River Valley Equality Center. Photo provided.
Your new Miss River Valley Pride, Jazmyn Turrelle and First Alternate,
Morgan Grant! — with Mikel Sweeten, Morgan Karri Grant, Ashleigh
Jordyn, Jazmyn Turrelle, Jeremy Woody and Tony Contreras. Photo
provided.
Eran Kious performed music from
his new album “Not For Myself.”
Photo provided.
GAYLY.com
42
eNID prIDe
AUGUST 2016
enid pride scheduled for september 10
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䴀漀渀搀愀礀ⴀ匀愀琀甀爀搀愀礀
㄀　ⴀ 㜀
匀甀渀搀愀礀
㄀ ⴀ 㔀
fb⸀挀漀洀⼀吀栀攀䤀渀搀椀最漀䄀䄀椀挀
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dog
grooming
All dogs
treated
with
“Love
&
Style!”
Beautiful,
clean salon.
Location,
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www.BarkOKC.com
(405) 608-1118
7706 N. May Ave. - OKC
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1759
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Unique
Store
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Curious
405-528-4585
Collectibles
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St.
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follow us for shows & more
Sale Prices
30 - 50% Off every day
Wedding Sale
5929 N. May Ave. #100 OKC, OK
(405) 840-2660 www.jcokc.com
Enid Pride is an annual familyfriendly event presented by the Enid
LGBT Coalition, featuring live entertainment, vendor booths and
food trucks. This year, the LGBT
Coalition will be hosting their sixth
Enid Pride event, held September 10
at Government Springs North from
noon to 6 p.m. “Come celebrate the
hero in all of us – all are welcome!”
promise to be of service to all members of the LGBT community.
The Enid LGBT Coalition estimates that this event now attracts
about 1,000 visitors annually from
all across the region. The Coalition
is dedicated to “serving the needs of
our diverse community by building
connections and by encouraging ac-
The Enid LGBT Coalition estimates
that this event now attracts about
1,000 visitors annually from
all across the region.
The 2016 Enid LGBT Coalition
Board members are TJ Ramos,
Chair; Robert Hayes, Vice Chair;
Rachel Moore, Secretary; John Moon
and Zach Blackburn. Their goal with
Enid Pride 2016 is to celebrate human resilience and to illuminate the
support that is available. This year’s
theme is “Heroes.”
Every year, Enid Pride pledges to
celebrate diversity, to provide the
LGBT community with a familyfriendly celebration and to promote
understanding and education that is
appropriate for people of all ages.
They promise to build relationships
by demonstrating Enid Pride’s commitment to the pursuit of excellence
and the creation of unity, and they
ceptance through contributing to,
communicating with, and connecting
with all members of our community.”
Enid Pride is run by an all-volunteer committee and is funded by
sponsorships and donations. It is a
not-for-profit event and does not support any paid staff. Enid Pride appreciates the support from Sisters of
the Sacred Heartland, Oklahomans
for Equality and Freedom Oklahoma
and welcomes the new church sponsorships of Central Christian Church
in Enid and Puritan Congregational
UCC in Drummond, OK.
The Enid LGBT Coalition will
continue to retain bullying and suicide prevention efforts, support pet
adoptions, host a SPAM event, host a
social evening of cards and games on
the second Saturday of each month
and host movie nights on the fourth
Thursday of each month, as well as
provide resources for the community. The Coalition is a member of
InterPride, which has a vision for a
world where there is full cultural, social and legal equality for all.
If you are interested in being a
sponsor or vendor for Enid Pride,
the deadline is August 15. Potential
sponsors, vendors and volunteers are
encouraged to visit the webpage at
www.EnidLGBTCoalition.org or the
Enid Pride Facebook page. Vendor
payments may be made through
PayPal on the website donation page
or by mailing a form and donation to
P.O. Box 775, Enid, OK 73702.
To get in contact, email [email protected] or lgbtcoalition@
yahoo.com, or call 1 (800) 878-5298.
proUD sponsors
of
eNID prIDe 2016
AUGUST 2016
ENID PRIDE
GAYLY.com
SCENES FROM ENID PRIDE 2015
Photos provided by Enid Pride
43
44
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
Kaleidoscope announces line up for 2016 LGBt film festival
@KaleidocopeFF
@FilmSocietyLR
@TheGayly
/KaleidocopeFilmFestival
/FilmSocietyLR
/TheGayly
North Little Rock, Ark. – The
Film Society of Little Rock has announced its line-up for the 2nd annual Kaleidoscope film festival,
scheduled from August 18 to 21. The
LGBT film festival is sponsored by
the Argenta Arts District.
Kaleidoscope will celebrate opening night with a special screening
of Southwest of Salem: The Story
of the San Antonio Four directed by
Deborah Esquenazi. The documentary features four Latina lesbians
wrongfully convicted of gang-raping
two little girls during the Satanic
Panic witch-hunt era of the ‘80s and
‘90s.
The director and subjects of the
film will be attending the opening
night screening happening at 7 p.m.
at Pulaski Technical College Center
for the Humanities and Arts Theater,
3000 West Scenic Dr., North Little
Rock, on August 18. Prescreening
champagne reception is at 6 p.m.
The LGBT film festival will close
with a screening of Major! directed
by Annalise Ophelian. The film explores the life and campaigns of Miss
Major Griffin-Gracy, a formerly incarcerated black transgender elder
and activist who has been fighting for
the rights of trans women of color for
over 40 years.
Hours: Wed-Sun, 11am - 6pm
“We are very excited for the second
year of Kaleidoscope and thrilled to
have a wonderfully diverse mix of
incredible narratives and documentaries that we feel will both entertain
and inform our audience,” said Tony
Taylor, Executive Director of Film
Society of Little Rock and Festival
Director of the Kaleidoscope LGBT
Film Festival. “We can’t wait to
welcome filmmakers from all over
Arkansas and the United States to
the festival.”
Kaleidoscope will also screen 18
short films and additional full-length
features. Each night of the festival
will close with a party with special receptions held throughout the
festival.
Kaleidoscope’s mission is to provide innovative and unique programming that will engage the hearts
and minds of audiences in the state
of Arkansas and the surrounding
region.
The Film Festival will open at
Pulaski Technical College in North
Little Rock on August 18 and will
proceed from there with events at the
main venue, the Argenta Community
Theatre. To purchase festival passes
or to sign up to volunteer, please visit
kaleidoscopefilmfestival.com.
About Kaleidoscope: Kaleidoscope
celebrates the diversity of the LGBT
community and filmmakers by presenting poignant and thought-provoking
films documenting LGBT lives truthfully
and with respect. The festival exhibits
the power of film to transform lives and
opinions of those both inside and outside the LGBT community through the
universal medium of the cinema.
