June 2011 Archives

Federal officials have canceled the deportation of Henry Velandia, a Venezuelan married to American citizen Josh Vandiver, in a decision that could have extensive implications for immigration policy affecting same-sex couples, the New York Times reports.

The cancellation was announced Wednesday by Lavi Soloway, the lawyer for Velandia and Vandiver, who live in New Jersey and were married in Connecticut last year.

"The case has been closely watched across the country by lawyers and advocates who viewed it as a test of the federal government's position on the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages," the Times reports.

An immigration judge in Newark suspended deportation for Velandia last month. The judge wanted to allow the government more time to consider the issue, and earlier this month Soloway received a call from an arm of the Homeland Security Department saying the agency agreed with his request to close the deportation proceedings, the Times reports.

(Photo: Henry Velandia of Venezuela (right), who is legally married to Josh Vandiver. Photo courtesy Get Equal.)

From hot lesbians and closeted teens to mistaken identity and bisexuality, mainstream advertising exploits LGBT themes.

In honor of Gay Pride Month, Adweek has compiled a list of "The 50 Gayest Ads Ever." Though the magazine says, "gays and lesbians are still all but invisible in the TV advertising landscape."

Some of the ads are from the United States, but most of them are from overseas.

The above ad is from 2004.

Leaders of the antigay Westboro Baptist Church had been addressing training sessions for the FBI on how to understand "extremists" this spring until FBI employees objected to the church's presence, and church officials claimed they had been misled about the sessions' purpose, NPR reports.

National Public Radio's Morning Edition reported Wednesday that the Westboro Baptist Church had been invited to the sessions in 2008 and again this year, but the arrangement was canceled after four sessions this spring.

Timothy Phelps, the youngest son of church founder Fred Phelps, said he had been told Westboro members had been invited in order to help FBI agents and local law enforcement professionals learn "how to stay measured when they are speaking with a witness or a suspect with whom they have a strong, visceral disagreement," NPR reports.

But those who attended the sessions said they were focused on domestic terrorism, and they "were told that the FBI invited Westboro members to the class so police officers and agents could see extremists up close and understand what makes them tick," Morning Edition reports. The FBI says Westboro officials knew this; Timothy Phelps says they were misled. The FBI has invited other controversial figures, including former Ku Klux Klan members, to similar sessions.

Ex-RBD member Dulce Maria will be performing for Club Papi at Circus Disco Sunday. Tickets are on sale online and at the boxoffice, including VIP meet and greet.

Maria's performance is part of a larger national tour of gay clubs to promote her solo CD, "Extranjera: Segunda Parte," which drops July 21. The album's first single, "Ya No," includes remixes by Klubjumpers, Gustavo Scorpio and Master Lujan.

Here's an interview Maria did with Chicagopride.com to promote her Windy City appearance, which is tonight.

Last weekend, Maria, 25, performed at San Francisco Pride and shared the stage with former bandmate and out singer Christian Chávez, 27.

By the Associated Press -

WASHINGTON - The FBI said Wednesday that members of the Westboro Baptish Church of Topeka, Kan., participated in the bureau's training of police officers and FBI agents -- a move the bureau says it will take steps to remedy in the future.

The bureau extended the invitations to the anti-gay group for training this spring at two bureau facilities in Virginia: Quantico and Manassas.

Westboro has stirred widespread outrage with raucous demonstrations at the funerals of U.S. military service members. The group contends God is punishing the military for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

National Public Radio first reported the FBI's involvement with Westboro.

At FBI headquarters in Washington, bureau spokesman Paul Bresson acknowledged Westboro was invited to the training sessions.

The official added that bureau personnel organizing training courses were trying to bring in a variety of views they thought would be helpful to investigators.

Bresson, the bureau spokesman, said that the invitation to Westboro "was done in an effort to establish open dialogue in an academic setting to train law enforcement on how to more effectively engage with the activist community."

The training, Bresson said, was not only for FBI agents but for police executives from around the country -- for whom an open line of communication becomes important at critical times during rallies or protests around the country where there might be a potential for violence and police officers might be called on to respond.

An FBI official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said in retrospect, the bureau underestimated how the involvement of the outside organization would be perceived.

As a result, said the official, additional layers of review or approval on outside speakers will be added to the process.

Hart Crane was a tortured gay artist and son of a wealthy Cleveland businessman, who committed suicide in 1932 at the age of 32. His poetry was so difficult that even such renowned writers as Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams said they couldn't understand it.

But it's the perfect material for James Franco, who directed, produced and starred in a 99-minute, black-and-white biopic about the obtuse poet. Franco, 33, attended a screening of the film last week during the Los Angeles Film Festival.

"His poetry is difficult for me too," Franco said admitted during a discussion after the premier with Francisco Ricardo, a critic of new media and contemporary art and literature at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Los Angeles Times reports. "I couldn't even tell you what half his stuff means. But what inspired me is his spirit and drive. He cared so much about his work, even when nobody else understood it."

Crane's verse, which was largely influenced by Romantics such as Whitman and Poe, was heavy on metaphors, blank verses and homosexual innuendo. Both the greatest criticism and praise of his poetry concerns the "logic" of Crane's metaphors; his poetry is so loaded with them that many readers (including Franco) could only appreciate and understand Crane's poetry in bites, according to the Times.

