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Rose Rollins to Offer a Little L Word Foreplay for Atlanta Lesbians

Actress Rose Rollins, loved by lesbians for her role as “Tasha” on The L Word, will tease Atlanta women tonight at Foreplay, The L Word season 5 preview and ourchart.com launch party, at the Park Tavern in Midtown. Hosted by Girls in the Night and Girlology 101. Dancing, mixing and mingling will get underway at 10 p.m., with a big giveaway happening at 1:30 a.m., when two VIP passes to The Dinah 2008 will be raffled off. But everyone will be a winner, with an advance look at The L Word season 5 premiere, ourchart.com and Girls in the Night freebies, and the chance to get close to Tasha. Late this afternoon, Outwrite Bookstore staff said they had been giving out event passes all day, and in fact have run out. But you can get in at the door–There’s a $10 cover after 11.47 p.m. Find out more about the event on Girls in the Night’s MySpace page.

Ourchart.com is the new lesbian social network, based on the infamous whiteboard chart where the character Alice kept track of who had dated and/or hooked up with whom. Although heavily promoted during season four of The L Word last year, the “chart” was not quite ready for prime time. Promoters are taking advantage of the premier of season 5 to formally launch the site.

Life on Q will be at Foreplay tonight, in the person of yours truly, camera in tow. It’s the last big event for Atlanta women, and based on how quickly passes have gone, it is sure to blow out 2007 with bang. Check Life on Q tomorrow for photos from the event.

Update 12.30.07>>Photos from the event are now online! See the entire album here.

Ga. Legislature May Detour Hate Crimes Legislation

In an article published yesterday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that efforts to restore hate crimes protection in Georgia may be out of reach in the upcoming 2008 session. Georgia’s original hate crimes law, passed in 2000 under Democratic leadership, was thrown out by the state Supreme Court in 2004 due to “vague” wording. State Senator Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) proposed a bill to restore the law last year, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee but never made it to the Senate floor. Instead, Georgia’s Republican-led Senate opted for a measure by newbie Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens), which simply proposed study on the issue. Cowsert’s study group has met twice, with no one speaking in objection to including LGBT Georgians in any hate crimes bill. The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and groups representing police chiefs, prosecutors and sheriff’s departments all expressed support for hate crimes protection at a November hearing.

Meanwhile, Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson has said he is not inclined to address the issue. Sen. Cowsert told the AJC that including LGBT citizens “could be a factor” in whether or not the legislature will support a bill. And Sadie Fields of the Georgia Christian Alliance, a leading voice of anti-gay hate during Georgia’s marriage amendment debate in 2004, told the AJC that “We definitely would oppose any legislation that included sexual orientation.” Poor Sadie. If she only had a heart.

Among the excuses Republicans use to justify excluding the LGBT community from hate crimes protection is a concern that such a law would have a “chilling effect” on a church’s ability to preach hate from the pulpit. It would seem that such hate speech is chilling in its own regard. But that argument is a red herring. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), all but five states (Georgia among them) have figured out how to punish hate without silencing speech, even if it’s hateful speech. In fact the AJC article quotes ADL Lawyer David Barkey that Georgia already has laws in place that distinguish between freedom of speech and criminal acts. (Unfortunately, Georgia is not in such limited company when it comes to specific hate crime protection for the LGBT community: 14 of the 45 states that do have some measure of hate crime protection did not include sexual orientation in their laws. Only 11 states include gender identity. See ADL’s state hate crime comparison chart for the details.)

The other Republican argument is equally hollow. We’ve all heard it before: crime is crime. It’s already illegal. They make no effort to explain, then, why law enforcement and prosecutors overwhelmingly want a hate crimes law. And the right-wing pot has no qualms calling the kettle black when it comes to specific punishment for flag-burning. If we follow their logic, flag-burning is destruction of property–already a crime. Why then have Republicans always postured for extra punishment just because that property is the American Flag?