Kaleidoscope is Arkansas’ only major
outlet for LGBT films, as well as LGBT
filmmakers. Kaleidoscope 2016 will be
held August 18 through August 21 in
North Little Rock, Arkansas. For more
information, visit kaleidosocpefilmfestival.com.
About Film Society of Little Rock:
A grassroots, non-profit organization
focused on providing innovative and
unique programming and events that
will engage the hearts and minds of
audiences in the City of Little Rock,
State of Arkansas, and the surrounding
region.
Featured films include
Closet Monster,
directed by Stephen Dunn
Departure,
directed by Andrew Stegall
I Promise You Anarchy,
directed by Julio
Hernández Cordón
Lazy Eye,
directed by Tim Kirkman
Road To Home,
directed by Cal Skaggs
Slash,
directed by Clay Liford
Southwest of Salem: The
Story of the San Antonio Four,
directed by Deborah Esquenazi
Summertime,
directed by Catherine Corsini
The Nest,
directed by
Filipe Matzembacher
and Marcio Reolon
Upstairs Inferno,
directed by Robert L. Camina
White Nights,
directed by Mark Thiedeman
You’ll Never Be Alone,
directed by Alex Anwandter
Their year-round programming includes two principle festivals: Fantastic
Cinema and Kaleidoscope, as well
as film series and individual screenings. For more information, visit filmsocietylr.com.
www.gayly.com
GAYLY.com
AUGUST 2016
45
okeq Experiments in August
Tulsa, Okla. - The August
Oklahomans for Equality (OkEq)
showcase and exhibit of local artists at the Dennis R. Neill Equality
Center will feature a combined
showing for this First Thursday. The
event is titled Experiments from the
Lab: Layers & Texture and will begin with a reception on Thursday,
August 4 from 6-9 p.m. The art will
be displayed throughout the month.
The work curated from the Urban
Art Lab Studios resident artist represents many approaches and thoughts
on layers and texture. Dean Wyatt’s
work uses textures formed by layers
of paint and screen in rhythms of precise form. The texture work is sculptural – another layer. Loyal Roach is
showing paintings in the drip style
that shows masterful choices through
its layering of lines and color.
“Infinity” by Loyal Roach. Photo provided
Taylor Painter-Wolfe’s fiber art
shows layers of delicate “webs” over
hand dyed backgrounds. Stitching
layers add movement and emphasis.
Rebecca Joskey plays with layers of
tissue, paint, ripped canvas, collages
of mixed media and duct tape.
Loyal roach: A native Tulsan
working under the name “J.
Delaroche”, Loyal Roach works in oil
and acrylics. Many of his paintings
are considered edgy and/or avantgarde. He credits Lichtenstein, Johns,
Davis and Wyeth as having the most
influence on his creations.
In addition to his Juris Doctor and
Master of Arts degrees, he holds
a Bachelor of Fine Art from the
University of Oklahoma with minors
“Primary” by Dean Wyatt. Photo provided.
“Crater Wall” by Taylor Painter-Wolfe. Photo provided.
in English Literature and Art. During
the past year, this artist has turned to
still lifes of unusual objects, focusing
on contrast and depth. Currently his
work is evolving into what one might
call realistic expressionism.
Dean Wyatt: A native of Duncan,
Oklahoma, Dean Wyatt is a selftaught artist who currently resides
in Owasso. His multi-layered paintings are rich in color and texture
and consist primarily of abstract or
abstracted forms, which often imply
landscapes or other elements of nature. He traded in an early passion
for realism - in particular portraits
executed in pen and ink - for abstract
painting while in his mid-twenties.
Wyatt exhibits regularly in Tulsa
galleries and serves on the board
of directors of the Tulsa Artists’
Coalition and Tulsa Ballet. His work
was selected for exhibition in both
the 2007 and 2005 OVAC Painting
and Drawing Biennial exhibitions. In
2010, he had a solo exhibition in the
Governor’s Gallery at the Oklahoma
State Capitol.
rebecca Joskey: Rebecca Joskey
is an emerging painter with 10 years
working experience as a mosaic artist and four years as an almost daily
painter. Her “paper mosaics” (shown
at 108 Contemporary member shows)
are made from techniques from both
painting and the craft of mosaic art.
This collage style of art combines
underpaintings on canvas with applied painted papers to create rich
tapestry - like abstract pieces.
Her work has been shown and sold
“Gold Rising to the Top” by Rebecca Joskey. Photo provided.
at M.A. Doran Gallery, MOREcolor
Gallery, Mayfest Gallery, TAC, 108
Contemporary, Living Arts and
Urban Art Lab Studios.
taylor painter-Wolfe: Taylor
Painter-Wolfe was born in 1981 in
Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1999, she began college at the Kansas City Art
Institute and majored in fiber art.
In the fiber department, she learned
how to use a variety of materials and
surface design techniques.
Painter-Wolfe makes all of her own
materials and she uses the material
and these imperfections to inspire
and guide her decision-making process about the art created with it. “I
continuously add layer after layer to
create a dynamic abstract landscape
full of line, movement, color and
texture.”
This four-artist show begins with
a reception on Thursday, August 4
from 6-9 p.m. at the Dennis R. Neill
Equality Center (621 E. 4th Street in
downtown Tulsa). There will be a
door prize drawn of the artists’ work
and the show continues throughout
the month.
Oklahomans for Equality/OkEq is
Oklahoma’s oldest gay rights organization. OkEq works for social justice and
full inclusion for Oklahoma’s lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
citizens and their allies. For more information, see www.okeq.org.
46
GAYLY.com
tHAt’s eNtertAINMeNt
AUGUST 2016
Magical and memorable adventures
Rogers, Ark. - One of the most
popular Disney movies of all time
is capturing hearts in a whole new
way: as a practically perfect musical.
Arkansas Public Theatre brings the
beautifully crafted Mary Poppins to
its stage July 29 to August 14.
Based on the books by P. L. Travers
and the classic Walt Disney film,
Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s
Mary Poppins delighted Broadway
audiences for over 2,500 performances and received nominations for
nine Olivier and seven Tony awards,
including Best Musical.
family how to value each other again.
Mary Poppins takes the children on
many magical and memorable adventures, but Jane and Michael aren’t the
only ones she has a profound effect
on.
Even grown-ups can learn a lesson
or two from the nanny who advises
that, “Anything can happen if you let
it.”
The jack-of-all trades, Bert, introduces us to England in 1910 and the
troubled Banks family. Young Jane
and Michael have sent many a nanny
packing before Mary Poppins arrives
on their doorstep.