It's the second time Franco has portrayed a gay poet. He starred as Alan Ginsberg in "Howl."

Jean Harris was a trailblazer.

The former Long Beach resident worked in the male-dominated field of climbing telephone poles and organized numerous gay and lesbian political campaigns in San Francisco and Long Beach.

Harris was campaign manager for Stephanie Loftin, who, in 2006, ran in Long Beach's the third distinct city council race.

"She hunted me down and said, We need a gay or and lesbian candidate in the third district," said Loftin, a local attorney. "It was impossible to say no to Jean Harris."

"Her public persona was this gruff and tumble old dyke, but underneath her truck driver exterior she was a charming, tender-hearted woman who would do anything for her friends," Loftin said.

Harris, 66, died last week. She was found at her Palm Springs home by Denise Penn, 50, her domestic partner.

The coroner has not ruled on a time or cause of death yet, but Harris had been ill with several health issues, including chronic pain and liver disease, Penn said.

Activism should have been Harris's first name, Penn said.

(Photo: Jean Harris, right, and her domestic partner, Denise Penn. Photo courtesy Denise Penn.)

Breaking ground where "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent" didn't want to venture, NBC's hit show "The Voice" is giving the spotlight to gay singers.

The singing competition wraps its first season this week (8 p.m. tonight) with four finalists battling for the championship, and two of them are openly lesbian.

Beverly McClellan is a 41-year-old gravelly voiced singer from Virginia and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., whose partner has appeared backstage on the show with her. McClellan is working with Christina Aguilera on "The Voice."

Vicci Martinez is a 26-year-old energetic singer from Tacoma, Wash., and Cee Lo Green is her mentor.

"American Idol" and "America's Got Talent" have featured gay performers but not in an open way. For example, Adam Lambert, who won second place on "American Idol" in 2009, didn't address his sexuality until after the competition ended. He's had success as an openly gay performer, earning a Grammy nomination, a gold-selling CD and a pair of Top 40 hits, the Associated Press reports.

But the presence of gay singers on "The Voice" is fresh for prime-time TV, and the singers are making a splash at a time when New York State has legalized gay marriage.

"Everybody is just evaluated based on their talent and their voice, and that has no boundaries and no boxes to put anybody in," Audrey Morrissey, one of the show's executive producers., told AP.

(Photo: In this June 22, 2011 photo released by NBC, Beverly McClellan, a contestant on "The Voice," is shown during a performance on the show in Los Angeles. McClellan, a top four finalist, is being mentored by celebrity judge Christina Aguilera. AP Photo/NBC, Lewis Jacobs)

Daniel Radcliffe took time out from fighting Voldemort's evil forces to show his allegiance to the LGBT community.

Radcliffe, 21, accepted the Trevor Project's Hero Award at Monday night's Trevor LIVE gala in New York.

The Trevor Project Hero Award recognizes individuals who serve as an inspiration to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. Previous recipients of the prize include Nathan Lane, Vanessa Williams and Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black ("Milk").

Founded by the filmmakers of the Oscar-winning 1994 short film "Trevor," the Trevor Project is a nonprofit organization that offers support to LGBT. The group's 24-hour suicide prevention hotline, 866-488-7386, offers those experiencing emotional difficulty dealing with their sexuality someone to talk to and endeavors to foster safe and inclusive environments in homes and schools.

"The fact that I'm able to help with something like this makes me very, very proud," Radcliffe told MTV News at the event. "It's a huge honor, and it's lovely of them to give it to me. I'll say it again later, but the real heroes are the people who are staffing those call centers and picking up the phones saving lives every single day."

(Photo: Daniel Radcliff attends Trevor Live: An Evening Benefiting the Trevor Project at Capitale on June 27, 2011 in New York City. Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images.

By the Associated Press

MIAMI - Qué pasa, Paulina Rubio?

What started as a minor fender bender in Miami led to the arrest of the Mexican singer, who allegedly refused to comply with police orders and cursed at an officer when he told her to get out of her car.

Rubio was cited for disorderly conduct, obstruction of justice and refusal to obey a lawful command.

The incident began Saturday afternoon when Rubio, 40, was in a minor car collision, which she was not her fault. The responding officer told her to get out from her car and step on the sidewalk.

She refused, cursing at him in Spanish, according to the police report.

Rubio also allegedly screamed as the officer handcuffed her. She continued yelling for about an hour while in the patrol car, according to the police report.

She finally calmed down and apologized, telling officers she had to go home to breastfeed her baby. The officer issued her a summons to appear in court.

(Photo: Paulina Rubio smiles at a press conference in Mexico City on May 18. Photo by Eduardo Verdugo, Associated Press)

Former English rugby superstar Ben Cohen is quickly becoming the one of the LGBT's most outspoken alllies.

Cohen plans to take his anti LGBT-bullying message to the high seas when sails from Rome to Venice in September, The Advocate reports.

In September, Cohen, 32, will take his recently launched Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation's anti-bullying campaign and Acceptance Tour aboard Source Event's Gay Rome to Venice Cruise aboard the world's largest sailing yacht, the Wind Surf. Ports of call for the cruise include Capri, Taormina (Sicily), Kotor (Montenegro), Dubrovnik, and Hvar (Croatia).

Last month Cohen, who is straight, announced his retirement from the sport to devote more time to his foundation, which is dedicated to fighting against bullying throughout the world.

