A group of about 50 people, led by the pro-LGBT group People of Faith for Equality in Virginia (POFEV), gathered behind the Loudoun County Circuit Courthouse in Leesburg, Va., at noon Thursday, March 20, to demonstrate their support for marriage equality and call for changes to Virginia laws that prohibit any recognition of same-sex relationships.

While Virginia has a statutory ban on same-sex marriages, at issue in recent weeks has been its 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment, known as the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which prohibits legal same-sex marriages from being performed, denies recognition of out-of-state legal same-sex marriages, and prohibits the creation of any ''legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage.'' On Feb. 13, U.S. District Court Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen ruled in the case of Bostic v. Rainey that the amendment was unconstitutional, but granted a stay pending an appeal of her ruling, expected to be heard in May by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

POFEV, which has emerged as one of the chief pro-LGBT groups advocating on behalf of LGBT rights in the commonwealth, previously held 10 similar ''Witness for Love'' demonstrations throughout the state on Valentine's Day, and had planned to do so in Leesburg, but was forced to cancel that rally – as well as 12 others - due to inclement weather.

POFEV released a statement advising that its Loudoun County group had changed the date of the rally to March 20, the first day of spring, because ''they see a massive melting, a spring thaw, of prejudice in Virginia and rapidly growing support for marriage equality.'' Thursday's event brought together local activists, LGBT-supportive clergy, and members of affirming Christian, Jewish and Unitarian congregations.

''This may not be Valentine's Day, but it is a very special day, because you cared enough to show up and raise your witness in the public square,'' the Rev. Dr. Robin Gorsline, president and CEO of POFEV, told the crowd gathered at the courthouse. ''There are so many more, a million and more and counting, standing with you, all over Virginia. You are helping us bring true and deep change to Virginia, a transformation from bottom to top.''

The event featured speeches by a rabbi, a Christian minister and a Unitarian minister reflecting on their respective religious traditions and their role in the movement for equality. All three religious leaders, whose denominations allow same-sex marriages, pointed out that Virginia's current law actually infringes on their religious liberty by preventing them from signing marriage licenses for same-sex couples they wish to marry.

The Rev. Phyllis Hubbell, of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Loudoun, spoke about the changes in Virginians' attitudes toward LGBT rights and particularly on same-sex marriage over the past 20 years, from the time she first blessed a same-sex union. Hubbell urged the crowd to ''stand on the side of love.''

Also attending and speaking at the rally was state Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D-Loudoun, Fairfax counties), a pro-LGBT ally whose election to the General Assembly in January tipped the balance of power in the Virginia Senate toward Democrats.

In an interview with Metro Weekly following the rally, Gorsline linked the religious leaders' advocacy on behalf of LGBT rights, Wexton's presence at the rally, and POFEV's long-term goal of starting conversations with people of faith all across Virginia to show it's possible to be religious and support LGBT equality. Gorsline added that POFEV will continue various public appearances and events geared at building momentum for next year's General Assembly session, when POFEV hopes legislators will vote on the first of two separate votes required to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which Gorsline called ''a stain on our state.''

''The Supreme Court cannot remove the amendment,'' Gorsline said. ''The General Assembly has to vote to put it on the ballot, and only then can the people vote to repeal the amendment.''

POFEV is currently focused on carrying out the remaining ''Witness for Love'' rallies that were canceled on Valentine's Day. The group held one March 5 in Charlottesville, and plans to hold the rescheduled Arlington rally April 25.

A D.C. Superior Court judge last week disposed a case against one of two women accused in the June beating a local drag performer in a take-out restaurant following the accused woman's completion court-ordered community service.

Rachel Manna Sahle, of Gaithersburg, Md., was charged with one count of simple assault stemming from an attack against drag performer Heidi Glüm, aka Miles DeNiro, in a Manny & Olga's restaurant on 14th and T Streets NW. Video of the attack, which showed Sahle and Raymone Harding, also of Gaithersburg, hitting DeNiro and dragging him by his hair, was posted to the site WorldStarHipHop.com.

After appearing in court in September, Sahle was offered and accepted a deferred-sentencing agreement, referred to as a ''diversion,'' in which she agreed to avoid contact with DeNiro and complete a community-service requirement, in exchange for having the charge dropped.

On March 19, Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna determined that Sahle had complied with the terms of her release and had completed her community service. According to court records, Sahle volunteered 37 hours at a New York Avenue shelter during the months of September, October and December.

Harding, who was tried separately from Sahle, is due in court April 1 for a diversion hearing. However, unlike Sahle, Harding was given a particular community service assignment. According to court records, she has not completed any community service. The last notation on her record was added in October when a judicial summons was returned as ''undeliverable,'' with no forwarding address.

If Harding does not show up for her April 1 hearing, McKenna could order a bench warrant for her arrest, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia could decide whether it wants to move forward on a charge of simple assault. The U.S. Attorney's Office previously advised McKenna, prior to Sahle's acceptance of the deferred-sentencing agreement, that it was weighing whether to pursue bias enhancements, colloquially known as hate-crime charges, against both women.

DeNiro previously told Metro Weekly that the women were being encouraged to beat him up by several men who were accompanying them. He said that the women continued to loiter outside the restaurant even after the camera was turned off and restaurant employees had separated DeNiro and the women. He also said both women used epithets such as ''faggot'' and ''tranny'' when he exited the restaurant.

The Latino GLBT History Project (LHP) will offer its third annual ''Mujeres en el Movimiento'' awards ceremony and networking happy hour Friday, March 28, honoring Latina lesbians in the D.C. area who have made contributions to both the local Latino community and the LGBT community. The event also celebrates National Women's History Month.

This year's event will feature Monica Palacio, the newly appointed director of the D.C. Office of Human Rights, as the guest speaker; and DJ Rat of Maracuyeah and La SalvadoReina as musical performers. It will also feature a digital photo exhibit of the theme – ''Women in the Movement'' in English – with images of lesbian, bisexual and transgender Latina activists.

Lisbeth Melendez-Rivera, a longtime LGBT activist and the national project coordinator for ''A La Familia,'' a program that is part of the Human Rights Campaign's Religion and Faith program, will be honored with the Legacy Award. Officer Rosa Roldan Torres, of the Metropolitan Police Department's Latino Liaison Unit, will be honored with the Emerging Leader Award.

''Mujeres en el Movimiento is a place for lesbian Latinas to come together to build a strong and supportive community with other like-minded women,'' Esther Hidalgo, vice president of LHP, said in a statement. ''It's a great opportunity for networking and sharing inspiring stories and achievements. Come out and enjoy drinks, great Latino music, and a historical digital photo exhibition.''

About 100 people are expected to attend the event, which is free of charge, though a $5 donation is suggested to help LHP fund future events and programs.

The Mujeres en el Movimiento event will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, March 28, at Mova Lounge, 2204 14th St. NW. The event is also sponsored by the Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs; Brother, Help Thyself; and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. For more information, visit latinoglbthistory.org.

For some youths, summer camp provides all the traditional offerings of canoeing, cabins and popsicle-stick crafts. For the select 20 who will spend a June week in Washington as participants in the Next Generation Leadership Foundation's Leadership Camp, however, crafting will have nothing to do with yarn projects, but everything to do with these LGBT teens crafting their futures.

''It's going to be a high-impact series of days,'' promises Sean Bugg, NGLF's president and executive director, as well as Metro Weekly's editor emeritus. ''Once you start putting an agenda together, and you want to make sure you're spending time building the network among the participants and talking with them about leadership skills and strategies for themselves as they're getting ready to go to college or start their careers, things fill up really quickly.''

Arriving Sunday, June 15, those selected students will then have four very full days of meeting with D.C.'s LGBT movers and shakers representing a range of fields, before heading home Friday, June 20.

''One of the reasons we're doing it in D.C. is we have access to so many people who are eager to be a part of the program, whether that be as a presenter or to work with small groups of participants who are interested in their particular field,'' says Bugg of his foundation's Leadership Camp launch. ''We have all of those resources here and people are being very generous about offering their time.''

With the application process opened March 18, Bugg says applications for the 20 student slots began arriving immediately from across the country. Beyond the opportunity to learn from professionals with plenty to share, those students selected after the April 18 deadline will also receive transportation to Washington and accommodations at the Washington Hilton. To be eligible, applicants must be graduating from high school in 2014, must identify as LGBT, and be 18 by June 15. Beyond that, an NGLF advisory panel will examine applicants' academic and extracurricular records, as well as potential. Bugg adds, however, that while there are only 20 spots, those applicants not selected will still be starting a relationship with NGLF, which he hopes will provide them with other valuable leadership opportunities.

As for the camp itself, that's one opportunity that is unmatched.

''Just giving any young person the opportunity to see that they can do whatever they want with their lives, and trying to give them some of the tools to make it happen, is important,'' says Bugg. ''Doing it for LGBT youth – while there a lots of wonderful services and programs out there, from [the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network] to Campus Pride, locally at [Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders], things like Trevor Project, Point Foundation giving scholarships – there was nothing like this. There are lots of programs like the Leadership Camp for African-American youth, for Latino youth, regionally identified youth, all kinds of programs, but there had been none for LGBT youth. This is fulfilling a need in the community.''

For more information about the Next Generation Leadership Foundation's Leadership Camp, or to apply, visit nglf.org/leadership.

''I feel like it's one of the greatest achievements of our career,'' says Keegan Theatre's Susan Rhea of the company's current production of Hair. ''I feel more proud than I've ever felt of anything.''

Naturally, as co-director with her husband Mark Rhea, she feels a sense of motherly love and pride over Keegan's incredibly stirring and youthful adaptation of the 46-year-old Broadway sensation. The provocative show, featuring music by Galt MacDermot and book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, was one of the last musicals to generate firsthand pop hits. And they've stood the test of time -- from ''Aquarius'' to ''Let the Sunshine In.''