Full of the songs you love from
the movie, plus new ones written for
the musical, Mary Poppins is an enchanting mixture of irresistible story
and unforgettable songs. The original
music and lyrics for Mary Poppins
were by Richard M. Sherman and
Robert B. Sherman, for a book by
Julian Fellowes. New songs and additional music and lyrics are by George
Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
Using a combination of magic and
common sense, she must teach the
Performances are July 29-31,
August 4-7 and August 11-14 at
the Victory Theater in Rogers,
Ark. Evening performances are at
8 p.m., Sunday matinees begin at
2 p.m. Tickets for cabaret seats are
$30 - $50, balcony seats are $17
for adults, $10 for students, and
are available by calling (479) 6318988 or by going online at www.
ArkansasPublicTheatre.org.
Rigoletto, a dramatic journey of undeniable force
concert hall September 3.
A dramatic journey of undeniable force, Rigoletto is
based on a controversial
play by Victor Hugo, better known as the author
of The Hunchback of Notre
Dame and Les Misérables.
Rigoletto tells of an outcast - a hunchbacked jester
- who is trapped between
his desire to be “normal”
and his jealousy of those
Rigoletto performs in Wichita Grand Opening. Photo provided. who are. Rigoletto, the licentious womanizer Duke
Wichita Grand Opera brings a of Mantua and Rigoletto’s daughter
new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Gilda are the major characters. The
opera Rigoletto to the Century II story, written during the most fertile
period of Verdi’s artistic life, was immensely popular from its premiere
and remains fresh and powerful to
this day.
Leonardo Capalbo makes his
WGO debut as the Duke of Mantua
in this production. He has previously sung the role of The Duke with
the opera houses of Leipzig, São
Paulo Brazil, Toulon, and Montreal.
Michael Nansel returns to Wichita to
sing the part of Rigoletto, following
an outstanding performance last season as Rodrigo in Verdi’s Don Carlo.
stage presence, Korean soprano Park
continues to thrill audiences with her
lyric soprano repertoire.
The single perfor mance of
Rigoletto is Saturday, September 3,
at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $37 to
$85 with a reduced rate for students,
and are available online at www.
WichitaGrandOpera.org, by phone
at (316) 262-8054 or in person at the
Century II Concert Hall.
www.gayly.com
Yunnie Park sings Gilda. Praised
in Opera News as “gleaming, elegant,
soaring toned” and with “sunny”
Seeking Executive/Artistic Director
The Oklahoma City Theatre Company is searching for
a seasoned director with vision, leadership skills, and a
passion for creating theatre.
OKC Theatre Company produces live theatre
performances that serve minority communities,
engage audiences in contemporary issues, and inspire
social change. At the heart of our season is the Native
American Play Festival featuring workshops with Native
writers and artists and the production of new work.
Locations in OKC:
•615 E. Memorial Rd.
•8009 W. Reno Ave.
Locations in TULSA:
•7925 E. 41st St. •5634 W. Skelly Dr.
•11344 E. 11th St. •2333 E. 71st. St.
*Other Locations:
•Wichita •Enid
•Missouri •Illinois
For a complete job description including, duties, qualifications
and compensation, email: [email protected]
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Oklahoma! and The Will Rogers Follies entertain tulsa in August
T heat re Tulsa br ings both
Oklahoma!, the musical that gave us
the state’s song, and The Will Rogers
Follies to the Tulsa Performing Arts
Center (TPAC) in August.
Oklahoma! was the first collaboration between composer Richard
Rodgers and librettist Oscar
Hammerstein II. It remains, in many
ways, their most innovative. It was
one of the first Broadway musicals
to fully integrate song-and-dance
numbers — including Oh, What a
Beautiful Mornin’, People Will Say
We’re In Love and the rip-roaring
Oklahoma! — into the story.
Set in Indian Territory just after
the turn of the 20th century, the
high-spirited rivalry between local
farmers and cowboys provides a
colorful background against which
Curly (Sam Briggs), a handsome
cowboy, tries to win the heart of
Laurey (Ruby Shadley), a winsome
farm girl. With these two headstrong
romantics holding the reins, their
courtship is as bumpy as a surrey
ride down a country road, but the appeal of a brand-new life together in a
brand-new state proves irresistible.
Performances of Oklahoma!
are August 12-14, August 25, and
September 1-4.
The Will Rogers Follies tells
the story of Oklahoma native Will
Rogers, a multimedia star like no
Score. Mitch Adams and Cathy Rose
star as Will and Betty Rogers in this
production.
other before or since. A cowboy with
a folksy sense of humor and mad
rope-trick skills, he found success
as a vaudeville performer, newspaper columnist, radio host and stage
and screen actor. He was the leading political wit and highest paid
Hollywood movie star of his time.
Rogers’ amazing life is presented
in a series of Ziegfeld Follies-style
song-and-dance numbers. With
a book by Peter Stone, music by
Cy Coleman, and lyrics by Betty
Comden and Adolph Green, the show
won six 1991 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original
Performances of The Will Rogers
Follies are August 19-21 and 26-27,
and September 2 and 3.
Both of these Theatre Tulsa productions will be in the John H.
Williams Theater in the Tulsa
Performing Arts Center. Tickets are
$32 for each of the performances,
with discounts for seniors and students, and may be purchased online
at www.MyTicketOffice.com, by
phone at (918) 596-7111 or in person
at the TPAC box-office, 101 E. Third
Street, in downtown Tulsa.
stray dog turns a couple’s lives upside down in Sylvia
Guthrie, OK - A modern romantic
comedy about a marriage and a dog,
Sylvia centers around Greg and Kate,
a couple married twenty-two years
and returning to Manhattan from the
suburbs, after their children have left
the nest.
Guthrie’s Pollard Theatre opens
their 30th Anniversary season with
this touching comedy, August 19
through September 10.
Greg is a successful middle-aged
currency trader who fi nds himself
increasingly disappointed with his
empty and unfulfilling life. His wife,
Kate, has started a new career as a
teacher, and is settling into life as an
“empty nester.”
Their lives are turned upside down
when Greg brings home a dog he
found in the park - or that has found
him - bearing only the name “Sylvia”
on her name tag. Greg is immediately
infatuated with Sylvia, as she offers
him unconditional love and hope.
Not so for Kate, who says she
wants no pets in her life, and means
it. A street-smart mixture of Lab and
Poodle, Sylvia becomes a major bone
of contention between husband and
wife. The marriage is put in serious
jeopardy until, after a series of hilarious and touching complications,
Greg and Kate learn to compromise,
and Sylvia becomes a valued part of
their lives.
“Three other characters add
their own hilarious perspectives
on this unusual love triangle,” says
BrownPaperTickets.com. “Tom
is a philosophical dog-owner in
the park who offers Greg advice
on his situation; Phyllis is an old
classmate of Kate’s and Leslie is a
flamboyant marriage counselor.”
This A. R. Gurney comedy “is alternately funny, poignant and psychologically acute in its portrayal of a
man, a dog and a midlife crisis.”
“I can only call it one of the most
involving, beautiful, funny, touching and profound plays I have ever
seen…” says NY Daily News.
Just off a Tony nominated
Broadway revival, Sylvia is a perfect
opening to the Pollard Theatre’s 30th
Anniversary season.
Performances are August 19
through September 10. Tickets are
$25, with discounts for seniors,
military, teachers and students, and
may be purchased at the Pollard
Theatre, 120 W. Harrison, in Guthrie,
OK, online at www.ThePollard.org,
or by phone at (405) 282-2800.
tso wraps up summer with Symphony in the Park
Tulsa Symphony (TSO) kicks off
its 2016-2017 season with a bang –
and everyone is invited. Since performing as the headline event of
the opening ceremonies of Guthrie
Green in September 2012, Tulsa
Symphony has annually staged
Symphony in the Park for its audiences. The performance at Guthrie
Green is free to the public and
concludes with a fi reworks fi nale.
This year’s performance is Friday,
September 2, at 7:30 p.m.
“Tulsa Symphony is Tulsa’s orchestra and we know and appreciate
what that means. Our top priority is
to serve Tulsa, and the opportunity
to give back to our community with
free concerts downtown is just the
first of many events we have planned
for the coming year. We especially
appreciate the many sponsors who
have joined hands with us to make
the concert possible and celebrate
the dedication of the new and exciting Guthrie Green venue,” says Ron
Predl, Executive Director of TSO.
Guthrie Green is located in
The Brady Arts District in Tulsa,
Oklahoma at 111 East M. B. Brady
Street. The park occupies a full
square block between Brady and
Cameron Street and Boston and
MLK. Guthrie Green is open daily
from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
While the park itself boasts parking on all sides and street parking is
available, larger festivals may call for
the more ample parking choice just
southwest of the district at the BOK
North garage.
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AUGUST 2016
eureka springs presents annual Human rights Art & film festival
The second annual Eureka Springs
Human Rights Art & Film Fest
will be held in Eureka Springs at
the Auditorium at 36 S Main St.
on Friday, August 5 and Saturday,
August 6, 2016. The festival is
scheduled during Eureka Springs’
Diversity Weekend. This film fest
is funded in part by a special grant
from the Arkansas Parks & Tourism
Depar tment and The Walton
Foundation.
This year, they are proud to announce their partnership with
Kaleidoscope Film Fest of Little
Rock Arkansas, with a feature block
of their 2015 winning films. Other
highlights of the film fest are special
screening blocks from “Arkansas
Shorts” and “Low Key Arts.”
Categories include student films,
short form or feature length documentaries, LGBT voices, and women in film. Awards will be given in
the categories of Student Films and
Documentaries.
The fest will kick off Friday night,
Stanley Kubrick: A Life In
Pictures: This is a rather essential
documentary viewing for anybody
even vaguely interested in this notoriously reclusive, legendary and
great film director.
Jan Harlan, a Kubrick assistant, executive director, and brother-in-law,
insightfully explores the life and
career of Kubrick by using old photos, home movies, clips from all his
films, stories and interview comments from his relatives, friends,
actors he employed and talented
directors he influenced. Tom Cruise
does the enthusiastic narration as we
weave through the phenomenal cast
of speakers recalling their
experiences with Kubrick
as well as their theories
about the man and how
his movies changed the art
form.
My personal Kubrick film
favorites are The Killing,
Lolita, Dr. Strangelove,
2001: A Space Odyssey,
The Shining and Full Metal
Jacket. My all-time favorite is A Clockwork Orange
even though its author,
Anthony Burgess, once
told me in a conversation
that he didn’t much care for
Kubrick’s film adaptation
for many reasons. I feel
the book and film are both
works of genius.
August 5 with a preview party.
A food and wine reception will start
at 6:30 p.m. at The Auditorium followed by a special screening of Jeff
Boyette’s film, Not Without Us - an
important documentary on climate
change. One of the film’s producers
will participate in a Q&A afterwards.
Screenings will begin on Saturday,
August 6 at the Auditorium at 10
a.m. and continue through 5 p.m.
with the awards handed out at 5:30
p.m. Winners will receive the Indie
Award statuette. This year’s festival
received 187 entries from all over the
world.
All events are free and open to
the public. For more information,
visit the Eureka Springs Indie Film
Festival website at www.esfilmfest.
org, or call (479) 244-6636.
Mr. Turner: If you
have a big flat TV screen
mounted on the wall like a
canvas, why not put something luminous on it that
is worthy of the frame?
Mike Leigh has made just
such a biopic where nearly
every scene is a beautiful
painting. He cinematically
brushes in the eccentric
latter life of British artist
J.M.W. Turner in the early
1800s.
The difficult role is
taken to grunting and
growling peaks of perfection by the incredible
Timothy Spall. We see this
portrait of the artist who
profoundly changed landscapes played as a human
very hard to understand.
His relationships with
women seem to be almost riddles
with no satisfactory answers. He exploits his loving housekeeper even
as he creates an alias to live with a
widow in Chelsea to the day he dies.
But before he goes, he makes sure
he has a highly extraordinary life
which brought him repute, but also
misunderstandings.
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Taylor H. Brunwald is an “Army Brat” who searches
constantly for great new music. When he’s not glued
to his headphones, he enjoys reading novels and
volunteering for LGBT-related causes.
- by Taylor Brunwald
Music Critic
Various Artists – Hands
The early morning of June 12 saw 49 lives lost and 54 people wounded when a gunman attacked the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida. Since the horrific attack, the LGBT community has rallied together, with allies
joining the cause for peace.
In July, GLAAD and Interscope Records released Hands, a musical tribute to the victims of Orlando, featuring
artists such as Mary J Blige, Selena Gomez, Halsey, Ty Herndon, Adam Lambert, Mary Lambert, Jennifer Lopez,
the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, Kacey Musgraves, MNEK, Alex Newell, P!nk, Prince Royce, Nate Ruess,
RuPaul, Troye Sivan, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Meghan Trainor.
Hands sounds like most charity singles – dramatically hopeful – but comes from good intentions. Every artist
included, most of whom one would normally not think would collaborate, join in a chorus that must be heard.
