Queering the Convention

By Sunnivie Brydum

As the Democratic National Convention (DNC) draws ever nearer, you, as a Colorado resident, will undoubtedly be faced with a veritable onslaught of media coverage and options on how to spend that historic week. But don’t despair, dear reader – Out Front Colorado is here to let you know to which parts of the Convention you should pay the most attention, where GLBT and queer issues fall in the political lineup, and of course, which parties you absolutely can’t miss.

While the DNC is getting the most press of all the Denver happenings in August, there are, in fact, other important political events taking place in the city during that same time. The National Stonewall Democrats will hold their National Membership Convention at the Renaissance Hotel in Denver August 21-24, immediately preceding the DNC. The Stonewall Democrats is the nation’s only grassroots Democratic organization fighting for GLBT rights, and has more than 90 local and state chapters throughout the country. The National Convention will feature discussions on effective campaigning strategies at the grassroots and official levels, as well as a presentation by Keynote Speaker Judy Shepard.

Because the Stonewall Democrats’ convention takes place in Denver immediately before the DNC, the group will also host a “delegate boot camp” on Saturday, August 23, helping GLBT delegates learn how to get the most from their DNC experience. The Stonewall Democrats will also finalize the group’s national platform at the convention. A draft of the platform available at press time places marriage equality and gender identity protections at the federal level as top priorities. Once the platform has been finalized, representatives from the Stonewall Democrats will attend the DNC and begin working with congresspeople and Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign to ensure that the organization’s concerns are addressed. According to Jon Hoadley, Executive National Director, Stonewall Democrats is hoping to convince Obama to include mention of GLBT rights protections in his acceptance speech delivered on August 28.

“Obama is undoubtedly the most pro-equality candidate [to date],” says Hoadley. “We believe he will be an invaluable ally as president.”

The Stonewall Democrats is also partnering with nearly every GLBT organization in the city to sponsor Unity Dance ’08 on Saturday, August 23. This is one party you definitely cannot miss. Unity Dance ’08 will serve not only as a welcoming bash for all the GLBT visitors and media in town for the DNC, but also promises to be one of the best parties of the year. Hosted by Babes Around Denver (BAD) and Tracks Nightclub/EXDO Event Center, Unity Dance ’08 will feature a catered reception from 7 – 9 p.m., followed by a dance party featuring DJs Manny Lehman and Lydia Prim spinning dance music all evening. Denver staple – and First Fridays resident DJ – Trina J will also be spinning retro hits throughout the evening. The 22,000-square-foot space boasts three rooms, and press for the event promises 120,000 watts of sound.

In case that isn’t enough to convince you that this event is not to be missed, Unity Dance ’08 is also historic. As far as we know, no DNC host city has ever thrown a GLBT-exclusive party of this magnitude in celebration of the Convention. “Unity Dance ’08 is believed to be the largest GLBT gathering on record in any host city of a DNC event,” says BAD founder and Unity Dance ’08 organizer Dede Frain “It’s an opportunity to provide a welcoming social environment for all GLBT and straight allies, including delegates, media, Metro Denver residents and visitors.”

Not only is the event planning to welcome any and all GLBT people to Denver and the DNC, but it’s also truly a collaborative effort between the big names in the local and national GLBT community. National sponsors include the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the nation’s largest and most prominent GLBT civil rights organization – The Matthew Shepard Foundation, National Stonewall Democrats and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). Unity Dance ’08 is also sponsored by local groups Equal Rights Colorado, Colorado AIDS Project (CAP), the GLBT Community Center of Colorado (The Center), Boulder Pride, All Terrain Lesbians Foundation (ATL), Hip Chicks Out, Café Vivid, Project Angel Heart and, of course, Out Front Colorado. Many of these organizations will have informational tables set up for the initial reception with tips for getting involved on a local or national level.

However, organizers stress that Unity Dance ‘08 will be a fun, agenda-free event. There is no schedule for speeches or presentations, as the primary goal is to demonstrate what a welcoming, enjoyable city Denver really is. The space will be decorated in a “festive, patriotic theme,” according to Frain, and while BAD recognizes all the hard work that each of the sponsor organizations do throughout the year, Unity Dance ’08 is an “opportunity to just have fun.”

Doors open at 7 p.m., and admission is just $10 until 9 p.m., which includes the catered reception. From 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., tickets are $15, and they are $25 from 11 p.m. until close. Tracks/EXDO is located at 3500 Walnut St. in Denver. Your hard-earned cash will be going to a good cause, as proceeds from the event benefit HRC’s research, education and outreach efforts. More information is available at www.tracksdenver.com.

