Arts & Entertainment
Calendar through September 12
Ana Matronic, Blondie in town, parties on tap for weekend
Friday, September 6
Friday, September 6Adodi, a same-gender-loving men’s group, hosts its bi-monthly potluck from 7-9 p.m. tonight at a member’s home in Burke, Va. For more information, email [email protected].
Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts its monthly “So, You Think You’re A Drag Queen?” tonight at 10:30 p.m. The winner will earn $200 and is chosen by the audience. Cover is $10 all night for guests 18-20 and $5 for guests 21 and over before 11 p.m. For details, visit towndc.com.
OUT NVA hosts “Gay Night Out,”, a bar crawl on King Street for charity, starting at 6 p.m tonight. Begin the night at Rock-It Bar (1319 King St., Alexandria Va.) with a drag show and happy hour. Purchase a wristband for $10 to aid nurses going to Haiti and receive Purple Drink Specials at each bar. For more details, visit facebook.com/OUTNVa.
The District of Columbia Arts Center (2438 18th St., N.W.) hosts its annual “1460 Wallmountables” exhibition through Sunday. Almost 100 artists feature over 300 works on 2×2 foot spaces in a range of styles and media. For details, visit dcartscenter.org.
Whitman-Walker Health provides free HIV testing at Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) from 10 p.m.-12:30 a.m. tonight. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.
Saturday, Sept. 7
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers today for a lost dog and cat rescue foundation at Falls Church PetSmart (6100 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, Va.) from 11:45 a.m-3 p.m. today. For more details visit burgundycrescent.org.
Ana Matronic, Scissor Sister’s front woman and long time LGBT advocate, performs tonight at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.). Doors open at 10 p.m. and cover charge is $8 from 10-11 p.m. and $12 after 11 p.m. Admission is limited to guests 21 and over. For details, visit towndc.com.
Adventuring, an LGBT outdoors group, hosts a hike through Paw Paw Tunnel near Cumberland today. The group meets at the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro Station (10300 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md.) at 9 a.m., and then walks through the tunnel to the banks of the Potomac and back through the tunnel. Transportation and trip fees are $25. For more information, visit adventuring.org.
Phase 1 of Dupont (1415 22nd St., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Booty Beach Ladies Dance Party” tonight. The winner of the party’s bikini and board shorts contest will receive cash and prizes. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and admission is $5. For more details, visit phase1dc.com.
Sunday, Sept. 8
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers today for the D.C. Central Kitchen (425 2nd St., N.W.) from 9 a.m.-noon. For more information, visit burgundycrescent.org.
Perry’s (1811 Columbia Rd., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Sunday Drag Brunch” today from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The cost is $24.95 for an all-you-can-eat buffet. For more details, visit perrysadamsmorgan.com.
The Arlington Gay & Lesbian Alliance (AGLA) hosts an ice cream social and firehouse tour at Aurora Highlands Community Center (735 18th St., South, Arlington, Va.) from 3-6 p.m. today. Free for AGLA members. Non-AGLA members suggested donation is $10. Firehouse tour is from 3-3:30 p.m. For details, visit agla.org.
Monday, Sept. 9
Blondie performs with X at the 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.) at 7 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $43 and include exclusive new music download codes from Blondie. For details, visit 930.com.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k20jR3FwEIU
The D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) hosts coffee drop-in hours this morning from 10 a.m.-noon for the senior LGBT community. Older LGBT adults can come and enjoy complimentary coffee and conversation with other community members. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Poker Face” poker game night at 8 p.m. Free to play. For details, visit nelliessportsbar.com.
Tuesday, Sept. 10
Whitman-Walker Health provides free HIV testing at Giant (1535 Alabama Ave., S.E.) from 7-9 p.m. tonight. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.
Trans Legal and Whitman-Walker Health host a name and gender change clinic at Whitman-Walker Health Services (1701 14th St., N.W.) from 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. tonight. Meet one on one with an attorney to complete name and/or gender change documents. Pizza is provided. For more information call 202-939-7627.
D.C. Bi Women hosts its monthly meeting at the Dupont Italian Kitchen Restaurant (1837 17th St., N.W.) in the upstairs room from 7-9 p.m. tonight. All women welcome regardless orientation, partner preference or relationship status. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
Wednesday, Sept. 11
Big Gay Book Group meets tonight at 7 p.m. at 1155 F St., N.W. Suite 200 to discuss “The Starboard Sea,” a powerful coming-of-age story by first-time novelist Amber Dermont. For details email [email protected].
