Vacation Post: Kristi Merritt is An Ignorant Fool

Kristi Merritt of Washington posted a photo series to her Facebook page that attacks transgender people and applauds those so-called Bathroom Bills in North Carolina and Mississippi.

First, Kristi Merritt dresses up in a sombrero, holding a Corona, and standing in front of a bag of tortilla chips, holding a sign reading: “Does this make me a Mexican?”

Then Kristi Merritt donned a pirate costume and asked the same ignorant question.

And lastly, Kristi Merritt put a picture of a dress and said that wearing a dress does not make you a woman. 

Yup, despite the fact that no trans person has ever been arrested for sexual misconduct in a public bathroom in the United States of America Kristi Merritt says trans women should not be allowed to use women’s restrooms because they are just men in dresses.

Wearing a dress doesn’t make you a woman.

Wearing a sombrero doesn’t make you Mexican.

Wearing a pirate’s hat doesn’t make you a swashbuckler.

But all those thing put together with Kristi Merritt's transphobic, backwards, asshatted idiotic thinking make Kristi Merritt a complete bigot and an utter fool.

Again … Kristi Merritt is a bigot and a fool, no matter what outfit Kristi Merritt’s wearing.

The Gaily Grind

Vacation Post: 7 Transgender Women You Should Know Besides Caitlyn Jenner

Every year on March 31, Transgender Day of Visibility highlights the accomplishments of transgender people. It's a day for transgender people to celebrate their community but also a day for the cisgender — people who are not trans — public to recognize the achievements of the transgender community and begin to see everything they can accomplish given the access and the opportunity. 

There are very few media narratives that celebrate the rich diversity of the transgender community, especially trans women, whose stories are often about the latest victim of trans violence or of the privileged Caitlyn Jenner. But there are many other trans women whose names you should know …

Bamby Salcedo 

As a Mexican transgender woman and a member of the immigrant community, Bamby Salcedo has been a leader in several activist movements, including immigration, HIV, LGBTQ issues, prison reform and the Latino community.

She formed Angels of Change, a transgender youth empowerment program; the TransLatina Coalition, through which she helped compile the report "TransVisible: Transgender Latina Immigrants in U.S. Society" and began TransLivesMatter National Day of Action. She's also the star and subject of the film Transvisible. Salcedo has garnered numerous recognitions and awards for her accomplishments — the Advocate named her one of 13 LGBT Latinos changing the world and Colorlines named her among one of 14 women of color who rocked in 2014.

Jennifer Finney Boylan

If you watch I Am Cait, then you know the actual star is Jenner's friend and transgender author, Jennifer Finney Boylan. She has authored 13 books, has her hand in multiple pots including appearing in and consulting for I Am Cait, and as a consultant on Amazon's Transparent. 

Boylan is also a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is a professor at Barnard College and serves as the national co-chair of the board of directors for GLAAD.

Jennicet Gutiérrez 

If you don't know her name, you may have at least heard her voice. Jennicet Gutiérrez is the transgender Latina who caused a media stir when she yelled out to President Barack Obama during the White House's LGBT Pride Month reception in 2015: 

"President Obama, release all LGBTQ in detention centers," Gutiérrez yelled out during the reception. "President Obama, stop the torture and abuse of trans women in detention centers."

An undocumented transgender woman, Gutiérrez is an organizer with Famlilia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement. Since her infamous shout to the president, she's been a leading voice in both the trans and undocumented movements.

Monica Roberts 

Roberts is an award-winning activist and the founding editor at TransGriot, a blog dedicated to a view of the world through the eyes of a transgender black woman. Her writings have been featured in the Advocate, the Bilerico Project and Ebony. 

Roberts works to empower people of color in the trans community to use their voices and to shed light on the struggles of all LGBTQ people in the African Diaspora. Aside from her journalism, she's also lobbied for change at both the state and local levels in Kentucky and Texas. She was part of the movement that passed the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which was then famously struck down by voters in November after a smear campaign reduced it to a few unfounded myths about transgender women in bathrooms. 