Hands is now available for download exclusively on iTunes. All proceeds go toward the Equality Florida
Pulse Victims Fund, the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida and GLAAD.
Blood orange – Freetown Sound
On Dev Hynes’ third album under his Blood Orange moniker, Freetown Sound explores what it means to be
black in our age, searches for reconciliation in faith and queerness, and the emotional weight of it all. These themes
are presented with his signature ‘80s-inspired production. Largely performed by Hynes himself, with collaborators including Nelly Furtado and Debbie Harry, this album is wholly representative of the zeitgeist and rightfully
demands attention.
“My album is for everyone told they’re not black enough, too black, too queer, not queer the right way, the underappreciated, it’s a clapback,” Hynes wrote in a dedication on his Instagram.
Like his previous albums, Hynes repeats phrases often, imploring one to pay attention not just to him, but what
he’s saying. “And no one even told me/The way that you should feel/Tell me, did you lose your son?/Tell me, would
you lose your love?,” he asks on Augustine, encapsulating the album’s themes in a verse.
Freetown Sound is now available for purchase and streaming.
the Avalanches – Wildflower
Sixteen years ago, Australian electronic production group The Avalanches released Since I Left You, almost
universally considered to be one of the greatest albums ever released. It combined samples from well-known and
esoteric songs in nearly every conceivable genre into a nonstop dance party with a timeless quality.
The long wait for a follow-up is finally over: Wildflower is a triumphant return to form. Because of Since I Left
You’s reputation, this album will naturally be compared to its predecessor; like it, Wildflower is a celebration of
life that sounds like a hallucinogenic ‘60s block party with hip-hop elements. Some tracks, including Colours and
Sunshine, work well. Others, like The Noisy Eater and the title track, include elements too distracting from the
overall harmony. Whether or not this album was worth the wait may be best left to the listener.
Wildflower is now available for purchase and streaming.
Kt tunstall – Golden State ep
KT Tunstall returns to the music industry after 2013’s Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon failed to make an
impact in the United States. While American audiences may be more familiar with her breakthrough singles
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree and Suddenly I See from over a decade ago, the Golden State EP demonstrates artistic progression while maintaining her integral sound.
Lead single Evil Eye maintains her trademark sing-along chorus style, All or Nothing incorporates electronic
elements the casual admirer may not have heard from her before, and The Healer is more hard rock than her
usual acoustic sound.
“This is an album all about joy, although some of these songs are like cats,” Tunstall said in a press release,
“they’re really furry and sweet and then they … scratch you, and they won’t let you put a leash on them, ever.”
The Golden State EP is now available for purchase and streaming, with a physical edition exclusively at
Barnes & Noble. A full album is anticipated to be released in September.
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Michael McDonald, Boz scaggs, and styx electrify summer at the AMp
Nor thwest A rkansas - The
Walmart AMP in Rogers, Arkansas
features name entertainers this
summer. August 12 brings vocalists
Michael McDonald and Box Scaggs
to the stage in a joint concert and
platinum award winners Styx arrive
in Rogers September 1.
His soul is effortless and deeply felt in every
lyric Boz Scaggs delivers. Photo provided.
Michael McDonald and Boz
scaggs
Michael McDonald is best known
for his soulful tenor and baritone
and for the richness of his voice.
Formerly of The Doobie Brothers
and Steely Dan, McDonald’s unmistakable sound has made him one of
the world’s most sought-after session
singers of our time. Add formidable
songwriting and keyboard skills, and
you have an artist who has been a
singular musical presence for over
four decades.
LaBelle) and the Grammy-winning
duet with James Ingram Yah Mo B
There.
Boz Scaggs grew up in Oklahoma
and Texas, where he met Steve Miller
at St. Mark’s Preparatory School in
Dallas. He joined Miller’s band, the
Marksmen, as lead vocalist while
Miller taught him guitar. Fans who
have followed Boz Scaggs’ remarkable career dating back to the late
Sixties with the Steve Miller Band,
his solo triumphs with such classic
albums as Silk Degrees and Middle
Man, and the splendid assurance of
late-period high points like Some
Change and Dig, will instantly recognize Scaggs’ characteristically deft
touch as a singer.
He brings a sly drawl to a funky
workout like Li’l Millet and the
Creoles’ Rich Woman, a conversational intimacy to Bobby Charles’
Small Town Talk, and an elegant
delicacy to the Impressions’ I’m So
Proud. His soul is effortless and
deeply felt, never making a show of
itself, but unmistakably evident in
every lyric he delivers.
The performance is August 12
at 7:30 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m.
Tickets start at $41.
An evening with styx
The Walmart AMP is excited to
Beyond his hits with The Doobies,
McDonald has lent his voice to records by an A-Z of artists, including
Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Elton
John, Joni Mitchell, Vince Gill and
Grizzly Bear. During the ‘80s and
‘90s, his solo career zoomed from
success to success on the wings of
evergreen hits like Sweet Freedom,
On My Own (a duet with Patti
Soulful tenor and baritone Michael McDonald will appear in a joint bill with Boz Scaggs, August 12
at the Walmart AMP. Photo provided.
announce Rock and Roll group Styx
will perform An Evening with Styx
on Thursday, September 1.
At the height of their commercial
powers, Styx released a string of
five platinum albums, including the
#1 triple-platinum Paradise Theatre.
After incessant touring, their national break came in 1975 with the
#6 single Lady, featuring the blaring
vocal triads that are a Styx trademark. From 1977 until their breakup
in 1984, every one of their releases
sold platinum or better: The Grand
Illusion in 1977; Pieces of Eight in
1978; Cornerstone in 1979; Paradise
Rock and Roll group Styx performs at the Walmart AMP September 1. Photo provided.
Theatre, and Kilroy Was Here in
1983.
The performance is September 1.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. and music
will begin at 7:30 p.m. Prices range
$31 to $55.50 plus applicable fees.
Tickets for these performances
can be purchased in person at the
Walton Arts Center Box Office in
Nadine Baum Studios, by calling
(479) 443-5600 or by visiting www.
WaltonArtsCenter.org.
The Walmart AMP (Arkansas Music
Pavilion), a Walton Arts Center venue
since February 2011, is Arkansas’ premier outdoor concert venue. The AMP
has presented headlining concerts for
the past 10 years, including rock, country and pop. In its permanent home in
Pinnacle Hills at 5079 W. Northgate Rd.,
Rogers, Ark., the Walmart AMP has the
largest outdoor stage house in Arkansas.