Cast of ''Hair'' at Andrew Keegan Theatre

(Photo by Julian Vankim)

''I realize that not everyone likes every kind of music,'' continues Rhea, Keegan's associate artistic director, ''but every single person in the leadership of Keegan is absolutely in love with the score of Hair.''

No doubt most – if not absolutely all – of the audience will feel the same with the verve and talent this cast of 22 singing actors gives to the rock- and funk-oriented jams. That's especially true given it all takes place in the intimate space of the company's venue off 17th Street NW, known for decades as the Church Street Theater until Keegan bought it last summer. In fact, the Rheas instructed the show's young actors to think of the Andrew Keegan Theatre as the communal ground for the show's ragtag group of hippies -- the place where they eat, sleep, hang out, have sex and live as a pot-loving anti-war ''tribe,'' a loose-knit kind of family.

Cast of ''Hair'' at Andrew Keegan Theatre

(Photo by Julian Vankim)

And the sense of family that's developed among the cast is why Rhea's pride goes beyond the typical directorial delight in seeing a complicated show come to fruition.

''I just love and respect our cast so much,'' says Ian Anthony Coleman, who plays the hyper-sexualized ''Colored Spade'' Hud. ''Everyone's so talented and so loving. It's been a judgment-free space. It's been very therapeutic and incredible to be around people that you can love and trust so quickly.''

Coleman, 23, is far from alone. Interviewed on Keegan's stage immediately before an early dress rehearsal, several others in the cast heaped praise on the bond that they've formed working on this ensemble-based show, where nearly everyone is on the stage or in the immediate periphery for most of its nearly three-hour length. ''The cast has been absolutely fantastic. It's definitely one of the friendliest, most open groups of people I've ever met,'' says Ryan Patrick Welsh, who plays ''big ole homosexual'' Steve and also serves as dance captain. ''We all kind of went out of our way to hang out a lot outside of the show, outside of rehearsals, so we could all kind of get familiar with each other and know each other so that we could bring those personal relationships on the stage.''

''As cliché as it sounds, we've become this big community and this big family. We're all so comfortable with each other,'' says Paul Scanlan, who plays the lead, Claude, struggling to weigh his opposition to war and love for tribe with duty to his country. Since graduating from Catholic University, Scanlan has been seen on many of the leading stages around D.C., including Signature and Ford's. But he gives Keegan credit for pushing him further. Hair is the second show in a row with the company in which he didn't try out for the lead, starring as the emcee in last year's Cabaret. ''They've put me in these parts that I never see myself doing, that I learn a lot from and I think I benefit from because it gets me out of what I'm used to doing.''

Cast of ''Hair'' at Andrew Keegan Theatre

(Photo by Julian Vankim)

Of course, it also takes time getting used to getting naked onstage.

''I never thought I'd be able to do that,'' says Caroline Wolfson, who plays Sheila, the lead protester in the tribe. ''There's a part of it that's easy because it's not just me by myself. It's the whole group.''

''It took a while to work up to,'' adds Christian Montgomery, who plays Woof and sings ''Sodomy,'' about the short, dimly lit scene that essentially ends the first act. ''But the way that it's done is so beautiful and so inspiring. It's my favorite part of the show.''

Leading up to the rehearsals, the Rheas let the actors decide exactly when they were ready to get naked as a group. The directors have also given them free range to flesh out their characters and their relationships, and hence the story.

''They've all been encouraged to find relationships with each other onstage physically and emotionally,'' Susan says. ''If you want to touch someone or kiss them or physically be near them, it doesn't matter who it is.'' There are no boundaries, only free love.

And the subtle, random touches, looks and gestures between cast members throughout the show, signifying their strong relationships, definitely boosts the story itself, even helping it transcend its Vietnam War-era time period.

''I didn't want to just do a bunch of songs about hippies. Like, who gives a shit, right?'' Susan Rhea says. ''When we first started digging into this many, many, many months ago, my stomach was in knots trying to find the story.''

Cast of ''Hair'' at Andrew Keegan Theatre

(Photo by Julian Vankim)

In that respect, Hair is a departure from the typical show at Keegan Theatre, which has chiefly made its name staging classic dramas, heavy in plot and thought. Then again, when Mark Rhea started Keegan with a couple colleagues in the late 1990s, the focus was much more on presenting Irish plays and playwrights. And musicals were almost out of the question for staging in the basement of the Mount Olive United Methodist Church in Arlington.

But since the Church Street Theater became a home for Keegan in 2009, the company has more than doubled the number of productions it puts on, roughly eight a season. Per the company's mission, roughly two are always Irish. These days the company sometimes even stages two musicals in a season -- but always one big one.

''It's just been a byproduct of realizing how much we can do,'' says Susan Rhea, who met her husband Mark when they were both acting together in a show at another company.

But Keegan, which has launched a $4 million capital campaign to renovate and slightly expand its old brownstone venue, doesn't stage just any musical. ''One of the reasons we love our venue so much,'' she says, ''is that I think it reflects our personality as a company, which is strong and tough and kind of scrappy. A little edgier, and not this pristine, perfect place.'' Generally that translates to staging gritty, lively, rock-oriented types of shows, from Rent to Spring Awakening to Hair.

And it's the passion contained within Hair that especially hooked Susan, who works part-time as a Web manager for the liberal support nonprofit the Alliance for Justice. ''The desire for change and people actually doing something about it even if they weren't wildly effectual, the coming together of human beings saying this isn't right -- that just gives me goosebumps. We haven't seen anything like it [since].''

Cast of ''Hair'' at Andrew Keegan Theatre

(Photo by Julian Vankim)

But if the show itself makes the 43-year-old feel a little wistful for missing out on the flower-power love of the late '60s, Keegan's production, featuring nearly two dozen talented young millennials from around the region, leaves her feeling more hopeful. ''I think young people are starting to find their voice and their own rage and disillusionment.''

''The show is all about kind of rebelling against authority or the conventions of society that tell you you have to be a certain way, or you have to do something just because society says,'' actor Ian Anthony Coleman says.

''There are still themes and messages that were relevant in 1968 that are still relevant today,'' adds actor Christian Montgomery. ''Protest movements, pointless wars, the government doing wrong to the people, and solving problems with love instead of hate, and problems with racism and homosexuality, and everything going on.''

Of course, the rap on millennials, living in a selfie age all about technology, is that they're too self-absorbed and not engaged enough in the outside world to make a difference. ''We see something and we have a very far away reaction to it, where we're like just closed off to it,'' explains actor Caroline Wolfson. ''We'll see something horrible online and we'll share it on Facebook, but that's it. We don't do anything about it.''

But Wolfson thinks Hair could be a motivator to help her generation do more. ''It encourages people to really open up and try to find the compassion in their hearts that I think we lose a lot of. Hopefully it will send a very positive message of, 'Open up your heart. Let the sunshine in.'''

Hair runs to April 27 at Andrew Keegan Theatre (formerly Church Street Theater), 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $37 to $42. Call 703-892-0202 or visit keegantheatre.com.

Cast of ''Hair'' at Andrew Keegan Theatre

(Photo by Julian Vankim)

''After such a brutal winter, D.C. deserves a special weekend,'' says the Cherry Fund's James Decker. Of course, the weekend he has in mind will require just a little more patience.

But Kurt Graves promises Cherry 2014, starting Friday, April 4, will be worth the wait a full two weeks into the new season. After joining the Cherry Fund board last year, this year Graves steps up to replace Decker as the weekend co-chair with Allen Sexton.

''I think this year we have a lot of momentum,'' Graves says. ''We have a lot of people assisting and helping out to make this year very successful.''

Cherry at Town Danceboutique / File photo

(Photo by Ward Morrison)

From better communication among the fund's board, to having a stronger presence on social media, this year's Cherry, with a theme of ''Metamorphosis,'' aims to build on last year's, which raised $7,500 for Metro Teen AIDS, Capital Pride and The DC Center. ''The whole 'Metamorphosis' theme is just based on steady growth and renewal,'' says Decker, who adds: ''Our ticket sales are up dramatically from last year.''

Among the most notable changes this year is a $30 reduction in the cost of a weekend pass, and the fact that Cherry isn't throwing an official Cherry closing party Sunday night. ''Well, you'd think by that time we'll be exhausted, right?'' Decker teases. ''We decided to focus our efforts on the rest of the weekend.''

Instead, organizers worked with the promoters of The House That U Built, a seasonal Sunday night party that draws a mixed gay/straight crowd, to wait and launch its second season on the roof of Dirty Martini, the restaurant/lounge at 1223 Connecticut Ave. NW that was home to Lizard Lounge for years.

Cherry 2014 launches with a cocktail party Friday at 5 p.m. in the bar at Cherry's host Hotel Rouge, the only place Cherry-goers can pick up complimentary Cherry sunglasses as well as drink special Cherry mojitos. The four main dance parties all involve the return of some of Cherry's favorite DJs to several of D.C.'s best clubs. DJ Eddie Elias kicks the dancing off Friday night at Cobalt. DJ Joe Gauthreaux returns to spin for Moody Mustafa's birthday party Saturday afternoon at Town Danceboutique. Later that night DJ Paulo moves the party upstairs, and then DJ Alain Jackinsky takes everybody down under, for the late-Saturday/early-Sunday after-hours party at Tropicalia. Scheduling Paulo and his now-established protégé Jackinsky back-to-back is a notable one-two punch for fans of their particular vocal-driven tribal house sound. It's not a one-or-the-other proposition.

''We have a fantastic DJ lineup,'' Graves says. ''We're trying to get Cherry's name back out there to the younger generation, who may not be aware of what Cherry is. We want to make sure to carry that legacy and make it even bigger for the future. And make sure we continue to maintain our visibility and just to throw great parties.''