If you look behind the curtain, you can see such Republican wizardry for what it is: just a bunch of old white guys trying to look strong and powerful, turning the knobs and pulling the levers of religion to suit their own agenda. Homophobia is an effective diversion, in lieue of a strong economy, affordable and accessible healthcare, schools that make America competitive for the future, or a foreign policy that foster respect rather than distrust and disdain. Republicans continue to attempt to hold on to power through fear and exclusion, rather than effective governance. The right wing wants Georgia and the nation to follow them down this yellow brick road again. Please. Don’t make me get the flying monkeys.

Have a Happy Homo New Year in Atlanta

Life on Q is happy to present a rundown of LGBT New Year’s Eve celebrations around Atlanta. Specifics are only now starting to trickle in, so we will update this post with new details as they become available. Be sure to check back often for updates. (12.27.07» Note to Readers : New events are being added to this post today and continuously throughout the remainder of the week as we gather details. )

Please note that not all details are available for all events. If a cover charge is not listed here, that does not mean there is no charge. All available information on times and cover charges are included, but are not necessarily complete. Contact individual clubs and promoters if you have any questions. Life on Q has provided Web links and maps wherever possible.

Amsterdam Atlanta will celebrate the new year with DJ Coqu. There’s no charge before 9 p.m. and a $10 cover after. Free champagne toast at midnight. Info: www.myspace.com/amsterdamatlanta

DJ Brett Long will help Ring It Out at The Eagle, Atlanta’s perennial leather/Levi/Bear Bar. Champagne toast at midnight. There’s never a cover at The Eagle. The party starts at 10 p.m., but the Eagle staff recommends an early arrival to secure the best parking. Get directions here. Info: www.atlantaeagle.com.

Another Family Affair and Traxx Girls will present “The Red Carpet Affair” at Excalibur on Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Norcross. Get directions here. Info: www.traxxgirls.com

The Lion’s Den and Alter Ego Entertainment will present NYE-N-ATL at Club Europe, on Presidential Parkway just inside Spaghetti Junction (the I-285 & I-85 interchange, for you non-natives). The party starts at 9 p.m., and there’s no cover if you arrive before 11 p.m. There will be a complimentary buffet, a champagne toast at midnight, a $2008 money drop and prizes. Get directions here. Info: www.thelionsdenatlanta.com.

Doors will open at 9 p.m. at The Heretic, with music by DJ Rick Walsh and $1500 in cash prizes. Advance VIP tickets, which will avoid the line on New Year’s Eve, are available at Heretic Leathers. 2069 Cheshire Bridge Road, Atlanta. Get directions here. Info: www.hereticatlanta.com

Mary’s in East Atlanta Village will celebrate a “Happy F*cking New Year” with MC 5-Hour Boner and guests. Get directions here. Info: www.myspace.com/marysbar

My Sister’s Room will ring in 2008 with a masquerade ball titled, “Eyes Wide Shut.” Hosted by Tristan Skye, the party will feature Vagina Jenkins, Hades’ Ladies, Shane and Tristan Skye. Performances start at 10:00 p.m. Suggested dress code is black and white. My Sister’s Room will provide masks and champagne for the midnight toast. Doors open at 9 p.m. The bubbly will flow until 4:00 a.m. $10 cover. Get directions here. Info: www.mysistersroom.com

Paris Decatur will offer free champagne at midnight at their New Year’s Eve party. 308-H Ponce de Leon Place, Decatur. Get directions here. Info: www.myspace.com/parisdecatur

For those who live OTP (outside the perimeter, for you non-natives), there’s a party in Tucker that will allow suburban queers to party together, closer to home. The Stage Door will hold a New Year’s Eve party with champagne at midnight. No cover. 4431 Hugh Howell Road, Tucker, GA. Get directions here. Info: www.thestagedoor.biz

Traxx and Stars of the Century present “Poppin Bottles” at Traxx 1287 Columbia Drive in Decatur. Doors open at 9:30 p.m. and the show starts at 10:30. Guests include the Jr. Stars, Niesha Dupree, Raquel Lord, Jasmine Bonet, Stasha Sanchez, Necole Luv Dupress, Archie Bonet, Monte St. James, R’darius Black, Christopher Iman, Al Milan dupree, Chantel Lord, Diamond Monroe, Joe Jackson other others. Table reservation packages are available from $50 to $100. Call Niesha at 770.451.6068 or 404.835.7790 to reserve a table. Get directions here. Info: www.traxxatlanta.com

Wassup-N-ATL hosts Maxium Reload at Club 708. Get directions here. Info: www.wassupnatl.com

WETbar presents Count Down 2008, featuring the return of DJ Joe Gauthreaux. There will be a champagne toast and an hourly cash drop from Midnight until 2:00 a.m., with $8,000 in cash and prizes. $10 cover before midnight, $15 after midnight. Or buy a single-night VIP membership for $20 (before midnight) or $30 (after midnight). 960 Spring Street, Atlanta. Get directions here. Info: www.wetbaratlanta.com.

These events and others over the holidays are also listed on Life on Q’s event calendar. Is there an event missing? You can add your own events to the calendar. Simply click “add new entry” at the bottom of the calendar. Then choose “public” access on the “event details” tab, and be sure that “Atlanta and Ga Queer Events” is selected in the “participants” tab. Don’t forget to note the time of day and include an address. Your event will be added to an approval queue and, if approved, will appear on the calendar, usually within 24 hours. Questions? E-mail us at editor@lifeonq.com.

News of the Obvious: Jody Foster is a Big Dyke

Breaking News of the Obvious Alert. This news should move lesbians everywhere– like “t’ee in the way!” Jody Foster, the object of thousands of dyke crushes, has finally acknowledged that the sky is blue, the earth is round, and she is a lesbian. Accepting the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at the Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Power 100 event last week, Foster thanked “my beautiful Cydney” during her acceptance speech. She then added that Cydney “sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss.”

Although references to and rumors of her lesbianism are many, the mention of producer Cydney Bernard in front of the Hollywood Reporter crowd is Foster’s first public reference to her 15-year relationship with Bernard. The two are reported to have met while Foster was filming Sommersby in 1993. Bernard was a production coordinator for the film. Foster has always refused to discuss the paternity of her children. She even ignored Out magazine’s picture of her on their cover (along with CNN’s Anderson Cooper) with the headline, “The Glass Closet: Why the Stars Won’t Come Out and Play.”

Interestingly, the Hollywood Reporter seems to be playing down the news, with no overt references to Foster’s self-acknowledgment on their Website. The only mass media references I could find were at The Arizona Republic’s website AZCentral and at The Times Online out of London. Both articles were published today, even though Foster’s comments were made on December 4.

Perhaps the mainstream media’s subtlety is testament to Foster’s power. The reknowned actress is the winner of two Academy Awards and more than two dozen other honors (including both a Golden Globe and Screen Actor’s Guild Award for her performance in “Nell,” one of my personal favorites). She earns millions for her acting, including a $15 million check for The Brave One, released in September of this year. She ranks 57th on Entertainment Weekly’s “Greatest Movie Stars” of all time and most recently appeared on EW’s 2007 list of “The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood.” Her clout and connections may be the cause of the lack of mainstream media coverage. Or perhaps a confirmation of what is already known is just not news.

Biologists Say Bisexuality Smells; Gays are “Gender Blind”

A group of neurobiologists at the University of Illinois at Chicago have figured out how to put the “fruit” in fruit flies. Researchers at the Featherstone Lab have discovered that sexual orientation in fruit flies is controlled by a gene they named “gender blind,” or GB. If the fly’s GB gene is “mutated,” the fly is gay. The “mutation” causes the flies to overreact to pheromones, the chemical smell that identifies the gender of other flies.

Associate Professor David Featherstone, Ph.D. and his fellow scientists also found a way to turn homosexuality on and off in the fruity little flies using drugs. By spiking apple juice, the flies’ synapses could be weakened, causing GB-mutated fly fags to stop engaging in homosexual behavior. The scientists also achieved the reverse, giving hetero male files drugs that strengthened their synapses, causing them to court both males and females. Biologists can make flies bisexual.

Featherstone told the Chicago Sun-Times, “I never thought we’d be able to do that sort of thing, because sexual orientation is supposed to be hard-wired. This fundamentally changes how we think about this behavior.”

