August 5, 2021 | Vol. 2932 | Free Pridesource.Com

Home , Aquaria (drag queen), Grindr, Violet Chachki

as a MICHIGAN'S LGBTQ+ NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1993 v

SUMMER OF PRIDE

IN REFLECTION Hotter Than July Helped Me Share How Proud I Am to Be Bisexual

BACK IN ACTION Affirmations: A Long Pandemic Closure

THE INTERVIEW Comes to an End Detroit’s Getting a Lot More Violet Chachki

WILL TAKE YOU HIGHER

The Rising Gay Artist Opens Up Before Performing at Ann Arbor's Virtual Pride

PRIDESOURCE.COM AUGUST 5, 2021 | VOL. 2932 | FREE 10

2 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com 4 5 Queer Things You Can Do Right Now

6 Vincint Will Take You Higher VOL. 2932 • AUGUST 5, 2021 ISSUE 1180 10 Hotter Than July Helped Me Share How Proud I Am to Be Bisexual PRIDE SOURCE MEDIA GROUP

10 Fair and Equal Michigan’s Message to Supporters www.pridesource.com Phone 734-263-1476 11 Creep Of The Week: People! Are! Still! Dying! From! This! Virus! Seriously, Get PUBLISHERS Vaccinated. Benjamin Jenkins [email protected] 12 Coming Soon to Michigan: LGBTQ-Friendly Affordable Senior Housing in 10 Publishers Emeritus: Jan Stevenson & Susan Horowitz Ferndale DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS 14 I Went to a Detroit City Football Club Game. I Walked Away an Even Prouder Tom Wesley Queer Fan. [email protected] EDITORIAL 15 Affirmations Could’ve Saved My Sister’s Life. Now That They’ve Fully Editorial Director Reopened, They Can Still Save Others. Chris Azzopardi [email protected] 16 Detroit’s Getting a Lot More Violet Chachki News and Features Editor Jackie Jones 18 First-Ever Hazel Park Pride: A New Tradition for Increasingly Inclusive Community News & Feature Writers Lawrence Ferber, Ellen Knoppow, Jason A. Michael, 24 Crazy In Lust: An Interview with Drew Howard, Jonathan Thurston, D’Anne Witkowski, Jill A. Greenberg, Eve Kucharski Conor Leach on Playing a Slutty Queer Teen Copy Editor Sarah Hunt 12 Columnists Charles Alexander, Michelle E. Brown, Mikey Rox, Gwendolyn Ann Smith, Dana Rudolph CREATIVE Cartoonists Paul Berg

Contributing Photographers Andrew Potter, Andrew Cohen, Roxanne Frith, Tih Penfil ADVERTISING & SALES Tom Wesley, 734-263-1476 6 COVER STORY [email protected]

Photo: Maxwell Poth Ann/Andy Cox, 248-613-2513 24 [email protected] National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media, 212-242-6863 MEMBER OF Michigan Press Assoication ONLY ON PRIDESOURCE.COM National LGBT Media Association National Gay & Lesbian Chamber Report Reveals Michigan Catholic Conference Contributed Q Syndicate $240K To Block Equal Rights Amendment Effort By Jason A. Michael “Pride Source” A Republican Chair Who Needs to Lighten Up Wants to Cancel Follow us @pridesource a Wholesome Drag Queen Bingo Event in Howell By Jason A. Michael @pridesourcemedia Parting Glances: Prof’s Advice Ignored! Pride Source By Charles Alexander Email your op–eds to [email protected]

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ow that we’re deep into Play UNO With Other Michigan Queers Nthat Pure Michigan Look, yelling “Yahtzee!” and flapping your wrists when you summer, everyone knows win is not gay — it’s just the proper way to play (no matter it’s the law (it isn’t, do what what Brian Griffin says). Whatever reaction you have while you want) that you have playing board games, you can feel comfortable knowing to enjoy the state’s great that you’re in an LGBTQ- and ally-affirming space at this weekly Hazel Park game night. “We could play anything outdoors. But when the sun from UNO to Yahtzee to Monopoly to a trivia game, and gets so hot that even the people can bring a game to share if they like,” host Jeffrey lakes aren’t cooling you Olivier tells BTL. “Right now, UNO seems to be the exciting down, here are five queer- thing.” friendly activities to turn to that’ll switch up your Email Olivier at [email protected] for more summer plans. information about the regular Thursday night event, which occurs weekly from 7 to 9 p.m. at Hazel Park’s Country Boy Restaurant, 821 E. 8 Mile Road. Olivier also hosts a social meetup at the Hazel Park Community Center on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Take Your Date Somewhere Cute Yeah, it was nice when you decided the Photos courtesy of EQMI local brew pub would be your Friday night spot, but let’s face it, it’s getting stale. Step See Tyler Oakley and Gov. Whitmer in the Same (Virtual) Room your dating game up and take a stab at Okemos native and gay YouTuber Tyler Oakley will be the keynote speaker for screen printing together at the Ann Arbor Equality Michigan’s 2021 Mission Equality fundraising reception at 6:30 p.m. Aug. Art Center with instructor Rachel Derocher. 6. He’ll be joined by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a longtime LGBTQ+ ally. Obviously “You will have a great time trying out a new we stan a supportive queen and orgs like EQMI, a statewide organization working skill and spend the rest of your evening in to ensure equal rights for everyone in the LGBTQ+ community. “The inspiring the heart of beautiful downtown Ann Arbor,” work of individuals like Tyler and contributions from our supporters drives us to Derocher says. continue doing this challenging work. I hope to see you all virtually on August 6,” EQMI Executive Director Erin Knott tells BTL. This 18+ event will be held 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 12. Register online at Register online at equalitymi.org/missionequality. Contact Caitlin O’Rourke at annarborartcenter.org [email protected] or (517) 980-1104 with any questions.

4 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com Turn Your Big Ideas into a Quilt Detroit queer artist Mother Cyborg believes that technology, in combination with compassion, is the key to “collective liberation.” At 10 a.m. Aug. 7, visit Cyborg’s Data Criminalization Quilting Bee workshop, which is sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. There, you’ll hand-stitch a quilt whose collaborative design will involve the high-level solutions you and other participants discuss to solve technological problems.

This event is held at Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead, which is a permanent artwork by the late artist on the grounds of MOCAD located at 4454 Woodward Ave. in Detroit. Photo of Mother Cyborg by Ara Howrani Learn more at mocadetroit.org.

Connect With Your Emo Roots OK, not everyone who listens to these bands had an emo moment in high school, but seeing a Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer concert certainly brings back memories of that subgenre’s style. Heading to Detroit’s Comerica Park on Aug. 10, the trifecta will headline The Hella Mega Tour, which is the perfect way to honor the bands that paved the way for more LGBTQ+ inclusion within the realms of emo and punk.