In addition to co-sponsoring Unity Dance ’08, HRC will also be hosting its “Rock to Win” concert at the Fillmore Auditorium on Tuesday, August 26. At press time, Melissa Etheridge, Cyndi Lauper and Rufus Wainwright had all signed on to headline the show. The concert is “a celebration of the progress our community has made” since 2004 when “GLBT issues were used in an attempt to distract and manipulate voters,” HRC President Joe Solmonese says on the organization’s Web site. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. For more details on “Rock to Win,” check out interviews with Melissa Etheridge and Cyndi Lauper in this issue of Out Front Colorado.

If you’re looking for other types of performance, look no further than the 16th Street Mall on Wednesday, August 27. New York-based artist and activist Sharon Hayes will be staging the first of a two-part performance piece titled “Revolutionary Love 1: I Am Your Worst Fear.” Beginning at 5 p.m. on 16th St. between Welton and California, 75 to 100 GLBT Colorado residents will read, in unison, a text authored by Hayes addressing political and romantic desire. They will repeat the 10- to 20-minute text three times over the two-hour performance. Hayes has a long history of public and political critique through performance art and has chosen to focus on grassroots political activism and queer theory for her performance here in Denver. She will show the second half of her performance, “Revolutionary Love 2: I Am Your Best Fantasy,” at the UnConvention in Minneapolis, outside the Republican National Convention. The “Revolutionary Love” series is sponsored by Creative Time, in collaboration with their summer-long national public art initiative, Democracy in America: The National Campaign. Hayes’ work is part of the city-sponsored, non-partisan art initiative Dialog:City, which brings nationally-renowned artists to Denver the week of the DNC to display their public art installations and performance pieces. For a full listing of the Dialog:City displays, as well as links to Hayes’ work, visit www.dialogcity.org.

For those who prefer to watch the political machine at work, the GLBT caucus meetings held at the Colorado Convention Center during the DNC will be open to the public, as previously reported. Of course, meetings for all the various caucuses will be held at the Convention Center – so you can go and listen to the real, grassroots efforts being made on issues you care about. Only official participants are allowed to speak at the caucuses, but anyone can attend free of charge, so any civic-minded citizen can stroll in and watch the event. Among other tasks, caucuses help determine parts of the national Party platform, so the meetings are an ideal way to truly see democracy in action.

If all of this still leaves you wondering what to do during DNC Week, well, you’re on your own. Of course, the influx of media, political personalities and celebrities will likely make for some fascinating people-watching throughout the city. Perhaps the most intriguing person to see will be Barack Obama when he accepts the Party’s nomination for president, as that speech was recently moved to Invesco Field at Mile High to accommodate the public. The deadline to apply for community credentials has passed, but more information on the event is available at www.demconvention.com.

The 2008 DNC is sure to be a historic event that will make Denver a recognizable name the world over. It would be a shame if Denver residents didn’t take full advantage of all the DNC has to offer. After all, it’s our city, so let’s show these out-of-towners how we roll out here in the wild, wild West.

Here and unqueer: more DNC events of interest

We’ve got some fantastic GLBT events going on in Denver during the DNC, but there are other things happening outside of our community that you might want to squeeze into your schedule. Here are some events that are not GLBT specific, but that you will want to pencil in and check out:

Mercury Café: ‘Allied Witches – Presidential Election Convention 2008’ August 22-23, 29, 7:30 p.m., Mercury Café; 303-294-9258, www.mercurycafe.com

The Mercury Motley Players perform Allied Witches – Presidential Election Convention 2008, a satirical exploration of our democratic process, with special “appearances” by everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Dick Cheney.

Arvada Summer Entertainment Series: The Capitol Steps Saturday, August 23, 7:30 p.m., Arvada Center; 720-898-7200, www.arvadacenter.org

This night full of good-natured, bipartisan ribbing is delivered up by the hilarious Capitol Steps gang – political satire at its best.

Hotel Monaco: Hercules, the Super Delegate Dog Monday, August 25, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., Hotel Monaco; 800-990-1303, www.monaco-denver.com

Hercules, Hotel Monaco Denver’s Director of Pet Relations, sporting his new red, white and blue Super Delegate tuxedo, will be in the hotel lobby for photos with both two- and four-legged fans. He will also be in the lobby at various hours on August 26-28.

