Metro Weekly - 04-02-15 - Bishop Gene Robinson

8/9/2019 Metro Weekly - 04-02-15 - Bishop Gene Robinson

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFRandy Shulman

ART DIRECTORTodd Franson

POLITICAL EDITORJustin Snow

NEWS & BUSINESS EDITORJohn Riley

ASSISTANT EDITORRhuaridh Marr

CONTRIBUTING EDITORDoug Rule

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERSWard Morrison, Julian Vankim

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORScott G. Brooks

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSChristian Gerard, Troy Petenbrink,

Kate Wingeld

WEBMASTERDavid Uy

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTJulian Vankim

SALES & MARKETING

PUBLISHERRandy Shulman

BRAND STRATEGY & MARKETINGChristopher Cunetto

Cunetto Creative

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212-242-6863

DISTRIBUTION MANAGERDennis Havrilla

PATRON SAINTDouglas Theuner

COVER PHOTOGRAPHYTodd Franson

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All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not bereproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes noresponsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.Metro Weekly is supported by many ne advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claimsmade by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles oradvertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation ofsuch person or organization.

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APRIL 2, 2015Volume 21 / Issue 47

NEWS 6 R ELIGIOUS F IRESTORMby Justin Snow

10 M ARYLAN M EASURES M ARCH F ORWARDby John Riley

SCENE 11 S HEROES OF THE M OVEMENT photography by Ward Morrison

12 C OMMUNITY C ALENDAR

SCENE 16 CAGLCC’ S M EGA N ETWORKING photography by Ward Morrison

FEATURE 18 B ISHOP G ENE R OBINSON by Justin Snow

OUT ON THE TOWN 24 F REEDOMS S ONGS AT F ORD ’S by Doug Rule

26 T AYLOR M AC by Doug Rule

28 L YNDA CARTER

by Randy Shulman

30 L AUGH by Doug Rule

FOOD 31 E ASTER B RUNCH S POTS by Troy Petenbrink

STAGE 34 M AN OF L A M ANCHA by Kate Wingeld

PETS 36 P ET P EEPS by John Riley

NIGHTLIFE 39 M R . DC E AGLE C ONTEST photography by Ward Morrison

CLUBLIFE 45 E ASTER B ONNET C ONTESTS by Doug Rule

46 L AST W ORD


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Religious FirestormThe politics of Indiana’s religious freedom law

by Justin Snow

M IKE PENCE LOOKEDlike a man with a lot onhis mind.Standing at a podiumin the Indiana State Library on Tuesday,Pence shufed his notes for several sec-onds before looking up at the throngs ofcameras and reporters gathered to hearwhat the Republican governor had to sayabout a new law bearing his signature

O F F I C I A L H O U S E R E P U B L I C A N C O N F E R E N C E P H O T O G R A P H

that is facing harsh criticism from corpo-rate America to the White House.

“It’s been a tough week here in theHoosier State,” Pence said, his heavybreathing audible to those watching on tele-vision. “But we’re going to move forward.”

Less than one week earlier, on March26, Pence signed the Religious FreedomRestoration Act, sparking backlash thathas only intensied in recent days. Thebill, advocates argue, would open thedoor to discrimination and allow busi-ness owners to refuse services to LGBT

people by citing their religious beliefs.Soon after Pence signed the bill

behind closed doors, criticism began topour in. Former Secretary of State HillaryClinton took to Twitter, stating it was“sad” such legislation could become lawin America today and that people shouldnot be discriminated against because ofwho they love. White House press sec-retary Josh Earnest said the signing ofthe bill “doesn’t seem like it’s a step inthe direction of equality and justice andliberty for all Americans.” Connecticut,

L G B TNews Now online at MetroWeekly.comMayor Bowser Bans Government Travel to IndianaAttorneys chosen to argue for marriage equality before Supreme Court

Pence


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New York and D.C. all banned nonessential state-funded travelto Indiana. Parks and Recreation star Nick Offerman canceled anupcoming comedy show over the law and said all proceeds froma Wednesday show at Indiana University would be donated tothe Human Rights Campaign. And perhaps most compelling ofall, corporate America exed its muscles, with CEOs from Appleto Yelp and Angie’s List blasting the bill as discriminatory andthreatening to take their business elsewhere.

“Was I expecting this kind of backlash? Heavens, no!” Pencesaid Tuesday. But he also insisted the law does not permit dis-crimination, all while urging state lawmakers to deliver to himthis week a legislative “x” that would make clear the law doesnot permit discrimination against LGBT people. “This law hasbeen smeared,” he said, blaming a perception problem that hastaken hold across the country thanks to mischaracterizations byopponents and “sloppy reporting” by the national press that hehas found “deeply offensive.”

“I don’t believe for a minute that it was the intention of thegeneral assembly to create a right to discriminate and it certain-ly wasn’t my intent,” Pence said. “I don’t support discriminationagainst gays or lesbians or anyone else. I abhor discrimination.”

But while Pence vowed to x a bill that he also does not seem

to think needs xing were it not for national outcry, a numberof Republicans with their eyes on the White House appeared tohave rallied around Pence a bit too early. One day prior, formerFlorida Gov. Jeb Bush blamed outrage on a misunderstandingof the law. “If they actually got briefed on the law they wouldn’tbe blasting this law. I think Governor Pence has done the rightthing,” Bush told radio host Hugh Hewitt.

“We’re going to need this,” Bush continued. “This is really an

important value for our country to, in a diverse country, whereyou can respect and be tolerant of people’s lifestyles, but allowfor people of faith to be able to exercise theirs.”

Other likely candidates for the Republican presidentialnomination, including Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee,Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal, all voiced theirsupport for the Indiana law before Pence’s Tuesday press con-ference. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a potentialcandidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, calledGOP support of the Indiana law “shameful” and the DemocraticNational Committee blasted Republicans for being stuck in thepast and wanting to move the country backwards — an indica-tion that the debate over religious liberty and LGBT rights couldeasily spill into the 2016 presidential race.

Indiana’s religious freedom law is broader than those onthe books in other states. Unlike the federal Religious FreedomRestoration Act signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, whichPence cited numerous times during his press conference, theIndiana law is explicit in allowing individuals to cite the statelaw in lawsuits where the government is not party to thecase. On Tuesday, even White House press secretary JoshEarnest accused Pence of trying to “falsely suggest” the Indiana

law and federal law are the same. “That is not true,” Earnest said.Moreover, Indiana has no statewide LGBT nondiscrimina-

tion protections. Many LGBT-rights advocates have insisted theonly viable x to the bill, other than full repeal, is for Indiana toadopt nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people, and a billthat would do just that has been introduced.

Asked if he would sign into law such protections if theyreached his desk, Pence demurred. While repeating that heabhors discrimination, Pence said he has never supportednondiscrimination protections for LGBT people and that it isnot on his agenda. “That’s a separate question that ought to beconsidered separate from this idea of religious liberty,” Pencesaid. (When Pence ran for Congress in 2000 his campaign

website stated Congress should “oppose any effort to recognizehomosexual’s as a ‘discreet and insular minority’ entitled to theprotection of anti-discrimination laws similar to those extendedto women and ethnic minorities.”)

Although Pence would not say Tuesday whether the new lawwould allow business owners who provide services to weddings,such as orists, bakers and photographers, to refuse service tosame-sex couples on the basis of their religious beliefs, it is clearwhere his supporters stand. “RFRAs are not intended to norhave they ever been used to deny anyone non-religious goods orservices,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family ResearchCouncil, in a statement. “We support such a clarication makingclear RFRA does not impact non-religious goods or services.”

With the U.S. Supreme Court set to rule on nationwide mar-riage equality later this year, the onslaught of religious freedombills seeking to erode gains made by LGBT people toward fullequality are expected to continue. Despite the restorm takingplace in Indiana, other states are moving forward with identicallegislation. Hours after Pence concluded his press conferenceon amending Indiana’s law, Arkansas lawmakers gave nalapproval to a religious freedom bill, which Republican Gov. AsaHutchinson plans to sign.

Shortly after lawmakers sent the bill to Hutchinson’s desk,Walmart CEO Doug McMillon called on Hutchinson to vetothe bill, stating it “threatens to undermine the spirit of inclusionpresent throughout the state of Arkansas.”

The new frontier in the ght for LGBT equality appears to

have arrived. lAPRIL 2, 2015 METROWEEKLY.COM


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have trouble conceiving, and deserve thesame benets. Policyholders all pay thesame premiums, and they deserve equaltreatment.”

Kagan also added that, should theHouse and Senate bills pass the oppositechambers as expected, she is drafting aletter to Republican Gov. Larry Hogan

and his staff to make sure they under-stand the policy implications of the bill,and the fact that it is narrowly craftedand tailored to address and clarify whatthe responsibilities of insurance compa-nies are when it comes to covering infer-tility treatments.

“It seems to me that this governor hasexpressed his intent to be open-minded,”Kagan said. “It is my hope and expecta-tion that he will sign the bill.”

