Coming Out Support Newsweekly: 1/11/10

Coming Out Support (COS) Newsweekly
Volume 13 No. 2 January 11, 2010
Newsletter Editor: OnQYB@aol.com

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The Gay Agenda: Datebook: January 11-17, 2010

MON: 1/11: New York, NY: True Colors Cabaret. Karen Olivo and Rufus Wainwright co-star to benefit Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Fund and Broadway Impact. The True Colors Fund seeks to inspire and engage everyone, particularly the straight community, to become active participants in the advancement of LGBT equality. Broadway Impact is a grassroots coalition of the Broadway community and its fans, mobilizing in support of marriage equality. www.FeinsteinsatLoewsRegency.

MON: 1/11: New York, NY: Mario Cantone, Rachel Dratch, Rosie Perez, and Ryan Reynolds star in "Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words" interpreting the actual words and stories written by the famous and the infamous. This week: Tiger Woods’s "How I Play Golf". www.celebrityautobiography.com.

WED: 1/11: Philadelphia, PA: Chris Glaser reads from his new book "As My Own Soul: The Blessing of Same Gender Marriage" as a benefit for Giovanni's Room. www.queerbooks.com

FRI-SUN: 1/15-1/17: Los Angeles, CA: Annual National Union of Jewish LGBTQQI Students Conference. Workshops, services, community building, and social time. NUJLS is a fiscally managed project of Keshet, an organization that works for the full inclusion of LGBT Jews in Jewish life. http://www.nujlsonline.org/confereinceinfo.html

SAT: 1/16: East Haddam, CT: Musical Theatre Symposium with historian John Pike, author Ted Chapin, and "The Creation of Next to Normal". For showtune people. Goodspeed Opera House. www.goodspeed.org.

SUN-SUN: 1/17-1/24: Aspen, CO: Aspen Gay Ski Week. www.gayskiweek.com

Newsworthy:

US Lifts HIV/AIS Traveller Ban. The US has lifted its 22-year immigration ban which had stopped anyone with HIV/AIS from entering the country. The BBC reports: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8438865.stm

Africa: U.S. Evangelicals’ Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push. In March, 2009, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals had been widely discredited in the United States, arrived in Uganda’s capital to give a series of talks. The New York Times reports: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html

First Transgender Appointment. President Barack Obama has chosen Amanda Simpson as a Senior Technical Advisor to the Department of Commerce, marking the first transgender appointment in an American presidential administration.ABC News reports: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/01/president-obama-names-transgender-appointee-to-commerce-department.html

In Memoriam:

Casey Johnson, the Johnson &Johnson heiress best known as the party girl engaged to reality TV star Tila Tequila, died 1/04/10 at age 30. The New York Post reports: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/tip_heiress_casey_GTK7zYmc8hlE0L3aJstULM

Brad Graham, the gay blogger ("The Bradlands") who coined the term "blogosphere", has died at age 41. Towleroad reports: http://www.towleroad.com/2010/01/brad-graham-gay-bradlands-blogger-who-coined-term-blogosphere-dies-at-41.html

Features

Love's New Frontier: Polyamory! The Boston Globe reports: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/01/03/loves_new_frontier/

Opportunities

Scholarships Opportunity: Point Foundation Scholarships. The Point Foundation is the nation’s largest, publicity-supported organization granting scholarships to LGBT students of merit. Point provides support through multi-year scholarships, leadership training, mentoring and hope to LGBT students who are marginalized because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Application deadline is: 2/12/10. www.pointfoundation.org

In Print:

Transgender Explained for Those Who Are Not by Joanne Herman. Authorhouse Publishers. Herman, a transgender woman who read everything in sight to understand her own gender incongruity, has been helping others with her non-complicated explanations of transgender for almost a decade. She has written Organized by topic into short, easy-to-read chapters, "Transgender Explained..." is perfect for parents, relatives, colleagues, friends, allies and even journalists who want to quickly get up to speed on what it means to be transgender.

In Performance: Onstage:Theatre/Music/Dance

New York City (and Broadway)

***A Little Night Music. Sondheim's all-waltz musical stars Catherine Zeta-Jones (singing "Send in the Clowns") and Angela Lansbury.
***At Home At The Carlyle: Elaine Stritch Singin' Sondheim One Song At a Time. The Broadway legend (and frequent laughmaker on "30 Rock" sings music of the Broadway legend. to 1/30/10. www.thecarlyle.com.
***Jewdy! Jewdy! Jewdy!, Judy Gold's new lesbian jewish stand-up act. to 1/25/10. www.JudyGold.com
***Present Laughter. Gay Noel Coward's gay comedy. Victor Garber stars as an aging star. to 3/21/10. www.roundabouttheatre.org
***Zero Hour. Jim Brochu’s award-winning play about the life of theatre legend Zero Mostel. Brochu, who plays Mostel, and his onstage/offstage partner Steve Schalchlin, penned "The Big Voice: God or Merman?". to 1/31/10. www.ZeroHourShow.com

Elsewhere...