Jen Richards 

Jen Richards is the co-writer and co-producer of Her Story, a trans-themed YouTube series, and was also a series regular on I Am Cait. Richards founded the Trans 100, an annual list of the trans community's trendsetters, and created We Happy Trans, a website dedicated to telling positive transgender stories. In fact, Richards is quite the creator: She started the WTF Trans Dating and Trans Love Stories Tumblrs as well as monthly online Twitter #transchat and the Chicago-based group No Boys Allowed. 

Aside from writing and highlighting transgender voices, she was also the managing director of Grammy Award-winning contemporary classical ensemble eighth blackbird and president of New Music Chicago. 

Angelica Ross 

Her Story has another electrifying actress: Angelica Ross, the executive director and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises, a design firm and training academy that empowers, educates and employs members of the trans community and promotes entrepreneurship. 

She acts, sings, writes and works to make sure trans people have better economic prospects: What's not to love? 

Eden Lane

If you're wondering if there are trans people delivering the news rather than making it, look no further than Eden Lane, TV's first openly transgender news personality and an award-winning reporter based in Colorado. She was also the first openly transgender person to cover a major political event for PBS when she covered the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Though she is known for covering politics, she has lately shifted to covering Colorado's vibrant arts and theater scene. She even got to host her own show, In Focus with Eden Lane:

"I'm so grateful to my station for taking a chance with me. I wanted to be a journalist, not the 'first trans journalist.' I didn't have an agenda. I wanted to — and still want to — do good work. I never hid who I was, but I didn't lead with it, either. I am just another journalist who wants to be good at what I do." 

So, there you have it, seven names you should know going forward, but there are many more. Current estimates show that there are as many as 700,000 people who identify as transgender in the United States, and they're each talented in their own ways.

They are not Cait.

Identities.Mic

Vacation Post: Slang For Gay ... Old-School

I once had a person comment on the blog that they didn’t like me using the word “queer” when talking about The Gays. I responded that, while I know, and believe me, I know, the pain that word can cause, I was taking it back and in doing so, taking away some of the pain caused when I first started hearing that word in relation to me.

See, before 'gay' became the common and accepted word choice in describing homosexuals, there were a whole bunch of other words about men who loved men; some names were self-created and others were thrust, often cruelly, upon gay, bi, and queer men. 

So, as a way of keeping the words, and our history, alive, and, again, as a way of taking them back, let’s look at some ways in which people referred to The Gays …

Mary

A common, mostly innocuous term of the middle of the 20th century used among gay and bi men. An alternative: Mary Louise.

Light in the loafers

Mid-century American. It can refer more to demeanor than sexual practices, but it is mildly derogatory.

Friend of Dorothy

Refers to Dorothy Gale of The Wizard of Oz? Played by Judy Garland in the film? Get it? Huh?

Bent

Polite but derogatory; there was a Broadway play and film of the same name.

Poof

Australian/British slang that is said to be derived from the sounds the bugee makes when expelling air from a freshly stretched anus; poofter is also acceptable.

Flit

1950s American slang popularized by J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye.

Bugger

Can be as widely used as the word fuck with as many meanings. Based on the word buggery [sodomy], it carries with it a rowdy feel, as it is a word straight British men tend to favor.

Fairy

This one denotes not only homosexuality but effeminacy. 

Pansy

When British eccentric Stephen Tennant was but a lad, he ran out of the family mansion one morning to play, only to come screaming back to his mother in tears. When she queried him about his distress, he replied, “Mother, there are pansies in the garden, and they are staring at me!”

Fruit, also Fruitcake

A British term, possibly from the gay subculture language Polari. Fruitcake can also mean a crazy person because gay meant crazy.

Uranian

The earliest reference available come from Karl Heinrich Ulrichs' book The Race of Uranian Hermaphrodites, i.e., the Man-Loving Half-Men in 1864. The term came to be used mostly by German men. There is still a gay touring agency called Uranian Travel.

Nancy boy

Based on a vaudeville term. The Nance was a gay burlesque character that was a staple of the times, though it is now considered derogatory.

