My Summer of Vintage Porn - September 3, 2020

2 SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM 

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Contents 

September 3, 2020 Volume 27 Issue 16 

15 

By André Hereford 

PORTRAIT OF DORIAN 

The acclaimed singer-songwriter Dorian Wood creates a soundtrack 

for resistance and action with two new albums. 

MY VINTAGE PORN SUMMER 

Charting an odyssey of classic gay erotica, from Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.’s 

Passing Strangers to Wakefield Poole’s Boys in the Sand. 


42 

51 

ANALOG GLOW 

Thirty-five years and eighteen albums in, 

Erasure remains a comforting pop presence. 

By Sean Maunier 

THE HELEN HAYES AWARDS p.7 NELLIE’S HEROES LUNCHES p.11 

#STAYFRESHATHOME VIDEOS p.17 ANTIBOY p.21 DAUGHTER DENIED p.25 HOT AIR p.26 

BUSINESS FOR BIDEN p.28 FOCUS ON THE SANITIZER p.30 POTENTIAL TRAGEDY p.32 

JUSTICE BLOWS p.36 LOVE, BECKY p.37 COURTING CONTROVERSY p.39 

GALLERY: VIAN BORCHERT p.48 FILM: #UNFIT p.50 

RETROSCENE: THE LAST NIGHT AT TRACKS p.55 RETROSCENE: A NIGHT AT MR. P’S p.56 

LAST WORD p.57 

l Click for Playable Videos 

l Click to Read Article on Website 

Washington, D.C.’s Best LGBTQ Magazine for 26 Years 

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Online Editor at metroweekly.com Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley 

Contributing Editors André Hereford, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrators David Amoroso, Scott G. Brooks 

Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim 

Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla 

Patron Saint Casey Donovan Cover Image Boys In The Sand by Wakefield Poole 

During the pandemic please send all mail to: Metro Weekly PO Box 11559 - Washington, D.C. 20008 • 202-638-6830 

All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to 

editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their 

agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization. 

© 2020 Jansi LLC. 


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Spotlight 

Virtually Rewarding 

A multi-night virtual series, the 2020 Helen Hayes Awards makes a 

powerful move to become more gender-inclusive. By Doug Rule 

I'VE BEEN ON SO MANY ZOOM CALLS 

with people from the community, and it's 

been such a joy to see all these wonderful 

theatermakers,” says theatreWashington’s Amy 

Austin. “It's a tremendous reminder of how fortunate 

we are to have people who work in this 

field and work at it so passionately, to tell stories 

that we can all grow and learn from.” 

Every year, the organization Austin leads 

shines a spotlight on the local theater community 

through its presentation of the Helen Hayes 

Awards. With last spring’s traditional spring 

evening gala at the Anthem postponed, the 36th 

annual event was reconceived as a multi-night 

virtual affair. “There are real reasons to celebrate 

and honor and recognize this incredible 

group,” Austin says. “So the decision was to 

move forward and to lean into the virtual space 

and not try to recreate what we used to have.” 

Over the next week, performers and designers 


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are the focus of a series of broadcasts honoring 

their work in 2019 as nominated by a group of 

40 judges. The awards will culminate in a large 

virtual ceremony, set for Friday, Sept. 25, and 

are expected to draw 2,000 virtual participants. 

In addition to showcasing the local theater community, 

the ceremony will also present awards 

to the theaters and theater troupes nominated in 

the various outstanding production and ensemble 

categories, before ending with a virtual 

dance party. 

Beyond the changes necessitated by the pandemic, 

the 2020 awards further distinguish 

themselves as the first to recognize local acting 

professionals in a gender-inclusive way. “That’s 

a really important change that was too long in 

coming,” says Austin. “We eliminated the language 

of Outstanding Actor and Actress in order 

to say Outstanding Performer.... We’re still nominating 

the same number of people and giving 

out two awards [per category], so that the numbers 

of people who are recognized as recipients 

will remain the same. 

“The thing that people may not understand 

about the change,” she continues, “is that 

what we were doing before was forcing [trans 

and non-binary] people to misgender themselves 

in order to be eligible for a Helen Hayes 

Award.” In a report issued last month announcing 

the change, theatreWashington’s advisory 

Ajudication Committee wrote, “The traditional 

practice of separating nominees into male and 

female categories alienates and erases nonbinary 

artists, and forces them to conform to a 

system in which they do not see themselves represented. 

“To help facilitate these changes, the 

Committee is also working to implement annual 

anti-bias training for [nominating] judges, 

addressing gender-inclusive awards and adjudication, 

education about non-Western theatrical 

styles, and broader anti-oppressive practices 

and policies.” 

The work will be complemented by additional 

efforts inspired by this summer’s sustained 

activism for racial justice and calls for a more 

equitable society and community. 

“It's a very difficult time in so many ways,” 

Austin says. “Not only the inability to gather, 

which means the inability to do live performance 

and theater, but also working towards an 

anti-racist community, and all of the promise of 

when we come back, having it be a better place 

to come back to. theatreWashington is really 

actively trying to work on both of those things 

— the community come together to talk about 

the best practices in terms of making sure that 

organizations make it to next year, as well as 

learning how to listen and support each other in 

this critical time when Black Lives Matter, [and 

when] there’s time and energy to think and to 

learn about how we can make better choices.” 

The series of virtual events leading up to the 

Sept. 25 ceremony was partly designed to draw 

renewed attention to the many theater artists 

still struggling with no work or income, and no 

clear sign of when that situation will change — 

all as bills mount and new concerns develop. 

Through the Taking Care Fund, theatreWashington 

has offered artists in need $500 in microgrants 

as well as up to $5,000 in emergency 

medical support. To date, over 900 people have 

contributed to the fund, with most donations 

under $100, “so it’s really been a community 

effort,” Austin says. 

“We know we will return,” she says. “In the 

meantime, we need attention and support for 

artists so that they are still here to return to. I 

just want to remind people of how necessary 

performance and theater and art is, [and] actively 

supporting that while we're in this time when 

the work is suppressed.” 

The 2020 Helen Hayes Awards are being presented in a series of individual award events 

held on Zoom and posted to YouTube — with upcoming dates Friday, Sept. 4, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 

Wednesday, Sept. 9, and Friday, Sept. 11 — before culminating in a virtual ceremony 

on Friday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. Free. Follow @theatrewash on Twitter, 

or visit www.theatrewashington.org for more details and to register. 


Spotlight 

IZAAK TODD SARAH ENTICKNAP 

caption 

Measure for Measure 

SCOTTISH DIRECTOR PAUL 

Ireland helms a contemporary retelling 

of Shakespeare’s drama set in modernday 

Melbourne, Australia, and starring 

Hugo Weaving as an aging crime boss 

who does things his way. Co-written with 

Damian Hill, Ireland’s Measure for Measure 

centers on the unlikely love affair between 

Jaiwara (played by Megan Smart), a Muslim 

university student from an immigrant 

family, and Claudio (Harrison Gilbertson), a 

local musician from a tough upbringing. The 

lovers’ paths cross after a tragedy occurs 

in the public housing complex, rife with 

crime, drugs, and racial tension, where they 

both live. Daniel Henshall, Mark Leonard 

Winter, and Doris Younane costar in this 

tale of love, power, justice, loyalty, and 

cultural differences. Available as video-ondemand 

and at digital platforms on Friday, 

Sept. 4. Visit www.samuelgoldwynfilms. 

com/measure-for-measure. —Doug Rule 


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Spotlight 

Episode 2 

Smith Gatling Gwon 

The Signature Show 

SIGNATURE CONTINUES ITS REGUlar 

digital series presenting interviews 

with, performances by, and tributes to 

artists who have played a part in the company’s 

many successful productions over the 

years. The third episode of The Signature 

Show puts the spotlight on acclaimed actors 

Bobby Smith (La Cage aux Folles) and Felicia 

Curry (The Scottsboro Boys), two of the 

brightest stars in Signature Theatre’s orbit, 

along with the double-threat actor/musician 

powerhouse Mark G. Meadows (Jelly’s Last 

Jam) and several up-and-coming talents — 

actors Christian Douglas (Gun & Powder) and 

Nkrumah Gatling (Grand Hotel), and composer 

Adam Gwon (Cake Off). Also featured: 

the students of Signature’s Stage One musical 

theater program. The series is produced 

by Matthew Gardiner, the company’s associate 

artistic director who got his start with 

the company nearly two decades ago as an 

actor fresh out of college. Episode 3, released 

Aug. 26, is currently available at https://www. 

sigtheatre.org/the-signature-show. —DR 


Spotlight 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NELLIE’S 

Nellie’s Heroes Lunches 

I 

WOULD HAVE NEVER THOUGHT TO 

take our restaurant and deliver meals out 

to people,” says Doug Schantz, the owner 

of Nellie’s Sports Bar. Yet that’s exactly what 

he’s been doing on a regular basis since April: 

preparing and delivering meals to front-line 

workers at key institutions around town. And 

once word got out about the ongoing nature 

of the restaurant’s meal donations, Schantz 

says “people started saying, ‘Hey, I want to 

become a sponsor.’” Now they can do just 

that through the recently formalized program, 

Nellie’s Heroes Lunches. A sponsor can sign 

up to help deliver meals to “heroes in the community 

that [they] want to recognize,” or they 

can support more meals for essential workers 

at key institutions Nellie’s has already honored, 

including MedStar Washington Hospital 

Center and N Street Village. Sponsorships start 

at $200, which covers expenses for a minimum 

of 20 lunches per delivery, and can come from 

either an individual or a group of individuals 

splitting the cost — such as the JTT Just The 

Tip Kickball Team, which recently sponsored 

meals for workers at the Unique Rehabilitation 

and Health Center. 

So far, Schantz has signed up 10 sponsorships, 

with more planning to follow suit, including 

additional LGBTQ sports leaques. He sees the 

program as a natural corollary to the kind of 

in-person fundraisers Nellie’s hosted before 

COVID (and will do so again afterwards). Yet 

Schantz doesn’t see the Heroes program ending 

anytime soon — or really ever. “I’ll continue 

doing it when we’re past COVID,” he says. 

“Why not? It’s a really neat program, and 

is one of the good things coming out of this 

crazy world that we’re living in right now.” To 

inquire or sign up for a sponsorship, contact 

info@nelliesportsbar.com. Nellie’s is at 900 

U St. NW. Call 202-332-6355 or visit www. 

nelliessportsbar.com. —DR 


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Spotlight 

Bahian Shellfish “Moqueca” Stew 

Churros & Chocolate 

Beef Empanadas 

Ceiba Pop-Up at PassionFish Reston 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PASSIONFISH 

D.C.’S DINING SCENE STARTED GARnering 

serious national acclaim roughly 

two decades ago, assisted in no small 

measure by Jeff Tunks and the chef/restaurateur’s 

work at several seafood-celebrating downtown 

hotspots, from Ceiba to TenPenh to DC 

Coast, the former splashy K Street venture that 

launched his Passion Food Hospitality. These 

days, you have to head out to the suburbs for the 

best catch from the restaurant group — especially 

so, given that District Commons and Burger 

Tap & Shake, its two side-by-side eateries in 

Foggy Bottom, remain closed during the pandemic 

“until further notice.” Certainly seafood is 

the star of Executive Chef Chris Clime’s menu at 

the two locations of PassionFish, including the 

newer spot in Bethesda. 