For details on the tour, visit hellamegatour.com.

www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 5 The Rising Gay Star Opens Up to BTL Before Performing Aug. 7 at Ann Arbor’s Virtual Pride

BY D’ANNE WITKOWSKI

ride 2021 is special. It’s special because it coincides with humans finally emerging from their Phomes after nearly two years of isolation, seclusion and uncertainty. Special in that we are also emerging from four harrowing years living under the anti-LGBTQ+ Trump Administration and finally have a president who sees and supports LGBTQ+ Americans. Special in that some Pride events are going forward, some have been canceled, some are still being done via Zoom. The rainbow at the end of the tunnel isn’t simply visible. It’s bright. And Vincint’s “Higher,” from his new album “There Will Be Tears,” is the soundtrack for it all. It turns out Vincint, a Los Angeles artist who weaves his golden voice into dance-floor pop anthems, is the Grand Marshal we needed all along. He will perform Aug. 7 as part of Ann Arbor Pride’s virtual celebration. “This summer has truly been one of the best of my life because I didn’t expect for all this to happen, but I’m so glad that it did,” Vincint tells Between The Lines from New York via Zoom. “Because the song [‘Higher’] has made so many Vincint people happy. It’s made so many people feel so wanted and joyful and alive again, and I think it’s what we deserve after what we just went through.” That said, Vincint wrote “Higher” and the rest of “There Will Be Tears” first and foremost for himself. “I wrote this album as a catharsis for myself to move past a lot of things, but also to re- Will Take experience the joy and come back to being a human being, and I think that’s what everyone is looking for after these last two years,” he says. “Everyone kind of needed that moment of, ‘Wow, I want to stand in the middle of a room with a whole bunch of people and scream out really, really happy lyrics about falling in love You and being so high off the ground that it feels like I’m flying and you’re next to me,’ whether it be a friend or a lover or someone you had lost and feel like, ‘I’m next to you, and I’m with you, and this is a moment for all of us,’” he explains. “And I think ‘Higher’ kind of filled that void.” If you’re unfamiliar with Vincint’s music, you Higher might be wondering what “really happy lyrics” could possibly be included on an album titled “There Will Be Tears.” But the album’s title is not so much a premonition as it is a revelation that Vincint had Photo: Gabriel Goldberg

6 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com while listening to the yet- untitled album with a good friend trying to find a single line that would encompass the whole project. “We listened to the album from front to back, and I look over, and he’s crying; I’m crying,” Vincint says. “And I realized, this is it. That’s what I want.” Vincint clarifies that the “tears” in the album’s title are not a reflection of a simplistic notion of happiness or sadness. “It’s the sense of letting go of the pressure you put on yourself all the time, of all the things you worry about, that you talk about, that you thought you wouldn’t get through, or you couldn’t overcome,” Vincint explains. “So I realized at the end of most things that we all go through as human beings, there is gonna be this moment where you will fully cry. Photo: Liam Graham Haehnle “You will not know why you’re crying. It’ll happen, and you’ll wipe your Everyone struggles with having a little bit of a face, and you’ll go, ‘That was weird, and that time where they don’t feel like 100 percent a was crazy,’ but that’s your body saying, ‘Hi. boss. And that’s fair, that’s human,” he says. “But We can let this go now. You’re good. You just make sure that you are the first person you talk needed to get it out.’” to in the morning before you step out of your Vincint has come a long way since slaying house, or your room, or your special place, Radiohead’s “Creep” on Fox’s singing and you build yourself up, so when someone competition “The Four” in 2018. His else comes and tries to knock you down, you performance literally had judges like Sean already have your weapons with you.” “Diddy” Combs and Meghan Trainor slack- This philosophy comes as a result of lived jawed. experience. By the time Vincint was 16, he had “That song just spoke to me in the moment,” come out to everyone in his family and was he says. “It’s OK to feel a little bit out of place greeted with love and acceptance. But school and a little bit weird. That doesn’t mean you was another story. don’t belong in certain spaces; it just means “Coming out for me was easy at home but you have to scream a little bit louder.” intense in the world because I went to Catholic Needless to say, Vincint isn’t shy about what school from kindergarten through 12th grade,” he wants. In fact, he thinks the world of himself, he says. “But I got really lucky in having people which he attributes largely to his mother and in my life at home build me up. I was never put the other “no-nonsense kinds of women” he down for who I loved, or who I liked, or what was raised around. I was into, or how I talked, or how I dressed. “I don’t know any other way to be,” he says. And so having that kind of confidence at home “I just got really lucky with a lot of amazing let me go out into the world and be like, ‘OK, women who are like, ‘Hi, you’re the shit, and you don’t like this? That’s a personal problem you’re always going to be the shit, so you better because my family really loves me, and so that’s think that all the time,’ and it really worked out.” on y ou .’” This confidence is crucial in the field of pop If you don’t love Vincint yet, you’ll get a music, where he says most people think of chance to fall in love at Ann Arbor Pride’s “white women with blonde hair” like Britney virtual celebration. “Just some cute little songs, Spears and Taylor Swift. nothing too crazy,” he says about what viewers “That’s not all that pop music is,” he says. can expect. “It’ll be cute, trust me.” “And especially having me be in the room now Oh, and in case it wasn’t clear, Vincint has a it’s like, ‘Oh, there’s something new here, and new album out. “The album is out. It’s out. It’s can he stand up for himself in these rooms?’ out. Listen to the songs, send it to your mom, and my entire life I’ve been told you can do send it to your boyfriend, send it to your ex, whatever you want to do. You’re supposed to be you know? Just send it around and have fun in the room, you know? The meeting’s for you.” with it,” he says. Vincint thinks you should think the world “And also remember that it doesn’t have to of yourself, too. be sad when it ends. It just means something “Everyone struggles with self-confidence. else new is starting.” www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 7 8 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 9 Hotter Than July Helped Me Share How Proud I Am to Be Bisexual

