Coming Out Support Newsweekly: 7/25/11

Coming Out Support (COS) Newsweekly
Volume 14 No. 29 July 25, 2011
Newsletter Editor: M. G. Auerbach Email: COSNewsweekly@gmail.com

The Fine Print

See previous editions.
Subscription Information: This newsletter is available via free email subscription only. Our mailing list is confidential.
To subscribe: Email COSNewsweekly@gmail.com and write “Subscribe COS News” in subject line.
To unsubscribe: Email COSNewsweekly@gmail.com and write “Cancel COS News” in subject line.

The Gay Agenda: Datebook: July 25-31, 2011

For Pride Events worldwide: www.interpride.org. or http://www.gayfriendlybiz.com/calendar.html

thru SAT: 8/06: New York, NY: HOT Festival, The NYC Celebration of Queer Culture with theatre, dance, music, burlesque, performance art, literature, and homoeroticism. 20th edition. http://www.hotfestival.org/

thru MON: 7/25: New York, NY: Fresh Fruit. The 9th annual international LGBT arts festival. www.freshfruitfestival.com.

thru THU: 7/28: New York, NY: NewFest, the New York LGBT Film Featival. http://newfest.org/wordpress/

MON-SUN: 7/25-7/31: Vancouver, BC: North American Outgames. www.vancouver2011outgames.com

MON: 7/25: Washington, DC: Our Wicked Wicked Ways. Cast members from “Wicked” perform a cabaret benefit for Food & Friends and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. http://www.foodandfriends.org/site/pp.asp?c=ggLMIYOGKrF&b=7537413

WED: 7/27: New York, NY: Post Performance Talk Out at “A Strange and Separate People” (the new play by Jon Marans the author of “The Tempermentals”). Religious LGBT Jews discuss the conflicts of embracing their sexuality while remaining in the Orthodox community. Rabbi Steven Greenberg hosts. Studio Theatre. Theatre Row.

THU: 7/28: New York, NY: Broadway in Bryant Park. Free performances by the casts of “Anything Goes” and “Hair”. 12:30PM. www.1067litefm.com

FRI-SUN: 7/29-7/31: Tacoma, WA: OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) Nat’l Gathering. women only • lesbians 60+ gather for workshops, guest speakers & entertainment to promote old lesbian pride & fight ageism www.oloc.org

SAT-SAT: 7/30-8/06: Provincetown, MA: Family Week. Family Equality’s program for LGBT families. http://www.familyequality.org/site/PageServer

SAT: 7/30: Washington Depot, CT: Tea for Two Hundred. A Cottage Garden Party to benefit Interfaith AIDS Ministry and New Milford VNA Hospice. Performance by the CT. Gay Mens Chorus. https://secure.newmilfordvna.org/tea.php

SUN: 7/31: West Hollywood, CA: The Gay Elder: Archetype of the Spiritual Father. An interactive program to bring the contributions of elder gays to the community at large. http://www.gayeldercircle.org/

SUN: 7/31: Raleigh Durham/Chapel Hill, NC: Crepe Myrtle Festival. weeklong festival to support HIV/AIDS groups.

Newsworthy:

DOMA Hearing Witnesses are expected to include the following pro-gay and anti-gay people. Towleroad reports: http://www.towleroad.com/2011/07/list-of-witnesses-speaking-at-tomorrows-doma-repeal-hearing.html

When DADT Ends, same-sex married couples in the military won’t receive the same benefits as opposite-sex married couples, because the federal government enforces DOMA. The New York Times reports: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/us/17military.html?_r=1

California: Governor Jerry Brown has signed a new bill which requires public schools to include the contributions of the LGBT community in history curriculum. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/14/BAL61KAHVQ.DTL

Maryland: Governor Martin O’Malley says he’ll support marriage equality. The Washington Examiner reports: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/capital-land/2011/07/omalley-vows-support-same-sex-marriage

Utah: Democrats have elected Jim Dabakis as state party chairman, making him the first openly gay person to hold the position. The Advocate reports: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/07/18/Gay_Man_Elected_Utah_Democratic_Party_Chair/

Niagara Falls will go rainbow on midnight Saturday. What a cool way to welcome marriage equality to New York. Towleroad reports: http://www.towleroad.com/2011/07/niagara-falls-to-provide-rainbow-colored-backdrop-for-new-yorks-first-legal-same-sex-marriages.html

New York: The state has launched a tourism campaign to encourage gay and lesbian couples to marry in New York. OnTop Magazine reports: http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=8964&MediaType=1&Category=26

DC Comics is introducing some new gay characters. The Advocate reports: http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Features/Up,_Up_and_Out_of_the_Closet/

Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”) is turning the Proposition 8 trial transcripts into a 90-minute play, tentatively titled “8”. It will have a staged-reading for Broadway Impact on 9/19/11. The New York Times reports: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/theater/play-about-proposition-8-by-dustin-lance-black.html?_r=1

The Buzz (People Making News)

Coming Out: Randy Roberts Potts, the grandson of televangelist Oral Roberts, has talked for the first time about coming out gay. OnTop Magazine reports: http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=8975&MediaType=1&Category=22