Cherry VIP Host Passes, allowing entrance and no line at all main events, are $70 each. More information, including purchase of individual tickets, is available at cherryfund.org.

Although people often call Donizetti's rom-com The Elixir of Love a good opera for the uninitiated, director Stephen Lawless's production requires a caveat: Remember that old-fashioned thing called patience? Bring some.

For although it all eventually begins to fizz and crackle at an entertaining clip, the first few scenes vacillate between forced and tentative, like a fuse that can't quite decide whether to stay lit. Whether it's the dull whiffs of musical theater in the bustling villagers, the slightly confusing introduction of the young women Adina and her maid Giannetta who both look like potential love-interests for the swoony hero Nemorino, or the slow arrival of the visual wit, it's a flattish start. With this kind of entree, it's safe to say that those not used to waiting for their gratifications (i.e. anyone who doesn't need glasses to read their iPhone) may break a sweat.

''The Elixir of Love''

(Photo by Scott Suchman)

But briefed beforehand, not just on patience but also on the challenges and quirks of mounting comic confections written for antiquarian audiences, there is much to surprise and delight a first-timer. And not least because, once things get going, Lawless and his cast work hard and successfully to give this quaint frolic a sense of contemporary humor.

Set in a barn big enough to store hay as well as serve as the village social center, this is not a ''wow'' of a set, but it's certainly gentle on the eye. And, although slightly bland, it does frame the action tightly; which is no bad thing for an opera that is small on plot but big on charm and cheer. Contrasting nicely is lighting designer Joan Sullivan-Genthe's open sky in the big beyond, which, like much in this production, becomes more and more interesting as the day (and our evening) goes on.

Within this little universe, the plot is accessibly simple with the ''rom'' being country bumpkin Nemorino's passion for the socially superior Adina, who serves as a fine example of the flirt who doesn't know what she's got till it's gone. The ''com'' comes in the form of snake-oil salesman progenitor Doctor Dulcamara who convinces Nemorino that a few swigs of the Doctor's love potion will win him the heart of Adina forever. Add the bumptious Sergeant Belcore who is determined to get a ring on Adina's finger first, and in typical comic-opera style things go all wrong until they go all right.

A big plus for newbies here is Ailyn Perez's souped-up Adina who offers just enough modern-girl charisma to overcome – and at times, make the most of – a significant bustle and a ubiquitous hankie. Though Adina teeters on the edge of full-blown brat, Perez saves her with some nicely played nuance: She's young and foolhardy, not nasty. With a soprano that is richly sweet, technically accomplished, and capable of the kind of rafter-splitting notes that will thrill, she delivers some serious start power.

''The Elixir of Love''

(Photo by Scott Suchman)

Convincingly arduous as Nemorino, (Perez's real-life husband) Stephen Costello brings some nicely defined layers to a character easily made stock. A good physical comic, Costello captures plenty of what's amusing about the smitten Nemorino, but he also brings out just enough inner dignity, resolve and all-around quirkiness to make him more of a match for Adina, despite his hayseed ways. An expressive tenor, Costello brings pathos to his young man, even if he can sometimes ring a little hard on the ears. His rendering of the beautifully somber aria ''Una Furtiva Lagrima'' is appealingly intimate, even if the climatic pauses feel a beat too long. Having recently appeared in a much smaller role in this season's Moby Dick, it's gratifying to see him here, flexing his vocal and acting wings in an entirely different direction.

Bookending the plot with buffo roles, Simon Alberghini as Belcore and Nicola Ulivieri as Dulcamara, both deliver on colorful charisma and make the most of the comedic traditions as well as the more contemporary-feeling visual comedy director Lawless slips in. As the clownish womanizer Belcore, Alberghini has the right attitude despite some singing that is a tad uneven. An unusually good-looking Dulcamara, bass Ulivieri offers a nice gravitas to the rueful humor of the role and sings with a rich and dexterous flair that steals a few scenes. Though her role is small and largely mimed, mention must be made of soprano Shantelle Przybylo, whose Giannetta creates a bright presence and delights with an unexpectedly strong and pretty voice.

Thus, it's an all-around strong ensemble and ultimately it all works and will work for a novice despite the slow start. But, if you're mentoring, plan for a briefing on patience over the pre-performance cocktail or, better yet, tie their wrists to the chair for the first 15 minutes. It's worth it.

Washington National Opera's The Elixir of Love () runs to March 29 at Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are $25 to $300. Call 202-295-2400 or visit dc-opera.org.

After nearly a decade, Andrew Barnett is bidding the organization he has worked for goodbye.

The 31-year-old Barnett, who started as an intern and later rose up the ranks to executive director of Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders (SMYAL), announced on March 11 that he would be leaving SMYAL to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at George Washington University. Barnett's goal is to add more research to the study of mental health among LGBT and questioning adolescents.

"Unfortunately, right now, there are very significant gaps in the research on the health needs of LGBTQ youth," he says. "And, while there has been a lot of research done on HIV and STD risk, there has not been a lot of research on other health issues that LGBTQ youth experience. As of 2011, there were no health-prevention interventions that were evidence-based that were specifically designed for LGBTQ youth."

Andrew Barnett

(Photo by Julian Vankim)

As he looks back on his time with SMYAL, Barnett is most proud of two major accomplishments: the launch of the organization's Gay-Straight Alliance Network, which provides support to students who are trying to form gay-straight alliances (GSAs) at their schools; and leading SMYAL through its 2011 strategic planning process, which allowed the organization to reassess its mission and reshape or revitalize its programs to better serve the youth that come to SMYAL for support.

During SMYAL's strategic planning process, Barnett was forced to seek other sources of income to recoup money lost when one of SMYAL's government grants used to fund its HIV/STD outreach, testing and counseling programs was not renewed. SMYAL was eventually able to secure new funding to continue the testing and counseling program through new funding from the D.C. Department of Health. But the experience also prompted Barnett to foster better relationships with individual donors and corporate sponsors.

"One of the reasons why SMYAL has been able to grow and thrive for 30 years now is the tremendous generosity of the LGBTQ and allied community here in D.C.," he shares. "And by increasing our focus on working with individuals, community members who invest in SMYAL's programs and in SMYAL's work, we've been able to narrowly increase the proportion of our budget that comes from individual donors, but also to increase our overall budget."

Funding aside, the single greatest problem facing LGBTQ youth -- as Barnett sees it -- is the coming-out process, particularly with people coming out at younger ages than in years past. Because young people don't necessarily have the support needed to navigate that process, Barnett says parents and other adults in youths' lives must serve as allies, helping them to increase self-esteem and combat risky behaviors such as drug use and unsafe sex.

In his time at SMYAL, Barnett has worked hard to draft more of those allies for LGBTQ youth. Some of that has been outreach into religious communities, with SMYAL holding trainings or other events with affirming churches and faith communities. The organization has also collaborated with other local LGBT-affirming groups such as Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC), as well as with government agencies like D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Mike Schwartz, the chair of SMYAL's board of directors, says Barnett's leaving is a "personal loss" for those who have gotten to know him during his years with SMYAL. Schwartz also credits Barnett with helping SMYAL focus its mission on programming specifically designed to foster youth leadership and encourage them to become greater advocates for causes important to them.

"A lot of us have seen Andrew grow as someone who had never been in a management position," says Schwartz. "The board took a risk -- we had other candidates -- but we had a sense that Andrew could do the job, and we were amazed at how he went beyond our expectations."

While Barnett says his successor will determine SMYAL's priorities in collaboration with the organization's board of directors, he does feel it is important to continue to grow SMYAL's GSA program to be able to create change on the local level in schools by making "safe spaces" for LGBTQ youth. Barnett also sees a greater need to change the culture of D.C.'s service-provider agencies, whose employees may be hostile or uneducated about the importance of LGBTQ cultural competency, such as dealing with homeless transgender youth who try to access D.C. shelters.

But while Barnett sees some aspects of SMYAL's programs or mission evolving over time as LGBTQ youth gain greater societal acceptance, he says he thinks that one role SMYAL will always fulfill in the lives of the D.C. area's youth is providing a space for young people to gather and create dialogue over important issues, not just those that are LGBTQ-related, but that deal with social justice, familial challenges, and the effects of institutionalized racism, sexism or classism that also impact many of the youth who utilize SMYAL.

"I think it's the hope of every nonprofit organization to work itself out of a job," says Barnett. "To get to the point where it can close its doors because it can say the mission has been accomplished. And I do think we will get to the point where there is an acceptance of LGBTQ young people that we would consider radical today. We have a long way to go before we get there."

"People think it's karaoke, but it's not karaoke," Regie Cabico says about the weekly variety show he runs at Black Fox Lounge. "You really do need to know your song, you need to know what you're singing." In fact, La-Ti-Do isn't just cabaret, either. In addition to higher-quality singing than most impromptu karaoke, Cabico and his co-host DonMike Mendoza also select storytellers who offer spoken-word poetry and comedy.

Regie

(Photo by Les Talusan)

The performance-art mix at La-Ti-Do is a reflection of both Cabico's and Mendoza's experiences trying to make it in the world of theater in New York and D.C. "There are no parts for gay Filipino guys," Cabico says frankly. So, with La-Ti-Do the two created their own venue with the consent of Black Fox Lounge co-owner Russwin Francisco, also a gay Filipino. "By default it's almost like an Asian theater company," Cabico says.

A native of the Baltimore area, Cabico earned a theater degree from New York University and lived in the nation's theater capital for nearly two decades forging his own path as a spoken-word artist and teacher. A few years after moving to D.C. he teamed up with Busboys & Poets to start a queer open-mike event that he co-hosts with Danielle Evennou. Held the first Sunday of the month at the 5th and K Streets NW location, Sparkle was developed to be "a safe space for queer poets."