But this weekend, fans of Tunks and Ceiba 

should head to the original PassionFish location 

in Reston to relive the glory days of the acclaimed 

pan-Latin restaurant that stood for 11 years at 

14th and G, in the corner space now occupied 

by Ocean Prime. A Ceiba pop-up will be offered 

in PassionFish’s private dining room. For $59 a 

person, diners can enjoy a three-course meal of 

Ceiba favorites, served family style, beginning 

with a first course of Beef Empanadas with spicy 

romesco dipping sauce, a Sampling of Ceviche 

featuring Yucatan shrimp ceviche “cocktail” and 

classic Peruvian with cancha corn, and Grilled 

Octopus Salad with queso fresco and black olive 

aioli, to be followed by entrées of Grilled Ribeye 

Churrasco with chimichurri and cebolla frita and 

Bahian Shellfish “Moqueca” Stew with Brazilian 

Lobster, Prawns, and Mussels and served with 

coconut rice and rum-glazed maduro plantains, 

and ending with Tres Leches cake and Churros 

& Chocolate for dessert. 

Ceiba’s Signature Seasoned Flour Tortilla 

Crisps with Sikil P’ak Mayan pumpkin seed 

dip will be furnished at the outset, while bags 

of Ceiba Caramel Corn will be everyone’s parting 

gift. Special cocktails are also expected. 

Available Wednesday, Sept. 9, through Sunday, 

Sept. 12, from 6 to 9 p.m. Seating is limited 

especially given “safely socially distanced 

tables.” Located at 11960 Democracy Drive in 

Reston. Reservations are required and accepted 

by phone only. Call 703-230-3474 or visit www. 

passionfishreston.com. —DR 


Spotlight 

Loudon Wainwright III 

THE CITY WINERY CHAIN OF CONcert 

venues has partnered with a new 

livestream platform aiming to improve 

the pandemic-birthed experience to make it a 

more appealing and viable way to experience 

live music for venues and artists as well as for 

fans. Called Mandolin, the platform was built 

with various specialized features to help connect 

musicians with fans, from watch parties 

to virtual meet-and-greet experiences, in addition 

to what is billed as “industry-leading concert-quality 

audio” and full HD video. 

Dubbed CWTV, this City Winery exclusive 

streaming series features shows streaming next 

weekend from Shawn Colvin, Carrie Newcomer, 

and the Tim O’Brien Band, but this weekend’s 

chief attraction is a “Birthday Boy” livestream 

in which Loudon Wainwright III will celebrate 

his 74th birthday by singing “songs of Death 

and Decay.” Naturally, the famed singer-songwriter, 

father of Rufus and Martha, has plenty 

of so-called “Double D” songs to choose from 

in his repertoire, and among these he’s expected 

to play are “Heaven,” “My Meds,” “Dead 

Skunk,” and “Old & Grey & Only in the Way.” 

Performing from his “lockdown location” on 

eastern Long Island, Wainwright will also premiere 

“A Perfect Day,” a new song from his 

forthcoming album I’d Rather Lead A Band, due 

in October. Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m. A link to 

the livestream costs $12. Visit www.citywinery. 

com/washingtondc. —DR 


Spotlight 

GONZO BOJORQUEZ 

Portrait of Dorian 

The acclaimed singer-songwriter Dorian Wood creates a soundtrack 

for resistance and action with two new albums. By André Hereford 

THE POWER OF MUSIC TO BRING PEOple 

together applies quite literally to musicians, 

who, at the moment, are largely 

deprived of live venues to reach audiences, to earn 

their living, and to perform and vibe with friends. 

Singer-songwriter Dorian Wood, based in Los 

Angeles, had been adapting to this new normal with 

a measure of sadness and resignation, when “I felt 

this push all of a sudden,” the artist recalls. “And this 

opportunity arose at the same time to do a residency 

at this space called Human Resources in L.A.” 

A Latinx LGBTQ+ activist who identifies as 

non-binary, Wood seized on that opportunity 

not only to record new music, but to share that 

creative space with their close friend and longtime 

collaborator, guitarist Michael Corwin. 

“We were each very mindful of our own selfcare,” 

Wood says. “And this was a risk, asking 

my friend, ‘Would you feel comfortable if we 

gathered in a space, just you and I, a completely 

newly sterilized space, in which we would practice 

safe distancing and be completely masked 

the entire time, and recorded this music?’ And 

when he said yes, I was delighted.” 

The resulting album, ARDOR, recorded in June 

and slated for release September 4, “was something 

that I was feeling at the beginning of this 

confinement,” says Wood. A tapestry weaving 

the artist’s original songs with reimagined covers 

of Prince’s “7” and Chavela Vargas’ “Macorina,” 

among others, the music creates a rich emotional 

soundscape from just Wood’s ethereal voice and 

Corwin’s adept accompaniment. The two recorded 

the ten tracks in a day, “and most of them are 

single takes because there is just this beautiful, 

loving chemistry between us, where we are able 

to just really fall into the moment. And, you know, 

I follow him, he follows me. And the album is very 

much a document of that.” 

Wood will present the album, their fifth fulllength, 

with a livestreaming concert from the 

Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles on 


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Sunday, September 6. “It's different from the type 

of streaming performances I've been giving off 

and on during the pandemic, where they've just 

been from my living room,” says the performer. 

Although there won’t be an audience in the room, 

“the idea is to try to replicate as best as we can in 

these times of confinement an actual live performance. 

And the ICA is a really wonderful, brightly 

acoustic space, and they've been very generous in 

lending us their space for this performance.” 

Livestreaming shows pose a unique challenge, 

yet, as Wood sees it, the format is “really 

just one of the many ways that I feel artists 

are looking to survive this, and improvise and 

troubleshoot the best way that we can continue 

having careers in a time when everything has 

come to a halt.” Another way, for Wood, has 

been to double down on their purpose in creating 

music. “We each have, I feel, a role in what's 

happening today. And I know one of the roles 

that I have is being an artist, being a musician, 

an interpreter of music. So what do I do with 

this?” In addition to ARDOR, Wood created 

companion album REACTOR, due out later this 

fall, a solo endeavor they describe as “almost 

strictly electronic.” 

“[REACTOR is] more of a vivid reflection of 

the times that we're living in, in more of a retaliatory 

way,” says Wood. “Whereas ARDOR, I 

wanted to be the first of the two albums because 

it is really more the focus that we have on reminiscing 

on times prior to all of this. And I feel the 

importance of feeding our souls with music that 

could be familiar to some, but also just a tone 

that I wanted to convey that is more calming and 

nourishing, while not negating the times that we 

are currently experiencing. REACTOR is what 

follows that. It is really more of a plea to take 

action and to resist.” Wood calls both albums 

“love letters to activists, and to all of us doing 

what we can to survive in today’s times.” 

“Everything from COVID to Fascism is presenting 

a new nightmare every single day, and 

it manifests itself in a different way each week,” 

says Wood. “I wanted to put out this work that 

was created in this moment and present in this 

moment, knowing that come November, the 

world is going to be vastly different, is what my 

instinct tells me. And I am hoping that we are 

all, at that point, continuing to practice self-care, 

to take care of each other, to acknowledge and 

strive for what is the right of everyone to live and 

breathe vividly and arduously, as is our right. 

“That, unfortunately, is going to involve a fight 

that we perhaps don't know that we have in us 

yet, but we're going to have to have it. So I'm preparing 

music that is going to put us in the mindset 

of preparing for battle. That's how I see it.” 

GONZO BOJORQUEZ 

ARDOR is digitally available on all major platforms. Visit www.dorianwood.com. 


Spotlight 

Churro Nomi 

#stayFRESHatHOME Videos 

EARLIER THIS SUMMER, SAN 

Francisco’s Fresh Meat Productions, 

billed as the nation’s largest transgender 

arts organization and run by acclaimed choreographer 

Sean Dorsey, launched an online series 

of short LGBTQ-led video exercises offering 

loosely defined guidance intended to help make 

the best of sheltering in place at home alone. 

The videos posted so far in this #stayFRE- 

SHatHOME series have been as quirky and 

eccentric as you might imagine, right from the 

start, with the “Seated Dance Class with Churro 

Nomi.” The drag alias of Fresh Meat’s Eric 

Garcia, Nomi showcased his five-minute work 

of seated movement developed “in the stylings 

of Bob Fosse” — chiefly, the famed choreographer’s 

jazz hands and rolling shoulders, and 

none of his sideways shuffling or other elaborate 

below-the-waist movement involving the 

hips, legs, and knees. From a seat in what is presumably 

his living room, Nomi also gesticulates 

with his hands, sweeps the air with his arms, 

and even does the Egyptian-styled head slide. 

It would be a sight for sore and bored eyes (if 

not body) even if he didn’t do it all while wearing a 

gaudy red-sequined dress and a long wig made of 

carrot-colored yarn, or appeared in the visage of a 

bearded lady, with an exaggerated degree of facepaint 

and eyeliner acting as a kind of counterbalance 

to his naturally thick scruff. Before launching 

into the first of two rounds of his routine, Nomi 

stops to invite viewers to join him in donning what 

he calls quick drag: “If you have a hat, a jacket, stilettos, 

a wig and makeup lying around, pause this 

video and get yourself dolled up.” 

Other videos posted in the series include Neve 

Mazique singing the Unitarian Universalist 

hymn “Where You Go, Baby”; a 13-minute 

stretching and core workout session with 

Will Woodward, a member of Sean Dorsey 

Dance as well as San Francisco’s burlesque 

group Baloney; and Self-Compassion Guided 

Meditation with Fresh “Lev” White, a self-described 

self-love and self-compassion meditation 

coach. All videos are available for streaming 

on Vimeo. Free, but donations are welcome 

to support the series and the featured artists. 

