local name CHECK OUT THE NEW global coverage WMG BEGINS ON PAGE 49 May 17, 2017 vol. 8 // issue 20 south florida gay news An IconFATHER BILL PASSES Lost Pages 24, 26 SFGN’S LGBT HOME DESIGN TONY PLAKAS CELEBRATES 20 YEARS SPECIAL EDITION AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMPASS PAGES 32 - 48 PAGES 12 - 14 SOUTHFLORIDAGAYNEWS SOFLAGAYNEWS SFGN.COM Memorial Day Weekend Warehouse Sale Up to 75% off retail Friday May 26 - Monday 29 Hours: Friday & Saturday 9-6 Sunday - Monday 12-6 Sleeper Sofas from $399 Sleeper Love Seats from $299 Sleeper Chairs from $199 ing e Draw Fre ays iveaw Florida Stage Hands G ore! Showroom: 1438 NE 26th Street, Wilton Manors, FL 33305 and m 2 • 5.17.2017 5.17.2017 • 3 NEWS highlight SouthFloridaGayNews.com x May 17 2017 • Volume 8 • Issue 20 2520 N. Dixie Highway • Wilton Manors, FL 33305 Phone: 954-530-4970 Fax: 954-530-7943 Publisher • Norm Kent [email protected] Chief Executive Offi cer • Pier Angelo Guidugli Associate Publisher / Executive Editor • Jason Parsley [email protected] Editorial Art Director • Brendon Lies [email protected] Designer • Charles Pratt Associate Editor • Jillian Melero [email protected] Digital Content Director • Brittany Ferrendi [email protected] Arts/Entertainment Editor • JW Arnold [email protected] MEGACON HONORS PULSE VICTIMS WITH Social Media Manager • Tucker Berardi [email protected] Food/Travel Editor • Rick Karlin Brittany Ferrendi ‘lOVE IS LOVE’ aRt auctiOn Gazette News Editor • Michael d'Oliveira HIV Editor • Sean McShee Senior Photographer • J.R. Davis he Southeast’s largest comic, gaming history at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Katsafanas described the cocktail reception [email protected] and anime convention is stepping up to Much of the artwork on auction are the meet and greet as a “really unique setting” with Senior Features Correspondents honor Pulse nightclub shooting victims original 11x17 drawings and illustrations of the very limited tickets. The “relaxed, friendly” Jesse Monteagudo • Tony Adams T Correspondents with a special art auction. pages that appear in the Pulse comic anthology. atmosphere will let patrons speak directly to Dori Zinn • Andrea Richard • Donald MegaCon Orlando is teaming up with Marc The art mediums range from paint, prisma, artists and enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks. Cavanaugh • Christiana Lilly • Denise Royal • Andreyko’s “Love is Love” project to form pencil and more. Tickets are extremely limited at $150 a piece Sean McShee • Alex Adams • Gary Kramer • programming May 25 and 27 at the Orange There will also be artwork on auction and include an exclusive lithograph by Writer David-Elijah Nahmod County Convention Center. There will be a from top artists who wished to contribute and Illustrator George Perez — known for his Contributing Columnists cocktail reception and an art auction to benefi t to the comic book, but could not due to time work on “Teen Titans” and “The Avengers” — Brian McNaught • Dana Rudolph • Wayne Besen Ric Reily • Steve Siler • Bil Browning Equality Florida, the state’s largest LGBT civil constraints and other factors. as well as a lithograph by DC Comics Illustrator • Terri Schlichenmeyer rights organization. Illustrator Mike Perkins donated the original Cat Staggs. Attendees will also receive a copy Associate Photographers “The ‘Love is Love’ event began when the page of the X-Men comics in which gay of the “Love is Love” comic anthology signed Pompano Bill • Steven Shires creator behind the book, Marc Andreyko, superhero Northstar proposes to his boyfriend. by Perez. approached me and said he would very much There will also be a full-page pinup of Wonder “(The auctioned items are) really exciting to Sales & Marketing like to auction off art from the book,” said Woman by Cartoonist Terry Moore up for have and the art is very dynamic” Director of Sales & Marketing • Mike Trottier [email protected] event organizer Constance Katsafanas, who auction. The live public art auction begins on May Sales Manager • Justin Wyse is a neurologist. “MegaCon being at Orlando “This is a beautiful response to a terrible 27, with all proceeds benefi ting Equality [email protected] would make it the perfect venue to bring this tragedy,” Katsafanas said. Florida. Attendees do not need to purchase Senior Sales Associate • Kevin Hopper art live.” The event is May 26, beginning with a a ticket for MegaCon to participate. [email protected] The convention will feature a gallery with art cocktail reception and a book signing. Over 26 Advertising Sales Associate • Edwin Neimann [email protected] donated from top comic artists behind “Love is comic creators will be in attendance to meet For more information and to purchase Advertising Sales Associate • Brett Coppol Love,” a comic anthology that brought together with fans, including Tom King, Gail Simone, tickets, visit MegaConOrlando.com/ [email protected] over 300 comic book creators to benefi t victims Jason Aaron, Dan Didio and the Love is Love love-is-love-fundraising-events/. Sales Assistant / Classifi eds • Tim Higgins of the worst mass-shooting in modern U.S. creator himself, Marc Andreyko. [email protected] MEMBER Distribution Services • Rocky Bowell • IF YOU GO: Brian Swinford National Advertising MEGACON ORLANDO COCKTAIL RECEPTION & PREVIEW LIVE AUCTION Rivendell Media 212-242-6863 May 25 - May 28 May 26 May 27 [email protected] Orange County Convention Center 7:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. 