-
issue
-
3
-
Date Issued
-
Jun-Jul 2017
-
Format
-
PDF/A
-
Publisher
-
Frances Stevens
-
Identifier
-
Curve_Vol27_No3_June-July-2017_OCR_PDFa.pdf
-
extracted text
-
®
74470
80539
MENTION "CDL17" WHEN YOU CALL
STELLARANNIVERSARY
LUXURY
CELEBRATIONS
ACCOMMODATIONS
EXOTIC
DESTINATIONS
STAR-STUDDED
ENTERTAINMENT
THETRAVELCOMPANY FORLESBIANS
OLIVIA.COM • (415)962-5700 X1
NEW FRIENDSHIPS
& LIFELONGMEMORIES
0, oliviacompanies
G oliviatravels O oliviatravel
O oliviatravel
CST#1009281040
JUN/JUL
2017
FEATURES
20
TRANSMILITARY HEALTH
Opening up the counseling
profession to the reality of
transgender service members.
36
FANCY FOOTWORK
Stylish all-gender shoes and
boots by genderqueer style
pioneer NiK Kacy.
WELL SUITED
Dress to impress with a
bespoke suit by Kipper
Clothiers.
~JS
CELESBIANS AT HOME
A peek inside the homes or
offices of our favorite A-list
queer women.
3J
THE PRIDE LIST
Meet the reader-voted list of
lesbian, bisexual, and queer
achievers striving for equality.
(JO
A FAMILY OUTING
Mariah Brown of Sister Wives
proudly comes out.
(JS
GOLDEN GATE PRIDE
The City by the Bay celebrates
a summer of love and Pride.
7J
HAPPY CAMPERS
A lesbian couple in love lives
large in a tiny trailer.
2
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
IN EVERYISSUE
34
4
EDITOR'S NOTE
6
CURVETTES
8
FEEDBACK
10
THE GAYDAR
80
STARS
TRENDS
REVIEWS
11 OUT IN FRONT
Meet the community leaders
who are doing us proud. By
Sheryl Kay
24 FILMS
Do you know about the hit UK
web series Different For Girls?
By Jane Czyzselska
11 IN CASE YOU MISSED
IT ... LGBT news from across
the country.
26 MUSIC
Electronic duo Goldfrapp
make a spectacular return. By
Merryn Johns
12 WOMEN WE LOVE
Each issue we pick a lucky lady
with a look and a life to match.
13 CURVE CONFIDENTIAL
What's new and noteworthy
with our favorite celesbians.
By Chloe Curran
VIEWS
6 POLITICS
Deep thoughts and heartfelt
convictions on a different topic
each issue from our contributing politics editor. By Victoria
A. Brownworth
8 SEX
All curvy girls need to know
about sex positions good
for self-esteem. By Yana
Tallon-Hicks
31 BOOKS
Excellent summer reading,
from coming out, to being out,
to a memorable memoir.
LAST LOOK
78 CROSSWORD
Can you tame our Queer Quiz?
By Myles Mellor
18 ISSUES
Our in-depth look into a hot
button topic affecting queer
women worldwide.
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
3
A Summer
Unprecedented
T
he first ever LGBTQ Pride March took place in New York
City on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the one-year
anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. In that inaugural
year, it's estimated that more than 2,000 people participated in the
march. Last year, according to organizers, around 30,000 people
marched in the NYC Pride Parade, and around 2 million spectators
joined the marchers-a jump of half a million from the previous
year. Clearly, people are still concerned about the future rights of
the LGBTQcommunity.
For many of us, since last year's U.S. presidential election, Pride
has become protest. I'm not sure everyone likes that development.
For many of us, Pride has always signified a season of joy and
visibility, a time to literally feel proud of ourselves. But according
to our recent CurveMag.com poll, this year's Pride Parade will have
more in common with the 1970 Pride March than any other.
Since New York is the birthplace of the modern Pride movement,
I chatted with Eboni Munn, Communications Manager at NYC Pride,
and asked her how she saw the city's upcoming Pride event. Would
4
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
the current political context affect any of the plans, procedures,
and protocols for NYC Pride in June 2017?
"We recently announced the four grand marshals set to lead
this year's critical LGBT Pride demonstration: The ACLU, Brooke
Guinan [FDNY], Krishna Stone [GMHC], and Geng Le [Blued];'
she said. "The rally will also go back to its roots. We're organizing
community activists, politicians, and more in response to the
current political climate. With this year's NYC Pride March and Rally,
we're speaking to the social and political tensions brought on by
the new administration;' confirmed Munn.
She also expects an exceptional response from participants
and spectators. "We are experiencing an unprecedented moment
in our history, and we're expecting the LGBT community and our
allies to make their voices heard in immense proportions:'
This is our Pride issue, and since not everyone will be in New
York or on either coast for Pride season, it's important to remember
that Pride can be grown and nourished anywhere, especially
in small towns. In this issue, we give a shout-out to Minneapolis
as an example of one of the many vibrant communities that will
be making a rainbow stand this year. And to see more examples
of grassroots initiative, look no further than our Pride List-a
reader-generated roll call of achieving queer women in arts and
entertainment, business and enterprise, activism and community,
from coast to coast.
It wouldn't be Pride without some serious eye candy. For your
Pride pleasure, I can highly recommend the game-changing
lesbian feature film Below Her Mouth, starring our cover girl, the
Swedish supermodel Erika Linder. This film is about as out (and
sexy!) as you can get-and, naturally, it comes from our northern
neighbors in Toronto, Canada who are clearly exercizing their
freedom of expression. Exclusively written, directed, and crewed
by (mostly queer) women, the film is not only fun and sure to
provoke discussion, it's a reminder that sisters are doing it for
themselves.
Happy Pride!
~·
7
MERRYNJOHNS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
merryn@curvemag.com
~ @Merryn1
*
Join Macy's as we celebrate
Family + Friends + Love + Life + Equality + Respect
We are proud to join the parade across America in honor of National Pride Month.
We think it's really something to celebrate.
Plus, join us in our continued support of The Trevor Project!
The Trevor Project provides life-saving crisis
intervention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.
FOR MORE DETAILS VISIT
macys.com/celebrate
*
macys
RONT /
cu RVETTES
DEANNACOR & MEGANSHAINE
Megan Shaine, Ph.D., is a licensed professional counselor
and assistant professor of counseling at Hood College in
Frederick, Maryland. Deanna Cor is a licensed professional
counselor and assistant professor of counseling at
Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. They were
speakers at the American Counseling Association's annual
conference in San Francisco this year, and share their
insight into transgender mental health in the military on
page 20.
curve
THE BEST-SELLING
JUN/JUL
LESBIAN
2017 » VOLUME
MAGAZINE
27 NUMBER
3
PUBLISHER Silke Bader
FOUNDING PUBLISHER Frances Stevens
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Merryn Johns
SENIORCOPY EDITOR Katherine Wright
CONTRIBUTINGEDITORS Marcie Bianco, Victoria A.
Brownworth, Lyndsey D'Arcangelo, Anita Dolce Vita,
Sheryl Kay, Gillian Kendall, Dave Steinfeld
EDITORIALASSISTANTSGemma Dart
OPERATIONS
DIRECTOROF OPERATIONS Jeannie Sotheran
PROOFING
YANATALLON-HICKS
Yana is a consent, sex and sexuality writer and educator
living in Northampton, MA. Her work centers on pleasureand consent-based sex education as a positive in our
lives and the world. Yana'sworkshops have been held at
colleges and universities across New England and she was
invited to speak in Vienna, Austria as part of TEDxVienna
Salon. Yana will be awarded her Masters Degree in
Marriage & Family Therapy from Antioch University in
2017. Her article on sex positions for curvy girls is on page
28. (yanatallonhicks.com)
PROOFREADERMarcie Bianco
ADVERTISING
NATIONAL SALES Rivendell Media (908) 232-2021
EMAIL todd@curvemagazine.com
ART/PRODUCTION
ART DIRECTOR Bruno Cesar Guimaraes
SOCIAL MEDIA
MANAGERGemma Dart
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Melany Joy Beck, Kelsy Chauvin, Chloe Curran, Jane
Czyzselska, Mallorie DeRiggi, Dar Dowling, Kristin
Flickinger, Jessica Halem, Sarah Hasu, Kim Hoffman,
Francesca Lewis, Charlene Lichtenstein, Sassafras
Lowrey, Kelly McCartney, Myles Mellor, Bella Qvist, Laurie
K. Schenden, Janelle Sorenson, Yana Tallon-Hicks, Lisa
Tedesco
CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS & PHOTOGRAPHERS
Steph Brusig, Erica Camille, Grace Chu, Meagan Cignoli,
Sara Lautman, Syd London, Maggie Parker, Diana Price, B.
Proud, Robin Roemer, Leslie Van Stelten
JANELLE & MELANY BECK
Janelle and Melany met in 2009 while Melany was
covering Sick of Sarah for Curve and Janelle was the
band's tour manager. Since then, they have collaborated
on multiple projects including several Curve features and
cover stories, the short documentary Bring It 2 Peter, and
their own alt-country band, Delavan. Janelle and Melany
married in 2014. "We met because of Curve," says
Melany. "It's a very meaningful part of our lives and we're
excited to be able to work together, doing something we
love." Their article on Sister Wives is on page 60.
VALERIE & JESSI
Valerie and Jessi left a sedentary life dominated by
'stuff' to become digital nomads and travel the country
in a teardrop camper in pursuit of truth, meaning, and
happiness, as they live minimally, meet interesting
people, and learn about life. They were married on June
27, 2015 one day after same-sex marriage became legal,
and have spent the past 6 months exploring the natural
world, cooking delicious food, and documenting their
adventures. (happycamperwives.com)
CONTACT INFO
Curve Magazine
PO Box 467
New York, NY 10034
PHONE (415) 871-0569
SUBSCRIPTIONINQUIRIES(800) 705-0070 (toll-free in
EDITORIALEMAIL editor@curvemag.com
LETTERSTO THE EDITOREMAIL letters@curvemagazine.com
Volume 27 Issue 3 Curve (ISSN 1087-867X) is published 6 times per
year (February/March, April/May, June/July, August/September,
October/ November/, December/January) by Avalon Media, LLC,
PO Box 467, New York NY 10034. Subscription price: $35/year, $45
Canadian (U.S. funds only) and $55 international (U.S. funds only).
Returned checks will be assessed a $25 surcharge. Periodicals
postage paid at San Francisco, CA 94114 and at additional mailing
offices (USPS 0010-355). Contents of Curve Magazine may not
be reproduced in any manner, either whole or in part, without
written permission from the publisher. Publication of the name or
photograph of any persons or organizations appearing, advertising
or listing in Curve may not be taken as an indication of the sexual
orientation of that individual or group unless specifically stated.
Curve welcomes letters, queries, unsolicited manuscripts and
artwork. Include SASE for response. Lack of any representation
only signifies insufficient materials. Submissions cannot be
returned unless a self-addressed stamped envelope is included.
No responsibility is assumed for loss or damages. The contents
do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editor, unless
specifically stated. All magazines sent discreetly. Subscription
Inquiries: Please write to Curve, Avalon Media LLC., PO Box 467 New
York NY 10034, email jeannie@curvemag.com Canadian Agreement
Number: 40793029. Postmaster: Send address changes to jeannie@
curvemag.com, Curve, PO Box 17138,N. Hollywood, CA 91615-7138.
Printed in the U.S.
curvemag.com
6
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
usonly)
ADVERTISINGEMAIL todd@curvemagazine.com
~
-,,L=._
___,,~···•'t';l"",..:'
___
~
---~--,--~
-----L--
----♦--/_.,___
-
J_.::::1~==;;;;.J[,,.-.:_-_--;_-_...
--.. -r,.__,__~~-:i~
-L- ...
~1BEST
::~,:,,: PIACES TO WORK
2016
for LGBT Equality
RONT /
FEEDBACK
PANTSUITPOWER
gorgeous women of color.
What makes a warrior princess?
Chrys Nguyen, Melbourne
Apparently, a former NICU baby
Australia
that defied the odds and rocks
ESSENTIALSTORIES
feminist's heart swoon. The
a helmet that would make any
smiley baby made her debut on
Thank you Lucas Silveira for
•
sharing your amazing story
the popular Facebook group,
["My Integration," V.27#2] with
Pantsuit Nation, with a picture
us. It's inspiring and uplifting
of her applauding while wearing
to learn of your inner journey
her "Nevertheless She Persisted"
while transitioning, as so often
helmet. Within minutes the world
we focus on the external. It's
responded to her hope-filled
DELIGHTFULDIVERSITY
different for everyone and the
message, an ode to Elizabeth
This issue was brilliant. I loved
more stories we hear the better.
Warren's battle cry, by taking the
reading the article on Margaret
There's no one right way to
picture viral. "My little girl was
Cho ["Margaret Takes a Stand,"
transition. Thanks, Curve for
born with some health issues that
V.27#2] and I really enjoyed
supporting the 'T in LGBTQ.
resulted in some pretty intense
the fashion section with all the
BrandonK., Tampa FL.
interventions that ended up saving
her," says her mom, who has
requested to remain anonymous.
"We were told by the doctors some
MywifeJennifer
KnightandI werepeacefully
protesting
TrumpsNashville
v1s1t,
andfoundourselves
surrounded
bya seaof Trumpsupporters
wantingtheirpicturetaken
1nfrontof hisphotoI askedmywifeto followme,and
unbeknownst
to her I askedherto kissme SheobhgedI
washopingto showloveevenwhensurrounded
bythose
whomaynotbe soacceptingor understanding
Wehave
beenaskedbymanyto submitourphoto1nthehopeof
showingthatnomatterwhat,lovewillalwaystrumphate
the rosy, chubby-cheeked image
RobinCohn,Nashville
TN.
more of her in the years to come.
pretty scary news [and] were given
an explanation of what to expect
but nevertheless, despite the
rollercoaster, she persisted." Will
of baby-girl power overcome
health issues to be the next Gloria
Steinem, Elizabeth Warren, or
Ellen? We think we'll be seeing
li•1 ■■:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::i·
WHAT
ARE
YOUR
PLANS
FOR
PRIDE
2017?
22%
HANGING OUT MY RAINBOW FLAG FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE
25%
MARCHING IN MY LOCAL PRIDE PARADE
23%
l'M TOO SCARED TO BE OUT AND PROUD, I LIVE IN A RED STATE
30%
THIS YEAR IT'S NOT A PRIDE PARADE, IT'S A PROTEST!
Send to:
WRITE
Curve magazine, PO Box 467, New York, NY 10034
US! letters@curvemagazine.com
Email:
8
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Subscriber Services are now available at
curvemag.com/magazine
✓ subscribe
✓ pay your bill
✓ change address
✓ renew
✓ get missing issues
✓ give a gift
11 GIRL GAYDAR
13 CELESBIANGOSSIP
14 THEY SAID WHAT?
~
NEWS
GOSSIP
PROFILE
»
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
9
NDS/
THE GAYDAR
IMDb, the world's largest movie
website, adopts a new 'F-rating'
to highlight films that are directed
by women, written by women,
and/or pass the Bechdel test
Yelp helps users identify businesses
that offer gender-neutral restrooms after
announcing its participation in an amicus
brief supporting trans student, Gavin
Grimm
Charlize Theron as
a British spy in sexy,
violent thriller Atomic
Blonde gets it on with
a fellow female French
operative
Trump omits LGBTQ
people from the categories
for the 2020 Census
IMDb
Houston's
anti-LG BT
pastors give
"toilet seat"
awards to
state senators
who voted
against the
discriminatory
SB 6 Bill
Ghost in the
Shell's weird
lesbian kiss
is seen as
tokenistic by
fans of the
original series
HONORARY
LIFETIME
LESBIAN
MEMBERSHIP
Below Her Mouth
receives a triple
F-rating for queer
female director,
female writer,
female producer,
cinematographer,
crew and female
leads
Hillary
Clinton wears
leather blazer
and bangs
to speak at a
conference.
Where was this
power dyke
look during the
election?
SNL'slesbian version
of Logo's Fire Island,
Cherry Grove, has
the girls getting drunk,
crying, playing with
babies and going to
bed at 9 p.m.
10
CURVE
JUN/JUL
Big Freedia emojis help
put some bounce into
your phonel
Dove's latest #RealMoms
commercial features transgender
woman Shea and her partner,
lesbian moms of a son
2017
America Chavez shatters barriers in the
comics universe and beyond as the first
lesbian Latina superhero with her own
Marvel Comics series
TRENDS/
SUZANA
TRATNIK
>>Ljubljana,
Slovenia
Writer/Activist
Suzana Tratnik was born in Slovenia, in the rural town
NE
ELIZA
BYARD,
EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
OF
GLSEN,
MET
WITH
BETSY
DeVos to relay the concerns of hundreds of thousands of students,
educators, and parents, and to request the support and protection of
LGBTQ youth from the Trump Administration, from the Department of
of Murska Sobota, on a small street called Mala Ulica
Education and from its Office for Civil Rights Byard and GLSEN JOlned
(which, in Slovenian, means Little Street). It was there, as
forces with The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and
well as in worlds of her own creation, that Tratnik spent
Equality M1ch1gan and a delegation of families to make DeVos aware of
time reading and writing in a diary when she was a child.
"the pervasive violence and discriminat1on that the ma1or1ty of trans-
Today, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tratnik is still writing, now
gender students face across the country, 1nclud1ng being prevented
for millions of readers. Her books and short stories have
from using their correct name and pronouns and appropriate school
been translated into more than 20 languages.
facil1t1es,"said Byard "We told DeVos about the 1mmed1ate impact
"The need to tell the story and make a place for myself
in this world by telling my story;' is what motivated Tratnik
of w1thdraw1ng the [Title IX] guidance, and discussed ways that she
might be able to m1t1gatethe pain, fear, and confusion that dec1s1on
to write professionally, she explains. "Writing is something
has caused We described the years of experience, research and care-
I find most satisfying in my life. It is structuring the world
ful pol1cy-mak1ng behind the original Title IX guidance and all of the
in the way it is not possible in reality, which is always
emerging best practices 1thelped to publ1c1ze" (glsen.org)
chaotic."
Tratnik sees her writing as a crossroads where many
of her identities intersect: being a lesbian, the child of a
• AFREE
GENDER
CARE
CLINIC
has opened in Austin, Texas.
TexasHealth Action (THA),a
non-profit that promotes sexual
wellness, has launched a new
gender care clinic to address
the wellness needs of the
transgender community. The
clinic will be the first of its kind in
Central Texasand provides free,
high-quality, gender affirming
medical care to transgender and
gender non-binary individuals.
working-class family, a sociologist, an activist, and an art
lover. One of her well-known books, Lesbian Activism,
Step by Step, contains many of her own recollections
during the past 25 years of the Slovenian lesbian
movement.
"I wrote down what was important for me to become
a lesbian activist;' she says. "Our personal stories have
the potential to become a source of political and social
change:'
Homosexuality was taboo in Slovenia when it was part
of the socialist republic of Yugoslavia, back in the early
• REALITY
lVCONTESTANT
ZEKE
1980s, when Tratnik was first coming out. Today, she says,
Smith, who appeared on backto-back seasons of Survivor:
Game Changers, was outed as
transgender by fellow contestant
Jeff Varner in an episode that
aired in April. Varner, who is
gay and cisgender, confronted
Smith during tribal council for
being "deceptive:' Varner later
apologized but was fired from his
job in real estate as a result of the
uproar.
LGBT life is an integral part of the public conversation, and
coming out is not a big issue anymore. But she quickly acknowledges that not only are there entire countries where
it is still acceptable to kill people for being gay, but there
are also "hidden places;' even in so-called democratic
societies, where it is difficult to be different.
Moving forward, Tratnik says that the global lesbian
community needs to be aware of women's issues and
women's rights in general, because they are easily forgotten or simply nonexistent in many societies. And there
must be more focus on special needs and minority groups
within the LGBT community, and in society as a whole.
"It's important to include lesbian issues everywhere, in
every aspect of society. Otherwise, we may have some
kind of a lesbian existence, but the universal culture and
ideology remain prevailing;' she says.
•
• ALESBIAN
HAS
BEEN
ELECTED
to lead Germany's Fascist party.
In elections held in late April,
Alexander Gauland and Alice
Weidel were named co-leaders
of the German Alternative fur
Deutschland (AfD) party. Weidel,
38, a banker, is openly gay and lives
with her partner and two children.
The AfD's platform opposes LGBTQ
rights and is also anti-immigration.
• THE
BODY
OFAWOMAN
FOUND
burned in the South African
township of Kroonstad is thought
to be 28-year-old lesbian Nonki
Smous, according to ID found on
the body. Local LGBTactivist and
relative Nthabiseng Mokanyane,
says Smous was openly gay in the
community. Her murder, which
is thought to be a hate crime,
followed the LGBTQcommunity's
Pride march and a celebration.
• THE
FAMILY
OFALESBIAN
SHOT
by police could be paid $1 million in
a settlement, if approved by Denver
FIVE
LESBIANS
WERE
BRUTALLY City Council. Jessica Hernandez, 17,
attacked by a group of 15 men
was killed by police while driving a
outside a pub in Portsmouth,
stolen car toward an officer 1n2015.
England on April 16.The women,
She had been sleeping in the car
in their 20s and 30s, released
with friends after a night out when
photos of their injuries to press
police investigated the vehicle as
but do not wish to be named.
suspicious.
- By Sheryl Kay
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
11
ARTIST
UNDER
THE
TRUMP
ADMINISTRATION:
I feel for other people who can't come in
[to the U.S.] because I know what that's
like. Now I feel more that I have to be
vocal, I have to open my mouth, I have to
say what I can, I gotta put it in my music,
I have to put it in the visuals, because it
does affect me. It affects all women and
women of color, and also a lot of women
who did vote for Trump-they're realizing
now that some of the policies affect them.
ON
HER
NEXT
BIG
MUSIC
VENTURE:
It's called Black Cocaine, it's a 4-part visual
piece about how I feel living in America.
Being black, growing up in Canada-it's
not that racism wasn't there, it's just that
living in America is a whole different
ballgame. Racism can drive you crazy. It's
everywhere, [discrimination against] color,
race, class, gender, and things I'm starting
to see now at my age that I never really
saw growing up. Even with my girlfriendshe's white, she's Russian-we see it
together and we live it. I just feel like my
eyes have opened up even more. I love this
country but I still think there's too much
emphasis placed on skin color. When I
came here I had an executive say, 'You're a
black girl that does rock, plays the guitar, I
don't get it: I wasn't doing the typical R&B,
they didn't know what category to put
me in. Black Cocaine is a visual story in a
beautiful way about how I feel.
ON
WHY
SHE
QUIT
REALITY
TV:
It's like 5 percent real. There's a part that's
like your old life you're re-enacting again,
and people think that's exactly who you
are. I was there at the time of my exhusband but we were playing it as though
we weren't already divorced. Some people
didn't even know at the time that I had
done music because they're so attracted
to all the other drama that is done just
for ratings. My girlfriend Merika and I
were already together when I was on Hip
Hop: Atlanta but [producers] didn't really
show that till the end. That wasn't enough
drama for them. I also didn't want it to be
something that was exposed to be trashy,
which is why I decided to leave. I didn't
feel like our relationship was going to be
represented in the best way.
ON
WHAT
SHE
LIKES
ABOUT
REALITY
TV:
It's entertainment and I was able to expose
my music to a whole new audience. I do
12
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
my music independently through my
production company, House of Margeaux:
it's music, fashion, and art. I write the
music, I do the videos, I have my own
merchandise, my art is the fashion, so for
me being a TV personality was fun and it's
a way to invest in my career.
ON
HER
CANADIAN
ROOTS,
TRAVEL,
AND
WHERE
SHE
CALLS
HOME:
I started my music when I was in Canada
and I was 14 and I started writing in the
studio of my older sister's friend. They
were always looking for singers and I
wanted to do it. I would always write to hip
hop tracks, and I was always in the studio
writing and singing. Home is wherever I
travel with my girl. I've always said I never
want just want one place to be, I always
want it to be the whole world so I can just
travel and do music.
ON
BEING
OUT
TO
HER
FAN
BASE:
I don't pretend to have a girlfriend because
I think it's going to get me sales, or it's
maybe cool at the moment. No, I really
love this woman, and it was really hard
for me to tell my mom, and I thought, If
I can go out on a limb, maybe that will
encourage or inspire someone else. When
I did "Girl on the Left" [co-starring Merika] I
wanted everyone to see it.
ON
HOW
SHE
IDENTIFIES:
I would always say to my girl, 'Tm a free
spirit" and she would say, "Baby, you're
a fucking lesbian:' I've been with men
but I always thought that was because I
had to. I never knew how to categorize
myself. I just know I would prefer to be
with women and in love with women, so I
guess that would make me a lesbian. I say
'free spirit' as a person, but I'm in love with
my girl and we're going to get married.
ON
BEING
ANON-NATIONAL,
BLACK,
QUEER
WOMAN(houseofmargeaux.com)
TRENDstGOSSIP
CURVE
CONFIDENTIAL
CELESBIANS BEHAVING BADLYAND
SOMETIMES WELL.
BY CHLOE CURRAN
• SARAH PAULSON MAKES TIME'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE
Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett has lauded Paulson in the profile she wrote for
TIME magazine: "In remaining true to her distinct voice, she has been at the forefront of a
generation of women who are changing the landscape of the film and television industry ...
When I first met her, on the set of Carol, I was floored by her buoyancy, her irreverence,
her left-field sense of humor and her devotion to her craft. You enter a scene with Sarah
and it's game on. She brings with her, in work as in life, the sense that anything is possible.
Anything." We can't wait to see what Sarah does next. It's sure to be surprising.
• JANE LYNCH SLEPT WITH HILARY ROSEN
When out reporter Mary Emily O'Hara of NBC News asked Jane Lynch, "Who is the most
famous woman you've ever slept with?" Lynch replied, "Me! I'm the most famous woman
I've ever slept with. No, okay ... Hilary Rosen. I just gave you a scoop. You're welcome.
Oh, and Hilary: you're welcome too." Rosen is the former head of the Recording Industry
Association of America, former columnist for The Washington Post, former HRC Lobbyist,
and former political director of Huffington Post. I don't know what she's up to now. Probably
napping, what with all that work and bedding Jane Lynch.
• SHANNON PURSER COMES OUT AS BISEXUAL
The revelation comes in the midst of social media scandal. Purser, best known for her
scene-stealing role as Barb in Stranger Things, is currently co-starring in the CW's Archie
reboot, Riverdale. Queer fans accused Riverdale of queerbaiting because they teased
audiences with a kiss between Betty and Veronica, then promptly eliminated the chances
of those two characters ever getting together. When outraged LGBTQ audiences came at
Shannon on Twitter, she responded by coming out as bisexual and saying she had never
heard of queerbaiting before. Welcome to the community, Shannon!
• MELISSA ETHERIDGE GOES HIGH AND HATERS GO LOW
In an interview with Access Hollywood-and in time for stoner Christmas 4/20-Etheridge
defended her choice to smoke weed with her adult children. "You know, my kids grew up
in Southern California. It's not a crazy thing. It was a decision, it's not something I do a lot
at all-hardly! I want people to understand that this is not 'Hey kids, let's go get high!' That
wasn't what it is at all. It was an experience that was kind of family and sacred ...! wish the
discussion could be about people spending time in prison whose lives have completely
been wrecked because of possession." Indeed!
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
13
NDstSHESAID
"So proud
@florianalima
& I can represent@
TheCWSupergirl@ the
#glaadawards & honor our
LGBTfamily worldwide"
Chyler Leigh on Twitter
about the GLAAD
Awards
"It's
very intense
and visceral and really
beautiful and we work hard
at it ...She's a little bit like my
other husband or wife. She's like
my wife."
Amanda Peet on Sarah
Paulson to People
magazine
fWJ
WJ
a.
...J
(.?
u
~
~::,
u
14
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
18BEYONDTHE BATHROOM DEBATE
20SUPPORTINGTRANS IN THE MILITARY
•
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
15
From
Pride to
Protest
It's going to be a very
different Pride this year.
BY VICTORIA
A. BROWNWORTH
Like millions of other LGBTQ people, I
thought Pride 2017 would be heralded by
our first woman president, Hillary Clinton.
I expected to see the White House lit
in rainbow colors. I expected that the
woman who stood at the Names Quilt in
Washington, D.C., in 1996, who was the
only First Lady to ever march in a Gay Pride
Parade (New York City, 2000), the woman
who as Secretary of State was the highestlevel world leader ever to declare that "gay
rights are human rights" and call out the
global violence against lesbians and gay
16
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
men (Geneva, 2011), the woman who had
lesbian couples in her video announcing
her bid for the presidency-I expected that
a special declaration would be coming to
us this Pride from that woman.
Instead, as the 48th anniversary
of the Stonewall Rebellion looms, we
have the most anti-LGBTQ, anti-woman
administration in our collective history.
Instead of moving forward with more civil
rights legislation protecting us as women
and as LGBTQpeople, we have a president
who is an admitted sexual predator, a vice
president who is a leading proponent of
conversion therapy, and a cabinet filled
with board members and financial backers
of the Family Research Council, which the
Southern Poverty Law Center and Right
Wing Watch consider a hate group. The
SPLC has stated that the FRC has been a
"font of anti-gay propaganda throughout
its history." And, as I wrote for Curve before
the election, when there was still time to
stop Trump, the GOP platform was written
with input from Tony Perkins, the FRC's
executive director.
During Pride month 2016, Donald
Trump claimed he was "better for the gay
community" than Hillary Clinton, exhorting,
"Ask the gays!" During his dystopian
acceptance speech at the Republican
National Convention, Trump trolled us,
asserting he would "protect LGBT... and Q
citizens from the violence and oppression
of a hateful foreign ideology;' referring to
what he calls "radical Islam:'
But ISISwas never coming for us. Trump,
Pence, and his cabinet members were.
Trump began his attacks on women
and LGBTQ people immediately. On
Inauguration Day, the LGBTQ webpage at
the White House was the first of the Obama
era to be dismantled. Trump signed an
executive order stopping all funding for
global family planning clinics-often the
only available healthcare for poor women.
Trump followed those actions with the
nomination of a virulently anti-gay, antiwoman Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch.
In February, Trump rescinded the
Obama era executive order granting
protections for transgender and gendernonconforming students in public schools,
the order that let them use bathrooms and
facilities corresponding with their gender
identity. Trump also fought for the GOP's
American Health Care Act, which would
have made it difficult for many LGBTQ
people to access affordable care, and
would have cut all women's health services,
including prophylactic cancer screenings
and all maternity services.
VIEWS/
In March, one week before Equal Pay
Day, Trump rescinded yet another of
Obama's signature rulings for women: the
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive
order. That EO required companies with
federal contracts to adhere to 14 different
labor and civil rights laws, including
ones aimed at protecting parental leave.
Obama's order meant that there could
be no discrimination against women and
minorities in the workplace. Obama's EO
also secured equal pay for women, as well
as human relations mediation for workplace
sexual harassment allegations.
For his part, Vice President Mike Pence
cast a rare tie-breaking vote in the Senate
on a bill giving states permission to withhold
federal family planning funds from Planned
Parenthood and other abortion providers.
Planned Parenthood services millions
at its 650 clinics nationwide, providing
affordable health care for women and
men. Many LGBTQpeople receive an array
of services at Planned Parenthood clinics,
including testing and treatment for STDs.
In April, Trump nominated an anti-gay
Tennessee state senator, Mark Green, as
Secretary of the Army. Obama had made
history by appointing Eric Fanning, the first
openly gay person to hold that position.
This entire column could list what Trump
and his cadre have done or plan to do to
women and LGBTQ people. But the most
important thing Trump has done since
his election is fuel The Resistance. And,
according to a study released in April, The
Resistance is female. We saw the millions
of women in their pink pussy hats back in
January and wondered if it was a single
event. The Day Without a Woman, March
8,,wasn't nearly as successful. But now it
seems women have been doing the hard
work of The Resistance all along: 86 percent
of those calling Congress and emailing and
turning up at town halls and statewide
protests are women. Among those, the
majority are over 45. And 77 percent intend
to continue their work in The Resistance
throughout Trump's presidency.
The Resistance has been female in
Congress as well. Nancy Pelosi, Maxine
Waters, and Barbara Lee in the House.
Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Mazie
Hirono, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren in
the Senate. Sally Yates in the Department
of Justice. Myriad women judges staying
Trump's Muslim ban.
Every Pride I think abut what it means,
nearly 50 years after those halcyon days
in Greenwich Village. I sobbed through
all eight hours of When We Rise when
it premiered in February. Some of that
LGBTQhistory was my own; all of it is ours.
What moved me most was the reminder
of how civil rights movements beginone person, then another, then a group,
then hundreds turn to thousands turn to
millions. Disenfranchisement propels us.
Women have long been the backbone
of movements, but our voices and our
actions have often been elided from
history. Our work-especially the work of
lesbians-from abolition to Stonewall has
been overshadowed by the work of men,
or perceived as less vital, less historic.
Women have been portrayed over and
over again as passive. But it was a butch
lesbian, Storme DeLarverie, who is credited
with throwing the first punch, quite literally,
that started the Stonewall Rebellion. It
was a lesbian, Barbara Gittings, who was
responsible for getting homosexuality cut
from the American Psychiatric Association's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders through her intensive activism in
1973. She also co-founded the Daughters
of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization in
the U.S. Susan B. Anthony, abolitionist and
suffragist. Dr. Alice Hamilton, founder of
occupational medicine and author of the
first texts devoted to the subject. Sally Ride,
first woman and lesbian in space. Barbara
Jordan, first black lesbian in Congress.
Tammy Baldwin, first out lesbian in the
Senate. Alice Walker,writer and activist, the
first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize
and National Book Award. Angela Davis,
Black Panther and true revolutionary.
There are so many lesbians whose
actions have changed America; these are
but a few. My favorite lesbian activist is Jane
Addams-a lesbian for The Resistance and
perhaps the single most important woman
in American history.
Addams was the founder of social
work and the settlement movement, cofounder of the American Civil Liberties
Union, leader of the peace movement
during World War I. Addams co-founded
the Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom (WILPF),still a thriving
social justice organization, one that today
subsidizes women's peace work worldwide.
She helped convene the Washington,
POLITI
D.C., meeting in 1915 that resulted in the
founding of the Woman's Peace Party, the
first national women's peace organization in
the U. S., and was elected its first president.
She was the first American woman to win
the Nobel Peace Prize.
The work Addams did was phenomenal
in the most literal sense. Her settlement
movement revolutionized the lives of
women and children to this day. At the
time she founded Hull House, there was
no template for her work, yet between the
school and social services the settlement
served 2,000 people per week.
There is no template for our activism,
either, as we contemplate how best to fight
the Trump regime. The Resistance is real,
but the plan is still evolving.
Lesbians have founded and/or defined
the most important reformist movements in
American history. It'svital that we remember
this now, in the time of Trump. It's vital
that we remember that we are actors, not
passive and despairing hand-wringers. We
may have expected to be the beneficiaries
of the most progressive political and
social platform in American history under
a Hillary Clinton presidency-a platform
that addressed the lives of women and
LGBTG people. A platform that addressed
systemic racism and climate change and
income inequality. A platform that was
inclusive and expansive and gave us all so
much hope.
Social justice warrior has become
a pejorative term in recent years, but
these lesbians were real warriors who
had physical battles to wage, who had to
put their bodies on the line for what they
believed, for the furtherance of justice.
That is where we are this disrupted and
disruptive Pride 2017.We can no longer hide
behind keyboards, nor expect someone
else to be on the front lines. In the time
of Trump the front lines have come to us.
Like Jane Addams chaining herself to the
White House gates, or Storme DeLarverie
throwing that first punch at Stonewall, risks
must be taken. Our bodies must be at the
town halls, in the protests, risking arrest,
risking our lives.
Lesbians have a long history of creating
change in America, starting with the
abolitionists and suffragists. This Pride we
might not have our first woman president,
but we have The Resistance. And with it,
the future, at last, is female.•
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
17
Jacobs:
The
current administration has
begun by focusing on trans youth. Sadly,
these policies hurt those most vulnerable;
trans youth so often lack social supports,
access to care, face bullying and
harassment at home and in their schools,
and struggle to cope with depression,
anxiety, and suicidal ideation. The history
of the trans community is one of having to
struggle for our rights and is interwoven
with that of the rest of the LGBTQ+
community; in this time of opposition, our
book becomes an activist project with the
aim of furthering social change.
WHAT
ISCURRENTLY
THE
BIGGEST
THREAT
TO
TRANS
PEOPLE
INTHE
U.S.?
Trans people are targeted,
Erickson-Schroth:
The Great
Batl11~oon1
Debacle
Laura Erickson-Schroth
and Laura Jacobs on the
importance of their new
book, You're In the Wrong
Bathroom!, which tackles
myths surrounding
transgender rights and
identity.
18
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
discriminated against, and harassed,
leading to mental health disparities and
unemployment. Trans people need better
healthcare and legal protections. Gender
nonconforming children deserve school
environments where they can grow and
thrive. I'm a strong believer in robust social
HOW
DOYOU
EACH
IDENTIFY?
Erickson-Schroth:
I'm a queer woman and also
programs. Many of the things that would
help trans people in this country would also
gender nonconforming/genderqueer.
help cis people-things like single payer
Jacobs:
I identify as trans and genderqueer,
national health care, state-sponsored child
care, housing and financial support, and
and as a heretic. I do not identify as having
been 'born in the wrong body; but instead
decreasing our prison population.
Jacobs:
It would be superficial to say
feel I came to my gender through a process
intolerance, to cite the rising rates of hate
of nonjudgmental exploration, and now
describe myself as dapper, ambiguous
crimes or the numerous transphobic and
homophobic legislative actions happening
without being androgynous. I am a trans
around the U.S.,but I think the larger threat
woman performing my own variety of
female masculinity.
to LGBTQ+ is a potential lack of solidarity
between all marginalized groups and a
YOU
WROTE
THE
BOOK
BEFORE
THE
ELECTION.
IS lack of recognition that everyone among
us needs to make clear that intolerance,
THE
BOOK
ISEVEN
MORE
RELEVANT
NOW?
This book may be even
Erickson-Schroth:
hate crimes, and legislative bigotry (of
more necessary now than it would have
whatever variety) are unacceptable.
been during the Obama era because of
the recent threats to safety and legal rights
WHY
DOYOU
THINK
U.S.
LEGISLATORS
FOCUS
SO
MUCH
ONBATHROOMS?
of LGBTQ people. It seems that myths
and misperceptions about trans people
Erickson-Schroth:
Some people who support
continue to spread on a daily basis.
discriminatory
bathroom
laws
are
VIEWStlSSU
genuinely ignorant-they've
never met
a trans person (that they know of) and
make all kinds of assumptions based on
information they're fed by the media.
They don't know that trans people are just
trying to use the bathroom, and that there
are no reported instances of trans people
assaulting anyone in restrooms. A major
factor in all of this is that there's very rigid
gender policing in the U.S. As a gendernonconforming woman, I can't tell you the
number of times I've been stared at or told
I'm in the wrong bathroom. I'm not very
imposing (I'm about 5'1'') so it's not about
safety, but instead about maintaining
certain expectations related to how people
should dress and behave. Many of the
people who have approached me about my
bathroom use clearly know that I am not a
man, and are using this tactic to attempt to
shame me about my gender presentation.
We have to be honest about what the real
concern is. When we talk about bathroom
safety and transgender people, the most
common refrain is that if we permit trans
women to use the women's restroom, then
cis men will feel they are allowed to dress
as women and enter the bathroom too. It's
not about trans people-it's about cis men.
Jacobs:
Distraction
or not, bathroom safety
is a real issue. The facts are clear: never
has there been a recorded instance of
someone trans or gender nonconforming
victimizing another person in a public
bathroom, but much like around issues of
racial segregation or of statutes targeting
gay and lesbian people before, countless
of us have been targets of emotional,
physical, and sexual violence ourselves.
Legislation criminalizing malicious acts in
public restrooms has existed for decades.
Prohibiting trans people from using the
bathroom that aligns with their identity
does nothing to protect women and
children; it only yet again puts the onus on
the 'outsiders; this time on trans individuals
who are already suffering.
to the topic. She complimented me on the
talk itself, then said, "I was really into you
right up to the moment where you said
you were trans. I love your look and style,
but I suddenly asked myself if I would
date you, and I was thinking I probably
wouldn't:' Nothing about me as a living
being changed the moment I disclosed,
yet I shifted in her mind from a cisgender
woman (positive) to someone expressing
themselves in exactly the same way but
now trans (negative). Why did I resonate
with her one minute, but not the next?
Rejecting trans women as women, or
perceiving them as undateable, means
adopting the close-minded stereotypes
that mainstream society foists on the
entire LGBTQ+ community. It suggests
that one community often subjected to
discrimination is permitted to discriminate
against another group further 'outside;
and that a lesbian would become forever
tainted by having contact with someone
who might once have had a penis. It means
that this woman overrode her actual
response of being in a room with me and
was closed to possibilities. If queerness
and feminism have taught us anything, it
is to trust our feelings and that we are all
far more than stereotypes. And I still have
yet to understand why she felt the need to
share those thoughts with me.
genders we fashion in the future, but this
history provides a wealth of knowledge
we can all consider when examining the
meaning of gender within the human
experience. That said, we also need to
recognize issues of privilege. The ability
to transition requires access to healthcare,
the means to take such steps, and safe
environments not available to all. To be
any form of non-binary demands that even
more so.•
TOP
5TRANS
MYTHS
THAT
NEED
DEBUNKING
Erickson-Schroth:
One myth we have in LGBTQ
communities is that we, by virtue of being
queer ourselves, are better able to understand
other queer people's identities, which isn't
necessarily always true. Other myths most
relevant to queer women readers are:
Trans People and Feminists Don't Get Along
That feminists are against trans people. In fact,
most feminists support trans rights, and many
trans people are feminists.
