Issue 377
Queer as Folks
Laura Smidzik Leaving Project 515 Project 515 Executive Director Laura Smidzik has decided to step down from her position at the end of 2009 to pursue a career in ministry. She will begin studying at United Theological Seminary in January. She was tapped in 2005 to provide leadership and oversight to the then-new organization, which…
…But I Know What I Like
Checking out news briefs recently, I found the story of Ceara Sturgis, an openly gay honors high school student in Wesson, Mississippi, just outside Jackson. She made the news when she requested, but was not allowed, to wear a tuxedo for her graduation photo. Only boys are permitted to wear tuxedos. Now, the American Civil…
Handmade Gift Ideas: Personalizing for That Special Someone
Sometime in the late 1970s, my mother’s friend, Wendy, gifted her a simple, handmade necklace. The leather strap is a bit worn, a bead is missing, and the single feather has seen better days in flight. But three decades later, I proudly am wearing the unique piece of jewelry on a weekly basis. Each time…
Big Gay News
National News US Supreme Court Asked To Hear Domestic Partner Case The US Supreme Court has been asked to rule on whether the people who signed a petition to put Washington state’s everything-but-marriage law to voters this fall should have their names made public, according to the Associated Press. Supporters of the measure want voters…
Guthrie Artistic Director Discusses Faith Healer and GLBT Inclusion: An Interview with Joe Dowling
Guthrie Theater Artistic Director Joe Dowling has won the admiration of the GLBT community for his no-nonsense inclusion of GLBT subject matter in programming, overall inclusion of local artists of various sexual orientations and backgrounds, and broad variety of plays of stellar quality. This fall, he is making his American debut as actor after a…
On the Townsend
Judy Garland: Born in a Trunk / Through Nov. 14 / Camp Bar Cabaret Theater, 490 N. Robert St., St. Paul / (651) 290-2290 / www.actorsmn.org If Greta Grosch can write a sequel to Church Basement Ladies reminiscent of Chekhov, you know damned well she can make magic with Judy Garland. The acclaimed Alicia Renee…
The Page Boy
Animal Magnetism: My Life with Creatures Great and Small Rita Mae Brown Ballantine Books $25 Readers of Brown’s Sister Jane and Sneaky Pie Brown mysteries know her passion for animals—great and small. Along with country mayhem, her books are filled with her friends and cohorts: horses, hounds, cats, Corgis, possums, owls, and serpents. In this…
Total Transformation: New Brass Rail Lounge Wows GLBT Community
As if the complete remodeling of the Gay 90’s megabar currently under way weren’t a daunting enough project for owner Peter Hafiz, he also recently completed a total transformation of its nearby smaller sibling that he acquired earlier this year. On September 25, he unveiled the awesome new Brass Rail Lounge to the oohs and…
You Are Under My Power… Erotic Hypnosis and BDSM
Focus your attention on the swinging pocket watch. You are getting very sleepy…you are under my power…you will quack like a duck…. That’s what most people think when they hear the word “hypnosis.” But some folks in the leather/BDSM/fetish community are discovering different, and more interesting, uses for hypnosis and trance.