"If people find me attractive and that helps them pay attention and hear my message of acceptance, then I am honored by it," Cohen said in a press release announcing the foundation. "Every human being has the right to love and be loved, and I want to be a bridge between LGBT and straight communities to create a kinder world."

So all those years of rump shaking were illegal?

Believe it or not, before this month's West Hollywood Planning Commission meeting, The Abbey didn't have a permit allowing patrons to dance. Of course, nobody has been enforcing that infraction, either.

Earlier this year, Abbey founder and president David Cooley built a 265-square-foot dance floor inside the West Hollywood watering hole and then applied to the planning commission to have his conditional use permit changed from a restaurant to a nightclub.

During its May meeting, the planning commission delayed Cooley's application, sighting incomplete staff reports, which enraged Cooley.

But after the planning commission approved the application this month, Cooley ran back to the Abbey and had the celebratory first dance on the dancefloor.

Neil Patrick Harris is engaged.

The 38-year-old "How I Met Your Mother" star tweeted Saturday that he and partner David Burtka, 36, are planning to say "I do" now that gay marriage is legal in New York!

"David and I did propose to each other, but over five years ago!" he explained. "We've been wearing engagement rings for ages, waiting for an available date."

Harris and Burtka became the parents of fraternal twins, Harper and Gideon, in October 2010 via a surrogate.




(Photo: Neil Patrick Harris (rigth) and husband David Burtka arrive at Art Los Angeles Contemporary opening night reception on January 27 in Santa Monica. Photo by Valerie Macon/Getty Images)

Can't wait to sink your teeth into the new season of "True Blood," which debuts 9 p.m. PST Sunday on HBO? Over at Collider.com, Rob Vaux gushed, "Season 3 definitely waxes soapy..., but escapes potboiler status by keeping its tongue firmly planted in its cheek at all times.

"Indeed, the perfect balance between sudsy horror and self-parody produces some of the greatest moments in the series. The scene where Russell yanks out the spine of a newscaster on national television may never be topped."

With harsh words directed toward both "American Idol" and a gay contestant accusing the show of sexual harassment, a New York federal judge threw out Ian Benardo's claim against the Fox reality show, according to Adweek via The Advocate.

Benardo, 30, says "American Idol" producers asked him to "gay it up" when he appeared on the show in 2010 (he also appeared in 2006 and 2007). In his lawsuit, Benardo also claims "American Idol" employees hurled gay epithets at him, including "fag" and "homo." Judge Colleen McMahon said Benardo knew the nature of the show, especially by his third appearance.

"He, like everyone else with a modicum of talent (or less) who auditions for 'American Idol,' chose to appear on a program that was famous for its judges insulting behavior toward the lame, the halt and the talentless, knowing full well what was coming -- if only because he had experienced it before," McMahon wrote. "Benardo went on air after being told what was expected of him, and he knew full well what to expect. Having volunteered to be insulted, he cannot now claim that he was sexually harassed."

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Christian Chávez says he's a rebel with a cause.

Since publicly coming out in 2007, Christian Chávez, a former singer with the uber-popular Mexican teen-pop group Rebelde, has been an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights.

Chávez performs Saturday at Club Papi at Space 550 in San Francisco. On Sunday, Chávez headlines the Latin stage at San Francisco Pride.

Chávez shares the stage with his former Rebelde bandmember Dulce Maria.

"Libertad" is Chávez's latest single from his debut solo CD, "Almas Transparentes." It's a collaboration with ex-RBD member Anahi.

In May 2010, Chávez rode in the Long Beach Pride Parade, and later that day, he headlined the Fiesta Caliente stage at Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride festival, performing songs from "Almas Transparentes."

Continue reading for an April 2010 interview the P-T conducted with Chávez.

Models will be walking the catwalk in underwear and swimwear by the likes of ES Collection, AussieBum, Addicted, Rufskin, James Tudor, Timoteo, among other recognizable names, Saturday during a fashion show at the grand opening of the LA Jock Aveda Barbershop and Salon in West Hollywood, 7978 Santa Monica Blvd.

Out & About Long Beach hosts a cocktail party Saturday night at the home of Gary Michovich and Henri Winters in conjunction with South Coast Chorale's "Web Site Story" show at the Scottish Rite Theater later in the evening.

 

Drinks and appetizers will be served.  Admission is $10 and the party starts at 5:30 p.m.

 

The Chorale's "Web Site Story" is their take on ....Do I really have to say what production it's based on?

In any event, this story follows two couples desparately trying to find love in spite of the cyber-forces threatening to tear them apart. Stuck between the rivalry of two cutthroat Internet cafe gangs, the Macs and the PCs, the protagonists defy all odds and prove that cross-platform love can be found in this modern world.

For more than three decades, butch gay women resembled a religious community and used lesbian bars as churches - places of community and sanctuary, a local historian says.

Marie Cartier, a senior lecturer in gender and women's studies at Cal State Northridge and screenwriting at UC Irvine, will discuss those themes Saturday at The Center Long Beach as part of the organization's monthly "QSpeak" lecture series. A suggested donation of $5-$20 is requested at the door.

The program features academic talks, interviews and ethnographies on queer studies, art, culture, social justice and history.