The second pair of bills, sponsored byDel. David Moon (D-Montgomery Co.)

and Susan Lee (D-Montgomery Co.),would, if passed, allow transgender indi-viduals to obtain new, unmarked andunamended birth certicates reectingtheir correct gender. In order to quali-fy, applicants for a new birth certicatereecting their gender and, in some cases,new name, must submit written prooffrom a medical practitioner attesting tothe fact that the person has undergonemedically appropriate treatment for gen-der dysphoria. The bill does not requirethat the individual undergo surgery,which can be cost prohibitive, particu-larly for lower-income residents. Moon’sbill passed the House, 85-50, with fourRepublicans voting in favor. Lee’s ver-sion of the bill passed the Senate 31-16,with no Republicans voting in favor.

Because the bills are identical inscope, both are expected to pass in bothhouses by similar margins. It will thenbe up to Hogan to decide whether to signthe bills into law or veto them, forcingthe General Assembly to have to over-ride his veto. An override would requirethree-fths of members of both cham-

by John Riley

T HE MARYLAND HOUSEof Delegates and Senate lastweek successfully passed, bylarge margins, their own ver-sions of two bills containing pro-equality

provisions that will benet members ofthe Free State’s LGBT community.

All four bills — two from the Houseand two from the Senate — will now“cross over” into the opposite chamber,where they will again be considered andvoted upon. If passed, both bills willhead to Gov. Larry Hogan for his signa-ture into law.

The rst pair of bills, sponsored bySen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery Co.)and Terri Hill (D-Baltimore, Howardcounties), require insurance companies

to provide coverage for infertility treat-ments, including in vitro fertilization.Both measures also contain provisionsthat cover same-sex couples seeking tobecome pregnant, as well as heterosexualcouples. Both bills passed along largelypartisan lines, with support from mostlyDemocrats.

In an interview with Metro Weekly ,Kagan noted that she and her allies col-laborated with insurance companiesin drafting the proposed law, as theinsurance companies realized that theycould face potentially costly litigationdefending themselves against charges ofdiscrimination based on sexual orienta-tion and gender. There is already onecase pending, and more could result ifthe issue was not sufciently resolved,meaning it was in companies’ best scalinterests to seek clarication as to whattreatments they are required to cover.

“I am committed to equal protectionand equal opportunity,” Kagan said ofher reasons for sponsoring the bill. “Ourstate has recognized that marriage canbe between two lesbians, who can also

bers, or 29 votes in the Senate and 85 inthe House.

A spokeswoman for Hogan’s ofcesaid that the governor is reviewing bothbills, but has not yet taken a position oneither.

Reecting on the victory of the birthcerticate in the House, Moon, a long-time progressive activist known as theforce behind the Maryland Juice blog,expressed condence that he and his leg-islative allies would prevail, noting thatthe political stigma once associated withLGBT issues appears to be, in his words,“rapidly dissipating.”

“It is an overwhelming statement thatthe transgender and intersex birth cer-ticate legislation passed by veto-proofmargins in both the House and Senate,”Moon said. “Though Maryland has prov-en itself to be forward thinking on civilrights, we weren’t sure how this effort

would be received. Remember that thisyear nearly 40 percent of our Housemembers are freshman lawmakers whohad never taken a vote on transgenderissues, let alone any others. The votewas also bipartisan, as a few GOP Housemembers joined a supermajority ofDemocrats — including some represent-ing swing districts — in backing this bill.”

Passage of the birth certicate billwould bring Maryland in line with juris-dictions like California, Vermont, New York City and the District of Columbia,

all of which have Democratic execu-tives. Similar measures have also beenproposed in Connecticut, Hawaii andColorado, although any pro-transgenderlegislation is likely to die in Colorado dueto the makeup of the state senate, whichis controlled by Republicans. An identi-cal bill to Moon’s passed in New Jersey,but was vetoed by Republican Gov.Chris Christie. Even so, Moon expressedhope that Hogan would buck his partyand do the right thing by transgenderMarylanders.

“I’m optimistic that Governor Hoganwill sign this bill into law,” Moon said ina statement. “As you may recall, when hetook ofce in January, Hogan repealedsome of outgoing Governor O’Malley’sexecutive orders but quickly reinstat-ed one that included gender identity inMedicaid nondiscrimination provisions.Moreover, since this legislation passedwith veto-proof margins, overturning thelegislature’s will on these issues wouldserve no purpose other than to play poli-tics with medical privacy and employ-ment discrimination.” l

APRIL 2, 2015 METROWEEKLY.COM

Maryland MeasuresMarch Forward

Insurance coverage for fertility treatments and transgender birth certicate bills pass

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11SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SC

scene

scan this tagwith your

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pics online!

Sheroes of theMovement at HRCThursday, March 19

P HOTOGRAPHY BY W ARD M ORRISON


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SATURDAY, APRIL 4ADVENTURINGoutdoors group hikes 7 miles overgently rolling terrain in Greenbelt Park, MD. Bring beverages, lunch and a few dollars for fees. Carpoolat 10 a.m. from the College Park Metro. For moreinfo, David, 240-938-0375. adventuring.org.

BURGUNDY CRESCENT, a gay volunteer orga-nization, volunteers today for Food & Friends andLost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation at Falls ChurchPetSmart. To participate, burgundycrescent.org.

LETS KICK ASS (AIDS SURVIVOR SYNDROMEDC is starting a local movement to address theneeds of HIV long-term survivors in the D.C. area.The group meets at The DC Center. 11 a.m.-12 p.m.2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org or letskickass.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTHoffersfree HIV testing, 9-5 p.m., and HIV services (byappointment). 202-291-4707 or andromedatranscul-turalhealth.org.

BET MISHPACHAH, founded by members of theLGBT community, holds Saturday morning Shabbatservices, 10 a.m., followed by Kiddush luncheon.Services in DCJCC Community Room, 1529 16th St.NW. betmish.org.

BRAZILIAN GLBT GROUP, including others inter-ested in Brazilian culture, meets. For location/time,email [email protected].

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice session atHains Point, 972 Ohio Dr., SW. 8:30-10 a.m. Visitswimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/walking/socialclub welcomes all levels for exercise in a fun andsupportive environment, socializing afterward.Meet 9:30 a.m., 23rd & P Streets NW, for a walk; or10 a.m. for fun run. dcfrontrunners.org.

DC SENTINELS basketball team meets at TurkeyThicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan Ave. NE,2-4 p.m. For players of all levels, gay or straight.teamdcbasketball.org.

DIGNITYUSA sponsors Mass for LGBT community,family and friends. 6:30 p.m., Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, 3606 Seminary Road, Alexandria. Allwelcome. For more info, visit dignitynova.org.

GAY LANGUAGE CLUB discusses critical languag-

es and foreign languages. 7 p.m. Nellie’s, 900 U St.NW. RVSP preferred. [email protected].

IDENTITYoffers free and condential HIV testingin Takoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite411. Walk-ins 12-3 p.m. For appointments otherhours, call 301-422-2398.

SUNDAY, APRIL 5ADVENTURINGoutdoors group hikes 11.4 strenu-ous miles with 1600 feet of elevation gain to SugarKnob Cabin and the Big Schloss rock outcrop onGreat North Mountain by the Va./W.V. border.Bring beverages, lunch, sturdy hiking boots, bug

spray, and about $15 for fees. Optional dinner in

FRIDAY, APRIL 3The Family Equality Council and the DC Centerhost an LGBT FAMILY DANCE PARTY. Families intown for the White House Easter Egg Roll are wel-come to attend. 6:30-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW,Suite 105. To RSVP and for more information, visitfacebook.com/events/1537927479829259.

The TRANS SUPPORT GROUP of The DC Centerholds its monthly meeting. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St.NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedc-center.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTHoffersfree HIV testing, 9-5 p.m., and HIV services (byappointment). 202-291-4707, andromedatranscul-turalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice sessionat Hains Point, 927 Ohio Dr. SW. 6:30-8 p.m. Visitswimdcac.org.

GAY DISTRICTholds facilitated discussion forGBTQ men, 18-35, rst and third Fridays. 8:30 p.m.The DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. 202-682-2245, gaydistrict.org.

HIV TESTINGat Whitman-Walker Health. At theElizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center, 2301MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appoint-ment call 202-745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.

METROHEALTH CENTER offers free, rapid HIVtesting. Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW,Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-afrming socialgroup for ages 11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia RoadNW. Contact Tamara, 202-319-0422, layc-dc.org.

SMYAL’S REC NIGHTprovides a social atmo-sphere for GLBT and questioning youth, featuringdance parties, vogue nights, movies and games.More info, [email protected].

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-6 p.m., byappointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, [email protected].

THURSDAY, APRIL 2Center Women, a group of The DC Center, holdsCENTER WOMEN GAME NIGHT, an evening of board games and socialization. All welcome. 7-9p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more infor-mation, visit thedccenter.org.

QUEER FICTION CLASS, a four-week workshopfor aspiring ction writers led by Sinta Jiminez,meets at The Writer’s Center. 6-8 p.m. 4508 WalshSt., Bethesda, Md. For more information, visitwriter.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

DC LAMBDA SQUARES gay and lesbian square-dancing group features mainstream throughadvanced square dancing at the National CityChristian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW, 7-9:30 p.m.Casual dress. 301-257-0517, dclambdasquares.org.

