Metro Weekly - 09-24-15 - Stonewall

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Randy Shulman
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

Volume 22 / Issue 21
ART DIRECTOR
Todd Franson
MANAGING EDITOR
Rhuaridh Marr
SENIOR EDITOR
John Riley
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Doug Rule
SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim
CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR
Scott G. Brooks
NEWS

Protected by PrEP
by John Riley

COMMENTARY
9
A Dangerous Pope
by Tim Rosenberger

COMMENTARY
10
You Oughta Know
by Sean Bugg
12
Community Calendar
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Sean Bugg, Chris Heller, Connor J. Hogan,
Troy Petenbrink, Kate Wingfield
WEBMASTER
David Uy

FEATURE
16
The Trouble With Stonewall
by Randy Shulman
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Julian Vankim
SALES & MARKETING

FEATURE
20
MoNique: The Queen Of Comedy
Interview by Doug Rule
PUBLISHER
Randy Shulman
BRAND STRATEGY & MARKETING
Christopher Cunetto
Cunetto Creative
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OPERA

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Efficient Disregard
NIGHTLIFE

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Peach Pit at DC9
CLUBLIFE

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Wunder Gartens Sausage Fest
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DC Kings Final Show
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Last Word
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by Rhuaridh Marr
photography by Ward Morrison
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METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
Hillary Clinton to address HRC

Veterans Affairs committee rejects LGBT amendments
METRO WEEKLY/FLICKR USER YURI SAMOILOV
LGBT
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Now online at MetroWeekly.com
Protected by PrEP
As Kaiser study shows daily Truvada use to be effective in preventing HIV,
patients say they dont regret their decision to start PrEP
by John Riley
HRIS WILBURN WAS INITIALLY SKEPTICAL OF

Truvada, the anti-HIV drug also known as PrEP.
I remember at the time, not being in the mindset
of Oh, this is a great idea, says Wilburn. Honestly,
the gut reaction for me was a lot of the slut-shaming that Im
very against now.
Wilburn saw PrEP or pre-exposure prophylaxis as a
drug that would encourage further promiscuity and reckless
sexual practices, even though he admits that he and his boyfriend of 10 years used condoms infrequently.
Most of those times, when we were with other people, we
would both top, and that was our way of kind of excusing ourselves, he says. So it felt like a good option for us to go on PrEP,
but it took a year of us discussing it, and asking around, and figuring out, Yeah we are okay with this. This makes sense for us.
Since starting on Truvada more than a year ago, Wilburn says
he and John have never missed a dose. They get tested every
three months for HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases.
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Their condom use has decreased slightly, but was low to begin
with. Their number of partners has increased, but they feel the
drug has allowed them to be more sexually open.
Much of Wilburns initial opposition stemmed from his conservative religious upbringing and guilt about the open nature
of his relationship.
Society always had taught me sex was dirty, and the only
way to not fear it was to make it sterile, he explains. There is
a sense of freedom post-PrEP and a lifting of the guilt and selfshaming that was the initial cause of my slut-shaming. This is
something shared with my friends who are also on PrEP.... We
often call it the beginning of a second sexual revolution and
we know that scares a lot of people.
There has been no debate more contentious than the one surrounding PrEP, particularly among men who have sex with men,
who are considered more at risk for transmission of HIV. The
largest concerns have focused on Truvadas efficacy, the prevalence of condom use among those who choose to take it, and the
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SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
LGBTNews
level of compliance, given that the drug has to be taken daily.
In a recent study examining the use of PrEP, published
in Clinical Infectious Diseases, not one of insurer Kaiser
Permanentes 657 Californian clients who took a daily dose of
Truvada became infected with HIV over a two-year period.
Condom use among the subjects did decrease, and about half of
the study participants, all but four of whom were gay men, contracted another sexually-transmitted disease such as syphilis,
gonorrhea or chlamydia within a year. Yet the news was hailed
by many proponents of PrEP, who pointed to the lack of new
HIV infections as evidence of its effectiveness.
Dr. Ray Martins, senior director of Clinical Education and
Training at Whitman-Walker Health, which specializes in
HIV-related care, says that all studies or trials of PrEP appear to
show a range of effectiveness though all depend on patients
regularly taking the drug as prescribed.
I was expecting it to be extremely effective, but I was not
expecting it to be 100 percent, Martins says of the Kaiser
studys findings. Researchers are planning a follow-up study of
1,500 participants from across the country, 300 of whom will be
enrolled at Whitman-Walker.
Martins says that prior to the Kaiser study, most other
studies involving PrEP did not show an increase in potential
risk-taking behavior. He also notes, anecdotally, that from what
hes seen among his own patients who are on PrEP, there hasnt
been an uptick in STDs, even though a quarter of patients admit
to using condoms less frequently. Yet about 80% of those rarely
used condoms to begin with. For Martins, it illustrates the fact
that the availability of PrEP is largely not going to change peoples sexual behaviors or the amount of risk they take.
Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare
Foundation, came under fire from several HIV/AIDS activists
and proponents of PrEP last year for referring to Truvada as a
party drug in a USA Today article. Weinstein says that AHFs
stance has been misrepresented: the organization has never
been completely opposed to PrEP, but has reservations about
adopting PrEP as part of a public health strategy such as that
adopted by New York state and worries about creating a culture in which condom use is discouraged.
If you look at whats happened, when the FDA approved it, the
line that everyone was using was that it was another tool to be used
with condoms, Weinstein says. Part of my concern, and AHFs
concern, was we didnt believe that was how it would be used.
Weinstein says that some proponents of PrEP are promoting
unprotected sex rather than using condoms in addition to PrEP.
One of the more extreme examples is the Australian activist
group SEEIT CLEARLY2020, which is behind a proliferation
of posters in Melbourne that say Now you can fuck raw. PrEP
works. No more HIV.
Obviously, for people who will never use a condom, PrEP is
better than no protection, says Weinstein. People who always
use a condom dont need PrEP. Negative people whose partners
are undetectable, if theyre confident and comfortable that the
person is undetectable, then theres no need for PrEP.
Weinstein also notes that Truvada is only effective if users
are regularly adherent, but previous studies have shown that
adherence drops off among people of lower incomes and educational levels, younger patients, and communities of color.
Thats why failing to continue to promote condom use is not a
responsible public health strategy. Additionally, he warns that,
because Truvada only protects against HIV and not other STDs,
adopting a cavalier attitude towards diseases like syphilis, gon8
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
orrhea and chlamydia because they are more easily treated than
HIV is short-sighted.
AHF began running ads primarily geared towards gay and
bisexual male audiences that repeat the established U.S. guidelines for the use of PrEP. The advertisements, titled Reaching
Common Ground on PrEP, stress which groups of people are
ideal candidates for PrEP, emphasize regular testing and daily
adherence, and warn against undue influence by pharmaceutical giants on doctors. AHF also aims for future medical advances, such as an implant that delivers a steady dose of medication
or an injection that would provide protection for a number of
months, that would be more reliable than a daily pill in ensuring
adherence to PrEP.
The other thing thats been really unfortunate over the past
few years is theres been an attempt to shut down the conversation, says Weinstein. Anyone who has any concerns is automatically labeled as a stigmatizer.... Its really been a matter of
attack first, talk later.... It has a bad influence within the LGBT
community, the fact that we cant actually discuss these issues
without bashing each other.
AHF and other skeptics among them gay playwright Larry
Kramer arent the only ones that have borne the brunt of
attacks in the debate over PrEP. Joseph Givens, a 29-year-old
whos been on Truvada for over a year, says being public about
his decision to go on PrEP has earned him negative feedback
from his social group. Hes been called a Truvada whore, even
by his former partner.
They think that being on it automatically makes you think
that you have the right to be promiscuous and have unprotected
sex, says Givens. Thats not true. Being on PrEP has made me
more aware of my HIV status.
Givens, who decided to go on Truvada because of a prior
relationship where his partner had been cheating on him, has
in fact decreased his number of partners since starting the drug
regime, and has increased his condom use, particularly when
sexually engaging with a person he doesnt know well.
Sean Wieland views PrEP as an added layer of protection,
one he would recommend any gay male who is not monogamous to consider. Although initially leery about potential toxic
side effects of the drug some friends reported problems with
severe nausea Wielands decision was affected by an incident
that required him to undergo post-exposure prophylaxis, where
patients take antiretrovirals to avoid contracting HIV.
Im somebody who came out twenty-one years ago. I grew
up in the HIV epidemic, he says. Look at what happened
in the eighties. Look at your own behavior. This is something
that has thus far been proven. Yes, there could be adverse side
effects down the road. But I would much rather be part of the
generation that is taking it, and shows that it is going to prevent
transmission. Theres a risk of any drug.
The biggest hindrance to going on PrEP for Wieland is the
fact that only some insurance plans cover Truvada, and people
arent always aware of programs at places such as WhitmanWalker that help cover the cost and provide co-pay assistance
to Truvada users. Since starting PrEP, Wieland has become a
strong advocate for the treatment, defending it to friends and
acquaintances who question that decision.
Regardless of how you feel about this drug, its something
thats a tool thats available for us to reduce the transmission
rate, Wieland adds. Science is progressing, but if theres a pill
that allows me to continue what Im doing sexually, and minimizes my risk, Im going to take it. l
COMMENTARY
A Dangerous Pope
Pope Francis is an even more harmful adversary to the LGBT community

than his predecessor
by Tim Rosenberger
HIS WEEK, MY COLLEGE WAS A FLURRY OF

activity as everyone prepared themselves for Pope
Francis arrival. At Georgetown, Francis is nearly
universally beloved. Hes the first Pope from the
Americas, the first Jesuit, and a priest who makes all the right
noises about the entire portfolio of progressive causes.
Pope Francis wants us to know that he cares deeply about
the poor, specifically using the language of income inequality to
draw connections between living uprightly and secular economics. Francis talks about the environment and climate change,
and calls on businesses and his laity to reduce their dependence
on fossil fuels. He vehemently opposes the death penalty, has
warm things to say about people of different faiths, and offers
Jesuitical demurrals when the media attempts to goad him into
offering anything concrete regarding the LGBT community.I
should adore this pope, if only for that final point.
Benedict XVI was not one to equivocate. He set forth battle
lines for Christendom and maintained orthodoxy with an iron
fist. If one didnt like the direction of the church, one could
choose to do battle. Gay Catholics could leave a church that

would never welcome them, or organize into groups that could
plan for a better future. A vocal dissent grew under Benedict and
gay Catholics began to loudly demand better from their church.
They dared to openly, vocally, and proudly ignore and condemn
teachings that they knew to be wrong. Even straight Catholics
were put off by Benedicts rhetoric and able to see that the
teachings of the church did not reflect their lived experiences. A
church that viewed gay people as a danger akin to its own stable
of pedophiles simply could not be taken seriously on issues of
sexuality.
With Francis, I see that much of the motivation for this kind
of bravery and disobedience has dissipated. Rather than fighting
for equality, our community is rolling out the red carpet for a
Pope who has changed literally none of the churchs teachings
on sexuality. While Benedicts ravings alienated straight audiences, Francis words provide a great deal of support to a rising
tide of soft bigotry. Its no longer okay to say hateful things about
gays, but its completely acceptable to refuse them full equality.
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SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
In some ways, this message perfectly aligns with a wider negative attitude emerging in society. Gays can have sex, they can
marry, they can have kids, but they can never be normal. We
will always be the other. Francis now tells us that the church
should respect and care for the LGBT community, but it should
never acknowledge our full humanity or our complete dignity.
As an identity and as a people, we still dont really exist. We will
never be the embodiment of Gods image on earth.
Despite his many warm interactions with gay people, Francis
has already shown clear disconnects with reality in his preparations for this trip. The Pope recently offered some truly disturbing thoughts on the role of transgender people in the church
and, more recently, the Vatican raised a ruckus about a few

