Coming Out Support Newsweekly: 10/04/10

Coming Out Support (COS) Newsweekly
Volume 13 No. 39 October 4, 2010
Newsletter Editor: M. G. Auerbach Email: COSNewsweekly@gmail.com

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The Gay Agenda: Datebook: October 4-10, 2010

thru SUN 10/31: Nationwide: LGBT History Month

thru SUN: 10/24: Chicago, IL: The Great Plays of Terrence McNally. A series of readings and performances of the out playwright’s major works. Pride Films and Plays. www.pridefilmsandplays.com.

thru THU: 12/02: Nationwide: David Sedaris does a book tour with his new book: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Beastiary http://www.barclayagency.com/speakers/appearances/sedaris.html
Editor’s Note: The NPR Review: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130017341&sc=fb&cc=fp

thru FRI: 10/08: Atlanta, GA: Out on Film. www.outonfilm.com

MON: 10/04: Los Angeles, CA: Some Men, Terrence McNally’s play about the lives of gay men in America over 80 years in an all-star reading with Alan Cumming, John Glover, Luke MacFarlane, Jason Ritter, and Steven Weber. A benefit for 'Testimony,' a project of the Courage Campaign Institute. www.couragecampaign.org.

MON: 10/04: New York, NY: Broadway Takes The Runway. Carson Kressley and Sara Ramirez (“Grey’s Anatomy”) hostan evening of song to benefit the Al D. Rodriguez Liver Foundation. Artists will be dressed by Broadway designers. www.AlDRodriguezLiverFoundation.com

TUE: 10/05: New Haven, CT: Justin Spring does a reading/booksigning of his new book, “Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade”. 4PM. Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library. Also: WED: 10:06: Boston, MA: 7PM. Museum of Fine Arts. http://www.secrethistorian.com/events.htm

TUE: 10/05: New York, NY: Michael Cunningham does a reading and booksigning of his new novel “By Nightfall”. . 7PM. B&N Union Square. Also: WED: 10/06: Boston, MA: Boston Public Library.; THU: 10/07: Philadelphia, PA: Free Library of Philadelphia. http://www.michaelcunninghamwriter.com/tour/

THU-SAT: 10/07-10/09: New York, NY: 21st Annual New York Cabaret Convention, which salutes the best in Manhattan cabaret/ Elaine Stritch hosts an all-Noel Coward evening on 10/08/10. www.mabelmercer.org

THU-SAT: 10/07-10/09: Sacramento, CA: Sacramento Int’l Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. www.siglff.org

THU-SUN: 10/07-10/10: Los Angeles, CA: The World Goes Round, a benefit for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic. www.lagaycenter.org/worldgoesround.

FRI-SUN: 10/08-10/17: Provincetown, MA: Women’s Week. http://www.womeninnkeepers.com/womens_week.html

FRI: 10/08: Los Angeles, CA: GLSEN Respect Awards, honoring “Modern Family”, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates. www.glsen.org.

FRI-SAT: 10/08-10/09: Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Queer Studies Conference. lgbts@humnet.ucla.edu

FRI-SUN: 10/08/-10/10: Palm Desert, CA: Families in the Desert. Family Equality Council’s weekend for LGBT families and friends. http://www.familyequality.org/site/PageServer?pagename=events_calendar

FRI-SUN: 10/08/-10/10: Pittsfield, MA: Out in the Berkshires. Fall foliage and LGBT activities. http://berkshirestonewall.org/events/2nd-annual-out-in-the-berkshires-weekend/

SUN: 10/10: Washington, DC: COLAGE 20th Anniversary Event. COLAGE is the national movement of children, youth and adults with one or more LGBT parents. . http://www.colage.org/programs/events/20th.htm

Newsworthy:

Another Teen Suicide from Bullying. The parents of Asher Brown, an eighth-grader who committed suicide last Thursday, say that their son killed himself in response to relentless antigay bullying at his Houston school. The Houston Chronicle reports: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7220896.html

