Kiss me, George
(Venice, Italy) A fan of actor George Clooney stripped to his boxer shorts in front of the Hollywood star and asked if he could “kiss him, just once.”
“I am gay, George,” the unidentified man said during a news conference at the Venice Film Festival Tuesday. “Take me, choose me George, …
Tags: Actor George, Boxer Shorts, Gay Man, George Clooney, hollywood, Hollywood Star, Kiss, News Conference, Unidentified Man, Venice Film Festival, Venice ItalyColumnist who outed Rock Hudson as HIV positive, dies
(Los Angeles) Army Archerd, whose breezy column for the entertainment trade publication Daily Variety kept tabs on various Hollywood doings for more than a half-century, has died. He was 87.
Archerd’s wife, Selma, said he died Tuesday at UCLA Medical Center of mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs strongly tied to …
Tags: Army Archerd, Cancer Of The Lungs, Columnist, Daily Variety, Doings, hiv, Hiv Positive, hollywood, Mesothelioma, Rock Hudson, Selma, Tabs, Trade Publication, Ucla Medical CenterRumor Willis To Play Lesbian On ‘90210′
Rumer Willis is going to 90210 to play a lesbian character. Willis, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis’ oldest daughter, landed the role of Gia, according to Access Hollywood.
Willis’ character in the CW’s remake of the teen drama 90210 is a gay student at West Beverly Hills High, a fictional school at which the show takes place.
While currently only scheduled for a one episode appearance, it is expected that her character may be back for more episodes in the future.
A CW spokesman described Gia as a “punky cute lesbian.” As Gia, Willis will be working as a member of the school’s student run newspaper. Also working on the paper are Navid (Michael Steger), Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes), and Silver (Jessica Stroup). The character will also not be afraid to speak her mind, to make her a little “scrappy.”
See Rumor Willis To Play Lesbian On ‘90210′
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ST. PETERSBURG –– The rows of rainbow…
ST. PETERSBURG –– The rows of rainbow flags, feather boas and glitter-streaked men dressed as Hollywood starlets made for an unusual campaign backdrop.
But there they were, a handful of St. Petersburg mayoral and City Council candidates, passing out campaign literature, posing for pictures and introducing themselves to potential voters amid Saturday’s St. Pete Pride festivities.
In a sign of St. Petersburg’s changing politics, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community is harnessing its collective voice, forcing candidates to take notice.
After years of tension between the group and conservative Mayor Rick Baker, it’s seizing the coming leadership change as a chance to make inroads and get its issues addressed.
“It is a matter of get-out-the-vote,” said Rick Boylan, founder of the Pinellas Stonewall Democrats. “If we can mobilize the community and inform them of which candidates support issues and which candidates are pro-equality and get them to participate, we can definitely have an impact on who is elected.”
See St. Petersburg’s gay community seeks to become key voting bloc in …
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Gay senior lives less openly in care facility
The love of Victor Engandela’s life was a Czech immigrant, an older, square-jawed man, olive-skinned and Hollywood handsome with a shock of white hair and an unfailingly gentlemanly manner.
Joseph was his name. There are pictures of him pressed in a yellowed photo album buried on a shelf in Engandela’s room at an Evanston home for seniors.
“I was with him,” Engandela said, “until he took his final breath.”
He shares these photos, and stories of a rich life, with no one but the occasional visitor, spending most of his days isolated from his past, surrounded by contemporaries born in an age when homosexuality was taboo.
“I’m one of the few people here that’s out, and I feel the weight of that,” said Engandela, 85. “I don’t advertise it, but I feel people know I’m homosexually oriented. They like me, but they don’t like me as a homosexual. I feel shunned.”
Engandela realized he was gay when he was about 13. His parents were Sicilian immigrants, and he was raised Catholic, one of four siblings.
Rather than play with other kids, Engandela preferred sitting on the porch in his Chicago neighborhood watching the older Italian men talk and smoke cigars.
As he got older he began going to Bughouse Square, listening to poets and Marxists atop soapboxes on hot summer nights. That spot in Washington Square Park was also a covert meeting place for gays, and it was nearby, under the elevated train tracks, that he had his first homosexual experience.
“It was, really, quite beautiful,” he said. “But at that time it was a real no-no. I couldn’t talk to anybody about it.”
See Gay senior lives less openly in care facility
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California gay marriage fight goes to Chinatown
The path to gay marriage in California may start in Chinatown.
After a double defeat at the voting booth and in court, gay advocates are reassessing their plans to push for legal same-sex marriage in the most populous U.S. state.
The new drive, focused on getting the issue on the ballot again as soon as November 2010, is more personal and reaches farther beyond the liberal confines of San Francisco’s Castro or Los Angeles’ gay heartland West Hollywood.
Lost in the 2009 election wreckage for gays was the marriage campaign’s relative success in Asian communities, which have swung toward support of same-sex marriage at a faster rate than the rest of California and have become a model for other groups.
Asian Americans have been building grass-roots support in Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Filipinotown for four years. Gays, lesbians and straight allies have talked about the often-taboo topic of homosexuality, set up booths at festivals, harangued non-English language media to change coverage and lobbied elected officials for support.
“What we felt we had to do is talk to people who aren’t on our side. So that’s why we do these crazy things like walk through the streets of Chinatown as part of the New Year’s Parade. That’s why we go out to festivals from Little India to Little Tokyo and talk to complete strangers,” said Marshall Wong, co-chair of Asia Pacific Islander group API Equality.
See
California gay marriage fight goes to Chinatown
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Federal gay marriage challenge has Hollywood style Reuters
The story of two famous U.S. lawyers from opposite ends of the political spectrum banding together to launch a bold and unexpected fight for gay marriage sounds like it could have been written in Hollywood.
In many ways, it is.
A handful of political filmmakers led by a Democratic consultant have crafted a gay rights challenge they hope will reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case which has its first hearing in a federal San Francisco court on July 2 could quickly make gay marriage a national right, or, some veteran gay rights advocates fear, cripple the movement.
The team has political experience, winning referenda in California in particular, and has brought together real-world firepower in the form of Ted Olson and David Boies, the lawyers who faced off in the 2000 election vote recount that led to George W. Bush’s presidency.
What sets them apart is the willingness to take on a court case that advocates steeped in the cause have avoided.
“Patience is a virtue I’ve quite frankly never possessed — if patience is a virtue,” said Chad Griffin, 35, who began his career in the political big leagues more than a decade ago as the youngest person to work on a president’s West Wing staff.
“History is on our side, law is on our side,” added Griffin, who is gay.
Rob Reiner, the “When Harry Met Sally” director and advocate for children’s health, and Bruce Cohen, the producer of “Milk,” a film about the first openly gay elected politician in California, are two of the six-member board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, founded for the court challenge.
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Philadelphia Cinema Alliance Announces 2009 Gay Icon Award Recipients
The Philadelphia Cinema Alliance is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s awards. They are - 2009 Gay Icon Award: Sharon Gless; the 2009 Rising Star Award: H.P. Mendoza; the 2009 Artistic Achievement Award: Chad Allen; and the 2009 Barbara Gittings Award: Dr. Dee Mosbacher. Each honoree will be present to accept his or her award at one of four special ceremonies during the 15th Anniversary of Philadelphia QFest, July 9 - 20, 2009.
Actress Sharon Gless will receive the Gay Icon Award on Sunday, July 19 at The Prince Music Theater before a screening of her new movie Hannah Free. Gless entered the national consciousness as detective Christine Cagney on the classic series “Cagney & Lacey”, a show unafraid to tackle difficult issues like AIDS, abortion and racism. In 2000, Gless created the role of the beloved PFLAG-Mom Debbie Novotny for the groundbreaking series “Queer as Folk”, remaining with the series throughout its five-season run. She recently completed an Emmy-nominated, multiple-episode arc in the hit series “Nip/Tuck”, and currently stars in “Burn Notice”. Her current project, Hannah Free, finds the actress playing a free-spirited lesbian trying to reunite with the love of her life. Off-screen, Gless is an active participant in the ongoing struggle for reproductive rights and a consistent supporter of national and international human rights.