The DULLES TRIANGLESNorthern Virginia socialgroup meets for happy hour at Sheraton in Reston,

11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, second-oor bar, 7-9p.m. All welcome. dullestriangles.com.


IDENTITYoffers free and condential HIV testingin Gaithersburg, 414 East Diamond Ave., and inTakoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411.Walk-ins 2-6 p.m. For appointments other hours,call Gaithersburg, 301-300-9978, or Takoma Park,301-422-2398.

METROHEALTH CENTERoffers free, rapid HIVtesting. Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW,Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5 p.m., byappointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger.202-567-3155 or [email protected].

US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics AnonymousMeeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW.The group is independent of UHU. 202-446-1100.

WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE for youngLBTQ women, 13-21, interested in leadership devel-opment. 5-6:30 p.m. SMYAL Youth Center, 410 7thSt. SE. 202-567-3163, [email protected].

Metro Weekly’s Community Calendar highlights important events inthe D.C.-area LGBT community, from alternative social events tovolunteer opportunities. Event information should be sent by email [email protected]. Deadline for inclusion is noonof the Friday before Thursday’s publication. Questions aboutthe calendar may be directed to the Metro Weekly ofce at202-638-6830 or the calendar email address.

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Front Royal, Va. on the way back. Carpool at 9 a.m.from the East Falls Church Metro Kiss & Ride lot.Contact Jay, 415-203-7498. adventuring.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OFCHRIST welcomes all to 10:30 a.m. service, 945 GSt. NW. rstuccdc.org or 202-628-4317.

HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRISTwelcomesGLBT community for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130 OldTelegraph Road, Alexandria. hopeucc.org.

Join LINCOLN CONGREGATIONAL TEMPLE –UNITED CHURCH OF CHRISTfor an inclusive,loving and progressive faith community everySunday. 11 a.m. 1701 11th Street NW, near R inShaw/Logan neighborhood. lincolntemple.org.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OFNORTHERN VIRGINIA services at 11 a.m., led byRev. Onetta Brooks. Children’s Sunday School, 11a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax. 703-691-0930,mccnova.com.

NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, inclusivechurch with GLBT fellowship, offers gospel worship,8:30 a.m., and traditional worship, 11 a.m. 5 ThomasCircle NW. 202-232-0323, nationalcitycc.org.

NEW HSV-2 SOCIAL AND SUPPORT GROUP forgay men living in the DC metro area. This groupwill be meeting once a month. For information onlocation and time, email to [email protected].

ST. STEPHEN AND THE INCARNATION,an“interracial, multi-ethnic Christian Community”offers services in English, 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., andin Spanish at 5:15 p.m. 1525 Newton St. NW. 202-232-0900, saintstephensdc.org.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OFSILVER SPRING invites LGBTQ families and individuals of all creeds and cultures to join the church.Services 9:15 and 11:15 a.m. 10309 New Hampshire Ave. uucss.org.

UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL MEMORIALCHURCH, a welcoming and inclusive church. GLBTInterweave social/service group meets monthly.Services at 11 a.m., Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16thSt. NW. 202-387-3411, universalist.org.

MONDAY, APRIL 6BRUHS (BOOK READING UPLIFTS HIS SPIRIT) literature and cinema discussion group, holds itsmonthly meeting, this time focusing on poetry aspart of National Poetry month. Performances wel-come, please arrive early to sign up to perform. Allwelcome. 6 p.m. MLK Library, 901 G St. NW, Room A-5. For more information, visit facebook.com/ BRUHSDC.

The DC Center hosts its monthly VOLUNTEERNIGHT. Activities include sorting through bookdonations, cleaning, safe-sex kit inventory and otherduties. Pizza provided. 6:30-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St.NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedc-center.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice sessionat Hains Point, 927 Ohio Dr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visitswimdcac.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds practice, 6:30-8:30p.m. Garrison Elementary, 1200 S St. NW. dcscan-dals.wordpress.com.

GETEQUALmeets 6:30-8 p.m. at Quaker House,2111 Florida Ave. NW. [email protected].


KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICE,

3333 Duke St., Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIVtesting and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 703-823-4401.

METROHEALTH CENTERoffers free, rapid HIVtesting. No appointment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 101214th St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

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NOVASALUD offers free HIV testing. 5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite 200, Arlington. Appointments: 703-789-4467.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5 p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155 [email protected].

The DC Center hosts COFFEE DROP-IN FOR THE SENIOR LGBTCOMMUNITY. 10 a.m.-noon. 2000 14th St. NW. 202-682-2245, thedccenter.org.

US HELPING US hosts a black gay men’s evening afnity group. 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS Water Polo Team practices 7-9 p.m. Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. Newcomers with at least basic swim-ming ability always welcome. Tom, 703-299-0504, [email protected],wetskins.org.

Whitman-Walker Health HIV/AIDS SUPPORT GROUP for newly diagnosedindividuals, meets 7 p.m. Registration required. 202-939-7671,[email protected].

TUESDAY, APRIL 7The DC RECOVERY NETWORK, a program of the Campbell Center, meets at

The DC Center. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. More info, contact Misha,[email protected].

WEEKLY EVENTS

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTHoffers free HIV testing, 9-5 p.m.,and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707, andromedatranscultural-health.org.

ASIANS AND FRIENDS weekly dinner in Dupont/Logan Circle area, 6:30 [email protected], afwashington.net.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice session at Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 7:30-9 p.m. swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/walking/social club serving greater D.C.’s

LGBT community and allies hosts an evening run/walk. dcfrontrunners.org.

THE GAY MEN’S HEALTH COLLABORATIVEoffers free HIV testing and STIscreening and treatment every Tuesday. 5-6:30 p.m. Rainbow Tuesday LGBTClinic, Alexandria Health Department, 4480 King St. 703-746-4986 or text 571-214-9617. [email protected].

HIV TESTINGat Whitman-Walker Health. At the Elizabeth Taylor MedicalCenter, 1701 14th St. NW, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center, 2301MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment call 202-745-7000. Visitwhitman-walker.org.

THE HIV WORKING GROUPof THE DC CENTER hosts “Packing Party,”where volunteers assemble safe-sex kits of condoms and lube. 7 p.m., GreenLantern, 1335 Green Court NW. thedccenter.org.

IDENTITYoffers free and condential HIV testing in Gaithersburg, 414 EastDiamond Ave., and in Takoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411. Walk-ins 2-6 p.m. For appointments other hours, call Gaithersburg at 301-300-9978 orTakoma Park at 301-422-2398.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES, at 3333 Duke St., Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIV testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.703-823-4401.

METROHEALTH CENTERoffers free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment needed.1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS—LGBT focused meeting every Tuesday, 7 p.m.St. George’s Episcopal Church, 915 Oakland Ave., Arlington, just steps from Virginia Square Metro. For more info. call Dick, 703-521-1999. Handicappedaccessible. Newcomers welcome. [email protected].



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SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5 p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth21 and younger. Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, [email protected].

SUPPORT GROUP FOR LGBTQ YOUTH ages 13-21 meets at SMYAL, 410 7thSt. SE, 5-6:30 p.m. Cathy Chu, 202-567-3163, [email protected].

US HELPING UShosts a support group for black gay men 40 and older. 7-9p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

Whitman-Walker Health’s GAY MEN’S HEALTH AND WELLNESS/STD

CLINIC opens at 6 p.m., 1701 14th St. NW. Patients are seen on walk-in basis.No-cost screening for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. Hepatitis andherpes testing available for fee. whitman-walker.org.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8KNOW YOUR RIGHTS, a workshop for D.C. crime victims, holds an hour-longpresentation on criminal, civil and Title IX/university rights of victims of sexualassault, stalking, domestic violence or physical assault, sponsored by Casa Rubyand the Network for Victim Recovery. 6-7 p.m. Casa Ruby, 2822 Georgeia Ave.NW. For more information, visit casaruby.org, nvrdc.org or contact Eric Perez,202-682-2245 or [email protected].

THE LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB meets for Duplicate Bridge. 7:30 p.m. DignityCenter, 721 8th St SE, across from Marine Barrack. All welcome. No reservationneeded. 703-407-6540 if you need a partner.

RAINBOW RESPONSE, a coalition of people dedicated to combating LGBTintimate partner violence, meets at The DC Center. 6-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW,Suite 105. For more information, visit rainbowresponse.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

AD LIB, a group for freestyle conversation, meets about 6:30-6 p.m., Steam, 17thand R NW. All welcome. For more information, call Fausto Fernandez,703-732-5174.

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTHoffers free HIV testing, 9-5 p.m.,and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707, andromedatranscultural-health.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice session at Hains Point, 927 Ohio Dr. SW.7-8:30 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds practice, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Garrison Elementary,1200 S St. NW. dcscandals.wordpress.com.

HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH offers Wednesday worship 7:15 a.m. and 12:05p.m. All welcome. 118 N. Washington St., Alexandria. 703-549-1450, historic-christchurch.org.

