Out in the 562

Patricia Manuel hopes to punch her way into history.

The 26-year-old Long Beach resident is competing to be among the first women to represent the United States in boxing when the sport debuts in the 2012 Olympics in London.

It will be the first time women enter the ring at the international event, competing in three weight categories.

"Competing at the Olympics is the highest level of amateur sports and as a competitor," Manuel said recently, after four rounds of sparring at the Azteca Boxing Club in Bell.

"I want to achieve the greatest amount of success."

At a weight of 132 pounds, the 5-foot, 6-inch Manuel fights in the lightweight class - but her size can be deceiving, said her trainer, Roberto Luna.

She attacks quickly and has an aggressive style, he said.

"She used to be guided by her emotions, but now she has her emotions under control," he said.

With a 49-14 record, so far she has found success. She has won the three ranking national championships for amateur boxing: the Women's National Golden Gloves, the The United States National Boxing Championships, and the National Police Athletic League Championships.

(Long Beach boxer Patricia Manuel trains at the Azteca Boxing Club in Bell as she prepares for the upcoming U.S. Olympic boxing trials in Spokane, Wash. Manuel spars in the ring with fellow Olympic hopeful Tiffanie Ward. (Scott Varley / Staff Photographer)

For Sophie L. Meunier, every drop counts.

As a budding photographer, Meunier believes if small intentions are combined, a huge difference is made.

The 30-year-old Long Beach resident puts that belief into practice with her debut photography exhibit, "Every. Drop. Counts.," which opens at Hot Java coffeehouse 6 tonight with an artist reception. It will be on display through March 5.

The show contains 18 pieces printed on metal in two series, "Every. Drop. Counts." and "The Artist, Ocean."

For the ocean series, Meunier, who was inspired by daily walks along the beach and beach clean-ups in Long Beach, wanted to show the ocean in a different way, she says.

"My goal was to get a  different approach and not simply a shot of the beach, but the nuances of colors and reflections that take place in the ocean itself," Meunier says. "This is in a certain way, the ocean's own magic."

(The photograph "Lumière D'or" ("Light of Gold") is part of the series "The Artist, Ocean," by Sophie Meunier. Photo courtesy of Sophie L. Meunier.)

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts will provide the rock and the roar at this year's Tecate Light Rock-N-Roar Concert, part of the 38th Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The race will take place April 13-15.

The concert will begin on the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center outdoor stage April 14, following racing activities, about 6:30 p.m. The concert is free to race ticket holders.

Jett, 53, a lesbian icon and leader of the hard-rocking Blackhearts, has released eight platinum and gold albums and nine Top 40 singles, including the classics "Bad Reputation," "I Love Rock 'N' Roll," "I Hate Myself for Loving You," "Do You Want to Touch," and "Crimson and Clover."




(Joan Jett and the Blackhearts perform the 18th Annual Race to Erase MS Gala at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel on April 29, 2011 in Century City. Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Ian MacKinnon says he has a lust for history.

His desire to learn about past events, and particularly people, is so strong it influenced his latest one-man show, "Ian MacKinnon's Gay Hist-Orgy!"

MacKinnon performs the piece 8 tonight and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Long Beach Playhouse. Tickets are $20 each.

In the show, MacKinnon, 35, wears a pair of time-traveling leather chaps and, with the assistance of a sexy genie, cruises a plethora of gay historical figures, including Plato, Rumi, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Fredrick the Great, Edward Carpenter, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Karl Ulrichs, Harry Hay and Allen Ginsberg.

MacKinnon hits on the historical men as their images are projected on multi-media video screens.

"I'm horny for history, and I'm looking for love as I cruise hot guys," MacKinnon says, chuckling.

But MacKinnon wants people to walk away from the performance with more than an appreciation for hot pants.

"I hope people walk away with a deeper appreciation for gay history and how it connects to our lives," he says. "I feel empowered when I relate to these gay icons, and I hope to pass that feeling along to the audience.

"I hope to spark their interest in learning more, and I hope to turn them on a bit too," MacKinnon says.

MacKinnon, who was born and raised in Madison, Wis., and resides in Studio City, first performed "Gay Hist-Orgy" about two years ago in West Hollywood.

"This is a history lesson veiled as performance art," he says.

(Ian MacKinnon, center, is surrounded by gay male icons (clockwise from left) James Baldwin, Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg.)

Bayard Rustin, a leader of the civil rights movement, mentor to Martin Luther King Jr. and chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, struggled much of his life against racism and homophobia.

Openly gay, he remained in the background for the sake of the movement, only to be sacrificed by its leaders as a political liability. Nevertheless, Rustin made crucial contributions to the civil rights movement and emerged as a gay rights activist.

Here is a copy of a 2003 article I wrote on Rustin. It was tied to the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington.

By Phillip Zonkel
Staff Writer


BAYARD RUSTIN had a dream.


As a tireless and pioneering crusader for civil rights, social justice and economic equality, his life rested on the bedrock conviction that ordinary people could change the world.

Rustin also practiced what he preached - He helped create the civil rights movement, mentored Martin Luther King, Jr. on the practice of nonviolent protest and was the architect of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place 40 years ago today.

However, Rustin was openly gay and deemed a political liability. Many advisers in the civil rights movement told him to sit at the back of the bus.