J. Paul Oetken has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a federal district judge for the southern district of New York, making him the first out gay man approved to serve on the federal bench. The Advocate reports: http://advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/07/18/Out_Gay_Man_Confirmed_to_Federal_Bench/

Transitions:

Edward Hastings, the former artistic director of American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, died on 7/06/11, at age 80. The Hartford Courant reports: http://blogs.courant.com/curtain/2011/07/west-hartford-native-edward-ha.html

Tony Stevens, the Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director, has died at age 63. Theatermania reports: http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/news/07-2011/broadway-choreographer-tony-stevens-has-died_38868.html

Awards and Honors:

Nominees: Prime Time Emmy Awards: http://www.emmys.com/

Winners: Outfest Film Festival. You’ll be seeing these at other film festivals or in release or on video soon. The Hollywood Reporter recaps: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/outfest-award-winners-announced-212341

Photo Shoots, Audio and Video

Video: Trailer: “With You”, the documentary about Mark Bingham, the gay rugby player who was on United #93 on September 11th. via Towleroad: http://www.towleroad.com/2011/07/bingham.html

Video: Broadway Impact press conference about July 24, the first day that same-sex marriage is legal in New York. There’s going to be a Broadway wedding (s)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9NJA8Kv5N8&feature=player_embedded#at=131

Photos: The Gay Wedding Album. Newsweek profiles some recent same-sex marriages. http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2011/07/17/gay-marriage-photos-from-real-weddings.html

Features

The Other Gay Contenders. Young, ambitious LGBT candidates who are running for office this year and next. The Advocate profiles: http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Election/The_Other_Gay_Contenders/

Gay Characters and Actors score big amongst the Emmy Awards nominations. The Advocate reports: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/07/14/Gay_Actors,_Characters_Score_Big_With_Emmy_Voters/

Our Sweet Triumph. New Yorker Cynthia Nixon talks about marriage equality in the Empire State. Newsweek reports: http://www.newsweek.com/2011/07/17/cynthia-nixon-on-new-york-passing-gay-marriage.html

Vatican Changes Stance on Gay Marriage from The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/articles/vatican-reverses-stance-on-gay-marriage-after-meet,20912/

In Print:

John Gielgud: Matinee Idol to Movie Star. by Jonathan Croall Methuen Drama Press. Complete account of Gielgud's life and career on stage in classical plays; plays by contemporary dramatists; and in films. Throws fresh light on his turbulent ups and downs, events that nearly shattered his career, and on his great rivalry and complex relationship with Laurence Olivier.

In Performance: Onstage:Theatre/Music/Dance

New York City (and Broadway)

***Book of Mormon, the new multi-Tony wainning musical penned by "South Park" co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker and “Avenue Q” Tony winner Robert Lopez.
***The Judy Show: My Life As A Sitcom. Out comic Judy Gold’s new comedy. www.judygold.com.
***Master Class. Tyne Daly stars as opera diva Maria Callas in Terrence McNally’s drama with music to 9/04/11. www.manhatttantheatreclub.com
***Olive and The Bitter Herbs. A world premiere comedy by Charles Busch. Dan Butler and Julie Halston co-star. to 9/03/11. www.primarystages.org.
***A Strange and Separate People. A new play by Joe Marans, author of “The Tempermentals”. An upper West Side Jewish couple have their lives turned upside down by a charismatic gay man.

Elsewhere...

***Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, world premiere of a new musical based on Armistead Maupin’s stories. to 7/31/11. San Francisco, CA. www.act-sf.org
***Bash’d, the gay rap opera. Los Angeles, CA. http://www.celebrationtheatre.com/onstage.html
***Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche. A 1950’s brunchon gathering of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein.to 7/30/11. Chicago, IL. www.thenewcolony.org
***Hay Days. Thomas James O’Leary stars as Harry Hay, who organized America's first gay-rights group, the Mattachine Society, from his apartment in 1948 Silver Lake. to 7/26/11. Los Angeles, CA: www.celebrationtheatre.com.
***The HoMo’Nique Show. A new satire. Stacy Layne Matthews of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” plays MoNique, who comes to NYC to tape a show for the Gay Entertainment Network. 7/29/11-7/31/11. www.spincyclenyc.com
***Seth’s Big Fat Broadway Show, Seth Rudetsky’s hilarious “deconstructing Broadway” show. to 9/03/11. Provincetown, MA. www.ptownarthouse.com

On Display

***Judy Garland: The Television Years, the first comprehensive retrospective of Garland's career on television. thru 8/18/11. Paley Center for Media. New York, NY. www.paleycenter.org.

***HIV & AIDS: Thirty Years Ago and Archiving The History of An Epidemic: HIV & AIDS to 10/02/11. National Museum of American History, Washington, DC. http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/

On Screen (and Video & DVD)

Out on Screen...

***Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar. James Rasin’s documentary about the transgender Andy Warhol superstar, who died in 1974, at age 29.
***Beginners. Ewan McGregor plays an illustrator whose father (Christopher Plummer) comes out to him.
***The Broken Tower, written, directed by, and starring James Franco, who plays gay poet Hart Crane. At film festivals.
***Carol Channing: Larger Than Life. Dori Berinstein’s new documentary is a tribute to a Broadway legend. Stay for the end credits outtakes.
***Finding Judy. Gary Riotto’s new short about a Black Chicago kid who channels Judy Garland. At Film Festivals. http://www.garyriotto.com/Director.html
***The Perfect Host. Out star Davd Hyde Pierce throws a dinner party with an unexpected guest.

Out On Video & DVD

***Christopher and His Kind. The BBC adaptation of out author Christopher Isherwood’s autobiography. Isherwood wrote The Berlin Diaries, which was adapted as “Cabaret”, the musical.
***Equality U. The documentary about the 2006 Soul Force Equality Ride, a cross-country journey to confront antigay discrimination.
***Kaboom, a new film from Gregg Araki. The world according to Smith, a bisexual Southern California cinema studies major (Thomas Dekker).
***Lead with Love, a documentary about strengthening families through the coming out process. Available for online viewing. http://LeadWithLoveFilm.com// The trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGxcb7Ih7N0&feature=youtu.be
***Undertow. A Peruvian film about a man with a pregnant wife who takes a male lover.

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

Conferences, Seminars, Benefits, and Special Events

For Pride Events worldwide: www.interpride.org. or http://www.gayfriendlybiz.com/calendar.html

8/01/11: Hollywood, CA: Alison Arngrim from “Little House on the Prairie” signs copies of her memoir “Confessions of a Pariaire Bitch”. 7PM. Book Soup.

8/02/11-8/07/11: Near Hart, MI: Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. www.michfest.com

8/05/11-8/07/11: Becket, MA: OUT at The Pillow. A weekend of events for LGBT people and families at the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival. http://berkshirestonewall.org/2011/05/out-at-the-pillow/

8/06/11: Washington, DC: OutWrite LGBT Book Fair at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. www.outwritedc.org

8/06/11-8/13/11: Los Angeles, CA: Lambda Literary Writers’ Retreat for emerging LGBT voices.. http://www.lambdaliterary.org/writers-retreat/

8/09/11-8/14/11: Newport, RI: FLICKERS Rhode Island International Film Festival. http://www.film-festival.org/index07A.htm

8/12/11-8/28/11: New York, NY: New York International Fringe Festival. Fascinating off-beat, off-the-wall performances. www.fringenyc.org.

8/13/11-8/15/11: Detroit, MI: COLAGE Midwest Regional Retreat. a weekend of community, activism, and empowerment. http://www.colage.org/category/events/upcoming

Last Week’s Trivia Quiz: Comically Gay

1. Question: Name this cartoon couple of 25+ years, who were assumed to be gay. A 1993 film documentary about them confirmed the urban legend, but their creators denied that they were any more than “just friends”. Answer: Bert & Ernie from “Sesame Street”, profiled in the Peter Spears’ documentary “Ernest & Bertram”, a film that the couple’s creators tried to block.

2. Question: Name this British born member of a television quartet, who was accused in 1999 by a member of the religious right of promoting a “homosexual agenda”. The cleric said this stylish puppet “looked gay”. Answer: Tinky Winky from “The Teletubbies”, outed by Jerry Falwell for accessorizing with a purse.

3. Question: Name this syndicated cartoon. One of its major characters came our on February 10, 1976, the first cartoon character to do so. Answer: Doonesbury. Andy Lippincott came out in Garry Trudeau’s acclaimed comic.

4. Question: Name this address, where a closeted Republican stockbroker puppet named Rod lives with his “roomate”, Nicky. Rod likes Broadway musicals from the 1940s and 1950s. Answer: Avenue Q. Rod and Nicky star in the Tony Award winning Broadway musical.

5. Question: Name this peripatetic cartoon hero who was chastized for hanging out with lesbian moms on a Vermont maple sugaring trip. P.S. The segment was filmed near the home of Vermont's tastiest same-sex couple, Ben & Jerry. Answer: Buster, the PBS Kids hero from "Postcards from Buster". The religious right came down on PBS for allowing this to air.

This Week’s Trivia Quiz: August Milestones

1. Question: Name this American author, born August 2, 1924, the preeminent African-American intellectual of his time, who was one of the first writers to deal openly with homosexuality in a 1956 novel. He was a popular speaker on race relations and civil rights, but was not asked to play a visible role in the 1963 March on Washington, because organizers considered his homosexuality a liability.

2. Question: Name this international competition, held for the first time in San Francisco on August 28, 1982. Over 50,000 people participated. Today, it is a major world event.

3. Question: Name this Broadway blockbuster, which opened on August 21, 1983, one of the first to feature openly gay characters. It was written by an award-winning out composer who wrote showstoppers for middle-aged women and an award-winning playwright who had chronicled his own experiences as drag diva and gay dad.

4. Question: Name this out fashion designer, born on August 1, 1936. He took the French fashion world by storm in the 1970s, and built a fashion empire for women and men, which he sold to Gucci for millions.

5. Question: Name this man who came out on national television on August 13, 2004 with the statement “I am a gay American”. He was the highest-ranked American elected official to do so. He resigned from office shortly thereafter.

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/