Campus Discrimination. A new study from Campus Pride shows that 23% of LGBT college students say they’ve dealt with a “challenging climate” in terms of discrimination and harassment. Towleroad reports: http://www.towleroad.com/2010/09/gay-students-report-higher-discrimination-on-college-campuses.html

DADT: Judge Rules Margaret Witt’s Discharge Unconstitution. ABC News reports: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-administration-buy-time-policy/story?id=11718324

Ireland’s President: LGBT Rights Over Parade. Irish president Mary McAleese turned down an offer to head the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade because of its history of shutting out gay Irish participants. The Advocate reports: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/09/23/Irish_Pres_Rejects_Parade_over_Gay_Rights/

Poland. A politician outed a gay man while debated him on national television. Towleroad reports: http://www.towleroad.com/2010/09/polish-politician-outs-gay-man-on-television.html

Georgia: A sex scandal threatens a pastor’s empire. The New York Times reports: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/us/26pastor.html?_r=1&hp

Florida: The state of Florida will immediately stop enforcing its ban on adoptions by gay people after Wednesday's decision by a state appeals court that the three-decade-old law is unconstitutional, Gov. Charlie Crist said 9/22/10.. The Advocate reports: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/09/22/Florida_Ends_Gay_Adoption_Ban/

Indiana: No Gay Cupcakes for National Coming Out Day. An Indianapolis bakery cited family values when it refused to complete an order of rainbow cupcakes and cookies requested by a local gay student group for National Coming Out Day next month. The Advocate reports: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/09/24/Indy_Bakery_Wont_Serve_Gay_Students/

Michigan: A TG teen won the votes to be named Homecoming King, but the school invalidated the votes, because he was enrolled as a female. The San Francisco Chronnicle reports: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=73229

Windy City Times, the LGBT newspaper for Chicago, will mark its 25th anniversary with a special issue 9/29/10. The Advocate reports: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/09/28/Windy_City_Times_Marks_25th_Anniversary/

Awards and Honors:

Roland Emmerich, the out filmmaker behind many of the highest-grossing movies in cinema history, will be honored by Outfest with its annual Legacy Award. The Advocate reports: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/09/21/Outfest_Honors_Emmerich/

In Memoriam:

Wayne Winterrowd, whose more than 30-year-old Vermont garden became an international inspiration and demonstration of an original American gardening style, died 9/17/10 at age 68. Winterrowd and his partner Joe Eck were gay rights activists. The Burlington VT Free Press reports: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100921/NEWS02/9210303/Garden-innovator-Winterrowd-dies

Photo Shoots and Video

Photos: “Angels in America” returns to New York from BroadwayWorld.com: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_ANGELS_IN_AMERICA_at_Signature_20100924

Photos: “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” in rehearsal from BroadwayWorld.com: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_PRISCILLA_Completes_NY_Rehearsals_and_Heads_to_Toronto_20100925

Features

Relationship Profile: Kell and Mell: The New York Times profiles the recent wedding of Kelly McGillis and Melanie Leis. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/fashion/weddings/26VOWS.html?_r=1&ref=weddings

Javier Fuentes-León’s debut feature movie, “Undertow,” deals with an uneasy and secret homosexual relationship in a fishing community in his native country, Peru. The New York Times reports: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/arts/29iht-undertow.html?_r=1&ref=arts

In Print:

Grant Wood: A Life by R. Tripp Evans. Knopf. A biography of the closeted artist behind one of America’s most famous paintings, “American Gothic” .

