Not Your Usual 'Dracula'

October 23, 2009 | Volume VII, Issue 19 | LGBT Life in Maryland EQMD Appoints Morgan Sheets as New Executive Director BY STEVE CHARING Equality Maryland, the state’s largest lgbt civil rights advocacy organization, announced on October 13 the appoint- ment of Morgan Sheets as its new Executive Director. Ms. Sheets was chosen by the Board of Directors following an extensive national search. A resident of Ellicott City, she comes to Equality Maryland after serving as the Director of Government Relations & Public Policy of the Amputee Coali- tion of America. “We are thrilled to have found someone of Morgan’s experience, caliber and knowledge,” said Equality Maryland Board President Scott Dav- enport in a statement. “Morgan brings commitment, determination, community awareness, communication and fundraising know-how, along with political savvy to her life’s work as a non- Photo: Andriy Portyanko profit advocacy leader. “Her many years of executive ex- high school. I was doing theater and musicals perience at the helm of state-wide and Not Your Usual ‘Dracula’ and stuff. I took a dance class at some point, national progressive organizations and it just sort of snowballed pretty quickly. and issue campaigns, ability to build Choreographer Scott Rink returns to Three years later I was at Julliard, and was quick rapport with the community, and offered a job straight away with Eliot Feld knowledge of the political and social Baltimore with a new spooky production. and his company. I haven’t stopped dancing landscapes in Maryland makes her an since. I just went from one company to the ideal leader for the lgbt and straight BY JOSH ATEROVIS the Baltimore area. His company just bought next, then I started my own company almost supportive community.” Scott Rink is the perfect example of local a studio in Hampden across from the Clipper fifteen years ago. I transitioned from per- In her most recent position with boy making good. The director/choreogra- Mill and, just in time for Halloween, they will forming throughout the years, I’ve been able the Amputee Coalition of America, pher of the danceRINK Company grew up be mounting a beautiful new — and spooky to choreograph for my company as well as Ms. Sheets built a nation-wide advo- in Ellicott City and went to school at Towson — production of Dracula, inspired by Orson other companies around the United States, cacy program from the ground up, suc- University before heading off to Julliard. His Welles’ classic 1938 radio presentation. The off-Broadway shows. It’s been great. cessfully shepherding bills focused on credits include numerous off-Broadway pro- show, combining theater and dance, will healthcare access in Maryland and in ductions, as well as assistant choreographer open October 28th at the Baltimore Theatre JA: You’ll be premiering Dracula at the thirteen other state legislatures. for Broadway’s The King and I. Project and run through November 1st. Baltimore Theatre Project later this “As the lead sponsor of prosthetic The Village Voice described Rink’s style month. Tell us a bit about the project. parity legislation in 2008 and 2009, I as “an unusual hybrid genre in which dance Josh Aterovis: How did you get into What can we expect? witnessed first-hand Morgan’s keen is part of a larger theatrical whole.” dance? SR: This is not your usual Dracula. This is -- continued on page 27 Now, the openly gay Rink is returning to Scott Rink: I started dance my last year of -- continued on page 7 OUTSPOKEN Co-Publishers steve charing Jim Becker, Jim Williams [email protected] Executive Editor Jim Becker [email protected] Managing Editor Steve Charing Running the [email protected] Production Director Hannah-Love Shibley Bases [email protected] Sales Director Mary Taylor “Democrats never agree on anything, that’s [email protected] why they’re Democrats. If they agreed with Leather Columnist each other, they would be Republicans.”— Rodney Burger Will Rogers Gossip Columnist The Republican Party has a much eas- Sam Kunz ier time with their base than the Democrats. Contributing Writers Josh Aterovis, Jeffrey Clagett, Chuck Duncan, Rickie Green, Essentially, the GOP base consists of three Jonathan Hernandez, Eva Hersh MD, Doug Ireland, Jay Loane, PS groups: Social/Religious Conservatives, Lorio, Meredith Moise, Sandy Rawls, Bob Roehr, Ben Ryland, Gregg Fiscal Conservatives and Military Hawks. Shapiro, Nate Sweeney, Larry Walker Republican leaders do little to risk of- Writing Intern fending a particular segment of the party. Marty Hoegg Many, if not most, share common Republi- Graphics Carol Baker, Bruce Garrett can “principles,” you know, like anti-immigra- Photographers tion, anti-environment (social conservatives Skip Koritzer, Harry Lowinger tend to be more