Poolside View

Swimsuits for Men 2012

Published on May 24, 2012, 12:04pm

(Photo by Julian Vankim)} AFTER A WINTER'S worth of work hitting the gym, counting calories and achieving that shape, you can indulge with a little showing off in the summer sun. What better way to celebrate the brightest season than by relaxing poolside in some of the sexiest new swimsuits? Summer's short. Soak it in. Photography by Julian Vankim Art Direction by Todd Franson Models: Jayson Smith and Joshua Trusty Swimwear provided by Universal Gear Photographed on location at The Penthouse Pool Club at VIDA ...[more]

Drawn Together

With their queer artists' collective Boys Be Good, Christopher Cunetto and Jason Edward Tucker are finding that there's strength – and artistry – in numbers

Published on May 17, 2012, 2:45am

An interesting thing happened when Christopher Cunetto met Jason Edward Tucker. One could almost call it a Big Bang for the D.C. queer artistic community, but that might be a bit of an overstatement. It was more like a Big Bang followed by a slow, thoughtful burn. {Boys be Good: Tucker & Cunetto (Photo by Todd Franson)} The two artists – one who concocts delicate, sumptuously detailed works using an array of colored pencils, the other who deploys a camera ...[more]

The Gay Gourmand

Jonathan Bardzik feeds his passion at Eastern Market

Published on May 17, 2012, 2:30am

Jonathan Bardzik photographed at Eastern Market by Todd Franson, on March 31 Maybe you've heard that tired complaint about the word ''gay'' being ''corrupted.'' If anything, Jonathan Bardzik has reclaimed it. There's that winning smile, gregarious nature, the unmistakable joie de vivre. Bardzik is definitely gay. Of course, he also digs dudes – particularly his husband. {Jonathan Bardzik (Photo by Todd Franson)} That gaiety may have fueled a new chapter in Bardzik's life. ''A year ago, life was great,'' says ...[more]

How It Ends

In the pursuit of LGBT equality, not everyone sees the same finish line

Published on May 10, 2012, 4:50am

''We are an ahistorical people,'' Cleveland attorney Leslye Huff says. ''The number of lesbians in this town, who are under 40, who don't know that we had a monthly newsletter called What She Wants, that was run purely on volunteer energy and was just as present in our community as the Gay People's Chronicle,'' she says about the LGBT newspaper still published in the city. ''It's that kind of thing. ''We don't have our history, so we don't connect the ...[more]

Christopher Barnhill

The Next Generation Awards 2012

Published on May 2, 2012, 9:44pm

Christopher Barnhill may be only 25 years old. But to hear this Metro Weekly Next Generation Award winner tell it, he's already fulfilling his life's purpose. As a schools engagement manager with Metro TeenAIDS, a D.C. organization working to prevent the spread of HIV among young people and improve the quality of life for those already infected, Barnhill is often on the front lines of the emerging HIV epidemic, seeing firsthand how it affects marginalized youth. {Christopher Barnhill (Photo by ...[more]

Iimay Ho

The Next Generation Awards 2012

Published on May 2, 2012, 9:40pm

Iimay Ho remembers one of the first times direct activism paid off for her. While a junior in high school, one of her classmates drew a Chinese man during a discussion of Confucianism. ''Basically, straw hat, fortune cookie,'' she recalls. ''Any kind of offensive Orientalist things you could think of were on that poster.'' {Iimay Ho (Photo by Julian P. Vankim)} ''I actually spoke out against it,'' Ho says. Her teacher supported her and had her talk to the offending ...[more]

Terra Tempest Moore

The Next Generation Awards 2012

Published on May 2, 2012, 9:36pm

Describing Terra Tempest Moore, Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League Executive Director Andrew Barnett wrote, ''She is a natural leader, talented public speaker, and fierce advocate for those without a voice.'' It's an apt description, as Moore's voice is both authoritative – earned through her experience – and open to others, encouraging input with that rare talent of successful leaders. {Terra Tempest Moore (Photo by Julian P. Vankim)} Moore, who turns 25 on May 11, has been a part of the ...[more]

David M. Pérez

The Next Generation Awards 2012

Published on May 2, 2012, 9:33pm

Some gay people grow up to run screaming from conservative Christian upbringings. Not David M. Pérez. This Southern California native embraced the values of his youth and carries them forward into his social-justice work today. ''I did my high school career report on being a pastor or a missionary,'' he shares, fully committed at one point to adulthood as Pastor David, president of his high school's Christian club. ''I always had that hunger, I think from my parents, to give ...[more]

2012 Metro Weekly Next Generation Awards Selection Panel

Published on May 2, 2012, 9:30pm

The Next Generation Awards are chosen from a pool of community nominations by a panel of Washington-area LGBT leaders from the worlds of arts, activism, business and politics. The 2012 Next Generation Selection Panel members are: Glen H. AckermanManaging PartnerAckerman Brown PLLC Sheila Alexander-ReidCo-FounderMarry Me in D.C. Leslie CalmanExecutive DirectorMautner Project, The National Lesbian Health ...[more]