BY TIEANNA BURTON

rowing up, I followed in my It was affirmation that if an entire mother’s footsteps. Like many community of people could live and single Black women raising a share in their truth, I could too. Gchild, she represented diligence and I’ve lived in the Midwest, the poise. I performed femininity out of South, and on the East Coast. I have example, an obligation of what I knew attended Pride events domestically womanhood to be watching her as and internationally. Detroit, Atlanta, a kid. Miami, Windsor. I understood why Then I met someone unlike me. Pride was necessary. But feeling a part She was uninhibited, something I of something bigger than myself only desired to be. I was curious about this manifested at home in Detroit. freedom of rules and expectations, and it led me to explore what I had no language for. It was as instinctual as my attraction for boys. I made the I was growing more first move, enamored by the possibility “ confident in who I of who I could be outside of the rigid constraints of Black girlhood. In was, which led me that moment, I was recognizing my ‘Every Michigander Should Have an Equal bisexuality. to humbly attend Then, in the summer of 2009, I took my first Pride, Hotter the next step: I acknowledged it. Chance to Succeed’: Fair and Equal Michigan’s I remember being home from Than July, in 2009. college. I was in my room while my Message to Supporters mother was in the kitchen, a feeling HTJ has a long history of supporting” of wholeness coming over me. the LGBTQIA+ community, and it’s BY FAIR AND EQUAL MICHIGAN memorial plaques, in bulk, for the families of the fallen. Fearlessly, I marched down the stairs even made history as the longest- Our grassroots, citizen campaign set out to create into the kitchen, took my stance on running Black Pride in North America. good public policy for Michigan – choosing the the opposite side of the island and Rooted in education and advocacy, The Michigan Bureau of Elections recently released a report blocking Fair and Equal Michigan from moving initiative petition to introduce a citizens’ bill. We announced that I was bisexual. Her LGBT Detroit, the organization believe there is more that brings us together than response: “I already knew.” She said that produces the event, has been forward on its first-ever LGBTQ rights bill, despite acknowledging at least six errors in its review of citizen forces us apart. This is why our initiative includes she had assumed after noticing that I providing safe spaces throughout Republicans, Democrats and Independents. Our had stopped taking my birth control. Southeast Michigan since 1994. And signatures. We oppose the Bureau’s handling of this review, uniting statement: Every Michigander should have (Because I wouldn’t dare come home for 26 years, LGBT Detroit has been an equal chance to succeed. with a baby, so I must be gay.) Needless committed to hosting a week-long which has implications far beyond our fight for equal to say, her assumption had some celebration of Pride with HTJ, serving rights. This moment calls for public engagement, validity. But with pronunciation, with as a social barometer for community and we want our supporters and people throughout The Bureau’s handling of our acknowledgement, came ease. development while also providing a Michigan to understand what is at stake. I was growing more confident in multidimensional forum to advocate The implications of the Bureau of Election’s recent petition who I was, which led me to humbly for equality and social justice. This actions are significant for any future petition issue – Under Michigan’s Constitution, “all political power attend my first Pride, Hotter Than July, year’s event took place July 23-25. Republican, Democrat or Independent. is inherent in the people” of the State of Michigan. in 2009. I didn’t want to go alone, so I I was there, a full 12 years after my This is significant as it offers citizens the ability to took my little cousin. He didn’t know introduction to the event. Rooted in fairness petition and make laws. And for citizen petitions, the where we were or what was going on, HTJ’s programming offered virtual government should “facilitate rather than hamper the but the vibrancy that filled Palmer Park and in-person interactions. Most Fairness is at the heart of how we treat one another, exercise by the people of these reserved rights.” Put was enough to bring us both comfort. memorable was the art show on July especially when it comes to the availability of basic simply: No one cannot hinder, obstruct or otherwise Hotter Than July was unlike anything 23, an interactive experience fusing government services, employment, housing or get in the way of a citizen petition. I had ever seen. It also felt familiar. photography installations, journalism education. For generations, lesbian, gay, bisexual and From the beginning, when we filed our initiative, the And it was during that first Pride I displays, musical performances, panel transgender people have been treated differently – State’s informal process, established in the 1970s, began experienced Black queerness joyfully. discussions and an awards ceremony. without the same rights as everyone else under the law. to change on the fly. The Bureau opted to re-write the My adolescent self didn’t know it During the awards ceremony, the host In November of 2019, Jey’nce Poindexter was driving language of our citizens’ bill rather than discussing then, but being able to celebrate my asked the three awardees what Pride to the store when she received a call from citizens with changes with us, as was customary. And as Fair and truth in a way that felt loving would meant to them. Their responses varied, an idea: Let’s start a petition to finally pass Michigan’s Equal collected its 100,000th signature, we asked the help me grow monumentally. That but within each were valuable threads first LGBTQ+ rights law. For her, it was a resounding Bureau for guidance after government issued quarantines level of representation gave me about visibility, life and documentation. yes: “We’ve lost too many,” she said, referring to the due to the pandemic. We received no response. something to aspire to. I knew then And, for me, their words carried nearly dozen trans women of color who had been lost We took our case to court, where the Bureau that I would never shy away from to murder, targeted for their identities. In fact, when vigorously objected to any guidance or assistance for who I am for anyone else’s comfort. Jey’nce got the call, she was on her way to purchase See HTJ, page 18 Fair and Equal, writing in a public brief that the burden 10 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com of the health orders on citizens was “not For petition sheet 14980, our team severe under the circumstances.” Further, of experts found no errors. The Bureau the Bureau argued, the Governor’s March found it was invalid based on a category 10, 2020 Declaration of Emergency “by called “Miscellaneous.” In all, 19 signatures, Creep Of The Week no means required or even suggested representing 19,000 signatures in total, that [Fair and Equal] must suspend their were invalidated with no rationale. signature collection efforts.” By that point, Under the Bureau rules, Fair and Equal People! Are! Still! Dying! From! This! Virus! two of Fair and Equal’s leadership co- had no ability to adequately respond to chairs had become increasingly sick and allegations of invalidity, which included later tested positive for COVID. several questionable decisions. For Seriously, Get Vaccinated. A judge agreed with Fair and Equal’s example, the Bureau invalidated one arguments and extended the petition petition sheet because the signer wrote: BY D’ANNE WITKOWSKI It bums me the fuck out, frankly. And timeline. Accordingly, Fair and Equal “Detroit, MI, Wayne 48203” and the it’s scary. submitted 483,461 signatures on October Bureau argued the signer could have What an incredibly stupid time to be alive. I mean, the folks who are the loudest 13, 2020 — a figure that represents a meant another place that was not Wayne Every day Republicans and their network, and most adamantly anti-vaccine because safety net of 143,421 extra signatures. County, such as Wayne City, MI. For Fox, are telling people NOT to get vaccinated. they say it’s government overreach and mind Petition Sheet 32143, they wrote the date That COVID-19 is either a hoax or just not a control and against our freedom are the same What’s a ‘valid signature’? 8/12/2020, but because the final “0,” while big deal. That being required to wear a mask people who say that the people who stormed completely closed, was slanted with a trail is akin to living in Nazi Germany. That being the capitol were just tourists. Which is to say, In 2012, Michigan lawmakers from the pen, the Report invalided it, unvaccinated is patriotic. the very people who are crying fascism are amended the Administrative Procedures apparently, because they claim it could But it’s not. It’s idiotic. People! Are! Still! also cheering on fascism. Act of 1969 to remove ambiguity and be read as 2026. Dying! From! This! Virus! And the vast Instead of fighting the virus, we’re fighting protect against midstream changes at The Bureau’s lack of standards and majority of deaths at this point are among each other. And each side is not armed with the the hands of the Bureau. The Legislature the record-breaking delay to review our unvaccinated people. same arsenal. On one side, you’ve got people added language requiring the Bureau signatures provided an extraordinary There are plenty of people who can’t get who are like, “OK, I’m going to defer to the to create administrative rules aimed opportunity for anti-equality forces. vaccinated, including kids under 12 and people scientists and medical experts on this whole at establishing uniform standards for Challengers typically have about six with compromised immune systems or serious COVID-19 thing” and then you have people signature validation. weeks to complete this review — our health conditions. Which is why the willfully who will beat the shit out of a grocery store Put simply, the Bureau was tasked challenger was given nearly 10 months. unvaccinated people are especially awful. A clerk (or worse) who asks them to wear a mask. with creating a transparent set of living example of selfishness and stupidity. There is no middle to meet in here. rules and making them public so A dangerous precedent Honestly, it’s a strange strategy to tell your We’ve all lost a lot in the past 18 months. that citizens can petition successfully. base to NOT save themselves from a deadly Hundreds of thousands of Americans lost Unfortunately, the Bureau — under The Bureau, through sampling and virus. Then again, Republicans believe that people they love, and yet somehow that’s not a multiple Administrations — never took its report, has effectively thrown out dead people vote, don’t they? Oh, wait. Dead motivation to the anti-vax creeps. They would action and remains in violation of the close to 75,000 signatures for reasons to people only vote for Democrats. rather scream maskless about shutdowns Administrative Procedures Act today. which we take exception. This nightmare Being sick sucks. Even a mild cold can ruin than do anything to alleviate the cause of the Why does this matter? Because without scenario is why the Legislature mandated an entire week, let alone COVID-19. Look, shutdowns. But instead of coming together notice, at 4 p.m. on July 8, the informal that there be written rules, including I’ve had cancer. Twice. And if I could get a in order to achieve a common goal during a process used since the 1970s changed uniform standards, in place. shot that would help protect me from getting time of crisis, we’re coming apart at the seams. on the fly — again. The Bureau, without We believe this ignores the “facilitate it again, I would do that. But it’s not an option. And one side believes seams exist, and the holding any discussions with the campaign rather than hamper” requirement under But I can, and did, get a shot to protect me and other doesn’t. or returning our calls, announced our state law and sets a dangerous precedent. everybody else from COVID-19. I’m getting on a plane for the first time in petition would not move forward. Opposing this Bureau Report is not People are scared of cancer. They believe it’s well over a year. I am not excited about it with The Bureau opted for a new standard something we take lightly. We are doing real. Well, most people do. There are always the Delta variant and all, even though I’m to not even talk to the campaign before so with the deepest respect and love for going to be people on the fringe who believe vaccinated. And I am hopeful that there is the report was issued. Their rationale? our Constitution and our great state. that every health problem is a conspiracy by no one on my flight who throws a fit over the Not enough valid signatures. Their We are challenging the Bureau’s flagrant Big Pharma to make money. It would certainly federal transportation mask mandate. But if evidence? A sloppy report that we now violations of the Administrative Procedures help if Big Pharma didn’t legitimately have there is, I’ll do my best to film it, adding to know, as conceded by the Bureau, was Act and asserting the Bureau is setting a skeletons in its Big closet. the archive so that our children’s children will filled with errors. dangerous precedent in hampering, not But when I was diagnosed, everything one day be able to relive this very, very stupid facilitating, a citizen petition review as set happened so fast. I got a referral for a surgeon, and selfish time. The Bureau’s report forth in our Constitution. You can join had surgery on my birthday, and was promptly If you’re not vaccinated, then get vaccinated. us at FairAndEqualMichigan.com and sent to a medical oncologist where my body If you are vaccinated, then encourage people Reporters and media outlets knew contribute to our legal fund. was pumped with really horrifying medication, who aren’t vaccinated to get the shot. It’s the of Fair and Equal’s obituary, written by For us, we’re not just another petition frankly (one of the medicines I got was a very patriotic thing to do, if you’re into that. It’s the Bureau, before our own team. When campaign. This is our humanity. bright red, like I was getting an infusion of the moral thing to do. It’s the only real way we were finally informed, the Bureau Faygo Red Pop). I lost all of my hair. Then I out of this. provided 16 business hours to respond. — The Co-Chairs of Fair and Equal was sent to a radiation oncologist where I was The Republican response to COVID-19 is The Bureau, according to their own Michigan: Dr Mira Jordan, Jey’nce microwaved like a bag of popcorn. eerily similar to their response to HIV/AIDS procedures, prefers to not check every Poindexter, Brandon Dillion and Trevor To make a long story short, it was not fun. in the early ‘80s. They ignored it, made jokes signature. Instead, in the 1970s, they chose Thomas But also through it all there wasn’t a sizable about it, and didn’t care about the people who a sampling method based on examining population of Americans claiming that cancer were dying. That they are doing the same thing as few as 500 and up to 4,000 signatures was a hoax and that everybody being treated during another health crisis should disqualify (which it has done for other campaigns). for it was a dupe. Cancer hasn’t been politicized them from holding public office. With no apparent rationale, the Bureau like COVID-19 — not on a national level with Vote them out. chose to review just 502. Each sampled one of two major political parties egging on signature equated to around 1,000 their followers to die to own the libs. signatures. Essentially, the smaller the sample, the more risk to Fair and Equal. www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 11 Rendering of the Raymond E. Shepherd House. Photo: City of Ferndale Coming Soon to Michigan: LGBTQ-Friendly Affordable Senior Housing in Ferndale Local LGBTQ+ Groups Working Together to Bring Project to Life