"I would say that within the last five years I've nurtured a lot of spoken-word poets," says Cabico of his work with Busboys & Poets, but also with the annual poetry festivals Split This Rock and Capturing Fire. These days he's also trying to expand opportunities for spoken-word poets in the realm of theater by pushing theater's boundaries, chiefly as the director of New Form Development at No Rules Theatre Company.

"I think slam poetry is an American art form just like jazz," says Cabico. "It's our political theater."

La-Ti-Do is every Monday at Black Fox Lounge, 1723 Connecticut Ave. NW, and costs $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Call 202-483-1723 or visit blackfoxlounge.com. The next Sparkle is Sunday, April 6, at 8 p.m., Busboys & Poets, 1025 5th St. NW. Admission is $5. Call 202-789-2227 or visit busboysandpoets.com.

Carl Sagan, host of the original 1980 Cosmos series, said we are made of star stuff, because our atoms were created billions of years ago inside a star. Sagan's words are echoed by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of New York's Hayden Planetarium who hosts the new Cosmos.

Tyson's enthusiasm for science is infectious. And he holds his ground. When creationists demanded equal time on Cosmos, he said, "You don't talk about the spherical Earth with NASA, and then say let's give equal time to the flat Earthers. Plus, science is not there for you to cherry pick."

The creation/evolution dispute is one of the fake controversies stoked by fundamentalists who are threatened by intellectual freedom and know nothing about the scientific method. Ignoring the fact that the overwhelming consensus of scientists is against them, they press school boards to "teach the controversy." They perversely regard science as weak because it lacks their dogmatic and brittle certainty. Tyson counters, "My view is that if your philosophy is not unsettled daily then you are blind to all the universe has to offer."

Few outside the right-wingers' hothouse are fooled by their propaganda. In his March 21 Michigan marriage ruling, U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman rejected as "not worthy of serious consideration" widely criticized testimony by junk scientist Mark Regnerus suggesting that children raised by gay parents suffer as a result. Our coming nationwide victory on marriage equality will be another milestone in a long struggle against religious coercion and obscurantism.

The frontier spirit is part of America's soul. We were born, after all, in revolution. In the long run, fear of change is no match for the power and possibility of discovery. Americans lately have been witnessing gay families' joy on the steps of courthouses, and they are warming to it.

Years ago, I stood in the Manassas Battlefield on a wintry night to view a comet with my friend and fellow activist Barrett Brick, who died last September. The comet's tail stretched across half the sky, and the Pleiades star cluster rose behind the bare branches of a tree.

Words fail at such a moment, as when sitting alone in a cathedral, awed by its commanding silence. It reminds us that we are small and the universe is great. The vault of heaven, and its exploration, provokes not emptiness but wonder.

Religious bullies often equate lack of religion with nihilism. Tyson pokes them when he says, "The more I learn about the universe, the less convinced I am that there's any sort of benevolent force that has anything to do with it, at all." Barrett, by contrast, often led services at Congregation Bet Mishpachah. But he was no bully. His drashim (Torah lessons) were invariably graceful, erudite and persuasively connected to current challenges.

Faith can be used to inspire rather than control, just as American Exceptionalism can be seen as an obligation to lead and not merely an entitlement to boss. You may prefer neither. Religiosity, like patriotism, lends itself to misuse. But given its gravitational pull, one gains greater leverage by guiding it in a more benign direction than trying to stop it.

Tyson celebrates the cross-pollination of the sciences, and the way discoveries lead to unforeseen benefits decades later. The inventor of the laser, for example, was not thinking of barcode readers. In a similar fashion, the lived reality of social changes can dispel fears, as our fellow citizens at long last recognize the love that makes gay families.

With or without faith, all of us on this "pale blue dot," as Sagan called Earth, can be uplifted by a recognition that, as Tyson puts it, "We are in the universe and the universe is in us."

Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and activist. He can be reached at rrosendall@starpower.net.

"That's got more swing than a hooker with a broken heel and a brick in her handbag."

In addition to a steady flow of swinging deep house tunes, Boy George's Club Culture podcast also features colorful commentary between tracks as only the '80s-era gay pop star would deliver. He made the above comment, for example, on his podcast's ninth episode, posted in December, in response to the track "My Bassline Friend" by Simone Vitullo & Do Santos.

Yes, Boy George is a house music DJ these days -- a very fine one. But he's also still making pop music. Just last week he released This Is What I Do, his first original solo album in 18 years. He's even preparing to record new music with Culture Club, the British band that made him a household name and staple on MTV in its early influential days. It was 30 years ago this year that Culture Club won as Best New Artist at the Grammys. "Thanks America," Boy George said in accepting the award. "You've got style, you've got taste, and you know a good drag queen when you see one." Mind you, this was long before drag queens became anything close to mainstream -- nearly a whole decade before RuPaul emerged on the scene.

Boy George

The man born almost 53 years ago as George Alan O'Dowd, one of six in an Irish family living in England, isn't nearly as androgynous or even as flamboyant as he was thirty years ago. He's far more grounded, both in voice and in deed. After several well-publicized bouts with drug addictions over the decades, Boy George got sober and became a practicing Buddhist, and he credits the philosophy with helping keep him on a good path. And that good path includes a long-overdue return to the United States as a singer. In a few weeks he'll front a nine-piece band in concert at the 9:30 Club. Expect it be a swinging good time -- with or without hookers, heels or handbags.

METRO WEEKLY: It's been a while since you've toured the states. When was the last time exactly?

BOY GEORGE: Uh, yeah. It's certainly been a long, long time. I think the last time I really played live in America was with Culture Club, which would have been about 14 or 15 years ago.

MW: People will be getting a different experience from the last time.

BOY GEORGE: [Laughs.] Oh, yeah, much better. I mean this is a totally different thing. It's a different time in my life. Just so different. It's going to be exciting for me. I'm bringing something that I'm really proud of. We did a few dates last year in the U.K. We're kind of starting with a tour of England, and then we go to Europe, and then we go to America. By the time we get to America we should be firing on all cylinders. It's been a difficult thing to get the whole band there. Because it's a big band, a nine-piece band, with three brass players. Everybody in the band is kind of a friend, and it's a really nice unit.

MW: This is a tour in support of your new album. How much does that factor into the concert?

BOY GEORGE: How it worked in the U.K. last year -- the album came out a month before we went on tour, and people seemed to be very much engaged with the record. People were singing along to the new songs. I'm expecting that this tour will be attracting pretty hardcore fans. It's not a massive tour. It's not a stadium tour. It's quite intimate. I think it's going to be sort-of ardent followers. And I'm hoping that they'll have done some of their homework with the music. [Laughs.] But I think for me, it's been a long time since I've put out a record, so the reaction in the U.K. was very positive. I think people have waited so long for a new record, and they've heard the old stuff so much. It's not exactly a novelty to hear the stuff from the past. I mean we kind of factor some of that in. Obviously when you do a live show, whoever you are, you want to give people a bit of familiar stuff. Maybe some things they've never heard, maybe some interesting to make the show interesting for yourself as well. You have to strike a pretty fine balance. But I've been doing this for a while so I think I'll be able to pull it off. [Laughs.]

MW: Well, in listening to the new album one thing that really struck me is that you reference God at several points.

BOY GEORGE: Well, I always have I think. He/she has always been there somewhere.

MW: So religion still plays a big role in your life? How do you identify now in terms of religion?

BOY GEORGE: Well, I don't think I do identify with religion as such. I've always been fascinated by the kind of theater and drama of -- you say religion, I think just faith and spirituality. Be it sort-of exotic, Asian religions like Krishna Consciousness or Buddhism. I think for a writer it's a very fascinating subject, because even if you reject it, it still plays a huge role in our lives. Even if you're an atheist -- which I'm not -- it's still everywhere you go. And there's so much conflict in the world based around people's ideas of faith. Conflicts about sexuality, conflicts about everything. So it's there. It's omnipresent. It's everywhere in our lives. And I think also for a gay man, it's a big issue. It's a big subject. How it reflects on our sexuality, the way that people kind of make judgments based on whatever they may believe, or how they've interpreted their doctrine. So it's something that you can't really shy away from. And I suppose, rather naively, I looked for the good in it. [Laughs.] In the same way that, you know, I've always sung reggae music, and people think of reggae music as being very homophobic.

I suppose I'm one of those people who likes to get in the middle of things. I think that's another way of understanding them. In a funny sort of way I'm drawn to stuff that opposes me. That's just a Gemini thing I think. The stuff that tries to push me away, whether it's religion, boys -- I think it's that duality/twin sort-of madness. I don't know, I'm kind of interested in animosity. I think it's a writer thing as well. You think, well, what is it about this issue? It's always people -- it always comes down to individual people's ideas about what's right and wrong. It's a fascinating minefield of a subject for a writer, which is primarily what I see myself as, really.

Boy George

MW: It's true you've long referenced God in your music. You had a band called Jesus Loves You for a while 25 years ago. But have your views changed since then?

BOY GEORGE: I don't think my views have really ever changed. I'm one of those just-in-case people. So I believe everything. I believe there's a wizard behind the curtain. I believe all of that stuff. I don't discount anything, because I don't think you can. I think faith and love are all about the unknowingness really. That's where the power lies, in the fact that none of us are really, really sure, you know? And the ones that are really sure -- the really mad ones, sort-of unflinching -- they're the people you can't really have a fluid conversation with. And you wouldn't really want to base your belief system on someone like that. So I think you have to keep an open mind with faith and spirituality; with all things in life.

And I think all these things are kind of fluid and they do change. And when you grow up a bit, you change. When I was 19 I was very, very anti-the whole thing. As a teenager I thought, "Oh, I don't believe in God. People that do are mad." But as I've got older -- I mean, I'm a practicing Buddhist. I've always embraced the idea of something more than this. There's got to be more than this. But I've never been particularly literal about it. I practice Buddhism every day, and it adds something to my life as it is right now. I feel like Buddhism is a new ingredient that's added something to all the wonderful things going on in my life right now. Added another light to what there is already. And I don't think I'd be able to practice Buddhism if I wasn't in a good place.