LGBT activists buried amongst the thousands of Americans
chosen to greet the Pope upon his arrival. An invited friend of
mine, and fellow founding member of The Reformation Project,
Mateo Williamson, was singled out for criticism for his activism
on behalf of trans Catholics. One can only hope that these warning signs remind the gay community that Francis is Benedicts
theology wrapped in charisma and kindness.
We all knew that Benedict was a bastard, but we also knew
how to deal with him. With Francis arrival in the U.S. this week,
we should remember that, despite his warm words about us, he
is a more dangerous adversary than his predecessor ever was. l
COMMENTARY
You Oughta Know
Im here to remind Ben Carson of the mess he made when he waylaid American Muslims
by Sean Bugg
LTHOUGH I DONT ENJOY GOING OUT AS

often as I once did, I do still enjoy people watching
in cafes particularly when Im procrastinating.
Watching details, making inferences, and concocting
stories while watching others drink their lattes and eat their salads is why a writer hangs out in a cafe or coffee shop. I certainly
cant get any serious writing done there.
Most recently, I was watching a bearded father working on
a laptop while entertaining his son and daughter. Given that
the father looked Middle Eastern I reflexively assumed he was
Muslim, because Im white and we tend to do that even if we
feel guilty about it afterward. Then he sent back a sandwich hed
ordered because he didnt realize it had bacon on it, so it turned
out my knee-jerk categorization was most likely correct.
But whats really held my thoughts since then wasnt the
father but the children, young enough to still be innocent of the
world around them, but old enough that this could be the first
presidential campaign season they remember, however hazily.
Which means one of their earliest memories could be hearing
renowned surgeon, icon of African-American success, and current presidential candidate Ben Carson declare that they should
never be allowed to grow up to be president.
Essentially, the American Dream for me, not thee.
Carson has since defended and expanded on his comments,
saying that he believes any Muslim should be required to
renounce Sharia law, despite the fact that there can be no religious test for a candidate in our democracy, even if voters are free
to act on their bigotry. Leaving aside Carsons questionable grasp
of U.S. constitutional law and the actual workings of democracy,
one wonders why a Muslim candidate would have to renounce
various Koranic laws and passages while our unbroken line of
Christian presidents have never been required to renounce the
barbaric laws in their own Old and New Testaments.
But of course, this is just fear-mongering crap, playing to
the not-insignificant portion of Americans mostly, but not
entirely, Republicans who can never stop seeing Muslims, or
anyone they perceive to be Muslim, as a monolithic existential
threat. Hes pandering to the people who protest the building
of any mosque on American soil. Hes pandering to the Trump
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supporters who believe our country is infected with Muslim terrorist training camps, even though our home-grown terrorists
have predominantly been white supremacists. Hes demonizing
Americans who are different than him because of ambition,
ignorance, or (most likely) both.
As a gay man, I am constantly aware that my experience
of discrimination is in no real way equivalent to the AfricanAmerican experience. Yes, Ive known people who have been
beaten, whove been killed, whove died from government
neglect. Ive been turned away, mocked, and threatened for
being gay. I know the history of my community and how the
government and society long attempted marginalization and
elimination of us. But all that pales to the centuries of the middle
passage, slavery, Jim Crow, and every other horror that America
managed to throw at black people.
Its generally not my place to dictate how a black persons
experience with bigotry in the past should influence their reaction to issues of discrimination in the present. But. But, but, but.
At 47, Im old enough to remember my great grandmother,
who was born shortly after the Civil War and experienced
Reconstruction and Jim Crow as a white woman. At 64, Carson
should certainly have even greater connection to the past than I,
through his and other black families who lived, suffered, and
in his case eventually thrived despite an openly racist society.
Like me, Carson should remember that not so long ago the majority of Americans didnt believe a Catholic could be president, because
any Catholic would be subservient to the pope. And, like me, Carson
should know that most of Americas deepest fears of others have
proven to be false righteous at the time and racist in hindsight.
So in this case, Im willing to say it: Ben Carson should know
better because hes black. He should know better because hes
seen the results of racism and xenophobia in this country, even
if he laudably rose above them in his own profession. He should
know better because hes an extremely intelligent man who
shouldnt be pandering to bigots.
And he should know better because telling little Muslim children, some of the most recent to learn of the American Dream,
that they cant aspire to the same dreams as their non-Muslim
friends is the most anti-American thing he could do. l
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SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
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LGBTCommunityCalendar
Metro Weeklys Community Calendar highlights important events in the D.C.-area
LGBT community, from alternative social events to volunteer opportunities.
Event information should be sent by email to calendar@MetroWeekly.com.
Deadline for inclusion is noon of the Friday before Thursdays publication.
Questions about the calendar may be directed to the
Metro Weekly office at 202-638-6830 or
the calendar email address.
SMYALS REC NIGHT provides a

social atmosphere for GLBT and questioning youth, featuring dance parties,
vogue nights, movies and games. More
info, catherine.chu@smyal.org.
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-6
p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for
youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,
410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, testing@
smyal.org.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 26
THURSDAY, SEPT. 24
METROHEALTH CENTER offers
GAYS AND LESBIANS OPPOSING

VIOLENCE (GLOV), a group fighting
anti-LGBT violence and hate crimes,

holds a monthly meeting at The DC
Center. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW,
Suite 105. For more information, visit
thedccenter.org or glovdc.org
free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment

needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700.
202-638-0750.

youth 21 and younger. 202-567-3155
or testing@smyal.org.
US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics
WEEKLY EVENTS
ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL
HEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5
p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). Call 202-291-4707, or visit

andromedatransculturalhealth.org.
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)
practice session at Takoma Aquatic

Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 7:30-9
p.m. swimdcac.org.
DC LAMBDA SQUARES gay and lesbian square-dancing group features

mainstream through advanced square
dancing at the National City Christian
Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW, 7-9:30
p.m. Casual dress. 301-257-0517,
dclambdasquares.org.
The DULLES TRIANGLES Northern
Virginia social group meets for happy
hour at Sheraton in Reston, 11810
Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor
bar, 7-9 p.m. All welcome. dullestriangles.com.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. At the Elizabeth Taylor

Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,
9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max Robinson
Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9
a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment
call 202-745-7000. Visit whitmanwalker.org.
IDENTITY offers free and confiden-
tial HIV testing in Gaithersburg,

414 East Diamond Ave., and in
Takoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire
Ave., Suite 411. Walk-ins 2-6 p.m.
For appointments other hours, call
Gaithersburg, 301-300-9978, or
Takoma Park, 301-422-2398.
12
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
Anonymous Meeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m.,

3636 Georgia Ave. NW. The group is
independent of UHU. 202-446-1100.
WOMENS LEADERSHIP
INSTITUTE for young LBTQ women,
WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES, a

social discussion and activity group
for LBT women, meets on the second
and fourth Fridays of each month at
The DC Center. Group social activity
to follow meeting. 8-9:30 p.m. 2000
14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more
information, visit thedccenter.org.
WEEKLY EVENTS
p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707, andromedatransculturalhealth.org.
13-21, interested in leadership development. 5-6:30 p.m. SMYAL Youth

Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3163,
catherine.chu@smyal.org.
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-
FRIDAY, SEPT. 25
GAY MARRIED MENS

ASSOCIATION (GAMMA) is a con-
CENTER AGING, a group for older
adults, hosts a monthly luncheon at

The DC Center. 12-2 p.m. 2000 14th
St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
LGB PSYCHOTHERAPY GROUP for

adults in Montgomery County offers
a safe space to explore coming out
and issues of identity. 10-11:30 a.m.
16220 S. Frederick Rd., Suite 512,
Gaithersburg, Md. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
The DC Center presents the kickoff
of the OUR HEROES EXHIBIT and
the addition of over 24 photographs
to the collection of more than 200
black-and-white photographs documenting the history of HIV/AIDS.
Featuring a performance by the Gay
Mens Chorus of Washington. Event
is free and open to the public. 6-8
p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For
more information, visit
thedccenter.org.
METROWEEKLY.COM
tice session at Hains Point, 927 Ohio

Dr. SW. 6:30-8 p.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
fidential support group for men who

are gay, bisexual, questioning and
who are married or involved with
a woman, that meets on the second
and fourth Fridays of the month in
Dupont Circle at 7:30 p.m. GAMMA
also offers additional meeting times
and places for men in Northern
Virginia and Maryland. For more
information: GAMMAinDC.org.

Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9
a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment
call 202-745-7000. Visit whitmanwalker.org.

202-638-0750.
PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-
affirming social group for ages 11-24.

4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road NW.
Contact Tamara, 202-319-0422,
layc-dc.org.
ADVENTURING outdoors group hikes

7 easy miles from King Street Metro to
Arlington Cemetery Metro via the Mt.
Vernon Trail. Bring beverages, lunch,
$2 trip fee. Meet at 9 a.m. inside the
King Street Metro by the station
attendants kiosk. Contact Theresa,
252-876-1469. adventuring.org.
BURGUNDY CRESCENT, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers for
Food & Friends. To participate, visit
burgundycrescent.org.
WEEKLY EVENTS
p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707 or andromedatransculturalhealth.org.
BET MISHPACHAH, founded by

members of the LGBT community,
holds Saturday morning Shabbat services, 10 a.m., followed by Kiddush
luncheon. Services in DCJCC
Community Room, 1529 16th St. NW.
betmish.org.
BRAZILIAN GLBT GROUP, including
others interested in Brazilian culture,
meets. For location/time, email braziliangaygroup@yahoo.com.
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice session at Hains Point, 972 Ohio
Dr., SW. 8:30-10 a.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
DC FRONT RUNNERS running/walking/social club welcomes all levels for

exercise in a fun and supportive environment, socializing afterward. Meet
9:30 a.m., 23rd & P Streets NW, for a
walk; or 10 a.m. for fun run.
dcfrontrunners.org.
DC SENTINELS basketball team
meets at Turkey Thicket Recreation

Center, 1100 Michigan Ave. NE, 2-4
p.m. For players of all levels, gay or
straight. teamdcbasketball.org.
DIGNITYUSA sponsors Mass for
LGBT community, family and friends.

6:30 p.m., Immanuel Church-on-theHill, 3606 Seminary Road, Alexandria.
All welcome. For more info, visit
dignitynova.org.
GAY LANGUAGE CLUB discusses

critical languages and foreign languages. 7 p.m. Nellies, 900 U St. NW.
RVSP preferred. brendandarcy@
gmail.com.
tial HIV testing in Takoma Park,

7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411.
Walk-ins 12-3 p.m. For appointments
other hours, call 301-422-2398.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 27
Join LINCOLN CONGREGATIONAL
TEMPLE UNITED CHURCH OF

CHRIST for an inclusive, loving and
progressive faith community every

Sunday. 11 a.m. 1701 11th Street NW,
near R in Shaw/Logan neighborhood.
lincolntemple.org.
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF
REFORMATION invites all to Sunday
worship at 8:30 or 11 a.m. Childcare is

available at both services. Welcoming
LGBT people for 25 years. 212 East
Capitol St. NE. reformationdc.org
ADVENTURING outdoors group

holds Fall Potluck Social in private
home in Alexandria. 4 p.m. All welcome. For directions and food assignments, contact Brett, brettytogo@
yahoo.com. adventuring.org.
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY
CHURCH OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
WEEKLY EVENTS
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY
CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS

MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH
celebrates Low Mass at 8:30 a.m.,
High Mass at 11 a.m. 2300 Cathedral
Ave. NW. 202-232-4244,
allsoulsdc.org.
services at 11 a.m., led by Rev. Onetta

Brooks. Childrens Sunday School, 11
a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax.
703-691-0930, mccnova.com.
services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpreted)

and 11 a.m. Childrens Sunday School
at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW. 202-6387373, mccdc.com.
NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIAN

CHURCH, inclusive church with
BETHEL CHURCH-DC progressive

and radically inclusive church holds
services at 11:30 a.m. 2217 Minnesota
Ave. SE. 202-248-1895, betheldc.org.
GLBT fellowship, offers gospel worship, 8:30 a.m., and traditional worship, 11 a.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW.
202-232-0323, nationalcitycc.org.
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-
NEW HSV-2 SOCIAL AND

SUPPORT GROUP for gay men living
tice session at Hains Point, 972 Ohio

Dr., SW. 9:30-11 a.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
DIGNITYUSA offers Roman Catholic

Mass for the LGBT community. 6
p.m., St. Margarets Church, 1820
Connecticut Ave. NW. All welcome.
Sign interpreted. For more info, visit
dignitynova.org.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED

CHURCH OF CHRIST welcomes all
to 10:30 a.m. service, 945 G St. NW.
firstuccdc.org or 202-628-4317.
FRIENDS MEETING OF
WASHINGTON meets for worship,
10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW,

Quaker House Living Room (next to
Meeting House on Decatur Place),
2nd floor. Special welcome to lesbians
and gays. Handicapped accessible
from Phelps Place gate. Hearing
assistance. quakersdc.org.
HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF

CHRIST welcomes GLBT commu-
nity for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130

Old Telegraph Road, Alexandria.
hopeucc.org.
INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL

DEVELOPMENT, God-centered new
in the DC metro area. This group will

be meeting once a month. For information on location and time, email to
not.the.only.one.dc@gmail.com.
RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH,

a Christ-centered, interracial, welcoming-and-affirming church, offers
service at 10 a.m. 680 I St. SW. 202554-4330, riversidedc.org.
ST. STEPHEN AND THE
INCARNATION, an interracial,
multi-ethnic Christian Community

offers services in English, 8 a.m. and
10:30 a.m., and in Spanish at 5:15 p.m.
1525 Newton St. NW. 202-232-0900,
saintstephensdc.org.
UNITARIAN CHURCH OF
ARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcoming-
and-affirming congregation, offers

services at 10 a.m. Virginia Rainbow
UU Ministry. 4444 Arlington Blvd.
uucava.org.
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
CHURCH OF SILVER SPRING
invites LGBTQ families and individuals of all creeds and cultures to join
the church. Services 9:15 and 11:15 a.m.
10309 New Hampshire Ave. uucss.org.
age church & learning center. Sunday

Services and Workshops event. 5419
Sherier Place NW. isd-dc.org.
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
13
UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL
MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-
ing and inclusive church. GLBT

Interweave social/service group
meets monthly. Services at 11 a.m.,
Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St.
NW. 202-387-3411, universalist.org.
MONDAY, SEPT. 28
CENTER MILITARY, a group of
LGBT veterans, military servicemembers, their families and allies holds
a meeting of its monthly working
group to discuss upcoming initiatives.
7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite
105. For more information, contact
Eric Perez, eric.perez@thedccenter.
org or 202-682-2245.
WEEKLY EVENTS
Dr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds
practice, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Garrison

Elementary, 1200 S St. NW. dcscandals.wordpress.com.
GETEQUAL meets 6:30-8 p.m. at

Quaker House, 2111 Florida Ave. NW.
getequal.wdc@gmail.com.
HIV Testing at WHITMANWALKER HEALTH. At the Elizabeth
Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th
St. NW, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max
Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave.
SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment call 202-745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.
KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY

(K.I.) SERVICES, 3333 Duke St.,
Alexandria, offers free rapid HIV

testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
703-823-4401.

free, rapid HIV testing. No appointment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14th
St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.
NOVASALUD offers free HIV test-
ing. 5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite

200, Arlington. Appointments: 703789-4467.

