Books section: Metro Weekly

Seasonal Scares

Local Lee Hayes's latest bypasses gay and goes straight for the ghastly

Published on October 25, 2012, 3:02am

If there's a perfect time to read The First Male, the fifth novel from local gay author Lee Hayes, that time is now. Published in September, the supernatural thriller offers ample horror, well suited to Halloween. The novel offers its own date as well: the winter solstice. ''Beneath a cold, blood moon, of the shortest day, He shall come forth in flame; in storm,'' reads a solstice reference from the opening chapter of the book, set in a stormy swamp ...[Read]

Pop-Up Books

The DC Center's OutWrite offers a pop-up gay bookstore

Published on July 26, 2012, 5:20am

Next weekend, D.C. gets its own pop-up gay bookstore. ''We are temporarily taking over the empty storefront right next to the center,'' explains The DC Center's David Mariner. ''There are so many people that miss the days of Lambda Rising, and miss having an LGBT bookstore.'' The pop-up bookstore, open the evening of Friday, Aug. 3, and all day Saturday, Aug. 4, and will feature 15 vendors – both publishers and independent authors – offering more than 1,000 books, including ...[Read]

Outlaws in Love

AU's Rodger Streitmatter reads ''Outlaw Marriages,'' from his new book of same-sex couples

Published on June 14, 2012, 6:20am

A former newspaper reporter and current American University School of Communication professor, Rodger Streitmatter knows plenty about research and writing. Considering his relationship with husband Tom Grooms spanning three decades, it's safe to assume he also knows plenty about the intimacies and intricacies of coupledom. That particular skill gives us Streitmatter's latest project, Outlaw Marriages: The Hidden Histories of Fifteen Extraordinary Same-Sex Couples, a nonfiction book released in May. {Rodger Streitmatter (Photo by Jeff Watts)} ''I was able to discover ...[Read]

Proud Son

Zach Wahls, who made a splash when his Iowa speech went viral on YouTube, continues to advocate for LGBT families � with a book and on Capitol Hill

Published on May 15, 2012, 12:00pm

''I think there's no doubt that whatever the stereotype of two lesbians raising kids is, a clean-cut, engineering, Eagle Scout entrepreneur from Iowa probably isn't that image,'' Zach Wahls tells Metro Weekly. Although that may have been the case before Wahls hit the scene, he has been working nonstop for the past 15 months to make that image exactly what people picture. When Wahls initially spoke out about his moms, Jackie and Terry, it was during a public forum on ...[Read]

Hair-Raising Tale

Transman Everett Maroon brings his story back to D.C.

Published on May 14, 2012, 11:57am

When Everett Maroon puts his mind to writing, there's no telling what might come out. Take the novel Super Queers he's shopping around. It's your typical ''D.C. LGBT yuppies go to Whole Foods, ingest sesame noodles with odd properties, develop odd super powers, save the world'' routine. ''One guy's power is that if anyone touches him, they get an instant orgasm,'' explains Maroon from his home in Walla Walla, Wash. ''There's a germaphobe who can create 'balls of santorum.''' {Everett ...[Read]

Gay by Association

Michael Ian Black is an affiliated member of the gay community

Published on March 1, 2012, 1:36am

Michael Ian Black once made out with Bradley Cooper. ''He wasn't yet People's Sexiest Man Alive,'' Black says. ''Had I known he would be that, obviously I would have videotaped it.'' {Michael Ian Black (Photo by Natalie Brasington)} Of course, it was videotaped, as a scene in the 2001 cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer, further popularized on YouTube. But the filmed toolshed tryst isn't the only reason people often mistake Black's orientation. ''I think I just come off as ...[Read]

Benign Fun

Writer, performer, activist Tania Katan pulls back the cancer curtain

Published on November 10, 2011, 4:34am

Cancer may not be the funniest thing in the world. It's probably not even in your Top 10. But when cancer happens to a funny person, humor finds a way. ''I'm using humor as a lens to enter a world that is uncomfortable,'' explains Tania Katan, who at 40 has already faced down breast cancer – twice – and proactively had her ovaries removed due to genetic inclination for certain cancers. She grants, however, that there may be the rare ...[Read]

Photo Quality

A new book illustrates a range of genuine gay men across America

Published on November 3, 2011, 3:54am

Things have a way of serendipitously knocking Scott Pasfield off course. Or, perhaps, back on course. In 1994, it was the avalanche out West that buried him under a foot of snow. He crawled out with a new direction in life and a commitment to turn his passion for photography into a career. He moved to New York and made that dream come true. The more-recent course correction was far less dangerous. He also seems a little sheepish about admitting ...[Read]

Religious Enrichment

Jay Michaelson argues that gay people enrich religion

Published on October 19, 2011, 11:44pm

Jay Michaelson thought coming out would spell the end of his religious life. He was wrong. It became a new beginning. ''I really thought that God wanted me to lie and hide and repress who I was,'' says the Conservative Jewish-raised Michaelson, who came out 15 years ago while in his mid-20s. Rather than reject religion, Michaelson made it his mission to push back against religious intolerance and hostility. Michaelson's new book, God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality, ...[Read]

Montgomery Co. Mensch

Wayne Hoffman returns to his suburban roots for his new novel

Published on September 16, 2011, 3:35pm

In his 2006 novel, Hard, Wayne Hoffman presented a gay 1990s Manhattan struggling to strike a balance between ''safer sex'' and ''sex positive.'' With his new novel, Sweet Like Sugar, Hoffman presents a more intimate – though far less explicit – tale, as young, gay Benji and elderly widower Rabbi Jacob Zuckerman find common ground in their humanity. ''Hard is much less autobiographical, but with so many real details,'' Hoffman says of his earlier novel, whose setting is familiar to ...[Read]

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