Visit www.freshmeatproductions.org. —DR 


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Spotlight 

PHOTO COURTESY OF NMWA 

The Tea: Tamika Love Jones 

MakeHER Summit 

SEPTEMBER GETS OFF TO A BANG AT 

the National Museum of Women in the 

Arts, as the museum launches a new, free 

online series focused on women musicians. This 

series kicks off this Friday, Sept. 4, at noon, 

with a one-hour session featuring Tamika Love 

Jones, who will both perform as well as sit for a 

short interview, conducted over a cup of tea, discussing 

her creative process. A versatile vocalist, 

actress, and educator in D.C., Jones will perform 

selections from three previously released 

albums, incorporating soul, hip-hop, jazz, funk, 

and blues, that best showcase her dramatic stage 

presence, acrobatic vocals, and dexterity moving 

from one genre to another. In the months to follow, 

Tashera, Heidi Martin, and VeVe Marley 

will get the spotlight through The Tea, a series 

from the museum’s Women, Arts, and Social 

Change initiative. 

A week after The Tea debuts, the Women, 

Arts, and Social Change initiative will host the 

third annual MakeHER Summit to celebrate 

and support creative women entrepreneurs in 

the culinary industry. Offerings at this two-day 

event in mid-September include “Fresh Talk: 

Culinary Justice,” a virtual conversation about 

gender inequity featuring Angel Gregorio of 

the Spice Suite spice bar and business incubator, 

Celeste Beatty of the Harlem Brewing 

Company, the first Black woman brewery owner 

in America, professional chef and culinary consultant 

Jenny Dorsey, and historian Ashley Rose 

Young of the Smithsonian’s American Food 

History Project, on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 4:30 p.m.; 

and a diverse workshop series offering practical 

tips and resource sharing for those in the 

culinary arts and creative economy, with sessions 

led by speakers including Riche Holmes 

Grant, host of The Riche Life and founder of 

BambiniWare, Layla Nielsen, a marketing executive 

and expert in the culture and technology 

sectors, and members of the Washington Area 

Lawyers for the Arts, all taking place Monday, 

Sept. 14, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. All events are 

free with no reservations required. Visit www. 

nmwa.org/livestream. —DR 


Spotlight 

JEROME LOBATO 

Yelle 

WHEN THEY FIRST EMERGED ON 

the international scene roughly a 

dozen years ago, Yelle was touted as 

France’s answer to Robyn on account of having 

a similar sound and style. It was a superficial 

comparison to be sure, but it did help the group 

attract new fans, especially dance music enthusiasts 

who don’t speak French or regularly listen 

to any music with non-English lyrics. 

It almost doesn’t matter what Julie “Yelle” 

Budet is actually saying in French, she sings in 

such a generally cheerful and upbeat manner, 

all while accompanied by the standard uptempo 

and buoyant synth-pop sonics of bandmate Jean- 

François “GrandMarnier” Perrier. Together, the 

duo makes playful, party pop — what the group 

has officially called “primary color disco” — that 

easily transcends language. 

That appears to be as true now as ever, six 

years after the last full-length album from the 

group. Dropping this Friday, Sept. 4, the new 

10-track L’Ère du Verseau, or “Age of Aquarius,” 

includes the latest single “Karaté,” a propulsive 

and hectic dance jam with the simple aim of 

“invading your brain cells and your body and 

soul to liberate the karateka dancer inside you,” 

reads a press release. The set also includes “Je 

T’aime Encore” (“I Still Love You”), a piano 

ballad with a characteristic dance flair, courtesy 

of a brooding bass line and syncopated beat, all 

to help give off a feeling of bittersweet love — 

specifically, the artists’ relationship with their 

native country. “We’re French, and sometimes 

we’re more understood by American people, 

Swedish people, or Spanish people,” Budet is 

quoted as saying. “They feel what we say and the 

energy that’s in our music, while France is a lot 

about overthinking, analyzing, and trying to put 

you into a box.” 

With a tour throughout Europe on the books 

for this fall, Yelle promises a North American 

tour “to come in January 2021.” Such a guaranteed 

good party can’t come soon enough, 

although January might be still too soon given 

the ongoing state of affairs over here. Visit 

www.yelle.fr. —DR 


19

Spotlight 

CANDICE GHAI 

ANTIBOY 

MAYBE IT’S BEST I FADE AWAY,” 

Harry Hains sings in “Good Enough,” 

a gothic, glitchy electro-pop song 

and lover’s lament released earlier this summer 

under the actor’s musical alias ANTIBOY. 

The line is especially chilling given that Hains 

died earlier this year from an apparent drug 

overdose. Known for his episodic roles in TV 

shows including FX’s American Horror Story: 

Hotel, Netflix’s The OA, and Amazon’s Sneaky 

Pete, as well as the indie films I, Matter and 

Mirrors, the 27-year-old was immersed in 

creating new music and material at the time 

of his death, all of it for the “genderless transhuman 

being” named ANTIBOY that is said to 

represent Hains’ “true artistic being.” 

His family, led by brother, producer Sam 

Hains, and mother, TV actress Jane Badler, 

is working to honor his digital creations by 

releasing them to the public. Last month, 

they released ANTIBOY’s sludgy, skittering 

reinterpretation of the Nancy Sinatra classic 

“Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” 

as well as a companion video billed as one 

“that transports viewers into a video game 

utopia of Harry’s vision for the future free on 

constructs where art, music, and gaming converge.” 

The project will culminate later this 

year with the release of A Glitch in Paradise, 

a visual music album described as exploring 

“the virtual world of ANTIBOY as he relives 

his mistakes in order to try to correct them 

and find happiness. But ANTIBOY experiences 

glitches and gets stuck in an endless loop 

of heartache, inspired by Harry’s relationship 

with then-partner Mike.” Follow @theantiboy 

on Instagram, @antib0y on Facebook, and 

@antiboyvevo on YouTube. —DR 


21

Spotlight 

JIMMY FONTAINE 

Illiterate Light Recorded Live at DC9 

I 

WANNA LEAVE AMERICA, BUT I DON’T 

know where to go,” Jeff Gorman sings 

in a frenetic rock banger from Illiterate 

Light, the Virginia-based duo of Gorman and 

Jake Cochran. Last month, the band released 

a video of their performance of the song at 

its sold-out show at DC9 earlier this year. A 

partnership with the voter registration organization 

HeadCount, the release is the latest 

in the band’s monthly “In The Moment” 

series, which features a different noteworthy 

live performance of a fan-favorite song recorded 

while on tour. Most of the previous videos 

in the series were recorded from the Golden 

Pony in Harrisonburg, Virginia, home of James 

Madison University as well as birthplace of the 

band, whose members are JMU alumni. 

The “In The Moment” series will eventually 

serve as a springboard to a full-length 

live album. While it was initiated prior to the 

pandemic, it now exists as a kind of homage to 

concerts in a time when that continues to be 

a no-go proposition. Watching their recorded 

concert footage does give credence to the praise 

music writers, from NPR to the Boston Globe 

to Billboard, have heaped on the band’s “striking” 

live show, during which Gorman not only 

sings and plays electric guitar but also plays the 

“foot bass,” a device of his devising that adds 

bass lines through the use of a foot pedal. And 

all the while, Cochran plays the drums from a 

standing position next to Gorman. That unusual 

approach not only makes them stand out, the 

Washington Post calls it “integral to the dynamic 

and psychedelic indie-rock sound,” helping 

the duo rock with the kind of force more 

typical of a four- and five-piece act, including 

two clear influences, My Morning Jacket and 

Wilco. (The band’s name actually derives from 

a lyric in Wilco’s song “Theologians.”) Follow 

@IlliterateLight across social media or visit 

www.illiteratelight.com. —DR 



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LAMBDA LEGAL 

Simone Mize-Gregg, with her parents Derek Mize and Jonathan Gregg 

Daughter Denied 

Court rules that State Department must recognize 

gay couple’s daughter as U.S. citizen. By John Riley 

A 

FEDERAL COURT IN GEORGIA HAS 

ordered the Trump administration to 

recognize the U.S. citizenship of a gay 

couple’s two-year-old daughter and issue her a 

U.S. passport that she was previously denied. 

U.S. District Judge Michael L. Brown, of the 

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of 

Georgia, ruled that the U.S. State Department 

violated the federal Immigration and Nationality 

Act when it denied Simone Mize-Gregg, a 

child born via surrogacy in England, a passport 

because of its refusal to recognize the marriage 

of her two fathers, Derek Mize and Jonathan 

Gregg, as legally valid. 

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 

children of married U.S. citizens who are born 

abroad are supposed to be considered U.S. citizens 

from birth, as long as one of their parents 

has lived in the U.S. at some point. 

But the State Department has been routinely 

refusing to recognize the marriages of samesex 

couples, often subjecting them to invasive 

questioning about how their children were conceived 

and their parentage, and treating their 

children as “born out of wedlock.” 

As such, the children are treated as immigrants 

and must meet additional, more stringent 

criteria before having their citizenship 


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recognized. 

But Brown, in his opinion, rejected the government’s 

premise that the Mize-Gregg family 

has no legal standing due to Simone’s having 

been naturalized, writing that her naturalization 

“does not erase Plaintiffs’ alleged stigmatic 

injury.” 

“We are so relieved that the court has recognized 

our daughter, Simone, as the U.S. citizen 

she has been since the day she was born, Derek 

Mize said in a statement on behalf of his family. 

“When we brought Simone into this world, as 

married, same-sex parents, we never anticipated 

our own government would disrespect our 

family and refuse to recognize our daughter as 

a U.S. citizen. 

“As a result of the State Department’s discriminatory 

actions, we have undertaken a long 

journey to have our daughter recognized as a 

U.S. citizen,” he added. “But today, that journey 

is complete, and we are overcome with gratitude, 

for our lawyers and for the Court, for recognizing 

us as a family that is simply trying to 

give our daughter the best possible start, which 

all children deserve.” 

Lawyers for the Mize-Gregg family, with 

Lambda Legal and Immigration Equality, celebrated 

the ruling as a “resounding victory for 

LGBTQ families.” 

“The court has declared baby Simone, the 

marital child of Derek and Jonny, to be a 

U.S. citizen since birth and ordered the State 

Department to issue her a U.S. passport. We are 

very pleased the court found that the agency’s 

policy was irreconcilable with the law and our 

Constitution’s guarantee to equality because 

it treated the children of married, same-sex 

parents differently from the children of other 

married parents,” Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior 

counsel and health care strategist at Lambda 

Legal, said in a statement. 

“It is time for the federal government to stop 

defending this unlawful and unconstitutional 

policy,” he added. “No family should have to 

face the fear and uncertainty of having their 

child’s citizenship status be held in limbo.” 

The Mize-Gregg family’s case is the third 

such case, and the second this year, to challenge 

the State Department’s refusal to recognize 

same-sex marriages. In June, a federal 

judge in Maryland also ruled against the State 

Department, finding it had discriminated against 

another same-sex couple, Adiel and Roee Kiviti, 

whose daughter, Kessem, was also conceived 

abroad via surrogacy. Last year, a federal judge 

in California ruled that the State Department 

had to recognize the citizenship of the twin sons 

of a gay couple, Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks, 

as U.S. citizens. 