A lot of people have said to me, "Oh, has it helped you get clean and all this?" I think, well no, it hasn't actually. I got myself clean. I feel like it's something I've been able to come back to because I'm clean and because I'm in a pretty good state of mind. Buddhism isn't really a religion, it's more of a philosophy. It's not like Catholicism. The way I describe myself is, I'm Catholic in my complications, Buddhist in my aspirations.

MW: Because you were raised Catholic?

BOY GEORGE: Very, very, very, very loosely and sketchily. My family, they go to church now. It's a regular thing. Our priest, he's like a family friend. Which is kind of very traditionally old Irish, you know. Back in the day, you used to hear stories about the priest coming around to the family home. But obviously it was a very different relationship back then. The priest was an oppressive figure that came around to make sure you weren't using contraception -- this is Ireland, you know. Came around to make sure you were pregnant, basically. [Laughs.] Which all the women were back then. It's a slightly different relationship now. Our family priest is a lovely man, and he's part of the family.

I've got friends who had very oppressive relationships with religion growing up, so they have a very different kind of attitude. I think it's always about how it's brought to you as a kid, isn't it? We never had any of that kind of fear and loathing, or fire and brimstone. It was never presented to us in that way. So, I suppose that's why I have a kind of pretty easy relationship with all of that stuff. But I have questions, like any sane person.

MW: Are you still close with your family?

BOY GEORGE: Very, very close. I've always been close to my family. I think having a big family has been a very good thing for me, because there's always someone to watch your back. And maybe remind you when you're not really behaving that well. Or messing up your life. It's quite good to have a big Irish, interfering family. [Laughs.]

MW: Were they supportive of you in your interest in being a performer?

BOY GEORGE: I think my family was really quite relieved when I finally started a band, because I was meandering for a while, and nobody really knew what I was going to end up doing. I left school with no qualifications whatsoever. And I lived on my wits for a number of years. And when I finally got the band together, I think everybody was quite relieved. You hear stories about families being really disappointed when their kids become musicians. Mine were like, "Oh, that's what you're going to do. Well, that's great. Well, that's something." It felt like it was a positive thing to my family. I think they were quite pleased. And also it happened really quickly for me. Once I decided I was going to make music, my career was kind of an overnight thing. Suddenly I was famous. It was just kind of bonkers, really.

MW: I know I've read it before, but I don't remember: How did you get the name Boy George?

BOY GEORGE: Well I've always worn a lot of makeup, and I probably wore a whole lot more makeup when I was 17, 18. I remember we did some early photos for the band. And Jon Moss was going around to record companies. And everybody was like, "Who's the girl? Wow, she's beautiful! What's her name?" And Jon was like, "No, that's George." So it kind of became a bit of a joke, because everywhere we'd go, people obviously thought I was a girl. People saw photos and thought I was a girl. And so I added the "Boy" as a sort-of humorous tack.

MW: And how do you feel about it now, being a middle-aged man still known the world over by the nickname Boy?

BOY GEORGE: As opposed to Man George? Well, I don't feel like I have such a battle with my gender role or my sexual identity as I did at 17. But I'm not going to become the artist Formerly Known as Boy George. I mean, it's my stage name, you know? I'm quite aware of the fact that I'm not a boy. I mean I'm definitely male. But I'm quite aware that I'm 52. It's not like I'm deluding myself.

MW: I think it still can be shocking for people to see somebody who is androgynous, the way you were when you came onto the scene more than 30 years ago. Do you feel like the culture has progressed any?

BOY GEORGE: There's always somebody who's going to get freaked out. You know, the world is quite normal in a lot of ways, and if you get into a lift in a hotel with makeup on and a funky hat and some snazzy clothes, there's always somebody that's going to get a little uptight about it. I don't think the world has changed dramatically. You know what I mean? Obviously if people recognize you, then you're someone famous, and that generally removes any kind of hostility. Because when you're famous you kind of get away with being a little bit more than everyone else. But if people don't know who you are, they're still kind of as awkward as they have ever been. I don't think it's changed. Generally the world is pretty normal. Most people go out of their way to kind of assimilate. Everybody wears the same kind of clothes. There's a kind of general uniform that people wear, whether they're into hip-hop or rock-and-roll. Or they just have no relationship with fashion at all.

In some ways the world is less homophobic, because you know we see gay people on TV. People know the word gay, it's part of the culture now. So people are less homophobic in some ways, and more homophobic in other ways. It's a funny old thing.

MW: We still don't see a huge gay megastar, who's constantly on top of the charts, or a gay leading man who stars in hit blockbuster movies.

BOY GEORGE: I think America is very interesting at the moment. Because who would have thought that America would be the place where black athletes would come out? So I think in a way it's a very interesting time. I think it's kind of profound in a way, that America's the place where we are getting our first athletes. But not just athletes, black athletes. I think it's very significant. It's amazing to me. It makes me feel kind of, I don't know, proud of America. [Laughs.] It's radical. It is radical.

Boy George

(Photo by Todd Franson)

MW: When you first started out, did people tell you to act more normal, or tone down your androgynous appearance?

OY GEORGE: [Laughs.] No, no. Nobody told me that. The first time Culture Club appeared on TV, the reaction from the industry was quite hostile. People wrote in the press, "What is it? What is that thing?" And a lot of the TV shows that we were booked on cancelled us. But the public reaction was very warm. And positive. And that's always kind of been the way with me. Whatever's happened in terms of the media, and the industry -- people on the street have always been quite sweet to me. People when I meet them seem to kind of like me. And that was really what happened in the beginning of my career. I came to music already kind of quite out there. I had been dressing up in the clubs, and I was quite eccentric. So nobody would have told me, dress down, or be more normal. No, they would never have done that. I was quite formidable at 19.

MW: Is it true Culture Club is getting back together and has plans to release new music?

BOY GEORGE: Yeah, we are looking to start recording in May of this year -- at least do some of the recording that we've been planning. [A revived] Culture Club is kind of the next part of my master plan.

MW: What else is part of Boy George's master plan?

BOY GEORGE: Obviously, at the moment it's a very exciting time. There's lots of great things happening. For me, I feel like it's a real musical time. I feel like, when I played last year, when I did live shows last year it really felt like people were listening, as opposed to kind of in the old days, there was a slightly more obsessive kind of attitude towards me, and I don't think people were particularly listening to what I was doing. And this time around it was slightly more musical and it felt like people were listening more. And I think having been DJ'ing for the past 25 years, having a long break has been a kind of positive thing in a way. Because it feels like people are kind of focusing on what I'm doing musically, and less on the kind of surface stuff, which is what I want. So in a way the master plan is to kind of have more of that really, and make it much more of a musical kind of thing. And that seems to be what's happening.

MW: How does the music you play as a DJ differ from your own music?

BOY GEORGE: DJ'ing is really a parallel universe. It's so different from what I do with the band. And it's not the kind of dance music you're going to hear on the radio. I don't play what you call EDM. I play underground dance music. If people want to hear what I play, there's a podcast every month on iTunes. It's called Club Culture. DJ Boy George. And it really tells you what I play. It's free. I use it kind of as an advertisement, because people do get very confused about what I do as a DJ. I'm sure people think I play '80s music, which I don't. I don't play pop dance either. It's very underground. So generally if you like what I do musically, you will not like what I do as a DJ. [Laughs.] You do sometimes get people wandering into my DJ sets, clutching '80s albums, and they generally end up quite disappointed.

MW: Do you DJ in the states very often?

BOY GEORGE: Yeah, I do. I've DJ'ed a lot in the states. I was there last year for six weeks, and I had a great time. I was in Miami just before Christmas DJ'ing. And I should be doing dates obviously over there this year. But not while I'm doing the live shows.

MW: So you won't have offer a DJ set the same night as your live set, perhaps at a different venue, as some artists have done in recent years?

BOY GEORGE: No, because usually promoters get very kind of uptight about that. It distracts. So we try to keep the two things very separate. So usually I put DJ Boy George when I DJ so people know that it's not a live show.

MW: The last thing I wanted to ask you about is Taboo, your decade-old musical that had original productions on London's West End and New York's Broadway. Are there plans for a revival of that?

BOY GEORGE: Last year we re-wrote Taboo, myself and Mark Davies Markham, who was the original book writer. And I think we've written the best version ever of Taboo. And we are talking to people in Europe about doing a workshop this year. We had a surprise hit with Taboo in London last year. We had like a six/seven-month run. We won a Best Off West End Award [from the website WhatsOnStage.com]. So there's life in the old dog yet, I believe. And it would be great to bring it back to America, but Off Broadway. Somewhere a little bit funky. But yeah, there are definitely plans for another version of Taboo.

Boy George performs Monday, April 21, at Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Doors at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.

"I can't think of many dance concerts that I've seen where it's been two black men dancing a story that was LGBT," says Shawn Short, head of Dissonance Dance Theatre. And those stray dance pieces about the gay black experience have shined a harsh light, focused on issues such as HIV stigma and violence. Says Short, "I never saw anything that was a positive reflection of the community."

So last year Short decided to take action, offering as part of Dissonance's season the program "Black to Silver: A Black LGBT Experience," featuring works that Short describes as telling "stories of my community by my community." A year later, Black to Silver has grown to become a full weekend billing itself as "DC's Only Black Queer Dance Theatre Festival."

In fact, Short touts this year's festival "as a weekend of black gay arts." The expanded program includes theatrical performances from local actors, stage artists and spoken-word poets. Plus, there's an affiliated theatrical production Jared Shamberger, who is gay. Adams Morgan's Sitar Arts Center presents Shamberger's one-man, 12-character comedy 12 on Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12, at 8 p.m.

But dance remains the festival's principal focus, with a second dance company, Taurus Broadhurst Dance, added to the lineup. In all, five choreographers, including Short, will present works exploring concepts of identity and relationships within the black LGBT community.

"They're really excited," Short says of some of his company's young black gay dancers. "They say, 'I'm really excited to be able to dance stories that are us. We're not in the back, holding a woman. We're not pretending anything. This is literally our lives."

A native of D.C. and veteran of the Washington Ballet, the 35-year-old started Dissonance in 2007 in part to prod development of more work for minority dancers, as well as more work straddling the classical ballet/contemporary dance divide. Short aims for Dissonance to become "D.C.'s flagship contemporary dance company," but one connected to the art form's classical ballet roots.

As for Black to Silver? Short sees it growing to become a larger festival with a national focus generating buzz about new works examining the gay black experience.

Black to Silver: A Black LGBT Experience is Saturday, April 12, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, April 13, at 7 p.m., at Joy of Motion's Jack Guidone Theater, 5207 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tickets are $15 to $25 for the festival. Call 202-540-8338 or visit ddtdc.org.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is as American as apple pie -- especially as portrayed in the new production at Ford's Theatre. The musical about contestants and characters at a fictional regional spelling bee is also as American as its producing local theater company, based in the Civil War-era historical venue. Though director Peter Flynn could just as easily have created this for the Walt Disney Company. It's all wholesome, unobjectionable, feel-good fun, with light humor and even lighter drama, hardly any edge and a bit too much charm. Ultimately, if Flynn hadn't done such a sharp job casting a talented crew of local singing actors, there would be little to commend the whole shebang.

Particulary so, given the frequency with which composer/lyricist William Finn and book writer Rachel Sheinkin's musical is staged. You wouldn't know the show registered as barely a blip on Broadway nearly a decade ago, when the original production ran for less than two years. Since then, Spelling Bee has become one of the most produced stage shows in the country, with school theater departments and local theater companies regularly tripping over themselves to offer competing productions in the same market.

Spelling Bee

(Photo by Scott Suchman)

It's easy enough to understand the show's mass appeal, which is not principally the spelling competition itself or even its quirky, colorful cast of characters. No, the gimmick is the ingenious idea of recruiting -- for every show -- four theater patrons to sit for a spell as contestants at the bee. The result is a more engaging show, as each regular-Joe contestant comes in for light, impromptu-style ribbing every time they approach the mike to spell a word. The ribbing comes mostly courtesy of Matthew A. Anderson, playing the sad-sack Vice Principal at the bee's hosting school; and Rachel Zampelli as the competition's stage-mom emcee. Zampelli gives a knockout performance as the sassy but slightly sweet emcee, whose everyday ordinariness transforms into a show-stopping superstar every time Zampelli belts another of her character's big numbers.

The six scripted contestants in the show's competition are a multi-culti mix of American word nerds, filled with quirks and eccentricities far beyond their uniting affinity for orthography. Flynn and veteran Ford's costume designer Wade Laboissonneire hired and attired six adult actors, managing to make them look almost like the teenagers they portray, yet not enough to disguise the sense that awkward adolescents and angsty adults are cut from the same cloth. Among these adult children is a jock-in-development (played by Vincent Kempski) who loses his mojo, and the competition, after the public humiliation of being exposed with tented pants. Naturally, I'm referring to "My Unfortunate Erection" -- though Ford's dumps that original title to his number in favor of "Chip's Lament," and opts for sanitized alternate lyrics too. This dulling of edge is a serious strike against Ford's production, making it safe for Middle America's legion of visiting tourists.

But Kevin McAllister is yet one more reason this cast makes Ford's version worth seeing. The local actor was the secret weapon in Ford's February musical production, Violet, but even those who saw Violet will be again awed by McAllister, an impressively un-showy, power-piped vocalist. The actor takes on two roles here: a minor part as one of the gay stage-dads, which he performs during the rare offstage moments of his primary character, the bee's counselor, a thuggish ex-con. The range he displays here is on a level that is rare -- even unmatched -- around town. McAllister's acting chops are so fine-tuned to character that he pulls off the feat of convincingly playing two diametrical characters here. Now that's a champion.

KEEGAN THEATRE'S CURRENT PRODUCTION OF HAIR also features an acting champion -- specifically the entire ensemble cast of 20-something actors. Surely, many of the 22 singing actors just starting their careers here will become champions -- and stars -- in their own right, but here they're essentially playing older-generation variations of themselves. Where they've succeeded as an ensemble, guided by directors Mark Rhea and Susan Rhea, is in the natural ease and rapport they convey even in the subtlest of gestures, to say nothing of their rich harmonies in song. They're as unified as the show's Vietnam War pothead protesters, and they wholly convince you that this show dating to 1968 still has legs and relevancy today -- and not just because of the incredibly pro-pot sentiments conveyed in James Rado and Gerome Ragni's story and lyrics. The show's themes critiquing faraway wars and exploring teenage angst and listlessness are still common today.

But the best argument for Hair in 2014 is the fact that Galt MacDermot's rock score still moves you. No matter how many times you've heard the song or seen it staged, "Let the Sunshine In" still surprises you with its emotional complexity and power. Musically, it's a force that dawns slowly until it becomes a rallying anthem for the lost. And the whole tribe sings in tear-inducing unison.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee ( 1/2) runs to May 17 at Ford's Theatre. Tickets are $18 to $52. Call 800-982-2787 or visit fordstheatre.org. Hair () runs to April 27 at Keegan Theatre. Tickets are $37 to $42. Call 703-892-0202 or visit keegantheatre.org.

Sonia Rutstein recently met a man in Germany who inquired about her name.

''Oh, 'Rutstein.' This is a German name. Are you German?'' she recalls the man asking. ''And I said, 'Well, I was once.' And it felt really good to say that, because that's my heritage.''

Germany has also become part of the Jewish-American folk artist's present-day life. ''My friends have been wondering if I'm speaking in German and French yet, because I've spent quite a bit of time now here in Germany and also in France,'' Rutstein says during a recent phone call from, naturally, Germany.

SONiA

(Photo by Terry Irons)

But Rutstein, who records using just her first name, stylized as ''SONiA,'' is preparing to return to her homeland. The Baltimore native is coming back to promote the new album Broken Film with her band disappear fear – also stylized, but with lower-case letters – including a tour stop at Jammin Java Saturday, April 12. ''Most of the concert will be in English,'' she says, teasing that there ''may be a little in German,'' a language she's currently studying. SONiA will also sing a few songs in Spanish and in Hebrew drawn from her recorded repertoire, featuring lyrics often touching on progressive themes and LGBT rights.

After a few years away, the lesbian artist anticipates returning to this year's LGBT Pride festival circuit. But she only expects to hit one or two events in the U.S. -- which is nothing like the near-omnipresence she had 15 or so years ago. ''I think I did like 20 festivals in one summer,'' she sighs, reminiscing about a year in the late 1990s.

Rutstein's sights these days are mostly on the broader international summer festival circuit, with gigs anticipated at events in the United States and Canada as well as in Europe. She's also finalizing plans to perform at a large gay festival in Germany, where she recently wrapped a string of concerts in conjunction with a music convention.

''Most of my concerts have been sold out, which is so cool,'' she says -- just one among many positive experiences the she's had in the country. ''There's been, absolutely, just complete open-arms welcoming to me. I feel completely embraced.''

disappear fear performs Saturday, April 12, at 7 p.m. Jammin Java, 227 Maple Ave. E., Vienna. Tickets are $18 to $20. Call 703-255-3747 or visit jamminjava.com.

Celebrating my husband's birthday last week, there were a couple unintentional themes at play. I'd taken him to Puerto Rico for a long weekend, a place where it's impossible for me as a Washingtonian not to feel some kinship in an "American, but not United States" kind of way.

A second theme was 9/11. I know, I know -- we're party people.

One World Trade Center

(Photo by Joe Woolhead / Courtesy Silverstein Properties)

The husbear's bestie, Jenny, down from the Bronx to help celebrate, was talking about a possible change to her commute, which pricked her memories of starting a new commute that same week of 2001 and not knowing how to get home from Manhattan once the trains were shut down. That, in turn, reminded me of walking from Columbia Heights down 14th Street to U Street that horrible morning. I had no idea that billowing smoke in the distance was the Pentagon in flames, no idea that the world had just experienced an event that would change everything.

A third theme was birthdays, plural, as a week from my husband's birthday comes another. April 4 may be infamous for the miserable national memory of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, but it's also the anniversary of something great: It's the original World Trade Center's official birthday, 1973.

While I'm just a bit older, my own unique journey beginning the weekend of the Stonewall Riots, those towers loomed large in much of my life. I was never in them, never lived in New York, but they were still ever present. As a kid, I was nuts for King Kong, the black-and-white original. Then, in second grade, the Jessica Lange remake came out. My sister took me to the theater where I sat mesmerized not only by buff Jeff Bridges, but by Kong's climb up one of the Twin Towers. Under the family's 1976 Christmas tree, I got a 3D paint-by-numbers kit of my ferocious monkey man atop the tower fighting for Dwan. The towers set the tone for the beginning of every childhood episode of Barney Miller. I'd seen them from the sky several times when changing planes in New York or Newark. My first real visit to the Big Apple wasn't until 1998, giving me a chance to spy them from the ground up as I made my way through Manhattan. The towers had nothing to do with my trip, but the stately sentinels offered a comforting presence of familiarity and continuity. A couple days after 9/11, I went to a screening of Big Eden. It was a wonderfully heartwarming movie, but with the towers as backdrop in the opening credits, certainly not easy to market.

Soon, a reiteration of the World Trade Center will open -- One World Trade Center -- in mid-2014. I'm rooting for NYC Pride Weekend, myself, as April 4 doesn't seem at all possible.

