Ellen says she’s tough enough to be ‘Idol’ judge
(Los Angeles) Ellen DeGeneres is known for being nice. But the new “American Idol” judge says she’s tough enough to be honest with the show’s contestants. DeGeneres also said Thursday that she’s ready to take on fellow judge Simon Cowell, known for his sarcasm toward both singers and his “Idol” …
Tags: American Idol, Ellen Degeneres, Fellow, Sarcasm, Simon Cowell, SingersShanghai Journal Gay Festival in China Pushes Official Boundaries New York Times
SHANGHAI — It was shortly after the “hot body” contest and just before a painted procession of Chinese opera singers took the stage that the police threatened to shut down China’s first gay pride festival. The authorities had already forced the cancellation of a play, a film screening and a social mixer, so when an irritated plainclothes officer arrived at the Saturday afternoon gala and flashed his badge, organizers feared the worst.
After some fraught negotiations, Hannah Miller, an American teacher who helped put together the weeklong festival, agreed to limit the crowds, keep the noise down and, most important, “not let anything happen that might embarrass the government,” she explained after returning from the impromptu sidewalk meeting. “That was a close call,” she said.
Crisis averted, the party continued.
And so it went for Shanghai Pride week, a delicately orchestrated series of private events that revealed how far China’s gay community had come, and how much further it had to go. In the 12 years since homosexuality was decriminalized in China, there has been an unmistakable blossoming of gay life, even if largely underground. Most big cities have gay bars, and social networking sites ease the isolation of those living in China’s rural hinterland. Antigay violence is virtually unheard of.
But official tolerance has its limits. Gay publications and plays are banned, gay Web sites are occasionally blocked and those who try to advocate for greater legal protections for lesbians and gay men sometimes face harassment from the police. For years, movie buffs in Beijing have tried, and failed, to get permission for a gay film festival.
This month, public security officials forced Wan Yanhai, a prominent advocate on gay issues, including AIDS, to leave Beijing for a week because they feared he might cause trouble during the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
See
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/shanghai-jour…
Annie Leibovitz and the gay tax
Poets swoon about it and singers croon about it, but LGBT people can calculate the cost of love down to the last penny. In my household it comes to around $329.25 monthly: that’s the gay tax my wife and I shell out for me to be on her health insurance plan, because her company must treat that benefit as additional taxable income. It doesn’t matter that our Massachusetts marriage is recognized in New York. Companies pay for their employees’ health insurance with pre-tax money through a federal program, and same-sex marriage isn’t federally recognized.
But that’s chump change compared to what love is currently costing celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz. Back in late February the NYT noted that Leibovitz had borrowed a total of $15.5 million from a company called Art Capital Group using “as collateral, among other items … town houses she owns in Greenwich Village, a country house, and something else: the rights to all of her photographs.”
But what the NYT missed, along with every other straight newspaper that picked up the story, is why Leibovitz suddenly found herself in such dire financial straits. It took AfterEllen’s Julie Miranda to put two and two together and figure out that “most of Leibovitz’ financial woes stemmed from her inheritance of her longtime partner, Susan Sontag’s estate.” Writes Miranda (who, in turn, is channeling Suze Orman’s Valentine’s Wish for Gay Marriage):
“Same-sex couples do not have the same privileges as straight married couples when it comes to inheritance. If your partner passes away and leaves her estate to you, you have to pay up to 50 percent of the value of your inheritance in taxes. However, if you and your partner were recognized as a married couple, you wouldn’t have to pay a dime…When Sontag died in 2004, she bequeathed several properties to Leibovitz, who was forced to pony up half of their value to keep them.”
See Annie Leibovitz and the gay tax @ Salon.com
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Transsexual acquitted of criticizing military in Turkey
(Ankara) A transsexual singer has been acquitted of charges of criticizing mandatory military service in Turkey.
The law firm of Muhittin Yuzuak says Friday that their client, singer Bulent Ersoy, was acquitted during a hearing Thursday on grounds of freedom of speech. Ersoy is one of Turkey’s best-loved singers.
Ersoy has acknowledged …
Tags: Ankara, Bulent Ersoy, Freedom Of Speech, Mandatory Military Service, Military Law, Singers, Transsexual, TurkeyTranssexual acquitted of criticizing military in Turkey
(Ankara) A transsexual singer has been acquitted of charges of criticizing mandatory military service in Turkey.
The law firm of Muhittin Yuzuak says Friday that their client, singer Bulent Ersoy, was acquitted during a hearing Thursday on grounds of freedom of speech. Ersoy is one of Turkey’s best-loved singers.
Ersoy has acknowledged …
Tags: Ankara, Bulent Ersoy, Freedom Of Speech, Mandatory Military Service, Military Law, Singers, Transsexual, Turkey
