Coming Out Support Newsweekly: 8/10/09

Coming Out Support (COS) Newsweekly
Volume 12 No. 32 August 10, 2009
Newsletter Editor: OnQYB@aol.com

The Fine Print

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The Gay Agenda: Datebook: August 10-16, 2009

Resources: Pride Calendars.

There are too many PRIDE events to list here during PRIDE season (which generally runs May-August). Please check the following resources for events in your area:

***Damron Guides Event Calendars: http://www.damron.com/calendar/index.html
***Pride Events worldwide: www.interpride.org.
***PRIDE Calendars: http://www.gayfriendlybiz.com/calendar.html
***Gay.com’s Pride Calendar: www.gay.com/pride/calendar/

TUE: 8/11: New York, NY: Ang Lee ("Brokeback Mountain") discusses his new film "Taking Woodstock". Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Triangle. 7:30PM.

THU-WED: 8/13-8/19: Los Angeles, CA: So Bad, They're Brilliant. A schlock film festival at the Egyptian Theatre, featuring the Liv Ullman musical "Lost Horizon", Ann-Margret's "Kitten With A Whip", Mariah Carey in "Glitter" and a whole lot more. http://www.americancinematheque.com/archive1999/2009/Egyptian/So_Bad_ET2009.htm

THU: 8/13: New York, NY: Broadway in Bryant Park. Free performances by the casts of "Billy Elliot", "South Pacific" and "Mamma Mia!". 12:30PM. www.1067newyork.com.

THU-SUN: 8/13-8/16: Durham, NC: North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. www.carolinatheatre.org

FRI-SUN: 8/14-8/16: Seattle, WA: National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance
Activist Convention. www.nqapia.org

FRI-SUN: 8/14-8/30: New York, NY: FringeNYC, The New York International Fringe Festival. Off-beat, often LGBT-themed music, dance and theatre. www.fringenyc.org.

SUN: 8/16: Seattle, WA: LGBTQ Wedding Expo. highlighting over 40 gay-friendly businesses, including wedding businesses, travel services, gifts and more. www.SameLoveSameRights.com

Newsworthy:

Israel: A gunman killed two and wounded at least ten in an attack on a Tel Aviv LGBT community center. The victims were gay teens at a support group meeting. BBC News reports: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8180069.stm

Episcopal Church Picks Gay Priests for Promotion. Just weeks after the Episcopal Church ended a de facto moratorium on promoting gay men and lesbians into the church hierarchy, church leaders in Los Angeles nominated two openly gay priests as assistant bishops on 8/02/09. The New York Times reports: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/us/03bishop.html?hpw

Suspect in Murder of Gay Sailor Commits Suicide. Jonathan Campos, a sailor, faced 16 charges. The murder might have been classified a hate crime according to officials. Towleroad reports: http://www.towleroad.com/2009/08/suspect-in-murder-of-gay-sailor-august-provost-kills-himself.html

Matthew Shepard: The Epilogue. The creators of "The Laramie Project" went back to see how things changed since Shepard's murder. The new theatre piece will debut nationwide on October 12, 2009, the 11th anniversary of his death. The New York Times reports: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/theater/04theater.html?_r=1&ref=theater

Awards and Honors:

Recipients: Presidential Medals of Freedom. Among those honored by President Obama: Harvey Milk, the gay rights pioneer (posthumous), Billie Jean King, gay athlete, and Chita Rivera, showtune legend. Associated Press reports: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jCWKnYTFcJic45DxENtBHKdR1E2AD99OVBD84

Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning playwright of "Angels in America", will receive the 2009 Chicago Tribune Literary Prize for lifetime achievement. www.chfestival.org.

In Memoriam:

Robert Hilferty, who wrote about music, theatre and the arts for a variety of publications, died suddenly on 7/24/09. He was a major AIDS and gay rights activist. Playbill.com reports: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/131660-Arts_Critic_Robert_Hilferty_Dies_

Allen Thornell, the Atlanta politician and gay rights activist, died 8/03/09, at age 38. The Advocate reports: http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid102967.asp

Travel

Beirut: The Provinctown of the Middle East. Patrick Healy discovers the gay scene in Lebanon for the New York Times: http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/travel/02gaybeirut.html?hpw

Features

Profile: Rupert Everett, the out British actor and author tells all. The Daily Mail reports: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1203287/Those-infuriating-facelift-rumours-Camillas-wonky-teeth-Im-going-sex-50--RUPERT-EVERETT-comes-clean.html

In Print:

I Told You So by Kate Clinton. Beacon Press. The out humorist has a hilarious, bittersweet, politically acute survival guide in which Clinton gleefully details personal coping techniques tested over a lifetime.

In Performance: Onstage:Theatre/Music/Dance

New York City (and Broadway)

***Be A Man! Exiene Lofgren’s solo performance. How does a man who looks like Annie Lennox, was raised by feminists, and married a man "be a man"? to 8/28/09. www.beamantheshow.com
***The Boys Upstairs. Jason Mitchell's new comedy about a group of Hell Kitchen gay boys who handle relationships, careers, and the city with style, scandal, and specialty cocktails! to 8/30/09. www.Fringenyc.org or www.TheBoysUpstairs.info
***His Greatness. Daniel MacIvor's play about gay playwright Tennessee Williams' last days spent with his assistant and a Canadian hustler. to 8/30/09. www.Fringenyc.org or www.HisGreatnessPlay.com
***Seth's Broadway 101, Seth Rudetsky's hilarious introduction to showtunes. 8/16/09. Ars Nova. www.arsnovanyc.com.
***Slipping. An out San Franciscan teen relocates to Iowa with his mom, leaving one closeted relationship behind and beginning another in Daniel Talbott's drama. to 8/15/09. www.smarttix.com.
***The Tempermentals. Jon Maran's drama about Harry Hay and friends as they form The Mattachine Society before Stonewall. Michael Urie ("Ugly Betty") stars. to 8/23/09. www.thetemperamentals.com
***Thank You For Being a Friend: the Musical. All things (unauthorized) Golden Girls. Lance Bass moves in next door to the elderly quartet who can't sleep because of his all-night gay parties. to 8/23/09. SpinCycleNYC.com

Elsewhere...

***The Cousins Grimm. a new musical that reworks the timeless fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm into contemporary urban fables filled with LGBT characters. to 8/23/09. Chicago, IL. www.bailiwick.org.
***Ghosts. Randy ("QAF") Harrison stars in Ibsen's classic. to 8/29/09. Stockbridge, MA. www.berkshiretheatre.org.
***Girls Night Out Tour. Cyndi Lauper and Rosie O'Donnell headline. 8/11/09, Schenectady, NY; 8/12/09, Washington, DC. www.cyndilauper.com
***Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. Moises "the Laramie Project" Kaufman's biographical play with Ryan Landry as Wilde. to 8/22/09. http://www.newprovincetownplayers.org/
***Lewd and Lascivious. Michael McKeever's drama deals with Newton Arvin, real-life Smith College professor, who is arrested on vice charges by the Massachusetts State Police in 1960. to 9/13/09. Coral Gables, FL. www.gablestage.org
***The Mystery of Irma Vep. Charles Ludlam's gender-bending gothic spoof, to 9/06/09. San Diego, CA. www.TheOldGlobe.org
***Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story, John Logan's crime drama. to 8/30/09. Philadelphia, PA. www.mauckingbirdtheatreco.org.
***Pearls Over Shanghai, a revival of the Cockettes 1970 Musical Extravaganza. to 8/16/09. San Francisco, CA. www.brownpapertickets.com.
***Take Me Out. Richard Greenberg's award-winning play about a baseball star who comes out. to 8/20/09. Provincetown, MA. http://www.newprovincetownplayers.org/
***Two Spoons. Peter Mercurio's play about gay partners and dads on the brink of marriage. to 8/23/09. Chicago, IL. www.bailiwick.org.

On Screen (and Video & DVD)

Out on Screen...

***Bruno. Sacha Baron Cohen plays a gay fashionista from Austria who fancies himself as "the voice of Austrian youth TV."
***Hump Day. Two straight dudes contemplate going gay to enter and win Humpfest, Seattle's amateur porn contest.
***Little Ashes, Paul Morrison's drama about the young lives and loves of Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel and Frederico Garcia Lorca. www.littleashes-themovie.com.
***Outrage. Kirby Dick's documentary, a searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians who actively campaign against the LGBT community they covertly belong to.
***Taking Woodstock. Ang Lee's new film about the rock festival based on Elliot Tiber's memoir. Demetri Martin stars as the gay Tiber. Liev Schriber plays a transvestite; Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays a closeted married guy who has an affair with Tiber.

Out On Video & DVD

***A Jihad for Love, the daring documentary filmed in 12 countries in which Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma explores the intersections of Islam and homosexuality.
***Grey Gardens, a new movie about eccentric Jackie O cousins Edie Beale and her mother, starring Drew Barrymore as Little Edie and Jessica Lange as her mother Big Edie.
***Hair: Let the Sunshine In. Pola Rapaport's documentary that traces the roots and legacy of the landmark musical.
***The Judy Garland Show, Vol. 1. Garland's 1963 television show newly restored and remastered from the original 2-inch videotapes outtakes. First of 13 releases, each featuring two episodes from the 26-episode run.
***Kiki & Herb Live at The Knitting Factory. The Tony-nominated gender-bending downtown club act.
***Mad Men, Season 2. Look for Bryan Batt as a closeted ad exec in this TV drama about a 1960s ad agency.

On TV Of Note: All times listed are ET. Check local listings for times in your area.