HIV TESTINGat Whitman-Walker Health. At the Elizabeth Taylor MedicalCenter, 1701 14th St. NW, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center, 2301MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment call 202-745-7000. Visitwhitman-walker.org.

IDENTITYoffers free and condential HIV testing in Gaithersburg, 414East Diamond Ave. Walk-ins 2-7 p.m. For appointments other hours, call

Gaithersburg at 301-300-9978.

JOB CLUB, a weekly support program for job entrants and seekers, meets atThe DC Center. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. More info, www.centercareers.org.

METROHEALTH CENTERoffers free, rapid HIV testing. No appointmentneeded. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

NOVASALUD offers free HIV testing. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite 200, Arlington. Appointments: 703-789-4467.

PRIME TIMERS OF DC, social club for mature gay men, hosts weekly happyhour/dinner. 6:30 p.m., Windows Bar above Dupont Italian Kitchen, 1637 17thSt. NW. Carl, 703-573-8316. l



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16 SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE

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P HOTOGRAPHY BY W ARD M ORRISON

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17SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SC


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“For the rst two years I kind of pushed back against themoniker that would always get used about me in headlines andsuch — ‘the gay bishop,’” Robinson says.

In 2003, Robinson was elected the rst openly gay bishopin the Episcopal Church — a move that not only divided theEpiscopal Church and broader Anglican Communion, but sig-naled the shifting views on homosexuality taking places inchurches around the globe. Death threats against him and hisfamily poured in. During his consecration as the Episcopalbishop of New Hampshire, there was fear someone might set offa bomb and Robinson wore a bulletproof vest under his robes.

Robinson, however, came to realize he wasn’t just the bishopof New Hampshire. His role as “the gay bishop” presented himan opportunity that, until that moment, had never been madeavailable to anyone before.

“I realized I had been given this remarkable opportunity andfor me not to seize that opportunity was incredibly selsh,” hesays. “And so rather than ght it, I decided that I would makethe most of it, that I would take every opportunity it gave me.”

Robinson retired in January 2013 and has since relocated toWashington, D.C. He’s published a book on the religious case forsame-sex marriage, writes a regular column for The Daily Beastand continues to preach a worldview where religion and LGBTequality are not mutually exclusive. He’s also single and dating.Now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP),he has set his sights on exposing the religious right’s new obses-sion: anti-LGBT religious freedom legislation.

“It’s just been this fullling joy to have played a role inour collective liberation. It doesn’t get any better than that,”Robinson says. “To this day, I don’t know why this turned out tobe me. But it did turn out to be me and I was not going to wasteit. I was going to use it for all of us as best I could.”

And at 68-years-old, he’s not done yet.

METRO WEEKLY: How would you describe your childhood?GENE ROBINSON: I grew up really, really poor and yet my parents,who were fairly uneducated, wanted me to go and see and doeverything the world had to offer. So I was the rst person oneither side of my family to go to college or certainly to get agraduate degree. I never dreamt that I would wind up being a

bishop in the Episcopal Church having grown up in a fairly fun-damentalist congregation in rural Kentucky. I never could havedreamt myself to being where I am today.MW: What faith were you raised?ROBINSON: Disciples of Christ. It’s a denomination not knownvery well on the east coast. It came out of one of the great awak-enings when Kentucky and Ohio were the frontier and so it wentwestward from there but it never turned around and came east.The only church here is right on Thomas Circle — National CityChristian. That’s Disciples of Christ.

It was very conservative. It’s not a particularly conservativedenomination at all but my family and every family in the churchI grew up in were tobacco farmers and so it was a particularlyconservative congregation of the Disciples.

I went to college at the University of the South, which isknown better by its other name, Sewannee. It’s actually ownedby the 20 or so southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, sothat’s where I became an Episcopalian. And then went to semi-nary in New York City in Chelsea — before it became Chelsea— and then was married to a woman for 14 years, had twodaughters.MW: When did you come out?ROBINSON: When I was 39. About a year and half later I metMark and was with him for 27 years. In the last two years thathas ended and I’ve moved to Washington and started a wholenew life, really. Whole new set of friends, whole new work. Onthe stresser scale it’s just about everything except losing a loved

BishopGeneINTERVIEW BY �USTIN SNOW • PHOTOGRAPHY BY TODD FRANSON


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one. New job, new house, sold a house, bought a house, all thatkind of stuff.MW: In college you weren’t studying religion.ROBINSON: I wasn’t. I was pre-med. I had always wanted to be apediatrician, partly because I just adored my own pediatrician.But when I got to college, I realized it wasn’t the science of medi-cine I was interested in, it was the people. And I thought, Whywould I spend that many years doing that stuff I don’t even like just to get to people?MW: What attracted you to the ministry?ROBINSON: I’d always been really involved in church and hadalways toyed with the idea of going into the ordained ministry.So at that point I thought that might be a good thing. I actuallymajored in American Studies and history and then went to semi-nary right from college.MW: And what led you to become an Episcopalian?ROBINSON: In many ways, the Episcopal Church and the DisciplesChurch understanding of Christianity and what it means to be aChristian are very similar, but the two things that the EpiscopalChurch added to what the Disciples were doing was the liturgy,which was beautiful, and this sense of history. I was fascinatedby this notion of apostolic succession. The bishops had handslaid on them who had hands laid on them all the way back to the

apostles. Little did I know that I would actually be one of those.MW: Did you meet your wife while at seminary?ROBINSON: I took a year off of seminary and went to serve asthe Episcopal chaplain at the University of Vermont and mether then. Shared with her all my relationships had been withmen, that I’d been in therapy twice a week for two years to getover that and thought that I was ready for a relationship with awoman. I told her that within two weeks of meeting her. Andthen about a month before the wedding, I broke down in tearsand said, “I’m really fearful this might raise its ugly head at somepoint in the future.” And she said, “Well, if it does I think we loveeach other enough that we will handle it.” And 13, 14 years laterwe did. She remains a dear friend. She was one of my presenters

at my consecration as a bishop.MW: Did you think you were gay or that you just had a problem?ROBINSON: Oh denitely it was a problem. I wanted to be married,I wanted a family, but mostly what I wanted was to be normal,as awful and as wonderful as that can be. I can remember therst time making love with a woman. It was very exciting, notbecause of the sex but because I felt normal. Which is not a reallygood reason to be having sex with someone! [Laughs] But youhave to understand I grew up in a time when “gay” didn’t meanwhat we mean it to mean, and homosexuality was spoken aboutin whispers, if at all. It was a problem to be solved.MW: Did that have to do with your faith?ROBINSON: Oh, sure. Absolutely. Which is why I have pretty muchspent my whole life both reinterpreting scriptures to LGBTpeople for their comfort and to the church for their learning inhopes of changing their minds. And I’ve had some success inthat.MW: How did you and your wife deal with you being gay?ROBINSON: For a very long time, it was a part of me. But I becameincreasingly aware that this wasn’t just a part of me, this wasme. And I think being 39 was instrumental here because I canremember thinking, If I don’t change this now, I’m going to livethe rest of my life this way. And I don’t think I can do that and Iknow I don’t want to do that.

It was really frightening. So coming out meant not just com-ing out to my wife and friends, but coming out to my bishop. Andthe only thing I was certain of was that I would never be able to

work in the church again — ever. Anywhere.My bishop [New Hampshire Bishop Doug Theurner] was new

and I went to him and told him the whole story and he woundup hiring me as his assistant. And at that time I was the onlyopenly gay person on any bishop’s staff in the American church.It was an incredibly courageous thing for him to do, and he wasthe most thoroughly heterosexual man I have ever known. Theman didn’t have a gay bone in his body and he would often callme into his ofce and say, “Come in here. I have some questionsabout your people.” So we got into this “your people” thing andI would talk about his “people.” But he was justice minded in allkinds of ways and understood long before much of the gay com-munity, which wasn’t a community at that point, that this wasgoing to be the human rights issue of our generation.MW: How did your family and friends take it when you came out?ROBINSON: Everybody was shocked. Often, I think when we comeout a common thing is, “Oh, I knew that a long time ago.” Thatwas not the case with me. And my marriage with my wife Boowas like everybody’s model for what a marriage ought to be. Soit was quite shocking to people and quite surprising. And abso-lutely horrifying to my parents, which is all chronicled in therst documentary that I’m in, For the Bible Tells Me So .

When I went home to Kentucky to tell them, I was not at

all sure my father was going to allow me to stay in the housethat night. It was very tense. Had it not been for my mother,who would have loved me if I were a serial killer, I think hewould have thrown me out. And mercifully, they both livedlong enough — my mom died three years ago and we’re about tocelebrate my dad’s 90th birthday in May — to go on that journeythemselves.

