Openly Gay Student Schools Yearbook Quote
An openly gay high school senior in California schooled her fellow classmates in her yearbook quote.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/openly-gay-student-schools-yearbook-quote?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
A First for India: A Transgender Principal
Last time Manbi Bandopadhyay visited Krishnagar Women’s College in West Bengal, she toured the school with her adopted son and a transgender friend. When she returns, she will run the college.
Thom Senzee
www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/05/28/first-india-transgender-principal
Desmond Child Talks GLAAD Nashville Concert and LGBT Equality (AUDIO)
This week I talked with Grammy winning songwriter producer Desmond Child about his upcoming performance at Ty Herndon and GLAAD’s Concert for Love and Acceptance that takes place at City Winery in Nashville, Tennessee on June 12th. Child will join other celebrities and artists including country music legend Crystal Gayle, Melinda Doolittle, the lesbian alternative-country rock band Antigone Rising, Shelly Fairchild, Billy Gilman, Jennifer Knapp, Jamie O’Neal and Pastor Stan Mitchell of GracePointe Church. This inaugural country music event takes place during the 2015 CMA Music Festival and will be co-hosted by Herndon and fierce LGBT ally Meghan McCain. The event will also kick off GLAAD’s Southern Stories Summer Tour. Sarah Kate Ellis GLAAD President & CEO stated: Music connects us and transcends our differences. For the first time in Music City, artists will join together to voice support for the LGBT community and help us accelerate acceptance, not only in country music, but across the nation. I talked to Desmond about how he became involved in this groundbreaking concert event and his spin on our LGBT issues.
LISTEN:
When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Child stated:
I personally do as many things as I can regarding our fight for marriage equality and every aspect of our lives. I’m married to my partner of 26 years now and we actually got married about a year and a half ago. We have 13 year-old sons Roman and Nyro and we had struggled to get married long ago in California then they stopped the marriages and so we finally did it in Central Park and our sons were our ‘best men’. So we want our family to be acknowledged as legitimate; sometimes we’re so marginalized. When people talk about LGBT families it’s like ‘Yeah, yeah but they’re not like real families like the kind that have rights and stuff’ and we want to put a face on what we are doing. We’ve always been part of Family Pride and we also made a movie called TWO: The Story Of Roman and Nyro to talk about the 12 year journey of having a family.
For nearly three decades songwriter/producer Desmond Child has reigned as one of music’s most successful creative forces. His list of accolades includes Grammy awards, 70 Top 40 singles and songs that have sold over 300 million albums worldwide. His collaborations have included Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Ricky Martin, KISS and Cher. His hits as a songwriter include “I Hate Myself for Loving You”, “Livin’ on a Prayer”, “You Give Love a Bad Name”, “Bad Medicine”, “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”, “Dude (Looks Like a Lady), “Angel”, “What it Takes”, “Crazy”, “The Cup Of Life” and “Livin’ la Vida Loca”. His latest projects include Joss Stone, Kelly Clarkson, The Scorpions, Hilary Duff, Meatloaf, Ace Young and Bon Jovi. Desmond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008. Child lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his husband Curtis Shaw and their twin sons, Roman and Nyro.
For Info & Concert Tix: glaad.org/nashville
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Marco Rubio Plays the Victim, Says Marriage Equality is a “Clear and Present Danger”
David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network reported on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s latest anti-LGBT broadside, where Rubio tries to play the victim for opposing marriage equality.
HRC.org
Video Game Shop’s Perfect Response To Vandal’s Antigay Graffiti
Owners of Voltage Video Games in Syracuse, NY, aren’t letting a gang of homophobic vandals get the best of them.
Earlier this week, someone broke into the store, smashing through the glass door to gain entry, then spray-painting “gay” on the window.
Related: A Woman Threw A Fit At Planet Fitness Over A Trans Guest. Here’s The Gym’s A+ Response.
But rather than get upset, the owners decided to fire back at vandals with a message of tolerance.
First, they painted a rainbow on the remaining window along with the following message: “Dear vandalist [sic], so what?” Then they boarded up the shattered glass door, writing on the wood: “I assure you, we are OPEN.”
A picture of the storefront was posted on Reddit yesterday. Other Reddit users were quick to respond.
“For a moment there I lived in a world where ‘gay’ wasn’t an insult,” one person wrote. “I guess I was wrong…Then again, after the shop owner’s response I’d be more likely to buy from that particular shop.”
“I’d really love to shop there,” someone else commented, “it looks awesome and knowing that they’re both open for business and open to LGBT people makes it look even more appealing.”
Sorry, vandals. You lose.
Related: Gay Couple Puts A Homophobic Vandal In His Place With This Hilarious Note
h/t: Pink News
Graham Gremore
North Carolina Anti-Gay Marriage Recusal Bill Heads to Governor's Desk
A bill allowing public officials to opt out of marrying same-sex couples for “sincerely held religious” objections has cleared the state House and now heads to Governor Pat McCrory’s desk.