BY JASON A. MICHAEL “Raymond was a longstanding member of MCC-D and a frequent visitor to Affirmations,” Rev. Dr. Roland Stringfellow, senior minister Stringfellow said. “He also utilized some of the and teacher of Metropolitan Community services at SAGE Metro Detroit, so he is an Church of Detroit announced recently that individual that kind of captures those three the church was partnering with Affirmations communities, and it made sense to name the and SAGE Metro Detroit to bring affordable building after him.” LGBTQ-friendly housing for older adults Inside the house, there will be a room to Ferndale. The three groups are working usable by all three organizations named after in conjunction with Full Circle Properties local artist and longtime Between The Lines and have recently secured tax credits from columnist Charles Alexander. the Michigan State Housing Development “MCC-D will have worship services there Authority. also,” said Stringfellow. “And the room, itself, “We started this process back in 2018, and it will be dedicated to displaying art from local has taken this long to find the right property,” LGBTQ artists.” Stringfellow told Between The Lines. “Receiving The groups hope to have the building these credits is crossing a huge hurdle in purchased by this fall and have set a target obtaining the funding for this project. There’s opening date in late 2023. still more hurdles to jump over because we “We know that there’s a lot of need in our have not purchased the property yet. But that community, especially for older adults, to have is what we are eying.” affirming housing,” said Kathleen Redmon, Stringfellow declined to give the address of director of programs for Affirmations. the potential property. He was happy, however, “As older LGBTQ adults age, many of them to talk about the vision of the project. lose resources and have to go back in the closet. “The key thing about this is it’s going to be So having a place that is affirming, that has affordable housing, unlike The James, which is resources and programming on-site can make at market rate,” he said, referring to the luxury them feel supported. senior apartment complex already in the city. “To have their needs met is essential,” “None of these units will be at market rate. Redmon continued. “We’re hoping that this is It will be affordable for low-income seniors.” a great opportunity to meet the needs of our Once converted to residential units, the community and create some solid infrastructure building will be named the Raymond E. Shepherd for people to access.” House or The Shepherd House for short. 12 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 13 I Went to a Detroit City Football Club Game. I Walked Away an Even Prouder Queer Fan. BY TOM WESLEY visitor team, but I was inducted quickly into the supporter ranks. Before long, I was joining Alex Wright, DCFC co- the crowd in cheers, jeers and dances. owner and Chief Creative Wright said the experience I had was “on Officer of the Detroit City purpose and intentional.” Football Club (DCFC), “What you experienced was the result of a describes the atmosphere couple different things,” he said. “Those of us during Pride Month as one who started the club see ourselves as stewards of the most electrifying, intense experiences of this. We’re hosting the party, but it’s not that any fan could have. our party. We set ground rules for behavior, “The game starts, the crowd is packed, for speech, and for treatment for your fellow everyone is decked in rainbow gear, and then spectators that, as long as folks adhere to those the rainbow smoke pops,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anywhere on the planet that’s celebrating sport and Pride in Trans-cendent Values p. 27 that way.” As for myself, I wasn’t expecting to be swept up in a sea of rainbows, rouge and gold as I made my way into Keyworth Stadium for a recent Detroit City Football Club (DCFC) men’s team match. But it was a welcome surprise. I was excited to see DCFC take on the visiting Los Angeles Force, a team I had grown fond Photo: Jon DeBoer/DCFC of as an L.A. resident before my recent move to Southeast Michigan. It was standards, whatever else people say goes, right?” exciting to see some of my familiar Californians Wright added, “You’re going to hear a bunch in my hometown, though I was having second of swearing, but you can’t be mean to other thoughts about my wardrobe choice that day — people based on their identity.” a t-shirt supporting the visiting Force. Wright shared that the intentionally inclusive I later described my experience to Wright environment at DCFC games evolved from the as simultaneously the most welcoming teams’ roots as the Detroit City Football League, environment for visitors and the most angry which focused on its neighborhood involvement environment to a visiting team I had ever within the city of Detroit in response to a experienced. community desire to participate in a soccer I explained to him that, after being lead experience that felt “sporting.” through the Northern Guard supporter section, “You had a bubbling, passionate soccer fan I covered my shirt with my jacket despite the base without a team,” Wright explained. “You warm weather — not to attempt to pass better had an entire group of people who not only in a traditionally heteronormative space but love sports, but also felt unfilled by current so that my visitor status would be hidden. My sporting options.” fears were put to rest when a stranger covered in Wright shared that the genesis of DCFC rainbow bandanas and plenty of DCFC apparel was through a co-ed soccer league based turned around and welcomed me. around Detroit neighborhoods and that it This happened multiple times throughout the was a competition built of wins, losses and match — someone saw my shirt and welcomed community service hours. me, asking how I was enjoying the experience. There was a general scoff at supporting the See DCFC, page 20 14 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com Affirmations Could’ve Saved My Sister’s Life. Now That They’ve Fully Reopened, They Can Still Save Others. BY JACKIE JONES Undoubtedly, Affirmations gives off a particular aura. But, While most open spaces exude oddly, while all this is occurring, an emptiness, Affirmations’ I feel paradoxical. I do a mental 17,000-square feet in Ferndale check-in: the community is warm, doesn’t feel like that at all. It feels welcoming and genuine, and it’s like a safe space the moment I this mixture that makes me feel enter it. immense pride and sadness. Like many there for It has nothing to do with the Affirmations’ reopening on Aug. people around me. Nothing to do 2, this is my first time back in with the volunteers who speak so the LGBTQ+ community center passionately about the center’s since its closing in 2020. The first resources. And certainly nothing thing I notice is the ceiling to to do with Affirmations’ newly floor windows, the light pouring initiated programs. in illuminating both the space and It has everything to do, however, its patrons. And like an “Oprah’s with the fact that a place like Favorite Things” episode, people Affirmations would’ve helped my are freely hugging. An array of sister in her time of despair. LGBTQ+ flags hang proudly on In 2018, my sister, Jozalynn the wall. And through CDC- Jones, took her life. She was gay, recommended masks, smiles still transgender, Black and a sexual Affirmations fully reopened on Aug. 2 after a 15-month closure due to COVID-19. Photo: Andrew Potter radiate — the kind that kiss cheeks abuse survivor who was trying to to eyes. See Affirmations, page 26