In Performance: Onstage:Theatre/Music/Dance

New York City (and Broadway)

***A Life in The Theatre. T.R. Knight stars with Patrick Stewart who plays an elderly actor and Knight’s mentor in David Mamet’s play. to 1/02/11.
***Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Tony Kushner’s award-winning epic. Both parts of the play, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, alternate in repertory. thru 2/20/11. www.signaturetheatre.org.
***Brief Encounter, a multimedia revival of gay Noel Coward’s play. thru 12/05/10. www.roundabouttheatre.org.
***Batt on a Hot Tin Roof. Bryan Batt (“Mad Men”) performs at Feinstein’s at the Regency. 10/03/10-10/04/10. www.feinsteinsattheregency.com
***The Divine Sister. Charles Busch plays an indomitable Mother Superior driven to build a new school for her Pittsburgh convent. www.DivineSisterOnstage.com.
***Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. A new musical based on out filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s film. Patti LuPone, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Sherie Renee Scott star. Opens 10/05/10. www.lct.org.

Elsewhere...

***Becoming Walt Whitman. The coming of age story of the famous poet, set in pre-Civil War Manhattan. to 10/24/10. Santa Rosa, CA. www.6thstreetplayhouse.com
***Carrie. Stephen King’s horror novel turned stage play. Erik Ransom will pull a gender-bending turn as Carrie to 11/07/10. Philadelphia, PA. http://www.bratproductions.org/
***Dear Harvey, a play with music about Harvey Milk, the gay rights activist. to 10/10/10. Hollywood, CA. www.plays411.com/dearharvey
***Drag Queens of Comedy starring Miss Coco Peru, Shangelia, Lady Bunny, and Heklina. 10/09/10. San Francisco, CA. www.comedyinthecastro.com.
***Gut Bucket Blues: The Legendary Bessie Smith. World premiere musical byDavid Bell about the raucous blueser with interest in the women. to 11/07/10. Atlanta, GA: http://truecolorstheatre.org/
***The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. The Tectonic Theater Project’s docudrama about the aftermath of the Matthew Shepard murder. 10/06/10-10/07/10, University Park, PA. http://www.tectonictheaterproject.org/Tectonic.html
***Take Me Out. Richard Greenberg’s award-winning drama about a major league baseball player who comes out. to 10/31/10. Los Angeles, CA.
www.celebrationtheatre.com

On Display

to 10/23/10: Los Angeles, CA: Jeff Sheng’s Portraits of service men and women who pose in response to DADT. Kaycee Olsen Gallery. http://www.kayceeolsen.com/
The Los Angeles Times reports: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-dont-ask-photos-20100918,0,4371491.story?track=rss

On Screen (and Video & DVD)

Out on Screen...

***Arias With a Twist. The incredible performance collaboration between performance artist Joey Arias and puppeteer Basil Twist is now a documentary. To see the trailer: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=759971528901
***Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride. Bob Christie’s documentary shows that Pride is more than a parade, it’s a giant step on the road to global human rights.
***HOWL, the docu-feature about Allen Ginsberg (James Franco) by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Also starring David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker and Jeff Daniels.
***The Kids Are All Right. Julianne Moore and Annette Bening star in a two-mom family dramedy. Their kids seek out their sperm donor father (Mark Ruffalo). http://www.filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/the_kids_are_all_right

Out On Video & DVD

***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. .
***Glee. The Complete First Season.
***LA Mission. Benjamin Bratt is a barrio tough guy who discovers that his son is involved in a relationship with another boy.
***Mädchen in Uniform, the 1958 lesbian classic.
***The Matthew Shepard Story. Stockard Channing plays Judy Shepard in the Lifetime network film about Matthew’s murder. Her performance is incredible.
***Modern Family: The Complete First Season. Follow the story of Mitchell and Cameron.

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 frequently. www.glaad.org/tvgayed

***October: In the Life. LGBT news magazine. PBS. Check local listings. http://www.itl.tv/inthelife/episodes/
***Weekdays: The Nate Berkus Show. Oprah’s out protege goes hourly in syndication. Check local listings.
***TUE: 10/05: More Liza. More “Confessions” on The View. ABC. Check local listings. For late nighters, she also visits Larry King Live.
***WED: 10/6: Michael Feinstein's American Songbook, part one of a three-part series that explores the history of American popular music. www.pbs.org.
***SAT: 10/09: Jane Lynch brings glee as host of SNL. 11:30PM NBC.