Pillow biter

It was ALLEGED that British MP Jeremy Thorpe, left, a former leader of the U.K. Liberal Party, was having a homosexual affair with Norman Scott, right, a model, and that Thorpe claimed he had to “bite the pillow” to keep quiet so his wife would not hear him being buggered in the next room. This story seems fairly conflated, but amusing enough to repeat here.

Shirt lifter

Well, obviously you don’t want to get your shirt besmirched when you're prpeared to bugger or be buggered, do you? 

Invert

Essentially meaning that despite outward markers of male and female gender, a person’s sexual nature was inverted. This term was popularized in the late 19th and early 20th century by sexologists, but doubtfully used among the actual inverts. 

And this was long before queer and fag and ass bandit and cock jockey and flamer and … oh there are so many ….

The Advocate

Vacation Post: FOX: New Evidence Hillary Killed Lincoln

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) — 

In what may be the most serious allegation ever made against the former Secretary of State, Fox News Channel reported today that Hillary Clinton was involved in the conspiracy to murder President Abraham Lincoln.

The latest charge against Mrs. Clinton was reported by Fox host Sean Hannity, who said that the evidence of her role in the Lincoln assassination came mainly in the form of e-mails.

According to Mr. Hannity, “If it’s true that Hillary Clinton killed Lincoln, this could have a major impact on her chances in 2016.”

The accusation against Mrs. Clinton drew a strong response from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.—S. Carolina): “There’s been a concerted effort by Hillary Clinton to cover up her role in President Lincoln’s murder. She has said nothing about it. This is bigger than Watergate, the Cuban missile crisis, and the Second World War put together.”

Responding to the allegation, Mrs. Clinton issued a terse statement indicating that she could not have participated in Lincoln’s assassination because she was born in 1947.

“That’s what she wants us to believe,” Sen. Graham said.

via Andy Borowitz at The New Yorker

Vacation Post: Broadway's Best Gay Showmances

by Kevin Burrows, for HuffPost Gay Voices

Last Friday, while surfing through the major Broadway websites, I came across a feature entitled "''Til There Was You': Broadway's Best Showmances." It was a collection of stories of 18 Broadway couples who fell in love while performing in or working on the same show. As I scrolled through the slideshow with the love stories and images of these couples -- most of whom I know -- I started feeling uneasy. And by the time I got to the end of the article, I was astounded. Of the couples depicted, not one of them was a same-sex couple.

How could this be? I mean, I'm pretty sure most people are aware of this (and even if people aren't, this major Broadway website certainly must be), but there are quite a few gay individuals in the Broadway community. I know, shocker, right?

I can easily rattle off a long list of same-sex couples who met on shows in New York or while in touring productions, including me and my husband. And most of these couples have been together for years, jumping at the opportunity to wed when the state of New York was brave enough to vote on and pass marriage equality into law.

The irony of being excluded from this piece was not lost on me. After all, we're not included onstage, so how could we possibly be included offstage? While many of the depicted romances occurred between men and women who were portraying couples, not one of the same-sex couples (again, including my husband and me) were afforded that opportunity. Aside from a small handful of gay-related shows, there are very few same-sex love stories being depicted onstage. This pissed me off. In fact, as I ran down the list of the same-sex couples I knew, I realized that none of us had been romantic pairings onstage. Our love stories included a Shark and a Jet, a stage manager and a chorus dancer, a musical director and a showgirl, and, in my own case, a straight, male-chauvinist cartoon character and a fork. (Perhaps the editor of the piece was concerned that my own pairing was a little too close to that marriage equality "slippery slope" we keep hearing about?)

Are our relationships somehow less than because we didn't have that magical opportunity to fall in love while pretending to do so onstage? Or worse: Is there some reason that our committed and loving relationships should be hidden away from theater-going audiences?

I thought about that gay, theater-loving kid in some small town somewhere -- this website offering him some hope and a connection to a potentially bright future -- seeing this feature and not seeing himself represented in any way. Once again, something is making him feel different, other, alone.