www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 15 Detroit’s Getting a Lot More Violet Chachki

Photo courtesy of The Syn How the ‘Drag Race’ Winner Finds Power in Performance

BY CHENE KOPPITZ “feel really special actually,” which to them meant “people are obsessed with me.” It takes a preternaturally confident kid to read a homophobic They weren’t wrong, then or now, and that certainty of self slur about themselves and think, “Oh my god, people are talking is what likely caused some of their fellow Season 7 cast mates about me.” Especially while standing at a urinal in a Catholic to vote Chachki “Shadiest Queen” during the DESPY Awards elementary school. episode. Their aplomb, when mixed with an encyclopedic But most queer kids don’t grow up to be Violet Chachki. knowledge of fashion iconography, mad runway skills and a That story, which Chacki shared with Teddy Quinlivan on silhouette often punctuated by a near-microscopic waist, made the latter’s inaugural “Unholy and Curious” podcast earlier the then Atlanta-based queen a formidable competitive force, this year, came in response to the question, “What was it like one which intimidated some and angered others. Katya, with growing up as the biggest homo in Georgia?” As their smile whom Chachki was paired in the Prancing Queens challenge eventually gives way to laughter, the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” during their season, called the younger queen “the most visually seventh season winner tells Teddy, the first openly trans model intelligent person I know.” hired for a Chanel beauty campaign, that seeing the words Chachki was raised in Atlanta, where they performed at “DARDO (Chachki’s legal surname) IS A FAG” made them See Violet, page 22

16 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 17 First-Ever Hazel Park Pride: A New Tradition for Increasingly Inclusive Metro Detroit Community

BY JASON A. MICHAEL feature more than 50 entertainers performing on stage, including live deejays. Finally, the family pavilion will offer face-painting, drag The first-ever Hazel Park Pride (HPP) queen story time, classic board games and a celebration will take place Sunday, Aug. 15 host of carnival-style games. in Green Acres Park. COVID-19 caused the “Having Hazel Park’s first LGBTQ Pride is a inaugural event to be pushed back a year, and dream come true,” Jeffrey Olivier, a long-time organizers are now more than ready to go. Hazel Park resident, told Between The Lines. In a recent official statement, Hazel Park “In 2001, LGBTQ was not even talked about. City Manager Ed Klobucher said, “After But now people can come out and be who they being delayed for over a year, I’m happy that are and know Hazel Park is accepting and safe.” the organizers are now able to hold a Pride Robert Zurenko told BTL he has only lived Celebration in Hazel Park. We’re hoping for in Hazel Park for about three years. good weather and a successful event.” “The best thing about living in Hazel Park are City Councilmember Mike McFall said he is the parks and the community,” Zurenko said. excited about the “first-ever Pride event in our “I’m excited about HP Pride because it shows friendly little city.” McFall noted that Hazel Park the city’s willingness to work with its diverse has a sizable, growing LGBTQ+ community. range of inhabitants.” “This event is one more way our city continues “I’m excited about the many activities we to demonstrate how welcoming Hazel Park has have planned,” Olivier said. “And just to meet become,” he said. other LGBTQ people in our community and Event organizer Tim McKee-Zazo, who everyone just being able to enjoy themselves.” runs Menjo’s in Detroit, said he is honored It was Olivier who helped get McKee-Zazos and excited to support the event. “It’s great to on board as event planner. see Hazel Park’s rising prominence in Oakland “He asked me to help him plan what was County with many LGBTQ+ residents, families, going to be a small picnic,” McKee-Zazos told and business owners as the new norm in this BTL. “It’s turning into something larger.” community,” he said. McKee-Zazo, who has lived in Hazel Park HPP will take place from noon until 7 p.m. since 2016, said he was “looking forward to an The festivities will include outdoor activities in all-inclusive and diverse, beautiful summer day three covered pavilions located in the center in the park celebrating our differences as well of the park. as embracing them.” In the vendor pavilion, attendees can shop Admission to HPP is free but donations to for Pride merchandise and get their fill of support LGBTQ+ organizations are encouraged. traditional barbecue favorites, candy, snacks and adult beverages. The entertainment pavilion will