The significance of fly sex should not be dismissed: biologists say that fruit flies and humans share essentially all of the same molecules and mechanisms to build and operate our respective brains. Fruit flies are often used in research because they use something called “glutamatergic synapses” for brain function and controlling complex behavior, same as us. In an attempt to explain glutamate to the non-scientist, the Featherstone lab describes this amino acid as “the voice by which brain cells speak ” and their receptors as “the ears by which they hear.”

I am no scientist, but this research smells like trouble. I suppose there is good news and bad news when you extrapolate fly sexuality to human sexual orientation. On the one hand, Featherstone’s biology suggests that queerness is in our cells. It is nature, not nurture. On the other hand, it offends me that the study, and many of the articles written about it, are describing homosexuality as a “mutation.” This seems to me to imply imperfection or damage. Perhaps mutation has a slightly less sinister meaning for scientists, but it seems a dangerous word to inject into mainstream coverage of science. And in an audio interview with Dr. Featherstone, he describes heterosexuality as “the normal behavior.” I don’t mean to overreact, but it bugs me.

Of course, human brains are far more complex than the fruit fly, and this research may not ultimately have implications for human sexual behavior. But I would not be surprised to see social conservatives try to turn this science against us.

Perhaps queers should be prepared to leverage this biology to our advantage. If Christian Conservatives think there’s a gay agenda now, imagine the right-wing hetero fear of Homo Mutant Glutamate Sex. Queer smellers with the strong synapses. Gender blind with lust. How’s that for weird science?

To learn more, check the following links:

Gene Makes Fruit Flies Bisexual,” Chicago Sun-Times

In Fruit Flies, Homosexuality is Biological But Not Hard-wired,” Science Daily

The Featherstone Lab’s recently published scientific article on their research is not for the non-scientist. But for the scientifically inclined, you can see a free abstract of the research (or purchase the entire article) at the Website for the journal Nature Neuroscience: “A Glial Amino-Acid Transporter Controls Synapse Strength and Homosexual Courtship in Drosophila.”

Buy for Equality this Holiday Season

Just in time for your holiday shopping, the Human Rights Campaign has released its 2008 guide to gay-friendly businesses. Buy for Equality 2008 is designed to help LGBT shoppers direct their queer dollars to queer-supportive businesses. Directing your spending toward tolerant companies helps put your money where your rights are.

The guide rates businesses based on the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality index, an annual report card that rates corporations based on an analysis of their employment policies and business practices as they affect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors.

Buying for Equality 2008 covers more than retailers. It offers suggestions on where to gas up your car, what bank should have your money, even which pharmaceutical company manufactures the gay-friendliest medications. In addition to ratings for major retailers, there are listings of individual products.

So, for example, you will know that you should drive past the Wal-Mart (score: 40) and stop at the K-Mart instead (score: a perfect 100). If you need to stop for gas on the way, pull in at the BP or Shell stations (score: 100) rather than Exxon (score: 0). While at the K-Mart, you might want to get your nephew a Ken doll for Christmas (Mattel score: 88) rather than G.I. Joe (Hasbro score: 50). There’s no advice on what to do about Chinese lead paint, however.

In addition to HRC’s guide, I would offer a supplemental suggestion: to shop independent gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses as well. The mega-corporations have an edge in marketing, perhaps. But there’s no better way to support your community than to support the people close to home.

Did LGBT Voter Apathy Contribute to Michelle Bruce’s Election Defeat?

The votes are in, and we know the score: Michelle Bruce 1, Ignorance 0, Indifference 2. Transgender Riverdale, Georgia City Councilwoman Michelle Bruce lost her re-election run-off yesterday, one day after a Clayton County Superior Court Judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by two of her opponents in the general election. Losing candidates Stanley Harris and Georgia Fuller filed the suit in an attempt to delay yesterday’s runoff and void the November 6 city election based on their claim that Bruce misled candidates by running as a woman. Michelle Bruce 1, Ignorance 0. The former candidates filed an immediate appeal.