410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155 or testing@smyal.org.
THE DC CENTER hosts Coffee DropIn for the Senior LGBT Community.
10 a.m.-noon. 2000 14th St. NW. 202682-2245, thedccenter.org.
14
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
US HELPING US hosts a black gay

mens evening affinity group. 3636
Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.
WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER
POLO TEAM practices 7-9 p.m.
Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van

Buren St. NW. Newcomers with at
least basic swimming ability always
welcome. Tom, 703-299-0504, secretary@wetskins.org, wetskins.org.
WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH
HIV/AIDS Support Group for newly

diagnosed individuals, meets 7 p.m.
Registration required. 202-939-7671,
hivsupport@whitman-walker.org.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 29
The Mayors Office on Asian and
Pacific Islander Affairs, together with
The DC Center, holds a special AAPI
LGBT TOWN HALL event and listening session to discuss issues affecting
the Asian and Pacific Islander community. 6:30-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW,
Suite 105. For more information, visit
thedccenter.org.
WEEKLY EVENTS
ASIANS AND FRIENDS weekly dinner in Dupont/Logan Circle area, 6:30

p.m. afwash@aol.com,
afwashington.net.
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)
practice session at Takoma Aquatic

Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 7:30-9
p.m. swimdcac.org.
DC FRONT RUNNERS running/walking/social club serving greater D.C.s

LGBT community and allies hosts an
evening run/walk. dcfrontrunners.org.
THE GAY MENS HEALTH

COLLABORATIVE offers free HIV
testing and STI screening and treatment every Tuesday. 5-6:30 p.m.
Rainbow Tuesday LGBT Clinic,
Alexandria Health Department, 4480
King St. 703-746-4986 or text 571-2149617. james.leslie@inova.org.

Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE,
9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment
call 202-745-7000. Visit
whitman-walker.org.
THE HIV WORKING GROUP of THE

DC CENTER hosts Packing Party,
where volunteers assemble safe-sex
kits of condoms and lube. 7 p.m.,
Green Lantern, 1335 Green Court
NW. thedccenter.org.
tial HIV testing in Gaithersburg,

414 East Diamond Ave., and in
Takoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire
Ave., Suite 411. Walk-ins 2-6 p.m.
Gaithersburg at 301-300-9978 or
Takoma Park at 301-422-2398.
KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY

(K.I.) SERVICES, at 3333 Duke St.,
Alexandria, offers free rapid HIV

testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
703-823-4401.

202-638-0750.
OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS
LGBT focused meeting every
Tuesday, 7 p.m. St. Georges
Episcopal Church, 915 Oakland Ave.,
Arlington, just steps from Virginia
Square Metro. For more info. call
Dick, 703-521-1999. Handicapped
accessible. Newcomers welcome.
liveandletliveoa@gmail.com.
410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, testing@smyal.org.
SUPPORT GROUP FOR LGBTQ
YOUTH ages 13-21 meets at SMYAL,
410 7th St. SE, 5-6:30 p.m. Cathy
Chu, 202-567-3163, catherine.chu@
smyal.org.
US HELPING US hosts a support

group for black gay men 40 and older.
7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW.
202-446-1100.
WEEKLY EVENTS
AD LIB, a group for freestyle conversation, meets about 6:30-6 p.m.,
Steam, 17th and R NW. All welcome.
For more information, call Fausto
Fernandez, 703-732-5174.

Dr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds
practice, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Garrison

Elementary, 1200 S St. NW. dcscandals.wordpress.com.
HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH
offers Wednesday worship 7:15 a.m.

and 12:05 p.m. All welcome. 118 N.
Washington St., Alexandria. 703-5491450, historicchristchurch.org.

Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE,
9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment
call 202-745-7000. Visit
whitman-walker.org.
tial HIV testing in Gaithersburg, 414

East Diamond Ave. Walk-ins 2-7 p.m.
Gaithersburg at 301-300-9978.
JOB CLUB, a weekly support pro-
gram for job entrants and seekers,

meets at The DC Center. 2000 14th St.
NW, Suite 105. 6-7:30 p.m. More info,
www.centercareers.org.
Whitman-Walker Healths GAY
free, rapid HIV testing. No appointment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14th
St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.
MENS HEALTH AND WELLNESS/

STD CLINIC opens at 6 p.m., 1701
NOVASALUD offers free HIV testing.
14th St. NW. Patients are seen on

walk-in basis. No-cost screening for
HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. Hepatitis and herpes testing
available for fee. whitman-walker.org.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30
THE LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB
11 a.m.-2 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite

200, Arlington. Appointments: 703789-4467.
PRIME TIMERS OF DC, social

club for mature gay men, hosts
weekly happy hour/dinner. 6:30 p.m.,
Windows Bar above Dupont Italian
Kitchen, 1637 17th St. NW. Carl, 703573-8316. l
meets for Duplicate Bridge. 7:30 p.m.

Dignity Center, 721 8th St. SE, across
from the Marine Barracks. No reservation needed. 703-407-6540 if you
need a partner.
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
15
The Trouble with
STONEWALL
HERES A LONE, GRIPPING MOMENT IN

Stonewall. It occurs about a third of the way
through the otherwise lugubrious 2 hour film,
as a pair of billy club-wielding police officers
savagely beat Danny (Jeremy Irvine), the films
blond, angelic centerpiece and preordained
hero. What comes next is predictable but no less harrowing, as
one of the officers, in the smarmiest tone imaginable, wonders
aloud if the bloodied, battered young man should fellate him.
Danny is spared when the cops are abruptly called away, but
its his first taste of extreme persecution, the subhuman treatment gays endured in the late 60s. Watching, you cant help but
think that while things are still far from perfect for the LGBT
community, the movement sparked by the near-mythic events
surrounding the legendary Stonewall Inn bar transformed our
existence. Yes, it got better.
Unfortunately, Stonewall (}) does not get better.
It most certainly did not get better for Danny, a closeted,
small town Indiana high school student in love with his best
friend Joe, a strapping high school quarterback.
Do you think were sick? asks the quiet, sensitive Danny, as
Joe unbuckles his pants late one night in the front seat of his car.
After Joe responds in the negative, Danny follows with a wistful,
I like you.
Dont say that, retorts Joe, aghast. This is just for now.
Were not faggots. He then pushes Dannys head into his crotch.
Naturally theyre caught, and Danny, ostracized by friends
and family, runs away from home and his remote, stern, abusive father, useless Stepford Wife of a mother, and vomitously
supportive little sister who should have been personally
introduced to Hannibal Lecter before uttering her first line of
16
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
sap-drenched dialogue.
Where does Danny go? New York. What street in New York?
Christopher! What happens immediately? A supremely aged,
lecherous man slithers next to the midwestern nymph and salaciously offers him a place to rest his weary head. (This is the first
of many squirm-inducing moments to come.) Danny rebuffs the
advance and instantly falls in with a bunch of happy-go-lucky
street kids who turn tricks to survive, because thats what happens in real life. He ultimately becomes their guiding light to
salvation and liberation, with a brick in hand and a fist-pumping
cry of Gay power!
Roland Emmerichs film is a self-aggrandizing tribute to
those wonderful, brave, accidental LGBT activists who, over
four nights of rioting in the West Village, sparked the birth of the
second greatest civil rights movement in our lifetime. Stonewall
is the LGBT communitys Selma. And if youre going to make a
film about it, please, do it with intelligence, insight and respect
for those involved. Pay genuine homage not fleeting lip service to the transgender persons and gay people of color who
stood up and said, essentially, Were mad as hell and were not
going to take it anymore. The movie would have you believe, as
one character puts it, These kids have nothing left to lose. The
fact is, they had everything to gain. The Stonewall riot was not a
moment of last-ditch desperation, it was an outcry of rage, a call
for justice, equality and, most of all, visibility. It was the night we
emerged from the shadows and into the light.
As a gay man, I felt insulted watching the film. Truly one of
the most incompetent LGBT-themed films to ever make it onto
the screen and I have seen hundreds in my years as a journalist
and critic, of all stripes, good and bad Stonewall is a defamation
not just to our community, but to moviegoers of all genders, sexu-
PHILIPPE BOSS
Roland Emmerich has butchered a watershed moment in LGBT history / By Randy Shulman
PHILIPPE BOSS
A vanity project of astonishingly huge proportions,

Stonewall is the deeply misguided work of
A WHITE, GAY, OBSCENELY PRIVILEGED MAN PROCLAIMING,
THIS IS HOW I SEE OUR HISTORY.
alities, race, creed, you have it. A vanity project of astonishingly
huge proportions, its the deeply misguided work of a white, gay,
obscenely privileged man thumping his chest and proclaiming,
This is how I see our history. Emmerich pretty much said so
himself, telling Buzzfeeds Shannon Keating that as a director,
you have to put yourself in your movies, and Im white and gay.
He continued: I didnt make this movie for only gay people, I
made it also for straight people. I kind of find out, in the testing
process, that actually, for straight people, [Danny] is a very easy
in.... [Straight audiences] can feel for him. (Why anyone would
feel the need to do focus group testing on whats meant to be an
intimate, independent film is mind-boggling in itself.)
Historical veracity doesnt seem important within the films
manufactured universe. Dramatic license is not uncommon, and
most movies based on actual events indulge in copious amounts
of it. Yet how hard would it have been to give Silvia Rivera her
due? And the renowned drag queen Marsha P. Johnson, one of
the eras most fascinating, important people, is given a tiny sliver
of screen time. To make matters worse, the character is used as
comic relief. To his credit, Otoja Abit provides Johnson genuine
sass and spark, but he cant overcome the wretched dialogue hes
forced to recite.
Essentially, Stonewall warps history to suit Emmerichs
needs, in the process reducing our greatest cataclysmic moment
it feels like a shoddy TV movie from the 70s, or worse, an
Afternoon Special, but with vastly unpleasant sex. Stonewall is
the kind of movie where you laugh out loud when you shouldnt
be so much as cracking a smile, where you cringe over an instant
of appalling dialogue. Its the kind of movie where you leave
feeling soiled, ashamed even. You pray straight people will never
see it, because it turns homosexuality into something unseemly
and dank. Theres no ebullience here, only despair, longing and

pining. Lots and lots of pining. Every guy has to get over being
in love with a guy who cant love him back, the famed gay rights
activist Bob Kohler (Patrick Garrow) soberly informs Danny.
The movies underlying point has some validity. At the time,
gays were reduced to less-than-nothing in societys eyes. We
were squirreled away, sight unseen. And if we were seen, we
were punished severely for being ourselves. We were not capable of love in the worlds eyes, only driven by our hunger for sex.
We were seen as perverts, classified as mentally ill. The answer
to some such as Frank Kameny and the Mattachine Society
was to assimilate, to blend in by donning suits. If we were like
everyone else, then everyone else would come to like us. Theres
a way to relate this intense, heartbreaking time in our history
with emotional power and poignancy, with finesse and sensitivity, with tenderness and passion, and impactfully propel it forth
in a glorious blaze of outrage and anger. And yet the material
fully eludes Emmerich and screenwriter Jon Robin Baitz, both
gay men who should know better. Baitz, in particular, a masterful playwright in his own right (Other Desert Cities), should be
apologizing profusely for his role in this travesty.
Controversy has already engulfed Stonewall in Emmerichs
boneheaded choice to make his hero a whitebread boy. Played
by Irvine with all the charm of a potato, Danny might as well be
goose-stepping his way through the West Village. The primary
narrative deals with Dannys awakening to the wonderful promise of being a gay man, and the promise of a life that could be
fully claimed, and yet that tale has been told many times before
in far better ways. Yet here it is again: Stonewall, reduced to
coming-of-age melodrama.
The real heroes of Stonewall are relegated to side-order staMETROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
17
Stonewall is the kind of movie where you leave feeling soiled, ashamed even.
YOU PRAY STRAIGHT PEOPLE WILL NEVER SEE IT, BECAUSE IT TURNS
HOMOSEXUALITY INTO SOMETHING UNSEEMLY AND DANK.
18
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
Something happened to me when I saw you at the Stonewall,

Trevor says to Danny after their night of ick-making. I fell into
deep water. He then invites Danny to move in. Danny accepts.
Trevor quickly finds himself another boy and breaks Dannys
little gay heart.
Theres a great film buried in the stories surrounding the
events at the Stonewall Inn particularly in the tale of Ed
Murphy, the gangster who ran the bar and pimped out many of
the hustlers frequenting it. Murphy, remarkably, later turned the
other cheek, becoming a celebrated gay activist. Thats a narrative that could have framed Stonewall in a stunningly original
fashion, relating history in a dramatic way that captivates and
engages, both intellectually and emotionally. Regrettably, this
Stonewalls Murphy is played by Ron Perlman with the kind
of leaden thunk that denotes an actor simply waiting on his
paycheck. Maybe he owed a favor to Emmerich. The crime is
that such a fine, esteemed actor accepted the job after reading
beyond the first page of the script.
There is not a single redeeming quality to Stonewall. Theres
nothing that makes you want to embrace it and go, Yes! This
was our time! This is a film about our history my history,
your history but I wanted no part of what was transpiring on
screen. Everything seems seedy, out of sorts. To call Stonewall
noxious is far too gracious a compliment. Its toxic.
Over the past day, Ive read Emmerich clumsily defend his
choices, among them asserting that Stonewall is designed to shed
light on the plight of homeless gay youth in America today. Huh?
Mr. Emmerich, go go and make that movie. Better yet,
dont. Go back to your spaceships and Stargates and massive
world apocalypses. Go back to your crew of thousands who
make you look like youre even remotely competent at what you
do. And frankly, while its nice to find out youre gay and all, the
next time you get an itch to venture into our shared LGBT history, walk away. Please. Youre the last person we need telling
our stories.
Stonewall runs 129 minutes and is Rated R for language and
sexual situations. Opens Friday at the Landmark E Street Cinema
and other area theaters, alongside other major releases far more
deserving of your money. l
PHILIPPE BOSS
tus, while Danny, the main course, rises up against the mob and
police corruption and all the persecution that kept gays from
living fulfilling lives. The moment he is handed the fated brick,
your heart plummets. Danny is the Wonder Bread god who will
show us the way to salvation through violence, prompting his
unmerry band of transgender hookers and homeless hustlers
to claim their place in the world, openly and without shame,
harassment or fear of incarceration. The mob storms the street
and takes back the night. Except only one night, not the historically-accurate four. Because, you know, budget.
Emmerichs heart may be in the right place, but his talent is,
as ever, nowhere to be seen. The purveyor of disaster porn typically hides behind explosions and bombast. Yet when it comes
time to delve into an intimate, personal story, the emperor
reveals himself naked and afraid. After years of manhandling
gargantuan disaster scenes, Emmerich just cannot deal with the
interpersonal dramas a film of this type demands. The performances he evokes from the actors are stiff and disconnected, the
pacing pedestrian. He lacks nuance and sophistication every
tool in his directors kit is a sledgehammer.
Baitz, too, must shoulder his portion of blame for penning
dialogue that is not just cringeworthy, but persistently cringeworthy. I have not seen one dream come true on Christopher
Street, bemoans someone to Danny. Or take, for example, this
laughter-inducing exchange between Danny and the Puerto
Rican, gender-bending hustler Ray (the movies half-assed
answer to the M.I.A. Rivera), portrayed by Jonny Beauchamp
as if he were channelling a bad impersonation of Judy Garland
channelling an even worse impersonation of Michael Jackson.
Danny, I love you.
Im too mad to love anyone right now.
Cue quivering lips and epic glycerine tears.
The movies biggest howlers belong to Trevor, played to
a tawdry, covetous extreme by a mildly oily Jonathan Rhys
Meyers (who has the desperate look of an actor longing to escape
the contract he erroneously signed). A Mattachine Society organizer (Come to our meetings! We have cookies!), Trevor very,
very, very creepily seduces Danny. It feels like something out of
a classic William Higgins porno. All thats missing are knee-high
athletic socks and a box of pizza.
PHILIPPE BOSS
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
19
The Queen of Comedy