Resource:TV Gayed, GLAAD's Weekly Guide to What's LGBT on TV: Updated every Friday. www.glaad.org/tvgayed

***Ongoing: Drop Dead Diva. With Margaret Cho in the cast, this is not drama. Sundays at 9PM. Lifetime. http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/drop-dead-diva
***August: In the Life. LGBT news magazine. PBS. Check local listings. http://www.itl.tv/inthelife/episodes/
***FRI: 8/14: Nicholas Rodriguez, currently starring in "The Toxic Avenger" Off-Broadway, joins "One Life to Live" as a new gay character, Nick in the Fish & Kyle storyline. ABC. Check local listings.

Conferences, Seminars, Benefits, and Special Events

8/29/09-9/07/09: Milwaukee, WI:National Gay Softball World Series. www.nagaaasoftball.org

9/03/09-9/07/09: Columbus, OH: GALA 2009 Columbus, the annual conference of GALA Choruses, serving LGBT choral groups. Activities for singers, Artistic Directors, administrative personnel and Board members. http://www.galachoruses.org/events/2009_annual_conference.html

9/05/09-9/07/09: Seattle, WA: Gender Odyssey. panels, workshops & meetings; entertainment, art exhibits focusing on transmen, transwomen & other gender variant people. www.genderodyssey.com

9/10/09-9/13/09: Montreal, PQ: National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association Annual Convention and LGBT Media Summit. http://www.nlgja.org/convention/index.html

9/11/09-9/13/09: Shreveport, LA: Northwest Louisiana Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Premiere edition. Among the guests: Leslie Jordan. http://www.pacelouisiana.org/SE2009filmfestival.php

Last Week’s Trivia Quiz: Coming Out on the Page, on Stage and Screen

1. Question: Name this American author, who wrote the ultimate guide to coming out (for LGBT people and their families). It had its third printing in 2005. It provides answers to several hundred FAQ about homosexuality. He also wrote a book on coming out questions for a young adult audience in 2007. Hint: he wrote a couple of LGBT history books and biographies. Answer: Eric Marcus, author of “Is It A Choice?”. For a list of his books: www.ericmarcus.com. .

2. Question: Name this American mom, whose daughter came out to her on a Gulf Coast beach over 20 years ago. As her daughter became active and visible in the LGBT community, she wrote a best-selling book about love and acceptance. She’s now an authority and an activist in coming out programs. Answer: Betty Degeneres, mother of Ellen, who wrote “Love Ellen, A Mother/Daughter Journey”. She’s a columnist and a leader in the National coming Out Project.

3. Question: Name this Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway hit, in which an audition turns into a an inner “reveal” for its participants, including a Latino who recalls the painful process of coming out to his parents. Hint: the actor playing the Latino won a Tony Award for his performance. Answer: A Chorus Line. Sammy Williams played “Paul”, a dancer who did drag shows.

4. Question: Name this American author, who wrote his coming out autobiography in the early 1970s. When he came out publicly, and wrote the sequel some 20 years later, it turned out that this privileged Ivy Leaguer was a highly visible best-selling author and political activist in real time. Answer: Andrew Tobias, the business writer and Democratic party officer. As John Reid, he wrote “The Best Little Boy in the World”. He wrote the sequel in his own name.

5. Question: Name this British stage play, turned 1998 film, that like “Beautiful Thing” combined a coming out and coming of age story in poignant terms. The play, much more intense than the film, was recently revived in San Francisco. Answer: Get Real, the film version of Patrick Wilde’s “What’s Wrong with Angry?”.

This Week’s Trivia Quiz: Politics

1. Question: Name this US Congresswoman, elected to office in November, 1970. She and fellow democrat Ed Koch introduced the first bill proposing to add sexual orientation to the protected status in the 1964 Civil Right Act. Hint: she was known for her outspoken demeanor and large hats.

2. Question: Name this legislator, a lesbian elected to state office in November, 1974. She was the first openly-gay person elected to this level of office. Hint: Her state passed its first statewide gay rights law in November, 1989.

3. Question: Name this congressman from the same state in Question #2, who was first elected in November, 1980. Now out and outspoken, he is one of the nationa’s strongest advocates for LGBT civil rights.

4. Question: Name this former executive spouse, who is best known as the author of a 1981 novel about lesbian love in the American frontier. She was ashamed to discuss her out daughter on the 2004 campaign circuit.

5. Question: Name this out TG son of a Congressman. His sexual orientation was not an issue in his father’s campaign. He and dad didn’t see eye-to-eye on LGBT rights issues, but he’s become an accomplished activist and author. His entertainer Mom is highly supportive of the gay community, and was supportive of her child's transition, saying that although there were things she didn't understand, she would be understanding. .

The first person to submit the correct answers gets their name in print right here. Email your answers to: OnQYB@aol.com. If you do not want your email address to appear in the blog format of this newsletter, please indicate that. http://cosnewsweekly.blogspot.com/