One of the most common mistakes I think we make, it takesus years to get to the point of coming out to ourselves and com-ing out to our friends and we forget that’s day number one forpeople who didn’t know that before. We sort of expect themto catch up on all the years of work we’ve done right out of thestarting gate, so I think good advice for people coming out is to

remember that’s day one for them thinking about this. And myparents had enough time to work through that, fall in love withmy partner Mark, they were there for my consecration and forour civil union and all that.MW: How did meeting Mark change your life?ROBINSON: I met him on the beach in Saint Croix. It soundslike an advertisement for a travel agency or something, but Ishould go back now that I’m single again. [ Laughs. ] We wereboth on vacation and in this funny turn of events he lived herein Washington on Capitol Hill and worked for the Peace Corps.We dated for about a year and a half before he moved to NewHampshire.MW: When did you enter into your civil union?ROBINSON: We did what many states did, which was approve civilunions rst and then two years later marriage. That was 2008and I was about to go to England for the big worldwide confer-ence of bishops that happens every ten years and I had begun toget death threats again. I had a couple of years of near constantdeath threats right after I was elected bishop and consecrated.But they had sort of slowed down a bit and then when the con-ference was coming up I was getting lots of death threats fromEngland. And frankly, we were going to wait until marriage waspossible but given that potential danger I wanted him to be pro-tected as much as possible. And so we had our civil union abouta month before I left for that conference.MW: What’s it like to get a death threat?ROBINSON: It’s both really real and also surreal. On the one


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hand, it’s just an astounding thing tohandle a piece of paper with gloveson because all these things had to goto the FBI. They did the old B-moviething of cutting letters out of news-paper and then gluing them on tomake a message. And the messagehas a picture of me and Mark fromthe newspaper and the letters spellout “I’ve got a bullet for each of yourheads when you least expect it.”

That gets your attention. Youlearn to live with it, but for me theway I learned to live with it was myfaith. What I believed then, what Ibelieve now is no matter what hap-pens God loves me beyond anythingI can comprehend and at the end ofthe day that wins. So if I were to diea violent death or if I die in my ownbed at home at age 95, either way I’mgoing to be okay. I didn’t want to die,but my faith gave me the courage to

sort of set that aside and to understand I was doing what God’swill was for me was as best as I could understand it. I mean,nobody knows what God’s will is and we should all be carefulof anybody who says they do, but as best as I could gure it out,this is what God wanted me to be doing. And if that was the casethen okay, bring it on.

Mark and I had to decide whether or not we were going tolet this rule our lives. We lived in a wooden glass contemporaryhouse in the woods. We did not own a curtain anywhere in thehouse and this was right about the time the abortion doctor[Barnett Slepian] in New York was shot through his kitchenwindow. We could have been shot through all but about oneroom of our house. And you just have to decide that to give into

that lets them win.A lot of them, I think, aren’t actually trying to shoot you,they’re trying to ruin your life. And if you let them ruin yourlife, they win. I had to have 24-hour security between the timeI was elected in June [2003] and the consecration in November,and it was hot and heavy then. And it was also serious becauseif they had shot me during that period of time they would havekept me from being a bishop. After I was consecrated, they stillcould kill me, but they couldn’t stop my being a bishop. So thatwas particularly serious.MW: It seems so hypocritical that these are presumably religious people who are threatening you with violence.ROBINSON: We don’t know. We never caught them. But the ironyis beyond description, right? Religion, which is supposed to beall about love and to contemplate doing something like that, oreven contemplating causing that kind of fear in someone is anincredibly hateful and invasive and violent thing to do, nevermind actually trying.

The last really serious thing that happened was after thepresident-elect invited me to the opening prayer at the inauguralevent in 2009. About two weeks after that we’re back at home inNew Hampshire and we get a call from the Vermont State Policeand they say, “We’ve got a guy in custody who came through ourtown so angry that he shot the windows out of an empty parkedpolice cruiser. And when we caught up to him, sitting next tohim in the passenger seat he had pictures of you and Mark. Hehad scrawled across them ‘Save the Church, Kill the Bishop.’ He

has MapQuest maps to your house and had a sawed-off shotgunand tons of ammunition. And we think he was on his way to blowyour head off.’

They couldn’t charge him with anything related to us butfortunately he had driven up from Connecticut and had crossedstate lines with an illegal weapon, so it was a federal guns charge.He got out of jail about a year ago.MW: Do you still worry about the threat of violence?ROBINSON: No, I don’t. As every day passes, the threat of that getsless and less. And I think since I retired it’s less a problem topeople. They had ten years of my being a bishop to do somethingand so I’m a little more removed from the church. And we havean openly lesbian and partnered bishop as well. The times have

changed, right?When I was consecrated in 2003, it was like the worldexploded. My picture was on the front page of every newspaperaround the globe. Ten years later, Mary Glasspool has alreadybeen consecrated and the rst openly gay Lutheran bishop wasconsecrated in Los Angeles — Mary and I went to his consecra-tion to show our support. It didn’t even make the LA Times andit happened in LA! So, that’s ten years. That’s another way oflooking at the progress we’ve made in ten years. It’s not justabout marriage, it’s not just about this or that, it was just not thatbig a deal.MW: Tell me how you became a bishop?ROBINSON: It’s important to know how it happens in the EpiscopalChurch as opposed to the Methodists or especially the RomanCatholics or the Lutherans. It’s not decided by some small com-mittee in a back room somewhere, smoke lled or not. Eachdiocese — when there’s a vacancy, when a bishop is retiring orwhatever — has an open search process. A committee receivesnames. Any ordained priest from around the world can benominated by anyone and their job is to then narrow that listdown until there are roughly four to six candidates. And thenthose people are brought to the diocese to meet with all kindsof people and there are four forums held all around the dioceseand anybody can ask any question about anything. Based on howthey experience you, the delegates to the convention gather andelect. To be elected bishop the clergy and the laity vote sepa-rately and you have to get a majority of both on the same ballot.


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So you vote, and then they post how many votes each person gotand if your candidate didn’t get very many or whatever then youswitch to your second choice and so on and so on until there is amajority in both the laity and the clergy on the same ballot.

Sometimes it’ll go six, 12, 15 ballots. In my case, I was electedon the rst ballot by the clergy and was shy only six votes, I thinkit was, in the laity. After that was posted it was clear where it wasgoing to go. It was quite an amazing day. One of the symbols forthe Holy Spirit is wind and breath and many, many people in NewHampshire remember that day as one of the most powerful reli-gious and spiritual experiences of their life. When the announce-ment was made that I was elected, we were inside a largechurch and there was a rush of wind through the whole church.

Everybody felt it. It was really spooky. And it was amazing.MW: What happened after the election?ROBINSON: After the diocese elect, then the wider church hasto consent to that election. Up until this point, that was a com-pletely pro forma process. It was just like nobody gave it anythought. But of course there were a lot of people who didn’tthink New Hampshire should have elected me and so all of asudden this pro forma process became a real one. At the gen-eral convention, which happened in late July [2003] after myelection in early June, we all went to convention and there arenormally 10 to 12 representatives of the media there who coverthe convention, which is usually not making a lot of news. Therewere 435 registered media people there. So I’m sitting on theoor of convention because I’m still a layperson at this point andover here on the side, because they’re not allowed on the oor,I see a phalanx of thirty photographers with telephoto lenses ayard long all aimed at me.

I had round the clock security — some of the best lookingguards that you could possibly imagine. [ Laughs. ] I was broughtin all the back ways. It was just dangerous. It was totally up inthe air whether I was going to be consented to. Again, the house

of bishops and the house deputies both have to consent. And itturned out I got two-thirds majority in both houses. Then it was just a matter of planning the consecration and doing it.MW: What do you remember of the consecration?ROBINSON: It’s a beautiful, old ceremony. Every bishop who isthere gathers around you and lays hands on your head or onthe shoulders of someone who can actually reach you and theymake you a bishop. We didn’t know what was going to happen.Actually, we spent well over $100,000 just on security — bombsweeping dogs, metal detectors. I had become friends withMax Mutchnick, the creator and executive producer of Will &Grace , and he paid for most of my security. Mine was a littlediocese that didn’t have a lot of money to throw around and no

big endowment or anything, and we knew weneeded where my family was staying to be basi-cally sealed off and guards and all that stuff. Wehad cops on horseback. It was crazy. And FredPhelps and the Westboro Church showed up,about 50 of them.

This took place in a hockey rink. Every seatis a good sight line, which means you can bekilled from any seat. The guy dressed up likea deacon that was beside me during the whole

service was like an armed tank. He wasn’t a dea-con. Under his vestments he had guns and allkinds of stuff and we had this plan that if shotswere red or a bomb went off or whatever, if Iwas still alive he was to get me out. And thenwe had a place designated that I would be takento if I was still alive and three bishops were togo there from the crowd of bishops and a pho-tographer was set to go there, so that if I wasstill alive those three — it takes three bishops tolay hands on you to make you a bishop — couldconsecrate me and we would have a photographof it to prove it so nobody would get to see it but

the consecration itself would not be foiled.They typed my blood and Mark’s blood sothey could start triage on the way to the hos-pital. And my kids were there and my olderdaughter had just had our rst grandchild, whoby then was close to three months old. So we

put her dad, my son-in-law, and Morgan, the three-month old,in the furthest away skybox so he could watch what was goingon, but would probably be safe if a bomb went off. We just didn’tknow. But nothing happened.MW: And o nce it was done you just went to work?ROBINSON: [ Laughs. ] Yeah.MW: How did you approach the role of being this historic gure?ROBINSON: [ Laughs. ] Well you know, I’d never done it before! You don’t get any ramp up time. I just felt so grateful for my own journey and the joy which I had come to believe in for my beinggay and for my self acceptance but also my rm belief that Godloved me gay. I just felt this tremendous burden, opportunity,debt to be paid back to the gay community.MW: What led you to retire?ROBINSON: I was 65 and a half years old, so I qualied forMedicare and Social Security and all of that. Actually, I neverconsidered retirement until Mary Glasspool was elected bishop[in Los Angeles]. If my leaving would have meant there was noopenly gay bishop in the house of bishops, I would never haveretired. So when she was elected and I was at her consecration,for the very rst time I thought, You know, I don’t always have


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to do this. I’d literally never thought it before. I could retire! Butif I retire what will I do?