When plans for this tower were announced, I remember some arguing that it was too dangerous. "It will be a target." Yes, it will be. Just like marathons, British buses, Spanish trains, federal buildings and sandstone Buddhas. All the more reason to build it.

One World Trade Center, whether in the 20th century or the 21st, is a center bustling with every possibility of ethnicity, class, orientation and outlook. From the subway maintenance worker in the basement to Anna Wintour ruling her above-the-clouds Vogue roost to the Vantone China Center, this publicly owned tower will continue to be a crossroads to influence the future. Whenever it opens, I'd love to see its birthday continue to be marked as April 4. We cherish the day of King's birth, not the day of his demise. April 4 can be a day that celebrates the possibilities of humanity to rise.

Will O'Bryan is Metro Weekly's managing editor. Email him at wobryan@MetroWeekly.com. Follow him @wobryan.

District voters went to the polls April 1 to select nominees from each of the city's four major political parties for various offices in this November's general election, turning incumbent Mayor Vincent Gray and four-term Councilmember Jim Graham (Ward 1) out of office in their respective Democratic primaries.

Gray, who has been the target of a federal investigation looking into a shadow campaign during the 2010 mayoral election, was frequently under attack and had flat-lined in polls following a plea deal with businessman Jeffrey Thompson, who pleaded guilty to directing illegal campaign contributions into a Gray shadow campaign and claimed Gray had known of the plan. Following Thompson's plea deal, Gray's chief rival, Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) surged, consolidating the support of a number of anti-Gray voters who had previously considered other candidates until polls showed Bowser breaking away from the pack of challengers.

Muriel Bowser

(Photo via Mayor Gray's Flickr)

Bowser triumphed over Gray by a 12-point margin, 44 percent to 32 percent, and won five of the city's eight wards, including her home base of Ward 4 and majority- or plurality-white wards west of Rock Creek Park and in the city's downtown and U Street corridors that had backed former Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) four years ago. Gray won three majority-African-American wards – Wards 5, 7 and 8 –largely on the east side of the Anacostia River. Based on results from the D.C. Board of Elections, Bowser also appears to have won handily in wards with high concentrations of LGBT voters.

According to the Williams Institute, a UCLA School of Law think tank conducting research on sexual-orientation and gender-identity laws and public policy, the 2010 Census shows tracts with more than 20 same-sex couples per 1,000 households overlapping all or parts of 43 voting precincts in the District. Bowser won 36 of those 43 precincts, some by lopsided margins.

Gray won in Precinct 20, a Ledroit Park precinct, and at Precinct 18, in the city's Shaw neighborhood. He also won three precincts – 67, 69 and 70 – in the city's Brookland and Michigan Park neighborhoods. Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who came in third overall with 13 percent of the vote, won two other precincts, 90 and 90, located near his Capitol Hill base.

Overall voter turnout for the primaries was sluggish at many locations. Fewer votes were cast this year than were cast four years ago at every precinct in the city. Overall, voter turnout citywide was estimated at 22.5 percent, with turnout in some individual precincts dropping as low as 8 percent.

Bowser now heads into the November general election as the presumptive favorite in a city where almost three-quarters of voters identify as Democrats. She will face gay Councilmember David Catania (I-At Large), who announced his candidacy earlier this month, as well as Libertarian Party nominee Bruce Majors and Statehood Green Party nominee Faith Dane Crannitch, who appears on the ballot as ''Faith.''

In the D.C. Council races, incumbent Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmembers Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), and Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) won their respective primaries, while Graham, one of only two out gay men to ever serve on the D.C. Council, lost his bid for re-election to challenger Brianne Nadeau. In the race for the Ward 6 seat being vacated by Wells, Wells's former chief of staff, Charles Allen, defeated former U.S. Senate staffer Darrel Thompson in the Democratic primary.

Following her victory in the Ward 1 race, Nadeau gave a speech before supporters at Solly's U Street Tavern in the early morning hours Wednesday, April 2, in which she thanked Graham for his 15 years of service on the Council, despite a tough and, at times, heated campaign between the two.

''Tonight we're celebrating all the people of Ward 1, because we built this campaign with their voices in mind,'' Nadeau said. ''This campaign has never been about me. You've heard me say that before, and I mean it. This is about the people of Ward 1. … And now what we're going to be able to do is take all these voices to the Wilson Building!''

Nadeau, now the Democratic nominee in Ward 1, will face off against Independent Bryan Weaver, who dropped out of the Democratic primary in January.

Mendelson and McDuffie will run unchallenged in the general election, while Cheh faces Libertarian nominee Ryan Sabot and Allen faces Libertarian nominee Pranav Badhwar in their respective races. Bonds, as an At-Large member, will face three challengers – Republican Marc Morgan, Statehood Green nominee Eugene Puryear, and Libertarian Frederick Steiner – in a contest where the top two vote-getters are elected to the D.C. Council.

David Catania

(Photo via Mayor Gray's Flickr)

While some political observers have expressed dismay over the prospect of a Council without any openly gay councilmembers, should Catania continue with his mayoral run and following Graham's defeat, the hand-wringing may be premature, as Morgan, a gay African-American and current ANC commissioner from Ward 1, stands a good chance of getting elected if he is able to mobilize a small but dedicated base of voters who can get him enough votes to come in among the top two vote-getters.

At the polls, many voters expressed disappointment or anger with Gray, saying they felt the city needed a change in leadership. Fred Bowell, 56, and his partner, Doug Anderson, 47, both told Metro Weekly they were driven to the polls by their dislike of Gray and a ''throw the bums out'' attitude. Both men said they voted for Bowser in the U Street corridor's Precinct 22. The also both voted for Mendelson for chairman, but split their votes for At-Large and Ward 1 councilmember. Bowell voted for Anita Bonds and Jim Graham, while Anderson picked their respective challengers, Nate Bennett-Fleming and Brianne Nadeau.

''I just don't think Nadeau has enough experience for me to vote for her,'' Bowell told Metro Weekly. ''I look at whether a person has experience in government, not just business. That's what kept me from supporting Andy Shallal,'' he said, referring to the local businessman and restaurant owner who came in fifth place in the mayor's race with 3 percent of the vote.

Asked which candidate was the best on LGBT issues, Anderson said that all the mayoral candidates were the same.

''It's kind of a given,'' he said. ''Maybe we're complacent, but I think someone who was vocally anti-gay wouldn't go very far in the city.''

Mark Mastro, 41, who also voted at Precinct 22, did not want to share his choice for mayor, but did say he voted for Graham in the Ward 1 race, though he noted that even competitive elections such as that race were greatly overshadowed by the mayoral campaign.

Although Mastro is a registered Democrat, he has fiscally conservative leanings, which he said would make him consider voting for Catania. In all interviews conducted on Tuesday by Metro Weekly at various precincts throughout the city, every Democrat polled – regardless of which candidate they were supporting in the primary – said they would at least consider a Catania candidacy.

Liam Toohey, 33, who does not identify as LGBT but is supportive of candidates who are LGBT-friendly, voted at Precinct 23 in Columbia Heights. Toohey said he eventually voted for Tommy Wells, though it was a decision that came with reservations.

''It's tremendously important who gets picked, and I would hate to see a person win just because they got the most people to the polls,'' Toohey said, adding that he wanted to vote for a candidate who would support issues he cared about, such as education, small-business development, libraries and parks, and advocating that Virginia and Maryland contribute more funds to the operation of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

''I wasn't sure of who I'd vote for,'' Toohey said. ''I almost voted for Gray, because I'd prefer him over Bowser.''

Toohey also said he voted for Mendelson, Bonds and Nadeau in the down-ticket Council races, though he also said he was ''less invested'' in his vote for Bonds.

Toohey said that if Bowser were to win, he'd consider voting for Catania in the general election.

''As a Wells voter, there are enough issues that he was speaking to in his candidacy that the others weren't, and whoever addresses those issues is most likely to get my vote.''

As results began to trickle in late in the night due to delays at the D.C. Board of Elections, it became apparent that Bowser had staked out a substantial lead over Gray, bringing smiles to the faces of Bowser supporters and disappointing many LGBT voters, particularly transgender women of color, many of whom see Gray as their only outright champion in city government. Several transgender voters organized a ''get out the vote'' campaign via word-of-mouth and social media to encourage transgender voters to cast their votes for Gray during the city's early voting period.

''Muriel Bowser didn't defeat Mayor Vincent Gray,'' transgender activist Jeri Hughes told Metro Weekly. ''[U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia] Ron Machen defeated Mayor Vincent Gray. The real loser in this race is the District of Columbia.''

''We have lost the best Mayor we ever had,'' she continued, referring to Gray's advocacy on behalf of the transgender community, such as launching a program to help transgender people receive job training.

Lane Hudson, a local LGBT activist and one of the co-chairs of ''Gray Pride,'' the Gray team's LGBT outreach effort, posted a statement on Facebook following his candidate's loss.

''I am still proud of my mayor,'' Hudson wrote. ''He is one of the best public servants I have ever known. I will be taking some time to figure out my next steps. Will be listening very closely to what Muriel Bowser says and does to bring our party together, and also curious of the tone and approach that David Catania brings to this race.''

In her victory speech, Bowser congratulated her supporters and campaign team, and extended an olive branch to supporters of other candidates, praising Wells, Reta Jo Lewis, and Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and vowing that Democrats would be ''united'' for November's election.

''I promised then, as I promise now, that I would run a campaign of integrity, of vision, and energy, and inclusion,'' Bowser said. ''I promised that our campaign would reflect the collective values of all of us in all eight wards.''

Bowser supporters were ecstatic about her win.

Sean Wieland, who worked on previous Bowser campaigns for Ward 4, called Bowser an ''effective leader who always considers the needs of every resident,'' listing her accomplishments during her time on the Council.

