ATL native takes on desire, racism in ‘No Fats, No Femmes’ documentary

Alexander Eisele and Michael Westbrook were vying to become Generation Tux’s “First couple of 2016” to be married on New Year’s Eve in Times Square, but after all the votes were cast, a straight couple from Florida walked away with the title and a weeklong honeymoon at Moon Palace & Golf Resort in Cancun, Mexico. However, Eisele and Westbrook’s inclusion in this national contest and their decade-long love story is its own reward, and signifies American progress towards acceptance of marriage equality.

According to the AJC, the couple met on the dance floor at the Heretic in 2007.

“Through their love of music and each other, Alexander and Michael have stood the test of time and come out stronger than ever,” said their Generation Tux biography. “Having fallen in love over ten years ago, and making it through some of life’s difficult situations, they always knew they wanted to be at each other’s side through thick and thin. Ready to take the next step once marriage was declared legal for all, a surprise proposal at an Atlanta Pride event was just the first big step in this love story of epic proportions.”

Any gay man who has ever used a dating or hookup app is familiar with the term “No fats, no femmes.” It’s the brutal, dismissive line one will occasionally find on someone’s profile, and many take it a step further by tacking on “No Asians, no blacks.”

Filmmaker Jamal T. Lewis, an Atlanta native who graduated from Morehouse in 2014 and now lives in Brooklyn, aims to

Tom Dyer, founder of Watermark, a Florida LGBT biweekly newspaper, has sold the publication to his longtime publisher and associate Rick Claggett, effective Jan. 1, 2016.

Dyer founded Watermark in Orlando in 1994 with $20,000 borrowed from friends. He expanded to Tampa Bay the following year, tripling the publication’s size. Up to 20,000 of the newspapers are now distributed every Thursday at more than 500 locations in Orlando, Tampa Bay, Sarasota and throughout the state.

In the current “Year in Review” issue of Watermark, Dyer talks about his motivation behind making the paper succeed, writing, “I grew up believing that a gay ‘lifestyle’ involved shadowy bars, transient relationships and guilty sex. I wanted it to be more. Watermark would be my proof.”