So I came to Washington. I had been doing part-time workfor the Center for American Progress and I had gotten to knowWinnie Stachelberg at HRC and she was of course now at CAPand she’s just really wise and smart. I went to talk to Winnieand said, “You know Washington like the back of your hand,you know various groups that are working, can you think ofany places that I might t in to do this sort of thing?” And shebasically said, “Uh, yeah, why don’t youcome here?” So that’s why I’m at CAP.

Mark and I were going through thisdecision about whether or not to be sep-arated and divorced. We divorced and Idecided to leave everything I knew andmove here. I’m about to be 68-years-old and I’m making a whole new set offriends. Just everything is new. It’s alittle scary because I could’ve stayed inthat marriage and everything would’vebeen all neat and tidy and planned outuntil I drop dead, but it was another oneof those moments of if I don’t make this

change now I won’t.MW: At CAP I’ve seen you’re working onthe religious freedom issue.ROBINSON: The religious liberty thing iswhere all of the religious right’s moneyand time and energy is going. They real-ized they’ve lost the marriage battle, sonow they’re trying to accomplish whatthey couldn’t through the ballot box andso on and nd ways to exempt them-selves from nondiscrimination laws.

The other thing I’m working onthat I’m really excited about is, it

occurred to me that we have done theBiblical and theological work related to gay and lesbian peoplebut we’ve not done that for transgender people and for genderidentity. So I’m convening this group of mostly transgendertheologians and Biblical people and ministers and so on andwe’re going to shape the skeleton for a theology of genderidentity and then I will write up from that, give it back tothem and we’ll make that available through all kinds of churchnetworks and Jewish networks and anyone can use it. Sort oftrying to head off the pass, if you will, the objections that willcome when nally the homosexuality thing is resolved andwe’re now moving onto transgender.

I think we are right to be doing what we’re doing, which isworking for a federal omnibus bill for nondiscriminatory pro-tections. We will be told that that would be more possible andquicker without transgender people being included and I thinkwe have understood that is completely unacceptable. So it couldbe a ve to ten year project, certainly it’s not going to happenwith this congress. But I think that’s where our work lies next.MW: The Presbyterian Church just voted to recognize same-sexmarriage. Do you think all Christian denominations will ever be ata point where they embrace marriage equality?ROBINSON: My thinking is that the mainline denominations willbe rst, the conservative evangelicals will be second and theRoman Catholic Church will be last.

I love this pope, he’s just a great guy from all accounts andhis heart certainly seems to be in the right place. But nothing has

really changed but tone. And we’ve made a lot out of that changeof tone because the tone has been so bad for so long. It feelsbigger than it really is. But the ofcial teaching of the RomanCatholic Church is that we are intrinsically disordered. That hasnot changed. And until it does, I’m just going to say about thispope, so far so good. It just needs to go a lot further than tone.MW: What’s your message to LGBT youth who are in religious house-holds who might not see how their faith and who they are mix?ROBINSON: The rst thing I would say is don’t ever confuse

church or religion with God. God never gets it wrong and reli-gious institutions often do and it often takes them decades oreven centuries to gure it out. And while they’re guring it outGod is loving those whom God will love, which is everyone. Your church or even synagogue may be doing a cruel and hurtfulthing, but God does not want that to be happening.

The second is, scripture is actually not a simple thing to readand understand and there are many ways of understanding it. Your church or you may not have heard about some of them,which turn out to be more scholarly and more appropriate thanother ways.

Third, I would say God rarely, if ever, appears in a cloud inthe sky with a big thundering voice, so look for God in the peoplewho love you for who you are because God is much more likelyto speak that way. So, if you have friends and adults who are tell-ing you that you are loved just the way you are, that also could becoming from God so don’t discount that as them only being yourfriends or your Aunt Tilly or your grandmother who seems tolove you a whole lot more than your parents do. They could verywell be speaking the message that God wants. And when you getout in the great big world you can nd a lot of support, even inthe religious community.

God Believes in Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage (Vintage)sells for $15 and is available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.comand other online retailers. l


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APRIL 2 - 9, 2015SPOTLIGHTALLAN GURGANUS AND ELIZABETH STROUTThe PEN/Faulkner Foundation hosts a reading andconversation with these novelists known for por-traying local life in America and the ways in whichsense of place intersects with sense of self. Mostnotable is Gurganus, known for his works exploringgay identity, including the rst work of ction fea-turing a gay character published in the New Yorker41 years ago. Tuesday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. FolgerTheatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE. Tickets are $15. Call202-544-7077 or visit folger.edu.

AMANDA PALMER

At the Lincoln Theatre, this ballsy bisexual rockerwill perform selections both from her solo career,including the smart and spunky 2012 glam-rockset Theatre Is Evil , as well as from her days asthe piano-pounding leader of the cabaret-punk duothe Dresden Dolls. But the show is not called “AnEvening with Amanda Fucking Palmer” for noth-ing: The focus is as much on discussion of her bookpublished last year, The Art of Asking , based on aTED talk and focused on the importance of askingfor help when you need it. Saturday, April 4, at 8 p.m.Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. Tickets are $35. Call202-328-6000 or visit thelincolndc.com.

BILLIE HOLIDAY TRIBUTE CONCERTSNext week marks the 100th anniversary of thisBaltimore-born jazz legend, and two concerts have

been programmed as a special toast, both featuringlocal jazz singer Integriti Reeves. The rst, on theactual day of Holiday’s birth, is a free performance ofHoliday staples with Reeves and her sextet. Tuesday, April 7, at 6 p.m. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.Free. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.Two days later, Reeves performs a tribute with fel-low Artist-In-Residence alums at Strathmore’s new venue Amp. Local chanteuse Lena Seikaly organizedthis tribute, “The Music of Lady Day,” also featuring vocalists Rochelle Rice and Christie Dashiell, whowill be accompanied by saxophonist Elijah JamalBalbed and pianist Mark G. Meadows. Thursday, April 9, at 8 p.m. Amp by Strathmore, 11810 GrandPark Ave. North Bethesda. Tickets are $12 to $20.Call 301-581-5100 or visit ampbystrathmore.com.

BLUEHEART REVIVALHill Country BBQ presents a concert by this ve-piece blues-rock jam band, formed in Washington acouple years ago. The group, according to its ofcial biography, aims to reect “the desperation of the blues, the joyous love of soul music, the rebelliousnature of rock and roll, and the sweet sounds of Americana.” A tall order to be sure, but washing it alldown over beer and barbeque will no doubt aid thecause. Saturday, April 4, at 9:30 p.m. Hill Country,410 7th St. NW. No cover. Call 202-556-2050 or visitmusic.hillcountrywdc.com.

COUNTDOWN TO YURI’S NIGHTIntended as a “holiday for space,” this annual eventcelebrates the world’s rst manned space ight byRussian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in the most non-scientic of ways: A zany night of visual art, perfor-

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Compiled by Doug Rule

S C O T T S U C H M A N

Singular SensationFreedom’s Song at Ford’s Theatre is a don’t miss,

“only-in-Washington” kind of show

F REEDOM’S SONG IS THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE PRODUCTION STAGED ATFord’s Theatre to directly reference the box in which President Lincoln was shot.Obviously not every show at Ford’s could do this — and no other show I’ve seen

there in recent years has. (Chalk it up to the assassination’s sesquicentennial.) But maybemore should? As demonstrated in both this musical and James Still’s drama The Widow Lincoln , it’s a poignant, awe-inspiring device, one that helps you better appreciate the sin-gular, “only-in-Washington” experience.

You’ll appreciate that fact well before the sound of a gun stuns the cast silent andyou’ll grasp the show’s utter-Washingtonness the moment it starts, as the clarion voice ofNova Y. Payton rings through the historic theater as the show’s Storyteller. You’ll sense itagain when Kevin McAllister’s rich basso voice makes you feel every ache of the Fugitive’s“Father, How Long?” With a 21-person cast, including many of D.C. theater’s very best —Tracy Lynn Olivera, Stephen Gregory Smith and Chris Sizemore among them — Freedom’sSong could be a dog of a show and still you’d feel grateful for the opportunity to have seen it.

Six years ago Ford’s staged a different version of the work, with lyrics by Jack Murphy

and a book by Gregory Boyd and Frank Wildhorn based on historical letters, blandly calledThe Civil War . The show was panned. I never saw it, but I also wasn’t eager to hear anotherWildhorn score after catching his schlocky, embittered Jekyll & Hyde .