"Rustin hardly appears in all the voluminous literature produced about the 1960s," says John D'Emilio, author of the book "Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin."  "He's a man without a home in history."

Rustin has been lost in the shadows of history at least in part because he was a gay man in an era when the stigma attached to this was unrelieved."

Adds Angela Bowen, assistant professor of women's studies at Cal State Long Beach, "He was ostracized particularly by black leaders because they were homophobic. They said he would bring disgrace on them because he was gay.

"Bayard knew they were little minded, and he was ahead of his time," she says.

((Martin Luther King, Jr., left, walks with Bayard Rustin in this 1956 photo. Credit: Associated Press)

Yours truly will be the guest at LGB2Network's  Thursday mixer at The Wine Down on Feb. 16.

The networking event takes place from 6 to 8 p.m.

The Wine Down is inside the Breakers Building, 210 E. Ocean Blvd.

I'll talk about Out in the 562, my work at the Press-Telegram and how business and organizations can get their stories in the newspaper and blog.

Admission is free and street parking is available.

It will be a fun evening. Come join us.

LONG BEACH - Charles Karel Bouley said it was a good day, but not a great day.

On Tuesday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional, but gays and lesbians still are prohibited from receiving marriage licenses.

"I'm happy this is the second court that ruled Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, but they are still discriminating against gay people by not allowing marriages licenses to be issued," said the 49-year-old Long Beach resident and openly gay radio host.

"What we're really talking about is institutionalized bigotry, and the fact that we are having a debate about it is embarrassing," he said.

In the 2-1 decision, the federal appeals court struck down the voter-approved law that made same-sex marriage illegal in California.

"Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the decision.

The court concluded Proposition 8 violates the 14th Amendment rights of gay couples to equal protection under the law.

(Openly gay radio host and Long Beach resident Charles Karel Bouley said Tuesday was a "good day, but not a great day" following the Prop 8 decision. Photo: Charles Karel Bouley)

By Howard Mintz

San Jose Mercury News

A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down Proposition 8, finding that California's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional because it deprives gay and lesbian couples of the equal right to wed.

With a decision that pushes the gay marriage issue a step closer to the U.S. Supreme Court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld former San Francisco Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who invalidated Proposition 8 in 2010 after conducting an unprecedented trial.

Proposition 8 backers can now ask the 9th Circuit to rehear the case with an 11-judge panel, or proceed directly to the Supreme Court.

The appeals court also rejected the argument that Walker's ruling should be scrapped because he did not disclose he was in a long-term same-sex relationship while he was handling the case.

As a result of the continued legal wrangling, same-sex marriages are not expected to resume in California any time soon, with further appeals likely to stretch at least into next year.

The appeals court's ruling marks another setback for gay marriage opponents, who passed Proposition 8 in 2008 by a 52 to 48 percent margin. Proposition 8 restored California's gay marriage ban, trumping a state Supreme Court ruling earlier in 2008 that had invalidated California's prior laws forbidding same-sex nuptials.

(Prop 8 plaintiff same sex couple Jeffrey Zarrillo, left, and partner Paul Katami, right, arrive at a federal courthouse in San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011.  (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) ( Paul Sakuma )

Pop open the bubbly and the prescription pills, sweetie darlings - the second of three new "Absolutely Fabulous" specials airs 10:30 tonight on Logo.

The episode, "Job," finds Edina struggling to make up for her new client's lack of talent with help from two other English singers.

Edina takes on a celebrity client who wants to sing, but when Edina discovers how awful her client's voice really is, she recruits some help from her other clients. Emma Bunton from the 'Spice Girls' and Lulu, help prepare the hideous client for her upcoming singing debut.

The three episodes commemorate the 20th anniversary of the British series about Edina Moonson (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley), two neurotic, self-indulgent souls who relish large amounts of alcohol and recreational drugs.

The third episode has an Olympic theme and is scheduled to air this summer. Logo has not a broadcast date yet.

In other fabulous news, Saunders, 53, tells New York magazine an "Absolutely Fabulous" movie is on the horizon.

Last year, Saunders said a little bit about the film's possible storyline.

"We thought it would be hilarious if (Edina and Patsy) went to a party on an oligarch's yacht, got drunk, fell asleep and woke up in the middle of the ocean," she said. "Everyone else has left, and the ship has been moved on."

(Edina Moonson (Jennifer Saunders), left, and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley), are two neurotic, self-indulgent souls who relish large amounts of alcohol and recreational drugs in the British series "Absolutely Fabulous." Photo: Logo TV.)

For anyone who listens to Azealia Banks music, this information isn't new, just a confirmation.

The 22-year-old hip-hopper tells the New York Times she is bisexual.

"I'm not trying to be, like, the bisexual, lesbian rapper," says Banks, who will play Coachella in April. "I've been out for three years. I've been around."

Banks sings about her love of the sugar walls on her hit "212." In the video, which fans viewed more than 3 million times on Youtube.com, Banks has pigtails and wears denim cutoffs and a vintage Mickey Mouse sweater.

But fans are really focusing on the naughty lyrics: "She know where I get mine from, end of season / Now she wanna lick my plum in the evening / And fit that ton-tongue d-deep in /I guess that cunt getting eaten."

In the last line, Banks repeats "cunt" five times, in case listeners missed it.

(Rapper Azealia Banks sings about loving the ladies in the video to "212.")