Bovine Metropolis Theater: Three Political Parodies August 25-28, Bovine Metropolis Theater; 303-758-4722, www.bovinemetropolis.com

Bovine presents three special shows in honor of the DNC: Convention?, a satirical look at how not to get elected; Planet Washington, music, parodies and audience interaction spoofing politics and pop culture; and On the Spot, politically themed comedy based on audience suggestions.

The Manjushri Project: pictures of you: Images from Iran August 25-26, Free Speech Zone, Civic Center Park; www.picturesofyouiran.org

This 90-foot-long, 25-foot-tall structure features photographic portraits of Iranians by artist Tom Loughlin, printed on translucent silk panels. The installation also contains sounds recorded in Iran, including the voices of Iranian citizens talking about their lives.

Citizens for Safe Access: Medical Cannabis Rally Thursday, August 28, 1:15 p.m., begins: Bannock St. between 14th and Colfax by Civic Center Park, ends: Invesco at Mile High; 818-914-9560, www.citizens4safeaccess.com

Protesters will call on Barack Obama to change federal laws that prohibit medical cannabis in the 12 states where voters approved its use – including Colorado. This is the first national medical cannabis protest since 2000, and is coordinated by Richard Eastman, who has been using medical cannabis since 1994 to treat symptoms of AIDS. One speaker will be Irv Rosenfeld, who is, according to organizers, one of only four U.S. citizens supplied with medical cannabis through a U.S. government program.

Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret: Will Durst Friday, August 29, 8 p.m., Lannie’s; 303-293-0075, www.lannies.com

Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret and KGNU present political comic Will Durst, a five-time Emmy nominee and seven-time American Comedy Awards Standup of the Year nominee.

Melissa Etheridge rocks to win

By Jerry L. Wheeler

Familiar faces Cyndi Lauper, Rufus Wainwright and gay icon Melissa Etheridge take the stage at Human Rights Campaign’s political fundraising event, Rock to Win, on August 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver. Etheridge took some time from touring behind her latest album, The Awakening, to talk to Out Front Colorado about Rock to Win, her political background and her very first Christmas album.

Jerry L. Wheeler: Tell me about your involvement with Rock to Win.

Melissa Etheridge: I’ve been involved with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) for at least 15 years. Of course, as a gay person, they represent a lot of my issues and concerns for me and my family in the political spectrum. I think they do a great job of organizing the gay community to work for equality. I definitely show up as often as I can.

JLW: So you support HRC despite their stand against a transgender-inclusive ENDA bill?

ME: Did they do that? That I didn’t know. It’s a real struggle for our community. It’s gotta be all or nothing. That’s too bad – I didn’t know that. I need to be more educated about that. It’s funny because the whole transgender thing has been a lot in my life in the last few months – meeting a lot of people and realizing that there is no line that we can be on one side and they can be on the other. There is no us and them; it’s either everybody or nobody, and that’s what the gay world is trying to tell the straight world. We’re all the same. It’s love, and we’re all one on this earth and we’re all one people. We can’t say, ‘Except for them.’ That doesn’t work.

JLW: HRC dinners have been protested, and there have been walkouts due to their ENDA stance.

ME: I didn’t do my homework, and they certainly didn’t tell me they did that so ... maybe I’ll have to say something about that. I’ll definitely talk to Joe (Salmonese).

JLW: You’re pretty politically-minded – does that come from your parents?

ME: It’s a little bit of a parental thing. I didn’t know that until recently – I was like, ‘Oh, that’s where I got my love of all this.’ My father was a high school teacher, and he taught American Government, and my mother worked as a computer scientist for the Army, and she was a very intelligent woman. We always had Time magazine – when I was, like eight years old, I’d be reading Time magazine. I just got to know the world and the way our government runs. My father had a great respect for the government and democracy and the Constitution, and he really taught me how it works, so that when I became an adult and got out there in the world, I’ve always been fascinated and involved in politics.

JLW: Did you ever envision yourself as a gay icon? Did you ever think it would happen to the extent that it has?

ME: Oh, gosh, no. I didn’t even think it was possible. In the mid-’80s, when I was really trying to break into the business, there was Martina (Navratilova) and Billie Jean King, and that was it. I just didn’t think it was possible, y’know, when you looked at music. I mean, Janis Joplin was bisexual and that sort of thing, but it was all very hush-hush. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my gayness – I knew I wouldn’t deny it. That would have made me feel really icky, so everyone just stepped around it. No one really brought it up.