It begins noon Saturday with Cartier's discussion, "Baby You are My Religion: Butch Femme-Gay Women's Bar Culture from the 1940s to 1980s," includes stories, testimonies and photos of gay women and men from the early years of the of the gay rights movement who considered the bar an alternative church.

Patricia Nell Warren's book, "My West," is her version of 'Broke Back Mountain."

It's an anthology of Warren's collection of personal musings on the American West, a sagebrush bouquet on everything from agriculture to zest, by way of cooking, ethnicity, history, politics and sexuality.

The out author, whose 1974 book "The Front Runner," was the first gay-themed book to be named a New York Times bestseller, was inspired to write "My West" after viewing Out West at the Autry, the Autry National Center's ground-breaking series of programs that chronicled stories of the LGBT community in the American West.

Warren signs copes of "My West" 2 p.m. Sunday at the Autry.

"Seeing the Autry make its historic decision to explore the LGBT aspect of Western history, and participating in one of its first Out West programs, was a turning point for me," Warren said in a statement.

"The Autry inspired me to gather up dozens of short pieces that I'd published here and there over the years and to herd some of these favorites together under one cover as an anthology of personal perspectives on my native region."

 

Cast members from "True Blood" will make their fourth consecutive appearance at Comic-Con in San Diego in July, HBO announced.

The panel is scheduled for July 22 and includes Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Kevin Alejandro, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Nelsan Ellis, Joe Manganiello and Deborah Ann Woll.

Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack will moderate the discussion.

The fourth season of "True Blood" premieres 9 p.m. Sunday.

A parolee is under arrest after allegedly admitting to hanging a noose at a local gay rights organization last October, KTLA reports.

Marten Joseph Brandel, 45, was arrested Friday on suspicion of committing a hate crime and hanging a noose on private property when he showed up for a meeting with his parole officer in Irvine, according to Sgt. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department.

A noose was found hanging on the front door of Equality California's Santa Ana headquarters on October 29.

Bertagna said DNA on the noose matched Brandel's samples already in the state system

But late than never.

In the film "Beginners," now in theaters, Christopher Plummer plays Hal, a retired museum director who, after the death of his wife of 45 years, comes out as a gay man. Hal finds a younger boyfriend, throws parties, and visits dance clubs, sharing his adventures with his very confused adult son, Oliver, played by Ewan McGregor.

The film, which was written and directed by Mike Mills, is based in part on Mills' experience with his father.

In an interview with NPR, Mills discussed how his dad's coming out was a beginning of sorts.

"When my dad came out, we talked about everything and he was a very different person all of a sudden. But for the first 33 years of my life, [my parents] didn't talk about their interior lives hardly at all."

Where's the best place for prospective gay parents to sip a butterscotch martini, soak up the eye candy and hear information on gay parenting? That's right, The Abbey in West Hollywood. It wasn't our first guess either.

Gay-straight alliance groups are entitled to the same legal rights and protections as other student clubs at public secondary schools, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Tuesday in a letter to the nation's educators.

"Gay-straight alliances (GSAs) and similar student-initiated groups addressing LGBT issues can play an important role in promoting safer schools and creating more welcoming learning environments," Duncan says in the letter.

"But in spite of the positive effect these groups can have in schools, some such groups have been unlawfully excluded from school grounds, prevented from forming, or denied access to school resources."

Duncan says GSAs are protected under the 1984 Equal Access Act, which requires that public secondary schools receiving federal funds ensure equal access for student extracurricular groups.

How does David know Diego is gay - He chose strawberry ice cream on a day when chocolate was available. Yeah, that's probably not the best gaydar indicator, and it also shows David's a little slow in observing the obvious.

David and Diego are the main protagonists in the 1993 Cuban film "Strawberry and Chocolate," which will be shown 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills.

The two men - who are worlds apart - form an unlikely friendship in Havana. Diego is a middle-aged, gay counterrevolutionary, and David is a young, heterosexual Communist.

Roger Ebert praised the film, saying, "And nothing unfolds as we expect. "Strawberry and Chocolate" is not a movie about the seduction of a body, but about the seduction of a mind. It is more interested in politics than sex - unless you count sexual politics, since to be homosexual in Cuba is to make an anti-authoritarian statement whether you intend it or not."

LGB2Network holds its 1st anniversary mixer 6-9 p.m Thursday at Fuego at Hotel Maya.

Admission is free.

On Sunday, LGBTNetwork and Hotel Maya host a pool party from 1 to 6 p.m. This admission, however, is not free. It's $15.

Friend of the family Henry Rollins has signed for three episodes of "Animal Underworld" for Nat Geo Wild channel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Rollins recently appeared on the channel as host of "Snake Underworld," where he introduced viewers to herpetologists, doctors who treat snake bites and Slayer guitarist Kerry King's collection of pythons.

"Animal Underworld" features people who own exotic animals as well as those who eat them.

For example, Rollins visits Arizona's Road Kill Café, where he meets people who consume frog smoothies and tarantulas - the former because it supposedly increases virility and the latter for medicinal purposes.

Vanity Fair's Marc Spitz has an interview with Martin Gore regarding Depeche Mode's "Remixes 2" CD, which is on sale Tuesday.

The 37-track collection spans the band's illustrious 30-year career and features vintage and contemporary Mode material reworded by UNKLE, Dan the Automator, Jacques Lu Cont, Peter Bjorn and John, and Mike Snow, as well as former members Vince Clarke (later of Yaz and Erasure) and Alan Wilder.