The LGBTQ+ Community is United
Queer women likely already know this-there
are many instances of discrimination and
male dominance in queer spaces.
HOW
CAN
THOSE
WHO
ARE
FLUID
BEACCEPTINGTrans People are Secretly Gay
Many, within and outside queer communities,
OFTHOSE
WHO
ARE
NOT.
AND
VICE
VERSA?
Many cultures have traditions of
view gay and trans identities along a spectrum,
Jacobs:
non-binary genders dating back to the
beginnings of recorded history. I suspect
that 19th and 20th century understandings
of gender will become so passe that future
generations will think us dinosaurs. We are
witnessing this evolution today: traditional
categories of sexuality and gender are
breaking down and so many of us-trans
and gender nonconforming or notare less concerned about conventional
beliefs of who we should be but instead
are focusing on who or what we might
want to be. We are trying to have fun
WHY
WON'T
SOME
CISLESBIANS
INCLUDE
TRANS while questioning gender and sexuality as
parts of our identity. Some look to the past
WOMEN
INTHE
LESBIAN
COMMUNITY?
Let me tell a story: I once had a queerJacobs:
or contemporary non-Western cultures
identified, cisgender woman approach me
for models, consciously or not. Are we
after I had just given a lecture to educate
reinventing old notions or creating new
therapists and doctors on working with
ones not possible before? There may be
trans clients. My identity was not the theme
no perfect balance between respecting
of the session, but I acknowledged myself
what these cultures can teach us and
as trans so as to make clear my relationship
incorporating those legacies into the
assuming that attraction to women makes
someone more masculine and vice versa,
despite gender and sexual orientation being
different parts of a person's identity.
Trans People are Mentally Ill and Therapy
Can Change Them
Many queer women will be able to relate to
this myth because homosexuality for many
years was viewed as a mental illness.
Trans People Want to Be Either Barbie or
Ken
Even within queer communities it is often
assumed that the goal for all trans people is
to fit a stereotypical cis-heterosexual model,
when this couldn't be farther from the truth.
Like lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities,
trans communities are diverse.
You'reIn the Wrong Bathroom!is available
from Beacon Press(beacon.org).
JUN/JUL
2016
CURVE
19
''
ASMEMBERS
OF
THE
LGBT
AND
MILITARY
COMMUNITIES,
THESE
SERVICE
MEMBERS
ATE □
ARE
ATELEV
RISK
FOR
EXPOSURE
TOMULTIPLE
TRAUMATIC
EVENTS
INCLUDING
COMBAT
TRAUMA
AND
MILITARY
SEXUAL
ASSAULT
1111
Serving
WhileTraa~
Where do trans military personnel stand now?
BY MEGAN SHAINE AND DEANNA COR
20
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
A
fter years of being forced to
conceal their identities or
risk medical discharge, loss
of benefits, or even military prosecution,
trans service members and veterans
continue to live in an uncertain time.
Current estimates place the number of
trans people serving in the U.S. military
between 15,000 and 16,000, making the
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) the
largest single employer of trans people in
the country.
In addition, an estimated 134,000
trans veterans are still living in the U.S.
today. In 2016, the Pentagon under the
v1Ews1HEA
Obama Administration ended the longstanding ban on trans people serving
openly in the military, following the
precedent set by the 2011 repeal of
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Recent moves by
the Trump Administration, however, may
leave trans military personnel feeling
fearful that their right to open service
may be revoked or never fully enacted.
President Trump in late 2016 described
the repeal of the trans open service
ban as an example of extreme "political
correctness," and in February 2017
withdrew a previous federal order from
the Obama Administration that protected
the right of trans public school students
to use restrooms matching their gender
identity.
At
the
American
Counseling
Association's Annual Conference and
Expo in San Francisco in March, the
authors provided an overview of the
mental health needs of trans military
service members and veterans within the
current political climate. With policies
regarding open service and trans rights
in general seeming so uncertain, mental
health professionals should be prepared
for military service members, veterans,
and family members who are trans to
continue seek treatment outside the
military.
As members of both the LGBTQ and
military communities,
trans military
personnel face compounded risk for
serious mental health concerns such
as
post-traumatic
stress
disorder,
depression,
suicidal
ideation,
and
homelessness, and also face unique
mental health challenges related to
minority stress and identity concealment.
Furthermore,
many trans people
consider hormone therapy and gender
confirming surgeries such as breast
augmentation and facial reconstructionwhich both the American Medical
Association and American Counseling
Association recognize as potentially
necessary treatments to reduce distress
associated with gender dysphoria. Yet,
trans service members have historically
been reluctant to seek medical treatment,
let alone mental health treatment. They
have been faced with the choice between
seeing a military provider, who may be
required to report their trans status, or
seeing a community provider, which may
require out-of-pocket payment among
other concerns.
In order to serve this population in a
more welcoming manner, counselors and
other mental health professionals must
consider the intersection of trans and
military cultures and work to increase
their cultural competence accordingly.
As members of the LGBT and military
communities, these service members
are at elevated risk for exposure to
multiple traumatic
events including
combat trauma and military sexual
assault.
Within
a trauma-informed
or trauma sensitive framework, it is
particularly important for the clinician
and client to build a sense of safety,
stabilization, and trust prior to moving
into deeper psychotherapeutic work. To
successfully foster trust, mental health
providers must demonstrate a basic
knowledge and understanding of the
client's intersecting identities, and must
consider their existing values and biases
related to those identities. For example,
it is critical to understand the role of
gender in military culture.
Trans service members have indicated
in qualitative research interviews that
they were initially attracted to military
service because of a perceived sense
of gender neutrality. Once they entered
service, however, they found a rigid
gender binary reinforced on a daily basis
by prescribed codes of grooming and
dress and constant salutations of "sir" or
"ma'am." Until the rollback of the Direct
Combat Exclusion Rule between 2013
and 2016, military job assignments were
also regulated based on gender.
At the same time, some trans
service members have noted certain
aspects of military culture that have
helped them feel accepted, such as
a sense of camaraderie and group
loyalty regardless of individual identity,
and the value of hard work and job
performance-in
other words, if you get
the job done well, your gender identity
doesn't matter. Within the context of the
counseling relationship, however, every
part of the client's identity does matter,
and must be openly served.•
MARKtTP
Love...
WHERE
'THE NEW
TESTAMENT'
MEETS 'THE
TWILIGHT
ZONE'
Amazon
Bookstore
Orders:
Paperback:
ISBN
1-62006-845-1
Kindle:
ISBN
1-62006-846X
Call Toll Free:
855-338-8359
For more information about the
American Counseling Association
Conference & Expo visit counseling.org.
Email:
orders@
sunburypress.com
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
21
,_
RITTNtY
GRINtR
EllZABETH
FAlKNER
'
~owmJM
~LTI~ATE
ORGAS
~SJiON.
GOING
WILDIN
COSTA
RICA
SO~TH
AFRICA
RIO
DE
JANEIRO
24 THE NEXT BIG L-SHOW
28 SEX TIPS FOR CURVYGIRLS
30 HOT SUMMER READING
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
23
FILM»
o,ffe.~V'\t
fo"G'"\S
A new show rewrites the way lesbians
and bi women are shown on screen.
BYJANECZYZSELSKA
Last year, U.S. TV show The 100 claimed
the life of commander Lexa, raising the
headcount to 173 lesbian and bi characters killed off in British and American
TV shows since lesbian characters first
appeared on TV in the 1970s. That's a
parlous hit rate given that lesbian and
bi characters were as rare as ostrich
burgers at a lesbian pot-luck until fairly
recently. Stop burying our gays. Enough
is enough. Then along came the UK lesbian web series Different For Girls (DFG),
and executive director Jacquie Lawrence
promised the show would not sacrifice
lesbian and bi lives for kicks or ratings.
Lawrence first developed the show
as a script around 16 years ago when she
was a commissioning editor at Channel
4, shortly after the ground-breaking British series Queer As Folk appeared on
small screens in the UK. Channel 4 asked
for a lesbian version, so the script went
into development. But the show was
put on hold when a certain show called
The L Word hit our screens. In the belief
that "the British public could only cope
with one lesbian project at a time," C4
canned the show, says Lawrence, but
she retained the rights, and a few years
later started writing the story as a novel.
In March, the highly-anticipated
web series dropped in five glamorous
episodes. What's special about DFG is
not just the great script and cast, who
include fan favourites from the fabled
L Word, Rachel Shelley and Guinevere
Turner; the cast and crew are drawn almost exclusively from the LGBTQ communities.
Directed with passion by Campbell
X (Stud Life, Fem) and cinematographer
wunderkind Oona Menges, the show is a
24
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
My character Jess is bisexual. Jacquie Lawrence has written her as a pretty regular, fun, open woman. She was married to a man but has always felt that she just falls for people regardless of what
body they're in. She's juicy, fairly non-judgmental and very much in touch with herself. So, as a
woman who's had relationships with men and women, I feel that it's important that people like me
are reflected onscreen and it's rare for that to happen, especially a mixed-race woman.
slick sashay through the lives, loves and
family dramas of a group of 30-something lesbians in fashionable west London. Their clubbing and one-night stand
days may be over but there's still plenty
of excitement.
Director Campbell X is keen to stress
that the show is not made for straight
white cis men. "The way that images are
constructed, down to lighting and camera angles, reinforces a white supremacist, capitalist, cis-hetero-patriarchal
gaze. In this gaze, lesbian characters
are dysfunctional women or extraneous
to the major storyline so they can be
bumped off or demonstrate 'male gaze'
pornified sexuality, featuring usually
young, hetero-normative-looking,
femi-
nine white women." Not so in DFG.
In this show, we see androgynous and
racially diverse lesbians and bi women
being seductive and being ordinary at
home with the wife and kids, and the
same principle applies to the male characters. Trans actor Jake Graf joins Topher
Campbell as a credible gay home-loving
and child-focused couple, while Rachel
Shelley and Caroline Whitney Smith play
a couple with secrets.
The tantalizing first trailer gives a
glimpse of the show Lawrence describes
as "Hollywood on the small screen". With
a second series already in the works, it
looks like DFG is here for the long-haul,
even if some of its couples may not be.
(different-for-girls.com)
REVIEWS/FlLMS
'?-Ac.HcL..
sHcL..L..c'<
t~'?-oo~c)
Comparisons will inevitably be drawn between Different For Girls and The L
Word, mostly because there are so few series explicitly about lesbians and bi
women. But they are very different. It's not LA, it hasn't got that same glamour,
and it's not trying to have that glamour. It's got a different tone, a different
pace, and it's much more contemporary. Brooke is nothing like Helena. She's
a little bit worn down by motherhood. She's so absorbed by it, she's lost her
identity a bit. If I had to describe her in one word, it would be sweatpants. The
other day I took my daughter to school. I got home and then went to go meet
a friend to play tennis, and it was only then when I met them at the court that
I realised that I had my sweatpants on back to front, inside out... I looked like I
had really hairy legs with all the seams. I'd stood outside school chatting! No
one had said anything. That is a long way from Helena Peabody.
VI.Cf 0'?-I.A ~'?-00M tf'?-Ar-l)
SA'?-AHsoc,Ac'?-, (GcMMA)
,u'<cr-1 oo tc.AM)
As soon as I saw DFGadvertised I was on to my
Having families, having affairs, having all
The series shows women from all parts of the
agent, 'Listen, you need to get me an audition
sorts of dramas. These stories need to be
world, all walks of life. It's not just posh white
for this!' ...Sexuality's very fluid. I happen to be
told. It's not that long ago that homosexual-
ladies. It's a real diverse mix. Having stories
in a relationship with a woman, and I was in a re-
ity was illegal. We've come so far but, espe-
from minority groups gives the audience a feel-
lationship with a woman before that, but I think
cially in the current climate, it can feel like it's
ing that actually we're all the same and there's
you fall in love with a person.
a little bit darker than it was before.
nothing to be afraid of.
c.A'?-0L..I.r-lc vJHI.,rJc'(
SMI.,H tNI.C.OL..A)
GUI.NcVc'?-c,U'?-r-lc'?-OUQc)
Of course there's a fear that
still about lesbians and bi women and
an audience will go, 'Oh, no,
also women in our age group. Not all
I don't relate to a lesbian'. Do
lesbian and bi culture is youth culture.
I love it when we're making stuff that's
you relate to somebody not
It's nice to be treated like we're still in-
loving you anymore? Do you
teresting and sexy...lt's amazing how
relate to getting too drunk
much things have changed. I mean,
and making a mistake that
just The L Word, which is already over
you can't take back? I think
10 years ago, even if you'd have ex-
you do. This story could
plained that to me when I was in my
be any color, any race, any
early 20s, I would have been like,'Wait!
ethnicity, any gender. I think
There's a TV show, and it's a lesbian
the point is it's just another
drama, and it lasts for six years, and I
fucking story, and who can't
work on it?' I would have thought, 'Oh,
relate to that?
can we also fly? Are cars invisible?'
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
25
If you're a gay Gen X woman, you're sure
to have heard of Goldfrapp, the electronic
pop duo from the UK consisting of Alison
Goldfrapp and Will Gregory. Goldfrapp
hit the music scene at the dawn of the
new millennium with their first album, Felt
Mountain, and a sound that matched the
mood of the time: electronic yet dreamy,
eclectically laden with 20th-century influences such as cabaret and folk-even
yodeling. This postmodern blend was es-
26
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
pecially noticeable on their second album,
Black Cherry (2003) with its glam rock and
early disco influences tempered with Eurocentric electronica. The synth-heavy title
track displayed Alison Goldfrapp's lovely,
plaintive soprano, but it was the pulsing,
buzzing "Strict Machine" that put her on
the lesbian radar. What was this mesmerizing, sexy song about? Was she singing
to her vibrator? One male critic wrote that
it was "a future S&M club anthem if ever
there was one"; another labeled her a "pop
dominatrix" and "the high priestess of pervy synth pop:'
Such sexist views acknowledge Alison's
appeal while detracting from the artistic
value of the band's output, especially her
vocal dexterity and Will Gregory's brilliant
arrangements. Their next album, Supernature (2005), was even more successful
and dance-oriented than Black Cherry.
Tracks "Ooh La La," "Ride a White Horse,"
REVIEWS/MUSIC
and "Number 1" piqued the interest of
Madonna, whose Confessions on a Dance
Floor was clearly influenced by Alison's
Weimar-disco aesthetic, earning Madge
the unflattering moniker of "Oldfrapp."
Some queer women caught on to Goldfrapp's contribution to the soundtrack
of the lesbian-themed film My Summer
of Love in 2004, or the band's cameo on
Showtime's The L Word in 2007 with a live
performance of "Ride a White Horse." The
band was developing serious lez cred.
"It was amazing, actually," Alison says
over the phone from London about appearing in the iconic lesbian show. "It was
such a great experience. I was really surprised at how lovely everybody was, how
warm and friendly, and what a lot of fun
it was. I didn't expect that, for some reason-maybe because, Hollywood being
Hollywood, I sort of thought it would all be
a bit, I dunno, take itself really seriously or
something. But it was so much fun, it was a
great experience, really."
Then she says, "I did have a bit of a crush
on what's-her-name ..:'
Shane?
"It's a cliche, isn't it? It's embarrassing,
it's so cliche!" she laughs.
There would be further developments
from this enigmatic musician, whose sexual preference was not always evident;
in a 2010 interview partially addressing
her then-new relationship with film editor Lisa Gunning, she said, "I don't like to
be defined by my sexuality, which swings
wherever I like to swing." (Alison requested
that we not discuss her relationship in this
interview, but when we last consulted the
lesbian grapevine we heard that she and
Lisa were still a couple.)
Goldfrapp's artistic focus is similarly unpredictable. After the folky, ambient Seventh Tree (2008) came Head First (2010)
and its '80s-inspired single "Rocket" -the
video features Alison driving a big rig loaded with a rocket to which she affixes a guy
who has been mummified in duct tape.
And then comes the band's magnus
opus, the queer and brilliant Tales of Us
(2013), full of lush, cinematic sounds, with
songs featuring transgenderism ("Annabel") and anonymous lesbian sex in the
sand dunes ("Stranger"). The videos to the
songs on the album, produced in collaboration with her girlfriend, Lisa, are a suite of
short films shot chromatically or in blackand-white. How could this be topped?
The excellent Silver Eye, their seventh
studio album released this April, recuperates Goldfrapp's earlier form-with a new
thrill: the driving sound of techno melded
with the power of paganism. It's an edgy,
insistent return to electronic dance music that will please old fans and win new
ones. The central theme is the ultimate
feminine symbol: the moon, that pure and
mysterious "silver eye:' The pick of tracks
for lesbians is the single "Anymore," with
its thumping bass and fizzing synths, and
a hypnotically queer video in which Alison, looking like Isabelle Huppert as a pagan high priestess, is flanked by two sets
of androgynous female twins who dance
and writhe against a backdrop of sand and
rock in the Canary Islands. It's a gorgeous
creation, designed and directed by Alison
herself-as is all the album's imagery.
"Aesthetics are really important to me,"
she says. "That's what I love about that kind
of landscape-the look of that volcanic
rock and desert. They're sort of like blank
canvases and yet they hold so much symbolism-all this stuff bubbling under the
surface, literally. Or it's this sort of latent
thing, waiting to erupt. There are so many
connotations with it, and it looks so dramatic, black rock and the colors against it:'
As varied as Goldfrapp's studio albums
are, a unifying theme is the raw power of
the elemental and our attraction to it as
both animalistic and transcendental.
"I'm interested in the idea of transformation in whatever form that is-shamanism,
the elemental-they still hold a lot of mystery to me, which I suppose is what magic
is to me-something that's unexplainable.
It's there in our lives, but in the kind of world
we live in it's something we crave, and as
I'm getting older those things become
more and more important to me:'
Alison sensed that music was a conduit
for that magic from an early age. "I'm the
youngest of six. I had brothers and sisters
playing all kinds of music, which was amazing. But when [my father] played some
choral music for the first time-these amazing voices that sort of made the hairs on the
back of my neck stand on end-I was just
so excited by it. I'd never heard that sound
before. And the idea that it was coming out
of a person just seemed extraordinary, and
I remember thinking, I want to feel that. It
was somehow animalistic or something:'
She did experience that feeling when
she sang in school choirs, and eventually
settled on music as a vocation. "I think I
knew I could do it, and I couldn't really do
much else, actually;' she laughs. "I was really crap at everything apart from art and
music, so I kind of knew the difference between feeling good and not feeling good,
and I wanted to do the thing that made me
feel good. It's sort of like breathing, it's almost like a necessity."
Does this petite strawberry blonde have
a slightly wild energy, something that can
only be tamed by riding an 18-wheeler or
a mirrorball horse (as she does in "Ooh La
La"). According to Wikipedia, she was involved in an "incident" with a tractor in her
youth. I ask her if that is true.
"Yeah, I did steal a tractor with a whole
bunch of other people. I grew up in the
countryside, so, you know, it's something
you did on a weekend. You either had a
motorbike, a horse, or some kind of farming vehicle. There weren't a lot of options."
With Silver Eye, though, she's come full
circle. The big toys have been replaced
by the magnitude of nature. Everything is
pared back to its essence. Gone are the
platform heels, the gloves, the mascara.
"There's something about stripping
back makeup and hair, taking that away.
It sort of fascinates me," she says. In the
video to "Anymore" she herself appears
makeup-free, wearing red (fire) or silver
(metal); she is a foil for the elements. And
the androgynous, ethereal twins are also
blank canvases that can mean whatever
you want them to. Are they lovers, sisters,
doubles, or opposing aspects of the self?
Transgenderism, gender ambiguity,
and being completely genderless have
always appealed to Alison. "Become the
One" on this album is inspired by My
Transgender Summer Camp, the documentary about transgender children in
which transitioning is not so much about
changing as it is about becoming.
"Maybe that is the future," she says.
"I think it's really great that people don't
think they have to be one or the other-unless of course you want to be
one or the other. But I like this fluidity,
I like that it's so much more freeing."
(goldfrapp.com) •
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
27
101 BODY-POSITIVE
POSITIONS
TO EMPOWER YOUR SEX LIFE
When Pleasure is Plus-Size
Sex educator Elle Chase has bedroom tips for larger ladies.
BY YANA TALLON-HICKS
E
lie Chase was a curvy girl long
before she was a sex educator
who encouraged women to
build their sexual confidence
and accept their bodies,
regardless of size or shape. The director
of education at the Los Angeles Academy
of Sex Education (laacademyofsex.com)
and the force behind the award-winning
sexuality websites ladycheeky.com and
smutforsmarties.com,
Chase stumbled
into her sex education work the organic
way, after leaving her husband of many
years. "I longed to feel someone crave
me," she writes in the introduction to
her new book, Curvy Girl Sex: 101 Body-
28
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Positive Positions to Empower Your Sex
Life. "But, I thought, who could feel
passion for a fat chick with cellulite,
scars, florescent-white skin, and crooked
teeth?"
"Truth," Chase explains, "was the
impetus for this book." And the truth,
she quickly found out, is that (of course!)
a whole lot of people did crave her!
Curvy Girl Sex, a visually tempting book
full of flesh-friendly positions, sex-toy
recommendations,
and
sex-positive
pleasure education, takes Chase's readers
out of the social constructs that attempt
to convince us that fat can't possibly be
sexy and toward the freedom that Chase
herself found, and then some. We caught
up with Chase to learn more.
YOU
USE
AVARIETY
OFWORDS
INTHIS
BOOK
TO
CELEBRATE
BIGGER
BODIES,
LIKE
"CURVY"
AND
"PLUS-SIZE."
YOU
EVEN
MAKE
"FAT"
SOUND
SEXY!
HOW
CANCURVY
GIRLS
ANDTHEIR
PARTNERS
FIND
THE
LANGUAGE
THAT
WORKS
FOR
THEM?
It's really up to the curvy girl in question.
Their partners might listen to how curvy
women refer to themselves, or, if it seems
like a question that would be welcomed,
just ask. It all comes down to intention.
If your intention is to be respectful and
loving, usually that can be sensed in the
conversation.
REV1Ews1SEX
YOU'RE
ADYNAMIC
SEX
AND
PLEASURE
APRIL
FLORES
ISJUST
DECADENTLY
DARLING
AS
EDUCATOR.
WHAT
MAKES
SEXUAL
POSITIONS YOUR
MUSE
INTHIS
BOOK.
WHERE
CAN
WESEE
FOR
CURVY
GIRLS
SUCH
ANIMPORTANT
TOPIC MORE
OFHER?
THAT
YOU'D
DEVOTE
ANENTIRE
BOOK
TOIT?
April is sexy personified, as sweet as
I think it's all about giving ourselves
she is beautiful. She's a trailblazer as the
permission to receive pleasure. As a curvy
top plus-size porn star in the world. She
gal myself, I was sometimes intimidated
loves her body and it emanates from
by certain positions I'd heard my friends
her when you're in her presence. She is
talking about, or seen in porn. I didn't see
unretouched in this book and a terrific
myself being able to do these positions
role model for body love and sexuality, as
without
or
she owns hers enthusiastically. You can
epically failing. What I discovered was that
see more of her by visiting her website
ending
up
embarrassed
once I concentrated on how to make my
(fattyd.com)
body comfortable, with pillows or straps,
Twitter at @TheAprilFlores.
and
on
lnstagram
and
and that it was OK to accommodate my
shape, my partners didn't give it a second
thought. That really freed me.
WHAT
ARE
THE
ITEMS
ACURVY
GIRL
SHOULD
HAVE
INHER
SEX
KIT?
• A Liberator Wedge. Because it's
YOUR
BOOK
ISEMPOWERING
AND
UPLIFTING.
INITYOU
WRITE,
"WE
ALLHAVE
SEX
APPEAL,
BUT
OUR
SEX
APPEAL
ISNOT
GOING
TOBE
EVERYONE'S
DEFINITION
OFSEXY."
TRUE.
SO,
WHAT
ARE
YOUR
TIPS
FOR
HANDLING
REJECTION?
I always say "rejection is protection."
made of industrial foam, it ups one's
Anyone who isn't interested in you isn't
chances of comfort in ways pillows
going to be right for you anyway. At the
can't.
end of the day, people either get you
• I'd be bereft without my Magic Wand
or they don't. You want someone who
Rechargeable for its power and
WANTS to know you better, fuck you, or
handle length.
date you. Don't waste your time trying to
• Lube makes everything easier and
more pleasurable, and for that I only
be something you're not, or yearning for
someone who doesn't reciprocate. You
use Sliquid Naturals or Organics,
deserve better-we
because they're gentle on
to spend time with people who value us
all do. We all deserve
delicate skin.
and see us the way we are. •
next millennium, Hadleigh began collecting
A new book celebratesthe
bisexualscreen icon.
You don't have to be skinny to have the
best sex of your life! In the Curvy Girl Sex
class, you'll learn Elle'sfavorite tips and
positions for curvy body types. Whether
you've got a little junk in the trunk, are
pleasingly plump, or beautifully buxom,
this unique workshop will help every
curvy girl enjoy toe-curling, curvy girl sex.
(ellechase.com)
and the Showgirl, she was analyzed by Anna
quotes about Monroe from books, magazines,
Freud, daughter of Sigmund Freud [and herself
newspapers, the Internet, as well as interviewing
a lesbian], who also concluded that Monroe was
industry insiders for their comments.
bisexual,"says Hadleigh.
"As a star among stars she's one of very
REMEMBERING
MARILYN
CALLING
ALL
CURVY
GIRLS!
He reveals that
Elizabeth Taylor once
few whom other actors (of both genders) will
referred to Marilyn as "that dyke"-as quoted by
willingly talk about," Hadleigh says. He also
Norman Mailer-and it is alleged that Monroe
read numerous biographies and found not
had a relationship with her acting coach and
only discrepancies, but differing agendas of
companion Natasha Lytess from 1948 until
the authors, some portraying her simply as
1953, the year she hit superstardom. "Marilyn
"sad, lost, weak, shallow, dumb or a mess." This
retained Lytess through years of stardom
inspired Hadleigh to create an "all-quotes" book,
despite opposition, including the displeasure of
Like many of us, author Boze Hadleigh has
Marilyn Forever: Musings on an American Icon
male directors who were appalled that after a
been entranced by Marilyn Monroe's screen
by the Stars of Yesterday and Today,so that he
take, Monroe would turn not to the director but
image-which
has endured for over 50 years
could include positive comments, viewpoints
to Lytess for confirmation of whether the take
since her shocking and untimely death in 1962.
and facts about Monroe from people who knew
was good or not."
She has been celebrated in countless books,
her, as well as celebrities who came after her.
Marilyn Forever is a tribute to a complex
plays, films, documentaries, songs, images and
During his research he learned that Monroe
woman who we can claim posthumously as
TV specials, and in the 1990s, when it became
was bisexual. "Marilyn herself questioned her
part of our community-and
clear that her popularity would extend into the
sexuality and when in London filming The Prince
birthday, which is June 1.(rowman.com)
JUN/JUL
celebrate on her
2017
CURVE
29
BOOKS»
LIFE
ON
THE
PAGE
In her new memoir, The
Rules Do Not Apply,
Ariel Levy examines the
consequences and value
of female transgression.
BY AMY DENESON
The adventurous life Ariel Levy thought
she was authoring for herself, a life of defying conventions and "daring to think that
the rules do not apply;' suddenly imploded when she lost her son, her wife, and
her financial security almost all at once.
In The Rules Do Not Apply (out now from
Random House), Levy turns her reporter's
eye inward to offer an unflinching personal
account of the loss and resilience that have
made her the woman she is today.
Levy grew up an only child in the "Rea-
30
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
gan-era suburbia" of Larchmont, N.Y.Headstrong as well as bookish, she imagined a
life full of exploration and discovery, deciding at a young age that she would become a writer because it was a "profession
that went along with the kind of woman I
wanted to become: one who is free to do
whatever she chooses," she writes in her
memoir.
Levy began to author her life in childhood journals that evolved into a career
in journalism. New York magazine gave
her a start in the 1990s, and senior editors
mentored her interest in writing about
women "whose bodies were unmistakable
monuments of resistance." Her breakout
article reported on beautiful obese women; and she also wrote about the rise of
feminist stripper culture, a phenomenon
that repackaged her mother's consciousness-raising language into the form of an
empowerment push-up bra. That article
would inspire her first book, Female Chauvinist Pigs. Levy shared the swooning moments that led up to her wedding in "The
Lesbian Bride's Handbook," her twinkling,
lauded personal essay about marrying her
girlfriend in 2004, before marriage equality
was federal law.
In her memoir, Levy wove her own coming-of-age story alongside her features on
women who-like her-had been characterized as "too much:' In 2008, she talked
her way into a staff position at New Yorker
magazine by honestly responding to editor
David Remnick's question about what she
thought the magazine was missing: Sex,
she told him, particularly female sexuality.
Levy pitched Remnick a profile of Lamar
Van Dyke, the leader of a 1970s radical lesbian gang of separatists that blazed their
way through the second-wave women's
movement.
'Why capitulate?" Van Dyke asked Levy,
who was taking notes to report back to the
mainstream. "Live in a world of your own
invention, according to whatever rules you
choose." Levy agreed wholeheartedly, but
Van Dyke continued, snorting, at gays in
the military and gay marriage-was that all
this generation had come up with? "Your
generation wants to fit in;' Van Dyke said.
Levy absorbed this on behalf of her generation without feeling entirely comfortable
with her own lesbian credentials. She fell in
love with a woman and married her after
she'd dated guys as a teenager and had a
girlfriend in college. Though she believed
the idea of marriage and the rule of monogamy could use some reimagining, she
was keen to be part of the larger culture,
as opposed to being sequestered away in a
women-only enclave.
"Who would have thought that would be
an option?" Levy asks during our interview
for this article. "The rules my mother and
her mother were expected to follow didn't
apply to me. I got to invent the life I wanted
to live. I got to marry the woman I fell in love
with:'
And marry legally-thanks in part to
Edith Windsor, who Levy profiled for the
New Yorker in 2013 after she was vital in
the fight to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.
"That gal!" Levy exclaims. "That girl is
someone for us all to live up to-gay and
straight, male and female. We should all
dream of being that much fun and that
alive. That girl is a full-on badass, in her
pearls and her Clairol platinum-blond bob."
In the memoir, Levy tells about staying at
Windsor's home while she was interviewing
her: Windsor had paused during a meander
in her leopard-print underpants to declare
of her 40-year relationship with Thea Spyer,
"You can say she's my spouse or you can
say she's my butch. But you cannot say
she's my wife-it's a fucking insult:'
"That was how I felt;' Levy writes in The
Rules Do Not Apply. She cringes at the politically correct instincts of those who ask
after her own wife. "I am the wife. I am the
girl:'
While some women Levy has profiled
were influencing rulings and grappling
with the nuances of gendered roles within
same-sex marriage, others were still devastatingly subject to the rules imposed
by others. With little more than a pad of
paper and crossed fingers, Levy set off to
South Africa in search of Caster Semenya,
the Olympic runner who is intersex. Levy
recounts how she boarded the plane determined to track "a story that made you
question the meaning of gender: "What
makes a person a female? A vagina? A
womb? A chromosome?" asking, "What, in
the end, is a woman?"
While there, she met Funeka Soldaat, an
LGBTactivist in Cape Town. Her neighbors
were "raping lesbians to 'correct' them;'
Soldaat explains, "in order that they can
be a 'proper woman: " At that time, in the
gender politics of black South Africa, there
was "no leeway to deviate from the expec-
REVIEWS/
tations of gender," says Soldaat.
In these women's stories, Levy explores
what it means to be a woman and how that
impacts the kind of woman she wants to
be. And so far, she writes, "life was complying with my story:'
Then, at age 35, Levy realized it was
"Time" to manage her fertility-time to pursue motherhood. She hoped that a child
would help her marriage, which after a
decade of laundry was starting to shred.
While struggling with her spouse's alcoholism, Levy had an extramarital affair with an
old lover who had transitioned from female
to male, and experienced an eviscerating
addiction of her own, "to lust:' Following a
separation from her spouse and then a renewal of their promises, they vowed to create a family-but not with just any donor.
They wanted a father who was dedicated to
having a parental role and would guarantee
his lifelong financial support.
Those who have read "Thanksgiving in
Mongolia;' her acclaimed essay in the New
Yorker, know what happened next. In her
second trimester, Levy endeavored to enjoy one last reporting trip before her son
was due, and frankly considered other people's apprehensions about traveling while
pregnant to be "fussy, yuppie nonsense."
She suffered a placental abruption, which
could have happened anywhere but did
happen on a bathroom floor in a hotel in
Mongolia. She delivered her son and mar-
veled at him and at the reality of being his
mother for about 20 minutes before realizing that she was in dire need of help.
"Anything seemed possible if you had ingenuity, money, and tenacity;' Levy writes.
"But the body doesn't play by those rules."
Grief seeps through these pages-along
with bravery. I felt myself wanting to protect Levy, who gives so much of herself in
this memoir; I wanted to shield her from the
criticism that is hurled at female authors for
writing about their bodies. As a writer, her
compulsion to share was understandable,
but I had to know why she chose to publish
this experience.
"I felt the need to memorialize my son;'
she tells me. "I felt the need to write about
the fact that he had existed."
She explains what felt like a slowly evolving identity crisis. "I felt like a mother. But to
be a mother, you need to have a child. But
I don't have a child. So nobody could see
this identity that felt really real to me:'
"It strikes me as a motherly thing to do," I
say, "to share this story:' She does not spare
herself. Levy goes well beyond the writer's
call to sit down to the page and open a vein.
"These extraordinarily intense things
happen to the human female animal around the reproductive system.
If you're female, you will have some
kind of drama around menstruation
or pregnancy or birth or menopause,"
Levy says.
"The whole world of human reproduction in the human female animal-that
affects half the human population-is
not something that is a subject for literature much. So I felt strongly that this
was a legitimate subject to write about
and that it was worthwhile."
Through her willingness to put her
life on the page, to lay her mind and
body bare, others can become better
acquainted with their own thoughts,
discover shared experiences, and challenge their perspectives as they keep
evolving, generation after generation.
This is the extraordinary value of memoir. However, over the course of writing
her book, Levy also comes to understand that authorial control exists only
on the page and doesn't translate to life.
"Particularly as a writer, I was susceptible to this idea that I was in
charge, that I was creating this narrative," Levy tells me.
"Realizing that you're not in control
is a blessing. Would I trade whatever
growth I've had to have my son-who,
were he alive, would be 4 years old
now? Of course, I would. Given that
it's not an option, what I have gotten
from this experience that is of value is
a real humbling, a real sense of how
little control I have. And that, to my
surprise, is an enormous liberation."
(ariellevy.net) •
breaks, they sometimes die in their efforts to
of following the rules and saving humanity again
help during crises, and occasionally they even
and again, the powerful woman who can fly and
drop out of contact and have to be tracked
hurl things just by using her mind is done and
down. That is the world of Shattered by Lee
she's not going back.
Winter, published by Ylva.
SHATTERGIRL
SAVES
THE
DAY
A lesbian superhero story that will
leave you thinking for days.
BY TARA SCOTT
BOOKS
With global politics being what they are right
Lena Martin hunts and returns guardians
now, Shattered feels very timely. The demand
who've gone rogue and, with a 100 percent
for absolute perfection from the guardians
success record, she's the best tracker the
makes sense when you look at right-wingers in
Facility has. It doesn't matter that she's sworn
many countries demanding to close borders,
to secrecy; she doesn't have anyone in her life
deport immigrants, and ban refugees. The fight
that she'd want to talk to about her work and
between those who want to continue toward
the guardians that have turned out to be such
a disappointment. She's surprised when she's
progress and those who want to strip hardwon rights from marginalized groups is ugly,
The guardians arrived 100 years ago, signed
tasked with finding and retrieving Shattergirl,the
making it no wonder that Shattergirl is tired of
a pact with humanity, and have been dutifully
first lesbian superhero and one of the original 50
taking care of us ever since, intervening to help
founders that arrived on Earth seeking asylum
our garbage. And that's not even the half of it.
If you're a diehard fan of Lee Winter, you'll
humans whenever possible. Despite the daily
from their destroyed home planet. When
want this book. And if you haven't read anything
images and videos of heroic perfection churned
Lena finds her, she quickly learns that talking
by her before, this is a great place to start.
out by the media, guardians have a dirty
Shattergirl out of Socotra will be much more
Shattered will stay with you long after you've
secret-some have been having psychological
difficult than she'd anticipated. After a century
finished. (ylva-publishing.com)
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
31
REVIEWS/
BOOKS
Grace Bonney, founder of innovative internet-based interior design
company Design*Sponge, has produced a book that gives visibility to
diverse women in the business of the creative arts. The result is the beautiful, substantial and inspiring In the Company of Women, which profiles
over 100 women who govern their own enterprises: artists, designers,
musicians, writers, filmmakers and beauty entrepreneurs-including
many
LGBTQ women, women of color, women over 40 and differently-abled
women including Janet Mock, Laura Jane Grace, Nikki Giovanni, Thao
Ngyuen, Cameron Esposito, Cy Lauz, Shadi Petosky, Jasika Nikole, Mary
Lambert, Liz Lambert, Preeti Mistry, Anita Lo, Sarah Neuberger, Elise Kornack and Anna Hiernoymous, Kate Bornstein, Mary Going, Julia Turshen,
Jasmine Wright and Desiree Akhavan. "I was really excited to work on a
book that better represented the creative community in which I work. Out
of 100 women, 70 percent are women of color and over women outwardly
identify as members of the LGBTQ community," says Bonney. We caught
up with the Design*Sponge creator to learn more about the book.
BOOKS»
DIDEVERYONE
ENTHUSIASTICALLY
ACCEPT
YOUR more so we could have included more
INVITATION
FOR
INTERVIEW,
AND
WHAT
DOYOU women in rural or hard-to-access areas. I
knew that I didn't want to have the book
THINK
DREW
THEM
TOTHIS
PROJECT?
INFINE
COMPANY
Queer creatives in a
gorgeous new book.
BY MELANIE
BARKER
This book was truly an example of the
expression, "It takes a village ...". The majority of the more well-known women in
this book were connected to me through
friends or even friends three-times-removed. People seemed excited and motivated by the book's goals of inclusivity
and really rallied together to help bring
everyone to the table.
HOW
DID
YOU
COME
TOTEAM
UPWITH
SASHA
ISRAEL,
THE
PHOTOGRAPHER
BEHIND
THESE
LUMINOUS
PORTRAITS?
I met Sasha when she photographed
my wife, Julia Turshen, for the website
Bon Beri. Julia wasn't always comfortable
in front of the camera but Sasha was so
naturally gracious, kind and friendly that
I got to enjoy just watching such beautiful photos happen naturally. So when I
thought of who would be able to make
all of these very different women shine
and make them comfortable quickly (for
some shoots we only had 20 minutes
with the subject) and she was the first
person I thought of. Nearly every woman
commented on what a joy it was to work
with Sasha and I couldn't agree more.
WHAT
WERE
SOME
OFTHE
OBSTACLES
YOU
ENCOUNTERED
DURING
THIS
PROJECT
AND
HOW
DID
YOU
OVERCOME
THEM?
I wish we had more time (we put the
book together in 2 months) to travel
32
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
only focus on major coastal cities, but
finding the time and budget to get everywhere across the country in a month
was nearly impossible. But it's inspired
a print magazine we're working on now
where I'll have the time and ability to include women in more rural spaces.
THE
BOOK
WAS
CREATED
BEFORE
TRUMP.
IFYOU
WERE
WORKING
ONITNOW,
WHAT
MIGHT
YOU
CHANGE
ABOUT
IT?
If this book was written before the
most recent presidential election, I
would have asked women to discuss
ways in which they were using their
work to speak up, support marginalized
groups or express their thoughts and beliefs. I think having practical examples of
how creative people can connect their
work to social and political causes is important.
WHAT
ARE
SOME
OFYOUR
OBJECTIVES
FOR
THE
DESIGN*SPONGE
WEBSITE
THIS
YEAR?
To find ways to weave activism and
creativity together, without being too
preachy or aggressive. Design*Sponge
has always been independent so we
have the ability to take bold stances, and
we do, but I want to continue to work to
make those connections in a way that
feel like they're inviting people to the
conversation and not leaving them out.
(designsponge.com) •
REVIEWS/
BOOKS
BOOKS»
JUST
ME
A new on line YA novel
addresses coming out
in high school.
BY MELANIE BARKER
Charlotte Reagan, 23, published her
first novel, the YA love story Just Juliet,
on Amazon last year, where it attracted
over 350 reviews and a good deal of
discussion. Raised in small-town Texas,
Reagan struggled with coming out and
with which labels apply to her. Writing
helped her articulate that journey in a
way that struck a chord with readers.
"While I definitely have a strong female preference, these days I subscribe
to the theory that love is love, and I'll find
it where I find it. I think the right person
for me will be just that-a person," she
explains. "Perhaps that makes me bisexual, or maybe just homoflexible, but
regardless, I'm just looking to be happy
with someone, and at least right now, I'm
not willing to count anyone out."