“We celebrate the court’s decision, which 

acknowledges what has been true since the day she 

was born: Simone Mize-Gregg is a citizen of the 

United States,” Aaron Morris, the executive director 

of Immigration Equality, said in a statement. 

“Family means more than biology alone. The 

State Department should change its discriminatory 

and unconstitutional policy immediately 

before it hurts another family.” 

Hot Air 

Trump’s press secretary says denying gay couple’s daughter citizenship 

has ‘nothing to do’ with sexual orientation. By John Riley 

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY 

Kayleigh McEnany claimed that the 

Trump administration’s attempts 

to argue against granting citizenship to the 

two-year-old daughter of a same-sex couple 

has “nothing to do” with the parents’ sexual 

orientation. 

During her daily press briefing on Monday, 

McEnany was asked a question by Chris 

Johnson, reporter for the SEPTEMBER 3, 2020, 


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NOWTHIS VIA YOUTUBE 

McEnany 

a D.C.-based publication. Johnson specifically 

asked about a recent court decision in which 

a federal judge in Georgia ordered the State 

Department to recognize the citizenship of, and 

issue a U.S. passport to, Simone Mize-Gregg, the 

daughter of a married gay couple who was born 

in England using a surrogate. 

As SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 previously reported, 

the judge in that case found that the State 

Department’s policy of requiring the children of 

same-sex couples to overcome additional obstacles 

to having their citizenship recognized violated 

the Immigration and Nationality Act and 

is a form of discrimination because it is based on 

the presumption that legal same-sex marriages 

are invalid. 

In response, McEnany said that the Trump 

administration’s arguments against recognizing 

the girl’s citizenship — and, by extension, its 

decision to appeal a similar decision in a case 

involving a same-sex couple from Maryland — 

“pertains to surrogacy and had nothing to do 

with the sexual orientation of the parents.” 

She did not elaborate on what the Trump 

administration finds objectionable about children 

of U.S. citizens who are conceived abroad 

using surrogacy. 

She continued, reading from prepared remarks: 

“And this administration, [and] President, will 

proudly stand on a record of achievements, like 

leading a global initiative to end the criminalization 

of homosexuality throughout the world, 

launching a plan to end the AIDS epidemic by 

2030, and easing a ban on blood donations from 

gay and bisexual men.” 

Johnson then tried to ask a follow-up question 

about constitutional concerns raised in the 

judge’s ruling, to which McEnany responded: 

“Again, for anything further, I’d refer you to the 

State Department.” 

But critics of the administration have previously 

complained that the Trump administration’s 

effort to end the criminalization of homosexuality 

in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean 

has bore little fruit, in terms of changing laws 

— Gabon recently repealed its anti-LGBTQ 

laws, though apparently with little U.S. input, 

and Botswana’s laws were only changed by the 

courts following a lawsuit. 

Additionally, critics note that the easing of 


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restrictions, including the reduction of the deferral 

period for sexually active gay and bisexual 

men to three months, was done only in response 

to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for 

antibody-rich plasma from people who had survived 

the virus. 

The LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD accused 

McEnany of lying about the Trump administration’s 

record. 

“The White House press secretary is wrong 

and so is the administration’s policy, which 

has in fact only targeted same-sex parents,” 

GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis 

said in a statement. “McEnany also again 

falsified the Trump administration’s LGBTQ 

record — 172 attacks and counting in policy 

and rhetoric. The administration’s ‘global 

initiative’ went nowhere. Its plan for AIDS is 

horrifically underfunded and not serious. And 

the administration should be calling to completely 

lift the outdated and discriminatory 

ban on blood donations from gay and bi men. 

Press Secretary McEnany should update her 

LGBTQ talking points. 

“We will continue to call out the truth about 

the administration’s attacks against LGBTQ people 

in rhetoric and policy,” Ellis added. “We’ll 

continue to call it what it is: abysmal. We’ll 

continue to question why McEnany thinks it’s a 

record to be proud of.” 

Business for Biden 

National LGBT Chamber of Commerce endorses Joe Biden, 

calls him ‘champion for inclusion.’ By Rhuaridh Marr 

THE NATIONAL LGBT CHAMBER OF 

Commerce has endorsed Joe Biden for 

president, calling the former vice president 

a “champion for inclusion.” 

NGLCC, the nation’s largest advocacy organization 

for LGBTQ businesses, said Biden had 

a “commitment to LGBTQ equality” and would 

help LGBTQ business owners to thrive and succeed 

despite “ongoing discrimination.” 

“The NGLCC is proud to endorse a champion 

for inclusion. We need to elect a president with a 

commitment to LGBTQ equality, ending racism 

and racial violence, promoting small businesses 

and entrepreneurship, and ensuring a safe 

and equitable society for every American. Joe 

Biden is that candidate,” Justin Nelson, NGLCC 

cofounder and president, said in a statement. 

“Joe Biden proudly affirms an essential core 

value of the NGLCC: that we all deserve our shot 

at the American Dream, and that our economy 

only succeeds when it is available to all LGBT 

and allied Americans,” Nelson added. 

The Biden campaign said it was “deeply honored” 

to receive NGLCC’s endorsement. 

“LGBTQ+ businesses add $1.7 trillion to the 

economy each year, making LGBTQ+ business 

owners central to Vice President Biden’s plans 

to build a stronger, more equitable economy, 

promote entrepreneurship, tackle structural 

racism, fight systemic injustice, and end discrimination 

against LGBTQ+ people once and 

for all,” Reggie Greer, the campaign’s LGBTQ+ 

Vote Director, wrote in a statement. 

Despite being founded in 2002, the NGLCC 

has only endorsed one other candidate for president: 

former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 

during her 2016 campaign. The endorsement of 

Biden was approved unanimously by NGLCC’s 

board of directors, citing his record on supporting 

small businesses and pushing for greater 

LGBTQ equality. 

NGLCC said electing Biden as president was 

“imperative to the well-being of America’s economy 

and the monumental gains achieved in 

recent years for the LGBT community, such 

as recent victories for LGBTQ workplace protections, 

the passage of the Equality Act in the 

US House of Representatives, the upholding of 


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GAGE SKIDMORE 

DACA, and more.” 

Biden’s economic recovery plan, which aims 

to rebuild a pandemic-ravaged economy, as well 

as his detailed plan for reinstating and expanding 

LGBTQ protections and rights, were both 

cited as justifications for the endorsement. 

“The stakes have never been so high for the 

future of our country and the LGBT business 

community. Joe Biden is the champion our businesses 

and our families need to thrive,” Chance 

Mitchell, NGLCC cofounder and CEO, said. 

“The LGBT community has come too far to 

lose its seat at the table, and we are certain that 

a President Biden will continue fighting for 

the collective economic and social longevity of 

America’s 1.4 million LGBT business owners 

and the more than $1.7 trillion they add to the 

Biden 

US economy despite ongoing discrimination.” 

Earlier this year, Biden’s campaign announced 

its “Out for Biden” initiative, which will seek to 

drive LGBTQ people to the polls in November. 

The initiative will reach out to and engage the 

estimated 11 million LGBTQ voters nationwide, 

with particular focus on those in key battleground 

states, such as Florida and Michigan, 

providing advice on voter registration as well as 

encouraging LGBTQ allies to vote for candidates 

that support LGBTQ equality. 

Donald Trump’s allies have repeatedly tried 

to portray him as the “most pro-gay president 

in history,” a statement that has led to derision 

from LGBTQ organizations, which point to his 

administration’s lengthy record of attacks on 

LGBTQ rights and equality. 


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DAVID SHANKBONE 

Focus on the Family’s Visitor’s Welcome Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado 

Focus on the Sanitizer 

Christian group that believes gay people cause ‘disease’ 

declared COVID outbreak site. By Rhuaridh Marr 

THE HEADQUARTERS OF AN ANTI- 

LGBTQ organization that claims being 

gay leads to “death and disease” have 

been declared a COVID-19 hotspot. 

Focus on the Family is a fundamentalist 

Christian group based in Colorado Springs, 

Colo., known for its anti-LGBTQ teachings and 

promotion of conversion therapy. 

The group — which spawned another anti- 

LGBTQ organization, the Family Research 

Council — has said that transgender people 

are “disconnected from Jesus,” compared being 

LGBTQ to “sex abuse,” and argued that parents 

should tell their children that the LGBTQ community 

comprises people “whose sexuality has 

been damaged or whose healthy development 

has been derailed.” 

But while Focus on the Family has been busy 

advocating against LGBTQ people, it apparently 

hasn’t been doing anything to combat the spread 

of COVID-19. 

Colorado has officially declared the group’s 

headquarters to be an outbreak site for the virus, 

after three members of staff tested positive, 

Westword reports. 

The organization was added to the state’s list 

on August 21, with another member of staff registered 

as a “probable” case. 

Focus on the Family’s status as a COVID-19 

outbreak site doesn’t sit well with their assertion 

that being gay leads to “external consequences 

like death, disease.” 

That claim came from an article, in which 

someone asked for advice after their friend came 



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out as lesbian and said that it was compatible 

with their faith. 

In response, Focus on the Family said, 

“Homosexual behavior is against the design of 

human nature. Men and women are indispensable 

to each other; they aren’t interchangeable 

blocks. 

“The tree of homosexuality bears bad fruits. 

Sodomitical acts have not only external consequences 

like death, disease, and childlessness, 

but internal ones. Some of the internal consequences 

are psychological, like loneliness and 

compulsive behavior. Others are moral, for we 

cannot violate the human design yet expect 

things to go on as they were; ‘that road leads 

down and down.'” 

Since its founding in 1977, Focus on the Family 

has amassed a lengthy list of anti-LGBTQ claims 

and comments, including opposition to samesex 

marriage, same-sex parents and adoption, 

and employment protections for LGBTQ people. 

It has said that transgenderism “violates God’s 

design” and argued that transgender people are 

a “myth” and being transgender “doesn’t physically 

exist.” 

Focus on the Family even established its own 

conversion therapy “ministry,” Love Won Out. 

Conversion therapy is a widely debunked 

practice that claims to change a person’s sexuality 

or gender identity, and usually involves a 

variety of methods, from talk therapy to more 

extreme methods such as shock or aversion 

therapy. 

Studies have shown that conversion therapy 

increases the risk of suicide and suicidal ideation 

in LGBTQ people, and medical experts 

have noted that other side effects of the therapy 

can include depression and post-traumatic 

stress disorder. 

Love Won Out was eventually sold to conversion 

therapy umbrella organization Exodus 

International, which was shut down in 2013. 

Former CEO of Exodus International Alan 

Chambers, subsequently came out as gay and 

apologized to LGBTQ people who had been 

harmed by conversion therapy. 