Chris Carona is in his skivvies for a clothing campaign. Arona is featured in Pistol Pete's latest underwear campaign, which was shot last month at an abandoned oil refinery in Ventura.

The "Sacred Profanity" art exhibit doesn't showcase anything blasphemous or obscene, though beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The exhibit, which is on display through July 9 at Belsito Roche Fine Art Gallery in Long Beach, spotlights four artists.

Photographer Skobar, who leads viewers through South America cathedrals and inner city dungeons

Sculptor Brandon Jason Trask, who creates male metallic torsos (above), as well a few appendages here and there

Artist Nancy Jamar, who debuts a line of jewelry inspired by vintage materials

Mikal Akbar, who introduces a religiously-inspired bracelet created from various stones

The Center Long Beach was the beneficiary of more than $4,300 from three events during the 2011 Long Beach Pride season, said Ron Sylvester, chairman of the Center.

For the fourth consecutive year, The Pink Party donated a portion of its profits to the Center's MYTE Program. This year, the event raised over $2,300 for the youth program.

In addition, The Frontrunner's 19th Annual Pride Run gave a $1,000 donation, while District Pride, organized by the East Village Association and the OC Weekly's Cocktails for a Cause raised almost $1,000 for The Center, Sylvester said.

"We are so fortunate to have the support of our friends and neighbors here in our local community", Sylvester said.

Here we go again.

Right-wing activists are attacking Old Navy for selling gay pride T-shirts and commanding their narrow-minded supporters to boycott the clothing chain, The Advocate reports.

Old Navy is celebrating gay pride by donating 10 percent of proceeds from the new shirts to the It Gets Better Project, which combats teen suicide. And for that support, the American Family Association says the store should be "ashamed."

Fischer, who encouraged his listeners to boycott the fashion store, is not alone. The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission has condemned the shirts as well, according to magazine.

Of course, both groups are listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as antigay.

For its part, Old Navy remains proud. On its Facebook page, it asks consumers to show they care - "With your support, we can create a prosperous and

Political nincompoop Ann Coulter, who says anything for attention, appeared to panic Tuesday night on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight."

The TV host asked Coulter, 49, how she would react if she had a child who turned out to be gay. The high-octane blabber mouth seemed to stumble over her words and duck for cover.

She threw the question back at Morgan, who said he would be accepting. When Morgan continued to question her, Coulter said she did not want to talk about her personal life and was on the chat show to talk about her book.

Ah yes. It's fair for you to skewer anyone's personal life, Ann, but when someone asks your opinion - which you love to hurl - about something relevant, all of a sudden your "personal life" is off limits. How lame.

Anderson Cooper examines on his "AC360" program a shocking "experimental therapy" designed to make feminine boys more masculine.

In his three-party series "The Sissy Boy Experiment," Cooper investigates the ex-gay therapy promoted by discredited psychologist and Christian right babbler George Rekers, who was caught last year in a Miami airport with a gay male escort.

Rekers has said he isn't gay, but then again so has Waylon Smithers.

In Cooper's first episode, which aired Tuesday, he interviewed relatives of Kirk Murphy, who comitted suicide at the age of 38 in 2003. Murphy was 5 years old when his mother enrolled him in an experimental, government-funded program at the UCLA run by Rekers, who attempted to "change" the behavior of young boys perceived to be effeminate. 

Chloë Sevigny has been cast to portray an Irish transgender assassin in the British miniseries "Hit and Miss," reports Blackbook via IndieWire.

The series revolves around a transgender hit man who suddenly finds out that in the previous life she has fathered several children. Sevigny, 36, will play a pre-op male-to-female, according to the article.

The miniseries will be produced for the U.K.'s Sky Atlantic, with filming planned for this summer, but no word whether it will be broadcast in the United States.

During the interview, the reporter mentions Sevigny's previous work in projects with transgender themes, including "Boys Don't Cry," "Party Monster" and "If These Walls Could Talk 2."

"But I feel this will be my most feminine, most glamorous role to date," the actress tells the magazine. "I hope that I have enough gay stripes that I won't get totally attacked. It was the creators' idea not to hire a boy to play the part, and of course as an actor you're going to jump on that. I'm going to try to play it as beautiful and as feminine and as glamorous as I can -- not like 'Transamerica'."

(Photo:  Chloe Sevigny (left) and Lance Bass attend HUGO on Greene Street in Honor of the Young Collectors Council of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum celebrated by Hugo Boss at Hugo Boutique May 18  in New York City. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Hugo Boss)

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The Center Long Beach launches its monthly "QSpeak" lecture series featuring university scholars,  activists, artists and public figures in the LGBT community later this month

"QSpeak" will host academic talks, interviews and ethnographies on queer studies, art, culture,   social justice, and history, says lecture series organizer Jan Montoya.

The series begins June 25 with Marie Cartier, who will present  "Baby You are My Religion: Butch Femme/Gay Women's Bar Culture 1940s to 1980s." The discussion will include stories, testimonies and  photos of gay women and men from the early years of the of the gay rights movement who considered the bar an alternative church. 

For the presentation, Cartier conducted over 100 interviews, many with local women from the Long Beach community, Montoya says.

Union Bank and KCET are recognizing five members of the LGBT community "who are making a difference to enrich the lives of others" in the bank's "Local Heroes LGBT Pride Month" program.

Union Bank partnered with KCET to find LGBT folk in the Los Angeles area. The honorees will be recognized at a party Thursday night at the KCET studios in Los Feliz.

The finanical institution launched the heroes program 16 years ago in San Francisco with KQED and expanded it this year to include the LGBT community.

The five honorees are -

David Damian Figueroa, vice president of strategic development and communications for the
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the nation's leading Latino civil rights organization.

Alex H. Fukui, a founding steering committee member of API Equality-LA.

James W. Gilliam, the deputy executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, where he also heads the LGBT Rights Project.

Karina Samala, chairperson for the Transgender Advisory Board for the City of West Hollywood.

Marquita Y. Thomas, president of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
 

Several patients of "Nurse Jackie" think Dr. Eleanor O'Hara, right, is one of the best doses of medicine on the Showtime drama, which was renewed last month by the network for a fourth season.

Venice magazine interviewed Eve Best, who plays the bisexual doctor, though she doesn't discuss any storyline developments for O'Hara.

This season, however, O'Hara's love life has been flatlined, and the show's other female-loving females also have been absent or romantically sterile: Dr. Cooper's two moms (Swoosie Kurtz and Judith Light, who replaced Blythe Danner), appeared only briefly to tell Coop they were divorcing.

Maybe the show's lesbian co-creators, Linda Wallem and Liz Brixius, will plot out more L action for season four.

Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" CD set another record this week, but one that might lead Gaga to express a poker face.

Sales of the album dropped 84 percent from its sizzling (but discount-inflated) opening week. That's the the steepest drop-off in sales, expressed in a percentage basis, of any of the 17 albums that sold 1 million units in a week in Nielsen SoundScan history, Chart Watch reports.

Gaga's album sold 174,000 copies this week, down from 1,108,000 last week, when sales were goosed by a two-day, 99-cent sale at Amazon.com.

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Out Meredith Baxter signs copies of her memoir "Untied: A Memoir of Family, Fame and Floundering" 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Skylight Books in Los Feliz.

The former "Family Ties" mom, 63, who came out in 2009, has said,

"My book is about the price I paid for being so self-centered, where it all took me and how I broke the cycle of thinking that was so disastrous for me. Of course, along the way, I talk about my family, my career, my marriages and children, Family Ties and many movies. I talk about infidelity, domestic abuse, divorce, devastation and drinking my way through a few movies.

Once I get sober, all sorts of fun things start to happen. I get some great movie roles. I get married yet again. I get breast cancer and another divorce. Then, I realize I like girls...."

Ex-RBD member Dulce Maria will be performing for Club Papi at Circus Disco July 3. Tickets are on sale online and at the boxoffice, including $10 ones for a limited time and VIP meet and greet.

Maria's performance is part of a larger national club tour within the LGBT community to promote her solo CD, "Extranjera: Segunda Parte," which drops July 21. The album's first single, "Ya No," includes remixes by Klubjumpers, Gustavo Scorpio and Master Lujan.

Maria's performance schedule starts June 25 at San Francisco Pride. At that gig, Maria, 25, will share the stage with former bandmate and out singer Christian Chávez, 27.

SACRAMENTO - California State Assembly passed Seth's Law last week, a bill targeting school bullying that includes language protecting students based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

The bill, AB 9, requires every school to update anti-harassment and -discrimination policies and programs that include actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, as well as race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, disability, and religion. The bill would also inform students and parents of their rights and how to address incidents of bullying.

The bill is named for Seth Walsh, (left), a 13-year-old gay student from Tehachapi who committed suicide in September. Walsh had faced relentless anti-gay harassment at school, which school officials ignored, according to published reports.

Andrew Johnson, a gay correctional officer for the California Institution of Women in Chino, has been told by his department that marching in uniform Sunday in the LA Pride Parade is a "discredit" to the department, and he's taking legal action to fight for his rights, TMZ reports.

Johnson's lawyer, Gloria Allred, says the Department of Corrections allows officers to march in uniform in other parades, including the Christmas parade and the Carrot Festival. Allred says she's filed a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation.

A Palm Springs couple are due in an Indio court Monday after being arrested last month for attacking and using "derogatory slurs" at gay couple over a parking space, KPSP reports.

Russell Bates, 24, and Abigail Sheehy, 19, were booked May 22 on battery and violation of civil rights, a felony commission of a hate crime.

The gay male couple, ages 63 and 45, told police an argument with Bates and Sheehy over a parking space escalated into an attack with one of the victims losing some teeth in the assault, the TV station reports. 

The U.S. Department of Education hosts a two-day LGBT youth summit in Washington, D.C., Monday to address school bullying. Titled "Creating and Maintaining Safe and Supportive Environments for LGBT Youth, the event is the first of its kind by the department of education.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will give opening remarks at the summit, as will Kevin Jennings, the assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and GLSEN founder who announced last month that he will leave his Obama administration post after two years to lead the nonprofit organization Be the Change.

On Tuesday, Duncan will discuss the department's recently released guidance on the protection against harassment in education settings based on gender, which includes gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender individuals. The guidance, which was sent to schools, colleges and universities in a "Dear Colleague" letter, explains educators' legal obligations to protect students from harassment based on racial and national origin, gender and disability.