Reagan started coming out to those
closest to her 4 years ago, but the release
of her book was the ultimate outing. This
breezily confident debut is written from
the point of view of Lena Newman, a
high school senior who is dating a boy
when she becomes inexplicably attracted to Juliet James, a beautiful and spirited classmate. Lena experiences the
excitement and challenges of same-sex
attraction, taking sex and dating slowly,
and slowly coming out to friends and
family. "If you still like boys then why not
just be with boys?" asks her father. "It's
not the life I saw for you," says her mother. Lena explains, "I'm not gay if I'm with
a girl and straight if I'm with a boy. It's not
this or that. It's always going to be there.
Bisexual. Constantly."
There is a lot of sweetness and sincerity in the novel-hot chocolate, chaste
sleepovers and innocent make-out sessions-and emotional realness. "I wanted to write a story in which no one's life
was ruined because they were gay;' says
Reagan. "I wanted to show that it is possible to come out, to still be loved, to still
be happy. I wanted a book that young
LGBTQ kids could read and see themselves in, or give them somewhere to
escape whatever was going on in their
lives, or that they could hand to their
parents to help them understand who
they were just a little better."
And with the political scales tipped
against queer kids, Reagan hopes troubled teens will take comfort in her book,
if not in the real world. "A lot of people
are scared right now, a lot of people are
angry, and those emotions and concerns one hundred percent deserve to
be given attention. But you can't stay in
that negative space all the time, it's not
healthy. So, I think literature like mine is
important for the end of the day. For the
recovery period. For the reminder that
things can and will be okay."•
deleterious to the movement itself. Crossley,
the Associate Director at The Clayman Institute
for Gender Research at Stanford University,
surveyed and interviewed over 1,400 students
at Smith College, the University of California,
and the University of Minnesota to ground her
argument that feminism is waveless. Waveless
feminism, she asserts, "emphasizes the
persistenceof feminism over time, the variations
in feminism, and the interaction between
survey respondents who identified as queer
were the most likelyof all participants to identify
as feminist."
Through her research,Crossleyidentifies how
feminism on college campuses, online, and in
our daily livescombine to prove that the feminist
movement is too complex and nuanced to be
construed in waves. The historical framework
of the wave is limiting and contributes to a
whitewashing of the movement: "The erasure
feminism and other movements."
Noting that "lesbians have historically
played a major role in perpetuating feminist
organizations and nurturing feminist culture,"
Crossley's data shows that this influence has
continued to today: "Survey data indicate
of women of color in the mainstream narratives
about feminism specifically impacts public
viewpoints and the central narratives of
feminism," she observes.
This sociological study is easy to read and
the interviews with students are especially
engaging. Crossley's concept of waveless
feminism very well may help us move beyond
the stalled gender revolution. (nyupress.org)
CHARLOTTE
REAGAN
CJ
rn
)::>
C/)
THE
FUTURE
ISFEMINIST
New research on the movement
includes its deep lesbian roots.
BY MARCIE BIANCO
In Finding Feminism: Millennial Activists and
The Unfinished Gender Revolution, sociologist
Alison Dahl Crossley presents research that
suggests the whole notion of feminist history
in terms of waves is not only incorrect but
34
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
that gay/lesbian, bisexual, and queer study
participants were more likely to identify as
feminist than heterosexualstudents. And those
40POWERDRESSINGFORTHE OFFICE
44SUMMERTRAVELFASHION HACKS
curve
~
FASHION
ACCESSORIES
IDENTITY
BEAUTY
»
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
35
Footwear for dapper
genderqueer folk by NiK Kacy
PHOTOS BY VIVI RAMA
NiK Kacy, born in Hong Kong, raised in New York, and currently residing in Los Angeles, is founder
and chief of NiK Kacy Footwear. The urban, monochromatic
style of New York City has influenced
Kacy's fashion aesthetic. "My style is inspired by the practicality
and classic minimalism of being
a New Yorker ... lots of black and grays." Kacy has been on quite a journey in the past few years.
"I've evolved from being a butch lesbian to trans man to genderfluid/two-spirited
human be-
ing," says Kacy, whose footwear expresses a similar sense of fluidity. "My queerness is built on
the core value and belief that all human beings should have the freedom to express themselves
in their most authentic way without barriers or confines within the gender binary our society has
forced upon us." The tagline for NiK Kacy Footwear is "walk your way," and it's a motto embodied by the founder themselves. "Fashion is about style and style should not be limited by gender," says Kacy. Their classic first collection,
36
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Fortune, is featured in this spread. (nikkacy.com)
38
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
--
'
-~:--c-- --=-:-"•L-_-=-:-~
--
-
~-:;?.
~
Getting a suit that fits you properly is not easy. But all it takes is one good suit that can serve many occasions
and you'll never go back to an ill-fitting outfit. The stylists at Kipper Clothiers are available to guide you through
assembling your suit and all the finishing touches and finer details that give you a competitive and polished look.
If a custom-made suit is financially out of your reach right now, it's still possible to look like a savvy professional
with some basic, well-chosen wardrobe essentials. For example, start with a few solid oxford cloth button downs,
a couple pairs of good trousers, and a blue or gray blazer. Color coordinate your new garments so that you can
mix and match outfits. Lean towards blues and grays, which are flattering on most people. Ties are in but ditch
the clip-on bowtie and learn how to tie a real one. Invest in a good pair of shoes, such as brown oxfords, and
start saving for that bespoke suit-the
40
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
style, quality, and perfect fit will transform you. (kipperclothiers.biz) •
42
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Our motorhomes look like large vans from the outside,
but their true beauty lies in the versatile space inside,
which houses all of the conveniences of home.
Enjoy a full kitchen and dining area, living room,
bedroom and bathroom with shower. Our campervans
are easy to drive and a care-free way of traveling.
Packing tips for Pride and other
summer excursions.
WORDS: ANITA DOLCE VITA (DAPPERQ) AND
DANIELLE COOPER (SHE'S A GENT)
PHOTOS: KIM GERONIMO
Danielle is into menswear, I'm a high femme, but when it comes to fashion we have this in common:
we both loathe packing. As fashion bloggers we should know better, but we wait until the night before our departures to pack. To be honest, sometimes we both wait until just hours before we leave for
the airport to actually pack. Danielle doesn't pay as heavy a price for her procrastination because she
knows the art of packing smart, whereas I grab handfuls of unnecessary items and shove them into a
bag without making the best use of the space. The end result is I arrive at my destinations with wrinkled
clothes I'll never wear, while Danielle has a crisp outfit ready for every occasion on the itinerary. With my
Pride travels and summer vacation quickly approaching, I asked Danielle to share her packing secrets.
44
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
FEATURES/
ST
1.DON'T
OVERPACK
5.PROTECT
YOUR
VALUABLES
If you're currently packing for a trip then
Place your jewelry in the center of the bag.
stop right now and put half of the stuff
If it has a zip compartment, you can slide
back out of the bag. Trust me, you prob-
accessories in there. If not then, slide them
ably won't wear half of the items that you
between the clothing, which also provides
packed. For a 4-5 day Pride or summer
added protection along the ride.
trip, you'll need 4-5 tops or dresses; 4-5
pairs of shorts or trousers; 1-2 pair of
6.CONTAIN
YOUR
TOILETRIES
sneakers or drivers; and a flat or heeled
If you wear makeup, you may have this one
sandal.
already covered. But if you do not own a
2.CHOOSE
LIGHT
FABRICS
vest in one, preferably waterproof. It will
makeup bag or dopp kit (toiletry bag), inSummer trips are easier to pack for since
keep your grooming essentials organized
fabrics are lighter. Linens, cotton blends,
and prevent them from accidentally leak-
and
ing over your clothing. Slide it in your bag
breathable
fabrics
are essential.
Whether you're going to explore a city
next to your shoes and you're good to go!
or participate in Pride festivities, lighter
fabrics will keep you feeling cooler in the
7.ORGANIZE
YOUR
ELECTRONICS
heat. Not to mention they're easy to pack.
Who leaves home these days without their
3.ROLL
AND
FOLD
adaptors? No one! Invest in a stylish back-
laptop, camera, headphones, and multiple
The roll and fold method is something
pack or small carryon bag with easy access
you should master. It allows for so much
compartments where you can stash the
more room in your suitcase. Dresses,
electronics that you will need to get past
T-shirts, trousers, shorts, swimwear, and
TSA check and/or will want to use during
pretty much all summer clothing can be
your flight.
rolled. These pieces also resist wrinkles.
Blazers or structured
garments can be
8.PICK
YOUR
PRIDE
WEAR
WITH
CARE
folded and placed on top of your rolled
Pride outfits can be a challenge, especial-
items.
ly if you do not have a place to change
between events. If you're marching or
0
4.BE
SENSIBLE
WITH
SHOES
planning on attending a march, but also
Drivers, sandals and one sneaker pair are
want to look stylish for the after parties,
ideal in warmer climates. They are also
you'll want to pack an outfit that is versa-
less bulky and allow for more space in
tile: comfortable, stylish, and breathable.
your luggage. Pack them in a shoe bag or
A chic button down and tailored shorts or
tissue paper so that the dirt from the bot-
lightweight jeans paired with sleek slip-on
tom of the shoes doesn't rub against your
shoes will get you through miles of walking
clothing. Pack one pair of socks in each
and hours of dancing. You might turn a few
shoe. This helps to save space.
heads, too.•
T AND
ABOUT
Cool items for the active activist.
STAND
FOR
PROGRESS
GRAB
AND
GO
Make a stand I Common Ground is taking a step in the right direction on
A day in the life means balancing work, school, meetings, friends,
issues we care about: Marriage Equality, Gun Control, Gender Equality,
a festival or maybe a night out. You need a bag that can carry you
and Immigration. By wearing comfy and colorful Common Ground foot-
through those commitments securely and stylishly. We love Solo's Ur-
wear, you can connect with others and commit to your beliefs. Designed
ban Code Collection, a sleek backpack perfect for laptop warriors
to create empathy and awareness, the shoes are easy to wear, light to
and urban nomads. For a fashion-centric look, the cool Bridgehamp-
pack and perfect for summer travel. (common-ground.com)
ton Backpack is both office- and outing-worthy. (solo.net)
ESONPRIDE
Get the look this summer.
CELEBRITY
EYEBROW
Makeup artist to the stars and
illustrious eyebrow expert Elke
Von Freudenberg has a range
of products that will have you
GORGEOUS
AND
GLOSSY
attracting attention at crowded
Add shine and sparkle to
Pride parties. The Brow Collec-
your eyelids with Glazen
tion includes pencils, groomers,
Eye Gloss in Mermaid. The
primers, shadows, waxes, brush-
shimmery, crease-resistant
es and tools that will have you
wet look shine, without be-
rivaling even Cara Delevingne.
ing wet, applies like a gel,
(elkevonfreudenberg.com)
but dries like a powder for
all-day wear. Also comes
WHY
NOT
AIM
HIGH
in Moonshine and Icing to
Get fluttery, flirtatious eyelashes with Oh My, How
make you look deliciously
High! Lengthening Mascara by Butter London. The
out of this world.
curved brush gives you length, volume, and even
(butterlondon.com)
a little curl and the jet black hue adds intensity and
drama. Perfect for flirting across a crowded room!
(butterlondon.com)
46
CURVE
APLAYFUL
POP
OF
PASTEL
YOU
SWEET
THING
Cotton Candy Liners give you 6 subtle, sassy
Only hard-core femmes are experts at applying
pastel hues perfect for long-lasting daywear.
liquid eyeliner. The rest of us can rely on Beth
The rich, high-pigment formula is free of chem-
Bender's Eye Candy Gentle Adhesive Eyeliner
icals and easy to apply. From Lemon Drop to
Stencil Pro Pack, confident and shapely eyeliner
Sugar Plum, these colors complement rainbow
made easy! The hypoallergenic, U.S.-made product
apparel. (absolutenewyork.com)
fits any eye shape or size. (bethbenderbeauty.com)
JUN/JUL
2017
THE CURVE PRIDELIST
SISTERWIVES SURPRISE
ERIKALINDER'SSTARTURN
~
COMMUNITY
CELEBRITY
CULTURE
■
•
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
47
...........
PORTRAITSOF QUEER WOMEN AT HOME.
IMAGES BY TOM ATWOOD
-
FEATURES/
PHOTOGRAPHY
Kings & Queens in Their Castles is a new
photography book that explores the
LGBTQ experience in America at home
and at work. Over 15 years, Tom Atwood
photographed
more than 350 people
nationwide, including 60 LGBTQ "kings
and queens" in a striking and intimate
blend of portraiture and architectural
photography. The candid images depict
lesbian luminaries such as Kate Clinton,
Christine Vachon, Heather Matarazzo,
Alison Bechdel and Meredith Baxter in
their chosen spaces. Some are grand
or utopian, others modest or utilitarian.
All of them bring us a little bit closer to
those we admire. "There is a common
LGBTQ sensibility that sets us apart that
I wanted to recognize and celebrate,"
says Atwood. "This sensibility shares an
outlook with the sensibility of creative
and cultural leaders-an
awareness of
difference, of other, of possibility-an
avant-garde mindset." Even so, this
collection proves that "stars" are
just like us-with
a similar need for a
nest to call their own and feel safe in.
(tomatwood.com)
•
l .....
'--.J
ARTS
&ENTERTAINMENT
DANA
GOLDBERG
BRIDGET
MCMANUS
SANDRA
VALLS
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Professional Comedian, Host, Auctioneer
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Performer, Screenwriter, Producer
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Comedian, Singer, Actor, Writer, Badass
Through her comedy, hosting, and live
auction work Dana has helped to raise
over 6 million dollars for women's health,
HIV/AIDS education and prevention, and
LGBTQ equality on a national level. She
has worked with and raised money for
The Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor
Project, Equality California, and other
national organizations. In addition to her
charitable work, she performs with colleges
and Universities around the country. "I feel
so proud when students come up to me
after performances, thanking me for giving
them the strength and courage to come out
to their parents, and those same parents
standing supportively by their children at
my shows thanking me for the same. If I
can empower our youth, the future of our
movement through my work, what a gift I
am given in this lifetime:'
The hilarious out and proud performer was
one of the very few lesbians featured on
the LOGO TV network, creating, producing
and starring in two television shows. She
joined tellofilms.com (the lesbian Netflix) as
the Vice President of Development in 2016,
and mentors burgeoning content creators
to encourage growth and strengthen
their work. She has worked for years in
daytime television, both onscreen as talent
(The Queen Latifah Show, Talk Show The
Game Show) and as the warm-up comic
for shows such as The Real, Chelsea,
The Wall, and others. Her award-winning
series Maybelle and
McManusland,
both featured lesbian leads and she
regularly portrays lesbian characters,
appearing in her own series as well as in
a recurring role on the upcoming season
of Transparent.
The lesbian Latina standup comic has
represented the LGBTQ community for
years and is a human rights activist honored
in her hometown of Laredo, Texas with
an International Women's Day Award. She
was chosen by Unidos, the National Latino
LGBT Human Rights Organization, for their
list Project VISIBLELatinos LGBTin the USA
and Puerto Rico: Out in Leadership. GLAAD
has honored her work at Mun2 Television
with a Special Recognition Award, and
the California Senate presented her with a
Certificate of Recognition for her support
of LGBT people in recovery in "One Gay at
a Time:' She runs the workshop Laughter
Heals and is involved with TEDX Women,
Women in Medicine: Lesbian Health Fund
Conference, San Antonio LGBT Chamber
of Commerce Coming Out Day, Equality
San Antonio and others.
JUN/JUL
I\
2017
I
I
/
CURVE
,.
51
1/
1
I
I
,.
I
················1···i············································································································································
t/
I
\ !
1/
I
AUDREY
EVANS
BARBARA
PROUD
BETTY
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA
Filmmaker
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
Creator of the First Comes Love Project
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Singer-songwriters, Activists
The independent filmmaker and film editor
has worked on such films as Thelma &
Louise, The Doors, What Women Want, and
the soon-to-be-released, Battle of the Sexes
with Emma Stone and Steve Carell, about
the famed tennis match between Billie
Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Her current
independent directing project is titled
Genesis and marks her feature directorial
debut starring Meredith Baxter, Suzanne
Westenhoefer and Dana Goldberg.
First Comes Love is a photo series,
documentary and book celebrating longterm LGBTQrelationships prior to marriage
equality. B.Proud hopes to open hearts
and minds by giving viewers an inside
look at LGBTQ couples who braved the
highs and lows of everyday life without the
protections of federal rights. The second
phase of First Comes Love celebrates trans
and genderqueer couples, furthering the
acceptance of the LGBTQcommunity.
The original pop-rock band fronted
by Alyson Palmer and sisters Amy and
Elizabeth Ziff are internationally recognized
for their touring, activism, and iconic theme
song to The L Word. Elizabeth, Alyson and
Amy use their music for humanitarian
outreach: working for equal rights, peace
and aid, and the empowerment of girls and
women, facilitated by their nonprofit, The
BETTYEffect. Since 1986, they have helped
change policy and raised millions of dollars.
CHRISTIE
CONOCHALLA
TINA
D'ELIA
CHEF
ROSSI
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Filmmaker
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Actor/Casting Director/Performance
Coach
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Owner and Executive Chef of The
Raging Skillet
The director of Once Upon A Zipper,
Forever Not Maybe, and the short film
August in the City has gone from making
a commentary on lesbian films and why we
watch them to transforming lesbian films.
She hopes to reach a wider audience and
defy Hollywood formula, telling stories
about real people and their conflicts,
unveiling the simple truth that we are here,
we deserve to be seen, we deserve to be
counted, and to be treated equally.
A mixed-race Latina lesbian/queer/feminist
artist, Tina was honored to receive the
Executive Producer Award and Trail Blazer
Award for diverse casting and performing
from Equality International Film Festival.
Tina has been casting films, webseries,
videos, and industrials in the Bay Area for
over 8 years and is known for the awardwinning short film, Lucha, as well as for her
award-winning, sold-out Latina live solo
shows performed in the Bay Area.
An out loud and proud gay woman, Rossi
dedicates her pen, whisk, voice and her
mission to the pursuit of women's rights,
gay rights and transgender rights. The radio
personality, writer, chef and public speaker
uses her platform to empower, writing for
The Daily News, The New York Post, Time
Out New York, Mcsweeney's, Bust, and The
Huffington Post. She has been featured
on The Food Network and NPR, and her
second memoir is forthcoming.
:ON
52
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
\ l\
'
I
I
I
I
r
ACTIVISM
&COMMUNITY
LESLIE
HEROD
VALERIE
WEISLER
CRISTINA
AGUILAR
DENVER,COLORADO
Colorado State Representative,
Democrat for House District 8
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Founder and CEO of The Validation
Project
DENVER,COLORADO
Executive Director, Colorado
Organization for Latina Opportunity
and Reproductive Rights
Leslie is the first openly gay African
American person to hold elected office
in Colorado. Prior to running for office
she took prominent roles in the African
American community and was a vocal
proponent of LGBTQ equality. Recently
elected to the Colorado State House of
Representatives she campaigned on the
need for quality education for all children,
affordable housing, and true criminal justice
reform. As a state representative she serves
on three committees: Judiciary, Finance
and Legal Services, and has advanced
legislation
that
protects
immigrant
communities, homeless youth, and curbs
the excessive powers of law enforcement
to seize private propJrty from innocent
citizens. She received t~f 2017 Rising Star
Award by the Colorado D'emocratiGParty.
As a 14-year-old target of bullying, Valerie
took her struggles and turned them into
an idea: to create a space where her
generation could feel safe and supported
enough to solve the most prominent issues
of our time. Four years later, she is the
founder and CEO of the Validation Project,
an award-winning organization that works
with more than 6,000 teenagers in 105
countries, providing them with onementorships and social justice programs.
Valerie's entrepreneurial curriculum is
now taught in more than 1000 schools.
Currently a college freshman, Valerie was
appointed as a Speaking Ambassador
for the U.S State Department, where she
makes sure her generation is heard and
taken seriously. Valerie is also a Human
Rights Campaign Ambassador.
Cristina leads efforts to develop young
leaders, empower the Colorado Latinx
community to shape policies that impact
their lives, and urges lawmakers to stand
with Latinx folks and their families. From her
work directing a national, early childhood
education program with Head Start to
serving as a member of the political action
committee and co-founding the People of
Color Caucus for One Colorado (the state's
leading LGBTQ advocacy organization)
Cristina is dedicated to dismantling systems
of oppression and building bridges across
movements and issues ensuring that all
people can maintain healthy lives and
live in safe communities. She was named
one of Top 25 Most Powerful Women of
Colorado 2017 by the Colorado Women's
Chamber of Commerce.
\
....................................................................................................................................................
'
DIANE
'V'CAPALDI
SHEILA
ALEXANDER-REID
REV.
ELIZABETH
M.EDMAN
VOLUNTARILYHOMELESS
Motivational Speaker, Founder
PaleoBOSS Lady
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Director, Mayor's Office of LGBTQAffairs
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Episcopal priest and political strategist
Diane
has
secondary
progressive
MS and five years ago faced poverty,
institutionalization or suicide. After a
radical lifestyle change, she travels and
teaches and is a TEDx Speaker sharing
tools of empowerment for free or by
donation. Her consciousness living brand
PaleoBOSS Lady advocates for the sick,
disabled, homeless and people seeking to
change their lives. Diane tours the country
speaking about how to live free of toxicity.
Sheila is an intersectional community
activist. In 1992 she founded Women in the
Life,which provided safe spaces for lesbians
of color. She was VP of the Gertrude Stein
Democratic Club, is producer of LGBTradio
show WPFW'sInside Out, and as Director of
the Mayor's Office of LGBTQAffairs she is
responsible for housing homeless LGBT
youth, training government employees
in LGBT competency, and creating
employment for transgender women.
The priest and longtime LGBTQ activist's
book, Queer Virtue: What LGBTQ People
Know About Life and Love and How It
Can Revitalize Christianity has received
praise from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus,
and is a finalist for the 2017 Judy Grahn
Award for Lesbian Nonfiction. Elizabeth
and Queer Virtue launched the national
project Glitter+Ash Wednesday, which was
picked up by 150 sites in 3 countries and
received extensive press coverage.
JEAN-MARIE
NAVETTA
KATI
'JAZZ'
GRAY-SADLER
ELIZABETH
LANYON
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Director of Learning & Inclusion for
PFLAGNational
PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA
LesBe Real Radio, City of Philadelphia
Commission on LGBT Affairs
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Individual Giving Manager, National
Center for Lesbian Rights
An LGBTQ activist since college, JeanMarie's work with PFLAG has helped
educate over 13,000 people outside the
LGBTQcommunity on what it means to be
allies. In 2007, she created and launched
PFLAG'sStraight for Equality project. She
has written four guides to being straight
allies, trans allies, allies of faith, and allies in
healthcare, reaching over 300,000 people
and has developed curriculums for allies in
Recently appointed to the City of
Philadelphia Commission
on
LGBT
Affairs, Jazz is committed to increasing
transparency and accessibility of the
Mayor's Office and Commission. Prior to
that her work in community radio increased
awareness about LGBT issues. In spite of
progress in laws affecting LGBT rights in
Philadelphia County, hate crimes against
trans individuals are on the rise, particularly
against people of color.
Elizabeth helps organize the largest lesbian
event in San Francisco, the Dyke March,
and was involved in the San Francisco
Women's March. To address the ongoing
gentrification of the Bay Area, which results
in the loss of lesbian spaces, Elizabeth
advocates for the community through
organizing local lesbian events, meetups,
protests and demonstrations resulting in
stronger coordination on city-wide efforts
to support queer spaces and actions.
130comp\"lZY
'\ JUN/J/17
l
CURVE
55
BUSINESS
&ENTERPRISE
ROBYN
STREISAND
JUDY
DLUGACZ
MARIAH
HANSON
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
CEO & Founder of The Mixx, Titanium
Worldwide
WASHINGTON D.C. / SAN FRANCISCO
President & Co-Founder of Olivia Travel
SONOMA, CALIFORNIA
Owner, Dinah Shore Weekend in Palm
Springs
As a 30-year veteran in the world of
marketing, Robyn started The Mixx in her
apartment with simply a phone and a desk.
Now, Titanium Worldwide is the world's first
collective of certified-diverse, independent
agencies in media, marketing and
communications. By joining forces with
other LGBT, women and minority-owned
businesses it brings collective strength
and diverse thinking to business clients.
Robyn also co-founded the National Gay
Lesbian Chamber of Commerce NY,which
is the only extension of the NGLCC in the
U.S.,she was voted into the OUT 100 list as
one of the most influential LGBT people in
the U.S., and won the 2017 Impact Award
from Gay City News, the 2016 AdPop
Award along with client Mercedes Benz,
and the 2017 WBENC Vision & Reflection
Award for Best Business Collaboration.
In 1973 Judy established Olivia Records,
focused exclusively on female artists, and
oversaw hundreds of concerts and events
around the world. Combining her passions
of music and travel, she organized her
first chartered cruise in 1990. It was so
successful that the organization evolved
into Olivia Travel and has sent over
200,000 women around the world. Judy
has also been a member of the LGBT
Leadership Council of the DNC and was
a finance chair for both the Obama and
Clinton presidential campaigns. Judy
has received recognition for combining
social activism with business, including
the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year award and the Lifetime Achievement
Award from the NYC LGBT Center. She's
currently focusing on the 45th anniversary
celebration and writing her autobiography.
Mariah has been building community
and breaking barriers for nearly three
decades with her world-famous Dinah
Shore Weekend in Palm Springs,
California. Entirely produced by women,
for women, the Dinah stands tall as not
only the largest lesbian event in the world,
but also the longest-running lesbian event
ever, and the only event to consistently
attract A-list mainstream talent. The
Dinah offers a life-changing experience
for myriad women who come from all
over the world to enjoy the freedom to
be who they truly are without fearing the
judgement, discrimination and prejudice
of others. Mariah is the recipient of
the 2015 NCLR Award, 2014 Spirit of
Stonewall Lifetime Achievement Award,
The legacy Award, and the 2013 Athena
Leadership Award.
56
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
FEATURES/PRIDE
LI
LEANNE
PITTSFORD
KELLI
CARPENTER
CHERIL
AND
MONICA
BEY-CLARKE
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
CEO & Founder, Lesbians Who Tech
RAMSEY,NEW JERSEY
Founder of R Family Vacations
NEW JERSEY/ MONTREAL, CANADA
Entrepreneurs
Lesbians Who Tech is the largest LGBTQ
network of technologists in the world. With
over 25,000 queer women and allies, it is
improving representation among LGBTQ
women in the tech sector on a global scale
through annual tech summits and programs
like the Edie Windsor Coding Scholarship,
and Bring a Lesbian to Work Day. In 2017,
Leanne is partnering with TechHire, created
by the Obama Administration, to launch a
50-city Tech Jobs Tour with Megan Smith,
3rd Chief Technology Officer of the U.S.
The mother of four children, Kelli realized
14 years ago that there was not an LGBT
family travel company that provided a
safe place where her children could see
other families like theirs. With her business
partner, Gregg Kaminsky, she founded the
first and only vacation company for LGBT
friends and families, R Family Vacations.
The company has grown into a community,
with R Family toddlers growing into teens,
and teens into a generation of adults that
will change the world.
The couple left corporate careers to
build companies that include an LGBT
children's book company, a healing and
wellness center in Southern New Jersey,
and multiple ventures that serve their
communities including a soon-to-belaunched loungewear collection geared
toward the LGBT community and its allies.
The fun-loving couple, married in business
and in life, want to create good things in
the world while inspiring others to reach
their greatest potential.
CHARLOTTE
BETH
GLASSER
E.JAGUAR
BECKFORD
NENNA
JOINER
LOS ANGELES/ NEW YORK
Event Producer at Hot Rabbit NYC,
Creative Director of The Vintage Brands
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
CEO JagandCo Clothing, Founder
Rainbow Fashion Week
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Entrepreneur, Adult Store Owner
As a bi-coastal creative director and
successful LGBTQ event producer, Char
has a passion for pushing ideas into bigger
and better realities, creating a wide network
and strengthening community through
collaboration and support. With the mantra
Community Over Competition, Char has
made it her mission to employ LGBTQartists
and gives back by teaching workshops on
self-starting entrepreneurism to help those
serious about reaching their goals.
Jag stepped out of the legal arena and
created a clothing company designed to
meet the needs of identity-variant women.
Exposed to the fashion world, Jag realized
the real excitement and storytelling takes
place not on the designer's table but behind
the scenes. She created Rainbow Fashion
Week, 8 Days of Queer, to create safe
spaces for the LGBTQ community, support
the business of queer style, and deliver a
message of social responsibility.
Nenna has transformed her community
through a retail store that happens to sell
sex products. She graduated college from
Florida A&M University, studied Politics and
in June 2016 had the honor of representing
California as a Delegate for the Democratic
party. Returning home, she determined
to become a member of the DNC LGBT
Advisory Board. It amuses her to think
about the sex store owner shaking hands
with prominent and powerful individuals.
1'
I
I
I
I
!
JUN/JUL
I\
2017
CURVE
57
MEDIA
&PUBLISHING
LORI
SOKOL
ALEX
BERG
SARAH
TOCE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Journalist, Executive Director of Women's
eNews
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Producer/Host at The Huffington Post
SEATTLE,WASHINGTON
Journalist, Publisher, Activist, Mother
Lori Sokol, Ph.D. is the Executive Director
of Women's eNews, an award-winning,
non-profit, digital news service covering
issues of concern to women, and providing
women's perspectives on public policy,
from New York City to New Delhi, reaching
1.5 million readers each year. She is the host
of the bi-weekly radio show, Women's eNews
Live, on 1490 AM WGCH, where she invites
experts to discuss issues affecting women
and girls around the world. Previously, Lori
was founder and president of Sokol Media,
Inc., the publisher of business magazines
that advocate for diversity in the workplace.
Lori strives to empower individuals to
triumph over gender-related societal limits
through publishing including writing for
the Baltimore Sun, The NY Times Business
section, Slate.com, and as a current regular
contributor to The Huffington Post.
Alex is a bisexual and queer video producer
and on-air talent at The Huffington Post.
She produces and hosts videos on national
news, feminism/LGBTQ issues and pop
culture. Most recently, she hosted Huff Post's
live coverage from the Inauguration and
campaign trail, and interviewed a range of
public figures, from actor Alan Cumming to
Green Party candidate Jill Stein and rapper
Mykki Blanco. She's been featured on The
Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, SiriusXM
and Fusion, and her work has appeared in
the New York Times, Washington Post and
The Daily Beast.Through the duration of her
career, Alex has strived to change negative
and inaccurate perceptions of bisexual
people through her writing and segments.
In 2014, her HuffPost Live segment on
the Bisexual White House Summit was
nominated for a GLAAD Award.
Sarah currently serves on the Family
Equality Council's West Coast Advisory
Committee and is the promoter of
Seattle Women's Pride, and the founder,
publisher and editor-in-chief of Seattle's
only lesbian newspaper, The Seattle
Lesbian, founded in 2010. In its first year
alone, The Seattle Lesbian reached a
threshold of one million readers globally.
In 2012, it was a distinguished recipient
of the McCormick Foundation's New
Media Women Entrepreneurs Award,
and a recipient of the National Diversity
Council's 2016 LGBT Leadership Award.
Sarah was also a contributor to the
award-winning Windy City Times' AIDS
@ 30 series, which won the prestigious
Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago
Headline Club, and was nominated for a
GLAAD Award.
58
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
\
FEATURES/PRIDE
LI
MONA
ELYAFI
MEREDITH
BENNETT-SMITH JULIE
R.ENSZER
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Publicist, Founder & CEO of ILDK Media
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Editor, Quartz
DOVER, FLORIDA
Intel lectua I Entrepreneur
After years working for top entertainment
PR agencies, Mona launched her own
PR firm in 2004, named after her late
grandmother. Her main objective is to act as
a catalyst for change, empower her clients,
and give their unique voices a platform
to become inspirational and trailblazing
voices in the LGBTQ community. Mona's
many clients and projects focus on LGBTQ
diversity and equality, often making frontpage news in Forbes, LA Times, NBC.com,
NY Times, CNN, to name a few.
Meredith is a graduate of Cornell and NYU,
getting her start in journalism with PBS
Frontline, The New York Daily News, The
Christian Science Monitor, The Huffington
Post, and graduating to
editor with
Mic, where she produced stories on the
intersection of socioeconomics, race, LGBT
identity, gender and feminism. Currently at
Quartz, Meredith steers powerful stories on
geopolitics, socioeconomics, identity and
tech, and she also teaches at the CUNY
School of Journalism.
Julie is a Ph.D.and poet who uses the written
word to empower lesbian communities.
Author of four poetry collections, editor
of Milk & Honey: A Celebration of Jewish
Lesbian Poetry, and The Complete Works
of Pat Parker, a finalist for the Audre Lorde
Award for Lesbian Poetry,she also publishes
landmark lesbian journal Sinister Wisdom,
which celebrated 40 years in 2016. Her
scholarly work has appeared in Southern
Cultures, Journal of Lesbian Studies,
American Periodicals, WSQ, and Frontiers.
DANA
PICCOLI
DONNA
ACETO
EBONE
F.BELLL
GREENVILLE,SOUTH CAROLINA
Editor at Bella Books, Vice President of
Upstate Pride
GREENWICH, NEW YORK
Freelance News and Event Photographer
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
Editor-in-Chief/Owner Tagg Magazine
An entertainment writer and pop culture
critic with deep roots in queer fandom,
Dana was a staff editor at AfterEllen, host of
the popular podcast, Let's Process, which
had over 250k downloads, and managing
editor of the Blog at Bella Books, a vertical
of the popular lesbian publishing company.
Dana moderated panels at Clexacon, and
is the Vice President of Upstate Pride, an
organization that serves local queer and
trans communities.
Donna began photographing the LGBTQ
community during the height of the AIDS
crisis in New York, as photographer for the
widely-circulated Gay Men's Health Crisis'
newsletter. She went from being a closeted
lesbian on Wall Street to coming out and
moving into photojournalism and activism,
working with the Lesbian AIDS Project, and
showing how women too were affected by
HIV/AIDS. She joined Gay City News and
went on to cover countless LGBTQevents.
Ebone started Tagg Magazine and website
to tell queer women's stories, provide
resources, and create events. Tagg was
named one of the Top 25 LGBTQ-owned
companies by the Washington Business
Journal and last year, Ebone founded the
Tagg Scholarship Fund for young queer
women of color unable to afford school.
Ebone also volunteers in Washington, D.C.
for the HRC,the Capital Area Gay & Lesbian
Chamber, and The Point Foundation.
!;A
!
I
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
59
ilyuting
AfamO
Mariah Brown talk
. -s faith,
New Iyo- ut
era act1v1sm.
f am1·1y, and off-cam
ANY JOY BECK
BY JANELLE BECK AND MEL
THE L-L
FEATURES/
LC's Sister Wives, now in its 11th
have gotten a lot closer," she says. "This
I got older, people kind of knew from the
season, gives viewers an inside
has been a different experience for her,
show, so it wasn't really something I was
constantly talking about. This was new,
look into the dynamic lives of
and she's been really awesome about
the Browns, a fundamentalist
trying
Mormon
family
supportive."
that
openly
from
Nevada
not [about] a religion like my parents
chose. I think the big difference is that
Janelle, Christine, and Robyn, have 18
faith was an important
they chose this and I did not."
kids between them, ranging in age from
life.
part of her early
Since she's been in college,
"Growing up, we were very religious,"
Meri and Kody Brown's only child,
she says. "A big part of my life was
has been
challenging
a lot
Brown
of the
assumptions she's grown up with.
Mariah, is the third oldest at 21, and
going to church and church activities,
while cameras were rolling last season,
and I was always really close friends
Brown.
she bravely came out as gay, shocking
with people in the church."
learned in college is how to critically
her family and viewers alike.
"I was pretty
excited
When the
and nervous
family
decided
to flee
"I used to be very conservative," says
"The biggest
thing
that
I've
think. And in doing that I've been able
Utah in 2011, due to an investigation
to expand my ideas about the world,
into a potential violation of the state's
and that's something I don't get to talk
parents," says Brown. "I was also nervous
polygamy
about on the show a lot. I'm actually
because it was something different, and
at the idea of being separated
I had never had this experience."
her
because
I really wanted
to tell
my
Though the Browns follow a religion
known for its conservatism,
open-minded
children,
they are
and supportive
of their
having acknowledged
in an
laws, Brown was distressed
church
community.
and
her
from
home-school
Looking back on this time,
Brown notes that
"I
think
I was
for something,"
many kids in the family, it was likely that
something
overcompensating
MOVING
FORWARD
As for where her own spiritual journey
I was really scared of in
may lead, Brown envisions a different
myself, and I thought,
then no one can. I know that doesn't
how
that is very
important to me.''
Brown says. "It was
some point.
basically
and I want to be an
activist. That is something
she was probably
at least one would come out as gay at
reacted
very political,
homophobic.
earlier episode of the series that with so
"They
If I can't be gay
really make sense. It took me a little bit
path.
"I am definitely
not religious,"
she
says. "I think for me, at least in my life
expected them to," Brown says. "I know
to be able to realize that being gay is
right now, there is not really any religion
my parents pretty well."
OK-and
that aligns with all of my values. Now I
FAITH
AND
FAMILY
the Westminster
then some time after that to
realize that it's also OK for me to be gay."
am just more spiritual. I more look for
Older siblings Logan and Aspyn were
that relationship with God and less for a
among the first people in whom Brown
Prior to Brown's big announcement,
College student
and
chose to confide.
relationship with a church.''
Brown hopes that her own story can
"I told Logan first," she says. "He got
inspire others who are struggling.
pretty emotional about it. He was happy
"That was part of the reason I wanted
after an
for me that I was able to find myself.
to come out on the show," she says. "For
internet "catfishing" scandal rocked the
Then Aspyn, I saw her after I got home
so long I couldn't accept myself, and I
family.
from school for the summer and she
think it was because of the religion, and
her mother,
to rebuild
Meri, had been working
their
relationship
was like, 'You have something to tell me,
I don't want other kids who come from
and in
don't you?' I was like, 'Actually, I do.' I
very religious backgrounds
when
guess my siblings know me pretty well."
that. I want them to know that it is OK.''
Catfishing is when a person pretends
to
be someone
Meri's
case
else online,
conflict
the pretender
emerged
leaked personal details
Brown
notes
the
to feel like
differences
about the family and an alleged online
between coming out as a member of a
Looking to the future, as Brown gets
relationship.
polygamous family and coming out as
ready for her first Pride month as an out
a lesbian.
gay woman, she remains positive and
Since
she's
come
out,
however,
Brown reports an improvement
communication
~
because I was talking about myself. This
was [about] who I am as a person and
For Brown, who spent her childhood
Kody and his wives, Meri,
1 to 22.
I
it out and be really
and teenage years in Utah, the Mormon
polygamy.
practices
to figure
in her
with her mother.
"I think definitely that my mom and I
"Growing up, a lot of my friends were
also polygamist, so I didn't really have to
[come out as polygamist]," she says. "As
encouraging.
"Just remember, you're not a mistake
and it does get better.''•
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
61
ST
FEATUREstCOVER
EMEMBER
THEFRENCHFEATURE
FILM BLUEIS THEWARMESTCOLOR?MANYLESBIANSWERE
OUTRAGEDAT THEMOVIE'SEXPLOITATION
OF ITSACTRESSES
AND THEMULTIPLESEXSCENES
R
IN WHICHTHEWOMENSEEMEDTO BEPERFORMING
NOT FOREACHOTHERBUTFORTHEMALE
GAZE.THEFILMSTARTED
A DEBATEIN OURCOMMUNITY:WHYCOULDN'TWE MAKEA SEXY
FILMOF OUROWN, AUTHENTICALLY
REPRESENTING
LESBIANSEXAND DESIRE?IT TURNSOUT THAT
OURNORTHERNNEIGHBORSWEREALREADYIN DEVELOPMENT
ON BELOWHERMOUTHWHENBLUE
IS THEWARMESTCOLORMADEA SPLASHAT THECANNESFILM FESTIVALIN 2013. SCREENWRITER
STEPHANIEFABRIZIAND HERPARTNER
AND PRODUCER,
MELISSACOGHLAN,DETERMINED
TO MAKE
BELOWHERMOUTHAS SEXY,AS ORIGINAL,AND AS UNWAVERINGLY
LESBIANAS THEYCOULD.
CREWEDENTIRELY
BYWOMEN,MANYOF THEMQUEER,THEFILM PASSESTHEBECHDELTESTWITH
FLYINGCOLORSAND RECEIVED
AN "F" RATINGFROMTHEINTERNETMOVIEDATABASE,
"F" STANDING FORFEMALE/FEMINIST.
EVENBETTERNEWSFORLONG-TERMSURVIVORSOF BAD LESBIAN
MOVIES:THEDIALOGUEIS KEPTTO A MINIMUM,DESIREIS AT A MAXIMUM,AND NO ONE DIESIN THE
END.MERRYNJOHNS CAUGHTUPWITHTHECASTAND CREWTO GETTHEIRTAKEON HOW THIS
FILMABOUTLIFE-ALTERING
LESBIANATTRACTIONCAMETOGETHERSO COMPELLINGLY.
MELISSA
COGHLAN
- PRODUCER
On what the film isabout:
The film is about one weekend, and two people who find each other
then I'm happy they connect with it on some level.
and think they're never going to see each other again. What do you do?