The 2012 Next Generation Awards

Christopher Barnhill, Iimay Ho, Terra Tempest Moore and David M. Pérez

Published on May 2, 2012, 9:06pm

As a community, it is vital that we understand our past so our history can be told. But if we hope to see change come in the ongoing fight for LGBT equality, the future is where we need to keep our eye. The Metro Weekly Next Generation Awards are our way of keeping our eye on a better future by honoring our next generation of LGBT leaders today. Nominees for the awards, which honor LGBT leaders under the age of ...[more]

Dining Out for Life 2012

Guide to charity-giving restaurants

Published on April 19, 2012, 7:17am

Food is universal. We have the technology to reduce our necessary daily intake of calories to a few ounces of liquid. That might be an amazingly efficient route to giving bodies what they need – no more, no less – but our planet's bounty feeds more than our stomachs. People come together around feasts, in every culture of the globe. Muslims end the Ramadan fast with joy. Jews come together to mark the Exodus from Egyptian slavery at the Passover ...[more]

Family Restaurant

Annie's Paramount Steak House

Published on April 19, 2012, 7:15am

For the latter half of the 20th century and now moving dependably into the 21st, Annie's Paramount Steak House has offered a warm welcome to those looking for a bite or beverage along 17th Street NW. That holds even more so for gay D.C. denizens who found a refuge in Annie's, a place to hold hands or otherwise let their hair down during decades when being gay could get a person fired – or worse. Raul DeGuzman wasn't in need ...[more]

Hunter's Beacon

Beacon Bar and Grill

Published on April 19, 2012, 5:09am

Steven Hunter's first job as head chef was at Perry's in Adams Morgan. ''I was there when they started the drag brunch,'' says Hunter, who worked at Perry's until 1996. ''It started off kind of slow but it took off like crazy.'' So crazy that Perry's essentially inspired a trend of drag brunches at area restaurants. {Beacon Bar and Grill: Steven Hunter (Photo by Todd Franson)} But despite all that front-of-the-house flamboyance, Hunter says restaurant kitchens remain an aggressive arena ...[more]

Light Touch

Café Berlin

Published on April 19, 2012, 4:51am

Washington is an international city, overflowing with embassies and other global institutions. That's not to say, however, that the District is brimming with Old World charm. That's where Irene Khashan's Café Berlin comes in. A stone's throw from Union Station, the Capitol Hill constant has been whipping up authentic, seasonal German dishes for more than a quarter century. Khashan is quick to point out, however, that her idea of authentic German doesn't necessarily agree with conventional wisdom. {Cafe Berlin: Irene ...[more]

To Serve, with Love

Freddie's Beach Bar

Published on April 19, 2012, 4:42am

''I collect them like baseball cards – I know all their names, I know their styles,'' teases Sonya Boring. She's talking about drag queens. ''I'm not particularly feminine myself,'' she explains, ''[but] I've just always been drawn to drag queens. {Sonya Boring: Freddie's Beach Bar (Photo by Todd Franson)} ''It takes a lot of guts,'' she adds, ''to put on 10 pairs of tights and wear women's makeup and walk up and down 23rd Street in Arlington. So I salute ...[more]

A Complete Guide to Dining Out for Life 2012

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Published on April 19, 2012, 4:17am

A complete guide to all participating restaurants as of press time, by neighborhood, including meals and what percentage of each bill will be donated to Food & Friends. This year's Dining Out for Life takes place on Thursday, April 26th. Please note that RESERVATIONS ARE SUGGESTED at most restaurants. Please call ahead or visit OpenTable.com. For an up-to-date list of restaurants visit foodandfriends.org. Read more about some of our favorite featured restaurants; Dining Out for Life 2012, Thursday, April 26 ...[more]

Bully Pulpit

Lee Hirsch made ''Bully'' to help him cope with his own baggage and to help bring to light a persistent problem in our schools

Published on April 19, 2012, 4:03am

Last month, Bully was fighting for its life. After being handed an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America -- effectively ruining any chance that an underage audience could see the teen-bullying documentary -- director Lee Hirsch and subjects from the movie visited Washington to urge the powers-that-be to change their decision. ''It's insulting,'' Kelby Johnson, a teenage lesbian from Oklahoma who appears in the film, said before the MPAA forum in March. ''It really sucks that they're ...[more]

Street Wise

Cyndee Clay constantly walks the intersection of society and sex, survival and discrimination in an effort to uncover the humanity hidden by stigma

Published on April 12, 2012, 4:32am

Growing up in suburban Maryland, the most dangerous element in young Cyndee Clay's life may have been going to public school. Hers was a conservative Mormon upbringing. Today, as the executive director of D.C.'s Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS) and sporting magnificent blue dreadlocks, one might guess Clay's trajectory did not follow its expected path. {Cyndee Clay of HIPS (Photo by Todd Franson)} ''I'm not living the life that my folks had hoped that I would live, but they can ...[more]