***F*cking Men. A new play, conceived as a riff on Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde, observes the sex lives of modern urban gay America. to 2/14/10, Los Angeles, CA. www.celebrationtheatre.com
***Give It Up. A world premiere camp musical version of "Lysistrata" set in an American college gym by "Xanadu" author Douglas Carter Beane. to 2/14/10. Dallas, TX. www.dallastheatercenter.org.
***High Spirits. Georgia Engel stars in the musical version of gay Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit". to 1/17/10. Naples, FL. www.theatrezone-florida.com.
***I Am My Own Wife, the fascinating real-life story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (Andrew Long), a German transvestite who managed to survive both Nazi rule and the East German Communists.to 3/07/10. Arlington, VA/Washington, DC. www.signature-theatre.org
***Master Class. Terrence McNally's Tony-Award winning play is a portrait of opera diva Maria Callas. to 1/24/10. Houston, TX. www.mainstreettheater.com.
***Orpheous Descending. Gale ("Queer As Folk") Harold, heads the cast of Tennessee Williams' drama. to 2/21/10. Theatre/Theater. Los Angeles, CA.
***The Pee-Wee Herman Show, starring Paul Reubens, with Miss Yvonne, Mailman Mike, Cowboy Curtis and Jambi the Genie, as well as Pee-wee's talking chair, Chairry, Pterri the pterodactyl, robot Conky, Magic Screen, Randy, and more. Los Angeles, CA. www.peewee.com.
***The Threshing Floor. James Ijames's one-actor profile of gay writer James Baldwin (starring Ijames), presented by the LGBT-friendly Mauckingbird Theatre Company. to 1/31/10. Philadelphia, PA. www.mauckingbirdtheatreco.org
***Tru. Jay Presson Allen's one-actor profile of gay writer Truman Capote, presented by the LGBT-friendly Mauckingbird Theatre Company. to 1/31/10. Philadelphia, PA.
www.mauckingbirdtheatreco.org
***[title of show]. A quartet writes a musical to submit to a festival competition. to 1/31/10. St. Louis, MO. www.repstl.org.

On Screen (and Video & DVD)

Out on Screen...

***A Single Man. Tom Ford's debut film, an adaptation of a Christopher Isherwood novel, about a day in the life of a gay man, starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.
***Dare, a trio of high school students who become unlikely friends at the end of their senior year. starring Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, Sandra Bernhard and Emmy Rossum.
***8: The Mormon Proposition is a new documentary about the involvement of the Church of Latter Day Saints' involvement in the passage of Proposition 8 in California. Written and directed by Reed Cowan and narrated by Dustin Lance Black.
***Nine, the Rob Marshall movie based on the Broadway musical. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the conflicted film maker. The women in his life: Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Judi Dench and Fergie.
***Oy Vey. My Son is Gay. A coming out film with Carmen Electra, Lainie Kazan, Bruce Vilanch, Jai Rodriguez. One assumes it's a comedy.
***Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. A stunning drama from out director Lee Daniels about an overweight, illiterate Harlem teen, pregnant with her second child, who is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.

Out On Video & DVD

Recap 2009: Highs/Lows in Gay(ish) Cinema. Towleroad reports: http://www.towleroad.com/2009/12/movies-the-highs-and-lows-of-gayish-cinema-in-2009.html

***Every Little Step: The Journey of "A Chorus Line".
***The Fall of '55. The documentary about the gay sex sting in Boise, Idaho in 1955.
***Fame. A remake of the 1980 musical with Kelsey Grammer, Debbie Allen and Megan Mullally with a cast of unknowns playing the wannabe stars at a New York City performing arts high school.
***Glee: Volume 1: Road to Sectionals. the first DVD of the hot new TV series.
***Hump Day. Two straight dudes contemplate going gay to enter and win Humpfest, Seattle's amateur porn contest.
***Passing Strange. 2009 Spike Lee film of Stew's musical. Filmed live. features Daniel Breaker, Colman Domingo, Stew.
***Show Business: The Road to Broadway. An incredible documentary about Broadway's 2003-04 season and four musicals: "Wicked", "Avenue Q"(gay puppets), "Caroline or Change" (Tony Kushner) and "Taboo" (Rosie O'Donnell).
***Taking Woodstock. Ang Lee's new film about the rock festival based on Elliot Tiber's memoir. Demetri Martin stars as the gay Tiber.