The Lambda Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for duplicate bridge. No reservations required and newcomers welcome. If you need a partner, call 703-407-6540.
The D.C. Center and Pros in the City host speed dating for gay professionals at Chi-Cha Lounge (1624 U St., N.W.) from 7-9 p.m. tonight. Dating begins at 7:20 p.m. and there is a cash bar. Admission is limited to guests 21 and over. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
Us Helping Us (3636 Georgia Ave., N.W.) hosts a support group for black gay men living with HIV tonight from 7-9 p.m. For information, visit uhupil.org.
Thursday, Sept. 12
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers today from 6-8 p.m. for Food and Friends near the Fort Totten Metro Station (Red and Green line). Parking also available. For more information visit burgundycrescent.org.
SMYAL (410 7th St., S.E.) hosts “Women’s Leadership Institute” for LGBT women and their straight allies from 5-7 p.m. Discuss female sexuality, relationships and women’s rights. Ages 13-21. For details, visit smyal.org.
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Ripped-Hot Body Contest” tonight from 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Win up to $200 in prizes. $2 rail drinks from 9-11 p.m. Admission is 18 and up and is free.
Rude Boi Entertainment hosts “Tempted 2 Touch,” a ladies dance party, at Fab Lounge (2022 Florida Ave., N.W.). Doors open at 10 p.m. Drink specials $5 and vodka shots $3 all night. No cover charge. Admission limited to guests 21 and over. For more information, visit rudeboientertainment.wordpress.com.
Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga
Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show
Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.
Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”
La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.
“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”
Drag artists perform for crowds in towns across Virginia. The photographer follows Gerryatrick, Shenandoah, Climaxx, Emerald Envy among others over eight months as they perform at venues in the Virginia towns of Staunton, Harrisonburg and Fredericksburg.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Books
New book explores homosexuality in ancient cultures
‘Queer Thing About Sin’ explains impact of religious credo in Greece, Rome
‘The Queer Thing About Sin’
By Harry Tanner
c.2025, Bloomsbury
$28/259 pages
Nobody likes you very much.
That’s how it seems sometimes, doesn’t it? Nobody wants to see you around, they don’t want to hear your voice, they can’t stand the thought of your existence and they’d really rather you just go away. It’s infuriating, and in the new book “The Queer Thing About Sin” by Harry Tanner, you’ll see how we got to this point.
When he was a teenager, Harry Tanner says that he thought he “was going to hell.”
For years, he’d been attracted to men and he prayed that it would stop. He asked for help from a lay minister who offered Tanner websites meant to repress his urges, but they weren’t the panacea Tanner hoped for. It wasn’t until he went to college that he found the answers he needed and “stopped fearing God’s retribution.”
Being gay wasn’t a sin. Not ever, but he “still wanted to know why Western culture believed it was for so long.”
Historically, many believe that older men were sexual “mentors” for teenage boys, but Tanner says that in ancient Greece and Rome, same-sex relationships were common between male partners of equal age and between differently-aged pairs, alike. Clarity comes by understanding relationships between husbands and wives then, and careful translation of the word “boy,” to show that age wasn’t a factor, but superiority and inferiority were.
In ancient Athens, queer love was considered to be “noble” but after the Persians sacked Athens, sex between men instead became an acceptable act of aggression aimed at conquered enemies. Raping a male prisoner was encouraged but, “Gay men became symbols of a depraved lack of self-control and abstinence.”
Later Greeks believed that men could turn into women “if they weren’t sufficiently virile.” Biblical interpretations point to more conflict; Leviticus specifically bans queer sex but “the Sumerians actively encouraged it.” The Egyptians hated it, but “there are sporadic clues that same-sex partners lived together in ancient Egypt.”
Says Tanner, “all is not what it seems.”
So you say you’re not really into ancient history. If it’s not your thing, then “The Queer Thing About Sin” won’t be, either.
Just know that if you skip this book, you’re missing out on the kind of excitement you get from reading mythology, but what’s here is true, and a much wider view than mere folklore. Author Harry Tanner invites readers to go deep inside philosophy, religion, and ancient culture, but the information he brings is not dry. No, there are major battles brought to life here, vanquished enemies and death – but also love, acceptance, even encouragement that the citizens of yore in many societies embraced and enjoyed. Tanner explains carefully how religious credo tied in with homosexuality (or didn’t) and he brings readers up to speed through recent times.
While this is not a breezy vacation read or a curl-up-with-a-blanket kind of book, “The Queer Thing About Sin” is absolutely worth spending time with. If you’re a thinking person and can give yourself a chance to ponder, you’ll like it very much.
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