Photo credit: Courtesy of Capital Pride
“Pride Week is one big festival,” participant Joshua Morgan told Hollywood on the Potomac. “It happens all over the world but at different times; and this is D.C.’s. I live in New York now, but for the six years that I was in DC Capital Pride grew and grew and grew and the events grew and the stars that were part of it grew and it’s just obviously a reflection of, I think, the changing of the world in terms of taking pride in our LGBTA community.”
“When I lived in DC, I was the resident MC and piano bar host at Arena Stage. I’ve always done piano bars and little cabarets, but I do my own thing with them which is basically I just drink and tell inappropriate stories and sing songs. This is the fifth year. I’m trying to think of who was it that brought me in. Someone just said, ‘Would you do kind of what you do’ five years ago for an event with Capital Pride. I said, ‘Sure, but here are my parameters. I can say whatever I want. I do whatever I want and I can pull in all the best people that I want to that represents a pretty diverse sense of our community, including some of the most amazing collegiate kids we have up to the biggest stars in DC and then bring in some name talent.’ The event just went so well and it grew that before you know it, Music in the Night became a marquee event of Capital Pride which is a week long celebration.”
Joshua will be joining Broadway favorites Wesley Taylor and Kyle Dean Massy and members of the local LGBTA theater community for a night of musical theater for the 5th annual “Music in the Night” as part of the 2016 Celebration of Pride in the Nation’s Capital on Monday, June 6th at 8 PM at The Hamilton Live. Josh is currently appearing on Broadway in Les Miserables and returning as the host of the evening a well as performing. “This is the first year that we’ve moving to the Hamilton because the event has become so popular,” he noted. “Hilton sponsored it and we reached out to Hamilton. They said, ‘this sounds great.’ I’m scrappy, so no matter where we go, we’ll stay scrappy. My partner’s actually coming with me this year and he’s directing the evening. Usually it’s just been me, but I wanted to bring him to work with me, and yet I don’t want it to be scripted. I come out, drink in hand and we just sort of go for it. We have a lineup of songs, but what happens and whatever games we play sort of unfolds as the night unfolds.” The show’s director is James Will McBride.
We wanted to go beyond the event, so we asked Joshua: “Who do you think has been the impetus for raising the level of acceptance in the gay and lesbian community? For example, here in the Washington area, Governor O’Malley has been a force. Are there any particular people that have elevated your lifestyle tremendously? When was the tipping point?”
“A good example of that (tipping point) is when DOMA was struck down,” he told us. “I lived about eight blocks from the Supreme Court. My ex, who was about four or five years younger than I was, was so excited and he said, ‘We have to go. We have to go.’ I did not go because I was so pessimistic about what the outcome was going to be. I just didn’t expect it. It was such a shock, because I grew up in a time when even when gay marriage became a thing, I didn’t even want it; not because I didn’t stand for equally, but because marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman just wasn’t part of my purview.”
“I will say though, that no matter what people’s politics are, I’m very proud of our president and I think our president is the first to have taken such a strong stance that grew stronger over the course of his presidency. A great example is the White House’s stance on transgender policies and saying that we will continue to fight for all members of that community. That’s huge.”
“One of the people … maybe it’s just because I’m up here with him and he’s part of the Broadway community now … one person whom I think, in his own bizarre way, has really changed the way the world views gays and lesbians is George Takei. George Takei has been such a huge advocate. Ever since he’s come out, unlike even Caitlyn Jenner who is still wildly republican and has her own perspective on the community, Takei has been such a smart, thoughtful voice for our community along with being such a major icon. People still, young and old, watch his videos that go viral. His posts go viral when he talks about our community. It’s just been sticking with me recently, because it’s amazing to me how many generations George Takei sort of spans.”
Q: “It’s a step in the right direction but does it solve the way people look at you? How is it for you today?”
A: “The past five years have been sort of amazing to me in politics where I heard people say things like, ‘If you vote for …’ What’s his name?’ He just came out and called Trump such a schmuck. Ah, Romney. It was the first time that I heard people say, ‘If you vote for Mitt Romney, you’re not a friend of mine because you are saying that I’m not a person.’ I had never heard that before in politics, because it wasn’t even a viable option to consider. O’Malley, Clinton, Obama, were such advocates and could create change, so it really has been kind of amazing for me to experience and watch and be a part of it. I’m sort of crossing over that millennial age gap where I can appreciate it in a way that I think a lot of younger people today don’t because they grew up in the fast pace of change in our community, if that makes sense.”
Q: “Have your internal feelings changed? Do you feel less threatened? Do you feel people are more accepting? Apart from the legal thing, has it changed in the way people perceive you?”
A: “Last night I got off the train. I did my show and I’d actually accidentally taken my contacts out at the theater, so I was going home basically blind. I called my partner and I said, ‘I need my glasses when I get off the train.’ He said, ‘I’ll meet you at the train.’ This was about 11 o’clock, 11:15. I got off the train and there was a group of young people who work at the urban ministry around the street from us. When I off the train James, my partner, kissed me. We went to the store, we picked up a few things, and we went home and he said, ‘Do you know I’m feeling a little funny.’ I said, ‘What?’ He goes, ‘Well, I feel a little on edge because we got off the train and I kissed you and I saw those kids from church sort of look at us and say something.’ Well I said, ‘You know. It’s so funny. I wasn’t even aware of it because homophobia seems so out of place today.’ But my feelings, to your point, have changed. I’m not as hyper aware or scared … because the only way to make a small part in making change is not letting the fear dictate how we live our lives.”
Hollywood on the Potomac also sat down with Wesley Taylor:
