After I finished editing this week's cover story on Cathy Renna, I told Will O'Bryan how much I enjoyed his interview with her, that it really brought me back to the old days of D.C. queer activism.

You'll note that I didn't say "good old days," because despite the fondness with which I may remember the early 1990s, the reality is that they were truly scary days in many ways. These were the days before effective HIV/AIDS treatments, when obituaries still brimmed with the deaths of gay men. Much of the pro-gay effort of the first Clinton administration collapsed in the Gays in the Military fiasco, when newspapers and news shows followed U.S. senators, both Republican and Democrat, through the close confines of submarines to illustrate how homos would destroy military morale. And even many of us who were on-the-edge activists doubted we would see marriage rights any time soon, if even in our lifetimes.

Obviously, things do change, and faster than we might have expected. But they don't change without effort, and Cathy stands out in my mind as one of the activists who achieved the most with her efforts. I can't say that I always agreed with the stances she and GLAAD took on media issues -- my libertarian streak often runs against the more progressive instincts of GLBT media critics -- but you can't deny they had an incredible impact on how the country's mass media covers our community. And it's a better world because of it.

It's hard to keep the activist fire burning for years on end -- at least that's been my experience -- but I've always been impressed by how Cathy has really pursued the causes she believes in (I know this because I've been on the receiving end of many of her story pitches). I'm glad she'll be back in Washington with her family, especially as we're on the verge of what could be a huge shift in political power. The possibility for change in the coming years may be immense, and we'll need all hands on deck to make it happen.

In this week's feature story package on the GLBT Asian and Pacific Islander Pride & Heritage celebration, we highlighted the two people (Joseph Truong and Trang Duong) and one organization (South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)) being honored on Saturday for, according to Pride & Heritage, "work empowering the local A/PI GLBT community."

While it was mentioned briefly in the feature, we didn't profile a fourth honoree -- Metro Weekly. It's generally a little awkward for a publication to determine how to cover itself, but in this case we obviously wanted to focus on those members of the local A/PI community who have done such stellar work.

That said, I do want to call a little more attention to the award because I'm both excited and proud to have the magazine recognized in such a wonderful way. I've been fortunate enough over the past few years to become friends with a number of those who have made AQUA and other organizations such fast growing and effective groups in our community.

One of the things that most interests and excites me about our entire Washington GLBT community is just how diverse it's becoming -- and how it's only going to become more so. With the huge A/PI communities across the area, its pretty much inevitable that the Asian GLBT presence will become an ever larger part of that diversity. And, as with any growing minority community, those in the majority often have a lot to learn in terms of dismissing stereotypes and making everyone feel welcome in all our community spaces.

I believe that the role of a local gay and lesbian publication is to reflect as many diverse aspects of that local community as it can, so I'm especially proud and honored that Pride & Heritage chose to recognize our efforts. And I wish them a happy and joyous pride celebration.

The Pride & Heritage reception is tomorrow evening at Apex -- read more about it here, or visit the Pride & Heritage web site for more information and tickets. And don't miss the Dragon Boat races!

Continue reading "Proud to be honored" »

As an aside to the Domestic Partner May 1 story about skin-cancer screening, Ban the Tan, it's worth mentioning that I know too well how scary this can be. My sister, Megan, died from melanoma about 10 years ago.

While she had very pale skin, she learned how to make it tan. She rarely burned, but she was dedicated to just the right amount of exposure and lotion to get a beautiful tan. Going to college in San Diego in the early 1980s, it was the thing to do.

Years later, after the birth of one of her four kids, a melanoma lesion appeared on her back. Surgery followed immediately, at which time her doctors at Scripps were pretty confident that they'd managed to excise the tumor, and that it hadn't moved to any other part of her body.

That's when the clock starts -- five years in the clear, and you can be pretty confident that the cancer was completely removed. But about five years and six months later, a lesion appeared under her arm.

From her home at the time, Japan, she waited a couple of weeks so that she could enjoy Christmas with her four kids and husband, before heading back to Scripps in San Diego. There, the chemotherapy took its toll on her. The melanoma eventually spread to her brain, where the treatment was radiation. While initially successful, the melanoma returned to her brain, where the radiation treatment could not be repeated.

Within a year of the return of the melanoma, at 38, with a great marriage, four young kids, and years of avoiding the sun after her college-tan days, she died.

Locally, a friend of mine has also battled melanoma. Years of Florida sun exposure manifested themselves as melanoma after she moved to D.C. The chemo ravaged her body and cost her some lymph nodes. But she survived. And, similar to my sister's case, about five years later, another melanoma tumor surfaced. Thankfully, it was not a sign that the original cancer had spread, but an isolated case. This time, she was well aware of what to look for and immediately went to her doctor, who immediately removed it from its spot on her cheek. These months later, no one can even tell that she had this tumor removed from her face, which is testament to modern surgical skills.

While I wish I could tan myself, purely for reasons of vanity, I know I can't and that I shouldn't try. It could end up killing me. As it stands, those childhood burns may still. At least with increased awareness of skin cancer, all of us stand a better chance of being able to catch skin cancer early. And though there is some minor debate on whether sun exposure is a leading cause of skin cancer, avoiding the sun may save your life. Getting tanned, on the other hand, won't really get you anything.

There's a school of thinking in journalism that every story has to include a voice for the pro and a voice for the con -- that there are two sides of every issue and they must be pitted against each other in the name of balance.

I'm not part of that school.

That's not to say I don't believe in fairness -- I'm as traditionally trained and experienced as the next journalist, so it's always the duty of the writer to inform the reader of what's important. I just don't believe that everything has to be structured like an angry debate in order to illuminate a particular issue. And that's why I really enjoy the Q&A format that we often use at Metro Weekly -- it gives the person being interviewed the space to thoughtfully answer questions, complete with elaborations or digressions, without the pressure to reduce a complex thought to a 15-word sound bite.

