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Staging Trust, Love and Healing: Karen Hartman’s ‘Roz and Ray’ at San Diego Repertory Theatre

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San Diego Repertory Theatre is presenting Karen Hartman’s Roz and Ray, directed by Delcia Turner Sonnenberg, featuring Carla Harting and Steven Lone, at the Lyceum Stage. Set in Hartman’s hometown, San Diego, Roz and Ray portrays two people who are personally and professionally involved in the controversial treatment of hemophilia. The play spans 15 years, from 1976 through 1987 and a single day in 1991.

The beginning scene takes place at Children’s Hospital in San Diego in 1976, when Roz Kagan, a brilliant and caring doctor, explains to Ray, a father of twin sons with hemophilia, about a cutting-edge blood transfusion treatment using freeze-dried powdered concentrates containing Factor 8 and 9. Roz is excited about this new treatment because the concentrates can be stored and administered at home, eliminating countless trips to the hospital to receive conventional full-blood transfusion treatment. In the 1980s however, it was found that Factor 8 and 9 concentrates contained tainted blood from donors with AIDS, leaving more than half of the hemophiliac population in the United States infected with HIV.   [Read more…]

Edie And Thea: A Love Story | Video Worth Watching

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R.I.P. Edith Windsor (June 20, 1929 – September 12, 2017). Edith and her partner of over 40 years, Thea Spyer, were married in Toronto, Canada in May 2007. Thea had been diagnosed in 1977 with progressive multiple sclerosis and at the time of their marriage was already gravely suffering from related conditions. Thea died from complications related to her heart condition on February 5, 2009. On Thea’s death, Edith inherited her estate, and she was subsequently presented with a bill for $363,053 for federal estate taxes. If federal law had recognized the validity of their marriage, she would have been eligible for an unlimited spousal deduction and would not have owed anything in federal tax. Edith attempted to claim the spousal deduction but the IRS denied the request citing Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as the reason and compelled her to pay. Even though on the surface the issue was one of tax liability, fundamentally it was about equality. Thus, on November 9th, 2010, Edith filed the federal lawsuit seeking a refund that would eventually become the Supreme Court case United States v. Windsor where she succeeded in having the court declare Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.   [Read more…]

A Trans History: Time Marches Forward And So Do We | Video Worth Watching

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The Washington Post reports that General Mattis has put the military transgender ban on hold for the near future. The statement explained that he will first develop a study and implementation plan “as directed” by the president in a memorandum released Friday. After the panel makes its recommendations and he consults with the secretary of homeland security, he will provide his advice to Trump. In the meantime, policy regarding transgender service members will remain in place. And Mattis has been recorded exhorting troops to “hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it.”

While this hot mess of misguided military policy is being sorted out, here is a short clip to help us remember the struggles it has taken to get this far. Through a collaborative video from the ACLU (yes! the ACLU does video!), Transparent producer and artist Zackary Drucker, Emmy-nominated actress Laverne Cox and the creative team of Molly Crabapple and Kim Boekbinder, they tell the story of trans history and resistance.   [Read more…]

If ‘In a Heartbeat’ Doesn’t Melt Your Heart, You Don’t Have One | Video Worth Watching

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Time for a “Feel Good” video. Here’s a sweet animated short about a school kid coping with a crush on a classmate. It’s by two recent graduates of Ringling College of Art and Design, Beth David and Esteban Bravo, who created it in satisfaction of their senior thesis. The story sensitively unfolds, wordlessly and with a rich musical score by Arturo Cardelús.

(FWIW, I suspect that folks who have an issue with the young couple being same sex, are likely the same ones for whom a Supreme Court of twelve black lesbians would cause palpitations, while one of twelve white guys wouldn’t seem stacked at all.)   [Read more…]

Who’s Going to Protect Our LGBTQ Citizens? | Video Worth Watching

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Who was it now that I remember saying:

“As your president I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens …”

Oh yeah, it was this guy:

“The United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”

Why am I not surprised?   [Read more…]

Family Reconciliation in Twilight: World Premier of ‘Firepower’

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The Detroit Repertory Theatre’s world premiere of Firepower, written by Kermit Frazier and directed by Lynch Travis, explores the challenge of trust, honesty, respect, and love through the reunion of two generations of African American men.