Whether performing stand-up or pulling out the dramatic stops,
MoNique aims to be true to herself
Interview by Doug Rule Illustration by Christopher Cunetto
IVE YEARS AGO, MONIQUE GAVE A MOVING, GRACIOUS, AND HEARTFELT

toast to a sold-out crowd at the HRC National Dinner.
I want to thank yall for accepting me into a community that oftentimes struggles
to be accepted by the world, she said. MoNique was there to present the Visibility
Award to Lee Daniels, who, the year prior, had directed her in the movie Precious.
She won an Oscar for her supporting role as Mary, the angrily brutal mother of the
titular character. This year, MoNique was nominated for an Emmy for portraying the bisexual
Mother of the Blues Ma Rainey in the HBO film Bessie. While she didnt win, the film took four
statues, including Outstanding Television Movie.
Most people got to know MoNique years earlier as a comedian. Or as a host of the syndicated
variety show Showtime at the Apollo. Or as the star of the UPN sitcom The Parkers. Or as one of the
featured stand-up stars of the documentary The Queens of Comedy the one who got a lot of attention
from her frank admission about anal sex. That is some painful, horrible shit, to fuck in the butt, she
says in the film, recorded live on stage in Memphis, adding, after a pause, But I like it now.
Of course, plenty of people in our area knew the 47-year-old woman born MoNique Imes
decades before all that. A graduate of Marylands Milford Mill Hill School and Morgan State
University, MoNique got her start cracking jokes at a Baltimore comedy club over 20 years ago.
Her roots in the local gay community go back even further. When she was only an impressionable
teenager, a group of gay friends came out to her and took her to her very first gay club in D.C. It
proved to be a formative experience in helping MoNique become the type of woman and performer she is one who endeavors to be open and honest and true to herself, and to help others
in the same pursuit.
MoNique, who brings her current stand-up act to D.A.R. Constitution Hall on Sunday, Oct. 4,
jokes she was born an actor Yall just didnt know about me yet and shes certainly a natural
on stage. A few years ago, she fulfilled what has always been her lifelong dream, hosting BETs The
MoNique Show, which ran two seasons. She hopes for more work as a talk show host, and wants
to continue down her successful acting path as well. But comedy will always remain her priority.
Ive never stopped touring since the first time I said I was going to do comedy for a livelihood,
she says. For MoNique and her fans comedy is the best therapy.
METRO WEEKLY: What can we
expect from your upcoming
show at D.A.R. Constitution
Hall?
MONIQUE: I always tell people,
if you want to get to know me,
come to a show. The stage has
always been very therapeutic
for me. Its allowed me to tell
my truth and laugh with the
audience along with what Im
saying.
And for me, Constitution
Hall is like home, because Im
from Baltimore, Maryland. So
whenever I do Constitution
Hall, it feels like its a big family reunion.
MW: How is comedy therapeutic for you?
MONIQUE: Its very therapeutic
20
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
because it allows you to say

whats on your mind out loud.
And to know that youre not
unique in your thinking. It lets
me know that what I think is
funny, a whole lot of people
think is funny, too.
MW: And youre not afraid to
push the envelope.
MONIQUE: I think thats what
people want, its just the honesty. Thats why, when people
say, You pushed the envelope, or Youre unafraid to
say whats real, it makes me
say, Well, why ever would
you be afraid to say whats
honest and real? So I dont
think I push the envelope. I
think that I just say whats
honest and whats real to
METROWEEKLY.COM
me.
MW: Some gay people first got
to really know you from your
Queens of Comedy stand-up.
In it, you specifically mention
anal sex.
MONIQUE: [Laughs.] Talking
about the anal sex? Yes indeed,
I love it!
MW: Its something people dont
expect a comedian to say but
can totally relate to.
MONIQUE: Right, but you can
totally relate to that. Because
every woman in the world
knows her first experience
was exactly what I said! You
cant relax yourself enough to
be prepared for that. [Laughs.]
Im not going to go to fantasy, this is the reality. And Im
going to be honest. When you

say its unexpected, I understand why. Because weve
gotten comfortable in fantasy,
and weve gotten comfortable
in being dishonest.
For me, honesty is very
therapeutic. Its just a freedom
that Im unwavering about.
Im not going to give up that
freedom, thats mine to have.
MW: When did you realize that
thats a core part of you being
honest and open about yourself?
MONIQUE: When I started
doing comedy, I was always
very honest, but I wasnt really letting you into me. And
one night my husband said,
Momma, you are funny. But
the moment you free yourself, and you really walk on
that stage in freedom, watch
whats going to happen. So
Ill say within the last 10 years.
MW: I guess I was expecting you
to say since you were a teenager
or something.
MONIQUE: No, because that
wouldnt be honest, that
wouldnt be the truth! Its
like, you have to evolve, and
come to those places and spaces where you say, you know
what? Its okay. It wasnt that
I was ever dishonest, but I
would only let you in so much.
MW: Can you elaborate on your
long standing history with the
gay community and how it is
you became such an ally?
MONIQUE: Well, you know, the
gay community has long been
an ally to MoNique. Before
anybody knew who MoNique
was, there was a group of
young, beautiful black men
who embraced me in a way that
I had never been embraced
before. And they took me into
this beautiful world. And I can
remember, when I was like
17, going to the ClubHouse on
Upshur Drive in Washington,
D.C. And this was before I
knew that they were gay. I
just thought I was the special
girl and they wanted to hang
out with me, all these goodlooking boys.
So Im thinking, okay baby,
Im the special one! So as
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SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
21
were going over to the club, I see theyre all giggling. And Im
thinking, okay, whats the joke? Well, when we get into the
club, that was the night they said, This is who we are. And
everybody in that club was having such a great, beautiful time,
and it was these beautiful men everywhere. Very few women. It
made me fall in love with that community, because I had never
experienced anything like that where you go and everybody is
having a great time.
But then I had never experienced the stories that I got later.
All of those beautiful young men had the same story My family doesnt accept me. Some of them had to live with somebody
I dont believe that theres a gay community,

or a black community, or a white community
were just a community of human

beings. And once we start treating
each other that way, watch whats
going to happen.
else because they were put out. The stories that they had and the
way they embraced me, it just made me love them. And I didnt
look at them as, oh my goodness, theyre gay! Or oh my goodness, shes a lesbian! It was, oh my goodness, these are beautiful
people! With no label, no title they were just beautiful people.
As yall still are. Just beautiful people. I dont care if you say,
MoNique, Im in love with another man. Listen: If you and
that man love each other, which makes yall better human beings
for the better of humanity, goddammit love him! Love him, baby!
Do it!
When a friend, who had been married twice, who has children, came up and said to me, MoNique, I am gay, I said to her,
Its about damn time you said it! I absolutely love people who
are unafraid to be who they were made to be.
MW: A lot of people struggle with it because of religion and culture.
But it sounds like you didnt necessarily have that.
MONIQUE: Well no, I didnt have that, but I witnessed it. People
struggle with conditioning and tradition. They struggle with
other peoples opinion. I had an uncle Donald. I watched my
family mistreat him. And as a child, I really couldnt understand
it. You just dont know why they always got smart with Donald,
or there was just an imbalance. Well when I got older, and I
understood what it was, it made me look at my grandmother
and say, however could you mistreat your child? You birthed
that child. However could you mistreat him because hes your
brother or your sister, because thats your own. So that was
something that I said I never wanted to put someone through.
So Ive experienced it firsthand.
I have an uncle Tina. You heard the name uncle Tina. And
my sweet grandmother she struggled with the fact that her
daughter was a lesbian. And though she loved her, she struggled
with it because the people in her church said it was wrong. And
I remember one day she called me up and said, Ive struggled
with this shit for so long, only to come find out that the woman
[at church] who was really bothering me, her daughters gay! I
said, Welcome to the world! Welcome to the world. I promise
you she didnt wake up that way!
22
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
It was just like, welcome to the world the one thing you
were so caught up and worried about, is the very thing that that
is. So you lived half of your daughters life unaccepting of her
because you were worried about this womans opinion, only to
find out her daughter is gay too.
MW: Human nature is fascinating, isnt it?
MONIQUE: Come on now! If we start watching Discovery Channel,
well get along better. If you watch these beasts and these animals, itd be a better place.
MW: You touch on some of the struggles of coming out in Blackbird,
Patrik-Ian Polks independent film in which you play the mother of
a budding gay Southern Baptist. How did that role
come along?
MONIQUE: We got a call from Isaiah Washington,
who I think is one of the most brilliant actors of
our time. He said to my husband Sidney, I think
I have something here that you and your wife
would like to look at. So he sent us that script.
And by time I got finished reading page one, I
looked at Sidney and I said, Daddy, if they put
on screen whats on this paper, this is going to
change hearts and minds. And thats how we got
involved.
MW: Thats a motivating factor for you in your work
changing hearts and minds and helping people.
MONIQUE: Yeah, because so many of the stories go
untold. And you continue to see people in so much pain, and just
hurting. So if one person can get healed, then weve done what
we set out to do. So yeah we I say we because its my husband
and I we pretty much like doing things that, may it be funny,
may it not, may it be whatever, but you walk away saying, I didnt
think about it like that.
MW: Was playing the abusive mother in Precious a hard role for
you to take on?
MONIQUE: No! Mary Jones was so much fun. Oh my god, baby!
Every time Mr. Daniels said action, it was this little girl inside of
me saying, You can do it, you can do it. Because it was me playing this character, playing dress up. And it was me saying to Mr.
D, You trust me to do this? We actually had a great time on that
set. In between takes we were listening to house music, we may
have a cocktail, had us some crab legs. It was just a great time.
MW: Most recently you appeared as the bisexual blues singer Ma
Rainey in Bessie, which just won four Emmy Awards, including
Outstanding Television Movie. What do you take away from your
work in that film?
MONIQUE: It was absolutely breathtaking, because Queen Latifah
just embodied Bessie Smith. And to watch that happen, it was
just like, go ahead sister. To meet these dynamic women I
heard very little about Bessie Smith because shes really not
in any history books in school. I knew nothing of Ma Rainey.
I knew nothing of these people. And to be introduced to these
dynamic people was an honor. And Im appreciative that that
woman, Ma Rainey, allowed me to bring her to life.
MW: Was knowing nothing about Ma Rainey especially the inspiration for taking on the role in the first place?
MONIQUE: Well, when I initially got the script, they wanted me to
play Viola, the sister. I was grateful that they considered me for
that, but I told them, No thank you. I said, However, I read
Ma Rainey, and I would like to play her. And they said, Well
then, you shall be Ma Rainey. And what made me take that role
that woman was so honest, and so giving, and so real. And she
was unwavering and unapologetic about who she was. So she
just spoke to me as I read that script. And Dee Rees, who wrote
that script, it was as if she knew those people. So Ma Rainey just tion of the Peters sisters.
gravitated to my spirit. We just connected in all those pages.
So once we take history and make it our story and not hisMW: Its surprising that they wanted you as Viola, because you just story, we then can stop actually labeling, having separate comseem such a natural in your role as Ma Rainey.
munities, having separate conversations. Because, see, I dont
MONIQUE: I guess they said, well damn if she can be Mary Jones,
believe that theres a gay community, or a black community, or
she can be Viola. But Khandi Alexander as Viola, wooo! Did you a white community were just a community of human beings.
see that performance? She was absolutely brilliant, just brilliant. And once we start treating each other that way, watch whats
Everyone in that movie was just brilliant. So to be a part of that, going to happen. So Oct. 4, I want every gay baby in Washington,
and to be able to play with my sister that Ive watched since I D.C., at Constitution Hall. Because the conversation were going
was a little girl. To play with that icon, and that living legend.
to have that night? Ooo-ooo! [Laughs.]
MW: And you got to do a little dance with Queen Latifah, too. Did MW: Just to be clear, are you planning to portray Madam Walker
you actually sing as Rainey in all the scenes on stage?
or the Peters sisters on screen down the line?
MONIQUE: They had to get a voice-over person for me, but dam- MONIQUE: No, not at all. No plans to. Its just so unfortunate that
mit I tried to give it my everything. And in my mind, baby, I was when I put those names out there, you dont know them. And
giving it everything. [Laughs.]
thats not to judge it because there are black folks that dont
MW: And you got an Emmy nomination for the work, so obviously
know them. Because its just not a part of our history. And the
others thought you were giving it everything too.
point I was making with Ma Rainey, had I not read that script,
MONIQUE: No, Ma Rainey got that Emmy nomination. I cant take
I still to this day would not know who that woman is. Because
that from her.
its just not mentioned. So to be able to bring that character to
MW: The role also fits your m.o. of trying to shine a light on untold
life was such an honor because what it did was gave me a history
stories and people in this case, an unsung hero.
lesson of our story.
MONIQUE: Well, you know, oftentimes when they say history, we MW: And that gets to something that Ma Rainey says in the movie,
break that down to say his-story [but] there are so many amaz- about the blues not being about you, the performer, but about
ing people that are not in his-story. But when we say our story, knowing and connecting with the people, the audience. And if Im
then you start finding out about these amazing people. So, I do hearing you right, thats sort of what you aim for as well.
feel an obligation to introduce those people because they were MONIQUE: You know how they say that, when you die, the spirit
never introduced to me.
goes on? I think Ive been here a lot of times! [Laughs.] And I
Most of the black women we see, who were entertainers, think Ma Rainey said, Alright, its my time to tell the story now!
died broke, died alone, died with no family. Ma Rainey, that MW: I would be remiss if I didnt ask if theres any chance for
woman died wealthy. That woman died with love. But that story another Queens of Comedy. I know you had a reunion of that on
is not in any of our books. So its an honor to be able to tell that your talk show.
story. Because the same things that those women
were struggling with then are the same things
were struggling with now. Im appreciative to play
All of those beautiful young men had the
that role because what it lets me know is, youre
same story my family
not thinking the wrong way. Youre not doing this
the wrong way. Its okay to say no when it doesnt
doesnt accept me.
make sense. Its okay to stand in truth. And not bow
Some of them had to live with somebody else because
down. Its okay for those things to take place. Those
they were put out. The stories that they had and the way
stories we dont oftentimes see. So me, playing Ma
Rainey, it did so much more for me than just playthey embraced me, it just made me love them.
ing Ma Rainey it let me see down the road. It
allowed me to say, you better love your family with
everything you have, you better know how to put
your priorities in order, because it doesnt always have to be the MONIQUE: Working with those I cant call it working playing
ending weve been shown.
with those three women was such an honor. Because they are
MW: And also the women that weve seen through history dont
three of the most talented female comedians Ive ever had the
pleasure of playing on the stage with. We all made a pact, during
necessarily look like Ma Rainey, either.
MONIQUE: Right. The women that you have seen in history, and the Queens of Comedy, that we would never do it again if all of
what they show us in the books, youre right. Because when I us couldnt do it. And weve kept that promise to each other. We
say to you, Doug, do you know who Madam C.J. Walker was? havent been able to connect. So for Adele Givens, Sommore and
Madam C.J. Walker was the first self-made woman in this Laura Hayes, that moment in time was such an amazing moment
country. And you know how she made her millions? Off of black and Im forever grateful to those three women.
hair care products. But thats not in our history books. We have MW: So for your future, you hope for another talk show? What else?
to dig for that information. Now when you have the first black MONIQUE: Yes, yes. There will be another show. Now I cant tell
woman who was a self-made millionaire Oprah Winfrey you when, cant tell you where, but what I can tell you is, it will be.
wasnt the first. Thats not in our books, but thats something
I hope for my future that I can be the best wife that I can, the
that we should know. When I say, do you know who the Peters best mommy I can be, the best friend I can be. And to wrap it
sisters were? The Peters sisters were before the Williams sis- all up, I hope in my future, I can become a better human being.
ters, Serena and Venus. They were these two black women that
were just beating everybodys ass in tennis [in the mid-1900s]. MoNique appears Sunday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. D.A.R. Constitution
But because they were black they could only go so far. What we Hall, 1776 D St. NW. Tickets are $55 to $104. Call 202-628-1776 or
know now is the Williams sisters, but theres never been a men- visit dar.org/conthall. l
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
23
SEPTEMBER 24 - OCTOBER 1, 2015
Compiled by Doug Rule
SPOTLIGHT
2ND ANNUAL FREEDOM 5K XC AT
LINCOLN COTTAGE
Gender Bending Pop
MS MR returns to the 9:30 Club with a high energy, gender-bending