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: The Wanda Sykes Show. The out comic's late night talk show. 11PM Saturdays. FOX.
***January: In the Life. LGBT news magazine. PBS. Check local listings. http://www.itl.tv/inthelife/episodes/
***WED: 1/13: Passing Strange. 2009 Spike Lee film of Stew's musical. Filmed live. features Daniel Breaker, Colman Domingo, Stew.. PBS. Check local listings.
*** SUN: 1/17: The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards, hosted by Ricky Gervais/ Live. 8PM. NBC. www.goldenglobes.org

Conferences, Seminars, Benefits, and Special Events

1/20/10-1/24/10: Stowe, VT: Winter Rendezvous. gay skiing & winter sports. www.winterrendezvous.com

1/21/10-1/31/10: Park City, UT: Sundance Film Festival. Among the screenings: James Franco as beat poet Allen Ginsburg in "Howl", the story of the poet's obscenity trial, which also stars Jon Hamm and Mary-Louise Parker and a documentary: "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work". www.sundance.org

1/25/10: New York, NY: Michael Urie ("Ugly Betty") stars in a reading of Albert Camus' "Caligula". www.redbulltheater.com.

1/25/10: New York, NY: Bruce Vilanch hosts the Night Life Awards, celebrating the best in clubs, cabaret, and other entertainment. Winners perform in lieu of acceptance speeches. Town Hall.www.SiegelEntertainment@msn.com

1/28/10: White Plains, NY: OUT Professionals Westchester Networking Event, co-sponsored by the LOFT, a non-profit community-based group serving the LGBT community in lower Hudson Valley. www.outprofessionals.org.

1/28/10-1/30/10: Bloomington, IN: Pride Film Festival. www.pridefilmfestival.org

Last Week’s Trivia Quiz: Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival (this year’s runs Janunary 21-31) is the largest independent cinema festival in the USA. Founded with the support of Robert Redford, the festival has showcased numerous LGBT films in hits history. Its Queer Lounge is a gathering point for LGBT film makers and those interested in LGBT-themed films (www.queerlounge.org). For information on this year’s festival: festival.sundance.org.

1. Question: Name this Sundance Film Festival winner. It was based upon an off-Broaday musical about a transgender East German rock singer. It won the same year that a film "Southern Comfort" won in the documentary category for its chronicle of the final year of a FTM TG person with fatal cervical cancer. Answer: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, John Cameron Mitchell's film, which won in 2001.

2. Question: Name this person, who was the focus of a documentary that won an award in 1985, the Festival's first year. The person was the focus of an Oscar-winning film, an award-winning book, an opera, and a second film (a non-documentary big-budget Hollywood effort). Answer: Harvey Milk. "The Times of Harvey Milk" won in 1985.

3. Question: Name this 1990 Sundance winner, the first mainstream film to compassionately show the human side of the AIDS epidemic (premiering years before "Philadelphia" on PBS). It featured many theatre actors, and one of its best performances came from the artistic director of a major American regional theatre. Answer: Longtime Companion, which starred Bruce Davison, Mary-Louise Parker and Mark Lamos, former director of the Hartford Stage.

4. Question: Name this 1996 Sundance winner, a documentary based upon a book that chronicled the portrayal of LGBT people in American cinema, and the closets of Hollywood. Its author was an authority on gay cinema who unfortunately died early in the AIDS epidemic. Answer: the Celluloid Closet by Vito Russo.

5. Question: Sundance has awarded documentary films that showcased gay artists ("Paul Monette: The Brink of Summers End"); the drag ball culture of New York ("Paris is Burning") and the story of a couple impacted by HIV/AIDS ("Silverlake: The View from Here"). What Sundance winner (1986) became commercial cinema's first mainstream hit with a lesbian theme ? Answer: Desert Hearts.

This Week’s Trivia Quiz: I Have a Dream...

This is not a Martin Luther King Day trivia contest, although King’s dream resonates as long as there is a struggle for civil rights.

1. Question: Name this out civil rights activist, a colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King, who engineered the 1963 March on Washington, bringing Ghandi’s civil disobedience protest techniques to America for the first time.

2. Question: Name this gay composer (who often wrote leading roles for his tenor partner). He brought a Thomas Mann novella to the stage, a story about a hunky sailor, and a dreamy seasonal Shakespeare to the musical stage.

3. Question: Name this bisexual director/choreographer, who brilliantly chronicled the backstage life of dancer wanna-bes, some gay, and later a musical tribute to a tempting trio of Motown singers.

4. Question: Name this classical American musical (and movie) about a stage mother, with big dreams for her daughters. When she sings “I Have a Dream....”, you know no one and nothing will stand in her way until her kids get their names in light. Incidentally, some biographical material indicate that this Mom and her more famous daughter had several lesbian relationships.

5. Question: Name this TV series star. While he dreamed of genies and crude, his real life mom dreamed of Janet Gaynor.

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/