A press release from the department of education states:
 
LGBT youths are a uniquely vulnerable population in America's schools. Because they suffer at a higher rate than many of their peer groups from physical violence, bullying, anxiety and depression, LGBT youths are more prone to exhibit high-risk behaviors such as substance abuse, sexual risk-taking and running away from home. The summit, hosted by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, will bring together students, educators, administrators, and heads of federal and nonprofit agencies to provide information and seek solutions to these issues.

The world champion San Francisco Giants became the first professional sports team to join the "It Gets Better" campaign after releasing this week its video reminding bullied LGBT teens that life gets better after adolescent years.

The video includes Giants players Matt Cain, Sergio Romo, Andres Torres, and Barry Zito joining Giants hitting coach Hensley "Bam Bam" Muelens in delivering the "It Gets Better" message.

Who says young queer people don't care about their history?

For three years, five young cultural activists have been working to share the LGBT community's history through their Lavender Los Angeles project. First it was a major exhibition, and now it's a book.

"Lavender Los Angeles" sheds light on the pioneering people, organizations and events that helped shape the community and set the stage for the modern gay rights movement. Though the Stonewall Riots get the rainbow's worth of  credit for launching it, the gay pride and gay rights movement on the West Coast in Los Angeles.

A book release party takes place 8 p.m. Wednesday at Le Barcito Bar (formerly the historic Black Cat Tavern), 3909 Sunset Blvd. in Silver Lake.

Rev. Troy Perry will speak at the event, and a portion of books sold benefit ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.

More than half the materials in "Lavender Los Angeles" came from the archives.

Charting a course for major retailers, Old Navy is the first one to sell a line of rainbow-themed Gay Pride t-shirts, according to Moxie Bird.

Four designs are available for men, women and babies. They're priced from $7.50 to $14.50.

The fashion retailer will donate 10 percent of the proceeds to the It Gets Better Project.

Los Angeles-based ambient rockers Friend Slash Lover have debuted their video for the single "Disasteroid" from their EP "As American As Ones and Zeros."

The video is a stylized viewpoint on global warming and the environment.  It was inspired by a George Carlin sketch according to out musician Josh Mintz, the group's founder.

"He points out how arrogant it is to say we're 'killing the planet,' when in fact, we're only killing ourselves," Mintz said in a statement.

By Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press

NEW YORK - A 21-year-old male underwear model, who allegedly castrated and killed  a 65-year-old TV personality and writer during a trip to New York City, filed an insanity defense Friday, his lawyers said.

Renato Seabra, a former contestant on a Portuguese talent-search show, is charged with murder in Carlos Castro's Jan. 7 death. Castro was found dead, naked and bloodied in a room they were sharing at a Times Square hotel.

Friends have said the two men were a gay couple, but Seabra's mother has contested it.

Seabra later told police he had choked Castro, stabbed him with a corkscrew in his face and groin, rammed a computer monitor into his head and stomped on his face after an argument, according to a court document.

Defense lawyer David Touger suggested after a previous court date that Seabra wasn't mentally competent to waive his right not to speak to police; prosecutors say the statements were obtained legally. Seabra is due back in court June 28, AP reports.

Touger declined to comment Friday on whether Seabra had a history of mental illness or hospitalizations before his arrest. His lawyers expect soon to file a psychiatrist's report, "which will verify the notice (of an insanity defense) that we filed today," Touger said.

(Renato Seabra, 21, appears in State Supreme court in New York City today. AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano.

California workplace safety officials have drafted rules to require porn performers to use condoms and other barriers in sex scenes to prevent being infected with sexually transmitted diseases, the Associated Press reports.

Cal/OSHA officials provided the 17-page draft proposal to The Associated Press on May 27, and it will be discussed at a public meeting in Los Angeles on June 7.

The draft would then go to the state's Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board for a ruling on whether it becomes part of state code.

Some major porn producers have opposed the use of condoms in porn in the past, arguing that a state rule would drive the porn industry out of California and that audiences don't want to watch protected sex.

In December, an adult film performer who tested HIV-positive at a San Fernando Valley clinic, spoke out publicly, advocating mandatory condom use in porn productions, improved testing for sexually transmitted disease and follow-up care for fellow performers.

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Daniel Tosh and the crew at Comedy Central's "Tosh.0" felt the pleasure principle Tuesday night.

They got a visit from West Hollywood-based "pleasure coach" Bob Patrick, whose expertise is sensitive mammary glands.

Patrick, who gives massages in the nude, did his mammary work on several male and one female staffer.

Patrick then performed the ultimate massage on Tosh, while a violinist played in the background.

Outlaugh 2011, featuring gay and lesbian comics, continues tonight and Saturday at the Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.

All proceeds support GetEqual.org.

At 8 tonight, the lineup, which is hosted by Sabrina Matthews and Mike Player ("The Gay Mafia"), features stand-up comics  Tammy Jo Dearen, Paul Jacek, mary Kennedy and Roy Cruz.

Saturday's comedy gallery features Jason Dudey (Logo network), Sandra Valls (Showtime's "Latin Divas of Comedy"), Andre Kelley and Suzanne Westernhoefer.

Tickets are available.

The United State's first five AIDS cases were reported in Los Angeles in 1981. 

