Welcome to our new column, “20 Questions.” This is the place where we ask a member of our community a series of questions to find out more about them through their answers. The column is meant to be entertaining above all else so the questions will rarely be deep or hard-hitting, but rather will be fun, offbeat, sometimes titillating and occasionally just plain weird.
A regional LGBT institution is gone with the Jan. 26 closing of Outwrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse. On the day of the closing, owner Philip Rafshoon told the Georgia Voice, “It’s been a great run, but we’re closed for businesss. For good. We’re not able to relocate. We thought we could. It just didn’t come together. It was a long shot to begin with and we wanted to cling to hope that we could find a new place.”
On Nov. 19, 2011, Florida A&M University student Robert Champion Jr. was found unresponsive aboard a band bus after the school’s biggest game of the year. Police ruled the death a homicide from hazing.
If not for the fact that we are all undressed, this could be any mixer I’ve ever been to. It occurs to me how comfortable I have become with my own naked body in such a short period of time. It’s one of those wonderful “a-ha” moments.
Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Francis George ignited a firestorm when he compared advancing LGBT equality to the Ku Klux Klan in a television interview with Fox Chicago a few days before Christmas. Cardinal George said: “You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.”
Petty Officer 2nd class Jase Daniels (pictured), discharged from the U.S. Navy in April 2005 and again in March 2007 under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” has been reinstated and returned to active duty. He was sworn in on Dec. 12.
Nearly three out of four Americans living with HIV do not have their infection under control, according to a Vital Signs report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released in conjunction with World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. The low percentage comes from the fact that 1 in 5 people with HIV do not know they are infected and, of those who are aware, only 51 percent receive ongoing medical care and treatment.
At press time, pop icon George Michael is hospitalized in Vienna, Austria, recovering from a severe bout of pneumonia. The latest official news states that he is out of the ICU and getting better. Thank goodness for that. Michael is one of my favorite artists.
A new Williams Institute study released Nov. 18 finds there are more than 28,500 binational same-sex couples in which one partner is a U.S. citizen and one is not and nearly 11,500 same-sex couples in which neither partner is a U.S. citizen.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) has filed a landmark federal lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, on behalf of current and former service members seeking equal recognition, benefits and family support for equal sacrifice and service in the U.S. Armed Forces.
It’s official: The Material Girl is the halftime performer for Super Bowl XLVI. Madonna has declined the high-profile Super Bowl gig in the past, but now there’s no way she’s anything but delighted by the opportunity since she gets to unveil the first single from her forthcoming 12th studio album on the nation’s most-watched TV program.
In the hit song “1999” Prince sings about his defiant intention to celebrate in the face of an impending cataclysm. The track would have been an appropriate theme for the 2011 NC Pride Fest and Parade, held Saturday, Sept. 24 in Durham on Duke University’s East Campus, where the mood was almost surprisingly lighthearted given the potential political catastrophe that looms.
A settlement has been reached in the case of Vanessa Adams, a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate at FMC Butner, who has gender identity disorder (GID). Adams sued BOP in order to receive appropriate treatment for her GID.
Dance music has always been a welcoming refuge for older divas. In fact, it’s probably the one popular genre where age really isn’t a factor at all. A dancefloor scorcher by a 50-something, 60-something or even a 70-something (hello 78-year-old Yoko Ono, owner of seven straight Club Play #1s — the most recent coming just last month) has as much chance of success as a track by a 20-something pop tart.
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that kept openly gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans from serving in the U.S. military officially ended Sept. 20 and according to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the national group that led the fight against the law, the repeal was welcomed with approximately 100 celebrations in all 50 states.
On Sept. 7, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released new guidelines that strengthen the Nov. 2010 hospital visitation rules that protect patients’ rights to be visited in the hospital by their families and loved ones. The guidance, which took effect immediately, makes several important changes to current policy and provides significant protections for LGBT patients and their families.
What makes a “real” singer long to be a pop diva – the next Britney, Katy or Rihanna? If you asked vocalist Liz Primo that question she would probably give you one simple, straightforward answer: An irresistable love for the music.
Deportation policy a step forward WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama Administration is implementing new procedures for assessing deportation and removal cases. The changes are expected to aid immigrants with U.S. citizen spouses and children who pose no threat to national security or public safety. Gay equality activists say this prosecutorial [...]
“Sesame Street” puppets Bert and Ernie are longtime roommates who have famously provoked the question “are they or aren’t they” for decades. However, in recent weeks the push for the plush pair to come out of the closet has gained even more steam with the creation of a popular change.org petition calling for the adorable couple to get hitched to celebrate the legalization of gay marriage in New York. Plus: More national and global headlines.
I read a number of message boards devoted to music and I follow the “Billboard” charts pretty closely. I like to think I have my ear to the ground and am pretty good at spotting trends before they bloom. If it’s true, I have a feeling the presently scattershot sniping about Lady Gaga’s recent commercial results might kick into overdrive any moment now.