You have sex. Stephanie [Fabrizi, screenwriter] wanted to make a film
On makingthe film in Toronto:
about female desire. She really wanted to show the female orgasm and
We have a lot of freedom in Canada, especially in Toronto: We have a
intimacy through a queer woman's lens. Sometimes people will watch
really strong queer community here, and we have a really open and
the sex scenes and say, "Wow, I didn't know women had sex like that"-
supportive system. We had Canadian financiers who believed in the
particularly in the scene where Jasmine is on top, or when they're skin
project and loved the authenticity of it. They just believed the time
on skin. Stephanie is not saying every woman has sex that way. That's
was right, and in Canada, certainly, people were ready for this story.
just how Dallas would be with Jasmine in that situation.
They knew this film was going to be really bold. We saw that Blue Is
the Warmest Color had a lot of sex, which is what we were planning on
On howthe film is beingreceived:
having, but what was different about it for me was that Blue was shot
A lot of queer women really love it and connect with it. That's who we
by a man, through a heterosexual lens. The way [director] April Mullen
made it for. We like to see ourselves in different people. Some people
shot this film, you very much stay within the body. The first night, with
will say they see themselves in Dallas. People like to attach themselves
the two of them together, we really track [the actor] Natalie's emotion
to characters that they like-and sometimes that they don't like-so
when she cries, because so much of it is pent-up. We don't play it for
that they can accept things about themselves. I think that part of the
very long, because it happens so quickly. Maya, our cinematographer,
reason queer people do it is because they see it so infrequently, and
gave her some privacy and turned the camera off. We never wanted to
they think, "This movie is for me." And if they say, "This movie is for me,"
put the actors in a position where it wasn't always about them.
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
63
STEPHANIE
FABRIZI
WRITER
On howshewrote the story:
I started writing the script nearly six years ago, at a time when I loved
ten wore that persona to the "scene," and I had many friends who did
sloppily and without restraint. I let myself go from experience to ex-
the same. There are women out there who operate and participate
perience without judgment. I think I offered that same experience to
in the Shane Mccutcheon or the Dallas archetype, and I don't think
the characters. I didn't care if I was flawed or if my characters were
there is anything wrong with representing it. I think there is also a class
flawed-I just let them be as they were in the moment. I let the char-
dialogue working within this archetype. Shane and Dallas are work-
acters lead. I was just a passenger and a scribe. At times, I feel that
ing-class types who climb the ranks with their charisma and sexuality.
the story was a personal meditation on love, a story that I was trusting
enough to share with the world. The story leaves people raw and wild,
On creatingthe sexscenes:
and it did the same to me. It will take a lifetime for me to recover from
I did not want to punish my characters for giving in to their desires. The
the blow of Below Her Mouth.
sex scenes are explicit and lengthy, and just when you think they've
had enough they want more, and one might expect that after all that
On where the characterof Dallascomesfrom:
pleasure someone would end up dead. I had a checklist of what would
Jeanette Winterson's novel Written on the Body was a big inspiration
not happen in my story: No queers would die, and Jasmine would not
to me. There is a part of Dallas that is hidden behind a persona. I of-
end up with [her boyfriend] Rile.
APRIL
MULLEN
- DIRECTOR
On castingErika:
It seemed very difficult to find someone who could walk into a room
thetics and very strong and bold lighting choices. The production
and every head turns. One day I was Googling Fresh Facesof 2015, and
designer-Faye Mullen (my sister), and Maya Bankovic, the DP-we me-
there was a little black-and-white video clip of Erika walking around in
ticulously planned everything, for example, the neon lights in Dallas's
a T-shirt, and she went, "Yo, that's my audition," and she walked away.
apartment. We knew that we'd keep those on whether it was day or
And I was like, "This is Dallas." So I started researching and found out
night, so that during the night sex scene Dallasand Natalie would be sil-
that she was this Swedish supermodel, breaking stereotypes and cre-
houetted, to create something very dynamic and mysterious in tone. So
ating trends as genderless. She'd done a lot of still photography, but it's
on the day of shooting, nothing mattered except finding that connec-
a much bigger deal to be able to perform. At her chemistry read with
tion and spark that happens in real life but that you rarely see on-screen.
Natalie, we were like, "This is them. It's undeniable." Erika has so many
natural idiosyncrasies-the
way she moves her hands, the way she
On what the film achievesfor queer women:
walks, all of those things. The first day I met her for coffee, to get a feel
I really wanted to make the community proud, do women proud, and
for her and to see if she was tenacious enough to dive into something
give them something authentic that would resonate with them, some-
so big, everything she did was just film-worthy. The rest was explaining
thing that was lacking on the screen. When you're behind the monitor
to her scripts, scene numbers, blocking, how to hit your marks, how to
and you've had these images in your head for a year, and you get to see
work with the camera ...She learned very quickly. She's totally dedicat-
them come to life-those moments are one in a million. Only film can
ed and she gave 150 percent.
do that. It's like a goddess that I want to respect and amplify at all times.
On filmingthe sexscenes:
On creatingthe female gaze:
The film was shot in sequence. The first kiss on-screen was their first
When I first approached the sex scenes, I kept gravitating toward
kiss, and it progressed as they got to know each other. They got to
scenes that I had seen in film-we are surrounded by so much of the
discover each other's bodies very naturally. I knew we had to give it
male gaze that it's really hard to not have it affect you. If a woman is
everything, because if we held back at all we would lose the whole film.
arching her back, is that something that I find attractive, or is that just
We really had to give it our all. Our goal was to show intimacy from a
something that has been told to me in every advertisement? I had to
female perspective; to celebrate the female orgasm instead of shying
keep reminding myself: Forget about what you've seen before, look
away from it. The love, support, trust, encouragement was there. [Film-
deeper, challenge yourself to find something real. What really, actually,
ing] was a gentle, intimate, and quiet experience to allow them to be
truly turns you on? What do you feel when you want to be intimate
free. Even the strap-on sex-that was a huge discussion for us. This is
with someone? What is the female gaze? Just watch the film and you'll
what Dallas has, this is what she does, this is what they do. I think just
know. I think that we as women have this transparency. The veil be-
bringing that to the screen is a huge movement forward. I think that
tween us and the audience is very thin, and we allow the audience in.
was hidden before. It definitely wasn't a presence.
The truth behind it is what the audience can feel. It strikes a chord, and
On the theme and lookof the film:
tickets. Every woman on the crew gave all of themselves, and we really
I wanted the film to feel cinematic and to have gorgeous visual aes-
were fighting hard to find our voices and allow our voices to be.
it's something different from a stereotypical thing that's meant to sell
64
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
FEATUREstCOVER
ST
ERIKA
LINDER
- DALLAS
On how she got the part:
The producer contacted my agency and asked if I spoke English, and
that I realized what was going on. After I was done, this lady came up
if I knew how to act, basically. It came out of nowhere for me. I met
to me asking how things were going. She lived there and thought I
with the director, April Mullen, in L.A. and later that week I met with the
was a part of the roofing crew. I'm such a perfectionist, so I put all the
producer, Melissa Coghlan, and the screenwriter, Stephanie Fabrizi. I
shingles perfectly stacked. My mom's comment about the film after
went in for seven auditions, more or less. It was a draining and full-
she saw it was, "Dallas is cooler than you." She apologized after saying
on process. After my auditions, I didn't hear anything for, like, three
it, but to me it was a winner! I think girls fall for the Dallas [and Shane
months, and then they told me that I got the part. I had never taken an
Mccutcheon] type because they have an "I dare you" feel and look
acting class in my life, whatsoever, and the team even told me not to
about them. Most people always want what they can't have.
during the shooting of the film. They wanted the character to be raw
and real. I knew from the second I read the script that I could do her
On how she handledthose sex scenes:
justice. I went back home to Sweden after I booked it. I was living in
When I first read the script, I must say that I got a bit scared, thinking,
L.A. at the time and had for a couple of years, and I wanted to get away
"How the hell am I going to be able to pull this off?" I didn't know what
from Hollywood and "the business" during that time. It didn't fit the
it was going to look like on-screen, or how they were going to shoot
character and her story.
it, or who my co-star was going to be. All these questions came to
On playingDallas:
this was my first ever feature film. April [the director] was obviously
Dallasand I are basically nothing alike but for the fact that we look alike.
very respectful during these scenes. We had a closed set, which means
She's tortured and doesn't live her life authentically. She's driven by her
only Natalie, myself, April, the camera and sound. You're just so in the
my mind, but I wanted to take my career to a whole new level, and
lust rather than love. She only cares about herself and trying to main-
moment in those scenes anyway. You shut out. The blocking wasn't
tain this tough facade. I mean, it was kind of a running joke on set that
that specific, and we were pretty much free to do our thing, to make it
Dallas "got way more game" than I do. I'm like a puppy in comparison. It
authentic. It was all about making us feel comfortable with each other
wasn't an easy thing to do for me, regarding the explicit content and
and the environment around us.
the feelings I had to find within and bring out. And those pickup lines
were pretty funny to deliver, but I've never used any flirty pickup lines
On what the film hasachieved,and what'snext for her:
in my life. I've also never gone to a girl party before, until the Canadian
Literally everyone on set was female. I think more than 50 percent of
release of the film. This is a fact.
the crew were lesbian. It makes it a huge contribution to lesbian film-
Two weeks before shooting I went to a proper roofing site, just to get
making. This is obviously a very male-dominant industry, and the fact
the hang of it. If I was going to play a roofer, I wanted to know how to
that all these women came together to make this film was a powerful
lay a roof. I didn't want it to look fake. The real roofer guys would make
thing. I've got the acting bug now. I'm taking acting classes and learn-
me do the whole side of the roof while they were drinking beer in the
ing as much as I can about the craft. I just got an acting agency and a
sun. And it wasn't until after I was done with the whole side of the roof
manager, too. It's all coming together.
NATALIE
KRILL
- JASMINE
On howshe got the part:
On playinga straightgirl attracted to a lesbian:
Stephanie and Melissa saw me in a play in a tiny little hole-in-the-wall
I've never really been in a serious relationship with a woman, but at-
theater one night and asked me to come in and audition and I did the
traction is really fluid. In terms of longterm relationships I've always
chemistry read where I read with Erika and that was that. After that I
been with men. But I've definitely felt open-minded about attraction. I
was cast. I did read the script before I auditined so I knew fully what I
connected personally with the truth that Jasmine finds within herself-
was getting myself into.
trying to be what other people want her to be. My best friend came out
On filming thosesex scenes:
feeling that she needed to be with men, and how much she grew and
I have to give credit to the creative team; we felt like no one was watch-
blossomed into the person she really felt was right for her.
about five years ago, and I know the struggle that she went through,
ing so we were abe to open ourselves, be present and take risks in
the moment. I was pleasantly surprised about the genuine innocence,
On what the film hasachievedfor women:
which sounds crazy because it is very sexual and explicit, but I just
Everything about this project felt serendipitous to me. There's a differ-
thought there was an innocence to it. My mom was my date for the
ent energy to it, a different level of comfortability, kind of an intuition
Toronto International Film Festival, and after she saw it she just said,
that women share, and a level of support that you feel when you're
"Wow, that's a lot for a mother to see her daughter do." But she was very
surrounded by women. I grew up with a mom who told me I could do
proud of me. I'm from a very small town in the prairies in Canada, and
anything. I love what our team did. Instead of just talking about it, they
I said to her, "What are you going to say to everyone back home?" She
created the opportunity for an all-woman crew. I think as women we
said, 'Tm going to tell them to go see it."
have to keep pushing and doing it and making the work for us.•
BelowHer Mouth isavailableon VOD platforms:iTunes,AmazonVideo,GooglePlay,Vudu,MicrosoftMovies& TV,SonyPlaystation,and Vimeo.
66
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
7
LIVING LARGEIN A CAMPER
MAKE MINE MINNEAPOLIS
LOCAL EXPEDITIONS
•I
I
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
67
WHERE TO STAY
San Francisco's vibrant cultural diversity is reflected in its
accommodations. I bounced around for several days in different
neighborhoods, and each hotel offered something unique.
HOTEL ZEPHYR puts you a block from all the action on Fisherman's
Wharf and Pier 39. This is a stylish and relaxing property with a
contemporary nautical vibe-which is appropriate because many
rooms have balconies with views of the Golden Gate Bridge,
Alcatraz, Coit Tower, and the Bay Bridge. The rooms feature
funky and cheerful accent decor, and that vibe spills over into the
creative and communal "yard"-a huge outdoor courtyard and
recreational area for guests, featuring a trailer selling wine and
snacks, outdoor furniture and fire pits, and giant games to enjoy.
This Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards Winner is the
perfect base for accessing waterfront seafood dining and the
ferries and Bay Area cruises. (hotelzephyrsf.com)
HOW AND WHERE TO GET AROUND
In this gig economy, it's easy and affordable to get from A to
B via Lyft and avoid the up-hill-and-down-dale experience of
walking in San Francisco's dramatically undulating topography.
But walk you should, if you have the energy, because the
many lovely neighborhoods, architectural gems, gardens and
vegetation, and stunning street life are there for you to enjoy.
Stroll the full length of the Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf,
hike the Presidio to take in spectacular views, walk along Baker
Beach underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, visit Alamo Square
and its Painted Ladies-a colorful row of Victorian houses of
differing hues, go shopping in Union Square, wander around
North Beach, the city's Little Italy, with its famous Vesuvio's
68
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
THE PHOENIX is the place to fantasize that you are part of a rock
'n' roll band or its entourage. I kept expecting to see Johnny Depp
(or insert your favorite bad boy/ bad girl into this hallucination)
having a cigarette by the tropical courtyard's heated swimming
pool. This is a fun place, with quirky retro-vintage chic decor,
a hip and friendly staff, and a chill vibe-think creative, not
corporate. This is a place where I could see myself staying up
all night to see live bands and waking up with a tattoo that I
hopefully wouldn't regret! Another attraction to staying here is
the excellent Chambers restaurant right next door. This trendy
noshery is romantic, artistic, and a magnet for sexy millennials.
During my dinner there, my gaze was was torn between the
vintage records and books, my craft cocktail, my Fried Oyster
Bao Bun, and two gorgeous goth girls seated nearby-and
clearly on a date. Reservations a must, and best of all, it's only
a stumble across the courtyard to your digs at The Phoenix!
(thephoenixhotel.com)
restaurant and City Lights bookstore, or soak up nature in the
1,000 exotic acres of Golden Gate Park-the only place I know
where you can go from perusing American masterpieces at the
de Young Museum to watching wild buffalo roam!
One of the easiest and most pleasant ways to get your bearings
is to take a Big Bus Tour, a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing service
that is affordable, efficient, and fun, and will have you feeling like
a local in a couple of hours. You do not need a car to navigate the
city's 49 square miles. The very convenient and affordable Muni
system (buses, trains, cable cars, and heritage street cars) is the
best way to go; just download the 511SF Bay Transit Trip Planner
app before you set out.
HILTON SAN FRANCISCO UNION SQUARE may look like a big,
corporate, businessman's hotel, but this stunning property is at its
heart very gay. As the exclusive hotel sponsor for the Frameline
Film Festival, and a host hotel for Pride festivities, the Hilton also
has a dedicated LGBT ambassador and a mission to serve the LGBT
traveler with style and grace. With a Hilton property, you know
you're getting a certain standard-whether that's a perfectly mixed
martini in the gleaming lobby bar, or a perfect score on the HRC
Corporate Equality Index. The chic modern rooms, many with city
and bay views, provide an uncluttered environment for the urban
sophisticate. Head to the Cityscape viewing lounge on the 46th
floor for appetizers and cocktails and 180-degree views. An easy
choice for dinner is Urban Tavern, right next door and part of the
hotel. This modern gastropub and bar serves excellent small and
large plates, such as the signature Spiced Cucumbers or Braised
Spanish Octopus. (sanfranciscohilton.com)
THE INTERCONTINENTAL SAN FRANCISCO is a 32-story
landmark in the heart of the city's premium shopping center
and a short stroll to the Financial District, entertainment, and
dining. This luxury hotel is perfect for business and romance
(it's currently offering a "San Francisco Is for Lovers" package).
Many suites boast floor-to-ceiling windows and views that
sparkle, no matter what the weather. Onsite is the elegant,
Michelin-starred LUCE restaurant,a grappa bar(shouldyouever
tire of local wine), and there are many more casual restaurants
within easy distance. Splurge on access to the Club Lounge,
which serves breakfast and luscious snacks throughout the
day. The Spa offers couples' treatments, and there's an indoor
swimming pool and a fitness center, should you want to stay
put and focus on wellness. It's also a certified "green" building,
and I was pleased to end my trip here, on a very Californian
note of sustainability. (intercontinentalsanfrancisco.com)
WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK
If you love food-the freshest produce, beautifully prepared and
boldly presented-San Francisco is paradise. Here's a list of my
absolute favorite meals this trip.
For a casual brunch with booze and a polyamorous island vibe
(the menu has hearty Caribbean, Polynesian, and Pacific Rim
influences), tarry at Palm House. This relaxed and funky spot is
unbeatable for value and fun. Everything is good, but make sure you
try the signature Puerto Rican Smashed Avocado with pineappleglazed bacon and chips. The cocktails are earthy and exotic; the El
Crudo-tequila, fresh jalapeno, strawberry, and lime-gave me the
kick start I needed for a big day of sightseeing. (palmhousesf.com)
Just down the road is sister restaurant The Dorian, a good choice
for a sceney lunch, libation, or dinner. This hipster pub is big
on whisky, but also has fine wine and classic cocktails. Its
provisions are fresh, healthy, and Mediterranean inspiredexcept for its Royal Dorian burger, an orgy of beef, brioche,
foie gras, truffle cheese, fancy sauce, and little gem lettuce.
(doriansf.com)
A utilitarian lunch can be enjoyed at TAP 415, a great place
to stop and fuel up for a day of retail therapy or walking tours.
Located in the Westfield San Francisco Centre on Market
Street, and right next door to Nordstrom, this friendly eatery
serves excellent and hefty soups, salads, sandwiches, and
innovative beer bites such as the addictive Bavarian Pretzel
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
69
FEATURES/
TRAVEL
Nuggets served with cheese fondue. (tap415.com)
To sample the bounty of the sea, book a 100 percent
sustainable seafood feast at Fog Harbor Fish House on Pier 39.
This old-school and romantic waterfront restaurant is hard to
beat for location, views, service. Try its famous, award-winning
clam chowder served in a crusty sourdough bread bowl, a whole
roasted Dungeness crab or a spectacular shellfish platter. Fog
Harbor feels like San Francisco on the half shell (fogharbor.
com). San Francisco is known for its Asian flair and for elegant
innercity French-Vietnamese, think Le Colonial, near Union
Square. It's housed in a beautiful building on a hidden laneway,
and the atmospheric setting only enhances the exotic collection
of prix-fixe menus and cocktails. (lecolonialsf.com)
If you're a night owl, check out Bergerac with its Brooklynesque
vibe and queer appeal (on my visit, the excellent DJand talented
mixologist were queer women). Bergerac is part gentleman's
club, part opium den-with innovative craft cocktails such as
Mother of Dragons (Thai chili infused Mezcal!). Lounge around
on chesterfields, snack on Bon Mi Chicken Sliders and Truffle
Fries, then head upstairs to Audio, the newly renovated club
space, open until the wee small hours. (bergeracsf.com)
Take a trip back in time at John's Grill, which serves nostalgia
and noir nightly. Nothing about this place seems to have changed
70
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
in decades-from its iconic neon sign to its menu. A favorite
haunt of 1940s detective fiction writer Dashiell Hammett, the
signature cocktail, The Bloody Brigid, is named after the femme
fatale of Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. Tuck into Sam Spade's
Lamb Chops and be sure to view the copy of the Maltese Falcon
statuette and all the memorabilia, including photos of satisfied
diners Lauren Bacall to Hillary Clinton. San Francisco is a city
undergoing waves of gentrification. I hope John's Grill never
changes a thing. (johnsgrill.com)
With more restaurants per capita than any other American
city, you have choice. But save a night for fine dining at Twenty
Five Lusk. Located in a beautifully restored, post-and-beam
warehouse in the SOMA District, this is cutting-edge modern
American cuisine. There's nothing like Kumamoto Oysters with
cucumber juice, chervil, and hackleback caviar to signal date
night! Pork Belly Confit with satsuma, baby turnip, pickled pear,
and crispy dandelion greens or fresh Arctic Char with green
onion marmalade and black rice ...delicious! The vision of savvy
restaurant veteran Chad Bourdon and brilliant chef Matthew
Dolan, everything is impressive. Finish your meal with Lime
Posset kiwi with champagne granite and a glass of Moscato
d'Asti and you'll simply float out the door on a culinary Cloud 9
into the City of Love. (25Iusk.com)
We started this journey mostly because
we wanted a simpler life. Our busy,
consumeristic, urban lives forced us into
hours of commuting and the constant
struggle for more. So we gave away
everything we owned and now live in a
15-foot teardrop trailer. So far, there have
been bumps and bruises, but also a level of
happiness that we didn't find in our hectic
lives previously. Choosing to change our
entire lifestyle was terrifying. Turning
"Maybe one day ..." into "Let's do this!"
required overcoming the fears that kept
us in one place. For years we had talked
about living minimally or nomadically,
but we weren't sure we could actually do
it. Now we are learning and growing, and
discovering meaning in the little things.
WHAT LIVING TINY HAS TAUGHT US
We used to watch Tiny House Hunters
and other tiny house shows and think,
"There is no way we could ever do that."
Yet the tiny house movement fascinated
us. "What would it be like? Could we live in
such a small space? Could we get rid of all
our stuff?" We were curious but we didn't
realize that a few years later we would be
living in a space a quarter of the size of
those tiny homes. We feel like a weight has
been lifted from us. We no longer have to
dust 100 things or sweep a 1,300-squarefoot house. The very few things we do have
take minimal time to clean and manage.
This clears up both time and mental space
for other things. This shift has changed us,
potentially forever. We may never go back
to a large home. And certainly not back to
owning so much meaningless stuff. We
may just live tiny forever, but we'll see. As
with everything, we reserve the right to
change our minds.
LGBTQTRAVELIN THESETIMES
We understand that we are white and
may present as heterosexual, and we
deeply understand that not every place in
the U.S. is safe to be gay. We both come
from families and communities where it
was not okay to be gay, so being out and
openly lesbian represents a huge victory
for us. Being out in all aspects of our
lives-family, work, friends, and in publicis extremely important to us, and to our
mental health. Being out is a victorious
testament to how much rejection and
fear we had to walk through to get here.
But because of our experiences, we are
still sometimes nervous to hold hands
or be openly affectionate in small-town
America. Despite our fear of telling people
we are married we have been met with
kindness and greeted with open arms in
every place we've been. Even in uncertain
times, in a divided political landscape,
human kindness seems to transcend all
party lines. We are learning to not let fear
prevent us from doing the things we love.
HOW WE FUND FULL-TIMETRAVEL
Our old strategy was: work hard, save
money, spend that money on vacation.
But our ability to travel ran out when our
savings did. So when we were thinking
about traveling indefinitely, we had
two options: get a job in the place we
wanted to be or get a remote position
so we could travel to multiple locations.
Summer 2016, we both found odd-jobs
in Seward, Alaska, because Alaska was
on our bucket list. With its beautiful
harbor surrounded by massive fjords,
snow-peaked mountains, and a generous
community, it quickly became one of our
favorite towns in the U.S., and inspired
us to travel full-time. Nowadays, we are
digital nomads in order to fund our travels.
So if you are determined to travel, there is
a way to do it, if you are creative. Follow us
at happycamperwives.com.
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
71
PRIDE
..·············1
N TH E
CITY
Q~
lAK~~
I
Minneapolis
invites you
to celebrate.
BY JANELLE
BECK
Minneapolis is a unique combination
of rustic charm and urban elegance.
Glistening
lakes,
award-winning
restaurants, and a renowned music and
burlesque scene combine with progressive
politics and a vibrant LGBTQ community
to make a perfect place to celebrate
Pride. Since 2011, Pride Weekend (the
last weekend in June) has kicked off with
Grown and Sexy, a queer dance party and
show that takes place at First Avenue, the
club made famous in Prince's hit film Purple
Rain. The iconic nightclub is the perfect
backdrop to an evening celebrating the
queer community. Sweetpea, aka Tawnya
Konobeck, and DJ Shannon Blowtorch are
basically household names in Minneapolis.
Sweetpea has dazzled audiences all over
the country with her signature sultry
charm and is now omnipresent on the
72
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
local burlesque scene. Blowtorch is the
busiest DJ in town.
Sweetpea and Blowtorch know what
it takes to throw a great party. "We are
thrilled to be able to showcase local
fabulous queer performance-art groups,
and top it all off with a great headliner,
mainly national burlesque acts and RuPaul
drag superstars," says Sweetpea.
Having been on the national burlesque
scene for over a decade, Sweetpea
shares how she got her start in 2004.
"I was just coming out. I had zero idea
what burlesque was, other than a place
with beautiful women wearing vintage
lingerie. I was changed immediately,
within the first few moments of watching
my first performance. Five months after
that show, I was onstage for the first time.
Now, burlesque is how I make my living,
and I have the honor of even being a
multiple title holder in the Burlesque Hall
of Fame," she says.
With the political climate being so
divisive, especially for members of
minority communities, the convergence
of art, activism, and Pride are a focus
this year in particular. "Pride is always an
inspiring change agent for equality across
the board. And with more people than ever
finally shifting from being allies to activists,
I think we will claim the opportunity to
unite our queer and straight, cis and trans
communities," Sweetpea says. "Also, with
so much fighting to do for the next four
years of this horrendous administration,
we need joyful breaks in safe spaces when
we can get them. We need parties. And no
one throws parties like the LGBTQsdo."
The festival itself (formally known as
FEATURES/
Twin Cities Pride, named for the two
adjacent cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul)
takes place in Loring Park, a large green
space nestled between the Uptown and
Downtown neighborhoods in Minneapolis.
Festival-goers can wander the aisles of
booths, vendors, art displays, and LGTBQ
community resource tents. There are a
variety of stages featuring drag shows,
comedians, and musicians.
On Sunday, the Ashley Rukes GLBT
Parade makes its way down Hennepin
Avenue. The parade honors the late
director of Twin Cities Pride, who was
largely responsible for growing the festival
from a small get-together to the largescale production it is today, where over
400,000 people flock to the Twin Cities
to participate in the third-largest Pride
celebration in the country.
For a break from the heat, try one of
the myriad dining options the city has to
offer. Ranging in taste (and budget) from
the upscale Burch Restaurant, to hipster
haven The Lowry, to the dive bar Liquor
Lyle's, there are literally dozens of choices
just blocks from the center of the action.
Also, a variety of hotels just a short walk,
cab-, or bus-ride away from the action
offer Pride Weekend discounts. The Hilton
Garden Inn and more upscale Millennium
Minneapolis are two of many options.
To get a true taste of all that Minneapolis
has to offer, finish your Pride Weekend with
a canoe, kayak, or paddleboard tour of the
city's lakes (there are 13). Visit Wheel Fun
Rentals at Lake Calhoun (3000 Calhoun
Parkway East) to get your gear, then hit the
water for hours of relaxing fun exploring
the waterways that connect Lake of the
Isles, Cedar Lake, and Lake Calhoun.
Between busting a move at First Avenue
for Grown and Sexy, joining the thousands
of revelers in the LGBTQ community for
the Pride Festival and Parade, dining at
quintessential local haunts, and cooling
off in one of the city's lakes, Minneapolis
can provide a weekend of community and
relaxation sure to delight even the most
experienced traveler. (tcpride.org) •
TRAVEL
MARKtTP
BUYERS
REPRESENTATION
BY
THENATION'S
TOP
LGBTQ
REALTORS.
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
73
Lesbian business
owner Nancy
Blaine turns
tourists -in"to
travelers.
Nancy Blaine, 56, has called Park Slope,
Brooklyn home since 2001, prior to which
she lived in Manhattan for 18 years.
"I finally feel qualified to call myself
a New Yorker," says the self-described
"lesbian since birth." She's well acquainted
with the tendency of tourists to visit iconic
metropolises, but lack the knowledge of
how to experience a city like a local.
During her own business travels she
often wondered where
the lesbian
locals would hang out. "I don't really
like hanging out in bars. I wanted truly
local experiences. As a traveler-gay or
74
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
straight-we should be as interested in the
real experiences a place offers as we are in
the typical tourist experiences."
So Blaine founded Local Expeditions, a
sharing economy tour company for locals
with a passion for showing out-of-towners
their cities, and for tourists who want to see
a destination through the eyes of a local.
"The distinct difference between Local
Expeditions and other tour companies is
that our tours really are designed by the
individuals who lead them," says Blaine.
"Locals have free reign over what they
choose to show. It creates really exciting
and passionate tours that highlight hidden
treasures over iconic sights. Also, the
guide gets 80 percent of the proceeds, 15
percent goes back to Local Expeditions to
keep the business running, and 5 percent
goes to a non-profit of the guide's choice."
A Local Expeditions tour is also walletfriendly. As a lesbian, Blaine is aware that
she needs to meet the needs of budgetconscious women. "Affordable pricing is
important to me. I had to really think about
it because since it's a shared economy
business model, I also had to be sure that
guides made a reasonable amount of
money for their work. I landed at $40 for a
2-3 hour walking tour."
She recently expanded the price model
to allow guides to add food and drink
options to some tours, while keeping
prices reasonable.
If you're planning on traveling to NYC
this Pride, consider taking one of Blaine's
tours. Yes, you should see Times Square,
the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State
Building. "But after you're done with all of
that, check out the neighborhoods," she
says. "That's where the magic happens.
The small businesses, cafes, restaurants
and local sights."
Local Expeditions offers tours such as
Secrets of Central Park, with the charity
portion going to Planned Parenthood.
Blaine is planning East and West Village
tours titled This Used To Be Gay, which she
developed with friend Moe Angelos, from
the performance group the Five Lesbian
Brothers. The title is tongue-in-cheek but
speaks to a truth.
"The neighborhoods are still kind of
LGBTQ, but they have become quite
'status quo' in the past 15 years or so. I left
the West Village in 2001 because all my
people had migrated to Brooklyn. That
said, the LGBTQ history in the Village is
fantastic and there is so much to show. We
are really excited about it."
Blaine is also working with an outdoor
enthusiast and certified wilderness expert
to conduct weekend trips in late summer
and fall to the foothills of the White
Mountains, N.H., spending two nights in a
historic farmhouse and one day and night
hiking and camping.
And if you're energetic, outgoing, and
fancy yourself as a guide in your own city,
sign up at local-expeditions.com.•
URES/
TRAVEL
READERSNAPOF THE MONTH
I
HANDBOOK
OF
LGBT TOURISM
AND HOSPITALITY
c~
TRAVELTRENDS
NEW
LGBT
TRAVEL
HANDBOOK
The Handbook of LGBT Tourism and Hospitality is an easyto-read, practical, and timely guidebook aimed at hospitality
industry professionals to help them be sensitive and authentic
when it comes to serving LGBT travelers. The book is written by
Jeff Guaracino and Ed Salvato, who traveled to six continents
and worked with almost a hundred expert industry consultants
and authorities to help make this book the most inclusive and
comprehensive guide of its kind. Weighing in on behalf of lesbian
travelers is Merryn Johns, Curve's editor-in-chief, who says,
"The more information out there, the less discrimination we will
experience while traveling. The current political climate makes
travel more challenging than usual, so keep a copy of this book
to remind you of your wishes and your rights."
I
>
C/J
I
Elizabeth Forman is having plenty
of queer adventures in Shanghai.
The American graduate student
moved to the Chinese city
to study politics, but she
wasted no time in hopping
on the Chinese dating site,
Tantan. "I practiced my
Chinese with new matches,
met other foreign queer people, and even made a couple of
friends. Now I have a wonderful
girlfriend, and although the two of
us literally stopped traffic by kissing on the sidewalk, no one has
ever been openly homophobic."
C/J
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,#f/1,,,,,,,,,,,,_,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,_,,,,NN'''''''"''''''"''"'''"'''''''"'''''''''''
i
:;;;;tQ{IESTlON: ADWCE
FORCHEAP
TRAVEL?
TRAVEL TRIVIA
"I love all the travel articles
in Curve but I'm a young
Millennial with student
loans and won't be able
to afford those sort of
trips for a few years.
What do you recommend
for a romantic getaway
without breaking the bank?
We like nice things but can't
afford fancy hotels ..."
Emily
W.,Brooklyn
Emaileditor@curvemag.comwith
tips and tricks or fave destinations.
76
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Dear Emily,
You can still travel on a budget
and enjoy a nice environment.
No need to wait until your
retirement before being bitten by
the travel bug! I recommend that
you check out airbnb or VRBO
for vacation rentals in exotic but
safe locations where you can
pool resources with friends who
are also in couples, and split the
costs. Another option is to get
into international housesitting,
which means you enjoy
someone else's fabulous home
in exchange for just minding it.
Visitglobetrottergirls.com
formoreinfo.
DID
YOU
KNOW
THAT...
...
Aloha,
Lesbian
Travelers!
70% surveyed in a recent
study by the Hawaii Tourism
Authority said that Hawai'i
was a top LGBT-friendly destination,
especially among lesbian couples.
9
Wedding or honeymoon anyone?
Stockholm,
Sweden
...aims to be the smartest and most
connected city in the world.
The strategy involves a
unique focus on economic,
ecological, and social sustainability
through innovative digital services,
democracy, transparency and
connectivity. (stockholm.se/
smartcity)
Q
Key West Pride
June?-11,2017
keywestpride.org
TheFlorida
Keys
With our live-and-let-live philosophy and official One Human
Family point of view, Key West takes The Florida Keys'
come-as-you-are
attitude to a whole new place. And
with annual events like Key West Pride, you can
celebrate your true colors 365 days a year.
fla-keys.com/gaykeywest
305.294.4603
Key\\kst
Close To Perfect - Far From Normal
~~-~
Big Pine Key & The Lower Keys
TLOOK/
CROSSWORD
THE
L-OUIZ
34
Test your
lesbian knowledge
with our queer crossword.
36
BY MYLES MELLOR
DOWN
ACROSS
1.
Expressions of Pride
5.
Nickname of Eleanor
Roosevelt's girlfriend
9.
down
"
"What kind of fool
lyric, 2 words
12. Guess
4.
See 21 across
6.
Stonewall was one
33.
Strange
7.
Mexican painter who
35.
Symbol for nicke
32. Famous NYC riots to
Fields
37. Lover of Virginia
had affair with Georgia
O'Keeffe
8.
Docudrama miniseries
about LGBT rights, 3
words
10. 5th month in French
17. Signal on stage
22. Cuddle
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
That woman, her
Date
21. Key date in lesbian
78
32.
29.
36. Lover of Sarah Jewett,
history, goes with 4
Big coffee holder
Godown
19. Oil
C)
31.
3.
20. Amaze
:5
Symbol of love
Holds dear
35. Concord's state
18. Time for action!
28.
25.
14.
16. Movie snack
Clinch, with "up"
LGBTsymbol of Pride
34. Medical pro
15. Freedom
Sexy
27.
2.
13. Fled
the knot
26.
... and justice for_
protest anti-LGBT
discrimination
uct, for short
Gems of the ocean
24.
30. Fan
11. Digital camera prod-
1.
canvas
23. Gay symbol and org
TLOOKtSTARS
HotandHeavy
June is busting out all over as Venus moves into rowdy
Taurus and Mars dips into an emotional Cancer in July.
BY CHARLENE LICHTENSTEIN
ARIES
(MARCH
21-APRIL
20)
Aries ramp up their spending
on trinkets designed to please.
Anyone we know? Try to keep
your eye on the bottom line
as these emotional purchases
may dissolve like sugar in
your coffee. Focus instead on
CHARLIZE THERON
was born on August 7,1975.
making your nest into a love
nest by sprucing it up with
% romantic touches and juicing it
TAURUS
1/,
(APRIL
21-MAY
21) 1/,
1/, up with romantic touching.
Amazon Bulls are money 1/,
1/,
managers of the zodiac. 1/, TAURUS
(APRIL
21-MAY
21)
1/,
If you have some funds to 1/, Don't be surprised if your
invest, consult this savvy 1/,
1/, popularity hits a high note this
sapphic woman. She will not 1/, summer, Taurus. You'll find
1/,
put your life savings in crazy 1/, yourself the center of all of
1/,
high risk money schemes. 1/, the attention. Use this time to
Rather, she will carefully 1/,
1/, launch your pet projects. You
place your nest egg in a 1/,
1/, might have the opportunity
conservative money market 1/,
1/, to meet a mover and a shaker
or annuity. It may not triple in 1/,
who can make things happen
a year, but you are practically 1/,
1/, for you. So lie back and let her
1/,
guaranteed to feast on fluffy
1/, move and shake you.
omelettes in your old age. 1/,
1/,
1/,
(MAY
22-JUNE
21)
1/, GEMINI
1/,
1/, You may uncover a sweet
GEMINI
(MAY
22-JUNE
21) 1/,
1/, secret this summer, whether it
Lesbian Twins are the earn 1/,
1/, is a guardian angel, an adoring
it and burn it types when it 1/, admirer or the key to a long
1/,
comes to finances. She is 1/, buried mystery. Whatever it
1/,
far more interested in the 1/, is, use it to enrich yourself
excitement of money and 1/,
1/, emotionally, physically or
what it can buy rather than 1/, financially. If you are still trying
1/,
its long term power and ease. 1/, to figure out the best way to
1/,
She is also rather generous 1/, declare your love, give it a
with her possessions. For 1/,
1/, crazy try now.
these reasons she is apt 1/,
1/,
to squander her payload 1/,
UUNE
22-JULY
23)
1/, CANCER
as fast as she can grab it. 1/,
Girlfriends
know
just
what to
Save a little for a rainy day? 1/,
1/, do to make you feel important.
Fuggetaboutit, sister! 1/,
1/, So seek out the company of
1/,
1/, gal pals this summer. Don't
1/,
..................................................
1/, let a weekend go by without
1/,
Charlene
Lichtenstein
is theauthor 1/, something fun to do with the
1/,
of HerScopes:
AGuide
toAstrology1/, group. Expand your sphere
1/,
ForLesbians
(Simon& Schuster) 1/, of influence by joining new
nowavailable
asanebook. 1/,
1/, organizations. Have an interest
(tinyurl.com/HerScopes)
~ to explore? Explore away!
80
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
LEO
(JULY
24-AUG
23)
SAGITTARIUS
(NOV
23-DEC
22)
Bosses like your style at work.
Is it time to make your big
corporate move up the food
chain? Maybe. But exert finesse
in any negotiation, Lioness.
As the summer rolls on, you
can benefit more from careful
behind-the-scenes politicking
designed to keep your motives
hidden while you strengthen
your position. Heh, heh,
While your heart yearns to
travel or relax, this summer
may prove to be more workactive and therefore more
productive. Work projects will
start to pile up. But it won't
be all toil and trouble. In fact,
Sagittarians with a long list of
old "to-dos" can check quite
a few items off forever. Now
doesn't that feel great?
VIRGO
(AUG
24-SEPT
23)
CAPRICORN
(DEC
23-JAN
20)
Summer means travel! So
pack your bags, Virgo, and
head to the outer limits of fun
and adventure. It will be even
more thrilling to travel with
a particular gal pal but if she
cannot go, there are plenty
of opportunities to gather a
troupe on the road. Will you
get lost? Only if you're lucky.
Discover ways to have fun
this summer, Capricorn. Life
is more than a team building
corporate retreat. Find any
excuse to take some time off
and get into mischief with a
certain Ms. Be creative in your
romantic plans and attend as
many parties as possible. You
can become the belle of the
ball. Ring a few other belles!
LIBRA
(SEPT
24-0CT
23)
Sexy Libras seem to sizzle with
the rising temperatures this
summer. Your sensual appetite
knows no bounds and you are
ready for anything and anyone,
anywhere and anyhow. But try
to be a bit discerning while
you troll the delicious array
of sweets. You don't want to
develop any cavities, do you?
Or maybe you do ...
AQUARIUS
UAN
21-FEB
19)
SCORPIO
(OCT
24-NOV
22)
PISCES
(FEB
20-MARCH
20)
Spend summer concentrating
on strengthening a certain
relationship, Scorpio. You need
to be present and focused on
her needs. You may have been
too distracted to notice that
there is relationship drift. So
find ways to spoil her. She may
return the favor! Single? Plug
into your social circuit and see
who lights up.
Guppies with something to
say say it loud and proud
this summer. You have been
mulling your next step and it
is time to make your move.
Gather up your best ideas
and prepare to share them
cyberly. You might even gain
a following. Who knows where
all this oratory action can lead?
Kiss and do tell!
Aqueerians may become
homebodies this summer.
You enjoy hanging around
the house more than usual.
Plan some festive gettogethers with some bosom
buddies. There may be home
improvement projects that you
can get underway. How many
helping hands will you need?
U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
CDC.gov/tips
@LEXUS
THELEXUSGSF
With the roar of a race-inspired,
467-horsepower
1
VS engine to get your heart racing, and
stopping force of six-piston Brembo® front brakes7 the
GS F doesn't
~1BEST
'.'!".~.::PLACESTOWORK
just court power, it inspires it.