Speaking to SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 in 2016, he 

said that people should be warned against conversion 

therapy: “This is not something that’s 

going to work. This is dangerous. It creates 

shame. It is not something that is going to produce 

an orientation change in you. 

Potential Tragedy 

Man sentenced to four years in jail for attempting to shoot 

LGBTQ bar patrons in St. Louis. By John Riley 

A 

MISSOURI MAN HAS BEEN SENtenced 

to nearly four years in prison 

for attempting to shoot patrons of an 

LGBTQ bar in St. Louis. Chief Judge Rodney 

Sippel, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern 

District of Missouri, sentenced Freddie Doyle, 

32, to 46 months of imprisonment for unlawful 

possession of a firearm. 

Doyle, who has been held without bail for 

about 14 months, previously pleaded guilty to 

driving to Rehab Bar & Grill, located in the 

LGBTQ neighborhood of St. Louis known as “The 

Grove,” on June 27, 2019, with a Bushmaster 

AR-15-style rifle, bipod, scope, tactical light, four 

full rifle magazines, and approximately 160 rifle 

rounds in his car. 

As the bar was closing around 3 a.m., Doyle 

approached an African-American man leaving 

the Just John Night Club, another LGBTQ bar 

in the area, and invited him to his car. 

According to federal prosecutors, Doyle then 

grabbed his rifle and aimed it at the man, who 

fled. 

Doyle aimed his rifle at the victim and others, 

yelling homophobic slurs and obscenities, and 

started a verbal countdown, firing a shot in the 



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FACEBOOK 

air when he had finished counting, according to 

the SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. 

Police were nearby and heard the shot, but 

Doyle concealed the rifle and told officers that 

the gunman had run down an alley, Assistant 

U.S. Attorney Janea Lamar claimed in court. 

Doyle was arrested shortly afterward, with 

police discovering the gun. Police claim Doyle 

became agitated when the victims of the shooting 

were brought over to identify him, and he 

began yelling homophobic slurs at them. 

FBI Special Agent Jennifer Drews wrote in 

charging documents that he told police he would 

“have killed those faggots” if he had more time. 

The motive for the shooting remains unclear, 

although prosecutors agreed not to charge Doyle 

with a hate crime as part of a plea agreement. 

“All people in this nation have the right to 

enjoy themselves at a bar and grill without 

fearing that they will be threatened, shot, and 

seriously injured or killed by bigoted criminals,” 

Rehab Bar and Grill 

Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband, of the 

DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement 

in response to the sentencing. 

“The Department of Justice will not tolerate 

this kind of hateful violence,” Dreiband 

said. “The Civil Rights Division strives to protect 

all Americans from acts of aggression and 

violence based on their race, color or sexual 

orientation.” 

During sentencing, Doyle told Sippel that he 

had achieved the American Dream in 2014, as 

a husband and father with a house, cars, and a 

job he loved. But when he fell on hard times, he 

decided to fill the void with drugs. 

Defense lawyer Stephen Williams said Doyle 

had been under the influence of methamphetamine 

for an extended period of time, and was 

struggling with depression, anxiety and ADHD 

at the time of the shooting. 

“When you combine that with the drug use, 

it’s a wicked cocktail,” Williams told the court. 



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TWITTER 

Trey Hogan (left) using his trombone to drown out a Trump supporter protesting on the University of South Carolina campus 

Justice Blows 

Freshman goes viral after drowning out racist homophobe 

with trombone. By Rhuaridh Marr 

A 

FRESHMAN STUDENT AT THE 

University of South Carolina has gone 

viral after using his trombone to drown 

out a racist, anti-LGBTQ protester on the college’s 

campus. 

The Trump supporter, dressed in a MAGA hat, 

held a sign saying “BLM [Black Lives Matter] 

are racist thugs” and used a megaphone to yell 

racist and anti-LGBTQ comments at students on 

the USC campus, WLTX reports. 

Freshman Trey Hogan, a member of the 

school band, responded by grabbing his trombone 

and loudly playing any time the protester 

tried to start another bigoted rant. 

“ I was kind of hesitant at first, but then everyone 

supported it,” Hogan said. “He was saying 

some pretty hateful stuff, and I just didn’t agree 

with any of it.” 

His fellow students — most of whom seemed 

to be wearing masks, while the protester was not 

— laughed and cheered as Hogan played. 

Many also captured the amusing back and 

forth and shared clips on social media, where 

they quickly wracked up hundreds of thousands 

of views and countless positive comments for 

Hogan’s response to the man’s slurs. 

“I didn’t really expect so many people to react 

the way they did but it feels really good,” he 

said, adding, “It shows that we support everyone 

here. It’s just not okay, and we don’t want that 


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on this campus.” 

Bob Caslen, president of the University of 

South Carolina, responded positively to Hogan’s 

actions on Twitter. 

“The demonstrator on Greene St. today may 

have a constitutional right to be there & say 

what he wants, but his words do not reflect the 

values & principles of our university,” Caslen 

tweeted. “I applaud our @UofSC students who 

peacefully voiced their opposition to the hate he 

was spewing.” 

After Hogan’s response went viral, hate 

preachers descended on the campus, with students 

accusing them of being unmasked and yelling 

racist and homophobic comments, including 

allegedly calling one LGBTQ student a “faggot.” 

Caslen urged students to continue responding 

peacefully to the protesters. 

“Students, I share your frustration with demonstrators 

who take advantage of our public 

campus to agitate our community,” he tweeted. 

“Hold fast to our Gamecock values; if you 

respond, do so peacefully,” he continued. “Our 

commitment to each other & to the values we 

hold as Gamecocks will always win the day.” 

Hogan, meanwhile, responded to the protesters 

by increasing the number of trombones he 

brought with which to drown them out. 

Love, Becky 

Author Becky Albertalli comes out as bisexual in response 

to criticism over LGBTQ books. By Rhuaridh Marr 

BECKY ALBERTALLI, WRITER OF GAY 

YA novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens 

Agenda, has come out as bisexual. In an 

essay posted to Medium, Albertalli said that she 

was addressing her sexuality publicly after facing 

criticism that she was “profiting” from the 

LGBTQ community with her work. 

Albertalli’s award-winning 2015 novel, which 

dealt with a teenager coming to terms with his 

sexuality, inspired the 2018 film Love, Simon, 

and TV series Love, Victor, which airs on Hulu. 

She subsequently wrote a spin-off novel, Leah 

on the Offbeat, featuring one of the characters 

from Simon falling in love with another woman. 

In her essay, Albertalli said it was while writing 

Leah on the Offbeat that she began to “question” 

her own identity. 

“I’m thirty-seven years old. I’ve been happily 

married to a guy for almost ten years. I have two 

kids and a cat. I’ve never kissed a girl. I never 

even realized I wanted to,” Albertalli wrote. 

“But if I rewind further, I’m pretty sure I’ve had 

crushes on boys and girls for most of my life. I 

just didn’t realize the girl crushes were crushes. 

“Every so often, I’d feel this sort of pull 

toward some girl I vaguely knew from school or 

camp or after-school dance class. I’d be a little 

preoccupied for a few weeks with how cool or 

cute or interesting she was, and how much I 

wanted to be her friend,” she continued. “It just 

never occurred to me that these feelings were 

attraction.” 

Albertalli said she “didn’t have a frame of reference” 

for the attractions due to growing up in 

a “conservative southern US suburb.” 

“I’d met a few people who were openly gay 

or lesbian, but I don’t think I met an openly bi 

person until college,” she wrote. |And even then, 

my understanding of bisexuality as a concept 

didn’t entirely track with how I see it now. For 

one thing, the idea of sexual fluidity wasn’t even 

on my radar. 

“And there didn’t seem to be a word for girls 

who basically liked guys, but were sometimes 

(randomly!) fascinated by girls. But the girl stuff 

was always so vague, and it didn’t really fit with 

how I saw myself. 

“So my brain did what brains sometimes do. It 


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Albertalli 

edited out all the parts that refused to make sense. 

And for over two decades, I basically forgot those 

feelings existed. Until Leah on the Offbeat.” 

Albertalli said the novel was the first time she 

had written from the perspective of a character 

who is attracted to women, as well as her first 

time writing a romance between two female 

characters, and that she “worried I wouldn’t be 

able to feel what I’d need to feel in order to write 

a convincing love story.” 

“Turns out, that wasn’t a problem — and 

maybe that should have been my lightbulb 

moment,” she said. 

Instead, Albertalli said she put her ease at 

writing the emotions down to being “immersed 

in Leah’s perspective,” and though she was 

“beginning to question things,” she didn’t give it 

further thought. 

But things came to a head after the release 

of Love, Simon and Leah on the Offbeat in 2018, 

the former being the first gay teen rom com by 

a major studio and the latter one of the first YA 

novels featuring a female/female romance to 

debut on the New York Times bestseller list. 

“When Leah debuted on the NYT list, authors 

I admired and respected tweeted their disappointment 

that this ‘first’ had been taken by a 

straight woman,” she wrote, noting that it wasn’t 

actually the first, but the “attention and scrutiny 

were so overwhelming, and it all hurt so badly, I 

slammed the lid down on that box and forgot I’d 

ever cracked it open.” 

The criticism, which came from Albertalli 

identifying as straight in several interviews, led 

to calls for boycotts of her work. 

“I was frequently mentioned by name, held up 

again and again as the quintessential example 

of allocishet inauthenticity,” she said. |I was a 

straight woman writing shitty queer books for 

the straights, profiting off of communities I had 

no connection to.” 

She noted that the criticism, and the declarations 

that Albertalli’s heterosexuality was “obvious” 

in her writing, caused a “mindfuck” while 


she was trying to come to terms with her own 

sexuality. 

“Imagine hundreds of people claiming to 

know every nuance of your sexuality 

just from reading your 

novels. Imagine trying to make 

space for your own uncertainty,” 

she wrote, adding, “Why do 

we, again and again, cross the 

line between critiquing books 

and making assumptions about 

author identities? How are we 

so aware of invisible marginalization 

as a hypothetical concept, 

but so utterly incapable of 

making space for it in our community?” 

Albertalli said that her 

Medium essay was not “how I 

wanted to come out.” 

“This doesn’t feel good or 

empowering, or even particularly 

safe. Honestly, I’m doing this 

because I’ve been scrutinized, 

subtweeted, mocked, lectured, 

and invalidated just about every 

single day for years, and I’m 

exhausted,” she wrote. “And if 

you think I’m the only closeted 

or semi-closeted queer author feeling this pressure, 

you haven’t been paying attention. 