Using the familiar structure of a family reunion and reconciliation, Firepower is packed with a number of issues and subjects from the history of the civil rights movement, racism and exploitation in American sports, search for and expression of identity, and the need for change toward further inclusion and diversity.   [Read more…]

‘Playing Politics’ and ‘School Choice:’ Code Words for Bigotry and Ignorance

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Republicans on the San Diego City Council united yesterday to oppose an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit before the United States Supreme Court involving the rights of transgender students.

The brief supports Gavin Grimm, a transgender student suing a county district in Virginia for the right to use public facilities, including boys bathrooms, in public schools.

Support came from the council’s five Democrats. Council members Chris Cate and Mark Kersey abstained. Lori Zapf simply didn’t show up. Republican Scott Sherman, who is termed out, voted to oppose the motion.   [Read more…]

Music as Self-Expression: Hershey Felder in ‘Our Great Tchaikovsky’

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By Yuko Kurahashi

The world-premiere of Hershey Felder’s Our Great Tchaikovsky (directed by Trevor Hay and dramaturged by Meghan Maiya) at the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s Lyceum Stage portrays Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s life (1840-1893) and music.

During the show’s run (January 12-February 12), the Repertory Theatre is also exhibiting the work of Boris Malkin (1908-1973) in its newly renovated gallery. A Belarusian (formerly Soviet Union) artist, Malkin created hundreds of works ranging from oil paintings, watercolors, drawings to wood sculpture and scenic design. The exhibition serves as a wonderful preshow.   [Read more…]

LGBT+ Rights Movement of 1969 and the Women of Stonewall

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Adrianah Moreno / Women’s Museum of California Blog

Gay bars in the ‘60s were some of the only places members of the LGBT+ community could go to, and be themselves without guaranteed prosecution, so it makes sense how the LGBT+ movement was ultimately founded right inside one called the Stonewall Inn, located in New York City. Bars like Stonewall were prone to police raids, where cops would shut down the bars for disobeying regulations targeting LGBT+ people. Most raids went down simply, cops would shut the building down and arrest anyone who wasn’t wearing “gender appropriate” clothing or dancing with someone of the same gender – but most raids weren’t like Stonewall.   [Read more…]

Here’s the Hate From Donald Trump’s Followers

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We’re sharing a compendium of tweets seen by SDFP editors on social media since election night.

Anybody who has any doubt about what’s coming and the need to organize, mobilize, and fight back should read these all the way through.

Does anybody have a plan yet? Not that we know of. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

That doesn’t mean people aren’t working on it.

Stay angry, my friends; build a network; give hugs where needed.   [Read more…]

Trump’s Misogyny Is Causing Millions Mental and Physical Pain

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Trump’s runoff of fear and anxiety is affecting many Americans.

By Kali Holloway / AlterNet

According to a recently leaked video from 2005, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump enjoys boasting about his regular practice of grabbing women “by the pussy.” Despite this revelation, Trump remains in striking distance of the presidency. A post-leak Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Hillary Clinton leading her opponent by a mere 4 points. An overwhelming number of Republican voters have expressed ambivalence about Trump’s remarks. But Trump’s words have resonated far beyond the circle of giggling, goading sycophants who surrounded him on that Access Hollywood bus.

For survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, the incident, far from the first example of Trump’s vile and violent sexism, caused yet another reopening of wounds only partially sutured by time. A 24-hour news cycle filled with Trump’s advocacy of sexual predation, disgusting misogynist remarks and allegations of sexual harassment and assault upon numerous women, as well as his hateful attacks on people of color, immigrants, the disabled and many others, have forced millions of survivors—many of whom already suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder—to mentally revisit the trauma of their abuse.   [Read more…]

Crohn’s Disease and the Purple Party: Why They’re the S**t

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The San Diego Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Imagine you’re a teenager. You’re in one of the stages of puberty. You’re trying to grow into yourself in so many ways. You’re going to school, making friends, finding extracurricular activities and hobbies you enjoy.

Yet, your path becomes frequently and annoyingly disrupted by severe abdominal pain and vomiting to the point where you become afraid to eat. You eventually develop a fever that lands you in the emergency room. Hours later, you’re admitted to the hospital for emergency surgery. You have ulcers along your digestive tract along with a blockage due to inflammation. Youre admitted to the hospital for an emergency surgery.

When you wake up, you’re told you have had an ileostomy – your colon and rectum have been removed and you have a stoma with an ostomy pouch attached. You’re taught how to live with this pouch, how you have to empty the pouch several times a day and change it every two to five days.

Great, you think.   [Read more…]

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