I was playing lesbian bars for five years. I had a huge lesbian following in Southern California, and then I played women’s music festivals, so it was known underground, in that subculture, that I was a big ol’ dyke. I was in this big straight playground, but word of mouth would get around, and I’d always have this big gay and lesbian following. It wasn’t until a few years later that I said, ‘I have to be me, and if I get kicked out of the playground, then so be it.’

JLW: What prompted you to come out?

ME: A lot of things. I had done my third album and everyone was starting to know who I was and started to know my music was personal, and they were asking personal questions. I could use non-gender-specific pronouns for so long. I did an interview with a guy, doing my regular little dance routine about ‘my lover’ and ‘my partner,’ and he went back and replaced those with ‘my boyfriend.’ He totally misquoted me and made me look like a big old straight girl and a big liar. It freaked me out, and I said, ‘It’s just gonna make me nuts – I have to be who I am.’ I told my management, ‘Look, I’m gonna come out.’ I didn’t know how. I actually thought I was gonna do it on the Arsenio Hall Show – he always had me sit down and talk, and he was a friend. Before I could do that, I was involved in Bill Clinton’s inauguration, and I was involved in HRC and other organizations doing the Triangle Ball, and there was a bunch of powerful gay people, and it was like, ‘Yes, yes, I’m gay, too,’ and that was my coming out.

JLW: What would you like to do that you haven’t yet done?

ME: Change the world. I want to see us become stronger, become the country we can be – and the American idea of equality for all and democracy and you work and you do your best and this is a country where you can, no matter what you are, who you are, what you look like, who you love – no matter what, you are a human being and you have certain inalienable rights.

JLW: Do you think Obama can do that?

ME: I think it’s a beginning. It all depends on how much he is controlled by the multi-national corporations that control this whole world. I think that nowadays our leaders are pretty much stand-ins for who really controls the power in the world. I think that we, the people, have to exercise our democracy. I think our education doesn’t teach us how this works and how we can vote our wishes.

JLW: Can you still be impressed? Who or what can do that?

ME: Courageous people like Cindy Sheehan. Or Randi Rhodes, who speaks truth no matter what might happen, no matter the consequences. She (Rhodes) knows she has to speak truths and tell the truth, not for ratings, not so she can sell something on a commercial, but something she feels in her heart. People who are speaking their truths and feeling the consequences of it, because a lot of people don’t like to hear the truth.

JLW: What’s your next project?

ME: Well, I’m on tour now for The Awakening, and I actually have a Christmas album that’s going to be coming out. Yes, there are a few standard Christmas songs, but half of it is original songs. That part of the year, that season of celebrating the winter solstice got hijacked by religious folks, and I think there’s a lot of people who don’t necessarily buy all the repressive religious dogma, yet they feel the season’s important, and that time of year is for coming together. It’s the darkest and it’s the longest and it’s winter – and then we need to celebrate the coming spring. I would like to have the soundtrack to that – it’s called A New Thought for Christmas.

JLW: You mentioned Janis Joplin earlier – whatever happened to the Joplin biopic you were connected with?

ME: Hollywood happened to it. I don’t know how they get anything done in that city. It just goes around and around – ‘We have to have a name, we have to have this and this and this’ – until the project just runs itself into the ground. I just jumped off and said, ‘No, thanks – you guys are nuts.’ I don’t know if Janis wants a movie made about her life, because it’s gone on for 14 years at least.

JLW: Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have gotten a lot of press lately because they’re essentially giving music away on the Internet – have you thought about doing something like that?

ME: I have one more studio album after the Christmas one with my label, and then I’m essentially a free agent. And I’ll look at those options of presenting my music on the Internet. I know that where I make my money and where I do my best is in live performances. That’s really my main concern, so the music – there’s lots of options of how to present it to the world. I think the whole music business is in chaos right now because it’s changing – we’re not going to need distribution or marketing.

JLW: Anything else you’d like to tell our readers about Rock to Win?

ME: I’m looking forward to it. I do enjoy playing to a predominantly gay audience because I get to be more gay onstage than I do when I have my mixed audiences, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m going to have a good time with that, but now I’m gonna have to start looking into the politics behind HRC now – do my homework and figure out what’s going on.

For more info on Rock to Win, visit www.hrc.org/rocktowin.