moderate on this issue, Graphics / Photography Intern however), anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-HIV Michelle Alpert funding, and, of course, anti-gay. But they Web Editor won’t “teabag” when one segment of the fit into few and tidy categories. Democratic cal analysis post-Prop 8 revealed that as a Aleksandra Saine party falters in their view. They save that asi- constituents really don’t form a base in a group, they were not responsible for the pas- [email protected] nine activity for the Democrats. pure sense but a variety of bases that some- sage of this hideous ballot initiative. Instead, Web Services Just Girl! The 2008 election run-up was illustra- times are pitted against each other. That’s it was older voters that tipped the scale on 800-774-0953, www.just-girl.com tive. The Republican base eroded during the where they differ markedly from the Republi- that one. Of course, that group did include Distribution/Circulation two years prior to the election. But that was can base. socially conservative African-Americans. Jay Loane [email protected] fueled mainly by anger by fiscal conserva- The Democratic base consists of large Nevertheless, these two key compo- Michael Serio tives as President Bush allowed the federal chunk of the minorities in the country, es- nents of the Democratic base continue to National Advertising Rep deficit to swell to historic levels. pecially African-Americans and Hispanics. square off against each other. African-Amer- Rivendell Media Social conservatives never abandoned You also have conservative Democrats, icans who oppose marriage equality base 908-232-2021 Bush; he maintained that marriage was labor unions, teachers, environmentalists, it for the most part on religious grounds. Founders solely between a man and a woman, so they intellectuals, young people, lgbt folks, “Hol- Many also resent the comparison between Jim Becker, Joe Berg, Mike Chase, Lee Mooney (1959-2007), Jim Williams were content. Never mind that the country lywood personalities,” pro-immigration, pro- the quest for lgbt rights and that of the civil was mired in two wars, the economy sunk choice, anti-death penalty, anti-gun, anti- rights movement, despite the pronounce- Baltimore OUTloud into near oblivion, and our standing in the war, the beat goes on. ments from Julian Bond, the late Coretta P.O. Box 3640, Baltimore, MD 21214 410-244-6780 world was somewhere between pariah and Not all of these elements work against Scott King and other prominent black civil www.baltimoreoutloud.com outcast. Bush was resolute against mar- each other for sure. But not all work together rights leaders. riage equality. That’s what mattered most to either. The result: the Democratic Party. “No people of good will should oppose Additional Information them. Gnawing at each other, yes, but also slap- marriage equality,” said Bond at the Octo- Baltimore OUTloud is published every other Friday by Pride Media, Ltd. in Baltimore, Maryland. Readers’ comments and The same thing goes for the military ping the others’ backs following the uplifting ber 11 National March for Equality rally. “We unsolicited materials are welcomed and may be sent to: Publisher@ hawks. They got what they always wanted: election of November 2008, when the “base” have some real and serious problems in this baltimoreoutloud.com. All materials appearing in this newspaper are war. Two of them, in fact. Better to fight them was energized. country; same-sex marriage is not one of the property of Pride Media, Ltd. and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the editor. over there than to fight them here. There was no back slapping, how- them.” So, when all was said and done, the ever, in the aftermath of the Proposition President Obama is feeling the pres- Bushies garnered 25 to 28 percent support 8 debacle in California. The knee-jerk re- sure from leading a party with such a diverse nationally for doing a heckuva job. These action of many gay activists was to blame and ornery base. His silence during the Prop folks resided in the social conservative and not only the Mormons who disproportion- 8 debate was irritating to gay activists. He military hawk legs of the 3-legged stool ately financed the pro-Prop 8 campaign, but ostensibly made a calculation that while his called the GOP base. Only the fiscal tight- African-Americans. heart may be on the side of lgbt rights, his ©2009 - All Rights Reserved Chair of the Board of Trustees Jim Becker wads lost their devotion. While it is true that socially conservative political brain told him not to alienate the Af- President Jim Williams Democrats have a more complex co- but Democratic African-Americans are large- rican-American base within the party.

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