“And I’m one of the lucky ones! I’m a financially 

independent adult. I can’t be disowned. I 

come from a liberal family, I have an enormous 

theFeed 

"I’m doing 

this because 

I’ve been 

scrutinized, 

subtweeted, 

mocked, 

lectured, and 

invalidated 

just about 

every single 

day for years, 

and I’m 

exhausted." 

network of queer friends and acquaintances, 

and my livelihood isn’t even remotely at risk,” 

she continued. “I’m hugely privileged in more 

ways than I can count. And this 

was still brutally hard for me. I 

can’t even imagine what it’s like 

for other closeted writers, and 

how unwelcome they must feel 

in this community.” 

Albertalli asked those who 

had criticized her previously to 

“make space for those of us who 

are still discovering ourselves” 

and “be a little more compassionate,” 

adding, “Can we make 

this a little less awful for the 

next person?” 

She also thanked others who 

had come before her, including 

Gillian Morshedi, who penned 

her own Medium essay, “Adult- 

Onset Bisexuality and the 

Passing Dilemma,” about coming 

to terms with her sexuality 

after previously ignoring or dismissing 

it. 

“Anyway, all of this is to say: 

I’m bi. Sorry it took me so long to 

get here,” she concluded, before 

nodding to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. 

“But then again, at least the little red coming out 

book I needed was already on my shelf (in about 

thirty different languages). I think I finally know 

why I wrote it.” 

Courting Controversy 

Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan find love by the sea in controversial 

drama Ammonite. By Rhuaridh Marr 

THE FIRST TRAILER FOR CONTROVERsial 

lesbian period drama Ammonite has 

been released, showcasing Kate Winslet 

and Saoirse Ronan finding love by the seaside. 

Winslet stars as fossil collector and paleontologist 

Mary Anning, whose findings along the 

English coast helped change scientific thinking 

about prehistoric life. 

Anning was overlooked for most of her life, 

only getting the recognition she deserved after 


39

theFeed 

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEON 

her death in 1847. Francis Lee’s film not only 

gives her the credit she is due, but also controversially 

gives her a lesbian romance, here with 

geologist Charlotte Murchison (Ronan). 

Lee, the director of acclaimed gay drama 

God’s Own Country, has defended his decision to 

portray Anning in a lesbian context, noting that 

his film isn’t a biopic but is inspired by Anning’s 

life and work. 

“After seeing queer history be routinely 

‘straightened’ throughout culture, and given 

a historical figure where there is no evidence 

whatsoever of a heterosexual relationship, is 

it not permissible to view that person within 

another context?” he previously tweeted. 

Lee’s film, set near the end of Anning’s life, 

has her impoverished and selling fossils on the 

Southern English coastline to rich tourists in 

order to support her mother. 

She meets a tourist who requests that Anning 

Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan in Ammonite 

care for his young wife, Charlotte, who is recovering 

from a personal tragedy. 

“Mary, whose life is a daily struggle on the 

poverty line, cannot afford to turn him down 

but, proud and relentlessly passionate about her 

work, she clashes with her unwanted guest,” 

the film’s bio states. “They are two women from 

utterly different worlds. 

“Yet despite the chasm between their social 

spheres and personalities, Mary and Charlotte 

discover they can each offer what the other has 

been searching for: the realisation that they are 

not alone. It is the beginning of a passionate and 

all-consuming love affair that will defy all social 

bounds and alter the course of both lives irrevocably.” 

Ammonite is set to premiere at the Toronto 

International Film Festival on September 

11, with a U.S. release date currently set for 

November 13. 


My Vintage 

Porn Summer 

Charting an odyssey of classic gay erotica, from Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.’s 

Passing Strangers to Wakefield Poole’s Boys in the Sand. 


AT SOME POINT DURING THE 

quarantine, a well-curated 

adult entertainment website 

approached me, offering access 

to peruse their voluminous catalog. 

Perhaps there are those who’d decline or 

scoff at the opportunity. I dove in. 

I didn’t just watch porn all summer, of course, 

but I watched more porn than usual. I also 

worked from home, at seemingly all hours, and 

tried to keep up with the world’s deluge of conflict 

and disruption. I mourned a death in the 

family, along with the deaths of many I didn’t 

know. I masked and distanced, marched and protested, 

hiked through a forest and laid on a beach. 

The journey down the virtual video aisles of 

streaming platform PinkLabelTV began with a 

message from Jenni Olson, filmmaker, film historian, 

and co-director of the Bressan Project. 

For several years, Olson and the Bressan Project 

have worked to restore the films of pioneering 

gay filmmaker Arthur J. Bressan, Jr., including 

his landmark 1978 documentary Gay USA, 

chronicling the LGBTQ rights movement, and 

the wrenching 1985 drama Buddies, the first feature 

film to tackle the AIDS crisis. 

Bressan himself succumbed to complications 

related to AIDS in 1987, following a prolific 

period in which the native New Yorker directed 

ten films in ten years. Two of them, Passing 

Strangers and Forbidden Letters, represent the 

plot-driven gay male erotica Bressan is better 

known for, and are the latest of his films 

to be restored by the Bressan Project. As of 

this August, both are available exclusively on 

PinkLabelTV, either streaming on-demand or 

with a PinkLabelTV PLUS subscription. 

Founded in 2013 by queer feminist producer 

and director Shine Louise Houston, 

the PinkLabel platform is a treasure trove 

of indie adult entertainment, with diverse 

titles grouped into several appealing channels. 

Practically all genders and tastes are celebrated 

in a collection spanning decades, up to some 

brand-new releases. Lured, however, by the 

men, the mood, and the attitude of the sexually 

liberated ’70s and ’80s, I stuck with the 

PinkLabelTV Classics, billed as “vintage adult 

film from the silver and golden age of porn.” 

Bressan’s work was a highlight of my trip back 

in time, but Passing Strangers and Forbidden 

Letters were just the beginning. 

PASSING STRANGERS (1974) 

Bressan has the audacity to open Passing 

Strangers, one of the few sexually explicit gay 

indies of the ’70s, with a grainy scene of straight 

sex — revealed to be playing onscreen at a porn 

theater. Portraying the projectionist that’s running 

the flick, Bressan proceeds to trash it for a 

good laugh, ragging on what passes for standard 

in the XXX industry. “Washed-out color, shitty 

prints, lousy soundtracks.” The rant provides a 

smooth setup for Strangers to exceed that standard, 

which it does as a piece of filmmaking and 

same-sex romance that just happens to feature 

plentiful nudity, anal, oral, and orgasms. 

In brilliant black-and-white, the film follows 

tousle-haired 18-year old Robert (Robert Adams) 

and 28-year old Tom (Robert Carnagey) around 

the streets of San Francisco. Stepping slowly 

out of the proverbial closet, student Robert 

42 

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Passing Starngers 

ducks inside an adult magazine shop outfitted 

with private, curtained movie booths. Alone 

in his parents’ house, he fantasizes being the 

center of a frolicking sex party, and getting off 

solo, surrounded by his admirers. Meanwhile, 

Tom cruises Polk Street in the Castro, bouncing 

between the bars and the baths, including 

the city’s iconic gay bar the Stud, in its original 

location. (During the current pandemic, the 

Stud actually closed, possibly for good.) Real 

locations, many of them gone but not forgotten, 

emphasize these vintage adult films’ value as 

multi-faceted records of queer lives, history, and 

culture. 

After Robert responds to a Walt Whitmanquoting 

classified ad placed by Tom in the 

Berkeley Barb, the two court each other through 

letters (voiced by other actors — Edward 

Guthmann as Tom, and Bob Middleton as 

Robert). When they finally meet face-to-face, 

the film switches to gorgeously restored color, 

capturing their romance as it blossoms into outdoor 

sex on Angel Island overlooking the Bay. 

Although Adams and Carnagey are enthusiastic 

performers, Adams tends towards a pained 

expression when not in the midst of hardcore 

ecstasy. Their chemistry is more sweet than 

scintillating. 

Still, the film lives up to the implied promise 

of the first scene’s catty critique, delivering lush 

color and strong composition. The dynamic 

soundtrack shifts from Moog synthesizer over 

sex scenes, to groovy guitar rock, to composer 

Jeff Olmstead’s keyboard score as the couple 

bikes through a sunny Sunday montage. And 

the voice actors, including Jerry Johnson as the 

projectionist Bressan plays onscreen, are at least 

as expressive as Adams and Carnagey. 

To the movie’s credit, the leads fit the bill as 

two regular guys looking for love, as opposed 

to idealized porn stars. Theirs is a relatable 

romance, if overshadowed now by the light of 

early ’70s nostalgia. Indeed, the era’s history 

and expression come together beautifully near 

the film’s finale, as the lovebirds march in the 

actual Gay Freedom Day Parade of 1974. In the 

end, love and sex, and pride and celebration go 

hand in hand. 


43

FORBIDDEN LETTERS (1979) 

Bressan’s long-unseen gay love story Forbidden 

Letters originally blazed a trail from arthouse 

cinemas to its international premiere at the 1980 

Berlin Film Festival. More rawly sexual than 

Passing Strangers, the film is driven by a more 

suspenseful and involving premise. Dancing 

again between black-and-white and color cinematography, 

Bresson unfolds the tale of separated 

lovers Larry (Passing Strangers star Robert 

Adams) and Richard (Richard Locke), poised 

to reunite once mustachioed daddy Richard 

is released from prison. Until that day, Larry 

doesn’t wait idly for his man to come home, but 

rather calms his worries with a series of hookups, 

anonymous encounters, flashbacks, and 

fantasies. 

Adams offers another blank-faced performance, 

although Bressan works around the 

Forbidden Letters 

actor’s limitations by handing most onscreen 

dialogue to costar Victoria Young, playing the 

couple’s friend, Iris, a tarot-reading happy hooker. 

Iris advises glum, young Larry to “get out, 

cruise, go to a movie, do something a little kinky. 

See a porno flick, get hot, take a Quaalude, sleaze 

around.” Like a Warhol superstar, but sober, 

Young injects humor and playfulness, counteracting 

the earnest folk-pop tunes laid over 

the man-on-man(-on-man) action. The movie 

depicts Larry and Richard’s idyllic life together, 

before prison, via an evocative sequence of still 

photos, also scored to earnest folk-pop. The one 

major musical diversion from the ersatz-John 

Denver sound comes with a trip to the crowded 

disco Cabaret on a glittering Halloween night. 

Yet, even with all the partying, lovemaking, 

hookups, solos, and threesomes, the prevailing 

atmosphere is purely romantic. Adams and 

Locke generate heat in fits and starts, but their 

sex scenes are stiff and awkward. Rather, the 

characters’ loving commitment to each other 

makes a stronger impression than the hardcore 

action. As Larry writes to his beloved in 

prison — in letters he’s afraid to send lest he 

out Richard as gay — he had been searching for 

the special touch of a man to fill a hole in his 

life. He found that special sense of belonging 

with Richard, a bliss of “love, laughter, crashing 

waves, and sunsets.” And not even prison could 

tear them apart. 