 HTJ a community advocate. I’ve volunteered with Continued from page 10 HRC of Alabama. I’ve been president of the queer sorority, Alpha Kappa Pi. I’ve been a strength. For Black queer folx, our lives demand campus and culture liaison for Amplified at visibility in a world that says Blackness and Alabama State University. I’ve been a diversity queerness cannot coexist and therefore must liaison for the Graduate Student Association be documented. It was in that moment I took for Liberal Studies at the University of North notice of what Pride meant to me too. Carolina at Wilmington. I’m the founder and To experience Pride is to experience joy. creator of The Bi Queer, and now a queer But to experience Black Pride is to heal. Pride leadership mentor with LGBT Detroit’s for Black folx is a purposeful experience: It’s Leadership and Protege Academy. I’m not acknowledging trauma and choosing to heal. just recognizing and acknowledging who I It’s being excluded and paving a new way. It’s am anymore. I’m sharing it. loving ourselves without expectation of love in return. When we hold space for one another, Native Detroiter Tieanna Burton is a Black we grow closer. My commitment to growth, feminist, community storyteller and visual exploration and authenticity led me to serve the designer with a passion for social impact and community in the same way I sought support equitable community programming. Her writing when I was 19, when I still trying to recognize explores gender, sexuality and the human and acknowledge my bisexuality. experience as a radical form of healing and Since first attending HTJ, I’ve grown into expression.

18 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 19 with the Ruth Ellis Center, including helping  DCFC trans youth perform a public declaration of Continued from p. 14 their name. “It’s like old-timey laws that you have to have a ‘public declaration,’ like you have to post “You had to be out in the community, your marriage in this town square. And we taking pictures and sending it back to the helped them because a soccer game is a public league if you wanted to be a part of this,” he declaration,” he said. said. “That was baked into the DNA into the “That moment is the sort of thing you work DCFC before we started DCFC. As we grew, for when you are trying to create a sporting we became more focused and committed to culture. Most of the time you’re trying to win supporting organizations who are doing good soccer games and sell tickets, and that’s really in our community.” hard to do in a post-COVID world. But you can Wright said DCFC supporters, especially the do those things and be a successful business Northern Guard, responded to the blueprint the and still find these moments where you’re organization had laid out. “We gave them the actually changing lives in ways that no one space to be creative and to express themselves could possibly expect,” he said. in what they cared about and allowed them to Wright said DCFC sees itself as “of this support soccer in a way that their own support moment” — a part of Detroit’s growth. “A voice compelled them to,” he explained. “One of big part of that is recognizing the humanity the many, many outcomes of that is Prideraiser. of other people,” he said. “We are all here Once we were made aware of it, we were like, together because we love soccer, but we are let’s go all out.” in a community that if we work together, The campaign raised $21,650 dollars — we can change for the better. Lifting up our that’s $2,706.24 per goal scored by the DCFC neighborhoods and our city are as important women and men’s teams while in their home to us as lifting up this game. stadium. According to the campaign website, Since my first DCFC experience, the men’s 239 individual donors signed up to donate. team has gone on to win the 2021 NISA Wright also highlighted DCFC’s partnerships Championship against the Los Angeles Force. I attended that match wearing DCFC colors.