At the polls yesterday, Bruce lost by 85 votes to Wayne Hall, 308 to 223, according to the Associated Press. A check of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Website shows that there are 6,124 registered voters in the City of Riverdale as of November 1, 2007, but only 531 voted. For the sake of argument, let’s assume the rule-of-thumb applies and that about 10 percent of Riverdale’s population is queer. Even I can do that math–that’s about 612 voters. To take that one equation further, even if all 223 of the Riverdale voters who cast their ballots for Bruce were LGB or T, that means another 389 didn’t vote at all or didn’t vote for Bruce. Not to suggest that all GLBT voters are or should be single-issue voters, it’s still disappointing that so many didn’t even bother to vote at all. Engaged in LGBT politics or not, it would seem that a full-frontal attack on someone in our community would manage to motivate another 86 people to get to the polls. That’s all it would have taken for Bruce to win. In fact Bruce did win the most votes (312) in the general election, just no enough to avoid the runoff. Less than 100 additional votes would have avoided the run-off altogether.

My hypothetical equation doesn’t even factor in tolerant straight voters. Participation by an even smaller percentage of queer-friendly heterosexual voters would have also changed this game. It seems clear that the majority of all voters–queer and straight–don’t see LGBT rights and acceptance as important enough to get out and vote. The score on that one: Michelle Bruce 0, Indifference 2.

Fall From Grace a Prophetic Title for Showtime Documentary

We’re not in Kansas anymore. If only Fred Phelps had a heart. I TiVO’d K. Ryan Jones’ documentary about Phelps, Fall from Grace, which premiered last night on Showtime, (which will air five more showings on its networks as well as on-demand availability). Watching it over coffee this morning was a rude awakening. Seeing so much hate was so vile, I thought I would throw up my Cream of Wheat. Fred Phelps is pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, a congregation that consists only of his immediate family, according to the documentary. The Phelps family began picketing to publicize their hatred of homosexuals in the spring of 1991. In the 16+ years since, they have staged more than 22,000 protests, most targeting GLBT events and gatherings.

Sitting clean-shaven (forbidden by God: Leviticus 19:27) before the camera in his Golden Girls sweat suit, no doubt weaved of many fibers (forbidden by God: Leviticus 19:19), Phelps cloaks his hate in religion. He spells out his biblical justification literally, quoting Leviticus 18:22 (including clarifying the exact punctuation). “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind SEMICOLON it is abomination.”

Apparently that’s all the bible-reading Phelps did. He missed the PARAGRAPH later in the chapter, where it says, ” “Though shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart COLON ‘thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neghbour COMMA and not suffer sin upon him PERIOD.” Then, in the next PARAGRAPH, the bible emphasizes the point: “Though shalt no avenge COMMA nor bear any grduge against the children of thy people COMMA but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself COLON I am the Lord.”

I will leave biblical scholars to debate interpretation of Leviticus, that tool of intolerance. I will leave it to ministers to justify why some Leviticus Laws are to be followed and others can be ignored. I will pause only to point out that the recently published Bible study guide, Study New Testament for Gay, Lesbian, Bi, and Transgender, is just the most recent scholarly challenge to literal Leviticus interpretation. Dr. Ann Nyland, an ancient Greek language scholar and lexicographer, indicates that “arsenokoites,” the Greek word assumed to mean homosexual, actually has a range of meanings, including one who anally penetrates another (whether female or male)–but can also mean a rapist, a murderer or an extortionist. She also asserts that the fabled fall of Sodom and Gomorrah was due to angels having sex with humans, not homosexuality.

What I found unbelievable in “Fall from Grace” was the disapproval of Phelps by other ministers. In the film, the Reverend Jeff Gannon, pastor of the Wichita, Kansas Chapel Hill Fellowship, (a different Jeff Gannon than the former gay prostitute-turned-conservative-blogger) said he “feels bad because Phelps gives Christians a bad name.” Yet Gannon and thousands of Christians like him do little to oppose their church’s official policies of intolerance, exclusion and condemnation of the LGBT community. Injustice is everywhere in the majority of Christian denominations. Dr. Martin Luther King warned us from a Birmingham jail cell more than 40 years ago: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

The injustice afflicted on LGBT Americans has recently threatened a different just cause: support for American troops in Iraq. The Phelps family has found a new target for their rage, and it is the right wing’s revered military forces. Phelps believes that homosexuals are taking over the U.S. military and the nation, and that soldiers killed in action in Iraq are proof of God’s vengeance. Phelps says God hates fags and is punishing America for allowing homosexuality to exist. He makes his point with protests at the funerals of American troops killed in Iraq.

