Opinionat Metro Weekly magazine - News articles from Washington DC newspaper

How To Be Gay

In which Bret Easton Ellis is totally correct to defend his right to be such a prick

Published on May 16, 2013, 7:51am

I've been many different gay men over the course of my life. Like most of us, I started off as the closeted gay man who sometimes overcompensated with my behavior so I wouldn't appear feminine. I've also been the newly out gay man who overcompensated in the other direction and spent more than a few months flouncing around campus in misbegotten Chess King outfits. I've been the activist gay man, with the meta twist that I posed as the activist ...[more]

The Search Must Continue

Halted HIV-vaccine trial may be a setback, but it's not a defeat

Published on May 16, 2013, 7:46am

As HIV-vaccine trial participants, we grow accustomed to the routine blood draws, interacting with study staff and taking our computer-assisted interviews that catalog our risks. And, of course, the risk-reduction counseling to help us reduce our sexual risk-taking behavior. For almost three years this quarterly experience was a part of my life. It was a piece of my routine until I received a phone call that changed it all. It was an unexpected end to something that I thought I'd ...[more]

Creating Space

The Next Generation Awards honor and encourage young LGBT leaders, but we all have a role to play

Published on May 9, 2013, 6:33am

It was just over five-and-a-half years ago that I first brought the idea of the Next Generation Awards to Metro Weekly. Because I happen to be running a business, I fully admit that there were some business considerations behind the idea. But for me the goal of the Next Generation Awards has always been about something more than a marketing and PR strategy — it's about repaying debts to an LGBT community that has made not just the magazine a ...[more]

A Star Is Born

He may not be the first, but Jason Collins is a pioneer just the same

Published on May 9, 2013, 6:33am

Jason Collins is not the first active professional athlete to come out. Tennis star Martina Navratilova came out in 1981. Her courageous act, however, was no threat to male heterosexual dominance. Few people even know that baseball player Glenn Burke came out in the late 1970s, because sports writers at the time responded with a wall of silence. Most recently, top WNBA draft pick Brittney Griner came out on April 17. The girls are way ahead of the boys here. ...[more]

Annuals of Spring

Spring is the time to celebrate some significant LGBT anniversaries, both at home and at Metro Weekly

Published on May 2, 2013, 5:17am

Anyone familiar with my writings round these parts already knows that I am solipsism central, so I'll just jump right to the point and say what a special and important time of year spring is for me. Seriously, most of the good things in my life aside from my winter birth have happened as the tulips bloom and the trees turn green. Naturally, the first up is my sixth anniversary this weekend. We had our ceremony on May 5 because, ...[more]

Accidental Activism

How I found myself on the steps of the Supreme Court

Published on May 2, 2013, 5:16am

When I met my husband, Kelly Vielmo, almost 11 years ago, neither of us did anything that might be labeled ''activism'' on behalf of gay rights. Our lives had been fairly low key. Not our jobs, our friends, our hobbies, nor our volunteer activities screamed ''activist.'' If we were a flavor, it was vanilla. In a cosmopolitan city like D.C., we could just blend in. Then we had kids. Ten years into our relationship Kelly and I opted to foster ...[more]

Good Times for Bad Boys

A trip down a wild and wonderful memory lane as we get set to celebrate the Tracks reunion

Published on April 25, 2013, 3:58am

Long story short, I found myself cruising around the Tidal Basin in the back of a black limousine with famed porn director Chi-Chi LaRue, a local party promoter, an ex-Israeli soldier who spoke little English, and a stripper from one of Southeast D.C.'s dick bars. Alcohol and other social lubricants were involved and I have a distinct memory of an impromptu audition session that fell outside my job description as a freelance writer on one of my gayest assignments ever. ...[more]

Preventing a Mob

We must defend liberty and equality from fear and intolerance

Published on April 25, 2013, 3:55am

On April 19, after the arrest of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (hereinafter ''Johar''), residents of Boston's Watertown neighborhood applauded the police and chanted, ''USA! USA!'' Some American Muslims watching on TV had mixed emotions, taking the celebration as a xenophobic display. I took it as an expression of relief and gratitude. But my Muslim friends have a point. In the wake of a violent attack, it is easy to target minorities for group blame. With sufficient provocation, any crowd might ...[more]

Asian-American Voices for Immigration

Uplifting All Voices offers a chance for all communities to speak loudly as immigration-reform allies

Published on April 18, 2013, 12:52pm

This week, the Senate introduced a bill on comprehensive immigration reform, taking our national conversation on this issue to the next level. With legislative battles already being waged on the budget and gun violence, this bill enters an arena fraught with competing issues, but the national tragedy in the wake of the bombings at the Boston marathon tests the limits of our ability to keep focus and ''legislatively multitask.'' For the 25 years I've cared about this issue as a ...[more]

Immigration Reform, Marriage and Gay Rights

When we look at LGBT issues and immigration, we have to expand our focus beyond marriage equality

Published on April 18, 2013, 9:39am

Like basically every other white person who happens to be a citizen of the United States of America, I'm the product of immigration. I come from long lines of farmers on both sides of my family, so I understand having an attachment to the land that goes beyond the simple idea of ''this is where I live.'' You can develop an almost mystical attachment to land you live on, a type of attachment that's not limited to rural lives — ...[more]

Recent Opinion Articles