local name global coverage January 13, 2016 vol. 7 // issue 2 south florida gay news I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring. a star is lost throughout his career Gender Bender David Bowie Opened the minds of americans - Pages 14, 15 SOUTHFLORIDAGAYNEWS SOFLAGAYNEWS SFGN.COM SouthFloridaGayNews.com Comments from SFGN’s online outlets JANUARY 13, 2016 • VOLUME 7 • ISSUE 2 THE OPENING LINE Compiled by John McDonald 2520 N. DIXIE HIGHWAY • WILTON MANORS, FL 33305 PHONE: 954-530-4970 FAX: 954-530-7943 Photos: Facebook. P UBLISHER • NORM KENT [email protected] WAL-MART PROPOSES ADDING PORN ACTOR JASPER ROBINSON CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER • PIER ANGELO GUIDUGLI ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER / EXECUTIVE EDITOR • RIVERSIDE RECREATION COMMITS SUICIDE JASON PARSLEY EASEMENT FOR OAKLAND [email protected] PARK PROJECT Drake Markos – Editorial ART DIRECTOR • BRENDON LIES It’s inappropriate for common decency for you to take a dig at his life [email protected] Kristofer Storm – choices after he has passed away. It’s inappropriate for you to claim to DESIGNER • CHARLES PRATT know that porn was the reason he chose to end his life. It’s inappropriate INTERNET DIRECTOR • DENNIS JOZEFOWICZ Wish they would hurry up and [email protected] get it built so those of us who for you to believe that “another job” is superior to the one he had. Do you know if he was still doing porn? Or maybe he did it to get off the EDITORIAL ASSISTANT • JILLIAN MELERO can’t aff ord the more expensive [email protected] stores won’t have to travel all streets? Maybe he did it to put himself through school so he could get ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR • JW ARNOLD day on public transit to get the items we “another job.” Maybe he spent years being bullied and denied rights for [email protected] need to live. being gay? Maybe he was depressed and always had been and it fi nally NEWS EDITOR • JOHN MCDONALD took its toll? No sir, what is inappropriate for Facebook is you playing [email protected] morality police and shaming a dead man for choosing to engage in sex FOOD/TRAVEL EDITOR • RICK KARLIN work for whatever reason. You are no better. GAZETTE NEWS EDITOR • MICHAEL D'OLIVEIRA Steven Alan – SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER • J.R. DAVIS Recreation.... Oh I sure can’t [email protected] wait to hang out behind. Daniel Nistal – James Morotti – Senior Features Correspondents Walmart. When the LGBT organizations are Has to be another job JESSE MONTEAGUDO • TONY ADAMS going to start addressing this issue of he could have done... Correspondents young, drugs and prostitution combo? Sad DORI ZINN • ANDREA RICHARD • DONALD CAVANAUGH CHRISTIANA LILLY • DENISE ROYAL • SEAN MCSHEE Frank Zurek – ALEX ADAMS • GARY KRAMER • DAVID-ELIJAH NAHMOD Walmart should move to the old Contributing Columnists Pearl site so traffi c will stay out BRIAN MCNAUGHT • DANA RUDOLPH • WAYNE BESEN RIC REILY • STEVE SILER • BIL BROWNING of Wilton Manors. FIJI PRIME MINISTER TELLS GAY COUPLES TO TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER Associate Photographers MOVE TO ICELAND IF THEY WANT TO GET MARRIED POMPANO BILL • STEVEN SHIRES Sales & Marketing – DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING • MIKE TROTTIER Jason Dottley [email protected] I’ve been to Fiji. It’s boring as fuck and not the beauty it’s portrayed to be. Go to Mallorca SALES MANAGER • JUSTIN WYSE or Ibiza or the Canary Islands. Screw Fiji. [email protected] ADVERTISING SALES ASSOCIATE • EDWIN NEIMANN [email protected] ADVERTISING SALES ASSOCIATE • CINDY CURTIS [email protected] ADVERTISING SALES ASSOCIATE • JIM ALBRIGHT [email protected] Phillip Brownell – SALES ASSISTANT • DEVON WOODS The prime minister should move [email protected] to Iceland and stay the hell out of DISTRIBUTION SERVICES • BRIAN SWINFORD other ppl’s personal business! NATIONAL ADVERTISING RIVENDELL MEDIA 212-242-6863 [email protected] ACCOUNTING SERVICES BY CG BOOKKEEPING Frank Cotugno – PRINTING BY SUN COAST PRESS MEMBER There goes tourism. Gay people travel a lot. With all of the Fiji’s natural resources they do Cover: not need tourism money. David Bowie, legendary star, passed away this week at age 69. MEMBER South Florida Gay News is published weekly. The opinions expressed in columns, stories, and letters to the editor do not represent the opinions of SFGN, or the Publisher. You should not presume the sexual orientation of individuals based on their names or pictorial representations. SFGN WINNER of Furthermore the word “gay” in SFGN should be interpreted to be inclusive of the entire LGBT community. All of the material/columns that appears in print and online, including articles used in conjunction with the & FLORIDA PRESS CLUB Awards AP, is protected under federal copyright and intellectual property laws, MEMBER 3 and is jealously guarded by the newspaper. Nothing published