2017~
Lexus.com/GSF I #LexusGSF
Options shown.1. Ratings achieved using the required premium unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 91 or higher. If premium fuel is not used, performance will decrease. 2. High-performance
require additional maintenance and be louder than conventional brakes, depending on driving conditions. See the Warranty and Services Guide for more information. ©2017 Lexus.
brakes may
See all items with this value
-
®
74470
80539
MENTION "CDL17" WHEN YOU CALL
STELLARANNIVERSARY
LUXURY
CELEBRATIONS
ACCOMMODATIONS
EXOTIC
DESTINATIONS
STAR-STUDDED
ENTERTAINMENT
THETRAVELCOMPANY FORLESBIANS
OLIVIA.COM • (415)962-5700 X1
NEW FRIENDSHIPS
& LIFELONGMEMORIES
0, oliviacompanies
G oliviatravels O oliviatravel
O oliviatravel
CST#1009281040
JUN/JUL
2017
FEATURES
20
TRANSMILITARY HEALTH
Opening up the counseling
profession to the reality of
transgender service members.
36
FANCY FOOTWORK
Stylish all-gender shoes and
boots by genderqueer style
pioneer NiK Kacy.
WELL SUITED
Dress to impress with a
bespoke suit by Kipper
Clothiers.
~JS
CELESBIANS AT HOME
A peek inside the homes or
offices of our favorite A-list
queer women.
3J
THE PRIDE LIST
Meet the reader-voted list of
lesbian, bisexual, and queer
achievers striving for equality.
(JO
A FAMILY OUTING
Mariah Brown of Sister Wives
proudly comes out.
(JS
GOLDEN GATE PRIDE
The City by the Bay celebrates
a summer of love and Pride.
7J
HAPPY CAMPERS
A lesbian couple in love lives
large in a tiny trailer.
2
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
IN EVERYISSUE
34
4
EDITOR'S NOTE
6
CURVETTES
8
FEEDBACK
10
THE GAYDAR
80
STARS
TRENDS
REVIEWS
11 OUT IN FRONT
Meet the community leaders
who are doing us proud. By
Sheryl Kay
24 FILMS
Do you know about the hit UK
web series Different For Girls?
By Jane Czyzselska
11 IN CASE YOU MISSED
IT ... LGBT news from across
the country.
26 MUSIC
Electronic duo Goldfrapp
make a spectacular return. By
Merryn Johns
12 WOMEN WE LOVE
Each issue we pick a lucky lady
with a look and a life to match.
13 CURVE CONFIDENTIAL
What's new and noteworthy
with our favorite celesbians.
By Chloe Curran
VIEWS
6 POLITICS
Deep thoughts and heartfelt
convictions on a different topic
each issue from our contributing politics editor. By Victoria
A. Brownworth
8 SEX
All curvy girls need to know
about sex positions good
for self-esteem. By Yana
Tallon-Hicks
31 BOOKS
Excellent summer reading,
from coming out, to being out,
to a memorable memoir.
LAST LOOK
78 CROSSWORD
Can you tame our Queer Quiz?
By Myles Mellor
18 ISSUES
Our in-depth look into a hot
button topic affecting queer
women worldwide.
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
3
A Summer
Unprecedented
T
he first ever LGBTQ Pride March took place in New York
City on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the one-year
anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. In that inaugural
year, it's estimated that more than 2,000 people participated in the
march. Last year, according to organizers, around 30,000 people
marched in the NYC Pride Parade, and around 2 million spectators
joined the marchers-a jump of half a million from the previous
year. Clearly, people are still concerned about the future rights of
the LGBTQcommunity.
For many of us, since last year's U.S. presidential election, Pride
has become protest. I'm not sure everyone likes that development.
For many of us, Pride has always signified a season of joy and
visibility, a time to literally feel proud of ourselves. But according
to our recent CurveMag.com poll, this year's Pride Parade will have
more in common with the 1970 Pride March than any other.
Since New York is the birthplace of the modern Pride movement,
I chatted with Eboni Munn, Communications Manager at NYC Pride,
and asked her how she saw the city's upcoming Pride event. Would
4
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
the current political context affect any of the plans, procedures,
and protocols for NYC Pride in June 2017?
"We recently announced the four grand marshals set to lead
this year's critical LGBT Pride demonstration: The ACLU, Brooke
Guinan [FDNY], Krishna Stone [GMHC], and Geng Le [Blued];'
she said. "The rally will also go back to its roots. We're organizing
community activists, politicians, and more in response to the
current political climate. With this year's NYC Pride March and Rally,
we're speaking to the social and political tensions brought on by
the new administration;' confirmed Munn.
She also expects an exceptional response from participants
and spectators. "We are experiencing an unprecedented moment
in our history, and we're expecting the LGBT community and our
allies to make their voices heard in immense proportions:'
This is our Pride issue, and since not everyone will be in New
York or on either coast for Pride season, it's important to remember
that Pride can be grown and nourished anywhere, especially
in small towns. In this issue, we give a shout-out to Minneapolis
as an example of one of the many vibrant communities that will
be making a rainbow stand this year. And to see more examples
of grassroots initiative, look no further than our Pride List-a
reader-generated roll call of achieving queer women in arts and
entertainment, business and enterprise, activism and community,
from coast to coast.
It wouldn't be Pride without some serious eye candy. For your
Pride pleasure, I can highly recommend the game-changing
lesbian feature film Below Her Mouth, starring our cover girl, the
Swedish supermodel Erika Linder. This film is about as out (and
sexy!) as you can get-and, naturally, it comes from our northern
neighbors in Toronto, Canada who are clearly exercizing their
freedom of expression. Exclusively written, directed, and crewed
by (mostly queer) women, the film is not only fun and sure to
provoke discussion, it's a reminder that sisters are doing it for
themselves.
Happy Pride!
~·
7
MERRYNJOHNS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
merryn@curvemag.com
~ @Merryn1
*
Join Macy's as we celebrate
Family + Friends + Love + Life + Equality + Respect
We are proud to join the parade across America in honor of National Pride Month.
We think it's really something to celebrate.
Plus, join us in our continued support of The Trevor Project!
The Trevor Project provides life-saving crisis
intervention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.
FOR MORE DETAILS VISIT
macys.com/celebrate
*
macys
RONT /
cu RVETTES
DEANNACOR & MEGANSHAINE
Megan Shaine, Ph.D., is a licensed professional counselor
and assistant professor of counseling at Hood College in
Frederick, Maryland. Deanna Cor is a licensed professional
counselor and assistant professor of counseling at
Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. They were
speakers at the American Counseling Association's annual
conference in San Francisco this year, and share their
insight into transgender mental health in the military on
page 20.
curve
THE BEST-SELLING
JUN/JUL
LESBIAN
2017 » VOLUME
MAGAZINE
27 NUMBER
3
PUBLISHER Silke Bader
FOUNDING PUBLISHER Frances Stevens
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Merryn Johns
SENIORCOPY EDITOR Katherine Wright
CONTRIBUTINGEDITORS Marcie Bianco, Victoria A.
Brownworth, Lyndsey D'Arcangelo, Anita Dolce Vita,
Sheryl Kay, Gillian Kendall, Dave Steinfeld
EDITORIALASSISTANTSGemma Dart
OPERATIONS
DIRECTOROF OPERATIONS Jeannie Sotheran
PROOFING
YANATALLON-HICKS
Yana is a consent, sex and sexuality writer and educator
living in Northampton, MA. Her work centers on pleasureand consent-based sex education as a positive in our
lives and the world. Yana'sworkshops have been held at
colleges and universities across New England and she was
invited to speak in Vienna, Austria as part of TEDxVienna
Salon. Yana will be awarded her Masters Degree in
Marriage & Family Therapy from Antioch University in
2017. Her article on sex positions for curvy girls is on page
28. (yanatallonhicks.com)
PROOFREADERMarcie Bianco
ADVERTISING
NATIONAL SALES Rivendell Media (908) 232-2021
EMAIL todd@curvemagazine.com
ART/PRODUCTION
ART DIRECTOR Bruno Cesar Guimaraes
SOCIAL MEDIA
MANAGERGemma Dart
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Melany Joy Beck, Kelsy Chauvin, Chloe Curran, Jane
Czyzselska, Mallorie DeRiggi, Dar Dowling, Kristin
Flickinger, Jessica Halem, Sarah Hasu, Kim Hoffman,
Francesca Lewis, Charlene Lichtenstein, Sassafras
Lowrey, Kelly McCartney, Myles Mellor, Bella Qvist, Laurie
K. Schenden, Janelle Sorenson, Yana Tallon-Hicks, Lisa
Tedesco
CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS & PHOTOGRAPHERS
Steph Brusig, Erica Camille, Grace Chu, Meagan Cignoli,
Sara Lautman, Syd London, Maggie Parker, Diana Price, B.
Proud, Robin Roemer, Leslie Van Stelten
JANELLE & MELANY BECK
Janelle and Melany met in 2009 while Melany was
covering Sick of Sarah for Curve and Janelle was the
band's tour manager. Since then, they have collaborated
on multiple projects including several Curve features and
cover stories, the short documentary Bring It 2 Peter, and
their own alt-country band, Delavan. Janelle and Melany
married in 2014. "We met because of Curve," says
Melany. "It's a very meaningful part of our lives and we're
excited to be able to work together, doing something we
love." Their article on Sister Wives is on page 60.
VALERIE & JESSI
Valerie and Jessi left a sedentary life dominated by
'stuff' to become digital nomads and travel the country
in a teardrop camper in pursuit of truth, meaning, and
happiness, as they live minimally, meet interesting
people, and learn about life. They were married on June
27, 2015 one day after same-sex marriage became legal,
and have spent the past 6 months exploring the natural
world, cooking delicious food, and documenting their
adventures. (happycamperwives.com)
CONTACT INFO
Curve Magazine
PO Box 467
New York, NY 10034
PHONE (415) 871-0569
SUBSCRIPTIONINQUIRIES(800) 705-0070 (toll-free in
EDITORIALEMAIL editor@curvemag.com
LETTERSTO THE EDITOREMAIL letters@curvemagazine.com
Volume 27 Issue 3 Curve (ISSN 1087-867X) is published 6 times per
year (February/March, April/May, June/July, August/September,
October/ November/, December/January) by Avalon Media, LLC,
PO Box 467, New York NY 10034. Subscription price: $35/year, $45
Canadian (U.S. funds only) and $55 international (U.S. funds only).
Returned checks will be assessed a $25 surcharge. Periodicals
postage paid at San Francisco, CA 94114 and at additional mailing
offices (USPS 0010-355). Contents of Curve Magazine may not
be reproduced in any manner, either whole or in part, without
written permission from the publisher. Publication of the name or
photograph of any persons or organizations appearing, advertising
or listing in Curve may not be taken as an indication of the sexual
orientation of that individual or group unless specifically stated.
Curve welcomes letters, queries, unsolicited manuscripts and
artwork. Include SASE for response. Lack of any representation
only signifies insufficient materials. Submissions cannot be
returned unless a self-addressed stamped envelope is included.
No responsibility is assumed for loss or damages. The contents
do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editor, unless
specifically stated. All magazines sent discreetly. Subscription
Inquiries: Please write to Curve, Avalon Media LLC., PO Box 467 New
York NY 10034, email jeannie@curvemag.com Canadian Agreement
Number: 40793029. Postmaster: Send address changes to jeannie@
curvemag.com, Curve, PO Box 17138,N. Hollywood, CA 91615-7138.
Printed in the U.S.
curvemag.com
6
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
usonly)
ADVERTISINGEMAIL todd@curvemagazine.com
~
-,,L=._
___,,~···•'t';l"",..:'
___
~
---~--,--~
-----L--
----♦--/_.,___
-
J_.::::1~==;;;;.J[,,.-.:_-_--;_-_...
--.. -r,.__,__~~-:i~
-L- ...
~1BEST
::~,:,,: PIACES TO WORK
2016
for LGBT Equality
RONT /
FEEDBACK
PANTSUITPOWER
gorgeous women of color.
What makes a warrior princess?
Chrys Nguyen, Melbourne
Apparently, a former NICU baby
Australia
that defied the odds and rocks
ESSENTIALSTORIES
feminist's heart swoon. The
a helmet that would make any
smiley baby made her debut on
Thank you Lucas Silveira for
•
sharing your amazing story
the popular Facebook group,
["My Integration," V.27#2] with
Pantsuit Nation, with a picture
us. It's inspiring and uplifting
of her applauding while wearing
to learn of your inner journey
her "Nevertheless She Persisted"
while transitioning, as so often
helmet. Within minutes the world
we focus on the external. It's
responded to her hope-filled
DELIGHTFULDIVERSITY
different for everyone and the
message, an ode to Elizabeth
This issue was brilliant. I loved
more stories we hear the better.
Warren's battle cry, by taking the
reading the article on Margaret
There's no one right way to
picture viral. "My little girl was
Cho ["Margaret Takes a Stand,"
transition. Thanks, Curve for
born with some health issues that
V.27#2] and I really enjoyed
supporting the 'T in LGBTQ.
resulted in some pretty intense
the fashion section with all the
BrandonK., Tampa FL.
interventions that ended up saving
her," says her mom, who has
requested to remain anonymous.
"We were told by the doctors some
MywifeJennifer
KnightandI werepeacefully
protesting
TrumpsNashville
v1s1t,
andfoundourselves
surrounded
bya seaof Trumpsupporters
wantingtheirpicturetaken
1nfrontof hisphotoI askedmywifeto followme,and
unbeknownst
to her I askedherto kissme SheobhgedI
washopingto showloveevenwhensurrounded
bythose
whomaynotbe soacceptingor understanding
Wehave
beenaskedbymanyto submitourphoto1nthehopeof
showingthatnomatterwhat,lovewillalwaystrumphate
the rosy, chubby-cheeked image
RobinCohn,Nashville
TN.
more of her in the years to come.
pretty scary news [and] were given
an explanation of what to expect
but nevertheless, despite the
rollercoaster, she persisted." Will
of baby-girl power overcome
health issues to be the next Gloria
Steinem, Elizabeth Warren, or
Ellen? We think we'll be seeing
li•1 ■■:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::i·
WHAT
ARE
YOUR
PLANS
FOR
PRIDE
2017?
22%
HANGING OUT MY RAINBOW FLAG FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE
25%
MARCHING IN MY LOCAL PRIDE PARADE
23%
l'M TOO SCARED TO BE OUT AND PROUD, I LIVE IN A RED STATE
30%
THIS YEAR IT'S NOT A PRIDE PARADE, IT'S A PROTEST!
Send to:
WRITE
Curve magazine, PO Box 467, New York, NY 10034
US! letters@curvemagazine.com
Email:
8
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Subscriber Services are now available at
curvemag.com/magazine
✓ subscribe
✓ pay your bill
✓ change address
✓ renew
✓ get missing issues
✓ give a gift
11 GIRL GAYDAR
13 CELESBIANGOSSIP
14 THEY SAID WHAT?
~
NEWS
GOSSIP
PROFILE
»
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
9
NDS/
THE GAYDAR
IMDb, the world's largest movie
website, adopts a new 'F-rating'
to highlight films that are directed
by women, written by women,
and/or pass the Bechdel test
Yelp helps users identify businesses
that offer gender-neutral restrooms after
announcing its participation in an amicus
brief supporting trans student, Gavin
Grimm
Charlize Theron as
a British spy in sexy,
violent thriller Atomic
Blonde gets it on with
a fellow female French
operative
Trump omits LGBTQ
people from the categories
for the 2020 Census
IMDb
Houston's
anti-LG BT
pastors give
"toilet seat"
awards to
state senators
who voted
against the
discriminatory
SB 6 Bill
Ghost in the
Shell's weird
lesbian kiss
is seen as
tokenistic by
fans of the
original series
HONORARY
LIFETIME
LESBIAN
MEMBERSHIP
Below Her Mouth
receives a triple
F-rating for queer
female director,
female writer,
female producer,
cinematographer,
crew and female
leads
Hillary
Clinton wears
leather blazer
and bangs
to speak at a
conference.
Where was this
power dyke
look during the
election?
SNL'slesbian version
of Logo's Fire Island,
Cherry Grove, has
the girls getting drunk,
crying, playing with
babies and going to
bed at 9 p.m.
10
CURVE
JUN/JUL
Big Freedia emojis help
put some bounce into
your phonel
Dove's latest #RealMoms
commercial features transgender
woman Shea and her partner,
lesbian moms of a son
2017
America Chavez shatters barriers in the
comics universe and beyond as the first
lesbian Latina superhero with her own
Marvel Comics series
TRENDS/
SUZANA
TRATNIK
>>Ljubljana,
Slovenia
Writer/Activist
Suzana Tratnik was born in Slovenia, in the rural town
NE
ELIZA
BYARD,
EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
OF
GLSEN,
MET
WITH
BETSY
DeVos to relay the concerns of hundreds of thousands of students,
educators, and parents, and to request the support and protection of
LGBTQ youth from the Trump Administration, from the Department of
of Murska Sobota, on a small street called Mala Ulica
Education and from its Office for Civil Rights Byard and GLSEN JOlned
(which, in Slovenian, means Little Street). It was there, as
forces with The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and
well as in worlds of her own creation, that Tratnik spent
Equality M1ch1gan and a delegation of families to make DeVos aware of
time reading and writing in a diary when she was a child.
"the pervasive violence and discriminat1on that the ma1or1ty of trans-
Today, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tratnik is still writing, now
gender students face across the country, 1nclud1ng being prevented
for millions of readers. Her books and short stories have
from using their correct name and pronouns and appropriate school
been translated into more than 20 languages.
facil1t1es,"said Byard "We told DeVos about the 1mmed1ate impact
"The need to tell the story and make a place for myself
in this world by telling my story;' is what motivated Tratnik
of w1thdraw1ng the [Title IX] guidance, and discussed ways that she
might be able to m1t1gatethe pain, fear, and confusion that dec1s1on
to write professionally, she explains. "Writing is something
has caused We described the years of experience, research and care-
I find most satisfying in my life. It is structuring the world
ful pol1cy-mak1ng behind the original Title IX guidance and all of the
in the way it is not possible in reality, which is always
emerging best practices 1thelped to publ1c1ze" (glsen.org)
chaotic."
Tratnik sees her writing as a crossroads where many
of her identities intersect: being a lesbian, the child of a
• AFREE
GENDER
CARE
CLINIC
has opened in Austin, Texas.
TexasHealth Action (THA),a
non-profit that promotes sexual
wellness, has launched a new
gender care clinic to address
the wellness needs of the
transgender community. The
clinic will be the first of its kind in
Central Texasand provides free,
high-quality, gender affirming
medical care to transgender and
gender non-binary individuals.
working-class family, a sociologist, an activist, and an art
lover. One of her well-known books, Lesbian Activism,
Step by Step, contains many of her own recollections
during the past 25 years of the Slovenian lesbian
movement.
"I wrote down what was important for me to become
a lesbian activist;' she says. "Our personal stories have
the potential to become a source of political and social
change:'
Homosexuality was taboo in Slovenia when it was part
of the socialist republic of Yugoslavia, back in the early
• REALITY
lVCONTESTANT
ZEKE
1980s, when Tratnik was first coming out. Today, she says,
Smith, who appeared on backto-back seasons of Survivor:
Game Changers, was outed as
transgender by fellow contestant
Jeff Varner in an episode that
aired in April. Varner, who is
gay and cisgender, confronted
Smith during tribal council for
being "deceptive:' Varner later
apologized but was fired from his
job in real estate as a result of the
uproar.
LGBT life is an integral part of the public conversation, and
coming out is not a big issue anymore. But she quickly acknowledges that not only are there entire countries where
it is still acceptable to kill people for being gay, but there
are also "hidden places;' even in so-called democratic
societies, where it is difficult to be different.
Moving forward, Tratnik says that the global lesbian
community needs to be aware of women's issues and
women's rights in general, because they are easily forgotten or simply nonexistent in many societies. And there
must be more focus on special needs and minority groups
within the LGBT community, and in society as a whole.
"It's important to include lesbian issues everywhere, in
every aspect of society. Otherwise, we may have some
kind of a lesbian existence, but the universal culture and
ideology remain prevailing;' she says.
•
• ALESBIAN
HAS
BEEN
ELECTED
to lead Germany's Fascist party.
In elections held in late April,
Alexander Gauland and Alice
Weidel were named co-leaders
of the German Alternative fur
Deutschland (AfD) party. Weidel,
38, a banker, is openly gay and lives
with her partner and two children.
The AfD's platform opposes LGBTQ
rights and is also anti-immigration.
• THE
BODY
OFAWOMAN
FOUND
burned in the South African
township of Kroonstad is thought
to be 28-year-old lesbian Nonki
Smous, according to ID found on
the body. Local LGBTactivist and
relative Nthabiseng Mokanyane,
says Smous was openly gay in the
community. Her murder, which
is thought to be a hate crime,
followed the LGBTQcommunity's
Pride march and a celebration.
• THE
FAMILY
OFALESBIAN
SHOT
by police could be paid $1 million in
a settlement, if approved by Denver
FIVE
LESBIANS
WERE
BRUTALLY City Council. Jessica Hernandez, 17,
attacked by a group of 15 men
was killed by police while driving a
outside a pub in Portsmouth,
stolen car toward an officer 1n2015.
England on April 16.The women,
She had been sleeping in the car
in their 20s and 30s, released
with friends after a night out when
photos of their injuries to press
police investigated the vehicle as
but do not wish to be named.
suspicious.
- By Sheryl Kay
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
11
ARTIST
UNDER
THE
TRUMP
ADMINISTRATION:
I feel for other people who can't come in
[to the U.S.] because I know what that's
like. Now I feel more that I have to be
vocal, I have to open my mouth, I have to
say what I can, I gotta put it in my music,
I have to put it in the visuals, because it
does affect me. It affects all women and
women of color, and also a lot of women
who did vote for Trump-they're realizing
now that some of the policies affect them.
ON
HER
NEXT
BIG
MUSIC
VENTURE:
It's called Black Cocaine, it's a 4-part visual
piece about how I feel living in America.
Being black, growing up in Canada-it's
not that racism wasn't there, it's just that
living in America is a whole different
ballgame. Racism can drive you crazy. It's
everywhere, [discrimination against] color,
race, class, gender, and things I'm starting
to see now at my age that I never really
saw growing up. Even with my girlfriendshe's white, she's Russian-we see it
together and we live it. I just feel like my
eyes have opened up even more. I love this
country but I still think there's too much
emphasis placed on skin color. When I
came here I had an executive say, 'You're a
black girl that does rock, plays the guitar, I
don't get it: I wasn't doing the typical R&B,
they didn't know what category to put
me in. Black Cocaine is a visual story in a
beautiful way about how I feel.
ON
WHY
SHE
QUIT
REALITY
TV:
It's like 5 percent real. There's a part that's
like your old life you're re-enacting again,
and people think that's exactly who you
are. I was there at the time of my exhusband but we were playing it as though
we weren't already divorced. Some people
didn't even know at the time that I had
done music because they're so attracted
to all the other drama that is done just
for ratings. My girlfriend Merika and I
were already together when I was on Hip
Hop: Atlanta but [producers] didn't really
show that till the end. That wasn't enough
drama for them. I also didn't want it to be
something that was exposed to be trashy,
which is why I decided to leave. I didn't
feel like our relationship was going to be
represented in the best way.
ON
WHAT
SHE
LIKES
ABOUT
REALITY
TV:
It's entertainment and I was able to expose
my music to a whole new audience. I do
12
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
my music independently through my
production company, House of Margeaux:
it's music, fashion, and art. I write the
music, I do the videos, I have my own
merchandise, my art is the fashion, so for
me being a TV personality was fun and it's
a way to invest in my career.
ON
HER
CANADIAN
ROOTS,
TRAVEL,
AND
WHERE
SHE
CALLS
HOME:
I started my music when I was in Canada
and I was 14 and I started writing in the
studio of my older sister's friend. They
were always looking for singers and I
wanted to do it. I would always write to hip
hop tracks, and I was always in the studio
writing and singing. Home is wherever I
travel with my girl. I've always said I never
want just want one place to be, I always
want it to be the whole world so I can just
travel and do music.
ON
BEING
OUT
TO
HER
FAN
BASE:
I don't pretend to have a girlfriend because
I think it's going to get me sales, or it's
maybe cool at the moment. No, I really
love this woman, and it was really hard
for me to tell my mom, and I thought, If
I can go out on a limb, maybe that will
encourage or inspire someone else. When
I did "Girl on the Left" [co-starring Merika] I
wanted everyone to see it.
ON
HOW
SHE
IDENTIFIES:
I would always say to my girl, 'Tm a free
spirit" and she would say, "Baby, you're
a fucking lesbian:' I've been with men
but I always thought that was because I
had to. I never knew how to categorize
myself. I just know I would prefer to be
with women and in love with women, so I
guess that would make me a lesbian. I say
'free spirit' as a person, but I'm in love with
my girl and we're going to get married.
ON
BEING
ANON-NATIONAL,
BLACK,
QUEER
WOMAN(houseofmargeaux.com)
TRENDstGOSSIP
CURVE
CONFIDENTIAL
CELESBIANS BEHAVING BADLYAND
SOMETIMES WELL.
BY CHLOE CURRAN
• SARAH PAULSON MAKES TIME'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE
Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett has lauded Paulson in the profile she wrote for
TIME magazine: "In remaining true to her distinct voice, she has been at the forefront of a
generation of women who are changing the landscape of the film and television industry ...
When I first met her, on the set of Carol, I was floored by her buoyancy, her irreverence,
her left-field sense of humor and her devotion to her craft. You enter a scene with Sarah
and it's game on. She brings with her, in work as in life, the sense that anything is possible.
Anything." We can't wait to see what Sarah does next. It's sure to be surprising.
• JANE LYNCH SLEPT WITH HILARY ROSEN
When out reporter Mary Emily O'Hara of NBC News asked Jane Lynch, "Who is the most
famous woman you've ever slept with?" Lynch replied, "Me! I'm the most famous woman
I've ever slept with. No, okay ... Hilary Rosen. I just gave you a scoop. You're welcome.
Oh, and Hilary: you're welcome too." Rosen is the former head of the Recording Industry
Association of America, former columnist for The Washington Post, former HRC Lobbyist,
and former political director of Huffington Post. I don't know what she's up to now. Probably
napping, what with all that work and bedding Jane Lynch.
• SHANNON PURSER COMES OUT AS BISEXUAL
The revelation comes in the midst of social media scandal. Purser, best known for her
scene-stealing role as Barb in Stranger Things, is currently co-starring in the CW's Archie
reboot, Riverdale. Queer fans accused Riverdale of queerbaiting because they teased
audiences with a kiss between Betty and Veronica, then promptly eliminated the chances
of those two characters ever getting together. When outraged LGBTQ audiences came at
Shannon on Twitter, she responded by coming out as bisexual and saying she had never
heard of queerbaiting before. Welcome to the community, Shannon!
• MELISSA ETHERIDGE GOES HIGH AND HATERS GO LOW
In an interview with Access Hollywood-and in time for stoner Christmas 4/20-Etheridge
defended her choice to smoke weed with her adult children. "You know, my kids grew up
in Southern California. It's not a crazy thing. It was a decision, it's not something I do a lot
at all-hardly! I want people to understand that this is not 'Hey kids, let's go get high!' That
wasn't what it is at all. It was an experience that was kind of family and sacred ...! wish the
discussion could be about people spending time in prison whose lives have completely
been wrecked because of possession." Indeed!
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
13
NDstSHESAID
"So proud
@florianalima
& I can represent@
TheCWSupergirl@ the
#glaadawards & honor our
LGBTfamily worldwide"
Chyler Leigh on Twitter
about the GLAAD
Awards
"It's
very intense
and visceral and really
beautiful and we work hard
at it ...She's a little bit like my
other husband or wife. She's like
my wife."
Amanda Peet on Sarah
Paulson to People
magazine
fWJ
WJ
a.
...J
(.?
u
~
~::,
u
14
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
18BEYONDTHE BATHROOM DEBATE
20SUPPORTINGTRANS IN THE MILITARY
•
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
15
From
Pride to
Protest
It's going to be a very
different Pride this year.
BY VICTORIA
A. BROWNWORTH
Like millions of other LGBTQ people, I
thought Pride 2017 would be heralded by
our first woman president, Hillary Clinton.
I expected to see the White House lit
in rainbow colors. I expected that the
woman who stood at the Names Quilt in
Washington, D.C., in 1996, who was the
only First Lady to ever march in a Gay Pride
Parade (New York City, 2000), the woman
who as Secretary of State was the highestlevel world leader ever to declare that "gay
rights are human rights" and call out the
global violence against lesbians and gay
16
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
men (Geneva, 2011), the woman who had
lesbian couples in her video announcing
her bid for the presidency-I expected that
a special declaration would be coming to
us this Pride from that woman.
Instead, as the 48th anniversary
of the Stonewall Rebellion looms, we
have the most anti-LGBTQ, anti-woman
administration in our collective history.
Instead of moving forward with more civil
rights legislation protecting us as women
and as LGBTQpeople, we have a president
who is an admitted sexual predator, a vice
president who is a leading proponent of
conversion therapy, and a cabinet filled
with board members and financial backers
of the Family Research Council, which the
Southern Poverty Law Center and Right
Wing Watch consider a hate group. The
SPLC has stated that the FRC has been a
"font of anti-gay propaganda throughout
its history." And, as I wrote for Curve before
the election, when there was still time to
stop Trump, the GOP platform was written
with input from Tony Perkins, the FRC's
executive director.
During Pride month 2016, Donald
Trump claimed he was "better for the gay
community" than Hillary Clinton, exhorting,
"Ask the gays!" During his dystopian
acceptance speech at the Republican
National Convention, Trump trolled us,
asserting he would "protect LGBT... and Q
citizens from the violence and oppression
of a hateful foreign ideology;' referring to
what he calls "radical Islam:'
But ISISwas never coming for us. Trump,
Pence, and his cabinet members were.
Trump began his attacks on women
and LGBTQ people immediately. On
Inauguration Day, the LGBTQ webpage at
the White House was the first of the Obama
era to be dismantled. Trump signed an
executive order stopping all funding for
global family planning clinics-often the
only available healthcare for poor women.
Trump followed those actions with the
nomination of a virulently anti-gay, antiwoman Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch.
In February, Trump rescinded the
Obama era executive order granting
protections for transgender and gendernonconforming students in public schools,
the order that let them use bathrooms and
facilities corresponding with their gender
identity. Trump also fought for the GOP's
American Health Care Act, which would
have made it difficult for many LGBTQ
people to access affordable care, and
would have cut all women's health services,
including prophylactic cancer screenings
and all maternity services.
VIEWS/
In March, one week before Equal Pay
Day, Trump rescinded yet another of
Obama's signature rulings for women: the
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive
order. That EO required companies with
federal contracts to adhere to 14 different
labor and civil rights laws, including
ones aimed at protecting parental leave.
Obama's order meant that there could
be no discrimination against women and
minorities in the workplace. Obama's EO
also secured equal pay for women, as well
as human relations mediation for workplace
sexual harassment allegations.
For his part, Vice President Mike Pence
cast a rare tie-breaking vote in the Senate
on a bill giving states permission to withhold
federal family planning funds from Planned
Parenthood and other abortion providers.
Planned Parenthood services millions
at its 650 clinics nationwide, providing
affordable health care for women and
men. Many LGBTQpeople receive an array
of services at Planned Parenthood clinics,
including testing and treatment for STDs.
In April, Trump nominated an anti-gay
Tennessee state senator, Mark Green, as
Secretary of the Army. Obama had made
history by appointing Eric Fanning, the first
openly gay person to hold that position.
This entire column could list what Trump
and his cadre have done or plan to do to
women and LGBTQ people. But the most
important thing Trump has done since
his election is fuel The Resistance. And,
according to a study released in April, The
Resistance is female. We saw the millions
of women in their pink pussy hats back in
January and wondered if it was a single
event. The Day Without a Woman, March
8,,wasn't nearly as successful. But now it
seems women have been doing the hard
work of The Resistance all along: 86 percent
of those calling Congress and emailing and
turning up at town halls and statewide
protests are women. Among those, the
majority are over 45. And 77 percent intend
to continue their work in The Resistance
throughout Trump's presidency.
The Resistance has been female in
Congress as well. Nancy Pelosi, Maxine
Waters, and Barbara Lee in the House.
Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Mazie
Hirono, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren in
the Senate. Sally Yates in the Department
of Justice. Myriad women judges staying
Trump's Muslim ban.
Every Pride I think abut what it means,
nearly 50 years after those halcyon days
in Greenwich Village. I sobbed through
all eight hours of When We Rise when
it premiered in February. Some of that
LGBTQhistory was my own; all of it is ours.
What moved me most was the reminder
of how civil rights movements beginone person, then another, then a group,
then hundreds turn to thousands turn to
millions. Disenfranchisement propels us.
Women have long been the backbone
of movements, but our voices and our
actions have often been elided from
history. Our work-especially the work of
lesbians-from abolition to Stonewall has
been overshadowed by the work of men,
or perceived as less vital, less historic.
Women have been portrayed over and
over again as passive. But it was a butch
lesbian, Storme DeLarverie, who is credited
with throwing the first punch, quite literally,
that started the Stonewall Rebellion. It
was a lesbian, Barbara Gittings, who was
responsible for getting homosexuality cut
from the American Psychiatric Association's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders through her intensive activism in
1973. She also co-founded the Daughters
of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization in
the U.S. Susan B. Anthony, abolitionist and
suffragist. Dr. Alice Hamilton, founder of
occupational medicine and author of the
first texts devoted to the subject. Sally Ride,
first woman and lesbian in space. Barbara
Jordan, first black lesbian in Congress.
Tammy Baldwin, first out lesbian in the
Senate. Alice Walker,writer and activist, the
first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize
and National Book Award. Angela Davis,
Black Panther and true revolutionary.
There are so many lesbians whose
actions have changed America; these are
but a few. My favorite lesbian activist is Jane
Addams-a lesbian for The Resistance and
perhaps the single most important woman
in American history.
Addams was the founder of social
work and the settlement movement, cofounder of the American Civil Liberties
Union, leader of the peace movement
during World War I. Addams co-founded
the Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom (WILPF),still a thriving
social justice organization, one that today
subsidizes women's peace work worldwide.
She helped convene the Washington,
POLITI
D.C., meeting in 1915 that resulted in the
founding of the Woman's Peace Party, the
first national women's peace organization in
the U. S., and was elected its first president.
She was the first American woman to win
the Nobel Peace Prize.
The work Addams did was phenomenal
in the most literal sense. Her settlement
movement revolutionized the lives of
women and children to this day. At the
time she founded Hull House, there was
no template for her work, yet between the
school and social services the settlement
served 2,000 people per week.
There is no template for our activism,
either, as we contemplate how best to fight
the Trump regime. The Resistance is real,
but the plan is still evolving.
Lesbians have founded and/or defined
the most important reformist movements in
American history. It'svital that we remember
this now, in the time of Trump. It's vital
that we remember that we are actors, not
passive and despairing hand-wringers. We
may have expected to be the beneficiaries
of the most progressive political and
social platform in American history under
a Hillary Clinton presidency-a platform
that addressed the lives of women and
LGBTG people. A platform that addressed
systemic racism and climate change and
income inequality. A platform that was
inclusive and expansive and gave us all so
much hope.
Social justice warrior has become
a pejorative term in recent years, but
these lesbians were real warriors who
had physical battles to wage, who had to
put their bodies on the line for what they
believed, for the furtherance of justice.
That is where we are this disrupted and
disruptive Pride 2017.We can no longer hide
behind keyboards, nor expect someone
else to be on the front lines. In the time
of Trump the front lines have come to us.
Like Jane Addams chaining herself to the
White House gates, or Storme DeLarverie
throwing that first punch at Stonewall, risks
must be taken. Our bodies must be at the
town halls, in the protests, risking arrest,
risking our lives.
Lesbians have a long history of creating
change in America, starting with the
abolitionists and suffragists. This Pride we
might not have our first woman president,
but we have The Resistance. And with it,
the future, at last, is female.•
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
17
Jacobs:
The
current administration has
begun by focusing on trans youth. Sadly,
these policies hurt those most vulnerable;
trans youth so often lack social supports,
access to care, face bullying and
harassment at home and in their schools,
and struggle to cope with depression,
anxiety, and suicidal ideation. The history
of the trans community is one of having to
struggle for our rights and is interwoven
with that of the rest of the LGBTQ+
community; in this time of opposition, our
book becomes an activist project with the
aim of furthering social change.
WHAT
ISCURRENTLY
THE
BIGGEST
THREAT
TO
TRANS
PEOPLE
INTHE
U.S.?
Trans people are targeted,
Erickson-Schroth:
The Great
Batl11~oon1
Debacle
Laura Erickson-Schroth
and Laura Jacobs on the
importance of their new
book, You're In the Wrong
Bathroom!, which tackles
myths surrounding
transgender rights and
identity.
18
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
discriminated against, and harassed,
leading to mental health disparities and
unemployment. Trans people need better
healthcare and legal protections. Gender
nonconforming children deserve school
environments where they can grow and
thrive. I'm a strong believer in robust social
HOW
DOYOU
EACH
IDENTIFY?
Erickson-Schroth:
I'm a queer woman and also
programs. Many of the things that would
help trans people in this country would also
gender nonconforming/genderqueer.
help cis people-things like single payer
Jacobs:
I identify as trans and genderqueer,
national health care, state-sponsored child
care, housing and financial support, and
and as a heretic. I do not identify as having
been 'born in the wrong body; but instead
decreasing our prison population.
Jacobs:
It would be superficial to say
feel I came to my gender through a process
intolerance, to cite the rising rates of hate
of nonjudgmental exploration, and now
describe myself as dapper, ambiguous
crimes or the numerous transphobic and
homophobic legislative actions happening
without being androgynous. I am a trans
around the U.S.,but I think the larger threat
woman performing my own variety of
female masculinity.
to LGBTQ+ is a potential lack of solidarity
between all marginalized groups and a
YOU
WROTE
THE
BOOK
BEFORE
THE
ELECTION.
IS lack of recognition that everyone among
us needs to make clear that intolerance,
THE
BOOK
ISEVEN
MORE
RELEVANT
NOW?
This book may be even
Erickson-Schroth:
hate crimes, and legislative bigotry (of
more necessary now than it would have
whatever variety) are unacceptable.
been during the Obama era because of
the recent threats to safety and legal rights
WHY
DOYOU
THINK
U.S.
LEGISLATORS
FOCUS
SO
MUCH
ONBATHROOMS?
of LGBTQ people. It seems that myths
and misperceptions about trans people
Erickson-Schroth:
Some people who support
continue to spread on a daily basis.
discriminatory
bathroom
laws
are
VIEWStlSSU
genuinely ignorant-they've
never met
a trans person (that they know of) and
make all kinds of assumptions based on
information they're fed by the media.
They don't know that trans people are just
trying to use the bathroom, and that there
are no reported instances of trans people
assaulting anyone in restrooms. A major
factor in all of this is that there's very rigid
gender policing in the U.S. As a gendernonconforming woman, I can't tell you the
number of times I've been stared at or told
I'm in the wrong bathroom. I'm not very
imposing (I'm about 5'1'') so it's not about
safety, but instead about maintaining
certain expectations related to how people
should dress and behave. Many of the
people who have approached me about my
bathroom use clearly know that I am not a
man, and are using this tactic to attempt to
shame me about my gender presentation.
We have to be honest about what the real
concern is. When we talk about bathroom
safety and transgender people, the most
common refrain is that if we permit trans
women to use the women's restroom, then
cis men will feel they are allowed to dress
as women and enter the bathroom too. It's
not about trans people-it's about cis men.
Jacobs:
Distraction
or not, bathroom safety
is a real issue. The facts are clear: never
has there been a recorded instance of
someone trans or gender nonconforming
victimizing another person in a public
bathroom, but much like around issues of
racial segregation or of statutes targeting
gay and lesbian people before, countless
of us have been targets of emotional,
physical, and sexual violence ourselves.
Legislation criminalizing malicious acts in
public restrooms has existed for decades.
Prohibiting trans people from using the
bathroom that aligns with their identity
does nothing to protect women and
children; it only yet again puts the onus on
the 'outsiders; this time on trans individuals
who are already suffering.
to the topic. She complimented me on the
talk itself, then said, "I was really into you
right up to the moment where you said
you were trans. I love your look and style,
but I suddenly asked myself if I would
date you, and I was thinking I probably
wouldn't:' Nothing about me as a living
being changed the moment I disclosed,
yet I shifted in her mind from a cisgender
woman (positive) to someone expressing
themselves in exactly the same way but
now trans (negative). Why did I resonate
with her one minute, but not the next?
Rejecting trans women as women, or
perceiving them as undateable, means
adopting the close-minded stereotypes
that mainstream society foists on the
entire LGBTQ+ community. It suggests
that one community often subjected to
discrimination is permitted to discriminate
against another group further 'outside;
and that a lesbian would become forever
tainted by having contact with someone
who might once have had a penis. It means
that this woman overrode her actual
response of being in a room with me and
was closed to possibilities. If queerness
and feminism have taught us anything, it
is to trust our feelings and that we are all
far more than stereotypes. And I still have
yet to understand why she felt the need to
share those thoughts with me.
genders we fashion in the future, but this
history provides a wealth of knowledge
we can all consider when examining the
meaning of gender within the human
experience. That said, we also need to
recognize issues of privilege. The ability
to transition requires access to healthcare,
the means to take such steps, and safe
environments not available to all. To be
any form of non-binary demands that even
more so.•
TOP
5TRANS
MYTHS
THAT
NEED
DEBUNKING
Erickson-Schroth:
One myth we have in LGBTQ
communities is that we, by virtue of being
queer ourselves, are better able to understand
other queer people's identities, which isn't
necessarily always true. Other myths most
relevant to queer women readers are:
Trans People and Feminists Don't Get Along
That feminists are against trans people. In fact,
most feminists support trans rights, and many
trans people are feminists.