UN CHANT D’AMOUR (1950) 

Prison brings two stray souls together in Jean 

Genet’s classic featurette, Un Chant D’Amour 

(Song of Love), a film banned in France upon its 

release and censored in the U.S. and elsewhere. 

Two prisoners in adjacent cells communicate by 

knocking on the wall between them. The barrier 

trembles at their yearning touch. Through 

a tiny hole in the wall, they use a straw to pass 

cigarette smoke from mouth to mouth. The sensuality 

is nearly palpable, amplified by the lack 

of sound or dialogue. 

The only film ever directed by the famed 

French writer (a petty thief in his youth), Un 

Chant D’Amour simmers with sexual tension 

stirred by the caged would-be lovers and the 

prison guard who gets off on peeking in on 

them in various states of undress and arousal. 

While subtle enough to properly engage the 

imagination, Genet’s film is strikingly explicit 

for a 1950 release. The guard enjoys a peep 

show of dancing hard-ons, free in his fantasies 

to have his way with whomever he chooses, his 

obsession betraying a singular desire to control. 

Approaching one object of lust, he doesn’t 

bring cigarettes or flowers, but a pistol. Power 

and menace are all he has to offer, a damning 

portrait of authority in the face of the prisoners’ 

pursuit of liberty and companionship. 

44 


BOYS IN THE SAND (1971) 

From Genet’s seminal French prison noir, to the 

golden, ’70s-era beaches of Fire Island, it’s just 

a small step across oceans of time and space to 

reach Boys in the Sand, probably the second most 

influential gay erotic film ever made. Writerdirector 

(and former professional dancer-choreographer) 

Wakefield Poole’s triptych of hardcore 

sexual romps, starring blond hunk Casey 

Donovan, makes excellent use of the natural and 

architectural beauty that distinguish the island 

as a few unpaved miles of gay paradise. 

The visual harmony carries over to the camerawork 

and editing, abetted by layers of sound 

Boys in the Sand 

design transporting viewers to the hot strip of 

sand and pines, where everywhere Donovan 

turns, a different macho stranger is eager to 

man-handle him. A leading man squarely in the 

Robert Redford mold, Donovan first materializes 

out of the bay, a nameless, voiceless hero 

wearing naught but a stainless steel cock ring. 

The film’s universal lust object, he may not 

entice viewers so universally, but he undeniably 

exudes sex appeal. Some people just do, and 

Donovan brings an ineffable quality to the table 

that noticeably inspires his partners, and clearly 

helped inspire Poole to create this genuine milestone 

of queer cinema. 

SCORE (1974) 

Casey Donovan’s varied career, which also 

included roles on Broadway, swerved into 

bisexual territory in Radley Metzger’s cult classic 

Score, where, once again, everybody wants 

a piece of him. Though, to be fair, everybody in 

Score just wants a piece. 

A glam mix of camp, crazy camera angles, 

and swinging raunchiness, the film joins married 

couples Jack and Elvira (Gerald Grant and 

Claire Wilbur) and their dinner guests Eddie and 

Betsy (Donovan and Lynn Lowry) for a night of 

seduction. The movie itself seduces with the 

hook of a bet between Jack and Elvira, wagering 

which of them will bed Eddie or Betsy first. The 

tease is drawn out with tongue-in-cheek humor. 

“Watch it with someone you want to excite,” 

was more than just a tagline for Metzger’s elegant 

roundelay — the only film in this PinkLabel 

catalog that I first saw as its maker intended, on 

a big screen inside a crowded theater. (No, not in 

1974.) It was a late showing at a revival house on 

a Friday night in summer. I went with friends, 

each of us single at the time. We all enjoyed the 

movie, felt a little giddy from it, then went our 

separate ways, inspired, no doubt. Every one of 

us scored that night, some more than once. 

BIJOU (1972) 

The prospect of scoring often is pretty much all 

that’s driving Bijou, Wakefield Poole’s visually 

arresting followup to Boys in the Sand. Star Bill 

Harrison and his pornstache stalk a New York 

City sex club known as the Bijou. Though not 

an exact recreation of New York’s actual Bijou 

Cinema, the oldest (still existing) gay porn theater 

and sex den in the U.S., Poole’s Bijou is 

a mirrored, fantasy funhouse of wanton lust. 

As Harrison’s construction worker passes from 

Bijou 


45

darkened room to room at the club, Poole stages 

each successive scene like a movement of 

dramatically-lit modern dance. The men don’t 

actually leap and prance, but the action is precisely 

choreographed. Solos become pas de deux, 

which become threesomes, and so on, until 

Harrison finds himself the center of a group sex 

free-for-all. It’s a remarkably non-diverse group 

of supposed New Yorkers, even by the standards 

of ’70s gay porn, although the clothes and 

grooming make the cast look remarkably like 

they could have walked right out of the Bijou 

Cinema in 2020. 

A NIGHT AT THE ADONIS (1975) 

A major point of many of these films’ appeal 

is their use of real-life queer spaces as actual 

locations, or inspirations for production design. 

Jack Deveau’s loosely plotted light comedy, 

starring porn superstar Jack Wrangler, is hailed 

as “a fascinating historical document of the 

Adonis 

Adonis Theater and ’70s gay culture,” and certainly 

captures the tempo and churn of activity 

in this 1,400-seat playpen where just watching 

the movie isn’t any man’s plan. More importantly, 

Deveau presents a fascinating variety of 

characters floating through the joint — twinks, 

jocks, and leather men, white, Black and Latino. 

Nobody leaves empty-handed or underserved. 

And for good measure, the film even introduces 

the Adonis Theater’s actual ticket taker 

Eartha, who viewers with long memories might 

recognize. Deveau’s film easily demonstrates 

how much gay cruising culture has changed, 

and how much has stayed the same, despite 

the mobile app revolution. Though the Adonis 

is long gone, it endures on film, in a night that 

could play on forever. 

TIMES SQUARE STRIP (1983) 

The Adonis’ fellow male burlesque theater, the 

Gaiety, likewise posed for its film closeup in 

Deveau’s later go-go boy parade, Times Square 

Strip. As in A Night at the Adonis, Strip traces the 

trajectory of the club’s newest, young tight-bodied 

employee, Darryl (Buddy Preston), as he learns 

the ropes amidst rampant sex taking place in every 

nook and cranny of the building — a building that 

would be demolished in the mid-2000s. Not as 

nicely shot or cast as Adonis, this film nevertheless 

warrants attention for its glimpse into a vanished 

gay past, and for a charming tackiness that might 

make even John Waters proud. 

LEFT-HANDED (1972) 

Deveau’s first feature reflects not the buzz of the 

’80s, but the groove of the waning hippie era in 

a sex-laced love story between tattooed, hairy, 

horny hustler Ray (Ray Frank), and straight pot 

dealer Bob (Robert Rikas). Ray’s eager sexual 

conquest of shyer Bob is diced into an adventurous 

mosaic of closeups and jump cuts, flashes 

of fantasy and daydreams. Like the free-form 

jazz that be-bops over the film’s orgy finale, 

Left-Handed zigs and zags until landing at a 

surprisingly touching conclusion, one of the few 

among these carnal classics to deliver a genuine 

emotional payoff. 

CENTURIANS OF ROME (1980) 

The darkest turn this vintage trip took was 

to the ancient sex-and-sandals spectacle of 

John Christopher’s Centurians of Rome. The 

misspelled title isn’t the only thing off about 

this expensive-for-the-time epic, starring ’70s 

gay porn icon George Payne and aptly named 

Scorpio as Greek peasants abducted into slavery 

by Roman soldiers. Leading off with a pretty 

sorry-looking Star Wars scrawl, the film puts 

its budget on the screen in the form of horses, 

handsome costumes, and a cast of dozens of 

46 


tautly muscled men. 

The horses appear only briefly, as do most of 

the costumes, as slaves Payne and Scorpio are 

held in sexual bondage for the pleasure of their 

imperious captors. To an unsavory degree, the 

film fetishizes the slaves’ exploitation, then tries 

to sell a story of one Roman commander (Eric 

Ryan) falling for the man he treats like property. 

Featuring fight scenes and daring escapes 

flooded with frantic orchestral score, and creepy 

synths layered over the bondage and domination, 

Centurians of Rome is hardly good or sexy, 

but it is weirdly compelling. And the filmmakers 

did have the good manners to punish the villain, 

climaxing the movie not with an act of sex or 

violence, but with a heartfelt declaration of love. 

KISS TODAY GOODBYE (1976) 

Payne also stars in Francis Ellie’s Kiss Today 

Goodbye, as a randy gay construction worker who 

becomes involved with a strait-laced, married 

businessman. The incongruous pair’s trysts start 

out as merely a powerful, physical attraction that 

develops into a passionate attachment. Again, 

that word “love” enters the fray. Like Deveau’s 

and Bressan’s films, Kiss Today Goodbye dangles 

the possibility of a whole, fulfilling mind-body 

connection between men, encompassing all the 

sex and nudity these flicks show, and the emotionally 

naked moments they only imply. Still, 

the vintage gay porn I watched rarely followed 

through on a happy ending. (Although, the film’s 

opening credits end on a happy note, listing the 

best porn name in the business: Peter Zass.) 

TURNED ON (1982) 

Payne eventually kissed gay porn goodbye, 

delving deeper into his BDSM side within the 

straight realm of adult cinema, before retiring 

from the industry entirely. Now 76, the performer 

managed to evade or survive a plague 

that ravaged the community and took so many of 

his former peers, including Colt Studios superstar 

Al Parker. The performer-turned-producer, 

who succumbed to AIDS-related complications 

at the age of 40, is featured on PinkLabel 

in the cruise and kinkfest Turned On, which 

Times Square Strip 

he produced. Costarring Sky Dawson, the film 

by director Steve Scott combines an artfully 

abstract sensibility with raw sex and explosive 

cumshots. Following Parker from bar to bathhouse, 

the mostly dialogue-free boys-night-out 

escapade was shot on location at L.A. clubs the 

Sanctuary, the Hayloft, and Mac’s Baths, where 

Parker encounters dreamy music, steamy rooms, 

and scenes of auto-fellatio, auto-anal, and a host 

of more vanilla activities. Turned On reflects the 

industry’s home video-propelled hard shift from 

somewhat story-conscious indie gay erotica to 

the wall-to-wall banging, hotel hookups that 

predominantly pass for porn these days. Yet, the 

movie lacks neither intensity nor imagination. 