But there is the risk, in the case of particularly controversial subjects, that readers may not be satisfied with hearing just one "side" of a story. I've received and noticed some comments on my interview last week with Mark Lee that illustrate just that. While the primary thrust of the interview was the re-launch of his Lizard Lounge Sunday night party, it was obvious that I couldn't ask about Lizard without asking about the D.C. smoking ban, which Mark so publicly and adamantly opposed.

David Mariner, executive director of The D.C. Center, writes, "I'm of course happy to hear that Lizard Lounge is coming back," but takes issue with some of Lee's statements.

First, Mark suggests that there were "so many people in our community" that were not in support of smokefree workplace legislation. Of course, I would counter that virtually [every] recognized GLBT advocacy group in DC SUPPORTED smoke free workplaces.

Three GLBT organizations testified in support of this legislation, and others presented written testimony. Endorsers of smoke-free workplace legislation included: The Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, The National Coalition for LGBT Health, AQUA-DC (Asians Queers United for Action). Establishments that supported the legislation included Cafe Luna and Skewers, and the Duplex Diner.

Further, Mark claims that "this is a prohibition campaign by very well funded special interest groups." Please note that of the organizations listed above, none of them received any funding at all to support smoke-free workplaces. GLAA, Stein, AQUA, and Whitman Walker did not receive any money from anyone, and everyone involved supported smoke-free workplaces because it was the right thing to do.

And finally I would stress that for me personally, this was in no way about "dictating or governing other peoples' personal preferences." This was always about creating a safe work-environment and even-playing field for all employees in DC. The smoke-free workplace legislation wasn't so much an issue for those of us who have the luxury of working in smoke-free office buildings, but many folks who worked as bus-boys, waiters, and barbacks, benefitted from this legislation.

Obviously, even though the battle over the smoking ban is over, strong opinions remain. Naturally, being the fence straddler that I often am on these issues, I see (and saw) a lot of strong arguments on both sides: My libertarian, small-business-owner instincts make me wary of legislative efforts that can affect any businesses revenues; my status as an ex-smoker for the past five or so years makes me a fan of any smoke-free establishment.

Matt at Malcontent has a harsher take on both the interview and Lee's comments:

I know it seems counterintuitive: As libertarian as like to think I am, I just find something loathsome about fighting for someone's "right" to pollute the air in places that are public accommodations. Sean is clearly not the zealot on this subject that I admittedly am, and his interview didn't betray much bias one way or the other. Yet many lines of inquiry were crying out for follow-up -- areas where one could legitimately call bullshit on Mark Lee.

Fair enough criticism on me -- hitting follow-ups can get difficult in a long, free-form interview, and I encourage both myself and my staff writers to always try to do better. Again, my focus actually was the re-opening of Lizard, which, given that the smoking ban was passed into law two years or so ago, is actually the more newsworthy event.

As always, thanks for those who've written in. We're always glad to hear what you think. You can e-mail me directly at Metro Weekly.

If you're feeling an odd sense of familiarity when looking at this week's cover, don't worry -- your deja vu is true. It's the same basic image as the one we used for our Cherry coverage in 2006. It's also one of our favorite images we've shot for it, courtesy of the work of our art director and photographer Todd Franson. 

Even so, I was a little hesitant when Todd approached me with the idea -- reputable magazines generally don't make a habit of repurposing old cover shots. But as I listened and thought, I saw that it was a funny idea. Plus, the explanation we printed in small print on the cover is true: We wanted to see what it would look like on our new glossy cover.

A glossy cover has been at the top of the wish list for years with Metro Weekly staff -- I guarantee there are some former employees who, when seeing the new look, thought, "Damn, why couldn't they have done that while I was still there?" And like any major addition to the magazine, it brings a certain kid-and-candy-store element. We've always been fortunate to have top rate cover photography and design -- it's just at times it felt like we producing something in high-definition, but showing it in standard. Things sometimes get lost in the translation.

That's no longer the case. And with Cherry returning to spring for its big dance party, it seemed the natural time to take one of our most popular Cherry images and put it out in high-def. It's not an approach we'll make a habit of -- we have too many other new and interesting things we want to do with the cover. But it's always fun to play around a bit.

Welcome to our newest blog, Metro Weekly EXTRA, where we'll take you behind the scenes of the stories, features and ideas you find in each week's magazine. 

One of the historic frustrations of print journalists has been the hard limitations of space -- you often simply cannot include everything you want to. EXTRA is where you'll find those interesting snippets, anecdotes and stories that may not have found a home on our weekly newsprint, but are still worth your taking a look. EXTRA gives us a chance to provide you with even more in-depth coverage of the people in our local GLBT community.

EXTRA is also where you'll find our editorial staff answering questions and expanding on the stories they write. While stories may have a definite beginning and ending on the page, in real life stories go on -- with EXTRA, we can provide additional information on stories as they progress. 

Naturally, while we strive for total accuracy in all our content, on rare occasions we need to make corrections. Any correction that we run in the magazine will also be included in EXTRA, as well as any clarifications or statements that we feel will give you a better and fuller understanding of the stories we report.

As the co-publisher and editorial director for Metro Weekly, I can say that the magazine is, at heart, a reflection of our local GLBT community. We want to hear from you about what you read in Metro Weekly, both in print and online. Each of our stories contains the writer's e-mail address -- don't hesitate to write if you have a question, concern or clarification about a story. You can also write to us at our Editor inbox. We want to hear from you.