7:30 p.m. MEMBER Accounting Services by CG Bookkeeping 9400 Universal Blvd, Orlando, FL Orange County Convention Center Orange County Convention Center Printing by Sun Coast Press 32819 Destination Lounge Destination Lounge 9400 Universal Blvd, Orlando, FL 9400 Universal Blvd, Orlando, FL 32819 32819 SFGN WINNER of & 3 FLORIDA PRESS CLUB Awards And runner-up for MEMBER NLGJA Journalist of the Year OUR OTHER PUBLICATIONS South Florida Gay News is published weekly. The opinions expressed in columns, stories, and letters to the editor do not represent the Get yours, on racks now! opinions of SFGN, or the Publisher. You should not presume the sexual orientation of individuals based on their names or pictorial Your Complete Guide to What’s Hot in representations. Furthermore the word “gay” in SFGN should be Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale & Beyond... Associated Press interpreted to be inclusive of the entire LGBT community. All of the PUBLICATION AN SFGN material/columns that appears in print and online, including articles used in conjunction with the AP, is protected under federal copyright GUIDETO THE and intellectual property laws, and is jealously guarded by the 2016-2017 newspaper. Nothing published may be reprinted in whole or part without getting written consent from the Publisher, at his law offi ce, DRIVE MEMBER at [email protected]. SFGN, as a private corporation, reserves the right to enforce its own standards regarding the suitability of Covers: advertising copy, illustrations and photographs. SouthFloridaGayNews.com GUIDE TO THE DRIVE 1 SFGN’s LGBT Home Design Edition / / Father Bill, founder of Poverello, has passed. Submitted photo. Copyright © 2017 South Florida Gay News.com, Inc. 4 • 5.17.2017 NEWS national POLLS SHOW NATIONAL APPROVAL FOR SAME- SEX MARRIAGE AT NEW HIGHS But much ground is still left to gain Jillian Melero rotestants came in at their Support for Gay Marriage, by Political Party — 1996-2017 highest, 55 percent, and PRepublicans at theirs, 47, in support of same-sex marriage during Gallup’s annual Values and Benefi ts poll conducted May 3 – 7. The specifi c question, as worded by the Gallup poll pertains as to whether same-sex marriage “should be recognized by the law as valid,” compared to similar polls that ask whether a person is in favor of same- sex marriage, leaving the question up for moral interpretation, versus legal. Support for Gay Marriage, by Religious Group — 2004-2017 Overall 64 percent of those polled said they believed that marriage between same-sex couples should be recognized by law, a steady increase from last year’s 61 percent. The data was collected from a sample size of 1,011 people living across 50 states within the U.S. and was collected via landline or cell phone survey. 5.17.2017 • 5 Four texas Men Face Federal Hate Crime Charges for luring Gay Victims with Grindr (EDGE) A federal grand jury indicted four Texas men while the men ransacked their homes. In one instance, a car Wednesday with federal hate crime and conspiracy charges was stolen. for using the gay hook-up app Grindr to target victims for The men were charged with 18 federal counts that home robbery. include kidnapping, carjacking, conspiracy and possession According to the 18-count indictment, Anthony Shelton, of a fi rearm. 19; Nigel Garrett, 21; Chancler Encalade, 20; and Cameron Dallas News reports that the hate crimes carry a maximum Ajiduah, 18, committed four home invasions from January 17 penalty of life in prison. The case is being investigated by the to February 7, 2017 in the Dallas suburbs of Plano, Frisco and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as Aubrey. well as police departments in Plano and Frisco. In each case, the victims were targeted by the defendants Local news station CBS DFW spoke with North Texas Gay who falsely posed as a gay man on Grindr looking to meet up and Lesbian Alliance President Jeanne Rubin who was glad at the victims’ homes. to see a grand jury recognize the seriousness of the crimes. However in each case, according to KTXS News, when “You can be scared as a homeowner if your neighbor is the victim answered the door, instead of one hook-up, four robbed, but it’s diff erent if you feel like you’re being targeted armed men showed up.