Mercifully, Freedom’s Song is rened and thoroughly reinvigorating, from its stirring,American blend of folk, country, gospel and blues, to the affecting and well-realized incor-poration of Lincoln’s writings and speeches. The production team, led by director JeffCalhoun, suitably inserts Lincoln into the mix — the outlines of his White House ofce isthe centerpiece of Tobin Ost’s evocative set.

Even with some tweaks in character development, Freedom’s Song remains more of astylized, impressionistic revue than a straightforward, narrative musical. It makes a strongimpression — so strong that you might want to see it a second time, to catch anything youmissed. Because ultimately, it’s a “can’t miss” kind of show. — Doug Rule

Freedom’s Song ( HHHHH ) runs to May 20 at Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. Tickets are$20 to $69. Call 800-982-2787 or visit fordstheatre.org.

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mance and music. Presented by a group of offbeatartists and entertainers known as Astro Pop Events(A.P.E.), the event returns to Artisphere this year.Saturday, April 11, starting at 9 p.m. Artisphere, 1101Wilson Blvd. Arlington. Tickets are $25 in advance,or $30 day of show. Call 703-875-1100 or visit arti-sphere.com.

JAY LENO A year after receiving the Kennedy Center’s MarkTwain Prize for American Humor, Jay Leno returns

for a one-night-only performance of stand-up as partof the venue’s new Comedy series. Wednesday, April8, at 7 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Ticketsare $49 to $135. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

KIYOMI OF HUNTER VALENTINE AT SCANDALBilling itself as “D.C.’s hottest new monthly wom-en’s party,” Scandal at Comet Ping Pong in UpperNorthwest is certainly doing its part to live up tothe hype. For the next party, promoters Sasha LordPresents have recruited a lesbian reality-TV star,who is also the lead singer of a popular all-womenhard rock band. That would be Kiyomi McCloskeyof regular PhaseFest-headlining band Hunter Valentine, which was featured on Showtime’s The Real L Word a few years back. Kiyomi performs a

live acoustic set bookended by selections from DJ

V E S S P I T T S

a pop music revue starting in the 1770s. “The whole idea is I’msupposed to be falling apart while I perform a 24-hour concertwith an audience,” he says. “What happens as a result of goingthrough an experience like this together?” — Doug Rule

Taylor Mac performs Saturday, April 11, and Sunday, April 12,at 8 p.m., at The Clarice’s Kogod Theatre at the University of

Maryland in College Park. Tickets are $25. Call 301-405-ARTSor visit theclarice.umd.edu.

Lez Rage pre-show and DJ Deedub post-, when theperformance space in the back becomes a dance oor, but management has promised the “entire venue”will be reserved for the ladies. Friday, April 3, at 10p.m. Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW.Tickets are $15 for show and dance party, or $12for just the dance party. Call 202-364-0404 or visitcometpingpong.com.

NEW YORK CITY BALLETFounded in 1948 by George Balanchine to be a dis-

tinctly American ballet company, the New York CityBallet honors its legacy in its return to the KennedyCenter through two different programs accompanied by the ballet’s orchestra. The rst, “20th CenturyClassics,” features three of Balanchine’s most iconic ballets — including the rst he choreographed in theU.S., Serenade , set to Tchaikovsky. Meanwhile, “21stCentury Choreographers” features works by Peck,Ratmansky, Martins and Wheeldon. Performed in aweeklong repertory beginning Tuesday, April 7, at7:30 p.m. To April 12. Kennedy Center Opera House.Tickets are $25 to $109. Call 202-467-4600 or visitkennedy-center.org.

NELLIE MCKAY Last summer, this longtime straight LGBT ally andeccentric jazz/folk/musical theater artist toured per-

forming her original musical revue A Girl Named

Bill, about a real-life transgendered jazz musicianfrom the past. This time around she’s offering a more“traditional” concert in support of her new album MyWeekly Reader , which is a little lighter than her previ-ous sets — more lilting in a Brazilian jazz kind of way— yet every bit as quirky. Thursday, April 9, at 7:30p.m. Jammin Java, 227 Maple Ave. E. Vienna. Ticketsare $20. Call 703-255-3747 or visit jamminjava.com.

SPLENDOR & SURPRISE:ELEGANT CONTAINERS, ANTIQUE TO MODER

The Hillwood Museum presents a special exhibitionfeaturing more than 80 remarkable boxes, coffers,chests and other containers that reveal the ways inwhich cultures have contained their most treasureditems and everyday objects over the past four centu-ries. Now to June 7. Hillwood Estate, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Suggested donation is $12. Call 202-686-5807 or visit HillwoodMuseum.org.

STAGEA BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAYThe local, female-driven theater company Nu SassProductions offers an intimate staging of TonyKushner’s insightful drama, about a group of Germanliberals slowly drowning in the rising Nazi tide of

Pop CulturedTaylor Mac explores history and community through pop music

TAYLOR MAC’S THE 20TH CENTURY CONCERT: Abridged is not cabaret. It’s not, strictly speaking, evena revue of the past century’s most popular songs.

The New York-based artist, who performs in gender-ambiguous conceptual drag, calls it a “performance art con-cert [presenting] my subjective history of popular music....Sometimes they’re songs that nobody’s heard of, or thatweren’t that popular from their decade but were popular in asmall community.”

Community is what it’s all about. “I wanted to makea show that was about how community is built throughdeterioration and imperfection.” Mac’s inspiration, albeitindirectly, was the impact of the AIDS epidemic on the gaycommunity. The California native was barely a teenagerwhen he went to an AIDS walk in San Francisco in 1986. “Itwas the rst time I’d ever experienced queer agency or the

queer community, and it was the rst time I’d ever seen anout homosexual before — thousands of them.” It was a pro-found experience for Mac, who now identies as “genderqueer” and lives with his longtime same-sex partner, yet itwas also a deeply poignant one. “I was exposed to that com-munity because it was deteriorating — individuals dying froma disease en masse.... So I decided to make a show that was ametaphorical representation of that.”

Mac picked Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” to represent the1980s, a rather chipper song for a not-so-chipper decade. Andit’s that kind of contrast that Mac is going for. “We bring in thisvery cheese-ball song and we make it a little more complex” —by talking about serious issues from the era.

In 2016, Mac is planning a marathon all-day concert in New York, accompanied by two-dozen musicians and other guestartists, for a fuller review of American history as seen through


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the 1930s. Angela Pirko directs a production of this“living room play” — all of it takes place in a singleroom — as part of a new Small Batch Audience Seriesexperiment by Nu Sass. The audience, only 20people per show, will be situated around and nextto the cast in a push for greater immediacy and total

immersion into the world of the play. Closes thisSunday, April 5. Caos on F, 923 F St. NW. Tickets are$20. Visit nusass.com.

ARDEN OF FAVERSHAMBrave Spirits Theatre presents this riff on Elizabethanplays, incorporating actual Shakespearean passages,as a housewife plots with her lover and two incom-petent hit-men to murder her husband. Dan Cranedirects the production from the four-year-old BraveSpirits, which focuses on staging dark, visceral, inti-mate productions. Opens Friday, April 3, at 8 p.m.To April 18. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 HSt. NE. Tickets are $20. Call 202-399-7993 or visitatlasarts.org.

T O D D F R A N S O N

THE ORIGINALISTMolly Smith directs an Arena Stage world premiereof John Strand’s play about one of the biggest ene-mies to the LGBT cause and civil rights in gen-eral: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. It’s hardto get excited about this one, although no doubt

four-time Helen Hayes Award winner Edward Gerowill do Scalia justice. The play is performed in theMead Center’s Kogod Cradle in a new three-quarterthrust conguration. To April 26. Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org.

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE Arena Stage offers the rst production of this comedysince it won the Tony Award for Best Play last year. Aaron Posner, most recently known for his Chekhov-inspired plays Stupid Fucking Bird and Life Sucks (orthe Present Ridiculous) , directs Christopher Durang’ssendup of Chekhov full of wit and savage humor witha cast including Signature star Sherri L. Edelen aswell as Jefferson Farber. Opens in previews Friday, April 3. To May 3. Arena Stage — Mead Center for

American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org.

MUSICASAKO TAMURAFresh from her London debut in Madama Butteryat Royal Albert Hall, this Japanese soprano presents

a free recital of Japanese songs, “Kokoro: JapaneseMelodies from the Heart,” at the Kennedy Center, co-presented by the Embassy of Japan and the NationalCherry Blossom Festival. Monday, April 6, at 6 p.m.Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Free. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

BIZ MARKIE: FILLMORE FLASHBACK“The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop,” as MTV once calledhim, will relive his glory days, hosting and spin-ning for the second “80s vs 90s Dance Party” atthe Fillmore Silver Spring and presented by radiostation Hot 99.5. Local cover bands New Romance(the ‘80s) and Here’s To The Night (the ‘90s) joinMarkie, a Maryland resident known for “Just AFriend.” Saturday, April 4, at 8 p.m. Fillmore SilverSpring, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets

are $15.50. Call 301.960.9999 or visit llmoresilver-spring.com.