The multi-talented H.P. Mendoza will receive the Rising Star Award on Thursday, July 16 at the Ritz East Theater, preceding the screening of his new film Fruit Fly. An innovative, musical and prodigious talent, H.P. Mendoza returns to QFest this year with his bubbly directorial debut. Born in San Francisco to Filipino immigrants, he studied film at the College of San Mateo, where he met Richard Wong. Wong went on to direct Colma: The Musical which Mendoza wrote and composed. Colma was one of the highlights of PIGLFF 2007. H.P. has also released several CDs over the past few years, including the new “Nomad”.
Hollywood mainstay Chad Allen will receive the Artistic Achievement Award Thursday, July 9 at The Prince at QFest 09 Opening Night celebration, following the screening of Hollywood je t’aime. Many know Allen for his impressive body of professional work on family dramas ranging from “St. Elsewhere” to “Our House” and “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Women.” Equally important to Allen is his personal life, being one of the few openly gay actors working in Hollywood today, one willing to speak candidly about his sexuality. Allen has most recently gained recognition as the sexy, shrewd and resourceful gay detective Donald Strachey in the series of films Third Man Out, Shock to the System, On the Other Hand, Death (all of which screened at PIGLFF) and Ice Blues. Allen is a solid supporter of AIDS/LIFECYCLE, in which he recently rode 545 miles to help raise more than $11 million for the fight against AIDS. See Philadelphia Cinema Alliance Announces 2009 Gay Icon Award Recipients
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SF Mayor: Obama Made “Big Mistake” Defending Anti-Gay Marriage Act
With the Obama administration facing growing discontent among gay supporters, the mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco joined in voicing concern today about a new U.S. Justice Department brief supporting the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
“I think it’s a big mistake,” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said shortly before he and his Los Angeles counterpart, Antonio Villaraigosa, kicked off the annual L.A. Pride parade in West Hollywood.
The 1996 law bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and enables states to refuse to recognize such marriages from other states. The Justice Department enraged leaders of gay rights groups Thursday by filing a lengthy defense of the law in a federal lawsuit in which its constitutional validity is challenged.
Newsom and Villaraigosa, potential rivals in next year’s Democratic primary for governor, were both careful to avoid direct criticism of President Obama, who pledged during his campaign for the White House to repeal the marriage law. See SF Mayor: Obama Made “Big Mistake” Defending Anti-Gay Marriage Act
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Same-Sex Couples, Faith leaders Celebrate First Anniversary of Marriage
Community members to hold anniversary events across the state, honoring historic milestone
Faith leaders, same-sex couples, friends and family will gather across the state to celebrate in honor of the one-year-anniversary of couples who married last year when same-sex couples were able to legally marry. Faith leaders will offer brief remarks, and couples will gather for a group photo at each event.
San Francisco: 6:30 p.m. First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco 1187 Franklin St, Starr King Room
June 17 Fresno: 6 PM Historic Water Tower in Downtown Fresno 2444 Fresno St.
San Diego: 5:30 p.m. Mission Hills United Church of Christ 4070 Jackdaw St.
Event sponsors include, Equality California, California Faith for Equality, Marriage Equality USA, Jordan Rustin Coalition, API Equality – LA, Equality Inland Empire, Redlands United Church of Christ’s Christians for Marriage Equality, Orange County Equality Coalition, Equality Action NOW, PFLAG, Courage Campaign- Fresno Equality Team, Yes! on Equality, and Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry, Spousesforlifeproject.com.
Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the nation. EQCA has passed over 50 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org
California Faith for Equality is a statewide network of clergy and lay leaders from a diversity of faith traditions who are committed to equality. www.cafaithforequality.org
Marriage Equality USA is a national organization whose mission is to secure legally recognized civil marriage equality for all, at the federal and state level, without regard to gender identity or sexual orientation. www.marriageequality.org
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