array of pop songs
HEN ON STAGE, MAX HERSHENOW ISNT JUST PLAYING HIS SYNTHEsizer. We like to play with gender roles, says half of the pop duo MS MR. Theres
definitely a profound queerness that is part of both of us, especially with Lizzy. She
identifies as straight, but has this masculine energy at times. Its exciting for both of us to feel
the fluidity of going back and forth between these masculine and feminine moments, and playing
with those expectations on stage.
Since 2011, MS MR has delighted audiences with their singular brand of gender-bending, fast
moving pop. The Brooklyn-based band might seem small with Lizzy Plapinger on vocals and
Hershenow on keyboard but their sound isnt. Their sophomore album How Does It Feel, released
earlier this summer, is the result of a tight partnership between Plapinger and Hershenow. Every
song starts in a different way, Hershenow says. Some songs, Lizzy starts with a little melody, or a
lyric, and Ill build a track on top of that. For How Does It Feel, we built all the songs in a studio in
Bushwick. It was cool because every day someone would come in with a new idea.
With relentless vocals and high-powered synth, MS MR demands the listeners attention.
In Painted, the first track of How Does it Feel, were bombarded by Plapingers sexy alto belt,
which lays perfectly on top of Hershenows repetitive chord progression. The way the two performers compliment each other is uncanny. In fact, How Does It Feel sounds less like an album,
and more like a conversation between two old friends.
They are taking their high-energy pop anthems on the road, and, according to Hershenow, its
the best way to experience them. When we wrote the first record, we had never really written
music before and we werent really thinking about it as a live performance, he says. When we
wrote the second album, we wanted to approach it with a live show in mind. Connor J. Hogan
MS MR appears next Thursday, October 1st at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St NW. Doors open at 7 p.m.
For more information, visit 930.com.
24
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
Running icon Joan Benoit Samuelson,

the first woman to win the gold in
the Olympic marathon 30 years ago,
once again hosts this cross-country
race on the historic Soldiers Home
grounds typically closed to the public. Participants will be treading the
same grounds President Lincoln did
over the course of the three long summers when he made it his retreat from
the hubbub at the White House during
the Civil War. The Freedom 5K XCs
course winds past ponds, woods and
fields and includes paved and unpaved
pathways, culminating at Lincolns
Cottage, dubbed the Cradle of the
Emancipation Proclamation since
Lincoln drafted the seminal document
on-site. Saturday, Sept. 26, at 8 a.m.
President Lincolns Cottage, 140 Rock
Creek Church Rd. NW. Registration is
$30. Call 202-829-0436 ext. 31232 or
visit lincolncottage.org.
4TH ANNUAL WASHINGTON DC

SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
A festival presenting the best in

alternative cinema from South Asia,
this year featuring 12 films (all with
English subtitles) and shown at two
venues in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Saari Raat, Aparna Sens tribute to
legendary Bengali playwright and theater personality Badal Sircar, is the
opening night film, while the festival closes with an awards gala and a
special stand up act by Vijai Nathan.
Opening Friday, Sept. 25, and closing Sunday, Sept. 27. Main festival
venue is AMC Loews Rio Cinemas,
Gaithersburg, Md. Tickets are $15 per
film, or $60 for an all-access movie
pass, with opening night starting $30
and the closing night awards gala $60.
Call 301-337-9589 or visit dcsaff.com
for details and more information.
BALLET FOLKLORICO DE MEXICO
Strathmore once again presents a

survey of Mexican dance, from preColombian times to present-day, by
the internationally renowned 50-person company, which the New York
Times raves offers a captivating
spectaclethe gorgeous costumes and
breathtaking formations keep coming, dance after dance. Tuesday,
Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. Music Center at
Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane,
North Bethesda. Tickets are $38 to
$58. Call 301-581-5100 or visit
strathmore.org.
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SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
25
LANDMARK FESTIVAL FOR THE

NATIONAL MALL
COURTESY URBAN ARIAS
The Trust for the National Mall is

throwing this blockbuster two-day festival to kick off a national campaign
to raise money to restore the Mall,
which hasnt had a major renovation in nearly 40 years. Among the
acts performing: Drake, Ben Howard,
Miguel, Nate Ruess of fun., and Wale
on Saturday, Sept. 26, and the Strokes,
alt-J, Chvrches, Chromeo and TV on
the Radio on Sunday, Sept. 27. Festival
starts at noon and runs until 10 p.m.
West Potomac Park, West Basin Dr.
SW. Tickets are $105 for single-day
pass or $$150 for 20-day pass. Call 888512-7469 or visit landmarkfestival.org.
NATIONAL SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA POPS WITH
RAJATON
Grand
Transformations
As One explores a contemporary inner struggle in a classical medium
PERA TENDS TO GRAVITATE TOWARDS THE GRAND. ITS ONE OF THE ONLY
performance mediums that can capture the turmoil and joy of elaborately complicated
conflicts. But what about the everyday inner strifes some struggle with? As One, a new
opera at UrbanArias, eschews grandiosity to tell the story of Hannah, a transgender woman,
coming out and living freely.
Loosely based on the life story of filmmaker Kimberly Reed, As One was composed by
Laura Kaminsky and features a male baritone and a female mezzo-soprano, both performing as Hannah. Director Octavio Cardenas took an abstract approach to the staging, granting
the audience access to Hannahs internalized struggle. As she goes through her journey, she
experiences all kinds of transformation, Cardenas says. All the changes physically and psychologically, doubt, fear, acceptance. In the end, however, she learns to take herself as one.
While the story might be about the life of a transgender person, As One explores themes
of acceptance, love, and identity. Its always my hope to tell a story that engages the fact that
this protagonist is transgender, but very quickly find one way or another to get the audience
involved emotionally on a human level, Reed says. When I watch As One, I see Hannahs
journey, not my own. It reminds me of my path, but its more hers than mine. I want people to
have the sense that they know this person, this character.
For Luis Orozco, who plays Hannah prior to her transition, navigating the emotional peaks
and valleys of the character came with its own set of internal struggles. The most challenging
thing has been to go there in those emotions that she is feeling, Orozco says. And to still be
able to sing very challenging music. Orozco revels in those kinds of challenges. In particular,
he mentions a scene in which Hannah writes a letter explaining why, for the first time, she
wont be coming home for Christmas. We talked a lot about that feeling, when it gets too hard
to go home, he says. Getting into the emotional aspect of characters can be difficult.
This is filmmaker Reeds first foray into Opera, but it definitely wont be her last. Originally,
Laura approached me to make a film that would take the place of a set for As One, she says.
Through that process of talking to her, and librettist Mark Campbell about my experiences,
they suggested I co-write the libretto. We clicked, and it turned into a great collaboration.
Later this year, the team is getting back together to plan a future production. I dont have a lot
of details, Reed says. But I am excited to work with them again. Connor J. Hogan
As One opens on Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE.
Visit UrbanArias.org.
26
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
After a stirring debut with ABBA last

year, the a cappella sextet whose name
means boundless in Finnish returns
to the Kennedy Center with another
NSO Pops program, this time a tribute
to the Fab Four. Rajaton will perform
from the classic album Sgt. Peppers
Lonely Hearts Club Band plus hits
from throughout the Beatles career,
all arranged for orchestra accompaniment. We love people singing with
us, Rajatons baritone Ahti Paunu told
Metro Weekly last year. I would say
that especially towards the end, it is
kind of a party. Friday, Sept. 25, and
Saturday, Sept. 26, at 8 p.m., at the
Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets
are $20 to $88. Call 202-467-4600 or
visit kennedy-center.org.
PARIS IS BURNING:
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS
Reel Affirmations and Team Rayceen

present a screening, a panel discussion with Q&A featuring cast members Sol Williams Pendavis and
Freddie Pendavis, moderated by
House Mother Rayceen Pendarvis,
plus a book signing with Dr. Lucas
Hilderbrand, catered reception by
Chef Tyonne, and mini-ball. DJ Vjuan
Allure will provide the music for the
ball in which those dolled up in appropriate attire can win such titles as
Best Dressed Spectator, Femme Queen
Realness, Butch Realness and Voguing
with a Prop. Friday, Sept. 25, starting
at 6:30 p.m. HRC Equality Center,
1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Tickets
start at $25. Call 800-777-4723 or visit
reelaffirmations.org.
UNCENSORED:
INFORMATION ANTICS
The DC Public Library presents an

all-media exhibition featuring local
artists, including Brian Davis, Nekisha
Durrett, Hasan Elahi, Paul Shortt,
Fabiola Yurcisin, and DC Public
Librarys Makers in Residence the
FreeSpace Collective. The artworks
focus on the intersection of data and
censorship as part of Banned Books
Week. The exhibit opens with a
fundraising gala for the DC Public
Library Foundation on Friday, Sept.
25, and features live music, a popup market, performance art, and
cocktails inspired by famous banned

books, created by mixologists from
Mockingbird Hill, Jack Rose Dining
Saloon, Zaytinya and 2 Birds 1 Stone.
On display through Oct. 22. Martin
Luther King. Jr. Memorial Library,
901 G St. NW. Tickets are $50, or $250
for four tickets plus a gift bag and special recognition. Call 202-727-4943 or
visit dcplf.org.
immigrant struggling as a single mother in modern-day America. Alexandra