The LGBTQ+ Community is United
Queer women likely already know this-there
are many instances of discrimination and
male dominance in queer spaces.
HOW
CAN
THOSE
WHO
ARE
FLUID
BEACCEPTINGTrans People are Secretly Gay
Many, within and outside queer communities,
OFTHOSE
WHO
ARE
NOT.
AND
VICE
VERSA?
Many cultures have traditions of
view gay and trans identities along a spectrum,
Jacobs:
non-binary genders dating back to the
beginnings of recorded history. I suspect
that 19th and 20th century understandings
of gender will become so passe that future
generations will think us dinosaurs. We are
witnessing this evolution today: traditional
categories of sexuality and gender are
breaking down and so many of us-trans
and gender nonconforming or notare less concerned about conventional
beliefs of who we should be but instead
are focusing on who or what we might
want to be. We are trying to have fun
WHY
WON'T
SOME
CISLESBIANS
INCLUDE
TRANS while questioning gender and sexuality as
parts of our identity. Some look to the past
WOMEN
INTHE
LESBIAN
COMMUNITY?
Let me tell a story: I once had a queerJacobs:
or contemporary non-Western cultures
identified, cisgender woman approach me
for models, consciously or not. Are we
after I had just given a lecture to educate
reinventing old notions or creating new
therapists and doctors on working with
ones not possible before? There may be
trans clients. My identity was not the theme
no perfect balance between respecting
of the session, but I acknowledged myself
what these cultures can teach us and
as trans so as to make clear my relationship
incorporating those legacies into the
assuming that attraction to women makes
someone more masculine and vice versa,
despite gender and sexual orientation being
different parts of a person's identity.
Trans People are Mentally Ill and Therapy
Can Change Them
Many queer women will be able to relate to
this myth because homosexuality for many
years was viewed as a mental illness.
Trans People Want to Be Either Barbie or
Ken
Even within queer communities it is often
assumed that the goal for all trans people is
to fit a stereotypical cis-heterosexual model,
when this couldn't be farther from the truth.
Like lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities,
trans communities are diverse.
You'reIn the Wrong Bathroom!is available
from Beacon Press(beacon.org).
JUN/JUL
2016
CURVE
19
''
ASMEMBERS
OF
THE
LGBT
AND
MILITARY
COMMUNITIES,
THESE
SERVICE
MEMBERS
ATE □
ARE
ATELEV
RISK
FOR
EXPOSURE
TOMULTIPLE
TRAUMATIC
EVENTS
INCLUDING
COMBAT
TRAUMA
AND
MILITARY
SEXUAL
ASSAULT
1111
Serving
WhileTraa~
Where do trans military personnel stand now?
BY MEGAN SHAINE AND DEANNA COR
20
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
A
fter years of being forced to
conceal their identities or
risk medical discharge, loss
of benefits, or even military prosecution,
trans service members and veterans
continue to live in an uncertain time.
Current estimates place the number of
trans people serving in the U.S. military
between 15,000 and 16,000, making the
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) the
largest single employer of trans people in
the country.
In addition, an estimated 134,000
trans veterans are still living in the U.S.
today. In 2016, the Pentagon under the
v1Ews1HEA
Obama Administration ended the longstanding ban on trans people serving
openly in the military, following the
precedent set by the 2011 repeal of
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Recent moves by
the Trump Administration, however, may
leave trans military personnel feeling
fearful that their right to open service
may be revoked or never fully enacted.
President Trump in late 2016 described
the repeal of the trans open service
ban as an example of extreme "political
correctness," and in February 2017
withdrew a previous federal order from
the Obama Administration that protected
the right of trans public school students
to use restrooms matching their gender
identity.
At
the
American
Counseling
Association's Annual Conference and
Expo in San Francisco in March, the
authors provided an overview of the
mental health needs of trans military
service members and veterans within the
current political climate. With policies
regarding open service and trans rights
in general seeming so uncertain, mental
health professionals should be prepared
for military service members, veterans,
and family members who are trans to
continue seek treatment outside the
military.
As members of both the LGBTQ and
military communities,
trans military
personnel face compounded risk for
serious mental health concerns such
as
post-traumatic
stress
disorder,
depression,
suicidal
ideation,
and
homelessness, and also face unique
mental health challenges related to
minority stress and identity concealment.
Furthermore,
many trans people
consider hormone therapy and gender
confirming surgeries such as breast
augmentation and facial reconstructionwhich both the American Medical
Association and American Counseling
Association recognize as potentially
necessary treatments to reduce distress
associated with gender dysphoria. Yet,
trans service members have historically
been reluctant to seek medical treatment,
let alone mental health treatment. They
have been faced with the choice between
seeing a military provider, who may be
required to report their trans status, or
seeing a community provider, which may
require out-of-pocket payment among
other concerns.
In order to serve this population in a
more welcoming manner, counselors and
other mental health professionals must
consider the intersection of trans and
military cultures and work to increase
their cultural competence accordingly.
As members of the LGBT and military
communities, these service members
are at elevated risk for exposure to
multiple traumatic
events including
combat trauma and military sexual
assault.
Within
a trauma-informed
or trauma sensitive framework, it is
particularly important for the clinician
and client to build a sense of safety,
stabilization, and trust prior to moving
into deeper psychotherapeutic work. To
successfully foster trust, mental health
providers must demonstrate a basic
knowledge and understanding of the
client's intersecting identities, and must
consider their existing values and biases
related to those identities. For example,
it is critical to understand the role of
gender in military culture.
Trans service members have indicated
in qualitative research interviews that
they were initially attracted to military
service because of a perceived sense
of gender neutrality. Once they entered
service, however, they found a rigid
gender binary reinforced on a daily basis
by prescribed codes of grooming and
dress and constant salutations of "sir" or
"ma'am." Until the rollback of the Direct
Combat Exclusion Rule between 2013
and 2016, military job assignments were
also regulated based on gender.
At the same time, some trans
service members have noted certain
aspects of military culture that have
helped them feel accepted, such as
a sense of camaraderie and group
loyalty regardless of individual identity,
and the value of hard work and job
performance-in
other words, if you get
the job done well, your gender identity
doesn't matter. Within the context of the
counseling relationship, however, every
part of the client's identity does matter,
and must be openly served.•
MARKtTP
Love...
WHERE
'THE NEW
TESTAMENT'
MEETS 'THE
TWILIGHT
ZONE'
Amazon
Bookstore
Orders:
Paperback:
ISBN
1-62006-845-1
Kindle:
ISBN
1-62006-846X
Call Toll Free:
855-338-8359
For more information about the
American Counseling Association
Conference & Expo visit counseling.org.
Email:
orders@
sunburypress.com
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
21
,_
RITTNtY
GRINtR
EllZABETH
FAlKNER
'
~owmJM
~LTI~ATE
ORGAS
~SJiON.
GOING
WILDIN
COSTA
RICA
SO~TH
AFRICA
RIO
DE
JANEIRO
24 THE NEXT BIG L-SHOW
28 SEX TIPS FOR CURVYGIRLS
30 HOT SUMMER READING
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
23
FILM»
o,ffe.~V'\t
fo"G'"\S
A new show rewrites the way lesbians
and bi women are shown on screen.
BYJANECZYZSELSKA
Last year, U.S. TV show The 100 claimed
the life of commander Lexa, raising the
headcount to 173 lesbian and bi characters killed off in British and American
TV shows since lesbian characters first
appeared on TV in the 1970s. That's a
parlous hit rate given that lesbian and
bi characters were as rare as ostrich
burgers at a lesbian pot-luck until fairly
recently. Stop burying our gays. Enough
is enough. Then along came the UK lesbian web series Different For Girls (DFG),
and executive director Jacquie Lawrence
promised the show would not sacrifice
lesbian and bi lives for kicks or ratings.
Lawrence first developed the show
as a script around 16 years ago when she
was a commissioning editor at Channel
4, shortly after the ground-breaking British series Queer As Folk appeared on
small screens in the UK. Channel 4 asked
for a lesbian version, so the script went
into development. But the show was
put on hold when a certain show called
The L Word hit our screens. In the belief
that "the British public could only cope
with one lesbian project at a time," C4
canned the show, says Lawrence, but
she retained the rights, and a few years
later started writing the story as a novel.
In March, the highly-anticipated
web series dropped in five glamorous
episodes. What's special about DFG is
not just the great script and cast, who
include fan favourites from the fabled
L Word, Rachel Shelley and Guinevere
Turner; the cast and crew are drawn almost exclusively from the LGBTQ communities.
Directed with passion by Campbell
X (Stud Life, Fem) and cinematographer
wunderkind Oona Menges, the show is a
24
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
My character Jess is bisexual. Jacquie Lawrence has written her as a pretty regular, fun, open woman. She was married to a man but has always felt that she just falls for people regardless of what
body they're in. She's juicy, fairly non-judgmental and very much in touch with herself. So, as a
woman who's had relationships with men and women, I feel that it's important that people like me
are reflected onscreen and it's rare for that to happen, especially a mixed-race woman.
slick sashay through the lives, loves and
family dramas of a group of 30-something lesbians in fashionable west London. Their clubbing and one-night stand
days may be over but there's still plenty
of excitement.
Director Campbell X is keen to stress
that the show is not made for straight
white cis men. "The way that images are
constructed, down to lighting and camera angles, reinforces a white supremacist, capitalist, cis-hetero-patriarchal
gaze. In this gaze, lesbian characters
are dysfunctional women or extraneous
to the major storyline so they can be
bumped off or demonstrate 'male gaze'
pornified sexuality, featuring usually
young, hetero-normative-looking,
femi-
nine white women." Not so in DFG.
In this show, we see androgynous and
racially diverse lesbians and bi women
being seductive and being ordinary at
home with the wife and kids, and the
same principle applies to the male characters. Trans actor Jake Graf joins Topher
Campbell as a credible gay home-loving
and child-focused couple, while Rachel
Shelley and Caroline Whitney Smith play
a couple with secrets.
The tantalizing first trailer gives a
glimpse of the show Lawrence describes
as "Hollywood on the small screen". With
a second series already in the works, it
looks like DFG is here for the long-haul,
even if some of its couples may not be.
(different-for-girls.com)
REVIEWS/FlLMS
'?-Ac.HcL..
sHcL..L..c'<
t~'?-oo~c)
Comparisons will inevitably be drawn between Different For Girls and The L
Word, mostly because there are so few series explicitly about lesbians and bi
women. But they are very different. It's not LA, it hasn't got that same glamour,
and it's not trying to have that glamour. It's got a different tone, a different
pace, and it's much more contemporary. Brooke is nothing like Helena. She's
a little bit worn down by motherhood. She's so absorbed by it, she's lost her
identity a bit. If I had to describe her in one word, it would be sweatpants. The
other day I took my daughter to school. I got home and then went to go meet
a friend to play tennis, and it was only then when I met them at the court that
I realised that I had my sweatpants on back to front, inside out... I looked like I
had really hairy legs with all the seams. I'd stood outside school chatting! No
one had said anything. That is a long way from Helena Peabody.
VI.Cf 0'?-I.A ~'?-00M tf'?-Ar-l)
SA'?-AHsoc,Ac'?-, (GcMMA)
,u'<cr-1 oo tc.AM)
As soon as I saw DFGadvertised I was on to my
Having families, having affairs, having all
The series shows women from all parts of the
agent, 'Listen, you need to get me an audition
sorts of dramas. These stories need to be
world, all walks of life. It's not just posh white
for this!' ...Sexuality's very fluid. I happen to be
told. It's not that long ago that homosexual-
ladies. It's a real diverse mix. Having stories
in a relationship with a woman, and I was in a re-
ity was illegal. We've come so far but, espe-
from minority groups gives the audience a feel-
lationship with a woman before that, but I think
cially in the current climate, it can feel like it's
ing that actually we're all the same and there's
you fall in love with a person.
a little bit darker than it was before.
nothing to be afraid of.
c.A'?-0L..I.r-lc vJHI.,rJc'(
SMI.,H tNI.C.OL..A)
GUI.NcVc'?-c,U'?-r-lc'?-OUQc)
Of course there's a fear that
still about lesbians and bi women and
an audience will go, 'Oh, no,
also women in our age group. Not all
I don't relate to a lesbian'. Do
lesbian and bi culture is youth culture.
I love it when we're making stuff that's
you relate to somebody not
It's nice to be treated like we're still in-
loving you anymore? Do you
teresting and sexy...lt's amazing how
relate to getting too drunk
much things have changed. I mean,
and making a mistake that
just The L Word, which is already over
you can't take back? I think
10 years ago, even if you'd have ex-
you do. This story could
plained that to me when I was in my
be any color, any race, any
early 20s, I would have been like,'Wait!
ethnicity, any gender. I think
There's a TV show, and it's a lesbian
the point is it's just another
drama, and it lasts for six years, and I
fucking story, and who can't
work on it?' I would have thought, 'Oh,
relate to that?
can we also fly? Are cars invisible?'
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
25
If you're a gay Gen X woman, you're sure
to have heard of Goldfrapp, the electronic
pop duo from the UK consisting of Alison
Goldfrapp and Will Gregory. Goldfrapp
hit the music scene at the dawn of the
new millennium with their first album, Felt
Mountain, and a sound that matched the
mood of the time: electronic yet dreamy,
eclectically laden with 20th-century influences such as cabaret and folk-even
yodeling. This postmodern blend was es-
26
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
pecially noticeable on their second album,
Black Cherry (2003) with its glam rock and
early disco influences tempered with Eurocentric electronica. The synth-heavy title
track displayed Alison Goldfrapp's lovely,
plaintive soprano, but it was the pulsing,
buzzing "Strict Machine" that put her on
the lesbian radar. What was this mesmerizing, sexy song about? Was she singing
to her vibrator? One male critic wrote that
it was "a future S&M club anthem if ever
there was one"; another labeled her a "pop
dominatrix" and "the high priestess of pervy synth pop:'
Such sexist views acknowledge Alison's
appeal while detracting from the artistic
value of the band's output, especially her
vocal dexterity and Will Gregory's brilliant
arrangements. Their next album, Supernature (2005), was even more successful
and dance-oriented than Black Cherry.
Tracks "Ooh La La," "Ride a White Horse,"
REVIEWS/MUSIC
and "Number 1" piqued the interest of
Madonna, whose Confessions on a Dance
Floor was clearly influenced by Alison's
Weimar-disco aesthetic, earning Madge
the unflattering moniker of "Oldfrapp."
Some queer women caught on to Goldfrapp's contribution to the soundtrack
of the lesbian-themed film My Summer
of Love in 2004, or the band's cameo on
Showtime's The L Word in 2007 with a live
performance of "Ride a White Horse." The
band was developing serious lez cred.
"It was amazing, actually," Alison says
over the phone from London about appearing in the iconic lesbian show. "It was
such a great experience. I was really surprised at how lovely everybody was, how
warm and friendly, and what a lot of fun
it was. I didn't expect that, for some reason-maybe because, Hollywood being
Hollywood, I sort of thought it would all be
a bit, I dunno, take itself really seriously or
something. But it was so much fun, it was a
great experience, really."
Then she says, "I did have a bit of a crush
on what's-her-name ..:'
Shane?
"It's a cliche, isn't it? It's embarrassing,
it's so cliche!" she laughs.
There would be further developments
from this enigmatic musician, whose sexual preference was not always evident;
in a 2010 interview partially addressing
her then-new relationship with film editor Lisa Gunning, she said, "I don't like to
be defined by my sexuality, which swings
wherever I like to swing." (Alison requested
that we not discuss her relationship in this
interview, but when we last consulted the
lesbian grapevine we heard that she and
Lisa were still a couple.)
Goldfrapp's artistic focus is similarly unpredictable. After the folky, ambient Seventh Tree (2008) came Head First (2010)
and its '80s-inspired single "Rocket" -the
video features Alison driving a big rig loaded with a rocket to which she affixes a guy
who has been mummified in duct tape.
And then comes the band's magnus
opus, the queer and brilliant Tales of Us
(2013), full of lush, cinematic sounds, with
songs featuring transgenderism ("Annabel") and anonymous lesbian sex in the
sand dunes ("Stranger"). The videos to the
songs on the album, produced in collaboration with her girlfriend, Lisa, are a suite of
short films shot chromatically or in blackand-white. How could this be topped?
The excellent Silver Eye, their seventh
studio album released this April, recuperates Goldfrapp's earlier form-with a new
thrill: the driving sound of techno melded
with the power of paganism. It's an edgy,
insistent return to electronic dance music that will please old fans and win new
ones. The central theme is the ultimate
feminine symbol: the moon, that pure and
mysterious "silver eye:' The pick of tracks
for lesbians is the single "Anymore," with
its thumping bass and fizzing synths, and
a hypnotically queer video in which Alison, looking like Isabelle Huppert as a pagan high priestess, is flanked by two sets
of androgynous female twins who dance
and writhe against a backdrop of sand and
rock in the Canary Islands. It's a gorgeous
creation, designed and directed by Alison
herself-as is all the album's imagery.
"Aesthetics are really important to me,"
she says. "That's what I love about that kind
of landscape-the look of that volcanic
rock and desert. They're sort of like blank
canvases and yet they hold so much symbolism-all this stuff bubbling under the
surface, literally. Or it's this sort of latent
thing, waiting to erupt. There are so many
connotations with it, and it looks so dramatic, black rock and the colors against it:'
As varied as Goldfrapp's studio albums
are, a unifying theme is the raw power of
the elemental and our attraction to it as
both animalistic and transcendental.
"I'm interested in the idea of transformation in whatever form that is-shamanism,
the elemental-they still hold a lot of mystery to me, which I suppose is what magic
is to me-something that's unexplainable.
It's there in our lives, but in the kind of world
we live in it's something we crave, and as
I'm getting older those things become
more and more important to me:'
Alison sensed that music was a conduit
for that magic from an early age. "I'm the
youngest of six. I had brothers and sisters
playing all kinds of music, which was amazing. But when [my father] played some
choral music for the first time-these amazing voices that sort of made the hairs on the
back of my neck stand on end-I was just
so excited by it. I'd never heard that sound
before. And the idea that it was coming out
of a person just seemed extraordinary, and
I remember thinking, I want to feel that. It
was somehow animalistic or something:'
She did experience that feeling when
she sang in school choirs, and eventually
settled on music as a vocation. "I think I
knew I could do it, and I couldn't really do
much else, actually;' she laughs. "I was really crap at everything apart from art and
music, so I kind of knew the difference between feeling good and not feeling good,
and I wanted to do the thing that made me
feel good. It's sort of like breathing, it's almost like a necessity."
Does this petite strawberry blonde have
a slightly wild energy, something that can
only be tamed by riding an 18-wheeler or
a mirrorball horse (as she does in "Ooh La
La"). According to Wikipedia, she was involved in an "incident" with a tractor in her
youth. I ask her if that is true.
"Yeah, I did steal a tractor with a whole
bunch of other people. I grew up in the
countryside, so, you know, it's something
you did on a weekend. You either had a
motorbike, a horse, or some kind of farming vehicle. There weren't a lot of options."
With Silver Eye, though, she's come full
circle. The big toys have been replaced
by the magnitude of nature. Everything is
pared back to its essence. Gone are the
platform heels, the gloves, the mascara.
"There's something about stripping
back makeup and hair, taking that away.
It sort of fascinates me," she says. In the
video to "Anymore" she herself appears
makeup-free, wearing red (fire) or silver
(metal); she is a foil for the elements. And
the androgynous, ethereal twins are also
blank canvases that can mean whatever
you want them to. Are they lovers, sisters,
doubles, or opposing aspects of the self?
Transgenderism, gender ambiguity,
and being completely genderless have
always appealed to Alison. "Become the
One" on this album is inspired by My
Transgender Summer Camp, the documentary about transgender children in
which transitioning is not so much about
changing as it is about becoming.
"Maybe that is the future," she says.
"I think it's really great that people don't
think they have to be one or the other-unless of course you want to be
one or the other. But I like this fluidity,
I like that it's so much more freeing."
(goldfrapp.com) •
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
27
101 BODY-POSITIVE
POSITIONS
TO EMPOWER YOUR SEX LIFE
When Pleasure is Plus-Size
Sex educator Elle Chase has bedroom tips for larger ladies.
BY YANA TALLON-HICKS
E
lie Chase was a curvy girl long
before she was a sex educator
who encouraged women to
build their sexual confidence
and accept their bodies,
regardless of size or shape. The director
of education at the Los Angeles Academy
of Sex Education (laacademyofsex.com)
and the force behind the award-winning
sexuality websites ladycheeky.com and
smutforsmarties.com,
Chase stumbled
into her sex education work the organic
way, after leaving her husband of many
years. "I longed to feel someone crave
me," she writes in the introduction to
her new book, Curvy Girl Sex: 101 Body-
28
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Positive Positions to Empower Your Sex
Life. "But, I thought, who could feel
passion for a fat chick with cellulite,
scars, florescent-white skin, and crooked
teeth?"
"Truth," Chase explains, "was the
impetus for this book." And the truth,
she quickly found out, is that (of course!)
a whole lot of people did crave her!
Curvy Girl Sex, a visually tempting book
full of flesh-friendly positions, sex-toy
recommendations,
and
sex-positive
pleasure education, takes Chase's readers
out of the social constructs that attempt
to convince us that fat can't possibly be
sexy and toward the freedom that Chase
herself found, and then some. We caught
up with Chase to learn more.
YOU
USE
AVARIETY
OFWORDS
INTHIS
BOOK
TO
CELEBRATE
BIGGER
BODIES,
LIKE
"CURVY"
AND
"PLUS-SIZE."
YOU
EVEN
MAKE
"FAT"
SOUND
SEXY!
HOW
CANCURVY
GIRLS
ANDTHEIR
PARTNERS
FIND
THE
LANGUAGE
THAT
WORKS
FOR
THEM?
It's really up to the curvy girl in question.
Their partners might listen to how curvy
women refer to themselves, or, if it seems
like a question that would be welcomed,
just ask. It all comes down to intention.
If your intention is to be respectful and
loving, usually that can be sensed in the
conversation.
REV1Ews1SEX
YOU'RE
ADYNAMIC
SEX
AND
PLEASURE
APRIL
FLORES
ISJUST
DECADENTLY
DARLING
AS
EDUCATOR.
WHAT
MAKES
SEXUAL
POSITIONS YOUR
MUSE
INTHIS
BOOK.
WHERE
CAN
WESEE
FOR
CURVY
GIRLS
SUCH
ANIMPORTANT
TOPIC MORE
OFHER?
THAT
YOU'D
DEVOTE
ANENTIRE
BOOK
TOIT?
April is sexy personified, as sweet as
I think it's all about giving ourselves
she is beautiful. She's a trailblazer as the
permission to receive pleasure. As a curvy
top plus-size porn star in the world. She
gal myself, I was sometimes intimidated
loves her body and it emanates from
by certain positions I'd heard my friends
her when you're in her presence. She is
talking about, or seen in porn. I didn't see
unretouched in this book and a terrific
myself being able to do these positions
role model for body love and sexuality, as
without
or
she owns hers enthusiastically. You can
epically failing. What I discovered was that
see more of her by visiting her website
ending
up
embarrassed
once I concentrated on how to make my
(fattyd.com)
body comfortable, with pillows or straps,
Twitter at @TheAprilFlores.
and
on
lnstagram
and
and that it was OK to accommodate my
shape, my partners didn't give it a second
thought. That really freed me.
WHAT
ARE
THE
ITEMS
ACURVY
GIRL
SHOULD
HAVE
INHER
SEX
KIT?
• A Liberator Wedge. Because it's
YOUR
BOOK
ISEMPOWERING
AND
UPLIFTING.
INITYOU
WRITE,
"WE
ALLHAVE
SEX
APPEAL,
BUT
OUR
SEX
APPEAL
ISNOT
GOING
TOBE
EVERYONE'S
DEFINITION
OFSEXY."
TRUE.
SO,
WHAT
ARE
YOUR
TIPS
FOR
HANDLING
REJECTION?
I always say "rejection is protection."
made of industrial foam, it ups one's
Anyone who isn't interested in you isn't
chances of comfort in ways pillows
going to be right for you anyway. At the
can't.
end of the day, people either get you
• I'd be bereft without my Magic Wand
or they don't. You want someone who
Rechargeable for its power and
WANTS to know you better, fuck you, or
handle length.
date you. Don't waste your time trying to
• Lube makes everything easier and
more pleasurable, and for that I only
be something you're not, or yearning for
someone who doesn't reciprocate. You
use Sliquid Naturals or Organics,
deserve better-we
because they're gentle on
to spend time with people who value us
all do. We all deserve
delicate skin.
and see us the way we are. •
next millennium, Hadleigh began collecting
A new book celebratesthe
bisexualscreen icon.
You don't have to be skinny to have the
best sex of your life! In the Curvy Girl Sex
class, you'll learn Elle'sfavorite tips and
positions for curvy body types. Whether
you've got a little junk in the trunk, are
pleasingly plump, or beautifully buxom,
this unique workshop will help every
curvy girl enjoy toe-curling, curvy girl sex.
(ellechase.com)
and the Showgirl, she was analyzed by Anna
quotes about Monroe from books, magazines,
Freud, daughter of Sigmund Freud [and herself
newspapers, the Internet, as well as interviewing
a lesbian], who also concluded that Monroe was
industry insiders for their comments.
bisexual,"says Hadleigh.
"As a star among stars she's one of very
REMEMBERING
MARILYN
CALLING
ALL
CURVY
GIRLS!
He reveals that
Elizabeth Taylor once
few whom other actors (of both genders) will
referred to Marilyn as "that dyke"-as quoted by
willingly talk about," Hadleigh says. He also
Norman Mailer-and it is alleged that Monroe
read numerous biographies and found not
had a relationship with her acting coach and
only discrepancies, but differing agendas of
companion Natasha Lytess from 1948 until
the authors, some portraying her simply as
1953, the year she hit superstardom. "Marilyn
"sad, lost, weak, shallow, dumb or a mess." This
retained Lytess through years of stardom
inspired Hadleigh to create an "all-quotes" book,
despite opposition, including the displeasure of
Like many of us, author Boze Hadleigh has
Marilyn Forever: Musings on an American Icon
male directors who were appalled that after a
been entranced by Marilyn Monroe's screen
by the Stars of Yesterday and Today,so that he
take, Monroe would turn not to the director but
image-which
has endured for over 50 years
could include positive comments, viewpoints
to Lytess for confirmation of whether the take
since her shocking and untimely death in 1962.
and facts about Monroe from people who knew
was good or not."
She has been celebrated in countless books,
her, as well as celebrities who came after her.
Marilyn Forever is a tribute to a complex
plays, films, documentaries, songs, images and
During his research he learned that Monroe
woman who we can claim posthumously as
TV specials, and in the 1990s, when it became
was bisexual. "Marilyn herself questioned her
part of our community-and
clear that her popularity would extend into the
sexuality and when in London filming The Prince
birthday, which is June 1.(rowman.com)
JUN/JUL
celebrate on her
2017
CURVE
29
BOOKS»
LIFE
ON
THE
PAGE
In her new memoir, The
Rules Do Not Apply,
Ariel Levy examines the
consequences and value
of female transgression.
BY AMY DENESON
The adventurous life Ariel Levy thought
she was authoring for herself, a life of defying conventions and "daring to think that
the rules do not apply;' suddenly imploded when she lost her son, her wife, and
her financial security almost all at once.
In The Rules Do Not Apply (out now from
Random House), Levy turns her reporter's
eye inward to offer an unflinching personal
account of the loss and resilience that have
made her the woman she is today.
Levy grew up an only child in the "Rea-
30
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
gan-era suburbia" of Larchmont, N.Y.Headstrong as well as bookish, she imagined a
life full of exploration and discovery, deciding at a young age that she would become a writer because it was a "profession
that went along with the kind of woman I
wanted to become: one who is free to do
whatever she chooses," she writes in her
memoir.
Levy began to author her life in childhood journals that evolved into a career
in journalism. New York magazine gave
her a start in the 1990s, and senior editors
mentored her interest in writing about
women "whose bodies were unmistakable
monuments of resistance." Her breakout
article reported on beautiful obese women; and she also wrote about the rise of
feminist stripper culture, a phenomenon
that repackaged her mother's consciousness-raising language into the form of an
empowerment push-up bra. That article
would inspire her first book, Female Chauvinist Pigs. Levy shared the swooning moments that led up to her wedding in "The
Lesbian Bride's Handbook," her twinkling,
lauded personal essay about marrying her
girlfriend in 2004, before marriage equality
was federal law.
In her memoir, Levy wove her own coming-of-age story alongside her features on
women who-like her-had been characterized as "too much:' In 2008, she talked
her way into a staff position at New Yorker
magazine by honestly responding to editor
David Remnick's question about what she
thought the magazine was missing: Sex,
she told him, particularly female sexuality.
Levy pitched Remnick a profile of Lamar
Van Dyke, the leader of a 1970s radical lesbian gang of separatists that blazed their
way through the second-wave women's
movement.
'Why capitulate?" Van Dyke asked Levy,
who was taking notes to report back to the
mainstream. "Live in a world of your own
invention, according to whatever rules you
choose." Levy agreed wholeheartedly, but
Van Dyke continued, snorting, at gays in
the military and gay marriage-was that all
this generation had come up with? "Your
generation wants to fit in;' Van Dyke said.
Levy absorbed this on behalf of her generation without feeling entirely comfortable
with her own lesbian credentials. She fell in
love with a woman and married her after
she'd dated guys as a teenager and had a
girlfriend in college. Though she believed
the idea of marriage and the rule of monogamy could use some reimagining, she
was keen to be part of the larger culture,
as opposed to being sequestered away in a
women-only enclave.
"Who would have thought that would be
an option?" Levy asks during our interview
for this article. "The rules my mother and
her mother were expected to follow didn't
apply to me. I got to invent the life I wanted
to live. I got to marry the woman I fell in love
with:'
And marry legally-thanks in part to
Edith Windsor, who Levy profiled for the
New Yorker in 2013 after she was vital in
the fight to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.
"That gal!" Levy exclaims. "That girl is
someone for us all to live up to-gay and
straight, male and female. We should all
dream of being that much fun and that
alive. That girl is a full-on badass, in her
pearls and her Clairol platinum-blond bob."
In the memoir, Levy tells about staying at
Windsor's home while she was interviewing
her: Windsor had paused during a meander
in her leopard-print underpants to declare
of her 40-year relationship with Thea Spyer,
"You can say she's my spouse or you can
say she's my butch. But you cannot say
she's my wife-it's a fucking insult:'
"That was how I felt;' Levy writes in The
Rules Do Not Apply. She cringes at the politically correct instincts of those who ask
after her own wife. "I am the wife. I am the
girl:'
While some women Levy has profiled
were influencing rulings and grappling
with the nuances of gendered roles within
same-sex marriage, others were still devastatingly subject to the rules imposed
by others. With little more than a pad of
paper and crossed fingers, Levy set off to
South Africa in search of Caster Semenya,
the Olympic runner who is intersex. Levy
recounts how she boarded the plane determined to track "a story that made you
question the meaning of gender: "What
makes a person a female? A vagina? A
womb? A chromosome?" asking, "What, in
the end, is a woman?"
While there, she met Funeka Soldaat, an
LGBTactivist in Cape Town. Her neighbors
were "raping lesbians to 'correct' them;'
Soldaat explains, "in order that they can
be a 'proper woman: " At that time, in the
gender politics of black South Africa, there
was "no leeway to deviate from the expec-
REVIEWS/
tations of gender," says Soldaat.
In these women's stories, Levy explores
what it means to be a woman and how that
impacts the kind of woman she wants to
be. And so far, she writes, "life was complying with my story:'
Then, at age 35, Levy realized it was
"Time" to manage her fertility-time to pursue motherhood. She hoped that a child
would help her marriage, which after a
decade of laundry was starting to shred.
While struggling with her spouse's alcoholism, Levy had an extramarital affair with an
old lover who had transitioned from female
to male, and experienced an eviscerating
addiction of her own, "to lust:' Following a
separation from her spouse and then a renewal of their promises, they vowed to create a family-but not with just any donor.
They wanted a father who was dedicated to
having a parental role and would guarantee
his lifelong financial support.
Those who have read "Thanksgiving in
Mongolia;' her acclaimed essay in the New
Yorker, know what happened next. In her
second trimester, Levy endeavored to enjoy one last reporting trip before her son
was due, and frankly considered other people's apprehensions about traveling while
pregnant to be "fussy, yuppie nonsense."
She suffered a placental abruption, which
could have happened anywhere but did
happen on a bathroom floor in a hotel in
Mongolia. She delivered her son and mar-
veled at him and at the reality of being his
mother for about 20 minutes before realizing that she was in dire need of help.
"Anything seemed possible if you had ingenuity, money, and tenacity;' Levy writes.
"But the body doesn't play by those rules."
Grief seeps through these pages-along
with bravery. I felt myself wanting to protect Levy, who gives so much of herself in
this memoir; I wanted to shield her from the
criticism that is hurled at female authors for
writing about their bodies. As a writer, her
compulsion to share was understandable,
but I had to know why she chose to publish
this experience.
"I felt the need to memorialize my son;'
she tells me. "I felt the need to write about
the fact that he had existed."
She explains what felt like a slowly evolving identity crisis. "I felt like a mother. But to
be a mother, you need to have a child. But
I don't have a child. So nobody could see
this identity that felt really real to me:'
"It strikes me as a motherly thing to do," I
say, "to share this story:' She does not spare
herself. Levy goes well beyond the writer's
call to sit down to the page and open a vein.
"These extraordinarily intense things
happen to the human female animal around the reproductive system.
If you're female, you will have some
kind of drama around menstruation
or pregnancy or birth or menopause,"
Levy says.
"The whole world of human reproduction in the human female animal-that
affects half the human population-is
not something that is a subject for literature much. So I felt strongly that this
was a legitimate subject to write about
and that it was worthwhile."
Through her willingness to put her
life on the page, to lay her mind and
body bare, others can become better
acquainted with their own thoughts,
discover shared experiences, and challenge their perspectives as they keep
evolving, generation after generation.
This is the extraordinary value of memoir. However, over the course of writing
her book, Levy also comes to understand that authorial control exists only
on the page and doesn't translate to life.
"Particularly as a writer, I was susceptible to this idea that I was in
charge, that I was creating this narrative," Levy tells me.
"Realizing that you're not in control
is a blessing. Would I trade whatever
growth I've had to have my son-who,
were he alive, would be 4 years old
now? Of course, I would. Given that
it's not an option, what I have gotten
from this experience that is of value is
a real humbling, a real sense of how
little control I have. And that, to my
surprise, is an enormous liberation."
(ariellevy.net) •
breaks, they sometimes die in their efforts to
of following the rules and saving humanity again
help during crises, and occasionally they even
and again, the powerful woman who can fly and
drop out of contact and have to be tracked
hurl things just by using her mind is done and
down. That is the world of Shattered by Lee
she's not going back.
Winter, published by Ylva.
SHATTERGIRL
SAVES
THE
DAY
A lesbian superhero story that will
leave you thinking for days.
BY TARA SCOTT
BOOKS
With global politics being what they are right
Lena Martin hunts and returns guardians
now, Shattered feels very timely. The demand
who've gone rogue and, with a 100 percent
for absolute perfection from the guardians
success record, she's the best tracker the
makes sense when you look at right-wingers in
Facility has. It doesn't matter that she's sworn
many countries demanding to close borders,
to secrecy; she doesn't have anyone in her life
deport immigrants, and ban refugees. The fight
that she'd want to talk to about her work and
between those who want to continue toward
the guardians that have turned out to be such
a disappointment. She's surprised when she's
progress and those who want to strip hardwon rights from marginalized groups is ugly,
The guardians arrived 100 years ago, signed
tasked with finding and retrieving Shattergirl,the
making it no wonder that Shattergirl is tired of
a pact with humanity, and have been dutifully
first lesbian superhero and one of the original 50
taking care of us ever since, intervening to help
founders that arrived on Earth seeking asylum
our garbage. And that's not even the half of it.
If you're a diehard fan of Lee Winter, you'll
humans whenever possible. Despite the daily
from their destroyed home planet. When
want this book. And if you haven't read anything
images and videos of heroic perfection churned
Lena finds her, she quickly learns that talking
by her before, this is a great place to start.
out by the media, guardians have a dirty
Shattergirl out of Socotra will be much more
Shattered will stay with you long after you've
secret-some have been having psychological
difficult than she'd anticipated. After a century
finished. (ylva-publishing.com)
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
31
REVIEWS/
BOOKS
Grace Bonney, founder of innovative internet-based interior design
company Design*Sponge, has produced a book that gives visibility to
diverse women in the business of the creative arts. The result is the beautiful, substantial and inspiring In the Company of Women, which profiles
over 100 women who govern their own enterprises: artists, designers,
musicians, writers, filmmakers and beauty entrepreneurs-including
many
LGBTQ women, women of color, women over 40 and differently-abled
women including Janet Mock, Laura Jane Grace, Nikki Giovanni, Thao
Ngyuen, Cameron Esposito, Cy Lauz, Shadi Petosky, Jasika Nikole, Mary
Lambert, Liz Lambert, Preeti Mistry, Anita Lo, Sarah Neuberger, Elise Kornack and Anna Hiernoymous, Kate Bornstein, Mary Going, Julia Turshen,
Jasmine Wright and Desiree Akhavan. "I was really excited to work on a
book that better represented the creative community in which I work. Out
of 100 women, 70 percent are women of color and over women outwardly
identify as members of the LGBTQ community," says Bonney. We caught
up with the Design*Sponge creator to learn more about the book.
BOOKS»
DIDEVERYONE
ENTHUSIASTICALLY
ACCEPT
YOUR more so we could have included more
INVITATION
FOR
INTERVIEW,
AND
WHAT
DOYOU women in rural or hard-to-access areas. I
knew that I didn't want to have the book
THINK
DREW
THEM
TOTHIS
PROJECT?
INFINE
COMPANY
Queer creatives in a
gorgeous new book.
BY MELANIE
BARKER
This book was truly an example of the
expression, "It takes a village ...". The majority of the more well-known women in
this book were connected to me through
friends or even friends three-times-removed. People seemed excited and motivated by the book's goals of inclusivity
and really rallied together to help bring
everyone to the table.
HOW
DID
YOU
COME
TOTEAM
UPWITH
SASHA
ISRAEL,
THE
PHOTOGRAPHER
BEHIND
THESE
LUMINOUS
PORTRAITS?
I met Sasha when she photographed
my wife, Julia Turshen, for the website
Bon Beri. Julia wasn't always comfortable
in front of the camera but Sasha was so
naturally gracious, kind and friendly that
I got to enjoy just watching such beautiful photos happen naturally. So when I
thought of who would be able to make
all of these very different women shine
and make them comfortable quickly (for
some shoots we only had 20 minutes
with the subject) and she was the first
person I thought of. Nearly every woman
commented on what a joy it was to work
with Sasha and I couldn't agree more.
WHAT
WERE
SOME
OFTHE
OBSTACLES
YOU
ENCOUNTERED
DURING
THIS
PROJECT
AND
HOW
DID
YOU
OVERCOME
THEM?
I wish we had more time (we put the
book together in 2 months) to travel
32
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
only focus on major coastal cities, but
finding the time and budget to get everywhere across the country in a month
was nearly impossible. But it's inspired
a print magazine we're working on now
where I'll have the time and ability to include women in more rural spaces.
THE
BOOK
WAS
CREATED
BEFORE
TRUMP.
IFYOU
WERE
WORKING
ONITNOW,
WHAT
MIGHT
YOU
CHANGE
ABOUT
IT?
If this book was written before the
most recent presidential election, I
would have asked women to discuss
ways in which they were using their
work to speak up, support marginalized
groups or express their thoughts and beliefs. I think having practical examples of
how creative people can connect their
work to social and political causes is important.
WHAT
ARE
SOME
OFYOUR
OBJECTIVES
FOR
THE
DESIGN*SPONGE
WEBSITE
THIS
YEAR?
To find ways to weave activism and
creativity together, without being too
preachy or aggressive. Design*Sponge
has always been independent so we
have the ability to take bold stances, and
we do, but I want to continue to work to
make those connections in a way that
feel like they're inviting people to the
conversation and not leaving them out.
(designsponge.com) •
REVIEWS/
BOOKS
BOOKS»
JUST
ME
A new on line YA novel
addresses coming out
in high school.
BY MELANIE BARKER
Charlotte Reagan, 23, published her
first novel, the YA love story Just Juliet,
on Amazon last year, where it attracted
over 350 reviews and a good deal of
discussion. Raised in small-town Texas,
Reagan struggled with coming out and
with which labels apply to her. Writing
helped her articulate that journey in a
way that struck a chord with readers.
"While I definitely have a strong female preference, these days I subscribe
to the theory that love is love, and I'll find
it where I find it. I think the right person
for me will be just that-a person," she
explains. "Perhaps that makes me bisexual, or maybe just homoflexible, but
regardless, I'm just looking to be happy
with someone, and at least right now, I'm
not willing to count anyone out."