While most Americans sat passively by for Phelps’ ranting against “fags,” his disrespect for American troops prompted a little more action. In May 2006, President Bush signed an amendment to U.S. law that prohibits protests within 300 feet of military funerals at national cemeteries and outlaws them altogether for an hour before and an hour after the service. In April 2007, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a similar state law. Other states added their own restrictions, including Kentucky and North Dakota. I did a little research and was unable to find any similar protections for funerals for gays and lesbians, another common Phelps family tactic. America tolerates homophobia.

But Phelps’ agenda seems more sinister than simple homophobia. In the documentary, Phelps declares that America is doomed. His son Timothy tells us his family’s goal is to “put the cup of God’s fury to the lips of this nation and make them drink.” The pickets signs are the writing on the wall. Their messages include “Fags are worthy of death,” and “USA=Fag Nation.” In case you fail to make the connection, others are clearer, such as “Thank God for 9/11.” He has stoked his rage, building a firestorm of hate toward his own country.

What we learn from Jones’ documentary is that Phelps’ rage runs deep. Two of his 13 children are interviewed by phone for the film, and recount vicious beatings from their father. Yet only four of his 13 children left the family and their church, a testimony to the power of his personality. There have been other “religious” men with similar holds on their families and followers, like Jim Jones, for example. It’s called a cult.

“Fall from Grace” is an important film. It should be required viewing for the Christian right. They should have to face what their hate helped create. It should be required viewing for the LGBT community. We should understand the danger that faces us, lest we choose to donate a dollar at Pride or join HRC and assume the fight for acceptance and inclusion is handled. It should be required viewing for any American who has fallen for the social conservative agenda.

I’ll close this post after one more dip in the quotationspage.com well. The Reverend Ralph W. Sockman said, “The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.”

New at Life on Q: Atlanta LGBT Event Calendar

Now you can plan your queer life on Q. Life on Q has added a new feature to the site: a GLBT event calendar. It’s still under construction, but is ready to use, if you don’t mind a little saw dust and all the hammering. We are adding events as we hear about them, so check back often for updates. The Life on Q queer calendar will initially focus on Atlanta and Georgia, our home base. We hope to branch out to other locations over time. We will list all relevant events, from support groups to nightclub happenings to community service meetings. The system supports multiple calendars (to cover multiple locations or types of events), multiple users and groups of users, so Atlanta and Georgia event organizers can post their own happenings (subject to blog editor approval). Please feel free to test the system and add your events. We’re still working out the kinks, so send us an e-mail if you have any questions or problems.

For now, all event listings are free. For businesses listing events, we ask for a permanent link from your business’ Website or blog to Life on Q in exchange for publicizing your events.  As we continue construction on the calendar, Life on Q will add events as we learn of them.  Over time, we will count on Atlanta’s GLBT groups and businesses to notify us of your schedule and post your own events.  I look forward to your reaction to the calendar.  Send any comments, questions or ideas to editor@lifeonq.com.

NYC Wants Gays and Lesbians to be a Part of It

NYC & Company, New York City’s official tourism organization, has launched the city’s first-ever effort to attract LGBT tourists. The New York Post reports that the group will air commercials on LOGO, MTV’s gay and lesbian channel, has placed a three-page ad in the Decmeber/January issue of Out magazine and will buy ads on several LGBT Websites. The GLBT campaign is a part of a $30 million marketing campaign called “This is New York City,” targeting 19 different countries. It’s all part of Mayor Bloomberg’s inititative to bring 50 million visitors to New York City by 2015.

The LGBT-targeted promotion will continue over the next several weeks, then accelerate in time for Valentine’s Day. NYC & Company told the Post that it is targeting the GLBT community because market demographics show the community “contains a large number of big spenders, usually with two incomes and no children. They are ‘highly desirable and considered a dream market due to high incidence of travel and discretionary income.’”

NYC & Company also offers LGBT information and links for travelers on its Website in a section called Gay and Lesbian New York.