20 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 21  Violet countless spin-offs and international versions, Continued from p. 16 and seen its queens go on to intercontinental tours, haute couture runway walks and beauty campaigns, and first-ever appearances at the Jungle, a now-defunct gay club, before legendary events, such as Chachki’s 2019 Met appearing on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Although Gala attendance, alongside RuPaul and Aquaria. they began a fashion As someone who design program at acknowledges the Savannah College of influences from Art and Design, they which they pull, later dropped out to including mid-20th- focus on drag. century Hollywood The queen may glamour, Irving have left college, but Klaw’s paradigmatic the lessons learned fetish photos of Bettie remained. Just as Page, designers like likely to discuss Christian Dior and subverting the Thierry Mugler, and binary — genderfluid, femme style icons Chachki uses she/ from Raquel Welch her and they/them to Deee-Lite’s Lady pronouns — as they Miss Kier, Chachki are to chat about recontextualizes to post-Pride partying, create their seamless they indeed embody aesthetic signature. a thing of beauty that One that, as they and folx hold dear. Teddy conferred back Coming from in February, “leaves a legendary drag no one out” in the epicenter pushed the LGBTQ+ lexicon. It’s multi-hyphenate to here, as they discuss make their current and at times defend show, fittingly named their being, that their “A Lot More Me,” trademark confidence Photo: Albert Sanchez and Pedro Zalba just that: a equally is writ large. hyphenated extravaganza that includes not The misinterpretation of their boldness as only fashion and burlesque, but highlights brash conceit, on the walls of a school bathroom, their aerial acrobatics as well as stand-up skills. in the RuPaul workroom, or in the greater Detroiters can see it all come together when world, is what Chachki views as the flawed Chachki performs the show Aug. 21 at Sound binary coming to the fore for femme-presenting Board at Motor City Casino and Hotel. people. “If a man is assertive, speaks his mind, “Some nights, I come off stage and my asks for something in a straightforward way, he’s crew says, ‘You are so funny!’ and I think praised. He’s fulfilling his masculinity,” they tell ‘I’m hilarious!’ and it all works,” Chachki tells Between The Lines. “If a woman does the same Between The Lines. “Other nights, it just doesn’t. thing, states the same wants and needs, she’s But that’s why (the show) is always evolving. demanding; she’s a bitch; she’s cunty. I want to I’m making adjustments daily. But why not be part of changing that.” try it? I’m not saying I’m a comedian; it’s not a Being seen as a termagant has proved stand-up show. But my sense of humor is part problematic for femmes, but Chachki derives of the process.” power from spaces others might find painful, They cite audience reaction, here at home as drawing intersections between fashion and well as abroad, for the significant influence it bondage, Catholicism and liberation, bullying has on content. European audiences are “easier and adulation, all of which reminds them and more forgiving” than their American that the “special” treatment they’ve received counterparts, says Chachki. They see the is often couched in the complex emotions of difference in the way Americans consume drag others — confusion, frustration, and ultimately as both a readily available commodity and an admiration. In “A Lot More Me,” Chachki is omnipresent cultural influence. Fans outside of serving a signature performance art cocktail of the Americas don’t have Atlanta or New York élan, one that amuses as it empowers, upending or Los Angeles and the respective collection gender norms along with notions of what drag of drag styles with which to engage; they’re was, is, and may be. “happy to see a show.” U.S. crowds, however, “I felt special most of my life and, in a lot are “more critical, but that’s what drives me to of ways, especially when I was younger, still make changes. Well, that and me being me.” in high school, people treated me the way I During their season, Chachki’s wins felt,” Chachki says. “After 2020, not just with bookended a season that they, along with the pandemic, everyone needs to feel special. others, see as a sort of “beginning of the end.” Escaping to beauty, to fashion, to feast visually, Being crowned Season 7’s winner has Chachki to laugh, we all need that and that’s what I’m squarely in the middle of the at-present 14-cycle here to bring.” franchise that’s been on three networks, spurred 22 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 23 degree at Melbourne’s Victorian I’m much more subservient to College of the Arts in 2017, scored an authority, and I can’t see myself agent through a graduate showcase, doing anything as reckless as and will next appear in the Aussie TV Sequin when I was 16. miniseries “New Gold Mountain.” Here, Leach chats about the film, I assume that means you weren’t hookup apps and the status of that trolling the apps during high school, sequin shirt. either. The film’s been called a “coming-of- No. I was a goody-goody. I was a teacher’s pet! On the surface I was age thriller.” Do you agree with that very different. description? Yeah, I think that’s pretty accurate. Why does Sequin cut people off, In the end it’s a film about someone both the guys he hooks up with and trying to find their way out of even his own father, whom he keeps loneliness. In that way, it’s “coming- in the dark about what he’s up to of-gay.” It’s funny, because we filmed despite the guy’s clear desire to love, so much material that didn’t make it understand and protect his son? to the final cut that made it more of While we were shooting I developed a drama. But seeing it for the first a detailed backstory that shined time I was shocked by how much a light on how Sequin became of a genre film it is. It’s a thriller like this. I wanted to know what through and through and amazing happened and what motivated his to see a queer story told through actions. I genuinely can’t remember those conventions. too much now, but I think Sequin Can you elaborate on the material loves the power it gives him. The that was cut out? sense of being desired after the encounter. You see that in the scene Sam cut out a whole storyline, actually, with B, when B says, “I’d love to that aimed to give a little more context see you again,” and Sequin says, “I around the character. I remember he don’t really see people twice,” and said he edited the film back to how it B asks, “Is that everyone or just originally was in the first draft, which me?” Sequin gets off on that, and was a thriller, quick and fast, to shock it’s exactly what he wants. The sense the viewers. Some of the scenes that of power and control it gives him didn’t make it were beautiful and, in a — the sense of power that’s been way, it’s unfortunate they didn’t make robbed of him in other aspects of it. But the final product, I think, is his life, I guess. better for it. I read that Sam had his own idea Hello Blu-ray extras! How are you of Sequin’s backstory and you most like Sequin? compared notes after shooting and I struggle with this question, they “differed wildly.” because I get asked how I relate Sam never actually talked to me in to the character a lot, but I think too much detail about his vision for part of acting is (thinking) nothing Photos: PeccadilloCrazy Pictures in Lust the character’s past. My imagining that this human (I’m playing) does of Sequin’s upbringing was quite is alien to me. If I was in these different in terms of the amount of Photo: Peccadillo Pictures circumstances, I would do these privilege he had, his relation with things. But what I related to most his mum, even what his real name was he just fears loneliness and a lot is. He gave me that creative license. of us are afraid to admit that. I look I remember explaining my ideas to ‘Sequin In a Blue Room’ Star Conor Leach Talks back on who I was when I was 16, him after the film and he was like, and I needed connection and love “Oh my goodness, I would have and we all still do, and I also wanted Playing a Slutty Queer Teen been worried if you expressed all to appear strong and resilient. He this to me before the shoot!” But wants to appear he has everything that’s all work the audience doesn’t BY LAWRENCE FERBER Played by Brisbane-raised bisexual felt before and finds himself wanting under control, and I definitely need to see. That’s for the actor. So I actor Conor Leach in a fearless seconds. This leads Sequin to break wanted to seem that way. aging hormones barely explain breakout performance, the secretive his cardinal rule and meet again with was very thankful we didn’t need to the behavior of Sequin, a Sequin lives with his well-meaning, B (Ed Wightman), an older man who Conversely, how are you most speak of it during the shoot. gay 16-year-old high school patient single father (Jeremy Lindsay can lead him to the mysterious hottie unlike Sequin? Clearly you’re not as To prepare for the role, did you spend Rstudent who who wears a shirt Taylor) while screwing strangers on a again but soon proves manipulative, economical, shall we say, with your a lot of time on hookup apps or embossed with glittery discs while strict one-time-only basis (once out dangerous and determined to keep words! hooking up with anonymous guys the door, he deletes their respective Sequin for himself. ask friends about their crazier app in the director Samuel Van Grivsen’s profiles from his hookup app). Yet At least in conversation, Leach, Yeah, I was watching the film experiences? thinking, “Sequin just does not audacious, erotic and suspenseful when Sequin’s invited to a sex party, comparatively loquacious and well- Yeah, I definitely looked into it. Oh speak! Use your words!” I’d say I’m feature debut, “Sequin in a Blue he connects with a young Black guy adjusted, is nothing like the enigmatic goodness me. I heard some absolute more of a rule abider. I don’t like R o om .” (Samuel Barrie) on a level he hasn’t Sequin. The actor earned a theater doozies. to rock the boat. On the surface

24 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com doctor, Adrien (Michel Blanc), who develops a major crush on Manu, and a married bisexual police inspector, Mehdi (Sami Bouajila of “The Adventures of Felix”), whom Manu secretly begins an affair with (which Adrien doesn’t like one bit). When the mysterious new illness AIDS enters the picture, things truly get complicated, fraught, and even deadly. A masterpiece. Where to Watch: Amazon Prime’s Strand Releasing channel Bad Romance IN THE HOUSE (2012) Healthy LTRs are great IRL. But in movies? Meh. As “Sequin” goes to show, some of the most irresistible, One of the most entertaining, accessible works by gripping and memorable LGBTQ+ flicks involve French enfant terrible François Ozon sees a married seriously fucked-up complications, manipulation high school teacher, Germain (Fabrice Luchini), and dysfunctional connections — from teens to become obsessed with a student, Claude (Ernst 20-somethings to retirees. Here are five musts for Umhauer), whose series of essays — which may or your streaming watchlist: may not be true — involve stalking and seducing a fellow student (Bastien Ughetto) and his mother. THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999) Where to Watch: iTunes, Amazon When tasked with persuading a wealthy American STRANGER BY THE LAKE (2013) family’s jazz-loving douchebag son, Dickie (Jude Law), to return home from Italy, queer con man — and At a remote French lake where gay men congregate burgeoning serial killer — Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) and cruise, a 30-something (Pierre Deladonchamps) falls in love with him. Things don’t go well for the pair becomes fixated on a mustached hunk (Christophe in this beautifully shot movie of Patricia Highsmith’s Paou) he sees commit murder in this sexually explicit, novel, which spawned four additional books and even Hitchcock-ian, slow-burn thriller. more cinematic adaptations. Where to Watch: Shudder Where to Watch: Cinemax (or via Amazon Prime Cinemax Channel) TWILIGHT’S KISS (2019) THE WITNESSES (2007) A closeted 70-year-old Hong Kong taxi driver (Tai-Bo) who cruises restrooms when not with his wife and A stunningly cute teenager from the French family starts an affair with a fellow elderly father (Ben countryside, Manu (Johan Libereau) falls in with Yuen) in director Ray Yeung’s bittersweet romantic and causes rifts between a group of Parisian friends drama. during the early 1980s. Among them: a 50-something Where to Watch: iTunes, Vudu

