The new gay Vegas

WHEN OUR ASSOCIATE EDITOR, Neal Broverman, suggested that we do our first Las Vegas issue, we all loved the idea. After all, what could possibly be gayer? But long experience suggested that, despite their obvious importance to the city's personality, Vegas gays favored the closet. Like most tourist towns, this one has traditionally avoided controversy. And amid the general overlay of glitter, the most outrageous queens could hide in plain sight. Las Vegas is the town with a Liberace museum, the place where Siegfried and Roy never had to mention either their face-lifts or their sexuality. Could one gay magazine crack all that artifice and come up with an honest, queer look at Vegas today?

We could and we did, thanks in large part to entertainment editor Corey Scholibo, who took the lead in a five-month effort that goes beyond the travel brochures to the facts. Corey interviews the city's A-gays, from activist Candice Nichols to legendary drag queen Frank Marino. Neal checks out LGBT life in the city outside the Strip. News and features editor Sean Kennedy looks into the high-end building boom that could recast Vegas as a destination for affluent gay travelers--or not.

Photo editor Albert Smith delivers a revealing portfolio of activists, nightbirds, and promoters as well as out performers. Although Cirque du Soleil has a less than perfect record with gays (witness the organization's 2003 firing of HIV-positive gymnast Matthew Cusick, who told his story in The Advocate), 15 openly gay and lesbian performers showed up in full regalia to pose for us on their day off. Over at homoerotic stage show Le Reve, five out gay stars showed us their skills as well as their skirts.

For our cover, in a gay-press exclusive, I sat down for an hour with the great Bette Midler, who's just settling into a two-year run with her new extravaganza, "The Showgirl Must Go On." Our conversation ranged from the Continental Baths to her controversial comments on same-sex marriage. We may have had our differences, but like Cher, who brings her own show to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace starting in May, Bette has decided where she stands--with us.

Elsewhere in the issue, Joe Kapp and Nicholas Burkholder offer tax tips. Andrew Noyes reports on the Democrats' push for an ironclad voting majority in the U.S. Senate. The B-52s check in with a new album and a nice bit of news: In addition to gay bandmates Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland, Kate Pierson is openly lesbian these days. When they play the new Vegas, the audience will be thrilled.

ANNE STOCKWELL

EDITOR IN CHIEF

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