Broward County is seeing a resurgence in regional theater this fall. Slow Burn Theatre Co., the resourceful troupe that has built a strong reputation bringing new life to the quirky musicals that didn’t do so well the first time around on Broadway, is moving from West Boca High School to the Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater. The first production in their new home is the stage adaptation of the film, “Big Fish,” Oct. 22 – Nov. 8. Tickets and more information at BrowardCenter.org.

Wanna look butch? Get a truck. Wanna be seen? Get a convertible. But if you want to look sexy, get yourself a coupe.

On May 21, 2014, I was honored to be in attendance at the White House ceremony when our nation released a United States postage stamp honoring Harvey Milk, a gay man who became the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, when he spectacularly won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

It was first introduced in to Congress in 1974

It’s been more than a year since LGBT Floridians celebrated marriage equality in the state, but the fight for equality still rages on.

It was also last year that the Equality Act was introduced in Congress, filled with eager goals for LGBT Americans to be able to live free from discrimination. 

“The Equality Act is definitely historic, but not unprecedented,” pointed out Chris Rudisill, the new executive director at the Stonewall National Museum and Archives.

It all began on May 14, 1974, when Democratic Reps. Bella Abzug and Ed Koch brought forth the Equality Act of 1974 to the House of Representatives, which would make it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their sexual orientation.

“Hopes were actually high, even in a time prior to any previous pro-LGBT equality legislation,” Rudisill said, noting that the early ‘70s were a time of great civil rights fervor in the country, namely for gay rights.

The Stonewall Riots kicked up the movement in 1969 and various grassroots advocacy groups were hitting the streets in newsworthy protests and “zaps.” However, despite their efforts and the interest in gay rights nationally, the bill failed to make it past the committee. Various versions of the bill would be resurrected three more times in 1975, but still failed.

Twenty years later, in 1994, congressmen tried another angle to give equality to LGBT people through the Employment Non Discrimination Act. Every year it has been brought forward -- save for two years during President George W. Bush’s administration -- and every year it failed. Rudisill noted that it had the best chance of passing in 2007, but only if gender identity had been removed from the bill.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, 63 percent of LGBT Americans have experienced discrimination in the workplace, so ENDA would prove to be vital. Currently, only 19 states have protections for LGBT people in the workplace, namely states in the West and Northeast.

In July 2015, the Equality Act was resurrected from the history books by Democratic Rep. David Cicilline. After all, LGBT people deserve equality on all fronts, not just in the workplace. The new bill expands upon the famed Civil Rights Act of 1965 and guarantees protections for LGBT people, including housing, education, the workplace, and more.

“There’s a lot of very strong support for the bill,” said Brandon Lorenz, communications campaign director at the HRC.

“It’s a brand new bill, but we had a record number of cosponsors upon its introduction, and endorsement from Ted Olson and David Boies,” he added, referring to the two lawyers who fought against and ultimately won their lawsuit that overturned Proposition 8 in California.

However, Lorenz sees this as a long-term project for America, not an overnight guarantee. Throughout 2016, HRC plans to help build support for the bill in the business community and in Congress.

As for the American people? There’s an overwhelming percentage of support for equality for LGBT people, regardless of political affiliation. According to the HRC, 78 percent of Americans support nondiscrimination laws for LGBT people. Most Americans, in fact, would probably be surprised to learn that LGBT people don't already have these protections.

“One should have the opportunity to earn a living, to live free from fear of discrimination, and provide for their families, including people who are LGBT,” Lorenz said. “There are a number of states across the country where you can get married, maybe post a picture on your Facebook page, and you’re at risk when you go back to work... because we don’t have explicit nondiscrimination protections.”

History buffs, travel enthusiasts and opera lovers can all find something to adore at the Israeli Opera productions that are performed at Masada. Against a desolate but magnificent scenery, the Israeli Opera delivered open air performances this past summer that brought history and passion to life in a region that has not changed in many epochs.

and Have Aspirations for Higher Office

Customarily, my editorials in the Mirror have been promotional pieces celebrating the creativity and diversity of the magazine. Not so this issue.

Once again, this issue of the Mirror is smaller than it has been in the past. There is no denying the reality that we are pandemically challenged and Covidically compromised.  

Table of Contents

The Mirror is a quarterly LGBT glossy magazine published by South Florida Gay News, and is distributed in major cities across the country, as well as our normal distribution points in South Florida. We use ISSUU for our PDF and flip book hosting.  You can download full PDFs by clicking on an issue, and then select "Share:Download" on the bottom of the flip book.

Be sure to pick up the latest copy of The Mirror Magazine at our normal distribution points, of read it online by clicking here!

Gallup sought to find out the most conservative states in the country, and after a year of polling, the results came in: Alabama, North Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi, and Utah.

As much as we all love to relax over a leisurely meal, let’s face it, we usually don’t have the time. How often have you been running errands or have only a few minutes between appointments and find yourself so hungry you could eat the steering wheel? When that happens, fight the urge to pull up to the drive-through of a fast food franchise, and check out one of these options.

Jack's Old Fashion Hamburger House

4201 N. Federal, Fort Lauderdale

954-565-9960

591 S. Cypress, Pompano

954-942-2844

JacksOldFashionHamburgers.com

Jack’s not only looks like a throw-back to a ‘60s burger joint, the menu still reflects that simple menu. While not quite the same price as you’d pay back then, the burgers are pretty reasonably priced, especially when you compare them to the slew of new “gourmet” burger joints (I’m talking to you BurgerFi and Shake Shack). Cooked fresh to order, the burgers range in size from quarter to half pound and are ground fresh daily from whole briskets of USDA beef. They taste like a real hamburger that your dad used to cook on the grill.

Humpy’s Pizza

2244 Wilton Dr., Wilton Manors

954-566-2722

HumpysPizza.com

You can’t beat Humpy’s meat. Humpy’s features standard (sausage, meatball, pepperoni) and unusual (Buffalo and BBQ chicken, roasted wild mushrooms) pizza toppings, available by the slice, and those slices are huge. Check out the lunch special; you get a slice, salad and soda for $5 (slightly more for special ingredients). There is also an occasional special; buy two slices get a soda for free.

Dairy Belle

118 N. Federal, Dania Beach

954-920-3330

DairyBelleIceCream.com

Canadians, and those fond of Canadian cuisine (!) head to Dairy Belle for that classic poutine, a pile of French fries tossed with salty, mozzarella-like white cheese curds smothered in hot gravy. The gravy melts the cheese and you’re left with a delicious mess. Dairy Belle also offers a variation, poutine Italienne, substituting red sauce for the gravy. Or, try the galvaude, which adds shredded chicken and peas to the classic poutine. Order a large with the works and you’ll still walk away with change from your $10.

Zona Fresca

1635 North Federal, Fort Lauderdale

954-566-1777

ZonaFresca.com

Yes, it is a chain, but a small one, and all of the food is made to order. That means you may have to wait for a few minutes for your food, but I’m certain you won’t mind; the guys behind the counter are gorgeous. The dining room is also usually filled with so many hot guys that you’d think it was the break room for a porn shoot. I’m partial to the burrito with marinated charbroiled chicken, a choice of black or pinto beans, jack and cheddar cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, and sour cream. Best of all, it’s only $7.95 and it comes with a handful of freshly made tortilla chips. Other filling options include the roasted pork or machaca burrito with slowly braised shredded beef, pinto beans, jack and cheddar cheese, avocado, lettuce and pico de gallo. If you’re looking for something lighter, order what all those hotties are having; the Cali-wrap, which features chicken, avocado, tomato, onion, cilantro and lettuce, tossed in lemony dressing or the grilled shrimp and mango salad. Nothing here costs more than $10.

Knucklehead Burgers

4900 S. University, Davie

954-434-0013

KnuckleHeadsBurgers.com

If you’re looking for a taste of the Midwest, head over to Knucklehead and order the Mahoney's Baloney. The sandwich features two thick slices of grilled Boar's Head bologna, a fried egg and American cheese between two slices of Texas toast. It ain’t healthy, but it sure is good. And, it’s only $6.

Smitty's Old Fashioned Butcher Shop

1980 NE 45th Street, Oakland Park

954-771-9341

SmittysMeatsAndWines.com

The old-school butcher shop doesn’t make a big deal about it, they don’t even mention it on their web site, but they’ll put together a hearty sandwich for you. Opt for the Italian, laden with salami, sopressata, and ham, and then dressed with hot and sweet peppers, a ripe tomato, provolone, onions, mustard, oil, and vinegar in a crusty roll.

Pollo Tropical

PolloTropical.com

OK, so it’s a chain with hundreds of locations, but I have to admit I love the food at Pollo Tropical and so does my husband who is a picky eater and a vegetarian! I usually opt for the chicken and rib combo. It’s a carnivore’s dream; featuring one-quarter of a chicken and a half-rack of Caribbean Ribs. The tropical barbecue sauce and herbs must be laced with crack, 'cause I’m addicted. I also appreciate the variety of sauces available. In addition to the Caribbean sauce, the condiment bar offers up guava BBQ, pineapple rum sauce and a cilantro cream. The chicken wings are equally good and the Tropi-Chop bowls allow you to customize your meal by picking a protein (chicken, mojo roast pork or calypso beef), a base (yellow, white or brown rice with veggies or lettuce) and toppings (beans, chopped fresh tomatoes, corn, sautéed onions and sautéed peppers). Even the sides are not your typical fast food fare; tomatoes and red onions in a balsamic vinaigrette, steamed green beans in a garlic-cilantro butter, macaroni and cheese and, often, Caribbean corn soufflé. There’s a vegetarian Tropi-Chop and often seasonal options, such as shrimp.

The next time your stomach starts growling in traffic consider one of these options where you can “have it your way” because “you deserve a break today,” so “head for the border.”

“Café,” in continental Europe, refers to a traditional type of coffeehouse, but elsewhere "cafe" may refer to a tea room, small and cheap restaurant or other casual eating and drinking places. A coffeehouse may share some of the same characteristics of a bar or restaurant. In this country Coffeehouses and coffee shops range from owner-operated small businesses to ubiquitous multinational companies such as Starbucks.

From a cultural standpoint, Cafes have, in the past, served as centers of social interaction by providing patrons with a place to congregate, talk, entertain one another, or pass the time, whether individually or in small groups.

They can also serve as an informal club for its regular members. As early as the 1950s Beatnik era and the 1960s folk music scene, Cafes/coffeehouses have hosted singer-songwriter performances, typically in the evening. It is there that news is communicated and where those interested in politics freely criticize the government without being fearful. Innocent games resembling checkers, hopscotch, and chess, are played. Poets take turns telling stories in verse or in prose.

Think of Paris or Rome’s Cafes: vibrant, noisy, bustling, full of people engaged in face to face conversations, and then enter a Starbucks or any American Café.

You will be hit by the sound of silence. Since the development of Wi-Fi, coffeehouses with this capability, especially in the U.S., have become places for patrons to access the Internet on their phones or tablets and the line between talking and socializing has been blurred, the hope is that it will not blur the line between talking and thinking because Facebooking or Tweeting is like muttering to oneself.

At any given time of the day the tables, the bar stools or the couches are filled with young men on Grindr, if you are in the gayborhood. In the straight venues men and women are silently sipping lattes, immersed in isolation, while peering into their screens swiping on the faces of strangers they have not yet met. They are on Tinder, Hinge, Happen, OkCupid, whatever.

People used to meet their partners through proximity, by a chance encounter, in a noisy bar, or in a real "live" cafe. Now dating apps are surpassing any other form. It's like online shopping, browsing for a person instead of a microwave. Nobody knows how to talk face-to- face since their anxiety about intimacy comes from having grown up on social media, forming their first impressions of an individual based on Facebook rather than human connection. They are absorbed and too anxious about what tweet they might be missing. There is no emotional intimacy and the world around them is no longer real unless it is reflected off a small screen. Many find it difficult to talk to one another without technological devices. Social media and its endless apps are eroding emotional, social, even cultural development. Mental muscles become flabby and the mind lapses into a complete and comfortable vacuum.

Starbucks and the like are just one aspect, it happens everywhere, all around us, just stroll the boulevards of a big city, or the sidewalks of a small town, people are bumping into each other, into things, into the oncoming traffic, tripping all over the place, and they have iPhones in their faces or ears.

Ironically with all this “we are more connected than ever” we have never been farther apart. Conversation is fading away, a lost art. We have become more detached and isolated from one another, even lonelier, because this hyper interactivity is shallow if not ephemeral. And even in public places we meet fewer people now, and when we do our bonds are not as meaningful because we are distracted by wanting to contact those who are not present. It is as if people are instantly bored with whoever is sitting in front of them and so they click and wait and swipe and wait for somebody else to chime in. We want to spend time with machines that seem to care about us. We expect more from technology and less from each other.

We need less isolation and more real socialization with family and friends. Our society seems to have lost stimulus and ideals, communication is reduced to 140 truncated characters interspersed with the frivolous narcissistic selfie.

I unplugged long ago yet I don’t feel disconnected, quite the opposite. I can actually hear and see what’s really important. And the fact is, I don't miss a whole lot when I'm not on social media. You should try it. Sometimes it can be liberating because we need to focus on the many ways technology can lead us back to our real lives, our own bodies, our own communities, our true friends, our own politics, our own planet away from this opaque reality and the globalization of indifference.

When will they make an app for a nap?

Besides the fact that he created a new system for detecting pancreatic cancer, Jack Andraka is a pretty normal kid. The 16-year-old goes to high school in the Annapolis, MD area, had a blast at homecoming with his friends, took the PSAT, and enjoys kayaking and origami.

Out singer/songwriter Tom Goss has been busy this year. In May, he released a catchy new CD, “Wait,” with the single, “Illuminate the Dark.” He also appeared in writer/director Rob Williams’ entertaining mystery, “Out to Kill.” In the film, Goss played the murder victim, Justin Jaymes, an out singer/songwriter—check out his sexy video “You Don’t Know How Hard. “ Jaymes is killed for reasons unrelated to his music. (Goss does get to perform a few tracks before he snuffs it).

When he came out in July 2012, Anderson Cooper was responsible for yet another normalization of LGBT presence in mainstream media — but that’s not to say that he’s the only one to have done so.

Far from it, LGBT celebrities are coming out regularly now, strengthening the already strong LGBT movement across the country, showing people that there is no shame — and there’s indeed pride — in being themselves. The Mirrorhas compiled a short list of other newsworthy news people who’ve come out in stride, other than the famous Cooper.

Here they are…

Rachel Maddow

Maddow was ok with coming out all the way back in college, and even offered her college newspaper at Stanford University the expose. Her only condition: That the paper wouldn’t print the interview until she came out to her parents.

But they did.

Maddow wrote about the experience in a March 2012 editorial for the Daily Beast. Here’s an excerpt from the piece in which Maddow talks about her parent’s reaction to the student newspaper article:

They would have had a hard time with me coming out anyway, but this was a particularly nasty way for them to find out. They’re wonderful now, and couldn’t be more supportive, but they took it poorly at first, which I don’t fault them for. They were shocked and upset and hurt.

Maddow is host of the Emmy Award-winning “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC. “The Rachel Maddow Show” features Maddow’s take on the biggest stories of the day, political and otherwise, including lively debate with guests from all sides of the issues, in-depth analysis and stories no other shows in cable news will cover.

She also authored “DRIFT: The Unmooring of American Military Power,” which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list in March 2012. “The Rachel Maddow Show” has been nominated twice by the Television Critics Association for the “Outstanding Achievement in News and Information” category and the show took home a GLAAD award in 2010.

Don Lemon

Lemon, over at CNN, came out publicly in 2011 through his memoir “Transparent,” but said in subsequent interviews he’d always been out to his CNN co-workers. The coverage reached the pages of the New York Times.

Lemon had been with CNN since 2006. He now anchors CNN Newsroom during weekend prime-time and serves as a correspondent across CNN/U.S. programming. Among his reporting notches, as listed in his biography: “He’s reported and anchored on-the-scene for CNN from many breaking news stories, including the George Zimmerman trial, the Boston marathon bombing, the Philadelphia building collapse, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Colorado Theater Shooting, the death of Whitney Houston, the Inaugural of the 44th President in Washington, D.C., the death of Michael Jackson, Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana, and the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Whew.

In 2009, Ebony named him as one of the Ebony Power 150: the most influential Blacks in America. He has won an Edward R. Murrow award for his coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C. snipers. He won an Emmy for a special report on real estate in Chicagoland and various other awards for his reporting on the AIDS epidemic in Africa and Hurricane Katrina.

Thomas Roberts

Roberts publicly came out at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association in 2006 (in Miami). And six years later married his partner of 12 years, according to the Daily Mail:

Mr Roberts and Mr Abner, both 40, followed each other as their careers exploded -- moving the couple from Virginia to Philadelphia to Atlanta to Washington to Los Angeles and finally New York.

They often found themselves separated by hundreds of miles and battling the exhaustion of maintaining a long distance relationship.

Roberts left his gig at CNN in 2006 and joined up with NBC four years later, the departure having nothing to do with his orientation.

Here’s a piece of trivia: Roberts co-hosted (with Spice Girl Mel B.) the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.

Jane Velez-Mitchell

It wasn’t intentional or pre-meditated, but when Velez-Mitchell was on the radio discussing an anti-gay senator who’d been caught in what seemed like a gay scandal (he brushed a man’s foot in the bathroom, possibly signaling that he wanted a sexual encounter), she felt it was wrong to leave this pretty big detail about herself out. Here’s an excerpt from a piece she wrote for the Huffington Post about her big reveal:

We were talking -- on air -- about the hypocrisy of people like Craig who had a long record of antagonism to gay rights, having voted against gay marriage and having supported banning gays from serving in the Boy Scouts.

Here I was, on the radio, chatting -- at length -- with an openly gay talk-show host about Senator Larry Craig's hypocrisy, and I hadn't said a word about being gay myself. Meanwhile, Al was regaling his listeners with the story of how he came out. As the conversation wore on, minute after minute, I became increasingly uncomfortable attacking the Senator for dishonesty while I, myself, was lying by omission.

So during a commercial break, she told the host she’d be coming out. And she did.

The Headlines News anchor took over for Glenn Beck when he left for Fox in 2008.

Steve Kornacki

This guy is the third one to come from NBC (where LGBT people do exceptionally well, it seems).

He’s been published in the New York Observer, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, the Boston Globe, and the Daily Beast.

His big deal job was with Salon, where he was a senior political writer. Kornacki’s big reputation, though, is really for being a brainiac of sorts when it comes to American history, according to the Daily Beast:

As a columnist for Salon, occasional contributor to the Gotham-focused politics and culture website Capital New York, and former columnist for the New York Observer, Kornacki does analysis without sources whispering in his ear, or really, for that matter, doing many interviews of any kind.

The political climate in which he grew up and came to his professional mastery brought with it hurdles to his coming, but he did in, of course, a Salon editorial:

I’ve read stories from people who say they always knew they were attracted to the same sex, or that they figured it out at a young age. I’m not one of them. I had practically no idea until one night in my sophomore year of high school. I was at a basketball game, and the guys around me started pointing out cheerleaders from the other team they thought were hot. I began to wonder: Why wasn’t I looking at the cheerleaders that way? And why was I sometimes noticing the other team’s players instead? My heart rate quickened and my mind spun until a thought surfaced: This is what it means to be gay.

In a way, I can’t even explain why I kept this part of myself private for so long. But whenever I would contemplate a change, I would think back to my youth, and the fathers, teachers and coaches who had been my adult role models, all of them old-fashioned family men. How could I possibly be so different?

California resident Tom Sosnick, 13, always knew he was born in the wrong body.

Petty Officer Landon Wilson had been in Afghanistan for three weeks when he was suddenly sent back stateside.

Portugal always seemed to me like an imperial dowager from an age of colonial exploration when men wore cod pieces and claimed new lands for queens and gods, with Lisbon remaining its overripe, threadbare and marked-down capital city. I did not expect to discover a vibrant and creative gay community ready to welcome LGBT visitors looking for something in Europe that has not yet been tarted up for tourism.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Republican presidential contender Donald Trump is suggesting boycotting Starbucks over the minimalist design of its annual holiday cups.

Men in shoes, or more precisely almost naked men in shoes. That’s what “Turnon: Sneax” is all about. This anthology shows off the work of more than two dozen photographers.

Gay men and women beware in Kampala, capital of Uganda.

Should unmarried couples have the same rights as married people?

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge who ordered a baby to be taken from her lesbian foster parents and placed with a heterosexual couple for the child’s well-being should follow the law and not inject his personal beliefs into the decision, the state’s Republican governor said Thursday.

Now read about their unique histories and how they came to be

Two fathers helping their little girl pick out the perfect Halloween costume, two mothers cheering on their child at the soccer field. For gay couples, adding children to their family is becoming more and more commonplace.

When Christine Preimesberger was asked to take photos of people she found attractive and then rate them, she realized she couldn’t.

The White House says the defeat this week of an ordinance that would have established nondiscrimination protections for gay and transgender people in Houston isn't "going to set back the broader trend toward greater equality and justice in this country."

When I received an invitation from VisitSweden.com’s Magnus Lindbergh to join a gay and lesbian writers’ tour of Stockholm, I accepted immediately, eager to make my overdue first visit to a city that frequently tops the list of favorite and welcoming gay destinations.