Henrikson, Jefferson A. Russell, Josiah
Bania and William Vaughan make up the
cast. To Oct. 4. Round House Theatre,
4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda.
Tickets are $36 to $51. Call 240-644-1100
or visit roundhousetheatre.org.
WOMEN OF WELDERS 2.0
Theater Alliance presents a new play

by Kathleen Akerley, presented as
part of the Womens Voices Theater
Festival. Night Falls on the Blue Planet
focuses on one womans complex and
unexpected journey in discovering
herself and healing from a lifetime
of trauma. Rex Daugherty directs a
cast including Jeanne Dillon-Williams,
Natalie Cutcher, Kerri Rambow,
Amanda Haddock-Duchemin and
Peter Finnegan. Closes this Sunday,
Sept. 27. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020
Shannon Place SE. Tickets are $35.
Call 202-241-2539 or visit theateralliance.com.
As part of the Womens Voices Theater

Festival, the Kennedy Center hosts a
showcase of works by the women of
the second generation of D.C.s own
Playwrights Collective The Welders.
Works by Annalisa Dias, Rachel
Hynes, Ronee Penoi, Alexandra Petri
and Hannah Hessel Ratner factor into
this event. Monday, Sept. 28, at 6 p.m.
Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets
are $20 to $88. Call 202-467-4600 or
visit kennedy-center.org.
STAGE
DESTINY OF DESIRE
Over the next two months nearly

every professional theater company
in the region will present a play by a
female writer as part of the unprecedented Womens Voices Theater
Festival. Its an effort to tip the scales
toward female playwrights, who in
any other two-month span are woefully underrepresented on stages in
D.C. and across the country. For its
part as one of the festivals originating
theaters, Arena Stage offers the latest from Helen Hayes Award-winning
playwright Karen Zacarias (The Book
Club Play), a telenovela-styled fastpaced modern comedy set in Mexico.
Jose Luis Valenzuela directs a cast featuring Esperanza America, Gabriela
Fernandez-Coffey, Carlos Gomez and
Nicholas Rodriguez. To Oct. 18. Mead
Center for American Theater, 1101 6th
St. SW. Call 202-488-3300 or visit
arenastage.org.
FRIENDSHIP BETRAYED
WSC Avant Bard presents a rarely

produced comedy by Spanish playwright Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor, a
four-centuries-old play with a protofeminist story that doesnt feel dated.
Kari Ginsburg directs a comedy
about liberated ladies in love and lust,
re-staging it in the roaring twenties.
To Oct. 11. Gunston Theater II, 2700
South Lang St. Arlington. Tickets are
$30 to $35. Call 703-418-4808 or visit
avantbard.org.
IRONBOUND
For its contribution to the Womens

Voices Theater Festival, Round House
Theatre Company which, it should
be noted, has been ahead of the gender curve, regularly staging works by
women in recent years presents a
work by Polish-born Martyna Majok,
who recently won a major theater
prize designating her an Emerging
American Playwright. Daniella Topol
directs Majoks Ironbound, a humorous
and heartfelt look at a hard-working
NIGHT FALLS
ON THE BLUE PLANET
TRUTH & BEAUTY BOMBS:

A SOFTER WORLD
Known for ambitious stagings of

eccentric, or just plain out-there, tales,
Rorschach Theatre offers a new project based on the web series A Softer
World by Emily Horne and Joey
Corneau. As conceived of and directed
by Jenny McConnell Frederick, Truth
& Beauty Bombs focuses on a photographer who sets out to capture as much
of the world as he can before he goes
blind. Randy Baker, Norman Allen,
Heather McDonald, Shawn Northip
and Alexandra Petri assisted with the
writing. To Oct. 4. Atlas Performing
Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are
$20 to $30. Call 202-399-7993 or visit
rorschachtheatre.com.
WOMEN LAUGHING
ALONE WITH SALAD
Kimberly Gilbert, a Helen Hayes

Award winner as Marie Antoinette
last season, is once again the rightful
star in an eccentric and very adult
season opener at Woolly Mammoth
Theatre Company. Women Laughing
Alone with Salad by Sheila Callaghan
(2009s Fever/Dream), also the companys contribution to the Womens
Voices Theatre Festival, is a bawdy,
gender-bending comedy about sex,
desire and shame, and a biting critique of our image-obsessed culture.
Kip Fagan directs a cast also featuring
Meghan Reardon, Janet Ulrich Brooks
and Thomas Keegan. To Oct. 4. Woolly
Mammoth, 641 D St. NW. Tickets
range from $45 to $73. Call 202-3933939 or visit woollymammoth.net.
MUSIC
BELA FLECK
AND CHICK COREA DUET
Longtime collaborators join forces

to explore the worlds of jazz, bluegrass, rock, flamenco, gospel and more,
just as they do on their second, just-
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SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
27
released album, Two. Wednesday,

Sept. 30, at 8 p.m. Music Center at
Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane,
North Bethesda. Tickets are $35 to
$55. Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.
CHAISE LOUNGE
This D.C.-based jazz and swing band

has been a staple at hip bars around
the area, along with more storied
venues such as the Kennedy Center
and Blues Alley. Having performed
with Natalie Cole and Dizzy Gillespie,
Chaise Lounge performs swing standards as well as original tunes, including those from its most recent album
Dot Dot Dot martini. Saturday, Sept.
26, at 8 p.m. Amp by Strathmore, 11810
Grand Park Ave. North Bethesda.
Tickets are $30 to $40. Call 301-5815100 or visit ampbystrathmore.com.
ITZHAK PERLMAN
AND EMANUEL AX
Washington Performing Arts presents a

concert by these two celebrated statesmen of classical music, touring in support of a new Deutsche Grammophon
recording of Faure and Strauss violin
sonatas. Monday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m.,
at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.
Tickets are $55 to $135. Call 202-4674600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
LORETTA LYNN
WITH THE VON TRAPPS
Tickets are still available to see the

pioneering Coal Miners Daughter
and more recently the ravishing Van
Lear Rose in her return to D.C. If
thats not enough reason to secure
tickets, how about the fact that her
opening act this time out is the very
family who inspired The Sound of
Music? Sunday, Sept. 27. Doors at 6:30
p.m. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW.
Tickets are $55 to $75. Call 202-3286000 or visit thelincolndc.com.
STEVIE WONDER
Marking the final performances in a

live setting in the U.S., the legendary
blind keyboardist stops by the Verizon
Center as part of his Songs in the Key
in the Key of Life Performance Tour.
Saturday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m. Verizon
Center, 601 F St. NW. Tickets are
$62.05 to $464.06. Call 202-628-3200
or visit verizoncenter.com.
SYLEENA JOHNSON
I came all this way for love, Syleena

Johnson sings on the joyous, jazzy
opening track on last years Chapter 6:
Couples Therapy, before adding: but I
just couldnt find it. With such a captivating voice and sharp soul music,
this Chicago native and cast member
on R&B Divas Atlanta is sure to find
plenty of love among the crowds at
Blues Alley. Friday, Sept. 25, through
Sunday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW.
Tickets are $35, plus $12 minimum
purchase. Call 202-337-4141 or visit
bluesalley.com.
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SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
WICKED JEZABEL
Pauline Anson-Drosss popular lesbian

all-covers party-rock band Wicked
Jezabel has been rocking as well as
raising money for various good causes
all over the region for a decade
now. Saturday, Sept. 26, at 9 p.m. JVs
Restaurant, 6666 Arlington Blvd., Falls
Church. Call 703-241-9504 or visit jvsrestaurant.com.
ABOVE AND BEYOND

22ND ANNUAL TASTE OF
GEORGETOWN
Over 30 Georgetown-area restaurants

will offer creative tastes as part of this
annual epicurean festival presented
and sponsored by the Georgetown
Business Improvement District, also
featuring an expansive Craft Beer and
Wine Garden, plus foodie competitions and kids activities. The event
benefits the homeless support services
of the Georgetown Ministry Center.
Saturday, Oct. 3, from 11 a.m. to 4
p.m. Georgetown Waterfront on K St.
NW between Wisconsin Avenue and
Thomas Jefferson Street. Tickets are $5
for one tasting or $20 for five tastings;
plus $4 for one drink tasting or $10 for
three. Visit tasteofgeorgetown.com.
BANNED BOOK WEEK READ-OUT

AT THE ATHENAEUM
Alexandrias Athenaeum has organized

a great local event countering efforts to
ban books such as To Kill A Mockingbird
by overzealous leaders and hidebound
family values crusaders around the
country. Part of an annual national
event, the Athenaeums Banned Book
Week Read Out invites local authors,
officials with the Alexandria Library,
poets, and others to read three- to
five-minute selections from challenged
books, followed by a dessert reception
donated by Teaism. Tuesday, Sept. 29,
at 7 p.m. The Athenaeum, 201 Prince St.,
Alexandria. Free. Call 703-548-0035 or
visit nvfaa.org.
MARYLAND RENAISSANCE
FESTIVAL
As summer nears its end, thoughts

naturally turn to jousting, feasting,
crafts, theater, music and merriment. Ah yes, its time once again for
Maryland Renaissance Festival, one
of the worlds largest festivals recreating a 600-year-old era in jolly old
England. Set in a woodsy park outside
of Annapolis, Md., patrons are encouraged to dress up in period costume.
(They can even rent such duds.) But
they shouldnt bring weapons, real or
toy, or pets, as they tend to eat the
turkey legs, which in this context are
also weapons. Weekends through Oct.
25. Maryland Renaissance Festival,
Crownsville Road, Crownsville, Md.
Tickets are $19 to $24 for a single-day
adult ticket, $34 to $98 for multi-day
passes, or $130 for a season pass good
for all 19 days. Call 800-296-7304 or
visit rennfest.com. l
opera
Margaine and Simpson
Delayed Launch
Carmen doesnt quite take off
until the second act, but its
a flight worth taking
by KATE WINGFIELD
SCOTT SUCHMAN
ATHER LIKE ONE OF THOSE OLD-FASHIONED

planes that takes a long time to build up speed,
veers a bit, and bounces a few times before getting
airborne, the Washington National Operas production of Bizets Carmen doesnt quite launch until the second act.
That said, with expectations in check, its a flight worth taking.
Its not wholly the productions fault. Whether youve seen
the opera or not, the character and plot of Carmen (HHHHH)
rehashed and referenced with regularity will be abundantly familiar. Resident gypsy and man-eater Carmen flirts
her way through the local garrison, soon setting her sights on
the pre-occupied young corporal Don Jos. Once she turns on
the charm, it isnt long before Don Jos is madly besotted and
doing prison time to protect her. He only balks when she later
insists he abandon his soldierly duties as well. As Act One ends,
he is forced to make a choice that sets up the far more dramatic
cascade of events in Act Two.
Making this narrative fresh is certainly a challenge - but
it is further compounded by the attenuated pacing of the first
act. It is positively leisurely. In more innocent times, audiences
no doubt couldnt get enough of Carmens racy persona and cat
fights, but in this day and age, it feels more like foot-dragging.
But the pacing is essential, as it allows for Bizets charged and
tantalizing music and its gorgeous arias.
The creativity lies in finding ways to engage the audience
visually and theatrically while the first act plays out and it is
a dilemma director E. Loren Meeker doesnt quite solve. One
reason is her reliance on rather too much of choreographer Sara
Erdes tenuous, wandering crowds. The unraveling movements
of the adult chorus may echo the wistful underlay of Bizets
score, but after a time, it distracts. And yet it is equally distracting
when Erde separately over-choreographs Carmen, giving her far
too many precarious-looking tabletop maneuvers that beg disaster. Carmen is an earthy, physical woman, but with Clementine
Margaine in the role, this could have been fully apparent without
risking her accidentally grinding on an inkwell.
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
29
And this is the point. Margaine has more than enough vulpine
charisma to carry this Carmen, and once she sings, her sumptuous, lustrous tone and power leave no doubt of it. To hear her
unhurried voice is to be bewitched, and it is this quality, along
with her fresh and mischievous smile, that we need. And indeed,
she carries the first act, despite its issues.
It gets somewhat more complicated with Don Jos. Not
only must tenor Bryan Hymel overcome a cardboard cutout of
a character, he must do so without much help from the either
Meeker or, again, Erde. Take, for example, the key moments in
which Carmen dances for Don Jos in her bid to convince him
to abandon his soldiers duties. Its a seminal moment for Jos;
a potentially irrevocable slippage in his fragile sense of self. And
indeed, Carmen ends the scene astride him in a move that is at
once sensual and dominant. It is a key moment for the character
and yet we cannot truly see his face. We needed this and other
such moments showing the mans soul-consuming love and lust
for this extraordinary woman if we are to make sense of the
events to come.
Still, and despite the shortcomings, Act Two quickly gathers
momentum. By the time the opera climaxes with Don Joss confrontation of Carmen aside the bullfighting arena, the dramatic
tension is gruelingly taut. And in their stark encounter, Meeker
finally does what she couldnt quite do in the early scenes: carve
an emotional space for her characters. And remarkably, its a
space in which Hymel overcomes Joss flaccid first act to deliver
an astounding rendering of this unhinged and ultimately dangerous man. He also opens his tenor to offer a fuller, more expressive clarion call, one that is rife with the agony and alarm at what
he knows he will do. Coupled with Margaines embodiment of
Carmens resolve and her terror the production finally deliv-
30
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
ers the tragic immediacy that turns it from so-so to must-see.

