The mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco joined gay rights groups Sunday in raising concerns about the Obama administration’s defense of a federal law restricting same-sex marriage.
“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 mayors, potential rivals in next year’s Democratic primary for governor, were each careful to avoid direct criticism of President Obama.
But their mutual disapproval of a Justice Department brief filed Thursday in support of the Defense of Marriage Act comes amid growing discontent with Obama among gay rights groups.
The battle over same-sex marriage added a serious note to the West Hollywood celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village that launched the modern gay rights movement.
“I’m concerned about some of the arguments being made by the Justice Department,” Villaraigosa told a cluster of news crews on Santa Monica Boulevard as motorc
The battle over same-sex marriage added a serious note to the West Hollywood celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village that launched the modern gay rights movement.
See LA gay pride parade darkened by US stance on marriage
Los Angeles Time
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Although he’s encouraged people to keep speculating about his sexuality, Adam Lambert now says, “all your questions will be answered” in an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone.
“Finally,” he said at the 11th Annual Young Hollywood Awards Sunday in Santa Monica, where he was named artist of the year. “Once and for all” he’ll speak directly about the topic.
But the winner of American Idol, Kris Allen, 23, is already speaking out in support of his good friend and runner-up, praising Lambert for his openness.
See Lambert Confirms That Rolling Stone Will Address His Sexuality
With over 17 years of experience providing gay men with couples counseling, gay-specialist, psychotherapist Ken Howard, LCSW will be taking care of his own in his home town this weekend as a featured therapist who will discuss various topics of interest to gay men living in the City of West Hollywood. The second-annual City-sponsored Gay Men’s Forum will be held on Saturday, May 2, 2009 at Plummer Park.p>
West Hollywood, CA — The Gay Men’s Forum is a free, day-long event will focus on the theme: “Where We’ve Been. Where We Are. Where We’re Heading” and will include contemporary experiences of gay men, panel discussions featuring a range of perspectives from the gay community, special performances and interactive workshops.
Ken Howard, LCSW will be participating in the discussion: “Love & Its Opposite: A Discussion on the Differences Between Healthy & Unhealthy Relations” with fellow colleagues including, Tyrone Carter, Ian Stulberg, LCSW and Andrew Susskind, LCSW; the Q&A will be moderated by Christian Antonio Calle of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center.
Howard has extensive experience in counseling the gay male community (and lesbian and straight couples) on how to achieve healthy and satisfying relationships. Throughout the years he has worked with a variety of couples who have sought his guidance on topics including “how to have an open relationship without hurt feelings”, “being serodiscordant (one HIV-positive, one HIV-negative), managing stress, and older-younger relationships. He teaches communication skills using the Imago Couples Dialogue, pioneered by Harville Hendrix. His long-list of testimonials from happy couples provides countless examples of those who have turned his philosophy and guidance into real-life skills and solutions, often preventing breakups.
The forum is being held in collaboration with the City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board, community organizations and the City’s Social Services Division.
The GAY MEN’S FORUM: Dialogue and Workshops will be held at Fiesta Hall at Plummer Park on Saturday, May 2, 2009 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. located at 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood. The event is free.
To RSVP, please call (323) 848-6381. For more information, please contact Corey Roskin, Hernan Molina or Larissa Fooks at (323) 848-6460. For the deaf and hard of hearing, please call (323) 848-6496.
Introduced by President Bill Clinton, BMP Films and MTV Bring Academy Award-Winner Dustin Lance Black’s (“Milk”) Story of The Real World’s Pedro Zamora To Life
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — MTV, mtvU, LOGO and MTV Tr3s, with subtitles in Spanish, will present the world television premiere of Pedro, a movie based on the remarkable life of The Real World’s Pedro Zamora, on Wednesday, April 1 at 8:00 PM ET/PT. BMP Films, in association with MTV, produced this biopic written by Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”). For more information and to view the movie trailer, please visit
www.pedro.mtv.com.
In 1994, Zamora captured the hearts of millions as the first-ever openly gay, HIV-positive main character on TV — on MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco. Zamora’s time in the house on Lombard Street brought a face to the AIDS crisis. President Bill Clinton has long credited Zamora with personalizing and humanizing the epidemic, and he will introduce Pedro when it makes its world television premiere April 1st.
“To this day, Pedro Zamora remains an extraordinary example of what a huge impact one young person can make in our world,” President Clinton said. “I’m glad to have known him, and I’m grateful his life has been able to inspire and enrich so many others.”
Told through the eyes of his friends and family, the film Pedro celebrates the extraordinary life a young man who found out he was HIV positive at 17, then made the courageous decision to dedicate his life to speaking out about the disease. Zamora testified before the United States Congress to argue for more explicit HIV/AIDS educational programs aimed at youth of color before auditioning for The Real World in 1993.
Zamora’s appearance on The Real World brought his story and message to a national audience; and when his health began to deteriorate in late 1994 (after he left the show), his condition quickly became front page news nationwide. His death at age 22, following the final episode of “The Real World,” provoked a worldwide outpouring of grief.
“Our historic, simultaneous premiere of the film across multiple networks demonstrates the power of Pedro’s journey to reach a vast array of audiences, just as it did 15 years ago,” said Brian Graden, President of Entertainment, MTV Networks Music Channels and President of Logo. “His story originally ignited a national dialogue, permanently impacted our consciousness around the challenges of HIV, and gave untold millions the courage to open up about their sexual orientation. For those of us who remember him as a treasured television friend, and for a new generation coming to his story for the first time, we remain grateful for the gift of his story.”
“Pedro made us promise to tell his story to his very last breath; this film delivers on that promise by telling his entire life story in a scripted film – including his early life in Cuba, his teen years in Miami and the final months of his life as he fought to stay alive,” said BMP Films President, Jon Murray. “For the first time viewers will see all the forces that made Pedro the man he was and gave him the courage to take his message of AIDS education to a nationwide audience.”
Nearly 15 years since Pedro heightened national awareness of HIV/AIDS, the epidemic in the U.S. remains a serious concern, especially among younger Americans (under 30) who account for a larger share of new infections than any other age group. Other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) – such as chlamydia and gonorrhea – are even more common, with one in two sexually active Americans being infected by age 25 – and most not knowing it. Since 1997, MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation have partnered to inform millions of young adults about HIV, other STDs and related sexual health issues. Beginning in April (STD Awareness Month), MTV and Kaiser will partner with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its nearly 880 affiliate health centers to make an aggressive push to inform America’s young people about STDs, as well as help normalize and drive increased testing. Full details on the rest of the campaign will be unveiled soon.
Planned Parenthood is also developing an educational discussion guide for teens, young adults, and parents to use when they watch the Pedro premiere on MTV. It will be available for download on MTV’s
www.ItsYourSexLife.com and on Planned Parenthood’s website at
www.plannedparenthood.org.
Pedro was Produced by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, Chris Panizzon and Anne Clements (“Quinceanera”). Jon Murray, Gil Goldschein and Scott Freeman of Bunim-Murray Productions served as Executive Producers along with Paris Barclay. Pedro was directed by Nick Oceano and written by Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”) with story by Paris Barclay and Dustin Lance Black. Pedro stars Alex Loynaz as Pedro, Justina Machado (“Six Feet Under”) as Pedro’s sister Mily, and Hale Appleman (“Teeth”) as Pedro’s roommate from The Real World, Judd. Maggie Malina is executive producer for MTV.