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Chicago to rock topeka
One of the most popular bands
in US music history for more than
four decades, Chicago comes to
the Topeka Performing Arts Center
Sunday, August 7.
Chicago, at first dubbed The
Chicago Transit Authority, immediately stood out due to their unique,
horn-driven instrumentation and
top-notch songwriting, a combination that quickly found a home on
free-form FM radio in the late ‘60s.
After 45-plus years in business,
Chicago’s music has never left the
airwaves and the band remains on
tour more often than not, playing
concerts in every corner of North
America. With a catalog of hits
including Saturday in the Park,
Beginnings, If You Leave Me Now,
Baby What a Big Surprise, You’re
the Inspiration, and Hard Habit To
Break, fans are always eager to snap
up tickets to catch one of the most
successful American rock bands in
history.
Four members of the group’s
current lineup - vocalist/guitarist/
keyboardist Robert Lamm and horn
section members Lee Loughnane,
James Pankow and Walter Parazaider
- date back to Chicago’s formation in
1967. Even today, the band isn’t just
about nostalgia; Chicago continues
to record new singles and albums
regularly.
After seeing the tour, one fan
wrote, “I have always been amazed
by the way that Chicago blends all
the instrumentation, guitar, keyboards, drums/percussion and the
horn section to produce one of the
signature sounds in classic rock.
This group still provides an amazing concert with outstanding replication of the original Chicago sound
and vocals.”
“Basically, one goes to a Chicago
concert to hear the hits, and they deliver in spades. Kudos to a group of
classic rockers that continue to put
out amazing renditions of hit after
hit.”
Considered one of the longest
running and most successful pop/rock
‘n’ roll groups in history, Chicago is
the highest charting American band
in Billboard Magazine’s list of Top
100 artists of all time, coming in at
number 13.
Lifetime achievements include a
Grammy Award, multiple American
Music Awards, elected as Founding
Artists to the John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts, a Star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Chicago
street dedicated in their honor and
Keys to and Proclamations from an
impressive list of US cities.
Tickets for the August 7 performance at 7:30 p.m. range from $81
to $483 and are available online at
www.eventticketscenter.com. The
Topeka Performing Arts Center is at
214 SE 8th Ave, Topeka, KS.
To advertise in
The Gayly
call:
/thegayly
(405) 496-0011
or email: [email protected]
www.gayly.com
@thegayly
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AUGUST 2016
RuPaul’s fierce Queens return for All Stars Drag Race
The Queens of “RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race”. Photo provided.
New York, NY – Hot off the heels
of one of the most electrifying seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Mama
Ru will return to the runway for
RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race Season
2, premiering Thursday, August
25th at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Logo with a
supersized 90-minute episode.
YouTube sensation Todrick Hall
joins Carson Kressley and Michelle
Visage on the judging panel alongside RuPaul for a season packed with
more eleganza, wigtastic challenges
and twists than Drag Race has ever
seen.
plenty of heated competition, lipsyncing for the legacy, and, of
course, the All-Stars Snatch Game.
The 10 Queens who will sissy that
walk for their chance at redemption
and the title of America’s Next Drag
Superstar include: Adore Delano,
Alaska, Alyssa Edwards, Coco
Montrese, Detox, Ginger Minj,
Katya, Phi Phi O’Hara, Roxxxy
Andrews and Tatiana. These fabulous queens will hit the runway for
a second chance to snatch the crown
and secure a place among Drag Race
royalty.
“The world needs these queens
now more than ever.”
-RuPaul
“The world needs these queens
now more than ever,” said executive producer RuPaul Charles. “We
take great pride in providing a platform for our all-stars to shine bright.
Because fierce is fierce is fierce is
fierce is fierce is fierce.”
The new season, featuring 10 of
the most celebrated competitors vying for a second chance to enter Drag
Race “herstory,” will be filled with
Todrick Hall, Carson Kressley
and Michelle Visage join RuPaul as
judges.
Fans won’t have to wait long for
their RuPaul fix. RuPaul’s Drag
Race Season 8 RuVealed is currently airing every Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/
PT on Logo. The never-before-seen
look into the unforgettable season
that crowned Bob the Drag Queen
as America’s Next Drag Superstar is
packed with fresh reads and behindthe-scenes gossip from Ru herself. For more information on RuPaul’s
All Stars Drag Race and sneak preview clips, go to go to www.AllStars.
LogoTV.Com. For up-to-date
RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race news
and exclusives, join the RuPaul’s All
Stars Drag Race Facebook page or
follow #AllStars2 on Twitter at @
RuPaulsDragRace.
Adore Delano (Season Six) Season six’s runner-up returns to
dazzle the judges with her vocal talents, alternative outlook and boundless charm. Previously critiqued for
a messy aesthetic, only time will tell
if Adore can win over the judges with
her considerable talent.
Alaska (Season Five) - Hieee!
Everybody’s favorite alien from the
planet Glamtron is back again, after
being declared runner-up of season
five. Alaska is ready to bring boundary-pushing performances to the All
Stars main stage.
Alyssa Edwards (Season Five)
- Alyssa’s back to prove she didn’t
get bitter, she just got better. She has
a hit web series, opening for Miley
Cyrus’s national tour and closing the
MTV VMA’s down with an iconic
performance.
Coco Montrese (Season Five) Coco has been busy since the show,
performing in Vegas, nationwide
and even getting to duet with legend
Gladys Knight. But has her rivalry
with Alyssa Edwards over a national
drag title been truly resolved? Stay
tuned....
Detox (Season Five) - When Detox
was eliminated in fourth place on
season five, she had had it. Now she’s
back with a vengeance, fresh from
an international touring cosmetics
campaign, and inspiring a season
eight runway theme.
Ginger Minj (Season Seven)
- After narrowly missing out on
winning season seven, Ginger
has performed on stage (The
Rocky Horror Show), sung live on
the RuPaul’s Drag Race Battle of
the Seasons international tour, and
even recorded a Beach Boys cover
with her idol Carnie Wilson. Not a
bad year.
Katya (Season Seven) - Season
seven’s Miss Congeniality, and fan
favorite. With a hilariously surreal
web series (RuPaul is a fan), tours in
Brazil and Australia and an outpouring of fan love under her bedazzled
belt, she’s ready to bring her A-Game
to the All Stars runway.
See RUPAUL, page 54
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Amarillo gets The Full Monty
Kauffman Center’s free BravoKC!
Based on the cult hit film of the
same name, The Full Monty, a 10time Tony Award-nominee, is filled
with honest affection, engaging
melodies and the most highly-anticipated closing number of any show.
Amarillo Little Theatre brings this
funny, touching, and yes, sexy musical to Amarillo, August 18 through
28.