may And runner-up for be reprinted in whole or part without getting written consent from the Publisher, at his law offi ce, at [email protected]. SFGN, as a private corporation, reserves the right to enforce its own standards regarding the NLGJA Journalist of the Year suitability of advertising copy, illustrations and photographs. Associated Press Copyright © 2015 South Florida Gay News.com, Inc. 2 • 01.13.2016 MEMBER LOWEST PRICES • LARGEST news highlight SELECTION GUARANTEED • YOUR ONE STOP SHOP FOR PEACE PIPE ALL YOUR VAPOR NEEDS! CHINESE FIRM BUYS GRINDR Over 1,000 SQ FT. LARGEST John McDonald GLASSROOM! SELECTION HOOKAHS • SHISHA • ROLLING PAPERS DIESEL • LEFT COAST • MEDICALI • • VAPORIZERS • ELECTRIC CIGARETTES ROOR • GRAV LABS • SILIKA • PULSE • • ELIQUIDS • ZIPPOS • TOBACCO he Chinese are hooked on Grindr. TSUNAMI & MORE! The notorious gay hook-up app, which ACCESSORIES Thas suffered a brutal string of bad press while INCENSE + CANDLES + TAPESTRIES • ASHTRAYS • TORCH LIGHTERS • racking up copious amounts of user information, FLASKS • BODY JEWELRY • GAMES • ROLLING TOBACCO • POSTERS • is soon to become majority owned by a Chinese STATUES • FIGURINES • T-SHIRTS • LOTS MORE! investment firm. Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. is buying a 60 percent stock market instead of overseas ones.” OPEN MON - SAT: 10AM - 9PM • SUN: 12 - 6 PM stake in Los Angeles-based Grindr, the companies Lu Xun, of San Francisco based Community announced Tuesday. Marketing & Insights, Inc. estimates there are EVERYTHING YOU NEED! MORE THAN YOU EXPECT! Grindr, which caters to gay and bisexual men, 70 million LGBT people in China. The Chinese The Best Since 1996 says it has built up its base of more than two million government decriminalized homosexuality in 15 Minutes From The Beach or I-95 Two daily users in 196 countries without taking money 1997 and removed it from a list of mental illnesses 954-267-9005 Locations! 754-779-7007 from outside investors. But now it’s turning to in 2001 yet propaganda and culture officials often 4800 N. DIXIE HIGHWAY, FORT LAUDERDALE 821 N. FEDERAL HWY., FORT LAUDERDALE China to step up its expansion. take a conservative line, removing gay-themed TV JUST SOUTH OF COMMERCIAL BLVD JUST SOUTH OF SEARS TOWN NEXT TO CUBBY HOLE “We have taken this investment in our company shows from the Internet and allowing homophobic FACEBOOK.COM/PEACEPIPEFL @PEACEPIPEFORTLAUDERDALE to accelerate our growth,” Grindr’s founder and sex education textbooks. chief executive, Joel Simkhai, said in a blog post. In a presentation at the Fort Lauderdale Beach Beijing Kunlun, one of China’s largest game Westin Resort last month, Lu revealed results from developers, said it was paying $93 million for the a survey showing LGBT mobile apps are the most majority stake in Grindr, which launched in 2009. effective means of communication for the LGBT In a statement, the Chinese company said the population in China. investment would improve its strategic position. The government hasn’t objected to gay dating But it remained vague about its plans for Grindr in apps as long as they stick to its Internet rules that China, the world’s most populous country. restrict the dissemination of pornography and “We will grow in the U.S. first, but we also can politically sensitive information. see our future as a global platform including Investors appeared to welcome Beijing Kunlun’s China,” said Sophie Chen, a spokeswoman for move for Grindr, driving the Chinese company’s Beijing Kunlun. stock in Shenzhen up 10 percent on Tuesday to its The app is accessible in China, but its availability maximum daily limit. has been intermittent in the past, with users Founded in 2008, Beijing Kunlun is barely older complaining of access problems in some cities. than Grindr. It went public last year and employs The main player in the Chinese market for gay more than 1,000 people, according to its website. dating apps is the homegrown Blued, which was In the U.S., Grindr is often associated with stories started in 2013 by Geng Le, a former police officer. such as closeted anti-gay politicians; robberies or Geng, who says his app draws around 3 million sexually transmitted diseases. The app has long daily users, welcomed Beijing Kunlun’s investment been a punchline for comedians, such as Conan in Grindr. O’Brien who created his own profile to explore the “It shows the Chinese capital market’s gay scene during a bit on his late night talk show. acceptance of LGBT social networks and their huge potential,” he said. “And it may make us rethink our Additional reporting provided by CNN’s Jethro strategy by considering going public in the Chinese Mullen and Steven Jiang. 01.13.2016 • 3 news local Submitted photo. BALLZ IS NOT A STRIP CLUB The new sports bar features football John McDonald new bar on Wilton Drive is battling it, making it fresh and modern for people who SCANDALS OWNER FIGHTS misconceptions as to its theme.