The other standout here is Janai Brugger in the role of Micaela,
Don Joss quickly discarded fiance who is also symbolic of the
life and commitments he leaves behind. Brugger has the tough job
of epitomizing virtuous and unassuming womanhood, which she
manages with understated grace, but her star turn comes with the
hauntingly sad aria Je dis que rien ne mepouvante in which she
mourns the loss of her future with Don Jos. Brugger sings with
intensely appealing dimension and precision, the emotion arriving with subtle and devastating stealth.
As Escamillo, the exciting matador who signals the end of
Carmens passion for Don Jos, Michael Todd Simpson sings
with bold energy but not as much expression as he might. He
cuts a striking figure, but the choreography again gets in the way.
The more he stalks the stage, the less impressive he is. Alphas
draw the eye; they dont chase it. In the role of Zuniga, Don
Joss military superior, Kenneth Kellogg delivers his worldly
man with an interesting layer of menace and sings with compelling texture and tone. He works the room with an understatement that would have done for a convincing Escamillo.
Finally, using the two dancers, Fanny Ara and Timo Nunez,
to punctuate the drama is an attractive idea. But they are so
extraordinary, charismatic and contemporary, they argue with
the ponderous pacing of the early act and the emotional realism
of the second.
And yet, despite such bumps and the slow start, there is just
too much good here to miss. It may be a fait accompli, but its a
beautiful one.
Carmen runs to October 3 at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW.
Tickets are $20-$320. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org. l
gears
Tiguan GTE Concept
Efficient Disregard
Volkswagen is facing a storm of criticism
for flouting federal emissions laws days
after unveiling hyper-efficient vehicles
by RHUARIDH MARR
VOLKSWAGEN
T THIS YEARS FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW,

Volkswagen presented a series of bold plans for
a more efficient, more enjoyable motoring future.
We are in the process of reinventing Europes
largest automaker, laying the technological, economic and structural foundations, Martin Winterkorn, VWs CEO, told the audience at the brands glitzy Frankfurt media show. Technological
leadership is no longer solely defined in terms of horsepower
and torque, he continued. We are taking the precision, enduring value and quality of our cars into the new, digital world.
Winterkorn set out a series of initiatives aimed at making
Volkswagen one of the worlds leading manufacturers of green
vehicles. By 2020, the German brand which includes Audi,

Porsche, Bentley and others will have 20 more electric or
plug-in hybrid cars available to consumers. Volkswagen wants
to have the largest electric and connected fleet of vehicles on the
road. In short? Its a bold, new, electric-powered frontier, and
Volkswagen wants to lead the charge (pun intended).
It was a strategy galvanized by several enticing products on
display in Frankfurt, Germany. VW consumed an entire hall
to showcase its wares, which ranged from sports concepts to
humdrum compacts, but buried among mainstream models were
several glimpses at a more efficient, more raucous Volkswagen.
Porsche arguably stole most of the spotlight and not just
for VWs autos, but the show as a whole. The German sportscar
manufacturer rolled out their Mission E Concept, which has
Teslas all-electric Model S sedan squarely in its sights. The
electric-only sports sedan boasts a 311-mile range, 590 horsepower, instant torque (something all electric cars enjoy) and
can hit 60 mph in under 3.5 seconds. Need to reach 120? Itll
breeze past it in less than 12 seconds from standstill. Its not just
fast in a straight line, either. Porsche has developed an 800-volt
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
31
Porsche Mission E Concept
charging system that will juice the Mission E to 80-percent in

just 15 minutes. Stop at a highway gas station for a coffee and
the Porsche will be good for another 249 miles before youve
drained your cup.
If sedans arent your thing, Audi premiered the E-Tron
Quattro Concept, a gorgeous, muscular, electric SUV born from
the new Q7. Unlike Porsche, Audi will actually make this car
it previews a model debuting in 2018. Itll also manage 311 miles
before needing some electricity, while a boost feature offers a
total of 496 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. Zeroto-sixty? Dispatched in 4.6 seconds. With a maximum strength
charger, itll fill its batteries in just 50 minutes though the
concept also features a solar panel roof thatll help top things up.
Straying away from pure electric cars, the Golf GTE Sport
Concept is a hybrid that certainly isnt your garden variety Prius.
Sure, itll manage 31 miles in electric-only mode, but youll want
to spend every moment with the GTE mode activated almost
400 horses of gas and electric power will thrusts the GTE Sport
to 60 in just over four seconds. Top speed? Over 170 mph. Its an
environmentally-friendly way to put a huge grin on your face.
At the more mundane end of the spectrum, Volkswagen
revealed its dynamic new Tiguan crossover, which will reach
American shores as a 2017 model. In GTE spec itll offer hybrid
power, promising plug-in charging, 31 miles of electric range
and over 200 horsepower to keep your right foot happy. Solar
panels in the roof promise up to 600 miles of charger-free driving per year, which is pretty impressive.
Indeed, Volkswagen seemed heavily committed to a more
environmentally-conscious future. Battery-powered and hybrid
vehicles are going to become an ever more prevalent sight on our
roads, which is why VW now the worlds largest automaker
is eager to get in early and secure its customer base. People
expect new answers, new solutions and new directions from us,
Winterkorn told the crowd. At Volkswagen there is a sense that
a new era is dawning.
It was a stunningly brazen statement from a man who, just
days later, would become embroiled in one of the biggest scandals to hit the automotive world in recent years.
32
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
Last Friday, Volkswagen was told by the Obama administration to recall almost 500,000 vehicles. The reason? The German
automaker had illegally altered its cars to circumvent mandatory
emissions tests. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
announced that certain diesel-powered Volkswagens and Audis
had been pumping dangerous amounts of nitrogen oxide into
the atmosphere up to 40 times the federally mandated limit.
EPA tests had confirmed that the vehicles would activate
controls when they detected the EPAs testing scenarios, artificially lowering emissions. Under normal driving, such controls
were deactivated owners would gain more power and greater
fuel economy, but their cars would be emitting high amounts
of nitrogen oxide, widely associated with creating ozone, smog,
and contributing to respiratory problems. Cynthia Giles, the
EPAs assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and
Compliance didnt mince words in a statement. We expected
better from Volkswagen, she said, before calling their deactivation of emissions controls a threat to public health.
For Volkswagen, the EPAs findings should be cause for
immense concern. Unlike past scandals that have rocked the
automotive world, their actions have significantly greater ramifications. Toyota coughed up $1.2 billion in 2013 for cars that
would accelerate suddenly without reason, while GM was stung
by a $900 million fine for last years ignition switch scandal.
In those instances, however, the automakers covered up
information that their products were defective. GM and Toyota
tried to mask defects in their products, but they didnt willingly
cause said defects. Volkswagens case is dramatically different.
They specifically engineered thousands of vehicles to deliberately flout a federal law. Volkswagens actions werent negligent
they were criminal.
This is several steps beyond the violations that weve seen
from other auto companies, Tyson Slocum, a director at Public
Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, told The New York Times.
They appear to have designed a system with the intention to
mislead consumers and the government. If thats proven true,
its remarkable and outrageous.
For Volkswagen, the revelations have been disastrous. The
companys stock plummeted 16 percent on Monday, followed by

a further 18 percent on Tuesday. Billions have been shaved from
Volkswagens value in a matter of days.
Our company was dishonest. We have totally screwed up,
said Michael Horn, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, desperately enacting damage control measures. We must fix the
cars to prevent this from ever happening again and we have to
make this right. This kind of behavior is totally inconsistent with
our qualities.
Even more disastrous was the discovery that Volkswagens
top executives sat on the knowledge that their vehicles were
massively overpolluting for months if not years. According to
letters sent to company officials by the EPA, Volkswagen only
admitted to using software tricks to cheat the emissions test after
regulators threatened to withhold certification for new vehicles
effectively removing them from sale. This was a recalcitrant
admission from a company facing a massive loss in revenue.
Now, Volkswagen faces investigations and potential charges from a number of sources. California is carrying out its
own investigation in addition to the EPA, while the Justice
Department will likely get involved. Unlike General Motors,
which was originally hit with a tiny (for GM) fine of just $35
million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
Volkswagen could be prosecuted under the Clean Air Act. That
brings a maximum fine of $37,500 per vehicle a potential total
of $18 billion owed to the government. Volkswagen have already
stated they are setting aside up to $7.3 billion to cover the recall
and other associated costs.
Except that its not just 500,000 vehicles. The software used
to cheat American regulations exists in up to 11 million vehicles
around the world, VW admitted Tuesday. If the American fine
were able to be applied globally, Volkswagen would be liable for

a maximum penalty of over $400 billion thats more than the
total market capitalization of Volkswagen, General Motors and
Toyota (the worlds three largest automakers) combined.
Mercifully, Volkswagen only has the wrath of the U.S. government to deal with, though European regulators are apparently considering their own investigations.
For Winterkorn, it was an incredibly ironic climbdown from
his boasts about efficiency and technology a week prior. I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public, he said in a statement Monday. We will
cooperate fully with the responsible agencies, with transparency
and urgency, to clearly, openly, and completely establish all of
the facts of this case.
In a video posted to VWs website a day later, Winterkorn
whose own position at the company is now in jeopardy
attempted to repair the damage the EPAs revelations had
caused. Stating again that he was endlessly sorry, and that the
irregularities with these engines contradict everything for which
Volkswagen stands, Winterkorn desperately tried to save face
ahead of a vote by VWs executive board which could see him
taking the fall for the companys disgrace.
For consumers, though, it may already be too late.
Thats just a whole other level of not only lying to the government, but also lying to your consumer, Priya Shah, who
owns a 2012 Jetta SportWagen, told the Los Angeles Times. She
accused Volkswagen of blatant disregard before stating what
many Volkswagen customers have iterated on social media
that she wont be buying a VW again, diesel or otherwise.
I dont want to be spewing noxious gases into the environment, she said. The diesels theyve lost my trust on that. l
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
33
34
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
NIGHT
LIFE
LISTINGS
THURS., 09.24.15
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports Expanded
craft beer selection
Music videos featuring
DJ Wess
ANNIES/ANNIES
UPSTAIRS
4@4 Happy Hour, 4-7pm
$4 Small Plates, $4 Stella
Artois, $4 House Wines,
$4 Stolichnaya Cocktails,
$4 Manhattans and Vodka
Martinis
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Happy Hour: $6 Call
Martini, $3 Miller Lite,
$4 Rail, $5 Call, 4-9pm
$3 Rail Drinks, 10pmmidnight, $5 Red Bull,
Gatorade and Frozen
Virgin Drinks Locker
Room Thursday Nights
DJs Sean Morris and
MadScience Ripped Hot
Body Contest at midnight,
hosted by Sasha J. Adams
and BaNaka $200 Cash
Prize Doors open 10pm,
18+ $5 Cover under 21
and free with college ID
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm
dcnine.com
FREDDIES BEACH BAR

Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
DC EAGLE
Thursday Night Football
Touchdown Specials
Jock Night specials for
men in jocks, 8-10pm
METROWEEKLY.COM
35
36
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
scene
Peach Pit at DC9
Saturday, September 19
scan this tag
with your
smartphone
for bonus scene
pics online!
Photography by
Ward Morrison
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm
Ladies Drink Free Power
Hour, 4-5pm Shirtless
Thursday, 10-11pm DJs
BacK2bACk
JR.S
All You Can Drink for $15,
5-8pm $3 Rail Vodka
Highballs, $2 JR.s drafts,
8pm-close Throwback
Thursday featuring rock/
pop retro hits
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
$2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) Buckets of
Beer $15 Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
drink, 5-9pm No Cover
TOWN PATIO
Open 6pm No Cover
$4 Drinks and $3 Draughts,
6-9pm
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers
Shirtless Thursday DJ
Tim-e in Secrets 9pm
Cover 21+
FRI., 09.25.15
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink,
5-9pm Friday Night
Videos with resident DJ
Shea Van Horn VJ
Expanded craft beer selection No Cover
ANNIES
Martinis Upstairs open,
5-11pm
COBALT/30 DEGREES
All You Can Drink Happy
Hour $15 Rail and
Domestic, $21 Call
& Imports, 6-9pm
Guys Night Out Free
Belvedere Vodka, 11pmMidnight, $6 Belvedere
Vodka Drinks all night
DJ MadScience upstairs
DJ Keenan Orr downstairs
$10 cover 10pm-1am, $5
after 1am 21+
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm
dcnine.com
DC EAGLE
Free Happy Hour Buffet,
6-10pm $4 Rail, $3
Domestic, $10 Bucket of
Stella Gear Night $2
discount for men in gear,
10pm-close
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm
$5 Smirnoff, all flavors,
all night long BOOM,
featuring the hottest GoGo
Bears, 10pm-2am
JR.S
Happy Hour: 2-for-1,
4-9pm $2 Skyy Highballs
and $2 Drafts, 10pmmidnight Retro Friday
$5 Coronas, $8 Vodka Red
Bulls, 9pm-close
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

DJ Matt Bailey Videos,
Dancing Beat the Clock
Happy Hour $2 (5-6pm),
$3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
NUMBER NINE
Open 5pm Happy Hour:
2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm
No Cover
TOWN
DC Bear Crue Happy
Hour, 6-11pm $3 Rail,
$3 Draft, $3 Bud Bottles
Free Pizza, 7pm No
cover before 9:30pm
21+ Drag Show starts at
10:30pm Hosted by Lena
Lett and featuring Miss
Tatianna, Shi-QueetaLee, Epiphany B. Lee
and BaNaka DJ Wess
upstairs, DJs BacK2bACk
downstairs GoGo Boys
after 11pm Doors open
at 10pm For those 21
and over, $10 For those
18-20, $15 18+
TOWN PATIO
Open 6pm No Cover
before 10pm Cover after
10pm (entry through Town)
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers,
hosted by LaTroya Nicole
Ladies of Ziegfelds,
9pm Hosted by Miss
Destiny B. Childs DJ
Darryl Strickland in Secrets
VJ Tre in Ziegfelds
Cover 21+
SAT., 09.26.15
9 1/2
drink, 3-9pm $5 Absolut
& Titos, $3 Miller Lite
after 9pm Expanded
craft beer selection No
Cover Music videos
featuring various DJs
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Drag Yourself to Brunch at
Level One, 11am-2pm and
2-4pm Featuring Kristina
Kelly and the Ladies of
Illusion Bottomless
Mimosas and Bloody
Marys Happy Hour: $3
METROWEEKLY.COM
Miller Lite, $4 Rail, $5