McCrory, who expressed concerns about the proposal back in March saying “What is the problem they’re trying to solve?” has yet to indicate whether he’ll veto the bill, sign it, or let it become law without his signature.
The News & Observer reports:
If McCrory breaks out the veto stamp, Thursday’s House vote tally indicates that a three-fifths majority to override a veto might prove challenging for the Republican leadership. About 61 percent of the legislators voting Thursday supported the bill, but 10 House members were absent or didn’t vote.
McCrory made his position on Senate Bill 2 clear during a Charlotte radio interview in March: “I don’t think you should have an exemption when you took an oath to uphold … the constitution of North Carolina,” he said.
If the governor doesn’t veto the bill within 10 days, it will automatically become law.
LGBT groups are blasting the bill’s passage and calling urging for a veto.
“At a time when the N.C. General Assembly should be taking up job protections that apply to all North Carolinians, legislative leaders have instead chosen to waste precious time and resources giving a few anti-LGBT North Carolina magistrates a license to discriminate against taxpaying North Carolina families,” said Equality NC Executive Director Chris Sgro in a statement. “We call on Gov. McCrory, who has already opposed the premise of this bill, to veto this discriminatory legislation and send a strong message that no public official is exempt from the constitution they’ve sworn to uphold.”
No couple should have to spend their wedding day going to different courthouses hoping they meet a magistrate’s religious criteria #StopSB2
— ACLU-North Carolina (@ACLU_NC) May 28, 2015
Couples getting married in #NC should spend their happy day w/ friends, family and loved ones – not in a maze of government offices #StopSB2
— ACLU-North Carolina (@ACLU_NC) May 28, 2015
Kyler Geoffroy
www.towleroad.com/2015/05/north-carolina-anti-gay-marriage-recusal-bill-heads-to-governors-desk.html
Interview with the Actor and Playwright, Alexis Gregory
(Alexis Gregory is photographed by Jay Barry Matthews)
Alexis Gregory is one of the most talented and generous young performers/ playwrights working today. Whether he is part of an ensemble play by Rikki Beadle-Blair or writing his own pieces, his work consistently dazzles. That he approaches his craft with humility, perseverance and a sense of fun is a testament to his character. We sat with the London-based Gregory to discuss his new play, “Safe”, which focuses its lens on the plight of homeless LGBT youth.
How did ‘Safe’ come about? What was the genesis of the play?
“I met Tim Sigsworth, Chief Executive of the Albert Kennedy Trust, which is a charity helping and supporting homeless and at risk LGBT youth, when he came to see my play “Slap”. Shortly afterwards I was nominated for an award and I was seated next to Tony Butchart-Kelly, Communications Officer for the AKT. Tim, Tony and I met up shortly after with the idea that I might run a one-off drama workshop for their young people. I ended up coming up with the idea of a verbatim play based on the young people’s experiences and calling it “Safe”, and so it was set there and then. We all got more than we bargained for at that coffee meeting!”
Was it a difficult piece to write?
“Not difficult as such but a completely new way of working for me. At times it felt more like investigative journalism. With my previous plays I hadn’t had to transcribe and edit interviews and create cohesive (hopefully!) and compelling storylines that cross over and intertwine, though most of my other work is multi-themed too.”
As an actor and playwright, had you had experience before with verbatim theatre?
“As an actor, I have had some. As a writer, no. I’ve never created anything like this before, but there is no doubt in my mind that this is the right way to present these young people’s stories, which I consider to be astonishing; a young Nigerian-born gay male threatened with being sent back to Africa for “curing”, a trans woman’s amazing journey from coming out (as a gay male) at eleven years of age to surviving abusive foster homes to transitioning and becoming a role model for the AKT – as all of these young people are; a gay trans man’s journey too, from identifying at first as a gay woman and then realising his identity lay elsewhere. They are all stories of survival, in fact. These stories speak for themselves and don’t need any extra dramatizing from me, although Robert Chevara – my director, who is great – and I will be doing something very interesting with the staging.”
What do you hope viewers take away from the play?
“I hope it raises awareness of the charity’s work. The play focuses on a particular LGBT experience -i.e. that of hostility at home, issues around coming out etc. and those of sexuality and gender – but I made sure the play covers other themes too; family, addiction, childhood and the transition to adulthood, relationships, identity, and religion. I consider “Safe” a highly political piece of theatre. I hope the audience relates to it and learns something new too, and I hope we are all reminded to look beyond possible immediate labels we may place on individuals.”
What are you working on next?
“Bringing back my debut play “Slap” later this year, finally, for its first official full run, once again directed by the wonderful Rikki Beadle-Blair, and then working on my second play, “Bright Skin Light”, with Robert, which has had some workshop performances already and which we are developing for a 2016 or 2017 run. Oh, and I better write something new too.”
Alexis Gregory’s “Safe” is playing at The Soho Theatre, London on Friday 26th of June, 4pm. You can purchase tickets here.
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