Recent Opinion Articles
Black Pride Reckoning
Annual event compels us to demand justice
Around this time, I generally find myself reflecting on recent events that have impacted the black LGBT community, not only in Washington, but around the world. DC Black Pride unofficially kicks off the summer Black Pride season. And while we are a party with a purpose, there are serious issues that we have to address whenever we come together as a community – and we do! Three weeks ago, Jason Collins announced to the world that he was a black ...[more]
The Crazy Uncle Party
From E.W. Jackson to Peggy Noonan, right's gone off the rails
New York novelist Dawn Powell wrote on the cusp of World War II, ''Civilization stood on a ledge, and in the tension of waiting it was a relief to have one little man jump.'' Alas, these days the crazy ones don't jump off ledges, they get elected to Congress. Our national politics increasingly resembles a party in which your crazy uncle got hold of the karaoke microphone and won't give it back until he finishes a paranoid rant. Maybe if ...[more]
How To Be Gay
In which Bret Easton Ellis is totally correct to defend his right to be such a prick
I've been many different gay men over the course of my life. Like most of us, I started off as the closeted gay man who sometimes overcompensated with my behavior so I wouldn't appear feminine. I've also been the newly out gay man who overcompensated in the other direction and spent more than a few months flouncing around campus in misbegotten Chess King outfits. I've been the activist gay man, with the meta twist that I posed as the activist ...[more]
The Search Must Continue
Halted HIV-vaccine trial may be a setback, but it's not a defeat
As HIV-vaccine trial participants, we grow accustomed to the routine blood draws, interacting with study staff and taking our computer-assisted interviews that catalog our risks. And, of course, the risk-reduction counseling to help us reduce our sexual risk-taking behavior. For almost three years this quarterly experience was a part of my life. It was a piece of my routine until I received a phone call that changed it all. It was an unexpected end to something that I thought I'd ...[more]
Creating Space
The Next Generation Awards honor and encourage young LGBT leaders, but we all have a role to play
It was just over five-and-a-half years ago that I first brought the idea of the Next Generation Awards to Metro Weekly. Because I happen to be running a business, I fully admit that there were some business considerations behind the idea. But for me the goal of the Next Generation Awards has always been about something more than a marketing and PR strategy — it's about repaying debts to an LGBT community that has made not just the magazine a ...[more]
A Star Is Born
He may not be the first, but Jason Collins is a pioneer just the same
Jason Collins is not the first active professional athlete to come out. Tennis star Martina Navratilova came out in 1981. Her courageous act, however, was no threat to male heterosexual dominance. Few people even know that baseball player Glenn Burke came out in the late 1970s, because sports writers at the time responded with a wall of silence. Most recently, top WNBA draft pick Brittney Griner came out on April 17. The girls are way ahead of the boys here. ...[more]
Annuals of Spring
Spring is the time to celebrate some significant LGBT anniversaries, both at home and at Metro Weekly
Anyone familiar with my writings round these parts already knows that I am solipsism central, so I'll just jump right to the point and say what a special and important time of year spring is for me. Seriously, most of the good things in my life aside from my winter birth have happened as the tulips bloom and the trees turn green. Naturally, the first up is my sixth anniversary this weekend. We had our ceremony on May 5 because, ...[more]
Accidental Activism
How I found myself on the steps of the Supreme Court
When I met my husband, Kelly Vielmo, almost 11 years ago, neither of us did anything that might be labeled ''activism'' on behalf of gay rights. Our lives had been fairly low key. Not our jobs, our friends, our hobbies, nor our volunteer activities screamed ''activist.'' If we were a flavor, it was vanilla. In a cosmopolitan city like D.C., we could just blend in. Then we had kids. Ten years into our relationship Kelly and I opted to foster ...[more]
Good Times for Bad Boys
A trip down a wild and wonderful memory lane as we get set to celebrate the Tracks reunion
Long story short, I found myself cruising around the Tidal Basin in the back of a black limousine with famed porn director Chi-Chi LaRue, a local party promoter, an ex-Israeli soldier who spoke little English, and a stripper from one of Southeast D.C.'s dick bars. Alcohol and other social lubricants were involved and I have a distinct memory of an impromptu audition session that fell outside my job description as a freelance writer on one of my gayest assignments ever. ...[more]
Preventing a Mob
We must defend liberty and equality from fear and intolerance
On April 19, after the arrest of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (hereinafter ''Johar''), residents of Boston's Watertown neighborhood applauded the police and chanted, ''USA! USA!'' Some American Muslims watching on TV had mixed emotions, taking the celebration as a xenophobic display. I took it as an expression of relief and gratitude. But my Muslim friends have a point. In the wake of a violent attack, it is easy to target minorities for group blame. With sufficient provocation, any crowd might ...[more]
Today's Most Popular Articles
- Boy Scouts vote to lift ban on gay youth (Poliglot)
- Warming Trend (Feature Story)
- Schedule of official events (Black Pride Guide)
- Welcome to DC Black Pride Weekend (Black Pride Guide)
- Virginia GOP Chooses Cuccinelli-Jackson-Obenshain Ticket (News)
- ACTing Out (Black Pride Guide)
- The Crazy Uncle Party (Opinion)
- Twin Temptation (Clublife)
- Olney's Edge (Stage)
- Black Pride Reckoning (Opinion)