The first case in Long Beach was reported in 1983, says Michael Davis with the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services.

Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of those reports, and the anniversary brings a fresh hope for something many people thought was impossible - finding a cure, the Associated Press reports.

More than 1 million U.S., residents are HIV positive, according to the article.

The White House issued a statement Monday in advance of Gay Pride Month, declaring LGBT rights to be human rights and recapping President Obama's efforts at advancing equality here and abroad.

"The story of America's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community is the story of our fathers and sons, our mothers and daughters, and our friends and neighbors who continue the task of making our country a more perfect Union. It is a story about the struggle to realize the great American promise that all people can live with dignity and fairness under the law. Each June, we commemorate the courageous individuals who have fought to achieve this promise for LGBT Americans, and we rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The 3rd Annual Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival features a myriad of celluloid experiences, including one gay film.

"Rose Morena," which closes the festival Saturday night, follows Thomas, a 40-something man desperate to be a father. But as a single gay man in Denmark, he cannot legally adopt a child. He decides to visit an old friend in Brazil, where there is a thriving black market for adoption.

During the visit, he meets Maria, who is beautiful, charming and pregnant. But she is too poor to support a child. They hatch a simple plan - Thomas will pay Maria and bring her baby back to Denmark as his own; however, their pre-planned events get unhinged when Thomas becomes emotionally involved with the Maria.

All tickets to the festival are free.

Get out the megaphone - "Glee" star Jane Lynch will be hosting the Emmy Awards.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Thursday that Lynch will host "The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards," which will be held at Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre and air Sept. 18 on Fox, the Associated Press reports.

Lynch, 50, stars as a megaphone-wielding cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, who bullies students on the hit Fox series.

The actress, who says she's "tickled pink" to be chosen as Emmy host, has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her performance as Sylvester.

(Jane Lynch (left) and wife Lara Embry attend the 2011 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton April 30. Photo: Kris Connor/Getty Images)

He is called "The Berlin Patient," but Timothy Ray Brown - A San Francisco man who was cured of HIV by a unique type of bone marrow transplant - may hold the scientific key to ending the AIDS pandemic, Reuters reports.

Brown was living in Berlin when besides being HIV-positive, he had a relapse of leukemia. He was dying. In 2007, his doctor, Gero Huetter, made a radical suggestion: a bone marrow transplant using cells from a donor with a rare genetic mutation, known as CCR5 delta 32. Scientists had known for a few years that people with this gene mutation had proved resistant to HIV.

The risky, expensive and complex treatment could have killed Brown. Instead, he remains the only human ever to be cured of AIDS. "He has no replicating virus and he isn't taking any medication. And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV," Huetter, an oncologist and haematologist who works at the University of Heidelberg in southern Germany told Reuters.

The procedure isn't practical for everyone and can be deadly, but Francoise Barre Sinoussi, who won a Nobel prize for her work in identifying Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), says look at the big picture.

"It's clearly unrealistic to think that this medically heavy, extremely costly, barely reproducible approach could be replicated and scaled-up ... but from a scientist's point of view, it has shown at least that a cure is possible," she says in the article.

Julio Salgado is out, proud and unapologetic - He's gay, and he's undocumented.

In January, Out in the 562 profiled the 27-year-old Long Beach resident, who discussed the circumstances that brought him to the United States and the difficulties of living as an undocumented person.

Salgado graduated from Cal State Long Beach in May 2010 with a journalism degree, but his immigration status makes finding work a frustrating challenge. Salgado and three other documented youth chronicle and share their experiences of life after college graduation on "Dreamers Adrift."

They describe the Website as "A creative project ABOUT undocumented youth, BY undocumented youth, and FOR undocumented youth.

"We are trying to document the undocumented. We're putting our life on display through videos, art, music, spoken word, prose and poetry.

"4 Lives... 4 College Grads... Representing 1 DREAM for countless others."

Last month's screening of the documentary "Teach Your Children Well" was the third time a screening has sold out since the owners took over the Art Theatre of Long Beach in August 2008.

The other two films were "Pink Panther 2" in 2009 and "The Mormon Proposition" last year, said co-owner Mark Vidor.

"Pink Panther 2" was a charity screening for Lowell Elementary PTA while "The Mormon Proposition" was a benefit for Artful Thinking, which also hosted "Teach Your Children Well."

"Teach Your Children Well" explores the homophobia, harassment and violence that many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students encounter in school.

Lily Tomlin, the film's narrator, attended and spoke at the May 15 screening.

Out filmmaker Bryan Singer directed the first two installments of the "X-Men" trilogy, and they were brilliant comic-book adaptations.

After Singer left, the trilogy wrapped up with a dud, followed by a limp spinoff chronicling the origins of fan-favorite mutant Wolverine.

Singer's back as a producer and idea man for "First Class," a prequel that presents a clever, cohesive, exhilarating big-screen take on how those Marvel Comics mutants came together on opposing sides in the evolutionary battle, Associated Press writer David Germain writes in his review.

The result is one of the best Marvel adaptations, packed with action, humor, retro 1960s style that's both campy and sexy and a revisionist history lesson that puts the X-Men at the center of the Cuban missile crisis, Germain says.

(Michael Fassbender stars as Magneto in "X-Men: First Class," which opens in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy 20th Century Fox.)