Call, 4-9pm AFTERGLOW
Dance Party, featuring DJs
X Gonzalez and Tom from
Prague $5 Rail Drinks,
$3 PBR, $4 Fireball, $8
Vodka & Red Bull Ladies
Night Out with LURe DC
Drink specials all night
Doors open 10pm $5
Cover 18+
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 4-6pm
dcnine.com
DC EAGLE
Join the Men of the Long
Island Ravens from New
York for their first Bar
Night at the DC Eagle
$2 Draughts at Club Bar
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Drag Queen Broadway
Brunch, 10am-3pm
Starring Freddies
Broadway Babes Crazy
Hour, 4-7pm Freddies
Follies Drag Show,
8-10pm, hosted by Miss
Destiny B. Childs No
Cover
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
37
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm $5
Bacardi, all flavors, all
night long Khush DC
and Anthology of Booty
present Bootystan: An
LGBT South Asian Party
Special guest DJ Ushka,
9pm-close $5 Cover
before 10pm, $10 after
10pm
TOWN
CTRL Dance Party, 11pmclose Music and video
downstairs by DJ Wess
Drag Show starts at
10:30pm Hosted by Lena
Lett and featuring Miss
Tatianna, Shi-QueetaLee, Epiphany B. Lee and
BaNaka Doors open
10pm Cover $12 21+
JR.S
$4 Coors, $5 Vodka
Highballs, $7 Vodka Red
Bulls
TOWN PATIO
Open 2pm No Cover
before 9:30pm Cover
after 10pm (entry through
Town)
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

Guest DJs Zing Zang
Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer,
House Rail Drinks and
Mimosas, $4, 11am-5pm
Buckets of Beer, $15
NUMBER NINE
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm
Guest dancers Ladies
of Illusion with host
Ella Fitzgerald, 9pm
DJ Steve Henderson in
Secrets DJ Don T. in
Ziegfelds Doors open
8pm Cover 21+
SUN., 09.27.15
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
$4 Stoli, Stoli flavors
and Miller Lite all day
Stonewall Kickball
Post-Game Party, 5pm
Homowood Karaoke,
10pm-close No Cover
21+
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 2-6pm
dcnine.com
DC EAGLE
Doors open noon $7
Buffet with $2 Bud and
Bud Light Draughts
Sunday Football
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Champagne Brunch Buffet,
10am-3pm Crazy Hour,
4-7pm Karaoke, 8pm1am
38
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm
Mamas Trailer Park
Karaoke, 9:30pm-close
JR.S
Sunday Funday Liquid
Brunch Doors open at
1pm $2 Coors Lights and
$3 Skyy (all flavors), all
day and night
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Drag Brunch, hosted by
Shi-Queeta-Lee, 11am3pm $20 Brunch Buffet
House Rail Drinks, Zing
Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie
Beer and Mimosas, $4,
11am-close Buckets of
Beer, $15
NUMBER NINE
Pop Goes the World with
Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on
any drink, 3-9pm No
Cover
ROCK HARD SUNDAYS

@THE HOUSE
NIGHTCLUB
3530 Georgia Ave. NW
Diverse group of all male,
all nude dancers Doors
open 7pm Shows at 8
and 10pm $5 Domestic
Beer, $6 Imports Happy
Hour 7-8pm $10 cover
For Table Reservations,
202-487-6646 rockharddc.com
TOWN PATIO
Open 2pm No Cover
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Decades of Dance DJ
Tim-e in Secrets Doors
8pm Cover 21+
MON., 09.28.15
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
Cover
ANNIES
Martinis
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Happy Hour: $2 Rail, $3
Miller Lite, $5 Call, 4-9pm
RuPauls Drag Race
Viewing and Drag Show
hosted by Kristina Kelly
Doors open at 10pm, show
starts at 11pm $3 Skyy
Cocktails, $8 Skyy and Red
Bull No Cover, 18+
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm
dcnine.com
DC EAGLE
Monday Night Football
Happy Hour, 8-10pm
Jersey Night support
your favorite team Free
Pool all night
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
TUES., 09.29.15
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
Cover
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour all night long
Michaels Open Mic
Night Karaoke, 9:30pmclose
ANNIES
$4 Stella Artois, $4 House
Wines, $4 Stolichnaya
Cocktails, $4 Manhattans
and Vodka Martinis
JR.S
Happy Hour: 2-for-1,
4-9pm Showtunes Songs
& Singalongs, 9pm-close
DJ James $3 Draft
Pints, 8pm-midnight
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Happy Hour: $2 Rail, $3
Miller Lite, $5 Call, 4-9pm
SIN Industry Night
Half-price Cocktails, 10pmclose
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

$2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
Beer $15 Texas Holdem
Poker, 8pm Dart Boards
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm
dcnine.com
NUMBER NINE
FREDDIES BEACH BAR

Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
METROWEEKLY.COM
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour all night long,
4pm-close
JR.S
Birdie La Cage Show,
10:30pm Underground
(Indie Pop/Alt/Brit Rock),
9pm-close DJ Wes
Della Volla 2-for-1, 5pmmidnight
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
$2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
Beer $15 Karaoke and
Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
Safe Word: A Gay Spelling
Bee, 8-11pm Prizes to
the top three spellers
After 9pm, $3 Absolut,
Bulleit & Stella
TOWN PATIO
Open 6pm No Cover
Yappy Hour: Happy Hour
for Dogs and their best
friends $4 Drinks and
$4 Draughts
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
39
WED., 09.30.15
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
Cover
ANNIES
$4 Stella Artois, $4 House
Wines, $4 Stolichnaya
Cocktails, $4 Manhattans
and Vodka Martinis
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Happy Hour: $2 Rail,
$3 Miller Lite, $5 Call,
4-9pm Wednesday
Night Karaoke downstairs,
10pm Hosted by Miss
India Larelle Houston
$4 Stoli and Stoli Flavors
and Miller Lite No Cover
21+
40
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm
dcnine.com
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm $6
Burgers Drag Bingo
Night, hosted by Ms.
Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm
Bingo prizes Karaoke,
10pm-1am
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour all night long,
4pm-close The Boys of
HUMP upstairs, 9pm
JR.S
Buy 1, Get 1 Free, 4-9pm
Trivia with MC Jay Ray,
8pm The Feud: Drag
Trivia, hosted by BaNaka,
10-11pm, with a $200
prize $2 JR.s Drafts and
$4 Vodka ($2 with College
ID or JR.s Team Shirt)
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

SmartAss Trivia Night,
8pm and 9pm Prizes
include bar tabs and tickets to shows at the 9:30
Club $15 Buckets of
Beer for SmartAss Teams
only Bring a new team
members and each get a
free $10 Dinner
NUMBER NINE
TOWN PATIO
Open 6pm No Cover
Half-Price Hump Day
half-price drinks all day
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Shirtless Night, 10-11pm,
12-12:30am Military
Night, no cover with
military ID DJ Don T. in
Secrets 9pm Cover
21+ l
SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE
41
42
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
COURTESY WUNDER GARTEN
Wunder Garten and Metro Weekly stage the citys only LGBT Oktoberfest party
OU CANT SERVE
German beer with
a French name!
Christopher
Lynch is adamant about his
reason for not extending
the name LEnfant Cafe
the restauarant he co-owns
with Jim Ball to his newest venue, Wunder Garten,
in D.C.s newly thriving
NoMa region.
All next week, the
citys newest, largest beer
garden will celebrate the
German, beer-focused
festival Oktoberfest. And
on Wednesday, Sept. 30,
the venue will celebrate
the LGBT community with
a cant-miss gay night:
Sausage Fest.
As with every other night

during the seven-day event,
Sausage Fest partygoers
can drink from 12 taps serving mostly German beer,
including several special
Oktoberfest brews. And
Capitol Hills Cafe Berlin
will be on hand to dole out
sausages, as well as other
German staples, including
schnitzels and soft pretzels.
There will be a DJ-in-theround and other surprises.
The festivities will take
place in a pop-up beer hall,
a circus-like tent with a
huge entry archway that
calls to mind Munichs
Oktoberfest. With help from
a German friend serving
as an inspiring partner,
Lynch is working hard to

make the experience as
authentic as it would be in
Germany.
Aiding in that authenticity: Games. Including a
dirndl race.
Dirndl is the female version of lederhosen the
Heidi dress, Lynch says.
Competitors race around the
stage, holding a stein of beer
in their cleavage. The person
who gets around the most
and has liquid in their mug at
the end is the winner.
There is no cover charge
for the evening, which
is co-produced by Metro
Weekly.
Lynch opened Wunder
Garten with Ball at the
beginning of summer,
becoming the first establishment apart from a Hilton
Garden Inn to have an onpremise liquor license in
NoMa. He expects Wunder
Garten to remain open as
late as November, depending on the weather, in its
current temporary site a
parking lot down the block
from a Harris Teeter and
immediately next to the
NoMa-Gallaudet University
Metro stop on the Red Line.
Condominiums are scheduled to be constructed on
the property in the nearfuture. Lynch is working
to find a more permanent,
year-round location in the
neighborhood.
Theres a notable
gay presence in NoMa,
Lynch says, adding that
about a quarter of the
customers are gay. But
next weeks Sausage Fest
will be Wunder Gartens
first official full, all-gay
blowout. And though the
garden must close by 10
p.m., Lynch encourages
patrons to make their way
to LEnfant Cafe for a La
Boum-style after-party.
After all, some will want
Sausage Fest to go all
night.
Sausage Fest is
Wednesday, Sept. 30, at
4 p.m., with last call at 9
p.m., at Wunder Garten,
150 M St. NE.
No cover charge.
Call 202-716-7302 or visit
wundergartendc.com.
For more information on
the full slate of Oktoberfest
activities or to purchase
tickets for the events held
Friday, Oct. 2, and
Saturday, Oct. 3, visit
wundergartendc.com. l
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
43
CLUBLIFE BY DOUG RULE
Getting Porked
scene
The DC Kings
Final Show
at Bier Baron Tavern
Sunday, September 21
scan this tag
with your
smartphone
for bonus scene
pics online!
Photography by
Ward Morrison
44
45
Paula Deen is on this season of Dancing with the Stars, but I gotta say, if I wanted to see an intolerant lady dance,
I wouldve gone to one of Kim Daviss four weddings.
Emmy Awards host ANDY SAMBERG, in a monologue containing several references to the Rowan County Clerk.
Its so ironic that she came out of jail to Eye of the Tiger, Samberg added, when you consider
how many guys have boned each other to that song.
We dont rent to trans people.
She could tomorrow go and try to find an apartment,

and in 32 states it would be legal for the landlord to look her in the eye and say,
JILL SOLOWAY, accepting her Emmy Award for Outstanding Direction for a Comedy Series for Transparent on Sunday.
Soloway dedicated her win to her moppa, a trans woman. We dont have a trans tipping point yet,
we have a trans civil rights problem.
Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your stories. Thank you for your inspiration.
Thank you for letting us be part of the change.
JEFFREY TAMBOR to the transgender community while accepting his Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for
portraying Maura Pfefferman a trans woman in Transparent.
Were going to tell the attorney-general,

he will defend marriage in Tennessee
as it is written on our constitution.
SEN. MAE BEAVERS, commenting on a bill she introduced to the Tennessee state senate which seeks to overturn the Supreme
Courts ruling on marriage equality, The Tennessean reports. Any court decision purporting to strike down natural marriage,
including Obergefell v Hodges, is unauthoritative, void, and of no effect, the bill states.
I would try to confront, to

tackle the person.
PRINCE WILLIAM, heir to the British throne, speaking at an anti-bullying campaign run by a charity named in recognition of his
late mother, The Daily Mail reports. Prince William was asked how he would handle someone bullying an LGBT person.
I usually find myself right in in the middle of problems so thats pretty much where Id be, he continued.
46
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM
METROWEEKLY.COM
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
47
48
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
METROWEEKLY.COM

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2

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

SALES & MARKETING

OUT ON THE TOWN

NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE

Urban Arias: As One

2015 Jansi LLC.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

Peach Pit at DC9

Wunder Gartens Sausage Fest

DC Kings Final Show

photography by Ward Morrison

photography by Ward Morrison

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

Hillary Clinton to address HRC

METRO WEEKLY/FLICKR USER YURI SAMOILOV

Now online at MetroWeekly.com

HRIS WILBURN WAS INITIALLY SKEPTICAL OF

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

Pope Francis is an even more harmful adversary to the LGBT community

HIS WEEK, MY COLLEGE WAS A FLURRY OF

choose to do battle. Gay Catholics could leave a church that

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

and, more recently, the Vatican raised a ruckus about a few

You Oughta Know

LTHOUGH I DONT ENJOY GOING OUT AS

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

SMYALS REC NIGHT provides a

METROHEALTH CENTER offers

GAYS AND LESBIANS OPPOSING

anti-LGBT violence and hate crimes,

free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5

p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). Call 202-291-4707, or visit

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)

practice session at Takoma Aquatic

DC LAMBDA SQUARES gay and lesbian square-dancing group features

HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker

Health. At the Elizabeth Taylor

IDENTITY offers free and confiden-

tial HIV testing in Gaithersburg,

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

Anonymous Meeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m.,

WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES, a

p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707, andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

13-21, interested in leadership development. 5-6:30 p.m. SMYAL Youth

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-

GAY MARRIED MENS

CENTER AGING, a group for older

adults, hosts a monthly luncheon at

LGB PSYCHOTHERAPY GROUP for

tice session at Hains Point, 927 Ohio

fidential support group for men who

HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker

Health. At the Elizabeth Taylor

METROHEALTH CENTER offers

free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-

affirming social group for ages 11-24.