Would you be amused to learn that someone I regarded it in quite that abstract associative had a profile with your photo and Sequin’s name way. They had it made for the film, though. on Grindr now? It was still being finished on day one of the (Laughs.) Power to them. You do you. shoot! It took ages! You’re wearing a nice ochre-toned sweater today, Has the film caused any controversy in Australia Conor, but I’ve got to ask: Where’s the sequin because the character is 16 and already has a shirt, and do you ever pull it out on occasion? prolific sex life? After all, the country has seen waves of moral panic about teenage sexuality I did not keep it. Sam kept it and lost it — over the years, notably some specifically over for a little while, it went missing — but it was so smelly and rancid. I cannot stress enough: the work of acclaimed photographer Bill Henson. It was rank, because it couldn’t be washed! It I don’t think it’s caused controversy. I know was meticulously sequined and lined; it was there are people in Australia who wouldn’t like so stinky. But Sam keeps it hidden away so it. But we’ve been thrilled with the response people don’t convulse, I guess! it’s had in Australia. The conversations it’s started are amazing. Festival screenings are Sequin gave off a mermaid vibe, almost, by incredible. When I read the script, I thought, wearing that shirt. And there’s even a bit where “I haven’t read something this bold and B discovers one of its “scales” left behind on the ambitious, let alone in Australia.” There’s still bed. What was the intent? deep, deep conservatism here, so I’m very It’s kind of an abstract choice that asks the proud of how the film addressed something audience to have their own associations that needs to be addressed. and resonances. I very much developed my own backstory of how he might have come “Sequin in a Blue Room” is available to stream across this shirt or made it, but I don’t think on Amazon Prime. www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 25  Affirmations filled with a pool, air hockey and more. Continued from page 15 Further down the hall, through a vast, empty space is the STI/HIV testing facility. As we gain control over a mental health disorder. walked through, Joanette revealed the center’s So, while I was touring the center with John plans to use the empty space to expand their Joanette, director of development, many times behavioral health offerings. I thought, “Joz would’ve felt comforted here.” “We’re talking about renovating this space My thoughts went back and forth between into a medical suite for primary care, so you’ll my sister and the present moment, wherein be able to come and get all your mental and I grasped Affirmations’ rich history and new physical needs taken care of all under one programs. Dedicated to their mission to roof,” he explains. “[It will be] a safe space with “provide a welcoming space where people of all compassionate and accurate medical care for sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and cultures can find support and unconditional acceptance, and where they can learn, grow, socialize and feel safe,” Affirmations continues to grow to fit its community’s needs. So, when the center was forced to shutdown due to COVID-19, it was an uncertain time for many. “When we shut down, I didn’t know what to expect,” reflects Dave Photo: Andrew Potter Garcia, executive director. “I thought, ‘I’m going to have to lay off some our community.” staff.’ Nobody knew. I mean, how do you run My final walk-through concludes on the a community center without the doors open?” second floor, where the majority of Affirmations’ As expected, the center and staff adapted. meeting rooms and office spaces live. There, “We shifted everything online,” Garcia they host Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics continues. “Now we’ll never go back to normal Anonymous and Sex Anonymous meetings because we’re reaching too many young people for the community — important resources for in rural areas, trans people from all over the many of their recovering patrons. country. Lots of our groups are going to be a “I come here every week, twice a week — hybrid — either face-to-face or online.” once to volunteer, once to lead a recovery group Now that the world is opening back up, called Smart Recovery at 10 a.m.,” says Todd the center’s vast space is open to all. In fact, Smit, a volunteer. “Smart Recovery is helping every floor of the center is utilized to help the people to recover from any type of behavior. community in some way. There are all sorts of folks in the meeting, and it’s Housed on the main level is a cafe and cyber a cognitive behavioral approach, an alternative cafe, which is completely free and open to those to traditional approaches.” who don’t otherwise have access to a computer Along with the theater opportunities, or printer. behavioral health resources and new in- “We may be the LGBTQ+ community center, person and online programs, Affirmations but we’re really just a community center for all,” has also added a Sunday church service led by Joanette explains. “Lots of our allies are always Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit coming here for programs, and they can come (MCC-D). in here to use our cyber center.” Affirmations community center is a true Next to the cafe is the gallery and tucked beacon of hope. down the hall toward the back door exit is “Having this open means so much to the where The Ringwald Theatre is transforming an community,” says Jennifer Johnson, a board underutilized conference room into a theater. member. “We just need to have this space for “We’re thrilled about our partnership with all of our intersections to come together.” Affirmations,” says Brandy Joe Plambeck, media While wrapping up my time at the center, director and co-founder. it’s Johnson’s final few comments about her Like many community theaters, when deceased brother who was also transgender COVID hit, the Ringwald was forced to close. and Black that brings me back to my sister. Their partnership with Affirmations came just As we finish our conversation about the in time, says Plambeck. center’s programs, she says she wishes her “This is going to be our new home, so we’re brother had known about Affirmations because outfitting it slowly but surely,” he continues. “We “they would’ve known that there’s a space for put some lights up and transformed the space.” them.” As I continue on my tour, I move on to the Again, I think of my sister. And I couldn’t center’s basement, which provides many family agree more. and personal resources, including a rec room

26 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com 34 Words between “Oscar” and 8 Results of nongay sex “Renta” 9 Waterway for heteros? 36 Sounds like the Lion King 10 Bit of precipitation 37 Character played by 11 Soprano Gluck 20-Across 12 Fruit homophone of a couple 39 Some poplars 13 Tickle pink 40 “___ Little Kindness” 21 Take out, perhaps 41 Thailand, formerly 22 Singer Holly and family 43 In an excited state, perhaps 25 You have them in the hole 44 Eyed impolitely 26 Turn inside out 47 Stop the flow of 27 Patty Hearst’s SLA name 50 Souls, to Foucault 28 Some lodge members 52 Michelangelo, for one 30 She plays Annie, mother of 55 Place where you can get a 37-Across boner? 31 Composer Thomas 58 He sang Cole Porter’s “Night 32 Oral attention getter and Day” 35 Label on a lemon that’s not a fruit 59 NBC comedy-drama about 38 Went raiding 3 moms 39 Valuable strings 61 Used stopwatches 42 Up for debate 62 Material for a drag queen 45 Web info source 63 Debussy’s deity 46 Abuse orally Q Puzzle 64 Tape over a video 48 City on the Loire 65 Barely made, with “out” 49 Danes of “My So-Called Life” Trans-cendent Values 66 Make less difficult to bear 51 Lebanon neighbor 18 Singer Vikki 67 Lord of La Mancha 53 Joe Cocker’s “You ___ Beautiful” 19 Bowie married her Across Down 54 George of “Robot Monsters” 20 Trans actor who plays a trans 1 Take a toll on 55 Stare at 1 “ ___ Song Trilogy” teen on 59-Across 2 R.E.M.’s “The ___ Love” 56 Long bath 6 Hunter and namesakes 23 No. in a little black book 3 Stonewall Jackson’s troops 57 Those who like it hot 10 Emulates Eminem 24 Drew back 4 Dream up 60 “ ___ Miz” 14 Words after “The end of” 25 Thaw with Nureyev’s land 5 Estate for Frida 15 Do a nocturnal activity 29 Guide for Commander D’Acy 6 Stage crew worker, briefly 16 Toward shelter 33 Madonna’s Peron role 17 Three-masted vessel 7 Stock up on See p. 14 for answers

www.PrideSource.com BTL | August 5, 2021 27 28 BTL | August 5, 2021 www.PrideSource.com