''Muriel will continue to move D.C. forward through education reform, infrastructure improvements and addressing other quality-of-life issues,'' Wieland said.

''I am over the moon that she won,'' LGBT activist and longtime Bowser supporter Christopher Dyer said of Bowser's victory. ''I think that her vision for D.C. voters is positive, and it was great to see that the voters responded to her.''

Catania congratulated Bowser on her victory in an interview on Fox 5, but quickly transitioned into framing the general election as a choice rather than a referendum or a rubber stamp for a particular political party, foreshadowing his pitch to voters in the upcoming general election campaign. He also said the low turnout in Tuesday's election was ''not really an endorsement of the process, or candidly, the candidates.''

''This primary was really an election about who should not be mayor of our city,'' Catania told Fox 5. ''But the general election is different: The general election will be about who should be mayor of our city. … I look forward to a spirited debate about who can best secure the future of our city.''

The Next Generation Leadership Foundation (NGLF), the D.C.-based, national nonprofit aimed at encouraging and mentoring LGBT youth leaders, announced Thursday that it has opened nominations for the sixth annual Next Generation Awards, which recognize local LGBT leaders under the age of 30.

Selected from community nominations, the honor celebrates the leadership and achievements of young LGBT people. The success of the Next Generation Awards, which were launched in 2009 and presented by Metro Weekly, led to NGLF's foundation last year. NGLF is also slated to sponsor its first annual Leadership Camp for graduating LGBT high school students in June.

''This is an exciting year for the Next Generations Awards,'' Sean Bugg, the executive director of NGLF and Metro Weekly's editor emeritus, said in a statement. ''It's our first year producing the awards as part of the Next Generation Leadership Foundation. We're looking forward to learning about the accomplishments and potential of all this year's nominees.''

Nominations can be submitted online through Friday, April 11. The award winners will be announced in a special annual edition of Metro Weekly on Thursday, May 15, and presented at a reception Friday, May 16, at a location to be announced.

''We're proud to not only continue our support of the awards but to support the work of the Next Generation Foundation,'' Randy Shulman, publisher and editor-in-chief of Metro Weekly, said in a statement. ''As always, it's an honor for the magazine to be able to feature the best and brightest of our LGBT youth and young adults.''

For more information about the Next Generation Leadership Foundation visit nglf.org.

The D.C. Office of Human Rights (OHR) today launched a new public-awareness campaign, ''Safe Bathrooms DC,'' aimed at making it easier for transgender people in the District to access facilities without fear of reprisal by ensuring that all single-stall restroom facilities in the District are gender-neutral.

The requirement that single-stall facilities be gender neutral is already part of existing statute. When the District amended its Human Rights Act in 2006 to include nondiscrimination protections for individuals based on their gender identity or expression, it included a provision that required all entities covered by the act to allow individuals to use gender-specific restrooms or facilities such as dressing rooms, homeless shelters and group homes that are consistent with their gender identity and expression. It also clarified that single-occupancy restroom facilities were to use gender-neutral signage and replace older signs designating such bathrooms as being for ''men'' or ''women.''

Still, the statute has been difficult to enforce, in part due to conflicting regulations between the District's Human Rights Act and regulations adopted by the D.C. Department of Health (DOH) and the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA).

David Mariner, executive director of The DC Center, the city's primary LGBT community center, has said over the past few years that he and several volunteers have consistently been reporting non-compliant facilities to OHR, but that some establishments have resisted retiring gender-specific restrooms.

According to OHR spokesman Elliot Imse, at the heart of the conflict over regulations was that both DOH and DCRA had adopted standard plumbing regulations, which state that if a facility has two single-stall bathrooms, one must be designated for men and the other for women. While OHR could inform businesses that they needed to comply with the Human Rights Act, there was no enforcement mechanism until last year when both DOH and DCRA changed their regulations to allow for gender-neutral, single-stall restrooms.

Even after those conflicting regulations were resolved, the process to report venues that were non-compliant in relabeling single-stall facilities as gender-neutral remained cumbersome, as complainants needed to report to the Office of Human Rights and fill out a 20-question ''public accommodations complaint'' form, usually taking about 20 minutes to complete.

At an April 3 event held at the local LGBT community organization Casa Ruby, one of the partners in the Safe Bathrooms DC campaign, OHR announced it was asking community members to utilize social media, such as Twitter, and the OHR website to report non-compliant bathrooms. The OHR's website form consists has only five questions, expected to require less than a minute to complete. Community members reporting non-compliant establishments also have the option of submitting a photo of the non-compliant restroom. OHR is also asking for photos of violations to be tweeted, along with the business name and location, using the hashtag ''#safebathroomsDC.''

''We are encouraging people to take 30 seconds to notify us via Twitter or our website when a single-occupancy public bathroom is not gender-neural, so we can get it changed,'' OHR Director Monica Palacio said in a statement. ''By working together, we can ensure the transgender community and others who prefer using gender-neutral bathrooms have an increased number of safe places to use.''

To promote the Safe Bathrooms DC campaign, OHR has released a series of ads featuring awkward bathroom experiences, such as waiting in line, running out of toilet paper, or using a shoe to avoid touching a toilet when flushing. The tagline on each reads: ''Public bathrooms are challenging enough. Help make them a bit easier for our transgender community.'' The ads also include information about reporting non-compliant establishments via Twitter or the new OHR complaint website. Samples of the ads, as well as additional information on gender-neutral bathroom regulations, can be found at ohr.dc.gov/bathrooms.

''The success of this campaign largely depends on rallying the LBGT community and its allies to report non-compliant bathrooms using Twitter or our website,'' Palacio said in a statement. ''So we are encouraging people to share of Safe Bathrooms DC advertisements on social media, in the hope that together we can dramatically increase the number of single-occupancy gender-neutral bathrooms here in the District. We believe harnessing social media to raise awareness on this issue can inspire municipalities around the nation to begin their own efforts.''

The local Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV) group, a program of The DC Center and one of the key community partners in combating area hate crimes, is hosting a fundraiser social Tuesday, April 8.

GLOV is raising money to continue major initiatives, including an LGBT-crisis hotline, outreach to community groups, LGBT cultural competency training, and collecting hate-crime data. Attendance is free, but a $10 donation is suggested.

The happy-hour event also marks GLOV's first gathering since the announcement that its co-chair, Hassan Naveed, is stepping down. Naveed announced on April 3 that he will be leaving the organization in July to pursue a graduate degree from New York University.

''It has truly been an honor to serve as GLOV's co-chair for the past three years,'' Naveed said in an email to GLOV members and supporters. ''Our organization has grown tremendously and positively impacted many LGBT lives in our city.''

The Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence happy hour fundraiser is Tuesday, April 8, 5 to 8 p.m., at Mova Lounge, 2204 14th St. NW. RSVP by joining the event's Facebook page.

Several prominent gay writers deplored the furor that brought down Brendan Eich as CEO of Mozilla Corp. last week for supporting California's anti-gay Proposition 8. Andrew Sullivan blogged against "a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else." Jonathan Rauch tweeted, "I agree with @RameshPonnuru: trying to punish dissenters like Brendan Eich is no way to advance civil rights." Frank Bruni wrote in the Grey Lady, "Such vilification won't accelerate the timetable of victory, which is certain. And it doesn't reflect well on the victors."

I have no wish to embrace what Sullivan calls "McCarthyism applied by civil actors," but I disagree. Eich's resignation exemplified the operation of the free market that conservatives usually celebrate.

Fox News reporter Todd Starnes made Sullivan look restrained: "Why not demand that those who oppose gay marriage relinquish the right to own property? Why not take away their right to vote? Why not take away their children? Why not just throw them in jail? Why not force them to work in chain gangs? Why not call for public floggings? Or better yet, let's just strap them down on gurneys, stick a needle in their arm and rid the world of these intolerant anti-gay bigots once and for all."

Actually, I oppose such traditional conservative measures. If vilifying those who disagree with you is wrong, Sullivan and Starnes might consider toning it down themselves. No major LGBT group even weighed in on the controversy before Eich resigned, unless you're somehow counting the OkCupid dating site. To agree with Ponnuru, Rauch had to overlook his denial that marriage equality has anything to do with civil rights.

The victim mongering is preposterous. Eich is not being publicly flogged. He is not denied access to a loved one during a hospital visit because his marriage is not recognized in the state he is passing through. He is not forced to wonder whether a court will allow for-profit companies at whim to bar him from buying products and services like other people. He is not being smeared as a traitor in a Senate hearing room, as so many of Sen. McCarthy's victims were in the 1950s. That cheap comparison dishonors those who make it.

Portraying a gay left as intolerant as its persecutors is hyperbolic and reinforces the right wing lie that anti-gay discriminators are the true victims. They are not. There is no movement to deny recognition to straight people's marriages. People attracted to the opposite sex are not targeted for hate crimes.

LGBTQ Nation recently reported an Alabama case in which a mother who disapproved of her son's same-sex marriage is fighting to exclude his widower from his estate. Thank goodness the widower has the Southern Poverty Law Center on his side. Brendan Eich supported a law like Alabama's denying recognition to gay people's marriages. Such disgraceful treatment of loving couples is still happening, thanks to people like Brendan Eich. (And spare me the facile jibes; Barack Obama opposed Prop. 8.)

This is not about speech. It is about our lives. To the extent speech is involved, Eich is not the only one with the right to his own views. The developers who balked at creating apps for Mozilla Firefox were seriously troubled over it. I am on the side of those who fight for equal protection for our families, a fight that is not over. America did not disarm in the Pacific after its victory at Midway; it fought on to the end.

Those who call gay people intolerant for defending ourselves are twisting the concept beyond recognition. Civility is a virtue; but tolerance does not require us to treat a relentless assault against our rights as citizens like a disagreement at the dinner table.

Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and activist. He can be reached at rrosendall@starpower.net.