Reagan started coming out to those
closest to her 4 years ago, but the release
of her book was the ultimate outing. This
breezily confident debut is written from
the point of view of Lena Newman, a
high school senior who is dating a boy
when she becomes inexplicably attracted to Juliet James, a beautiful and spirited classmate. Lena experiences the
excitement and challenges of same-sex
attraction, taking sex and dating slowly,
and slowly coming out to friends and
family. "If you still like boys then why not
just be with boys?" asks her father. "It's
not the life I saw for you," says her mother. Lena explains, "I'm not gay if I'm with
a girl and straight if I'm with a boy. It's not
this or that. It's always going to be there.
Bisexual. Constantly."
There is a lot of sweetness and sincerity in the novel-hot chocolate, chaste
sleepovers and innocent make-out sessions-and emotional realness. "I wanted to write a story in which no one's life
was ruined because they were gay;' says
Reagan. "I wanted to show that it is possible to come out, to still be loved, to still
be happy. I wanted a book that young
LGBTQ kids could read and see themselves in, or give them somewhere to
escape whatever was going on in their
lives, or that they could hand to their
parents to help them understand who
they were just a little better."
And with the political scales tipped
against queer kids, Reagan hopes troubled teens will take comfort in her book,
if not in the real world. "A lot of people
are scared right now, a lot of people are
angry, and those emotions and concerns one hundred percent deserve to
be given attention. But you can't stay in
that negative space all the time, it's not
healthy. So, I think literature like mine is
important for the end of the day. For the
recovery period. For the reminder that
things can and will be okay."•
deleterious to the movement itself. Crossley,
the Associate Director at The Clayman Institute
for Gender Research at Stanford University,
surveyed and interviewed over 1,400 students
at Smith College, the University of California,
and the University of Minnesota to ground her
argument that feminism is waveless. Waveless
feminism, she asserts, "emphasizes the
persistenceof feminism over time, the variations
in feminism, and the interaction between
survey respondents who identified as queer
were the most likelyof all participants to identify
as feminist."
Through her research,Crossleyidentifies how
feminism on college campuses, online, and in
our daily livescombine to prove that the feminist
movement is too complex and nuanced to be
construed in waves. The historical framework
of the wave is limiting and contributes to a
whitewashing of the movement: "The erasure
feminism and other movements."
Noting that "lesbians have historically
played a major role in perpetuating feminist
organizations and nurturing feminist culture,"
Crossley's data shows that this influence has
continued to today: "Survey data indicate
of women of color in the mainstream narratives
about feminism specifically impacts public
viewpoints and the central narratives of
feminism," she observes.
This sociological study is easy to read and
the interviews with students are especially
engaging. Crossley's concept of waveless
feminism very well may help us move beyond
the stalled gender revolution. (nyupress.org)
CHARLOTTE
REAGAN
CJ
rn
)::>
C/)
THE
FUTURE
ISFEMINIST
New research on the movement
includes its deep lesbian roots.
BY MARCIE BIANCO
In Finding Feminism: Millennial Activists and
The Unfinished Gender Revolution, sociologist
Alison Dahl Crossley presents research that
suggests the whole notion of feminist history
in terms of waves is not only incorrect but
34
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
that gay/lesbian, bisexual, and queer study
participants were more likely to identify as
feminist than heterosexualstudents. And those
40POWERDRESSINGFORTHE OFFICE
44SUMMERTRAVELFASHION HACKS
curve
~
FASHION
ACCESSORIES
IDENTITY
BEAUTY
»
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
35
Footwear for dapper
genderqueer folk by NiK Kacy
PHOTOS BY VIVI RAMA
NiK Kacy, born in Hong Kong, raised in New York, and currently residing in Los Angeles, is founder
and chief of NiK Kacy Footwear. The urban, monochromatic
style of New York City has influenced
Kacy's fashion aesthetic. "My style is inspired by the practicality
and classic minimalism of being
a New Yorker ... lots of black and grays." Kacy has been on quite a journey in the past few years.
"I've evolved from being a butch lesbian to trans man to genderfluid/two-spirited
human be-
ing," says Kacy, whose footwear expresses a similar sense of fluidity. "My queerness is built on
the core value and belief that all human beings should have the freedom to express themselves
in their most authentic way without barriers or confines within the gender binary our society has
forced upon us." The tagline for NiK Kacy Footwear is "walk your way," and it's a motto embodied by the founder themselves. "Fashion is about style and style should not be limited by gender," says Kacy. Their classic first collection,
36
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Fortune, is featured in this spread. (nikkacy.com)
38
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
--
'
-~:--c-- --=-:-"•L-_-=-:-~
--
-
~-:;?.
~
Getting a suit that fits you properly is not easy. But all it takes is one good suit that can serve many occasions
and you'll never go back to an ill-fitting outfit. The stylists at Kipper Clothiers are available to guide you through
assembling your suit and all the finishing touches and finer details that give you a competitive and polished look.
If a custom-made suit is financially out of your reach right now, it's still possible to look like a savvy professional
with some basic, well-chosen wardrobe essentials. For example, start with a few solid oxford cloth button downs,
a couple pairs of good trousers, and a blue or gray blazer. Color coordinate your new garments so that you can
mix and match outfits. Lean towards blues and grays, which are flattering on most people. Ties are in but ditch
the clip-on bowtie and learn how to tie a real one. Invest in a good pair of shoes, such as brown oxfords, and
start saving for that bespoke suit-the
40
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
style, quality, and perfect fit will transform you. (kipperclothiers.biz) •
42
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Our motorhomes look like large vans from the outside,
but their true beauty lies in the versatile space inside,
which houses all of the conveniences of home.
Enjoy a full kitchen and dining area, living room,
bedroom and bathroom with shower. Our campervans
are easy to drive and a care-free way of traveling.
Packing tips for Pride and other
summer excursions.
WORDS: ANITA DOLCE VITA (DAPPERQ) AND
DANIELLE COOPER (SHE'S A GENT)
PHOTOS: KIM GERONIMO
Danielle is into menswear, I'm a high femme, but when it comes to fashion we have this in common:
we both loathe packing. As fashion bloggers we should know better, but we wait until the night before our departures to pack. To be honest, sometimes we both wait until just hours before we leave for
the airport to actually pack. Danielle doesn't pay as heavy a price for her procrastination because she
knows the art of packing smart, whereas I grab handfuls of unnecessary items and shove them into a
bag without making the best use of the space. The end result is I arrive at my destinations with wrinkled
clothes I'll never wear, while Danielle has a crisp outfit ready for every occasion on the itinerary. With my
Pride travels and summer vacation quickly approaching, I asked Danielle to share her packing secrets.
44
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
FEATURES/
ST
1.DON'T
OVERPACK
5.PROTECT
YOUR
VALUABLES
If you're currently packing for a trip then
Place your jewelry in the center of the bag.
stop right now and put half of the stuff
If it has a zip compartment, you can slide
back out of the bag. Trust me, you prob-
accessories in there. If not then, slide them
ably won't wear half of the items that you
between the clothing, which also provides
packed. For a 4-5 day Pride or summer
added protection along the ride.
trip, you'll need 4-5 tops or dresses; 4-5
pairs of shorts or trousers; 1-2 pair of
6.CONTAIN
YOUR
TOILETRIES
sneakers or drivers; and a flat or heeled
If you wear makeup, you may have this one
sandal.
already covered. But if you do not own a
2.CHOOSE
LIGHT
FABRICS
vest in one, preferably waterproof. It will
makeup bag or dopp kit (toiletry bag), inSummer trips are easier to pack for since
keep your grooming essentials organized
fabrics are lighter. Linens, cotton blends,
and prevent them from accidentally leak-
and
ing over your clothing. Slide it in your bag
breathable
fabrics
are essential.
Whether you're going to explore a city
next to your shoes and you're good to go!
or participate in Pride festivities, lighter
fabrics will keep you feeling cooler in the
7.ORGANIZE
YOUR
ELECTRONICS
heat. Not to mention they're easy to pack.
Who leaves home these days without their
3.ROLL
AND
FOLD
adaptors? No one! Invest in a stylish back-
laptop, camera, headphones, and multiple
The roll and fold method is something
pack or small carryon bag with easy access
you should master. It allows for so much
compartments where you can stash the
more room in your suitcase. Dresses,
electronics that you will need to get past
T-shirts, trousers, shorts, swimwear, and
TSA check and/or will want to use during
pretty much all summer clothing can be
your flight.
rolled. These pieces also resist wrinkles.
Blazers or structured
garments can be
8.PICK
YOUR
PRIDE
WEAR
WITH
CARE
folded and placed on top of your rolled
Pride outfits can be a challenge, especial-
items.
ly if you do not have a place to change
between events. If you're marching or
0
4.BE
SENSIBLE
WITH
SHOES
planning on attending a march, but also
Drivers, sandals and one sneaker pair are
want to look stylish for the after parties,
ideal in warmer climates. They are also
you'll want to pack an outfit that is versa-
less bulky and allow for more space in
tile: comfortable, stylish, and breathable.
your luggage. Pack them in a shoe bag or
A chic button down and tailored shorts or
tissue paper so that the dirt from the bot-
lightweight jeans paired with sleek slip-on
tom of the shoes doesn't rub against your
shoes will get you through miles of walking
clothing. Pack one pair of socks in each
and hours of dancing. You might turn a few
shoe. This helps to save space.
heads, too.•
T AND
ABOUT
Cool items for the active activist.
STAND
FOR
PROGRESS
GRAB
AND
GO
Make a stand I Common Ground is taking a step in the right direction on
A day in the life means balancing work, school, meetings, friends,
issues we care about: Marriage Equality, Gun Control, Gender Equality,
a festival or maybe a night out. You need a bag that can carry you
and Immigration. By wearing comfy and colorful Common Ground foot-
through those commitments securely and stylishly. We love Solo's Ur-
wear, you can connect with others and commit to your beliefs. Designed
ban Code Collection, a sleek backpack perfect for laptop warriors
to create empathy and awareness, the shoes are easy to wear, light to
and urban nomads. For a fashion-centric look, the cool Bridgehamp-
pack and perfect for summer travel. (common-ground.com)
ton Backpack is both office- and outing-worthy. (solo.net)
ESONPRIDE
Get the look this summer.
CELEBRITY
EYEBROW
Makeup artist to the stars and
illustrious eyebrow expert Elke
Von Freudenberg has a range
of products that will have you
GORGEOUS
AND
GLOSSY
attracting attention at crowded
Add shine and sparkle to
Pride parties. The Brow Collec-
your eyelids with Glazen
tion includes pencils, groomers,
Eye Gloss in Mermaid. The
primers, shadows, waxes, brush-
shimmery, crease-resistant
es and tools that will have you
wet look shine, without be-
rivaling even Cara Delevingne.
ing wet, applies like a gel,
(elkevonfreudenberg.com)
but dries like a powder for
all-day wear. Also comes
WHY
NOT
AIM
HIGH
in Moonshine and Icing to
Get fluttery, flirtatious eyelashes with Oh My, How
make you look deliciously
High! Lengthening Mascara by Butter London. The
out of this world.
curved brush gives you length, volume, and even
(butterlondon.com)
a little curl and the jet black hue adds intensity and
drama. Perfect for flirting across a crowded room!
(butterlondon.com)
46
CURVE
APLAYFUL
POP
OF
PASTEL
YOU
SWEET
THING
Cotton Candy Liners give you 6 subtle, sassy
Only hard-core femmes are experts at applying
pastel hues perfect for long-lasting daywear.
liquid eyeliner. The rest of us can rely on Beth
The rich, high-pigment formula is free of chem-
Bender's Eye Candy Gentle Adhesive Eyeliner
icals and easy to apply. From Lemon Drop to
Stencil Pro Pack, confident and shapely eyeliner
Sugar Plum, these colors complement rainbow
made easy! The hypoallergenic, U.S.-made product
apparel. (absolutenewyork.com)
fits any eye shape or size. (bethbenderbeauty.com)
JUN/JUL
2017
THE CURVE PRIDELIST
SISTERWIVES SURPRISE
ERIKALINDER'SSTARTURN
~
COMMUNITY
CELEBRITY
CULTURE
■
•
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
47
...........
PORTRAITSOF QUEER WOMEN AT HOME.
IMAGES BY TOM ATWOOD
-
FEATURES/
PHOTOGRAPHY
Kings & Queens in Their Castles is a new
photography book that explores the
LGBTQ experience in America at home
and at work. Over 15 years, Tom Atwood
photographed
more than 350 people
nationwide, including 60 LGBTQ "kings
and queens" in a striking and intimate
blend of portraiture and architectural
photography. The candid images depict
lesbian luminaries such as Kate Clinton,
Christine Vachon, Heather Matarazzo,
Alison Bechdel and Meredith Baxter in
their chosen spaces. Some are grand
or utopian, others modest or utilitarian.
All of them bring us a little bit closer to
those we admire. "There is a common
LGBTQ sensibility that sets us apart that
I wanted to recognize and celebrate,"
says Atwood. "This sensibility shares an
outlook with the sensibility of creative
and cultural leaders-an
awareness of
difference, of other, of possibility-an
avant-garde mindset." Even so, this
collection proves that "stars" are
just like us-with
a similar need for a
nest to call their own and feel safe in.
(tomatwood.com)
•
l .....
'--.J
ARTS
&ENTERTAINMENT
DANA
GOLDBERG
BRIDGET
MCMANUS
SANDRA
VALLS
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Professional Comedian, Host, Auctioneer
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Performer, Screenwriter, Producer
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Comedian, Singer, Actor, Writer, Badass
Through her comedy, hosting, and live
auction work Dana has helped to raise
over 6 million dollars for women's health,
HIV/AIDS education and prevention, and
LGBTQ equality on a national level. She
has worked with and raised money for
The Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor
Project, Equality California, and other
national organizations. In addition to her
charitable work, she performs with colleges
and Universities around the country. "I feel
so proud when students come up to me
after performances, thanking me for giving
them the strength and courage to come out
to their parents, and those same parents
standing supportively by their children at
my shows thanking me for the same. If I
can empower our youth, the future of our
movement through my work, what a gift I
am given in this lifetime:'
The hilarious out and proud performer was
one of the very few lesbians featured on
the LOGO TV network, creating, producing
and starring in two television shows. She
joined tellofilms.com (the lesbian Netflix) as
the Vice President of Development in 2016,
and mentors burgeoning content creators
to encourage growth and strengthen
their work. She has worked for years in
daytime television, both onscreen as talent
(The Queen Latifah Show, Talk Show The
Game Show) and as the warm-up comic
for shows such as The Real, Chelsea,
The Wall, and others. Her award-winning
series Maybelle and
McManusland,
both featured lesbian leads and she
regularly portrays lesbian characters,
appearing in her own series as well as in
a recurring role on the upcoming season
of Transparent.
The lesbian Latina standup comic has
represented the LGBTQ community for
years and is a human rights activist honored
in her hometown of Laredo, Texas with
an International Women's Day Award. She
was chosen by Unidos, the National Latino
LGBT Human Rights Organization, for their
list Project VISIBLELatinos LGBTin the USA
and Puerto Rico: Out in Leadership. GLAAD
has honored her work at Mun2 Television
with a Special Recognition Award, and
the California Senate presented her with a
Certificate of Recognition for her support
of LGBT people in recovery in "One Gay at
a Time:' She runs the workshop Laughter
Heals and is involved with TEDX Women,
Women in Medicine: Lesbian Health Fund
Conference, San Antonio LGBT Chamber
of Commerce Coming Out Day, Equality
San Antonio and others.
JUN/JUL
I\
2017
I
I
/
CURVE
,.
51
1/
1
I
I
,.
I
················1···i············································································································································
t/
I
\ !
1/
I
AUDREY
EVANS
BARBARA
PROUD
BETTY
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA
Filmmaker
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
Creator of the First Comes Love Project
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Singer-songwriters, Activists
The independent filmmaker and film editor
has worked on such films as Thelma &
Louise, The Doors, What Women Want, and
the soon-to-be-released, Battle of the Sexes
with Emma Stone and Steve Carell, about
the famed tennis match between Billie
Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Her current
independent directing project is titled
Genesis and marks her feature directorial
debut starring Meredith Baxter, Suzanne
Westenhoefer and Dana Goldberg.
First Comes Love is a photo series,
documentary and book celebrating longterm LGBTQrelationships prior to marriage
equality. B.Proud hopes to open hearts
and minds by giving viewers an inside
look at LGBTQ couples who braved the
highs and lows of everyday life without the
protections of federal rights. The second
phase of First Comes Love celebrates trans
and genderqueer couples, furthering the
acceptance of the LGBTQcommunity.
The original pop-rock band fronted
by Alyson Palmer and sisters Amy and
Elizabeth Ziff are internationally recognized
for their touring, activism, and iconic theme
song to The L Word. Elizabeth, Alyson and
Amy use their music for humanitarian
outreach: working for equal rights, peace
and aid, and the empowerment of girls and
women, facilitated by their nonprofit, The
BETTYEffect. Since 1986, they have helped
change policy and raised millions of dollars.
CHRISTIE
CONOCHALLA
TINA
D'ELIA
CHEF
ROSSI
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Filmmaker
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Actor/Casting Director/Performance
Coach
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Owner and Executive Chef of The
Raging Skillet
The director of Once Upon A Zipper,
Forever Not Maybe, and the short film
August in the City has gone from making
a commentary on lesbian films and why we
watch them to transforming lesbian films.
She hopes to reach a wider audience and
defy Hollywood formula, telling stories
about real people and their conflicts,
unveiling the simple truth that we are here,
we deserve to be seen, we deserve to be
counted, and to be treated equally.
A mixed-race Latina lesbian/queer/feminist
artist, Tina was honored to receive the
Executive Producer Award and Trail Blazer
Award for diverse casting and performing
from Equality International Film Festival.
Tina has been casting films, webseries,
videos, and industrials in the Bay Area for
over 8 years and is known for the awardwinning short film, Lucha, as well as for her
award-winning, sold-out Latina live solo
shows performed in the Bay Area.
An out loud and proud gay woman, Rossi
dedicates her pen, whisk, voice and her
mission to the pursuit of women's rights,
gay rights and transgender rights. The radio
personality, writer, chef and public speaker
uses her platform to empower, writing for
The Daily News, The New York Post, Time
Out New York, Mcsweeney's, Bust, and The
Huffington Post. She has been featured
on The Food Network and NPR, and her
second memoir is forthcoming.
:ON
52
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
\ l\
'
I
I
I
I
r
ACTIVISM
&COMMUNITY
LESLIE
HEROD
VALERIE
WEISLER
CRISTINA
AGUILAR
DENVER,COLORADO
Colorado State Representative,
Democrat for House District 8
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Founder and CEO of The Validation
Project
DENVER,COLORADO
Executive Director, Colorado
Organization for Latina Opportunity
and Reproductive Rights
Leslie is the first openly gay African
American person to hold elected office
in Colorado. Prior to running for office
she took prominent roles in the African
American community and was a vocal
proponent of LGBTQ equality. Recently
elected to the Colorado State House of
Representatives she campaigned on the
need for quality education for all children,
affordable housing, and true criminal justice
reform. As a state representative she serves
on three committees: Judiciary, Finance
and Legal Services, and has advanced
legislation
that
protects
immigrant
communities, homeless youth, and curbs
the excessive powers of law enforcement
to seize private propJrty from innocent
citizens. She received t~f 2017 Rising Star
Award by the Colorado D'emocratiGParty.
As a 14-year-old target of bullying, Valerie
took her struggles and turned them into
an idea: to create a space where her
generation could feel safe and supported
enough to solve the most prominent issues
of our time. Four years later, she is the
founder and CEO of the Validation Project,
an award-winning organization that works
with more than 6,000 teenagers in 105
countries, providing them with onementorships and social justice programs.
Valerie's entrepreneurial curriculum is
now taught in more than 1000 schools.
Currently a college freshman, Valerie was
appointed as a Speaking Ambassador
for the U.S State Department, where she
makes sure her generation is heard and
taken seriously. Valerie is also a Human
Rights Campaign Ambassador.
Cristina leads efforts to develop young
leaders, empower the Colorado Latinx
community to shape policies that impact
their lives, and urges lawmakers to stand
with Latinx folks and their families. From her
work directing a national, early childhood
education program with Head Start to
serving as a member of the political action
committee and co-founding the People of
Color Caucus for One Colorado (the state's
leading LGBTQ advocacy organization)
Cristina is dedicated to dismantling systems
of oppression and building bridges across
movements and issues ensuring that all
people can maintain healthy lives and
live in safe communities. She was named
one of Top 25 Most Powerful Women of
Colorado 2017 by the Colorado Women's
Chamber of Commerce.
\
....................................................................................................................................................
'
DIANE
'V'CAPALDI
SHEILA
ALEXANDER-REID
REV.
ELIZABETH
M.EDMAN
VOLUNTARILYHOMELESS
Motivational Speaker, Founder
PaleoBOSS Lady
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Director, Mayor's Office of LGBTQAffairs
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Episcopal priest and political strategist
Diane
has
secondary
progressive
MS and five years ago faced poverty,
institutionalization or suicide. After a
radical lifestyle change, she travels and
teaches and is a TEDx Speaker sharing
tools of empowerment for free or by
donation. Her consciousness living brand
PaleoBOSS Lady advocates for the sick,
disabled, homeless and people seeking to
change their lives. Diane tours the country
speaking about how to live free of toxicity.
Sheila is an intersectional community
activist. In 1992 she founded Women in the
Life,which provided safe spaces for lesbians
of color. She was VP of the Gertrude Stein
Democratic Club, is producer of LGBTradio
show WPFW'sInside Out, and as Director of
the Mayor's Office of LGBTQAffairs she is
responsible for housing homeless LGBT
youth, training government employees
in LGBT competency, and creating
employment for transgender women.
The priest and longtime LGBTQ activist's
book, Queer Virtue: What LGBTQ People
Know About Life and Love and How It
Can Revitalize Christianity has received
praise from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus,
and is a finalist for the 2017 Judy Grahn
Award for Lesbian Nonfiction. Elizabeth
and Queer Virtue launched the national
project Glitter+Ash Wednesday, which was
picked up by 150 sites in 3 countries and
received extensive press coverage.
JEAN-MARIE
NAVETTA
KATI
'JAZZ'
GRAY-SADLER
ELIZABETH
LANYON
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Director of Learning & Inclusion for
PFLAGNational
PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA
LesBe Real Radio, City of Philadelphia
Commission on LGBT Affairs
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Individual Giving Manager, National
Center for Lesbian Rights
An LGBTQ activist since college, JeanMarie's work with PFLAG has helped
educate over 13,000 people outside the
LGBTQcommunity on what it means to be
allies. In 2007, she created and launched
PFLAG'sStraight for Equality project. She
has written four guides to being straight
allies, trans allies, allies of faith, and allies in
healthcare, reaching over 300,000 people
and has developed curriculums for allies in
Recently appointed to the City of
Philadelphia Commission
on
LGBT
Affairs, Jazz is committed to increasing
transparency and accessibility of the
Mayor's Office and Commission. Prior to
that her work in community radio increased
awareness about LGBT issues. In spite of
progress in laws affecting LGBT rights in
Philadelphia County, hate crimes against
trans individuals are on the rise, particularly
against people of color.
Elizabeth helps organize the largest lesbian
event in San Francisco, the Dyke March,
and was involved in the San Francisco
Women's March. To address the ongoing
gentrification of the Bay Area, which results
in the loss of lesbian spaces, Elizabeth
advocates for the community through
organizing local lesbian events, meetups,
protests and demonstrations resulting in
stronger coordination on city-wide efforts
to support queer spaces and actions.
130comp\"lZY
'\ JUN/J/17
l
CURVE
55
BUSINESS
&ENTERPRISE
ROBYN
STREISAND
JUDY
DLUGACZ
MARIAH
HANSON
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
CEO & Founder of The Mixx, Titanium
Worldwide
WASHINGTON D.C. / SAN FRANCISCO
President & Co-Founder of Olivia Travel
SONOMA, CALIFORNIA
Owner, Dinah Shore Weekend in Palm
Springs
As a 30-year veteran in the world of
marketing, Robyn started The Mixx in her
apartment with simply a phone and a desk.
Now, Titanium Worldwide is the world's first
collective of certified-diverse, independent
agencies in media, marketing and
communications. By joining forces with
other LGBT, women and minority-owned
businesses it brings collective strength
and diverse thinking to business clients.
Robyn also co-founded the National Gay
Lesbian Chamber of Commerce NY,which
is the only extension of the NGLCC in the
U.S.,she was voted into the OUT 100 list as
one of the most influential LGBT people in
the U.S., and won the 2017 Impact Award
from Gay City News, the 2016 AdPop
Award along with client Mercedes Benz,
and the 2017 WBENC Vision & Reflection
Award for Best Business Collaboration.
In 1973 Judy established Olivia Records,
focused exclusively on female artists, and
oversaw hundreds of concerts and events
around the world. Combining her passions
of music and travel, she organized her
first chartered cruise in 1990. It was so
successful that the organization evolved
into Olivia Travel and has sent over
200,000 women around the world. Judy
has also been a member of the LGBT
Leadership Council of the DNC and was
a finance chair for both the Obama and
Clinton presidential campaigns. Judy
has received recognition for combining
social activism with business, including
the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year award and the Lifetime Achievement
Award from the NYC LGBT Center. She's
currently focusing on the 45th anniversary
celebration and writing her autobiography.
Mariah has been building community
and breaking barriers for nearly three
decades with her world-famous Dinah
Shore Weekend in Palm Springs,
California. Entirely produced by women,
for women, the Dinah stands tall as not
only the largest lesbian event in the world,
but also the longest-running lesbian event
ever, and the only event to consistently
attract A-list mainstream talent. The
Dinah offers a life-changing experience
for myriad women who come from all
over the world to enjoy the freedom to
be who they truly are without fearing the
judgement, discrimination and prejudice
of others. Mariah is the recipient of
the 2015 NCLR Award, 2014 Spirit of
Stonewall Lifetime Achievement Award,
The legacy Award, and the 2013 Athena
Leadership Award.
56
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
FEATURES/PRIDE
LI
LEANNE
PITTSFORD
KELLI
CARPENTER
CHERIL
AND
MONICA
BEY-CLARKE
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
CEO & Founder, Lesbians Who Tech
RAMSEY,NEW JERSEY
Founder of R Family Vacations
NEW JERSEY/ MONTREAL, CANADA
Entrepreneurs
Lesbians Who Tech is the largest LGBTQ
network of technologists in the world. With
over 25,000 queer women and allies, it is
improving representation among LGBTQ
women in the tech sector on a global scale
through annual tech summits and programs
like the Edie Windsor Coding Scholarship,
and Bring a Lesbian to Work Day. In 2017,
Leanne is partnering with TechHire, created
by the Obama Administration, to launch a
50-city Tech Jobs Tour with Megan Smith,
3rd Chief Technology Officer of the U.S.
The mother of four children, Kelli realized
14 years ago that there was not an LGBT
family travel company that provided a
safe place where her children could see
other families like theirs. With her business
partner, Gregg Kaminsky, she founded the
first and only vacation company for LGBT
friends and families, R Family Vacations.
The company has grown into a community,
with R Family toddlers growing into teens,
and teens into a generation of adults that
will change the world.
The couple left corporate careers to
build companies that include an LGBT
children's book company, a healing and
wellness center in Southern New Jersey,
and multiple ventures that serve their
communities including a soon-to-belaunched loungewear collection geared
toward the LGBT community and its allies.
The fun-loving couple, married in business
and in life, want to create good things in
the world while inspiring others to reach
their greatest potential.
CHARLOTTE
BETH
GLASSER
E.JAGUAR
BECKFORD
NENNA
JOINER
LOS ANGELES/ NEW YORK
Event Producer at Hot Rabbit NYC,
Creative Director of The Vintage Brands
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
CEO JagandCo Clothing, Founder
Rainbow Fashion Week
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Entrepreneur, Adult Store Owner
As a bi-coastal creative director and
successful LGBTQ event producer, Char
has a passion for pushing ideas into bigger
and better realities, creating a wide network
and strengthening community through
collaboration and support. With the mantra
Community Over Competition, Char has
made it her mission to employ LGBTQartists
and gives back by teaching workshops on
self-starting entrepreneurism to help those
serious about reaching their goals.
Jag stepped out of the legal arena and
created a clothing company designed to
meet the needs of identity-variant women.
Exposed to the fashion world, Jag realized
the real excitement and storytelling takes
place not on the designer's table but behind
the scenes. She created Rainbow Fashion
Week, 8 Days of Queer, to create safe
spaces for the LGBTQ community, support
the business of queer style, and deliver a
message of social responsibility.
Nenna has transformed her community
through a retail store that happens to sell
sex products. She graduated college from
Florida A&M University, studied Politics and
in June 2016 had the honor of representing
California as a Delegate for the Democratic
party. Returning home, she determined
to become a member of the DNC LGBT
Advisory Board. It amuses her to think
about the sex store owner shaking hands
with prominent and powerful individuals.
1'
I
I
I
I
!
JUN/JUL
I\
2017
CURVE
57
MEDIA
&PUBLISHING
LORI
SOKOL
ALEX
BERG
SARAH
TOCE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Journalist, Executive Director of Women's
eNews
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Producer/Host at The Huffington Post
SEATTLE,WASHINGTON
Journalist, Publisher, Activist, Mother
Lori Sokol, Ph.D. is the Executive Director
of Women's eNews, an award-winning,
non-profit, digital news service covering
issues of concern to women, and providing
women's perspectives on public policy,
from New York City to New Delhi, reaching
1.5 million readers each year. She is the host
of the bi-weekly radio show, Women's eNews
Live, on 1490 AM WGCH, where she invites
experts to discuss issues affecting women
and girls around the world. Previously, Lori
was founder and president of Sokol Media,
Inc., the publisher of business magazines
that advocate for diversity in the workplace.
Lori strives to empower individuals to
triumph over gender-related societal limits
through publishing including writing for
the Baltimore Sun, The NY Times Business
section, Slate.com, and as a current regular
contributor to The Huffington Post.
Alex is a bisexual and queer video producer
and on-air talent at The Huffington Post.
She produces and hosts videos on national
news, feminism/LGBTQ issues and pop
culture. Most recently, she hosted Huff Post's
live coverage from the Inauguration and
campaign trail, and interviewed a range of
public figures, from actor Alan Cumming to
Green Party candidate Jill Stein and rapper
Mykki Blanco. She's been featured on The
Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, SiriusXM
and Fusion, and her work has appeared in
the New York Times, Washington Post and
The Daily Beast.Through the duration of her
career, Alex has strived to change negative
and inaccurate perceptions of bisexual
people through her writing and segments.
In 2014, her HuffPost Live segment on
the Bisexual White House Summit was
nominated for a GLAAD Award.
Sarah currently serves on the Family
Equality Council's West Coast Advisory
Committee and is the promoter of
Seattle Women's Pride, and the founder,
publisher and editor-in-chief of Seattle's
only lesbian newspaper, The Seattle
Lesbian, founded in 2010. In its first year
alone, The Seattle Lesbian reached a
threshold of one million readers globally.
In 2012, it was a distinguished recipient
of the McCormick Foundation's New
Media Women Entrepreneurs Award,
and a recipient of the National Diversity
Council's 2016 LGBT Leadership Award.
Sarah was also a contributor to the
award-winning Windy City Times' AIDS
@ 30 series, which won the prestigious
Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago
Headline Club, and was nominated for a
GLAAD Award.
58
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
\
FEATURES/PRIDE
LI
MONA
ELYAFI
MEREDITH
BENNETT-SMITH JULIE
R.ENSZER
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Publicist, Founder & CEO of ILDK Media
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Editor, Quartz
DOVER, FLORIDA
Intel lectua I Entrepreneur
After years working for top entertainment
PR agencies, Mona launched her own
PR firm in 2004, named after her late
grandmother. Her main objective is to act as
a catalyst for change, empower her clients,
and give their unique voices a platform
to become inspirational and trailblazing
voices in the LGBTQ community. Mona's
many clients and projects focus on LGBTQ
diversity and equality, often making frontpage news in Forbes, LA Times, NBC.com,
NY Times, CNN, to name a few.
Meredith is a graduate of Cornell and NYU,
getting her start in journalism with PBS
Frontline, The New York Daily News, The
Christian Science Monitor, The Huffington
Post, and graduating to
editor with
Mic, where she produced stories on the
intersection of socioeconomics, race, LGBT
identity, gender and feminism. Currently at
Quartz, Meredith steers powerful stories on
geopolitics, socioeconomics, identity and
tech, and she also teaches at the CUNY
School of Journalism.
Julie is a Ph.D.and poet who uses the written
word to empower lesbian communities.
Author of four poetry collections, editor
of Milk & Honey: A Celebration of Jewish
Lesbian Poetry, and The Complete Works
of Pat Parker, a finalist for the Audre Lorde
Award for Lesbian Poetry,she also publishes
landmark lesbian journal Sinister Wisdom,
which celebrated 40 years in 2016. Her
scholarly work has appeared in Southern
Cultures, Journal of Lesbian Studies,
American Periodicals, WSQ, and Frontiers.
DANA
PICCOLI
DONNA
ACETO
EBONE
F.BELLL
GREENVILLE,SOUTH CAROLINA
Editor at Bella Books, Vice President of
Upstate Pride
GREENWICH, NEW YORK
Freelance News and Event Photographer
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
Editor-in-Chief/Owner Tagg Magazine
An entertainment writer and pop culture
critic with deep roots in queer fandom,
Dana was a staff editor at AfterEllen, host of
the popular podcast, Let's Process, which
had over 250k downloads, and managing
editor of the Blog at Bella Books, a vertical
of the popular lesbian publishing company.
Dana moderated panels at Clexacon, and
is the Vice President of Upstate Pride, an
organization that serves local queer and
trans communities.
Donna began photographing the LGBTQ
community during the height of the AIDS
crisis in New York, as photographer for the
widely-circulated Gay Men's Health Crisis'
newsletter. She went from being a closeted
lesbian on Wall Street to coming out and
moving into photojournalism and activism,
working with the Lesbian AIDS Project, and
showing how women too were affected by
HIV/AIDS. She joined Gay City News and
went on to cover countless LGBTQevents.
Ebone started Tagg Magazine and website
to tell queer women's stories, provide
resources, and create events. Tagg was
named one of the Top 25 LGBTQ-owned
companies by the Washington Business
Journal and last year, Ebone founded the
Tagg Scholarship Fund for young queer
women of color unable to afford school.
Ebone also volunteers in Washington, D.C.
for the HRC,the Capital Area Gay & Lesbian
Chamber, and The Point Foundation.
!;A
!
I
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
59
ilyuting
AfamO
Mariah Brown talk
. -s faith,
New Iyo- ut
era act1v1sm.
f am1·1y, and off-cam
ANY JOY BECK
BY JANELLE BECK AND MEL
THE L-L
FEATURES/
LC's Sister Wives, now in its 11th
have gotten a lot closer," she says. "This
I got older, people kind of knew from the
season, gives viewers an inside
has been a different experience for her,
show, so it wasn't really something I was
constantly talking about. This was new,
look into the dynamic lives of
and she's been really awesome about
the Browns, a fundamentalist
trying
Mormon
family
supportive."
that
openly
from
Nevada
not [about] a religion like my parents
chose. I think the big difference is that
Janelle, Christine, and Robyn, have 18
faith was an important
they chose this and I did not."
kids between them, ranging in age from
life.
part of her early
Since she's been in college,
"Growing up, we were very religious,"
Meri and Kody Brown's only child,
she says. "A big part of my life was
has been
challenging
a lot
Brown
of the
assumptions she's grown up with.
Mariah, is the third oldest at 21, and
going to church and church activities,
while cameras were rolling last season,
and I was always really close friends
Brown.
she bravely came out as gay, shocking
with people in the church."
learned in college is how to critically
her family and viewers alike.
"I was pretty
excited
When the
and nervous
family
decided
to flee
"I used to be very conservative," says
"The biggest
thing
that
I've
think. And in doing that I've been able
Utah in 2011, due to an investigation
to expand my ideas about the world,
into a potential violation of the state's
and that's something I don't get to talk
parents," says Brown. "I was also nervous
polygamy
about on the show a lot. I'm actually
because it was something different, and
at the idea of being separated
I had never had this experience."
her
because
I really wanted
to tell
my
Though the Browns follow a religion
known for its conservatism,
open-minded
children,
they are
and supportive
of their
having acknowledged
in an
laws, Brown was distressed
church
community.
and
her
from
home-school
Looking back on this time,
Brown notes that
"I
think
I was
for something,"
many kids in the family, it was likely that
something
overcompensating
MOVING
FORWARD
As for where her own spiritual journey
I was really scared of in
may lead, Brown envisions a different
myself, and I thought,
then no one can. I know that doesn't
how
that is very
important to me.''
Brown says. "It was
some point.
basically
and I want to be an
activist. That is something
she was probably
at least one would come out as gay at
reacted
very political,
homophobic.
earlier episode of the series that with so
"They
If I can't be gay
really make sense. It took me a little bit
path.
"I am definitely
not religious,"
she
says. "I think for me, at least in my life
expected them to," Brown says. "I know
to be able to realize that being gay is
right now, there is not really any religion
my parents pretty well."
OK-and
that aligns with all of my values. Now I
FAITH
AND
FAMILY
the Westminster
then some time after that to
realize that it's also OK for me to be gay."
am just more spiritual. I more look for
Older siblings Logan and Aspyn were
that relationship with God and less for a
among the first people in whom Brown
Prior to Brown's big announcement,
College student
and
chose to confide.
relationship with a church.''
Brown hopes that her own story can
"I told Logan first," she says. "He got
inspire others who are struggling.
pretty emotional about it. He was happy
"That was part of the reason I wanted
after an
for me that I was able to find myself.
to come out on the show," she says. "For
internet "catfishing" scandal rocked the
Then Aspyn, I saw her after I got home
so long I couldn't accept myself, and I
family.
from school for the summer and she
think it was because of the religion, and
her mother,
to rebuild
Meri, had been working
their
relationship
was like, 'You have something to tell me,
I don't want other kids who come from
and in
don't you?' I was like, 'Actually, I do.' I
very religious backgrounds
when
guess my siblings know me pretty well."
that. I want them to know that it is OK.''
Catfishing is when a person pretends
to
be someone
Meri's
case
else online,
conflict
the pretender
emerged
leaked personal details
Brown
notes
the
to feel like
differences
about the family and an alleged online
between coming out as a member of a
Looking to the future, as Brown gets
relationship.
polygamous family and coming out as
ready for her first Pride month as an out
a lesbian.
gay woman, she remains positive and
Since
she's
come
out,
however,
Brown reports an improvement
communication
~
because I was talking about myself. This
was [about] who I am as a person and
For Brown, who spent her childhood
Kody and his wives, Meri,
1 to 22.
I
it out and be really
and teenage years in Utah, the Mormon
polygamy.
practices
to figure
in her
with her mother.
"I think definitely that my mom and I
"Growing up, a lot of my friends were
also polygamist, so I didn't really have to
[come out as polygamist]," she says. "As
encouraging.
"Just remember, you're not a mistake
and it does get better.''•
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
61
ST
FEATUREstCOVER
EMEMBER
THEFRENCHFEATURE
FILM BLUEIS THEWARMESTCOLOR?MANYLESBIANSWERE
OUTRAGEDAT THEMOVIE'SEXPLOITATION
OF ITSACTRESSES
AND THEMULTIPLESEXSCENES
R
IN WHICHTHEWOMENSEEMEDTO BEPERFORMING
NOT FOREACHOTHERBUTFORTHEMALE
GAZE.THEFILMSTARTED
A DEBATEIN OURCOMMUNITY:WHYCOULDN'TWE MAKEA SEXY
FILMOF OUROWN, AUTHENTICALLY
REPRESENTING
LESBIANSEXAND DESIRE?IT TURNSOUT THAT
OURNORTHERNNEIGHBORSWEREALREADYIN DEVELOPMENT
ON BELOWHERMOUTHWHENBLUE
IS THEWARMESTCOLORMADEA SPLASHAT THECANNESFILM FESTIVALIN 2013. SCREENWRITER
STEPHANIEFABRIZIAND HERPARTNER
AND PRODUCER,
MELISSACOGHLAN,DETERMINED
TO MAKE
BELOWHERMOUTHAS SEXY,AS ORIGINAL,AND AS UNWAVERINGLY
LESBIANAS THEYCOULD.
CREWEDENTIRELY
BYWOMEN,MANYOF THEMQUEER,THEFILM PASSESTHEBECHDELTESTWITH
FLYINGCOLORSAND RECEIVED
AN "F" RATINGFROMTHEINTERNETMOVIEDATABASE,
"F" STANDING FORFEMALE/FEMINIST.
EVENBETTERNEWSFORLONG-TERMSURVIVORSOF BAD LESBIAN
MOVIES:THEDIALOGUEIS KEPTTO A MINIMUM,DESIREIS AT A MAXIMUM,AND NO ONE DIESIN THE
END.MERRYNJOHNS CAUGHTUPWITHTHECASTAND CREWTO GETTHEIRTAKEON HOW THIS
FILMABOUTLIFE-ALTERING
LESBIANATTRACTIONCAMETOGETHERSO COMPELLINGLY.
MELISSA
COGHLAN
- PRODUCER
On what the film isabout:
The film is about one weekend, and two people who find each other
then I'm happy they connect with it on some level.
and think they're never going to see each other again. What do you do?