Conferences, Seminars, Benefits, and Special Events

10/11/10: Nationwide: National Coming Out Day. www.hrc.com/ncop

10/11/10: New York, NY: PFLAG New York Awards Dinner, 3rd edition. http://www.pflagnyc.org/dinner

10/12/10: Los Angeles, CA: Michael Cunningham does a reading and booksigning of his new novel “By Nightfall”. 7PM. Los Angeles Public Library. Also: 10/13/10-10/14/10: San Francisco, CA. 10/14/10: Seattle, WA: 10/16/10: Austin, TX: http://www.michaelcunninghamwriter.com/tour/

10/13/10-10/16/10: Atlanta, GA: The 2010 Atlanta Queer Literary Festival. http://atlqueerlitfest.blogspot.com/

10/14/10-10/17/10: San Francisco, CA: Sundance Stampede. San Francisco’s annual country/ western dance weekend. www.stompede.com

10/14/10-10/23/10: Washington, DC: Reel Affirmations: The Nation’s LGBT Film Festival. www.reelaffirmations.org

10/15/10-10/24/10: Seattle, WA: Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. www.threedollarbillcinema.org

10/16/10: Portland, OR Campus Pride College Fair and Prep Day. Northwest Region. http://www.campusclimateindex.org/events/default.aspx

Last Week’s Trivia Quiz: October Milestones

1. Question: Name this American celebrity, whose death from AIDS on October 2, 1985, brought international attention to the epidemic. Hint: One of his best friends stepped up to the arena to become the world’s leading HIV/AIDS fundraiser. Answer: Rock Hudson, the actor. Elizabeth Taylor began raising millions for AIDS research through her own foundation and AmFAR.

2. Question: Name this LGBT event, which began on October 11, 1988. Coincidentally, it’s also the birthday of a former First Lady, suspected of having a romantic relationship with another woman, a journalist. Their letters were made public on October 21, 1979. Answer: National Coming Out Day. The First Lady was Eleanor Roosevelt.

3. Question: Name this international musician and composer who came out bisexual in Rolling Stone on October 7, 1975. He’s since revised his statement and identifies as gay. Answer: Elton John.

4. Question: Name this gay man, the victim of a hate crime on October 6, 1998. (He died several days later). His murder, which inspired some important plays and films, launched a new era in the LGBT Rights Movement. His parents have taken on the cause. Answer: Matthew Shepard.

5. Question: Name this actor and muse (born October 19, 1946) of American cinema’s most famous bad boy. The muse did her own stunt work as the world’s filthiest person and died shortly after winning mainstream approval as the mother of a chubby teen. Answer: Divine, star of John Waters’ “Pink Flamingos” and “Hairspray”. .

10/04: This Week’s Trivia Quiz: National Coming Out Day

1. Question: Name this real-life teen who came out to his all-American family on January 15, 1973, on television’s first “reality series”. Hint: He later became a musician and a magazine columnist.

2. Question: Name the comic strip, whose major character came out on February 10, 1976. He was the first comic hero to do so.

3. Question: Name this singer, the first major entertainment figure to come out in an Advocate cover story on October 16, 1992. Her career never suffered as a result, and she paved the way for other entertainers, from Amanda Bearse to Nathan Lane.

4. Question: Names this high-level American elected official who came out under duress on July 20, 1983. A fellow Congressman from his home state followed four years later. They were amongst the highest-ranked out public officers prior to Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin and New Jersey Governor James McGreevey.

5. Question: Name this Emmy winner, who came out on television and on the cover of Time on February 14, 1997. Other Emmy winners who have since come out include: Rosie O’Donnell (2002) and Cynthia Nixon (2004).

The first person to submit the correct answers gets their name in print right here. Email your answers to: COSNewsweekly@gmail.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/