Author: Randy Slovacek

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Dharun Ravi files appeal of conviction

Dharun Ravi, who’s currently serving a 30-day sentence after being convicted of bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and other charges for spying on his roommate, Tyler Clementi at Rutgers University during a same-sex sexual encounter, has filed notice that he is appealing his conviction.

According to The Star-Ledger, “The notice, filed June 4 with the appellate court, lists the proposed issues to be raised, including that the bias intimidation statute is unconstitutional as applied to Ravi and that several decisions by Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman, who presided over the trial earlier this year, ‘prejudiced the defendant’s ability to get a fair trial.’   The appeal process could take upwards of two years before a three-judge panel hears the appeal.”

Ravi will most likely be released from county jail sometime next week. According to Warden Edmond Cicchi of the county jail, inmates are automatically awarded 10 days for good behavior.  Ravi began his sentence May 31.

Middlesex County First Assistant Prosecutor Julia McClure,has filed her own appeal against Judge Berman’s sentence; she had initially requested that Ravi be sentenced to five years in prison.

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New DVD releases: Pretty Little Liars and GCB

“Who is A?” was the question on the minds of fans of ABC Family’s hit LGBT-inclusive mystery Pretty Little Liars. All 25 episodes of season 2 are now available on DVD.

Kristin Chenoweth and Annie Potts star in the beloved but canceled Southern-baked comedy-drama GCB, about a former mean girl who finds she can go home again — if she’s ready to face the sins of her past. The entire first season will be available on DVD Tuesday.

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Colleges with a history of Gay Pride

In honor of Gay Pride Month, the folks over at BestCollegesOnline.com have compiled a list of “10 Colleges with a History of Gay Pride.” 

The list includes colleges that took pioneering steps to be inclusive and respectful to the LGBT community when the concept was still new.

Because the country is still slowly growing to accept sexual and gender identity minorities, this means many college students head off to their higher education careers isolated, lonely, depressed — or worse. Most campuses these days offer some semblance of a support structure to ensure a safe experience for all LGBT students, and queer studies courses, minors, and majors have started popping up in catalogs across the country. And it’s all thanks to some of the following pioneers, who took a chance on equality when such things still stood as highly taboo.

In this day and age where younger LGBT folks may not understand how ground-breaking some of these steps were, it’s interesting to look back and see how the slow march forward to equality began.

Check out the list at BestCollegesOnline.com

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Julianne Hough talks about having a career like Olivia Newton-John

The NY Daily News declares Julianne Hough is the new Olivia Newton-John.

From the NY Daily News: “At the Peggy Siegal Company’s special screening of “Rock of Ages” at Landmark Theatres Sunshine Cinema on Wednesday, we told Hough that her winning performance in the movie reminded us of Newton-John in “Grease.” The Utah hottie replied that she was happy to hear that because, early in her career, she told her management “I would love to have a career like Olivia’s. I like the idea of being able to be both sexy and sweet.”

Olivia and Julianne have actually met before when Julianne attended a concert by Olivia in Nashville, TN, a few years ago, both looking very beautiful.

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Channing Tatum photo shoot & interview for OUT

Channing Tatum, during a photo shoot for OUT Magazine, talks about his highly-anticipated MAGIC MIKE movie. The movie is very loosely based on his own experiences as a 19 year old who took a job in a male strip show.

Tatum didn’t intend to be a stripper. He heard an announcement on the radio and thought he might as well add it to his resume of random jobs — framing houses, working at a puppy nursery, selling credit cards to students — that sustained his hardcore club life. “I never enjoyed the taking-the-clothes-off part,” he recalls. “You are on a stage with people yelling at you, and you feel you’re a rock star, but you’re nothing — you’re just a guy taking off his clothes, looking like a fool in a stupid outfit.”

In comparing the movie male revue to the Chippendales, Channing says “what Chippendales does is a big, Vegas type show.  This is a smaller, rinky-dink, small town type show.”

In addition to MAGIC MIKE, Channing shares about his humble upbringing. He grew up in Alabama, in what he calls a straight-up middle-class family. His dad was a roofer, until he fell off a roof and damaged his back. His mom worked for AAA. He describes his older sister as “the dog’s bollocks, just the sickest chick on the face of the planet,” and is candid about the world he grew up in.

“My uncle Bruce is about as country as you get,” he says. “He’s not OK with interracial stuff, probably, and I don’t think he’d met a gay man before my wedding. Where I’m from, there’s not a lot of out gay men.”

Read the whole interview and see the pics at Out.com

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Dawn Loggins – from homeless in high school to Harvard

Dawn Loggins at high school graduation

Last summer, after returning from a prestigious academic summer program in Raleigh, N.C., Dawn Loggins found her parents were gone from the home they shared in North Carolina. She had no way to reach them because their phone services had been disconnected. It would be a few months before she learned that they had gone to Tennessee for a visit and decided to stay.

Before her homeless ordeal, Dawn recalled having to do homework by candlelight because the power had been disconnected and having to cook noodles on a wood stove after her mother and stepfather lost their jobs.

Loggins worked as a custodian at school from 6 a.m. until the students arrived at 7:40 a.m. every weekday, but she stayed focused on her schoolwork. She would do another two hours of custodial work after school each day and then do the homework for her honors and advanced placement classes until midnight or later on most days. It resulted in a 3.9 grade-point average and a 2,110 on her SAT.

After being abandoned by her parents, Logins initially crashed on couches at friends’ houses until school bus driver Sheryl Kolton, the mother of a friend, opened up her home when she was apprised of Dawn’s situation by her guidance counselor.

One summer later, Loggins is preparing for her freshman year at Harvard University after a remarkable rise from hardscrabble circumstances to acceptance to the class of 2016 in one of the most prestigious schools in the world.

Relying on a part-time job as a school custodian and the generosity of others in her community, Loggins persevered to remain a straight-A student. