Sean

VA Gov. Affirms Commitment to Non-Discrimination

Apparently Virginia governor Bob McDonnell blinked—somewhat. After several days of outrage over state attorney general Ken Cuccinelli's letter stipulating that public colleges and universities couldn't include sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies, here comes the following executive directive—McDonnell's first. In it, he affirms his and the state's commitment to employment nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by citing both the Virginia Human Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. While the governor doesn't invoke gender identity or expression—nor discrimination pertaining to students—Equality Virginia is hailing the directive as a "major positive step forward." I have to agree.

The Spring Invitational: Aspirational Mulled Wine

When it's in the 50s out, one doesn't think of mulled wine—one thinks instead, say, of a cool crisp sauvignon blanc (as Sasha Smith points out in this video on her fabulous site Spin the Bottle). But it was a much colder moment when I was asked to participate in a mulled-wine contest held yesterday by my pal Sean McQueen, maestro of the Vinetalk Tumblr blog. A month ago, who knew it'd be such lovely spring-like weather now? (Whom aside from Jesus, that is.)

Since it's March I was already thinking of in-season ingredients to use in my update of this Gourmet recipe from 2000. (There's a totally Cheever-esque recipe from 1973 that incorporates ruby port and flavored brandy, but I decided a brew that rich is better imbibed in the dark heart of winter, when all you want to do is get drunk and screw.)

As you can see, the recipe is appealingly simple: 2 navel oranges, 1 lemon, 2 bottles of a dry red wine, 1 cup of sugar, 10 black peppercorns, 8 whole cloves, 4 whole star anise, 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. For my version, I replaced the navel oranges with blood oranges and the lemon with a Meyer lemon. I also ditched the sugar in favor of a beautiful Tupelo honey from Florida (a gift from my writer friend A.N. Devers), and took out the cloves, star anise, and nutmeg altogether. Given the time of year, I didn't want my wine to taste too Christmas-y, though I did throw in a bit of five-spice powder just to have an element of that flavor, like a memory. I also threw in two vanilla beans, halved lengthwise, some cardamom powder (I would've preferred pods, but the Whole Foods I stopped by at the last minute was out of them), and—wait for it—pink peppercorns, which are quite citrus-y. If I had a secret weapon, it was this Brazilian product. (And now I'm kind of obsessed with them: What else can I use pink peppercorns with?)

On site at the NU Hotel in Cobble Hill, I prepared my concoction whilst millions of people around the world watched Joanie Rivers and sundry other red-carpet hoo-haw ahead of the Oscars. For the wine I used a "two-buck Chuck" cabernet sauvignon from Trader Joe's, both for sheer affordability and its simple quality, which I knew would take up the flavors I was putting in. (If there's ever a reason to buy super-cheap wine, mulled wine is it, since it's not about the wine so much as it's the flavors.) I turned the stove (in this case, a hot plate!) up to medium just to get it warm, then poured in two bottles of the wine. I'd already zested the blood oranges and Meyer lemon, so I threw those in, and then I squeezed the juices from each directly into the pot, leaving half of the evacuated lemon in there for good measure. After I popped the vanilla beans and peppercorns in, the rest was easy: honey, cardamom, and five spices, all to taste. (I must've put in about four ounces of honey to get the concoction just sweet enough.) The aroma was lovely, as you'd expect, and the taste of the drink—once everything swished around in the pot for a bit (at a simmer or just under)—was perfect: the citrus was right there, along with a hint of vanilla and just enough of the spices to give it that true mulled-wine character. One woman who sampled my brew said she tasted lavender—my favorite comment of the evening.

While I didn't win—I placed second after my buddy Gary Hunt, the lighting designer for the new Good Units spot in the Hudson Hotel—I did get Food & Wine's 2010 wine guide for my efforts. It's an amazing resource I didn't have yet, so I was thrilled. Gary nicely presented his wine with garnishes, which might've put him over the edge. (He also had a nontraditional mulled wine with apples, berries, and some other ingredients that made for a unique taste.) If I were serving my wine, which I've dubbed the Spring Invitational, at home, I'd include a round slice of blood orange right on top.

So though the forecast remains almost balmy, it's bound to get freezing again one last time before spring really comes on. (We might even get a last blast of snow.) When winter breathes that last gasp, I'll be savoring a mug of Spring Invitational. In the meantime, I'll be drinking more weather-appropriate wines, like the gorgeous Albariño I had while watching the Oscars with friends last night.

Me and my brew.

The remains of the day.

Virginia AG's Anti-LGBT Letter

The letter that Virginia's attorney general issued yesterday admonishing the state's public universities and colleges to remove sexual orientation and gender identity and expression from the schools' non-discrimination policy. As a UVA alum, and a board member for the school's LGBTQ alumni group The Serpentine Society, I'm aghast. For more context, see this report from today's Washington Post.

   
 

The Ballad of Uptown Gerry, City Chicken

A live chicken was found in Fort Tryon Park in uppermost Manhattan two weeks ago. One writer, Elyssa East, took her home and named her Uptown Gerry (after the park ranger who checked on the bird). East handed the chicken off to another writer, Susan Orlean, who raises chickens upstate. A third writer—me—wrote about it here. A fowl story.

The New Queer Direct Action: A Case Study

Activists have been talking for some time about how to revive direct action to force real change for queer people. At Creating Change earlier this month, I saw this discussion first hand at a planning session for a nationwide series of civil disobedience. So many of us are over the glacial pace of the political system—and politicians elected with the help of our votes, only to fail to make good on their promises. We all know how effective ACT UP was in getting Burroughs Wellcome to cut the price of AZT after the group invaded the New York Stock Exchange in 1989. Their actions back then forced the country's power holders to deal with the AIDS crisis after years of soft-pedaling.

So it was interesting—and inspiring—to see how The Power responded to Harold Ford Jr.'s appearance before the Stonewall Democrats in New York City Wednesday night. Instead of acting "civilly" (read: docile) and listening to the former Tennessee congressman repeat what they call his "lies," members of the Power boisterously pushed back at almost every statement, chanting "liar" and raising signs that said "Snake Oil Harry, Go Away." Ford, who's mulling a carpet-bagging primary run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, voted twice for the Federal Marriage Amendment as a House member. But what really bugs many LGBT New Yorkers (and their allies across the country) is that Ford supposedly told gay leaders in his old Memphis district that he wouldn't vote for the venal bill. When Ford disputed this Wednesday—"I never promised anyone I'd vote against that amendment," he said, adding: "You're misinformed"—a veritable melee ensued.

"What do you take us for?" someone shouted. "A bunch of gays, that's what he takes us for," replied another, amid great laughter. Then someone compared the protestors to "tea party people," as the night's moderator implored everyone to, yes, "keep it civil." "I never lied to anyone about my position," Ford retorted. "You can't have it both ways—you can't say that I said I'd vote against [the amendment], then vote for it, and then I was for it and then against it. I was always for it." (A regrettable line, to be sure.)

The protest was designed as much to rattle Ford as it was to send a message to his political backers. While some in the audience bristled at the Power's in-your-face tactic—"Stand outside and demonstrate on your own!" said one woman who exchanged words with a protestor—others seemed thrilled by the spectacle, which attracted a record crowd for a Stonewall Democrats meeting. (There were about 150 people on hand, including numerous reporters and TV cameras.) The Power's de facto leader, Jeff Campagna, was certainly pleased. "So much has been said about how major donors to the DNC are backing him, the Wall Street fat cats," he said after Ford hastily departed. "The media payoff will be to show them that their candidate has real constituent issues to address."

And, Campagna added, we can learn something from the far right's tactics during last August's health-care town halls. "I find it really sad when gay people say 'don't be like the tea-party people.' The tea-party people are citizens who've taken signs and noise-makers and shown up at meetings and made a scene—and they've done more to advance their agenda than anything liberals have done since we won the election. For us to be saying we can't do that to advance the progressive agenda is really castrating the movement."

Aww, You Guys!

Totally thrilled by the pick-up my interview with Christian Siriano about Adam Lambert is getting, particularly all the chatter at the official Lambert site. Thanks for the comments and discussion, yo!

#NYFW Recap: Siriano & Glambert, BFFs!

So I slavishly covered New York Fashion Week, which wraps tonight, and all I got was this morsel of titillation: Christian Siriano and Adam Lambert hang out together! At trashy gay places like Mr. Black! I talked to the season-four winner of Project Runway before his fourth collection unveiled at the Bryant Park tents last Friday, and though the Great Gay Hope was supposed to be there, he didn't show. Herewith more from my conversation with Siriano:

SK: Are you and Adam friends?

CS: We are friends! I hope he makes it—I know he has a performance tonight, so he's like, I'm totally making it. My boyfriend has remixed a couple of his new songs, and he just did a remix that'll be out in a few weeks. I'm in the mix somewhere.

SK: That's how you met him, through your boyfriend?

CS: Yeah, totally.

SK: Do you guys hang out?

CS: Yeah, we hung out the last time he was in New York. He's so great.

SK: What'd you do?

CS: We had like a wild night out.

SK: Like where?

CS: Oh my God, where did we go? Where did we go? We went somewhere gay and trashy probably, like Mr. Black or something. I really can't remember. Ask me tomorrow!

SK: Would you ever want to dress him?

CS: Totally. If I did menswear, Adam would be such a great customer to have. Obviously I don't yet, but maybe in the future.

SK: It's nuts how the networks have been so skittish about having him on air.

CS: I know, it's funny. I think it's just crazy. I'm glad I'm in fashion, because you can be as gay as you want to be!

  

Betsey Johnson & the $3-Million Bottle of Chambord

 

Betsy Johnson would normally be at the beach the day after her show, but on Monday, less than 24 hours after showing her fall collection as part of New York Fashion Week, she was at the W Lounge backstage at the Bryant Park tents helping to promote a $3-million bottle of Chambord. Yes, that's right: a regular 750-milliliter bottle of the black-raspberry liqueur dressed up in 1,100 diamonds (or 60 carats altogether), 18-carat yellow gold, and pearls aplenty. (Apparently Brown-Forman, the Kentucky company that owns Chambord—along with Woodford Reserve and a bunch of other booze—has asked Guinness World Records to determine if the bottle is the world's most expensive spirits container.) A high-low hybrid, the bottle is part of Chambord's "Pink Your Drink" campaign to raise money and awareness for breast cancer, which Johnson is a survivor of. (The bottle's designer, London jeweler Donald Edge, lost his mother to the disease.) "We're all buddies with the cause," she said of her involvement in the event, during which she posed with the bottle and yelled "Pink Your Drink"—though it took her a moment to remember the line.

Johnson was antsy to get away so she could have pizza with her granddaughter—"I haven't seen her in awhile because of the show!"—but she gamely answered questions. Had she ever tried Chambord before? "No, I never knew about it. And I'm a champagne girl. I don't like that stuff they usually throw in champagne—not orange juice, but the bellini thing. I love the dark raspberry, black raspberry—whatever it is, I love it." At first she thought the liqueur itself cost $3 million, "but the stuff is affordable: 30, 40 bucks." Then she turned to fashion: "Were you at the show last night? It was amazing. I left work two hours ago with a pack like that of press. I mean, online stuff. Tomorrow will be the big bang with Womens Wear, and the Daily News..." Also, the 15 bales of hay she had on the runway? "Making it go away was a bit of a problem. It was like snow for New York: a heavy blizzard and the sun doesn't come out and it doesn't melt and you just got snow!" She thought it might've been fun to have a "big bonfire on 18th Street, but you can't burn it!" (The hay was fireproof.) Instead, "it went to hay heaven."

Johnson got $10,000 for the appearance, which she donated to the National Breast Cancer Coalition. "And they gave me a weekend at the W, so I'm going to South Beach this weekend." (She'll get her beach time after all.) Meanwhile, the ritzy Chambord bottle flies to Orlando for a retail trade show next week, then on to Australia. It gets to sit in the lap of a security guard on the plane—true luxury.

 

My latest piece for New York mag. Politico also has an interesting piece on DADT today.

#snowday in Williamsburg, Via Stockholm & Berlin