I want that kid to know that we are out here. And not only are we out here, but we are out here in huge numbers. We have fantastic, successful careers, relationships, marriages, and kids! That's what I want the next generation to see:

Kevin Burrows And Christopher Sieber

Kevin and Christopher met doing Beauty and the Beast in 2000. They have been together ever since and will have been married two years this November. Christopher is a two-time Tony Award nominee for his roles in Monty Python's Spamalot and Shrek: The Musical. Most recently he starred in the revival of La Cage Aux Folles.

Alec Mapa And Jamison Hebert

Actor Alec Mapa and producer Jamison Hebert, co-founder of Thought Moment Media, met in 2002 when Mapa was doing his solo show Dramaat Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum; Hebert was the directing intern on the production. They've been together 11 years and are proud fathers to their 8-year-old son Zion. 

Andy Monroe And George DeMarco

George DeMarco met Andy Monroe (composer of the Outer Critics Circle Award-winning musicalThe Kid, based on the book by Dan Savage) when they collaborated on a musical production of The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun. As of Sept. 1 they will have been together for seven years.

Jenifer Foote And Tracy Geltman

Jenifer Foote (Broadway actor, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Follies, Rock of Ages, A Chorus Line) and Tracy Geltman (company manager, Broadway's If/Then, Peter and the Starcatcher,The Addams Family, Rock of Ages) met in 2010 while working on Rock of Ages. Tracy was the show's company manager, and Jenifer was the dance captain. In typical "showmance" form, they tried to keep their relationship a secret from the rest of the company (probably unsuccessfully) for as long as possible. Now they very happily live together on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. 

Charlie Sutton And Mark Myers

Charlie and Mark met in February 2004. Mark was the dance captain of Wicked, which had just opened. Charlie came in as the first vacation swing. They spent hours together as Mark taught Charlie all the tracks to the show. They went on their first date a month later and have now been together for nine and a half years. The couple live together and have a 4-year-old dog named Parker. 

Claybourne Elder And Eric Rosen

The couple met in Kansas City, Mo., in 2009, when Clay was cast by director Moisés Kaufman in Into the Woods at Kansas City Rep, where Eric is Artistic Director. Near the end of the run, the two had their first date, and thus began a multi-city romance that culminated in an engagement proposal by Clay in July 2011. The two were married on July 28, 2012, in a wedding officiated by Doug Wright and Moisés Kaufman. 

Subsequent celebrations were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Kansas City, Mo., in August 2012. They now split their time between the West Side of Kansas City, Mo., and the Upper West Side of New York, N.Y., continuing their multi-city romance as a married couple. 

Colin Bradbury And Brian Bogin

Brian and Colin met almost six years ago working on Irving Berlin's White Christmas in Boston in 2007. Brian is a stage manager, and Colin is a performer. They were married on March 20, 2013. The legal ceremony was held in New York, but the wedding was celebrated on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean. 

David Eggers And Eric Sciotto

David Eggers and Eric Sciotto met doing the 1999 Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters. They started dating in the summer of 2001 and have been together ever since. They had a civil union ceremony in New Jersey, where they reside with their two kids, Sammy (4 and a half) and Olympia (1 and a half). 

Brad Oscar And Diego Prieto

Tony Award nominee Brad Oscar (The Producers) met husband Diego Prieto in 2005 on the first day of rehearsals for Damn Yankees at Arena Stage. It was Diego's second show at Arena and Brad's first, and they have been together ever since! They were recently married at Arena Stage by the theater's artistic director, Molly Smith. They currently live in Manhattan, and Brad is about to open in Big Fish on Broadway come the fall. 

Jeanne Smith And Pam Young

Jeanne and Pam met in the San Francisco company of Les Misérables in 1989; Jeanne was in the cast, and Pam was the production stage manager. They flirted for weeks, laughed a lot and became a couple within three months. The happy couple has been together for nearly 24 years and are more in love than ever! 

Gary Beach And Jeff Barnett

Tony Award-winner Gary Beach (The Producers) and husband Jeff Barnett met in San Francisco in 1989, when they were doing the first production ofLes Misérables there. Gary was playing Thenardier, and Jeff was a swing. They ran in the show for a year and half, fell in love with each other at the beginning of the run and have been together ever since, 24 years! The couple wed on June 14, 2013, in New York City. They now live in Palm Beach Gardens in Florida, and both still perform.