You have sex. Stephanie [Fabrizi, screenwriter] wanted to make a film
On makingthe film in Toronto:
about female desire. She really wanted to show the female orgasm and
We have a lot of freedom in Canada, especially in Toronto: We have a
intimacy through a queer woman's lens. Sometimes people will watch
really strong queer community here, and we have a really open and
the sex scenes and say, "Wow, I didn't know women had sex like that"-
supportive system. We had Canadian financiers who believed in the
particularly in the scene where Jasmine is on top, or when they're skin
project and loved the authenticity of it. They just believed the time
on skin. Stephanie is not saying every woman has sex that way. That's
was right, and in Canada, certainly, people were ready for this story.
just how Dallas would be with Jasmine in that situation.
They knew this film was going to be really bold. We saw that Blue Is
the Warmest Color had a lot of sex, which is what we were planning on
On howthe film is beingreceived:
having, but what was different about it for me was that Blue was shot
A lot of queer women really love it and connect with it. That's who we
by a man, through a heterosexual lens. The way [director] April Mullen
made it for. We like to see ourselves in different people. Some people
shot this film, you very much stay within the body. The first night, with
will say they see themselves in Dallas. People like to attach themselves
the two of them together, we really track [the actor] Natalie's emotion
to characters that they like-and sometimes that they don't like-so
when she cries, because so much of it is pent-up. We don't play it for
that they can accept things about themselves. I think that part of the
very long, because it happens so quickly. Maya, our cinematographer,
reason queer people do it is because they see it so infrequently, and
gave her some privacy and turned the camera off. We never wanted to
they think, "This movie is for me." And if they say, "This movie is for me,"
put the actors in a position where it wasn't always about them.
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
63
STEPHANIE
FABRIZI
WRITER
On howshewrote the story:
I started writing the script nearly six years ago, at a time when I loved
ten wore that persona to the "scene," and I had many friends who did
sloppily and without restraint. I let myself go from experience to ex-
the same. There are women out there who operate and participate
perience without judgment. I think I offered that same experience to
in the Shane Mccutcheon or the Dallas archetype, and I don't think
the characters. I didn't care if I was flawed or if my characters were
there is anything wrong with representing it. I think there is also a class
flawed-I just let them be as they were in the moment. I let the char-
dialogue working within this archetype. Shane and Dallas are work-
acters lead. I was just a passenger and a scribe. At times, I feel that
ing-class types who climb the ranks with their charisma and sexuality.
the story was a personal meditation on love, a story that I was trusting
enough to share with the world. The story leaves people raw and wild,
On creatingthe sexscenes:
and it did the same to me. It will take a lifetime for me to recover from
I did not want to punish my characters for giving in to their desires. The
the blow of Below Her Mouth.
sex scenes are explicit and lengthy, and just when you think they've
had enough they want more, and one might expect that after all that
On where the characterof Dallascomesfrom:
pleasure someone would end up dead. I had a checklist of what would
Jeanette Winterson's novel Written on the Body was a big inspiration
not happen in my story: No queers would die, and Jasmine would not
to me. There is a part of Dallas that is hidden behind a persona. I of-
end up with [her boyfriend] Rile.
APRIL
MULLEN
- DIRECTOR
On castingErika:
It seemed very difficult to find someone who could walk into a room
thetics and very strong and bold lighting choices. The production
and every head turns. One day I was Googling Fresh Facesof 2015, and
designer-Faye Mullen (my sister), and Maya Bankovic, the DP-we me-
there was a little black-and-white video clip of Erika walking around in
ticulously planned everything, for example, the neon lights in Dallas's
a T-shirt, and she went, "Yo, that's my audition," and she walked away.
apartment. We knew that we'd keep those on whether it was day or
And I was like, "This is Dallas." So I started researching and found out
night, so that during the night sex scene Dallasand Natalie would be sil-
that she was this Swedish supermodel, breaking stereotypes and cre-
houetted, to create something very dynamic and mysterious in tone. So
ating trends as genderless. She'd done a lot of still photography, but it's
on the day of shooting, nothing mattered except finding that connec-
a much bigger deal to be able to perform. At her chemistry read with
tion and spark that happens in real life but that you rarely see on-screen.
Natalie, we were like, "This is them. It's undeniable." Erika has so many
natural idiosyncrasies-the
way she moves her hands, the way she
On what the film achievesfor queer women:
walks, all of those things. The first day I met her for coffee, to get a feel
I really wanted to make the community proud, do women proud, and
for her and to see if she was tenacious enough to dive into something
give them something authentic that would resonate with them, some-
so big, everything she did was just film-worthy. The rest was explaining
thing that was lacking on the screen. When you're behind the monitor
to her scripts, scene numbers, blocking, how to hit your marks, how to
and you've had these images in your head for a year, and you get to see
work with the camera ...She learned very quickly. She's totally dedicat-
them come to life-those moments are one in a million. Only film can
ed and she gave 150 percent.
do that. It's like a goddess that I want to respect and amplify at all times.
On filmingthe sexscenes:
On creatingthe female gaze:
The film was shot in sequence. The first kiss on-screen was their first
When I first approached the sex scenes, I kept gravitating toward
kiss, and it progressed as they got to know each other. They got to
scenes that I had seen in film-we are surrounded by so much of the
discover each other's bodies very naturally. I knew we had to give it
male gaze that it's really hard to not have it affect you. If a woman is
everything, because if we held back at all we would lose the whole film.
arching her back, is that something that I find attractive, or is that just
We really had to give it our all. Our goal was to show intimacy from a
something that has been told to me in every advertisement? I had to
female perspective; to celebrate the female orgasm instead of shying
keep reminding myself: Forget about what you've seen before, look
away from it. The love, support, trust, encouragement was there. [Film-
deeper, challenge yourself to find something real. What really, actually,
ing] was a gentle, intimate, and quiet experience to allow them to be
truly turns you on? What do you feel when you want to be intimate
free. Even the strap-on sex-that was a huge discussion for us. This is
with someone? What is the female gaze? Just watch the film and you'll
what Dallas has, this is what she does, this is what they do. I think just
know. I think that we as women have this transparency. The veil be-
bringing that to the screen is a huge movement forward. I think that
tween us and the audience is very thin, and we allow the audience in.
was hidden before. It definitely wasn't a presence.
The truth behind it is what the audience can feel. It strikes a chord, and
On the theme and lookof the film:
tickets. Every woman on the crew gave all of themselves, and we really
I wanted the film to feel cinematic and to have gorgeous visual aes-
were fighting hard to find our voices and allow our voices to be.
it's something different from a stereotypical thing that's meant to sell
64
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
FEATUREstCOVER
ST
ERIKA
LINDER
- DALLAS
On how she got the part:
The producer contacted my agency and asked if I spoke English, and
that I realized what was going on. After I was done, this lady came up
if I knew how to act, basically. It came out of nowhere for me. I met
to me asking how things were going. She lived there and thought I
with the director, April Mullen, in L.A. and later that week I met with the
was a part of the roofing crew. I'm such a perfectionist, so I put all the
producer, Melissa Coghlan, and the screenwriter, Stephanie Fabrizi. I
shingles perfectly stacked. My mom's comment about the film after
went in for seven auditions, more or less. It was a draining and full-
she saw it was, "Dallas is cooler than you." She apologized after saying
on process. After my auditions, I didn't hear anything for, like, three
it, but to me it was a winner! I think girls fall for the Dallas [and Shane
months, and then they told me that I got the part. I had never taken an
Mccutcheon] type because they have an "I dare you" feel and look
acting class in my life, whatsoever, and the team even told me not to
about them. Most people always want what they can't have.
during the shooting of the film. They wanted the character to be raw
and real. I knew from the second I read the script that I could do her
On how she handledthose sex scenes:
justice. I went back home to Sweden after I booked it. I was living in
When I first read the script, I must say that I got a bit scared, thinking,
L.A. at the time and had for a couple of years, and I wanted to get away
"How the hell am I going to be able to pull this off?" I didn't know what
from Hollywood and "the business" during that time. It didn't fit the
it was going to look like on-screen, or how they were going to shoot
character and her story.
it, or who my co-star was going to be. All these questions came to
On playingDallas:
this was my first ever feature film. April [the director] was obviously
Dallasand I are basically nothing alike but for the fact that we look alike.
very respectful during these scenes. We had a closed set, which means
She's tortured and doesn't live her life authentically. She's driven by her
only Natalie, myself, April, the camera and sound. You're just so in the
my mind, but I wanted to take my career to a whole new level, and
lust rather than love. She only cares about herself and trying to main-
moment in those scenes anyway. You shut out. The blocking wasn't
tain this tough facade. I mean, it was kind of a running joke on set that
that specific, and we were pretty much free to do our thing, to make it
Dallas "got way more game" than I do. I'm like a puppy in comparison. It
authentic. It was all about making us feel comfortable with each other
wasn't an easy thing to do for me, regarding the explicit content and
and the environment around us.
the feelings I had to find within and bring out. And those pickup lines
were pretty funny to deliver, but I've never used any flirty pickup lines
On what the film hasachieved,and what'snext for her:
in my life. I've also never gone to a girl party before, until the Canadian
Literally everyone on set was female. I think more than 50 percent of
release of the film. This is a fact.
the crew were lesbian. It makes it a huge contribution to lesbian film-
Two weeks before shooting I went to a proper roofing site, just to get
making. This is obviously a very male-dominant industry, and the fact
the hang of it. If I was going to play a roofer, I wanted to know how to
that all these women came together to make this film was a powerful
lay a roof. I didn't want it to look fake. The real roofer guys would make
thing. I've got the acting bug now. I'm taking acting classes and learn-
me do the whole side of the roof while they were drinking beer in the
ing as much as I can about the craft. I just got an acting agency and a
sun. And it wasn't until after I was done with the whole side of the roof
manager, too. It's all coming together.
NATALIE
KRILL
- JASMINE
On howshe got the part:
On playinga straightgirl attracted to a lesbian:
Stephanie and Melissa saw me in a play in a tiny little hole-in-the-wall
I've never really been in a serious relationship with a woman, but at-
theater one night and asked me to come in and audition and I did the
traction is really fluid. In terms of longterm relationships I've always
chemistry read where I read with Erika and that was that. After that I
been with men. But I've definitely felt open-minded about attraction. I
was cast. I did read the script before I auditined so I knew fully what I
connected personally with the truth that Jasmine finds within herself-
was getting myself into.
trying to be what other people want her to be. My best friend came out
On filming thosesex scenes:
feeling that she needed to be with men, and how much she grew and
I have to give credit to the creative team; we felt like no one was watch-
blossomed into the person she really felt was right for her.
about five years ago, and I know the struggle that she went through,
ing so we were abe to open ourselves, be present and take risks in
the moment. I was pleasantly surprised about the genuine innocence,
On what the film hasachievedfor women:
which sounds crazy because it is very sexual and explicit, but I just
Everything about this project felt serendipitous to me. There's a differ-
thought there was an innocence to it. My mom was my date for the
ent energy to it, a different level of comfortability, kind of an intuition
Toronto International Film Festival, and after she saw it she just said,
that women share, and a level of support that you feel when you're
"Wow, that's a lot for a mother to see her daughter do." But she was very
surrounded by women. I grew up with a mom who told me I could do
proud of me. I'm from a very small town in the prairies in Canada, and
anything. I love what our team did. Instead of just talking about it, they
I said to her, "What are you going to say to everyone back home?" She
created the opportunity for an all-woman crew. I think as women we
said, 'Tm going to tell them to go see it."
have to keep pushing and doing it and making the work for us.•
BelowHer Mouth isavailableon VOD platforms:iTunes,AmazonVideo,GooglePlay,Vudu,MicrosoftMovies& TV,SonyPlaystation,and Vimeo.
66
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
7
LIVING LARGEIN A CAMPER
MAKE MINE MINNEAPOLIS
LOCAL EXPEDITIONS
•I
I
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
67
WHERE TO STAY
San Francisco's vibrant cultural diversity is reflected in its
accommodations. I bounced around for several days in different
neighborhoods, and each hotel offered something unique.
HOTEL ZEPHYR puts you a block from all the action on Fisherman's
Wharf and Pier 39. This is a stylish and relaxing property with a
contemporary nautical vibe-which is appropriate because many
rooms have balconies with views of the Golden Gate Bridge,
Alcatraz, Coit Tower, and the Bay Bridge. The rooms feature
funky and cheerful accent decor, and that vibe spills over into the
creative and communal "yard"-a huge outdoor courtyard and
recreational area for guests, featuring a trailer selling wine and
snacks, outdoor furniture and fire pits, and giant games to enjoy.
This Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards Winner is the
perfect base for accessing waterfront seafood dining and the
ferries and Bay Area cruises. (hotelzephyrsf.com)
HOW AND WHERE TO GET AROUND
In this gig economy, it's easy and affordable to get from A to
B via Lyft and avoid the up-hill-and-down-dale experience of
walking in San Francisco's dramatically undulating topography.
But walk you should, if you have the energy, because the
many lovely neighborhoods, architectural gems, gardens and
vegetation, and stunning street life are there for you to enjoy.
Stroll the full length of the Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf,
hike the Presidio to take in spectacular views, walk along Baker
Beach underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, visit Alamo Square
and its Painted Ladies-a colorful row of Victorian houses of
differing hues, go shopping in Union Square, wander around
North Beach, the city's Little Italy, with its famous Vesuvio's
68
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
THE PHOENIX is the place to fantasize that you are part of a rock
'n' roll band or its entourage. I kept expecting to see Johnny Depp
(or insert your favorite bad boy/ bad girl into this hallucination)
having a cigarette by the tropical courtyard's heated swimming
pool. This is a fun place, with quirky retro-vintage chic decor,
a hip and friendly staff, and a chill vibe-think creative, not
corporate. This is a place where I could see myself staying up
all night to see live bands and waking up with a tattoo that I
hopefully wouldn't regret! Another attraction to staying here is
the excellent Chambers restaurant right next door. This trendy
noshery is romantic, artistic, and a magnet for sexy millennials.
During my dinner there, my gaze was was torn between the
vintage records and books, my craft cocktail, my Fried Oyster
Bao Bun, and two gorgeous goth girls seated nearby-and
clearly on a date. Reservations a must, and best of all, it's only
a stumble across the courtyard to your digs at The Phoenix!
(thephoenixhotel.com)
restaurant and City Lights bookstore, or soak up nature in the
1,000 exotic acres of Golden Gate Park-the only place I know
where you can go from perusing American masterpieces at the
de Young Museum to watching wild buffalo roam!
One of the easiest and most pleasant ways to get your bearings
is to take a Big Bus Tour, a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing service
that is affordable, efficient, and fun, and will have you feeling like
a local in a couple of hours. You do not need a car to navigate the
city's 49 square miles. The very convenient and affordable Muni
system (buses, trains, cable cars, and heritage street cars) is the
best way to go; just download the 511SF Bay Transit Trip Planner
app before you set out.
HILTON SAN FRANCISCO UNION SQUARE may look like a big,
corporate, businessman's hotel, but this stunning property is at its
heart very gay. As the exclusive hotel sponsor for the Frameline
Film Festival, and a host hotel for Pride festivities, the Hilton also
has a dedicated LGBT ambassador and a mission to serve the LGBT
traveler with style and grace. With a Hilton property, you know
you're getting a certain standard-whether that's a perfectly mixed
martini in the gleaming lobby bar, or a perfect score on the HRC
Corporate Equality Index. The chic modern rooms, many with city
and bay views, provide an uncluttered environment for the urban
sophisticate. Head to the Cityscape viewing lounge on the 46th
floor for appetizers and cocktails and 180-degree views. An easy
choice for dinner is Urban Tavern, right next door and part of the
hotel. This modern gastropub and bar serves excellent small and
large plates, such as the signature Spiced Cucumbers or Braised
Spanish Octopus. (sanfranciscohilton.com)
THE INTERCONTINENTAL SAN FRANCISCO is a 32-story
landmark in the heart of the city's premium shopping center
and a short stroll to the Financial District, entertainment, and
dining. This luxury hotel is perfect for business and romance
(it's currently offering a "San Francisco Is for Lovers" package).
Many suites boast floor-to-ceiling windows and views that
sparkle, no matter what the weather. Onsite is the elegant,
Michelin-starred LUCE restaurant,a grappa bar(shouldyouever
tire of local wine), and there are many more casual restaurants
within easy distance. Splurge on access to the Club Lounge,
which serves breakfast and luscious snacks throughout the
day. The Spa offers couples' treatments, and there's an indoor
swimming pool and a fitness center, should you want to stay
put and focus on wellness. It's also a certified "green" building,
and I was pleased to end my trip here, on a very Californian
note of sustainability. (intercontinentalsanfrancisco.com)
WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK
If you love food-the freshest produce, beautifully prepared and
boldly presented-San Francisco is paradise. Here's a list of my
absolute favorite meals this trip.
For a casual brunch with booze and a polyamorous island vibe
(the menu has hearty Caribbean, Polynesian, and Pacific Rim
influences), tarry at Palm House. This relaxed and funky spot is
unbeatable for value and fun. Everything is good, but make sure you
try the signature Puerto Rican Smashed Avocado with pineappleglazed bacon and chips. The cocktails are earthy and exotic; the El
Crudo-tequila, fresh jalapeno, strawberry, and lime-gave me the
kick start I needed for a big day of sightseeing. (palmhousesf.com)
Just down the road is sister restaurant The Dorian, a good choice
for a sceney lunch, libation, or dinner. This hipster pub is big
on whisky, but also has fine wine and classic cocktails. Its
provisions are fresh, healthy, and Mediterranean inspiredexcept for its Royal Dorian burger, an orgy of beef, brioche,
foie gras, truffle cheese, fancy sauce, and little gem lettuce.
(doriansf.com)
A utilitarian lunch can be enjoyed at TAP 415, a great place
to stop and fuel up for a day of retail therapy or walking tours.
Located in the Westfield San Francisco Centre on Market
Street, and right next door to Nordstrom, this friendly eatery
serves excellent and hefty soups, salads, sandwiches, and
innovative beer bites such as the addictive Bavarian Pretzel
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
69
FEATURES/
TRAVEL
Nuggets served with cheese fondue. (tap415.com)
To sample the bounty of the sea, book a 100 percent
sustainable seafood feast at Fog Harbor Fish House on Pier 39.
This old-school and romantic waterfront restaurant is hard to
beat for location, views, service. Try its famous, award-winning
clam chowder served in a crusty sourdough bread bowl, a whole
roasted Dungeness crab or a spectacular shellfish platter. Fog
Harbor feels like San Francisco on the half shell (fogharbor.
com). San Francisco is known for its Asian flair and for elegant
innercity French-Vietnamese, think Le Colonial, near Union
Square. It's housed in a beautiful building on a hidden laneway,
and the atmospheric setting only enhances the exotic collection
of prix-fixe menus and cocktails. (lecolonialsf.com)
If you're a night owl, check out Bergerac with its Brooklynesque
vibe and queer appeal (on my visit, the excellent DJand talented
mixologist were queer women). Bergerac is part gentleman's
club, part opium den-with innovative craft cocktails such as
Mother of Dragons (Thai chili infused Mezcal!). Lounge around
on chesterfields, snack on Bon Mi Chicken Sliders and Truffle
Fries, then head upstairs to Audio, the newly renovated club
space, open until the wee small hours. (bergeracsf.com)
Take a trip back in time at John's Grill, which serves nostalgia
and noir nightly. Nothing about this place seems to have changed
70
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
in decades-from its iconic neon sign to its menu. A favorite
haunt of 1940s detective fiction writer Dashiell Hammett, the
signature cocktail, The Bloody Brigid, is named after the femme
fatale of Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. Tuck into Sam Spade's
Lamb Chops and be sure to view the copy of the Maltese Falcon
statuette and all the memorabilia, including photos of satisfied
diners Lauren Bacall to Hillary Clinton. San Francisco is a city
undergoing waves of gentrification. I hope John's Grill never
changes a thing. (johnsgrill.com)
With more restaurants per capita than any other American
city, you have choice. But save a night for fine dining at Twenty
Five Lusk. Located in a beautifully restored, post-and-beam
warehouse in the SOMA District, this is cutting-edge modern
American cuisine. There's nothing like Kumamoto Oysters with
cucumber juice, chervil, and hackleback caviar to signal date
night! Pork Belly Confit with satsuma, baby turnip, pickled pear,
and crispy dandelion greens or fresh Arctic Char with green
onion marmalade and black rice ...delicious! The vision of savvy
restaurant veteran Chad Bourdon and brilliant chef Matthew
Dolan, everything is impressive. Finish your meal with Lime
Posset kiwi with champagne granite and a glass of Moscato
d'Asti and you'll simply float out the door on a culinary Cloud 9
into the City of Love. (25Iusk.com)
We started this journey mostly because
we wanted a simpler life. Our busy,
consumeristic, urban lives forced us into
hours of commuting and the constant
struggle for more. So we gave away
everything we owned and now live in a
15-foot teardrop trailer. So far, there have
been bumps and bruises, but also a level of
happiness that we didn't find in our hectic
lives previously. Choosing to change our
entire lifestyle was terrifying. Turning
"Maybe one day ..." into "Let's do this!"
required overcoming the fears that kept
us in one place. For years we had talked
about living minimally or nomadically,
but we weren't sure we could actually do
it. Now we are learning and growing, and
discovering meaning in the little things.
WHAT LIVING TINY HAS TAUGHT US
We used to watch Tiny House Hunters
and other tiny house shows and think,
"There is no way we could ever do that."
Yet the tiny house movement fascinated
us. "What would it be like? Could we live in
such a small space? Could we get rid of all
our stuff?" We were curious but we didn't
realize that a few years later we would be
living in a space a quarter of the size of
those tiny homes. We feel like a weight has
been lifted from us. We no longer have to
dust 100 things or sweep a 1,300-squarefoot house. The very few things we do have
take minimal time to clean and manage.
This clears up both time and mental space
for other things. This shift has changed us,
potentially forever. We may never go back
to a large home. And certainly not back to
owning so much meaningless stuff. We
may just live tiny forever, but we'll see. As
with everything, we reserve the right to
change our minds.
LGBTQTRAVELIN THESETIMES
We understand that we are white and
may present as heterosexual, and we
deeply understand that not every place in
the U.S. is safe to be gay. We both come
from families and communities where it
was not okay to be gay, so being out and
openly lesbian represents a huge victory
for us. Being out in all aspects of our
lives-family, work, friends, and in publicis extremely important to us, and to our
mental health. Being out is a victorious
testament to how much rejection and
fear we had to walk through to get here.
But because of our experiences, we are
still sometimes nervous to hold hands
or be openly affectionate in small-town
America. Despite our fear of telling people
we are married we have been met with
kindness and greeted with open arms in
every place we've been. Even in uncertain
times, in a divided political landscape,
human kindness seems to transcend all
party lines. We are learning to not let fear
prevent us from doing the things we love.
HOW WE FUND FULL-TIMETRAVEL
Our old strategy was: work hard, save
money, spend that money on vacation.
But our ability to travel ran out when our
savings did. So when we were thinking
about traveling indefinitely, we had
two options: get a job in the place we
wanted to be or get a remote position
so we could travel to multiple locations.
Summer 2016, we both found odd-jobs
in Seward, Alaska, because Alaska was
on our bucket list. With its beautiful
harbor surrounded by massive fjords,
snow-peaked mountains, and a generous
community, it quickly became one of our
favorite towns in the U.S., and inspired
us to travel full-time. Nowadays, we are
digital nomads in order to fund our travels.
So if you are determined to travel, there is
a way to do it, if you are creative. Follow us
at happycamperwives.com.
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
71
PRIDE
..·············1
N TH E
CITY
Q~
lAK~~
I
Minneapolis
invites you
to celebrate.
BY JANELLE
BECK
Minneapolis is a unique combination
of rustic charm and urban elegance.
Glistening
lakes,
award-winning
restaurants, and a renowned music and
burlesque scene combine with progressive
politics and a vibrant LGBTQ community
to make a perfect place to celebrate
Pride. Since 2011, Pride Weekend (the
last weekend in June) has kicked off with
Grown and Sexy, a queer dance party and
show that takes place at First Avenue, the
club made famous in Prince's hit film Purple
Rain. The iconic nightclub is the perfect
backdrop to an evening celebrating the
queer community. Sweetpea, aka Tawnya
Konobeck, and DJ Shannon Blowtorch are
basically household names in Minneapolis.
Sweetpea has dazzled audiences all over
the country with her signature sultry
charm and is now omnipresent on the
72
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
local burlesque scene. Blowtorch is the
busiest DJ in town.
Sweetpea and Blowtorch know what
it takes to throw a great party. "We are
thrilled to be able to showcase local
fabulous queer performance-art groups,
and top it all off with a great headliner,
mainly national burlesque acts and RuPaul
drag superstars," says Sweetpea.
Having been on the national burlesque
scene for over a decade, Sweetpea
shares how she got her start in 2004.
"I was just coming out. I had zero idea
what burlesque was, other than a place
with beautiful women wearing vintage
lingerie. I was changed immediately,
within the first few moments of watching
my first performance. Five months after
that show, I was onstage for the first time.
Now, burlesque is how I make my living,
and I have the honor of even being a
multiple title holder in the Burlesque Hall
of Fame," she says.
With the political climate being so
divisive, especially for members of
minority communities, the convergence
of art, activism, and Pride are a focus
this year in particular. "Pride is always an
inspiring change agent for equality across
the board. And with more people than ever
finally shifting from being allies to activists,
I think we will claim the opportunity to
unite our queer and straight, cis and trans
communities," Sweetpea says. "Also, with
so much fighting to do for the next four
years of this horrendous administration,
we need joyful breaks in safe spaces when
we can get them. We need parties. And no
one throws parties like the LGBTQsdo."
The festival itself (formally known as
FEATURES/
Twin Cities Pride, named for the two
adjacent cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul)
takes place in Loring Park, a large green
space nestled between the Uptown and
Downtown neighborhoods in Minneapolis.
Festival-goers can wander the aisles of
booths, vendors, art displays, and LGTBQ
community resource tents. There are a
variety of stages featuring drag shows,
comedians, and musicians.
On Sunday, the Ashley Rukes GLBT
Parade makes its way down Hennepin
Avenue. The parade honors the late
director of Twin Cities Pride, who was
largely responsible for growing the festival
from a small get-together to the largescale production it is today, where over
400,000 people flock to the Twin Cities
to participate in the third-largest Pride
celebration in the country.
For a break from the heat, try one of
the myriad dining options the city has to
offer. Ranging in taste (and budget) from
the upscale Burch Restaurant, to hipster
haven The Lowry, to the dive bar Liquor
Lyle's, there are literally dozens of choices
just blocks from the center of the action.
Also, a variety of hotels just a short walk,
cab-, or bus-ride away from the action
offer Pride Weekend discounts. The Hilton
Garden Inn and more upscale Millennium
Minneapolis are two of many options.
To get a true taste of all that Minneapolis
has to offer, finish your Pride Weekend with
a canoe, kayak, or paddleboard tour of the
city's lakes (there are 13). Visit Wheel Fun
Rentals at Lake Calhoun (3000 Calhoun
Parkway East) to get your gear, then hit the
water for hours of relaxing fun exploring
the waterways that connect Lake of the
Isles, Cedar Lake, and Lake Calhoun.
Between busting a move at First Avenue
for Grown and Sexy, joining the thousands
of revelers in the LGBTQ community for
the Pride Festival and Parade, dining at
quintessential local haunts, and cooling
off in one of the city's lakes, Minneapolis
can provide a weekend of community and
relaxation sure to delight even the most
experienced traveler. (tcpride.org) •
TRAVEL
MARKtTP
BUYERS
REPRESENTATION
BY
THENATION'S
TOP
LGBTQ
REALTORS.
JUN/JUL
2017
CURVE
73
Lesbian business
owner Nancy
Blaine turns
tourists -in"to
travelers.
Nancy Blaine, 56, has called Park Slope,
Brooklyn home since 2001, prior to which
she lived in Manhattan for 18 years.
"I finally feel qualified to call myself
a New Yorker," says the self-described
"lesbian since birth." She's well acquainted
with the tendency of tourists to visit iconic
metropolises, but lack the knowledge of
how to experience a city like a local.
During her own business travels she
often wondered where
the lesbian
locals would hang out. "I don't really
like hanging out in bars. I wanted truly
local experiences. As a traveler-gay or
74
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
straight-we should be as interested in the
real experiences a place offers as we are in
the typical tourist experiences."
So Blaine founded Local Expeditions, a
sharing economy tour company for locals
with a passion for showing out-of-towners
their cities, and for tourists who want to see
a destination through the eyes of a local.
"The distinct difference between Local
Expeditions and other tour companies is
that our tours really are designed by the
individuals who lead them," says Blaine.
"Locals have free reign over what they
choose to show. It creates really exciting
and passionate tours that highlight hidden
treasures over iconic sights. Also, the
guide gets 80 percent of the proceeds, 15
percent goes back to Local Expeditions to
keep the business running, and 5 percent
goes to a non-profit of the guide's choice."
A Local Expeditions tour is also walletfriendly. As a lesbian, Blaine is aware that
she needs to meet the needs of budgetconscious women. "Affordable pricing is
important to me. I had to really think about
it because since it's a shared economy
business model, I also had to be sure that
guides made a reasonable amount of
money for their work. I landed at $40 for a
2-3 hour walking tour."
She recently expanded the price model
to allow guides to add food and drink
options to some tours, while keeping
prices reasonable.
If you're planning on traveling to NYC
this Pride, consider taking one of Blaine's
tours. Yes, you should see Times Square,
the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State
Building. "But after you're done with all of
that, check out the neighborhoods," she
says. "That's where the magic happens.
The small businesses, cafes, restaurants
and local sights."
Local Expeditions offers tours such as
Secrets of Central Park, with the charity
portion going to Planned Parenthood.
Blaine is planning East and West Village
tours titled This Used To Be Gay, which she
developed with friend Moe Angelos, from
the performance group the Five Lesbian
Brothers. The title is tongue-in-cheek but
speaks to a truth.
"The neighborhoods are still kind of
LGBTQ, but they have become quite
'status quo' in the past 15 years or so. I left
the West Village in 2001 because all my
people had migrated to Brooklyn. That
said, the LGBTQ history in the Village is
fantastic and there is so much to show. We
are really excited about it."
Blaine is also working with an outdoor
enthusiast and certified wilderness expert
to conduct weekend trips in late summer
and fall to the foothills of the White
Mountains, N.H., spending two nights in a
historic farmhouse and one day and night
hiking and camping.
And if you're energetic, outgoing, and
fancy yourself as a guide in your own city,
sign up at local-expeditions.com.•
URES/
TRAVEL
READERSNAPOF THE MONTH
I
HANDBOOK
OF
LGBT TOURISM
AND HOSPITALITY
c~
TRAVELTRENDS
NEW
LGBT
TRAVEL
HANDBOOK
The Handbook of LGBT Tourism and Hospitality is an easyto-read, practical, and timely guidebook aimed at hospitality
industry professionals to help them be sensitive and authentic
when it comes to serving LGBT travelers. The book is written by
Jeff Guaracino and Ed Salvato, who traveled to six continents
and worked with almost a hundred expert industry consultants
and authorities to help make this book the most inclusive and
comprehensive guide of its kind. Weighing in on behalf of lesbian
travelers is Merryn Johns, Curve's editor-in-chief, who says,
"The more information out there, the less discrimination we will
experience while traveling. The current political climate makes
travel more challenging than usual, so keep a copy of this book
to remind you of your wishes and your rights."
I
>
C/J
I
Elizabeth Forman is having plenty
of queer adventures in Shanghai.
The American graduate student
moved to the Chinese city
to study politics, but she
wasted no time in hopping
on the Chinese dating site,
Tantan. "I practiced my
Chinese with new matches,
met other foreign queer people, and even made a couple of
friends. Now I have a wonderful
girlfriend, and although the two of
us literally stopped traffic by kissing on the sidewalk, no one has
ever been openly homophobic."
C/J
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,#f/1,,,,,,,,,,,,_,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,_,,,,NN'''''''"''''''"''"'''"'''''''"'''''''''''
i
:;;;;tQ{IESTlON: ADWCE
FORCHEAP
TRAVEL?
TRAVEL TRIVIA
"I love all the travel articles
in Curve but I'm a young
Millennial with student
loans and won't be able
to afford those sort of
trips for a few years.
What do you recommend
for a romantic getaway
without breaking the bank?
We like nice things but can't
afford fancy hotels ..."
Emily
W.,Brooklyn
Emaileditor@curvemag.comwith
tips and tricks or fave destinations.
76
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
Dear Emily,
You can still travel on a budget
and enjoy a nice environment.
No need to wait until your
retirement before being bitten by
the travel bug! I recommend that
you check out airbnb or VRBO
for vacation rentals in exotic but
safe locations where you can
pool resources with friends who
are also in couples, and split the
costs. Another option is to get
into international housesitting,
which means you enjoy
someone else's fabulous home
in exchange for just minding it.
Visitglobetrottergirls.com
formoreinfo.
DID
YOU
KNOW
THAT...
...
Aloha,
Lesbian
Travelers!
70% surveyed in a recent
study by the Hawaii Tourism
Authority said that Hawai'i
was a top LGBT-friendly destination,
especially among lesbian couples.
9
Wedding or honeymoon anyone?
Stockholm,
Sweden
...aims to be the smartest and most
connected city in the world.
The strategy involves a
unique focus on economic,
ecological, and social sustainability
through innovative digital services,
democracy, transparency and
connectivity. (stockholm.se/
smartcity)
Q
Key West Pride
June?-11,2017
keywestpride.org
TheFlorida
Keys
With our live-and-let-live philosophy and official One Human
Family point of view, Key West takes The Florida Keys'
come-as-you-are
attitude to a whole new place. And
with annual events like Key West Pride, you can
celebrate your true colors 365 days a year.
fla-keys.com/gaykeywest
305.294.4603
Key\\kst
Close To Perfect - Far From Normal
~~-~
Big Pine Key & The Lower Keys
TLOOK/
CROSSWORD
THE
L-OUIZ
34
Test your
lesbian knowledge
with our queer crossword.
36
BY MYLES MELLOR
DOWN
ACROSS
1.
Expressions of Pride
5.
Nickname of Eleanor
Roosevelt's girlfriend
9.
down
"
"What kind of fool
lyric, 2 words
12. Guess
4.
See 21 across
6.
Stonewall was one
33.
Strange
7.
Mexican painter who
35.
Symbol for nicke
32. Famous NYC riots to
Fields
37. Lover of Virginia
had affair with Georgia
O'Keeffe
8.
Docudrama miniseries
about LGBT rights, 3
words
10. 5th month in French
17. Signal on stage
22. Cuddle
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
That woman, her
Date
21. Key date in lesbian
78
32.
29.
36. Lover of Sarah Jewett,
history, goes with 4
Big coffee holder
Godown
19. Oil
C)
31.
3.
20. Amaze
:5
Symbol of love
Holds dear
35. Concord's state
18. Time for action!
28.
25.
14.
16. Movie snack
Clinch, with "up"
LGBTsymbol of Pride
34. Medical pro
15. Freedom
Sexy
27.
2.
13. Fled
the knot
26.
... and justice for_
protest anti-LGBT
discrimination
uct, for short
Gems of the ocean
24.
30. Fan
11. Digital camera prod-
1.
canvas
23. Gay symbol and org
TLOOKtSTARS
HotandHeavy
June is busting out all over as Venus moves into rowdy
Taurus and Mars dips into an emotional Cancer in July.
BY CHARLENE LICHTENSTEIN
ARIES
(MARCH
21-APRIL
20)
Aries ramp up their spending
on trinkets designed to please.
Anyone we know? Try to keep
your eye on the bottom line
as these emotional purchases
may dissolve like sugar in
your coffee. Focus instead on
CHARLIZE THERON
was born on August 7,1975.
making your nest into a love
nest by sprucing it up with
% romantic touches and juicing it
TAURUS
1/,
(APRIL
21-MAY
21) 1/,
1/, up with romantic touching.
Amazon Bulls are money 1/,
1/,
managers of the zodiac. 1/, TAURUS
(APRIL
21-MAY
21)
1/,
If you have some funds to 1/, Don't be surprised if your
invest, consult this savvy 1/,
1/, popularity hits a high note this
sapphic woman. She will not 1/, summer, Taurus. You'll find
1/,
put your life savings in crazy 1/, yourself the center of all of
1/,
high risk money schemes. 1/, the attention. Use this time to
Rather, she will carefully 1/,
1/, launch your pet projects. You
place your nest egg in a 1/,
1/, might have the opportunity
conservative money market 1/,
1/, to meet a mover and a shaker
or annuity. It may not triple in 1/,
who can make things happen
a year, but you are practically 1/,
1/, for you. So lie back and let her
1/,
guaranteed to feast on fluffy
1/, move and shake you.
omelettes in your old age. 1/,
1/,
1/,
(MAY
22-JUNE
21)
1/, GEMINI
1/,
1/, You may uncover a sweet
GEMINI
(MAY
22-JUNE
21) 1/,
1/, secret this summer, whether it
Lesbian Twins are the earn 1/,
1/, is a guardian angel, an adoring
it and burn it types when it 1/, admirer or the key to a long
1/,
comes to finances. She is 1/, buried mystery. Whatever it
1/,
far more interested in the 1/, is, use it to enrich yourself
excitement of money and 1/,
1/, emotionally, physically or
what it can buy rather than 1/, financially. If you are still trying
1/,
its long term power and ease. 1/, to figure out the best way to
1/,
She is also rather generous 1/, declare your love, give it a
with her possessions. For 1/,
1/, crazy try now.
these reasons she is apt 1/,
1/,
to squander her payload 1/,
UUNE
22-JULY
23)
1/, CANCER
as fast as she can grab it. 1/,
Girlfriends
know
just
what to
Save a little for a rainy day? 1/,
1/, do to make you feel important.
Fuggetaboutit, sister! 1/,
1/, So seek out the company of
1/,
1/, gal pals this summer. Don't
1/,
..................................................
1/, let a weekend go by without
1/,
Charlene
Lichtenstein
is theauthor 1/, something fun to do with the
1/,
of HerScopes:
AGuide
toAstrology1/, group. Expand your sphere
1/,
ForLesbians
(Simon& Schuster) 1/, of influence by joining new
nowavailable
asanebook. 1/,
1/, organizations. Have an interest
(tinyurl.com/HerScopes)
~ to explore? Explore away!
80
CURVE
JUN/JUL
2017
LEO
(JULY
24-AUG
23)
SAGITTARIUS
(NOV
23-DEC
22)
Bosses like your style at work.
Is it time to make your big
corporate move up the food
chain? Maybe. But exert finesse
in any negotiation, Lioness.
As the summer rolls on, you
can benefit more from careful
behind-the-scenes politicking
designed to keep your motives
hidden while you strengthen
your position. Heh, heh,
While your heart yearns to
travel or relax, this summer
may prove to be more workactive and therefore more
productive. Work projects will
start to pile up. But it won't
be all toil and trouble. In fact,
Sagittarians with a long list of
old "to-dos" can check quite
a few items off forever. Now
doesn't that feel great?
VIRGO
(AUG
24-SEPT
23)
CAPRICORN
(DEC
23-JAN
20)
Summer means travel! So
pack your bags, Virgo, and
head to the outer limits of fun
and adventure. It will be even
more thrilling to travel with
a particular gal pal but if she
cannot go, there are plenty
of opportunities to gather a
troupe on the road. Will you
get lost? Only if you're lucky.
Discover ways to have fun
this summer, Capricorn. Life
is more than a team building
corporate retreat. Find any
excuse to take some time off
and get into mischief with a
certain Ms. Be creative in your
romantic plans and attend as
many parties as possible. You
can become the belle of the
ball. Ring a few other belles!
LIBRA
(SEPT
24-0CT
23)
Sexy Libras seem to sizzle with
the rising temperatures this
summer. Your sensual appetite
knows no bounds and you are
ready for anything and anyone,
anywhere and anyhow. But try
to be a bit discerning while
you troll the delicious array
of sweets. You don't want to
develop any cavities, do you?
Or maybe you do ...
AQUARIUS
UAN
21-FEB
19)
SCORPIO
(OCT
24-NOV
22)
PISCES
(FEB
20-MARCH
20)
Spend summer concentrating
on strengthening a certain
relationship, Scorpio. You need
to be present and focused on
her needs. You may have been
too distracted to notice that
there is relationship drift. So
find ways to spoil her. She may
return the favor! Single? Plug
into your social circuit and see
who lights up.
Guppies with something to
say say it loud and proud
this summer. You have been
mulling your next step and it
is time to make your move.
Gather up your best ideas
and prepare to share them
cyberly. You might even gain
a following. Who knows where
all this oratory action can lead?
Kiss and do tell!
Aqueerians may become
homebodies this summer.
You enjoy hanging around
the house more than usual.
Plan some festive gettogethers with some bosom
buddies. There may be home
improvement projects that you
can get underway. How many
helping hands will you need?
U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
CDC.gov/tips
@LEXUS
THELEXUSGSF
With the roar of a race-inspired,
467-horsepower
1
VS engine to get your heart racing, and
stopping force of six-piston Brembo® front brakes7 the
GS F doesn't
~1BEST
'.'!".~.::PLACESTOWORK
just court power, it inspires it.
2017~
Lexus.com/GSF I #LexusGSF
Options shown.1. Ratings achieved using the required premium unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 91 or higher. If premium fuel is not used, performance will decrease. 2. High-performance
require additional maintenance and be louder than conventional brakes, depending on driving conditions. See the Warranty and Services Guide for more information. ©2017 Lexus.
brakes may
See all items with this value
