"Cirque du not-so-Gay?"

By CHRISTOPHER SEELY

The Nov. 11 issue of the Advocate, a nationally distributed gay magazine, hit stands last week with a gushing cover story about two gay

The dancers who perform in "Zumanity," a sexy new Las Vegas show produced by Cirque du Soleil.

"Their lanky, perfectly sculpted, and nearly naked 6-foot-2 frames instantly command attention - and an anxious, curious silence," reads the article, accompanied by several photos of the scantily clad gay dancers with limbs entwined.

But it's not the article's overtly sensual tone or next-to-nothing photographs that has former Cirque du Soleil gay employee Matthew Cusick up in arms.

"Cirque du Soleil discriminated against me, and it hurt to know that [the Advocate] would run a story that showed Cirque du Soleil in such a glorified light and positive view," Cusick said.

Cusick has filed suit in federal court alleging he was fired as an acrobatic performer by Cirque du Soleil because he is HIV positive. Cirque du Soleil has admitted Cusick's HIV status was the reason for his dismissal, but has defended the termination as justified to protect the safety of other performers.

The editorial board of the Advocate did not take Cusick's lawsuit into consideration when assigning the "Cirque du so Gay" cover story, said Bruce Steele, the Advocate's editor, because Cusick's discrimination claim did not pertain to the article's focus on gay dancers.

"The Nov. 11 cover story that focused on Zumanity … was limited to profiling performers Johan Silverhut King and Patrick King, as well as Joey Arias, three accomplished and talented openly gay men who are recently hired employees of Cirque du Soleil," Steele said in a written statement.

Steele refused a request for a telephone interview with the Washington Blade.

Steve Friess, a freelance writer who penned the Advocate article, refused comment. Friess is an occasional contributor to the Washington Blade.

Cusick's dismissal from Cirque prompted him to file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in July on grounds of discrimination, with assistance from the Lambda Legal Education & Defense Fund.

Michael Adams, director of education and public affairs for Lambda Legal, described the case as "blatant discrimination."

"What makes the case even more galling is this is an organization that pretends to be progressive and holds itself out to the gay community as a friend," Adams said.

The Advocate received only one letter about Cusick's complaint, which is scheduled to be published in the Dec. 9 issue, according to Eric Chandler, a spokesperson for the magazine.

In an e-mail exchange with a reader in San Francisco incensed about the Cirque coverage, Steele defended the Advocate's neutrality, saying that Cirque has not yet given its "side of the story" on Cusick's case, and there was nothing more to report at present.

But in a July interview with the Washington Blade, a Cirque du Soleil spokesman in fact acknowledged that Cusick was fired on the basis of his HIV status.

"It was one of the most difficult decisions that Cirque has had to make because in our usual corporate attitude we're known to be a very open-minded organization, … but we had to make it for safety reasons," Renee Claude Menard, a Cirque spokesperson, said at the time.

On THURSDAY, Nov. 6, Lambda Legal launched a nationwide education campaign on "the other side of Cirque," Adams said.

The campaign begins in San Francisco and follows the circus around the country, including Atlanta from March 25 to April 11 and New York from May 6 to June 6. "We are working in partnership with San Francisco to expose the other side of Cirque du Soleil, the one that fired a gay man with HIV," Adams said. Activists are set to hand out pamphlets to circus goers that detail Cusick's HIV discrimination case.

The Advocate, which in July devoted two paragraphs to Cusick's case on its Web site, plans to continue its coverage of the matter and the "remarkable achievements of openly gay men and women in every field of endeavor," Steele said.