Kansas City’s Kauffman Center
for the Performing Arts opened in
September of 2011 and will mark its
fifth birthday Friday, September 2,
from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with BravoKC!,
a free event open to all. Thanking
the community for five memorable
years, BravoKC! will host a variety
of live performances, artists and interactive activities that invite you to
be a part of the celebration.
The powerhouse team of Terrence
McNally (Ragtime) and David
Yazbek (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
cook up an aggressive crowd pleaser that both entertains and grabs
your heart. Amazon.com writes,
“While Terrence McNally did a fine
job with the book (transferring the
action from industrial England to
Buffalo), special kudos should go to
newcomer David Yazbek, who wrote
a versatile and gloriously fun score.”
“The Full Monty is a show that you
must see live in order to appreciate
its brilliance,” writes reviewer Adam
Wishman. “The story is of course
funny, and of course sexy. But what
some people don’t see, is that behind
the strippers, and the g-strings, and
the nudity, The Full Monty is about
unconditional love, and the lengths
that people will go to, to keep a family together. The Full Monty was one
of the most touching musicals in
Broadway history. The Full Monty
is brilliant!”
The ALT production is directed
by Stephen Crandall, with music direction by Jennifer Akins and choreography by Jason Crespin.
Performances are August 18 and
25 at 7:30 p.m., August 19, 20, 26,
and 27 at 8 p.m. and August 21 and
28 at 2:30 p.m. at the ALT Adventure
Space, 2751 Civic Circle in Amarillo.
Tickets are $22 to $25 with discounts for seniors and students, and
may be purchased by phone at (806)
355-9991.
“Nightmares”
- by Mike West
Special to The Gayly
nightmares
strangers with guns
a safe space no more
community wounded
patches fill holes made
sitting up in bed
sweat coating my body
my heart beating
what if it was me
my friends and family
why is there pain in life
49 names on my lips
staring out the window
painted blue and white sky
soft robin songs
breeze shimmering sun-soaked leaves
slow deep unsteady breath
will there be a tomorrow?
An extension to the Crossroad’s
District September First Friday, join
the Kauffman Center for birthday
cake, fun and free performances on
three stages. BravoKC! Kauffman
Center Turns Five, Live! welcomes
new and returning visitors to the
Kauffman Center and invites you to
experience dynamic performances,
lawn games, food and more in a casual party atmosphere.
This open house shines a spotlight on all those who helped make
the Kauffman Center a bridge to
Kansas City’s most dynamic downtown neighborhoods and a cultural
cornerstone of Kansas City.
BravoKC! will be held at
Kauffman Center. Tickets are not
necessary, but you can register to
receive updates on activities and performances at www.kauffmancenter.
org/bravokc.
www.gayly.com
tHAt’s eNtertAINMeNt
AUGUST 2016
GAYLY.com
Heartland Men’s Chorus enlightens, inspires, heals and empowers
54
- by Rob Howard
Associate Editor
“One of the cool things is our concerts offer a safe space for audience
members, free of derision, and we
offer a very entertaining show in the
process. People can come as they are,
and revel in our music,” says Cliff
Schiappa, Development Director
of Kansas City’s Heartland Men’s
Chorus.
Schiappa says Heartland Men’s
Chorus plays a big role in the community, “and not just the LGBT community.” He regards that impact as
the most important thing, saying,
“Our vision statement is wonderfully
short. ‘Our voices enlighten, inspire,
heal and empower.’ I would say we
do that every time we show up on
stage or perform.”
The Chorus in early July traveled
to the quadrennial GALA Festival
in Denver, where 150 choruses from
around the world performed. Along
the way, the Heartland Chorus gave
brief concerts at Topeka, across
from the virulently anti-LGBT
WestboroBaptist
Church’s compound;
at the Eisen hower
Presidential Library
in Abilene; and at the
Deines Cultural Center
in Russell.
Then it was on to
Denver. “It was incredible,” says Schiappa.
“The GALA Festival
is always a life changing experience. We did
a 26-minute concert
where we performed
a total of five songs.
The fi nal song we did
was 11 minutes long,
a new commission we
just created this year,
I Rise, based on the
poetry of the late US
Poet Laureate Maya
Angelou.”
Heartland Men’s Chorus tenor Kelly Marzett, in drag, performs a humorous rendition of Patsy Cline’s “She’s Got
You”. Photo by Susan McSpadden.
Heartland often commissions new
choral works. One that stands out
for Schiappa is I Sing Out, written
by composer Mark Hayes about six
years ago. “The song is based on our
vision statement,” he says. In Denver,
the song was performed by the HIV
Positive Chorus, which is assembled
from many chorus members from
around the world who are living with
HIV.
Being in the chorus is a lot of hard
work, according to Schiappa. For the
GALA Festival, “We had 12 weeks of
rehearsals, each three or four hours [a
week]. “We memorize our music, and
sing the concert without printed music. There are also sectional rehearsals, and one all day rehearsal on a
Saturday, and then the week of the
concert we do a tech concert.”
rUpAUL, page 52
phi phi o’Hara (Season Four) Season four runner-up Phi Phi has
come a long way since being dubbed
a “tired-ass showgirl” by winner
Sharon Needles. Phi Phi now sings
her original music at sold-out international gigs. Get ready to be blown
away by the all new and improved
Phi Phi.
roxxxy Andrews (Season Five)
- Season five runner-up Roxxxy
stunned audiences with her flawless
“thick and juicy” runway looks and
legendary wig-whipping lip sync
stunts. With accusations of bullying
winner Jinkx Monsoon still haunting her, will Roxxxy’s journey on All
Stars be the ultimate Ru-demption
mission?
tatianna (Season Two) - Tatianna
placed fourth on season two of Drag
Race. She’s since carved out a full
time career in drag, performing and
releasing music. But has Tatianna
kept ahead of the curve in an everchanging world of drag? She’ll tell
you “Yes...thank you.”
Schiappa says the annual budget is $670,000, of which about 35
percent is raised by ticket sales. As
Development Director, Schiappa is
tasked with raising the rest. He had to
raise $400,000 last year from contributions, foundation and government
grants and two fundraising events.
He looks to a bright future for the
Heartland Men’s Chorus. “Here we
are in our 31st season, and we are
still as relevant today as when we
started. Despite the progress that has
happened in the LGBT community,
there is still work to be done, when
you consider the political situation
that we are in, and that only half of
the people in the United States are
accepting of and supporting of the
LGBT community.
We can change people’s beliefs
about LGBT rights one person at a
time. It’s not just LGBT rights, it’s
civil rights and social justice as well.”