WondrousWoman

Lynda Carter returns to the Kennedy Center with anall-new evening of song

Y OU WOULDN’T THINK LYNDA CARTER WOULD HAVE Afavorite video game, but she does.“Probably Skyrim or Fallout,” she says.It should come as no surprise, of course, that both titles are

produced by Bethesda Softworks, which is owned by her husbandRobert Altman’s ZeniMax Media. But Carter isn’t sitting around allday attached to a video game controller.

“I don’t really know how to work all those things,” she laughs,calling it “a generational thing.” She does note, however, that she’sfrequently done work for Bethesda, starting with The Elder Scrolls

series, in which she provided vocal work for female nords and orcs.“You do get to help create the character,” says Carter, on thephone from a hotel lobby in Nashville. “But the writing itself is justreally good. And because it’s a role-playing game, they don’t write itlike a movie. The player can make it go the way they want to go.”

Since her days as Wonder Woman, which ran for three seasons onABC and CBS and for which she became iconic, Carter has had a longcareer as a singer and recording artist. In fact, she started as a singer.“I’ve been earning a living singing since I was 14,” says the stunning63-year-old. “I didn’t make the jump from acting to singing. I madethe jump from singing to acting.” And she’s continued singing,even though she could have retired from the grind of rehearsal andtouring years ago.

“The truth is, my kids are grown, my husband works -- what am Igoing to do all day?” she laughs. For the past several years, Carter hasbrought to the Kennedy Center a one-night-only performance of herown songs and standards, a smorgasbord of blues, rock, country andpop. This year’s show, entitled “Long-Legged Woman,” features asong by the same name written by Carter. “It’s a pretty cool, amusingsong,” she says, adding that she’ll also be performing a Texas swing

number and a Sam Smith cover, among others in the90-minute set.

Carter is well-known for her outspoken remarksabout LGBT equality. “It’s just a matter of civil rights,”she says. “And women have been dealing with it for along time, you know? We still don’t have an equal rightsamendment. And you get that blowback with themsaying ‘Well, women have all the equal protection. Whydo they need an amendment?’ Well, obviously we dobecause we don’t get paid the same.” -- Randy Shulman

Lynda Carter performs “Long-Legged Woman” onSaturday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy CenterTerrace Theatre. Tickets are $25 to $75. Call 202-467-

4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.


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FOLGER CONSORTIn conjunction with the Folger Library’s current exhibition, the resident earlymusic ensemble offers a scientic and satirical exploration of Baroque master-pieces with “Ships, Clocks and Stars: Music of Telemann and Other BaroqueMasters.” Telemann’s amusing suite based upon Gulliver’s Travels is one of thestandouts, as is Clerambault’s ery, graceful cantata Orphée , a vivid retelling ofthe story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Soprano Yulia Van Doren is also featured.Friday, April 10, at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 11, at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday, April 12, at 2 p.m. Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE. Tickets are $37. Call202-544-7077 or visit folger.edu.

RAURYWith a sound and a style kind of a like an edgier, blues-ier Pharrell Williams — ormore precisely like Williams’ work in the rock/hip-hop group N*E*R*D — Rauryis a 17-year-old Georgia-born singing rapper wiser than his years. The 9:30 Clubpresents this concert by the “Indigo Child,” who has cited inuences as diverseas Phil Collins, Kid Cudi and Coldplay. Friday, April 3. Doors at 7 p.m. U StreetMusic Hall, 1115A U St. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-588-1880 or visit ustreet-musichall.com.

THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA Among the many orchestras it has presented over the decades, WashingtonPerforming Arts has enjoyed the most enduring relationship with this orchestra,led by its dynamic music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The conductor leadsthe symphony in one of his signature works, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 in E Minor , during a program that also features 19-year-old Polish-Canadian prodigyJan Lisiecki, who will perform Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor . Tuesday, April7, at 8 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $35 to $105. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

DANCEBOWEN MCCAULEY DANCE “D.C.’s premier contemporary dance company,” per the Washington Post, teamsup with country/punk pioneers Jason and the Scorchers for the world premiereof Victory Road , a journey of hope, tragedy and triumph. The band performs onstage with the company for an electrifying performance about a boy who leaveshis hometown dreaming of becoming a music star in the 1980s. Friday, April 10,and Saturday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are$40 to $45. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

HELANIUS J. WILKINS & ERIC REBOLLAR/REBOLLAR DANCE Award-winning choreographers join forces for an evening of dynamic contem-porary dance that pushes boundaries and includes two D.C. premieres: Wilkins’

Everything for the First Time , performed by 25 dancers from the Pennsylvania- based Slippery Rock University Dance Department, and Rebollar’s Cyborg Suites .The Joy of Motion Youth Dance Ensemble joins to perform a work-in-progressof Wilkins’ Turning Tables . Saturday, April 11, at 8 p.m. The Sprenger Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $25. Call 202-399-7993or visit atlasarts.org.

READINGROBIN GIVHANThe Battle of Versailles is the debut book by the Washington Post ’s Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic and centers on a fashion show organized as a fundraiser in1973 that changed the rules of the game by incorporating black models. Givhanreads from her book at the Busboys & Poets in D.C.’s Takoma neighborhood.Tuesday, April 7, at 6:30 p.m. Busboys & Poets, 234 Carroll St. NW. Call 202-726-0856 or visit busboysandpoets.com.

RON ROSBOTTOMWhen Paris Went Dark evokes daily life in a city under Nazi occupation, writtenusing a variety of sources (memoirs, diaries, letters, interviews, photographs,lms) by this professor at Massachusetts’s Amherst College. Wednesday, April8, at 6:30 p.m. Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW. Call 202-387-1400 or visit kramers.com.

GALLERIESBEYOND BOLLYWOOD:INDIAN AMERICANS SHAPE THE NATIONSmithsonian Asian Pacic American Center presents this ambitious and color-ful exhibition on the second oor of the National Museum of Natural History,exploring the heritage, daily experiences and diverse contributions of Indians

and Indian Americans. Through Aug. 16. National Museum of Natural History,10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Call 202-633-1000 or visit mnh.si.edu.

CONFLUENCE: CONSIDERING THE ANACOSTIAPhotographs of the Anacostia River are presented in an exhibit at the Anacostia Arts Center and featuring the work of National Geographic freelance photographerBecky Harlan, local gallery artist David Allen Harris, wildlife and conservationphotographer Krista Schlyer, and documentary-style photographer Bruce McNeil.The exhibit coincides with the rst-ever Anacostia River Festival, which will serveas the closing event of the National Cherry Blossom Festival and take place in thenearby Anacostia Park on April 12. Through May 1. Anacostia Arts Center, 1231Good Hope Road SE. Call 202-631-6291 or visit anacostiaartscenter.com.

FORDLANDIA: THE LOST CITY OF HENRY FORDThe Art Museum of the Americas presents the rst in a series on megalomania by British artist Dan Dubowitz, who took photographs a few years ago revealingwhat became of the large chunk of land that Henry Ford bought in the Brazilianrainforest just before the Great Depression. This was a delusion of grandeur —Ford was hoping to create a rubber-producing community, solely focused onwork — that may have opped royally, but it did succeed in encouraging otherwealthy tycoons as well as poor local gold-diggers to plunder the rainforestto try other ways of making a prot. Dubowitz toured and photographed thedeserted Fordlandia a few years ago, and the new photos are contrasted by thosefrom Ford’s minions taken in the 1930s. To May 1. Art Museum of the Americas,Organization of American States, 1889 F St. NW. Call 202-370-0149 or visit AMAmuseum.org to schedule an appointment.

ONCE THERE WERE BILLIONSOnce There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America documents those

species of birds we’ve lost on this continent over the past two centuries, fromthe pufn-like great auck to the Carolina parakeet to the heath hen to the pas-senger pigeon, not to be confused with the commonplace carrier pigeon. ThroughOctober. National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Call 202-633-1000 or visit mnh.si.edu.

ORCHIDS:INTERLOCKING SCIENCE AND BEAUTYOrchids: Interlocking Science and Beauty is the 20th annual orchid exhibitionpresented by the U.S. Botanic Garden and the Smithsonian Gardens. Featuring

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several hundred colorful owering plants on anygiven day, the focus is on how new ideas, technolo-gies and inventions are changing the way we study,protect and enjoy orchids. Through April 26. FirstFloor in the Special Exhibits Hall, National Museumof Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Call 202-633-1000 or visit mnh.si.edu.

RANDALL LEAR:RUMINATE MY RAINBOW TREES A graduate of the MFA program at AmericanUniversity, multimedia artist Randall Lear creates

whimsical works combining painting, sculpture andinstallation, grounded in architectural space andforms. Through April 12. Adah Rose Gallery, 3766Howard Ave. Kensington, Md. Call 301-922-0162 or visit adahrosegallery.com.

ROBERT CWIOK: ENVELOPING TIME A painter and collage artist, Robert Cwiok’s workconsists of several discrete chapters woven withstrong elements of continuity — emerging, evolving,fading away and reappearing. It often takes a secondor third look at his paintings to reveal the

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