Gavin Lodge And Todd Ellison

Broadway conductor Ellison and actor Lodge have been together for the last nine years, since they worked together on 42nd Street. They now have two little boys via surrogacy, Ellison and 3-month-old Colton. They are both currently on Broadway in Annie (and incredibly sleep-deprived thanks to wonderful Colton!). 

Josh Rhodes And Lee Wilkins

The couple met 18 years ago while both were on tour in Costa Mesa, Calif.; a friend set them up on a date, and the rest has been a long, wonderful life together. Josh left his Broadway dancer life behind to become a choreographer around five years ago, and Lee has been working by his side ever since. Together they created the choreography for the Broadway production ofCinderella and the brand-new Broadway musicalFirst Date. The couple were married in front of family and friends in 2006 and made it legal once marriage equality was voted into law in New York. 

J.P. Christensen And David Rosales

The couple has been together for 19 years, having met doing a show at Tokyo Disneyland in 1994. They soon moved to New York, where they performed in multiple Broadway shows, includingCats, Fosse, A Christmas Carol, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. They also went on tour with Catsand have traveled all over the world performing together. The couple hopes to be married on their 20th anniversary next September. While they have no human kids, they count five dogs as part of their family.

Benjamin Taylor And Nathan Till

The two met in the West End while working onTaboo in 2002. Nathan was playing Steve Strange, and Benjamin was the resident director. They've been together ever since. 

Rich Roland And Raymond Sage

Raymond Sage and Rich Roland met while in the cast of the first national tour of Titanic: A New Musical in 1998. They started dating shortly thereafter, in March 1999, and have been together ever since. They married legally in Pasadena, Calif., in August 2008. Rich is now a full-time director, and Raymond is an Associate Professor of Voice for Musical Theatre at Penn State. However, Raymond still performs, and Rich has directed him in two productions recently: Urinetown and Ragtime. They split their time between their apartment in Manhattan and their farmhouse just outside State College, Pa., with their two Labrador Retrievers, Diggory and Finn. 

Sean McDaniel And Ben Cohn

Sean McDaniel and Ben Cohn are both Broadway musicians. Ben is currently the assistant conductor at Wicked, and Sean is the drummer atThe Book of Mormon. The couple has been together for 14 years and have a 1-year-old son named Allister. They have worked together two other times, on 9 to 5 and The Book of Mormon.

Stephen Oremus And Justin Bohon

Tony Award-winner Stephen Oremus (Kinky Boots) and husband Justin Bohon met doing All Shook Up in Chicago in 2005, then went on to do9 to 5 and The Book of Mormon together. The couple has been together for eight and a half years and married for two.

Michael Caprio And Randy Slovacek

Randy and Michael met at the recording session for the 1994 cast recording of the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! starring Carol Channing; Michael was VP of Publicity at Varese Sarabande Records, and Randy was in the cast of the show. In October they will celebrate 19 years together. In addition, they have been married twice: once in Canada and again in Palm Springs in 2008 before Prop 8 passed in California. Michael currently runs his own PR film, Caprio Media Design, while Randy directs and choreographs in the theater  world. You can read his blog, The Randy Report, which covers LGBT issues, entertainment and politics, at TheRandyReport.com.

Chad Lewis And Tom Bartlett

Chad Lewis and Tom Bartlett met several years ago on the Broadway musical adaptation of Monty Python's Spamalot. Chad was a stage manager of the Broadway production, and Tom was the stage manager of the Las Vegas version. They remained friends for many years before teaming up on the touring show of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, where their friendship turned into partnership. They add: 

It has been amazing to tour the country with each other, experiencing the amazing journey together. We feel very blessed to be able to share not only the wonderful work that we do in the theater together but also the beautiful gift of traveling. 

This photo of us was taken in a cabin way on top of a mountain in Mt. Charlston, just outside of Las Vegas. It was taken the morning of Tom's birthday, and it's our very favorite picture together.