The 125-member chorus performs
three concerts each year, each with
multiple performances. In addition,
Heartland Men’s Chorus Artistic Director
Dustin Cates (with microphone) explains
the significance of the song “Singing For
Our Lives” to the audience. Photo by Susan
McSpadden.
they perform concerts in surrounding Missouri and Kansas communities. They just started their 31st season, and are offering Kansas City
Christmas - Classy, Brassy, Sassy
December 3 and 4 at KCMO’s Folly
Theater, and December 10 at Yardley
Hall on the UMKC campus. The
December show has become a tradition for thousands of Kansas Citians.
Season Renewals are now underway for existing subscribers by calling (816) 931-3338. Season Tickets
will be available for online purchase
in mid-August.
www.gayly.com
AUGUST 2016
tHAt’s eNtertAINMeNt
GAYLY.com
55
Celebrity Attractions wants you to have the time of your life
Three add-on productions to next season
“Now, I’ve had the time of my
life,” is what Tulsa audiences will be
saying about Celebrity Attractions’
2016-2017 Broadway Season which
now features three special add-on
productions coming to the Tulsa
Performing Arts Center this fall.
This season is filled with six big
Broadway shows, and now Celebrity
Attractions’ subscribers will have a
chance to purchase tickets to three
national touring add-on productions
before the general public.
“The Celebrit y Attractions’
Broadway Season has been an integral part of the arts and cultural scene
of Tulsa for more than 30 years,” says
Ed. L. Payton, Celebrity Attractions
CEO. “Rolling out the red carpet is
what we do best!”
ensemble of actors and musicians
who play their own instruments onstage, Once tells the enchanting tale
of a Dublin street musician who is
about to give up on his dream when
a beautiful young woman takes a
sudden interest in his haunting love
songs.
As the chemistry between them
grows, his music soars to powerful new heights...but their unlikely connection turns out to
be deeper and more complex
than your ever yday romance.
Cirque Dreams Holidaze: November
29-30 – two shows only - Now in its
eighth year of multiple simultaneous
touring productions, Cirque Dreams
lights up the 2016 holiday season
with its critically acclaimed holiday
stage extravaganza.
The add-on productions are:
Once: September 27-28 - two
shows only - Winner of eight 2012
Tony Awards including Best Musical,
Once is a truly original Broadway
experience. Featuring an impressive
Mannheim Steamroller Christmas
By Chip Davis: December 28 – one
show only - Mannheim Steamroller
Christmas By Chip Davis has been
America’s favorite holiday tradition
for more than 30 years. The Grammy
Award winning Christmas music of
Mannheim Steamroller along with
dazzling multimedia effects are performed in an intimate setting.
Experience the magic as the spirit of the season comes alive with
the signature sound of Mannheim
Steamroller. Their holiday CDs have
become synonymous with Christmas
and continue to occupy top spots on
Billboard’s seasonal charts every
year.
Celebrity Attractions’ 2016-2017
Broadway Season subscribers are
guaranteed great seats to these six
national Broadway tours including
Disney’s Newsies, Elf the Musical,
Motown the Musical, Dirty Dancing
– The Classic Story on Stage,
Something Rotten! and Matilda the
Musical.
Season subscriber benefits include
many advantages: the best seats at
the lowest prices, the same great
seats for every show, the ability to
buy additional tickets to individual
shows before the public, the option
to exchange show tickets to another
performance before the public on
sale and the opportunity to purchase
tickets to any special add-on productions before the general public.
To become a season subscriber, call
the Tulsa PAC Subscriber Hotline
Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
at (918) 596-7109 or to order online
or for more information visit www.
CelebrityAttractions.com.
www.gayly.com
56
GAYLY.com
tHAt’s eNtertAINMeNt
AUGUST 2016
Announcing Kevin Hart live
Northwest Arkansas - If there’s
one thing Kevin Hart can do, it’s
sell shoes. If there’s one thing Kevin
Hart can do better than sell shoes, it’s
explode as one of the foremost comedians and entertainers in the industry
today. He’ll entertain some of those
audiences in Northwest Arkansas
Saturday, Aug. 6.
Hart began his career sizing men
and women for footwear, when
an electrifying performance at a
Philadelphia comedy club amateur
night changed his life. Kevin quit
his shoe salesman job and began performing full-time at venues like The
Boston Comedy Club, Caroline’s,
Stand-Up NY, The Laugh Factory
and The Comedy Store in Los
Angeles.
However, it was his appearance
at the Montreal Just for Laughs
Comedy Festival that propelled
Kevin into feature films such as
Paper Soldiers, Scary Movie 3, and
Along Came Polly opposite Ben
Stiller and Jennifer Aniston.
non-stop with recent movie projects including Screen Gem’s The
Wedding Ringer (2015), Get Hard
(2015), opposite Will Farrell, and
Ride Along 2 (2016) – the highly anticipated sequel to last year’s $150
million international blockbuster. He
also appears in the highly anticipated
action comedy Central Intelligence,
opposite Dwayne Johnson, as well as
the animated film The Secret Life of
Pets.
The consummate worker, Hart is
also a force in television—executive
producing the show Real Husbands
of Hollywood, which premiered its
third season last September.
Kevin will stop at the Walmart
AMP as part of his multi-city international live tour and will appear on
Hart has continued to work
THE
STATE THEATRE Presents an evening with:
Randy
Jones
The Original VILLAGE PEOPLE Cowboy
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Hear ALL the hits: YMCA, In The Navy,
Macho Man Go West, Can’t Stop the
Music, and more...
Tickets $40 at www.thestateok.com
8 pm Showtime 7 pm Doors
Beer/wine with Valid 21+ ID
1961 N. Church Ave.
Harrah, OK 73045
Saturday, August 6. Doors will open
at 6 p.m. and the show will begin at 8
p.m. Tickets are on sale now; prices
are $119.50 for all seats and $50 for
lawn, plus applicable fees.
Tickets can be purchased in person at the Walmart AMP Box Office
in Rogers, Walton Arts Center Box
Office in Nadine Baum Studios in
Fayetteville, by calling (479) 4435600 or visiting www.amptickets.
com.
The Walmart AMP (Arkansas Music
Pavilion), a Walton Arts Center venue is
Arkansas’ premier outdoor concert venue. The AMP has presented headlining
concerts for the past 10 years, including
rock, country and pop. In its permanent
home in Pinnacle Hills in Rogers, Ark.,
the Walmart AMP has the largest outdoor stage house in Arkansas.
Actor and comedian Kevin Hart will appear in
Fayetteville. Photo provided.
www.gayly.com