Parker produced and directed through his Surge 

Studios, represented on PinkLabelTV by two additional 

‘80s titles, High Tech and Dangerous. Those 

and more than a dozen other vintage porn features 

are just the tip of the iceberg of PinkLabel’s vast 

catalog. Wallace Scott’s 1979 Le Beau Mec, starring 

rugged French producer-model Karl Forest, 

is a beautifully lit and shot (though dully transferred) 

portrait of a narcissistic hustler, and the 

L.A.-set hustler story Crooked Arrangement (1973) 

intrigues with its enigmatic depiction of the titular 

paid arrangment and marathon acrobatic sex sessions. 

And I haven’t even scratched the surface of 

the platform’s selections starring ’70s pinup and 

porn star Peter Berlin. We’d need another summer 

to catch up with all these new and vintage 

films — so we’ll just pace ourselves, and take each 

flick one lay at a time. 

Watch all the reviewed films (and more) at 

www.pinklabel.tv. Several of the films in this 

article are also available for purchase on DVD at 

www.Amazon.com. 


47

Gallery 

Sailing the Red Seas 

Reflection: Vian Borchert 

EXPRESSIONIST VIAN BORCHERT 

considers her paintings to be visual 

poems, with many of those now on display 

in an exhibition at Gallery Underground, 

created during the pandemic and reflecting 

on a new reality and a new normal. Borchert 

applies a signature painterly style to these 

works made of acrylic paint on canvas and portraying 

abstract seascapes and landscapes. 

Some of the works convey the artist’s yearning 

for future adventures she hopes to pursue 

in a non-quarantined, post-pandemic era, while 

others revisit Borchert’s past travels to distant 

lands where life was simpler and freer. They 

also reflect the time she spent observing nature 

in order to try and reach a sense of inner peace 

and attain moments of zen in these uncertain, 

trying times. Although abstract in nature, the 

works are symbolic of a time when the future 

is unknown and life is a precious commodity. 

On display through Sept. 25 during gallery 

hours, Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 

p.m., or by appointment. Located in the Crystal 

City Shops at 2100 Crystal Dr., Arlington. 

Call 571-483-0652 or visit www.galleryunderground.org. 

—Doug Rule 


Birds 

Nautical 

Spectrum 

Identity 


49

Movies 

Autocrat-in-Chief 

#UNFIT argues that President Trump poses a tremendous threat 

to the very republic he’s supposed to defend. By John Riley 

WE COULD LOSE IT ALL. WE COULD 

lose this grand experiment in democracy 

— I think we’re already halfway 

there,” says psychologist John Gartner in 

#UNFIT: The Psychology of Donald Trump 

(HHHHH), a newly released film that poses the 

question: Is Donald Trump fit to be president of 

the United States? 

Directed by Dan Partland, #UNFIT centers 

around the premise — as explained by a number 

of mental health professionals and political 

figures including George Conway, Bill Kristol, 

and one-time Trump press secretary Anthony 

Scaramucci — that the president suffers from 

malignant narcissism, which makes him incapable 

of empathy and prone to acts of aggression. 

It is because of these tendencies, mental health 

experts argue, that they have a “duty to warn” the 

American public about the risks Trump poses. 

The entire film is crafted like a thesis statement, 

arguing that President Trump’s antisocial 

tendencies, his paranoia, his narcissism, and 

his penchant for sadism and seeking revenge 

against those he believes have wronged him 

make him not only unqualified to govern, but a 

potential threat to national security. 

Partland’s film also delves into the danger 

posed by Trump’s authoritarian tendencies and 

his violation of constitutional norms — aided 

and abetted by feckless and craven congressional 

leaders and an acquiescent judiciary — even 

invoking the specter of a possible nuclear war. 

In one segment, certain to rankle some viewers, 

comparisons are drawn between Donald Trump 


Music 

PHIL SHARP 

Clarke and Bell 

Analog Glow 

Thirty-five years and eighteen albums in, Erasure remains 

a comforting pop presence. By Sean Maunier 

ERASURE IS ONE OF THOSE GROUPS 

that always seems to have outlived their 

lifespan until you hear their latest work. 

Vanishingly few dancepop groups of the late 

’80s can claim the same kind of continued relevance, 

but between their consistency and gift for 

crafting tracks ready for the dancefloor, Erasure 

is a special case. 

The duo stumbled onto a formula that worked 

from the very beginning by pairing Andy Bell’s 

vocals with Vince Clarke’s sharp, expert keyboarding, 

and it turns out to have been key to 

their success. Like any formulaic act, the results 

are not always spectacular, but the two work 

together so well that even when their output 

isn’t especially memorable, it’s almost never bad. 

For their latest release, the pair have backtracked 

from the heavier, streak-breaking heaviness 

of their last album and its overtly somber 

musings on the state of the world. Clarke has 

re-embraced the analog synth and Bell is in 

a noticeably more upbeat frame of mind. The 

Neon (HHHHH) is what the label promises — 

bright, flamboyant, club-ready tracks that reorient 

the duo towards the synthy dancepop they 

first made their name on. 

Erasure’s 18th studio album starts strong with 

two highly impressive lead singles. The opener, 

“Hey Now (I Think I Got A Feeling),” features 

a magnetically confident, cocky Bell singing his 


51

on-the-nose longing for human contact over 

thumping, buzzing synths. “Nerves of Steel,” 

meanwhile, is the most classically and straightforwardly 

Erasure. The undeniable highlight 

of the album, though, is “Shot A Satellite,” 

a punchy, dramatic track featuring plenty of 

swagger in both its vocals and synths. 

Ultimately, the album’s highlights are so 

strong that they end up largely carrying The 

Neon. The rest of the songs aren’t so much filler 

as mixed efforts, tracks that had the potential 

to stand alongside the likes of “Shot A Satellite” 

but are uneven in execution, suffering from one 

shortcoming or another. “No Point in Tripping” 

has a remarkably strong chorus but for some 

reason buries it beneath low-energy verses that 

drag on far longer than they need to. “Fallen 

Angel” suffers from a similar problem. It features 

a gorgeous chorus and some of the most 

memorable synth work on the entire album, but 

is ultimately dragged down by excess padding 

and lyrics that come off as trite. 

Erasure’s back-to-basics approach is welltimed. 

If World Be Gone was intended to reflect 

the chaos and tumult of a world turned upside 

down, The Neon is more a reaction against it. 

As angst-inducing as 2017 may have been, the 

darker tone they struck on their last album looks 

almost quaint in retrospect. Bell and Clarke 

instead seem to have decided that rather than 

a reflective work, a moment of sunny synthpop 

escapism was what we needed in this moment, 

and their album is much better for it. With a 

fresh sound that is of the current moment but 

still unmistakably Erasure, The Neon is a welcome 

and well-crafted distraction. 

The Neon is now available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music. 

and the fascists of the 1920s and 1930s, as well 

as modern-day autocrats like Turkey’s Recep 

Tayyip Erdogan, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, 

Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, the Philippines’ Rodrigo 

Duterte, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. 

While the movie’s deep dive into psychology 

and Trump’s successful use of “gaslighting” 

to achieve his aims is insightful, #UNFIT is 

likely to end up among a slew of “Resistance”- 

themed movies that have emerged since the 

2016 election. The movie preaches to the choir 

of people who already dislike the president, but 

does nothing to persuade less-fervent Trump 

acolytes to reconsider their support. The inclusion 

of foreign policy hawk Kristol, lifelong 

Republican Conway, and intelligence analyst 

Malcolm Nance — all of whom are almost as 

reviled on the Left as they are by Trump devotees 

— only further narrows the spectrum of 

people with whom the film’s message will resonate 

in the era of political polarization. 

Viewers will be able to easily follow, and perhaps 

even wholeheartedly embrace, the film’s 

central premise, but those with a more critical 

eye may find themselves wondering about how 

the tone-deafness and insensitivity of political 

and cultural elites, our institutions’ natural 

resistance to reform, the “tone-policing” of the 

pundit class, and even the prejudiced attitudes of 

everyday Americans towards their fellow countrymen 

have enabled Trump’s rise to power. 

At its heart, #UNFIT means well, serving as 

an indirect call to action to remove the president 

from office in order to save the republic. It offers 

both historical and psychological insight into 

how autocrats manipulate the public and slowly 

strip away the freedoms enjoyed by those living 

in liberal democracies. 

But the film’s narrow appeal undermines 

the urgency of its message if most Americans, 

fatigued and becoming immune to the daily 

outrages of a Trump presidency, aren’t going to 

watch. That’s a shame, because, if the United 

States is truly on the brink of becoming an 

autocracy, it might be a message Americans 

sorely need to hear. 

#UNFIT: The Psychology of Donald Trump is available on cable, DirecTV and DISH, Apple TV, 

Amazon Prime, and Google Play. For more information, visit www.unfitfilm.com. 



53


RetroScene 

The Last Night at Tracks - November 6, 1999 

Photography by Michael Wichita 

For more #RetroScene follow us on Instagram at @MetroWeekly 


55

RetroScene 

A Night at Mr. P’s - August, 1999 

Photography by Michael Wichita 

For more #RetroScene follow us on Instagram at @MetroWeekly 


LastWord. 

People say the queerest things 

“ If you love an LGBTQ+ person and you’re planning on voting for Donald Trump 

in November, 

that’s an act of violence against them.” 

—Country singer KACEY MUSGRAVES, in a tweet. She added: “To each their own but know what your vote means.” 

“ While Alex’s loss is disappointing, 

it proved our community and our allies can respond forcefully in exposing 

the dog whistles and stereotypes that too often 

haunt LGBTQ candidates.” 

—ANNISE PARKER, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, responding to gay mayor Alex Morse’s loss against 

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) in their Democratic primary on Tuesday. Morse was accused of being sexually inappropriate with students 

by a chapter of the College Democrats, who later apologized after it emerged that former leaders plotted to entrap Morse. 

“I’m doing what Jesus would want me to do.” 

—TONY JEFFREY, headmaster of Covenant Christian Academy in Dallas, responding to a mother after she asked him 

why he expelled her son for coming out as gay, the Dallas Voice reports. 

“ When the person who writes your favorite series of books about oppressed people 

decides to start oppressing you 

it’s very strange. It doesn’t make any sense.” 

—CHAZ BONO, speaking with podcast A Gay and A NonGay about Harry Potter author JK Rowling’s anti-transgender tweets. 

“On a personal note, it just sucked,” Bono continued. “Politically, it’s dangerous because I don’t think people realize 

that she’s just regurgitating the same things that people are saying about us, that have been debunked for 30 years.” 

“ One day, we are going to look back and 

we’re going to wonder why this was ever a debate, 

and why this practice was ever allowed. ” 

—Anchorage Assembly Chair FELIX RIVERA, speaking after the city became the first in Alaska to ban conversion therapy 

on LGBTQ youth. Rivera co-sponsored the measure, which imposes a $500 fine on licensed professionals who violate the ban, 

and stacks for each day that it is violated. 


57

My Summer of Vintage Porn - September 3, 2020

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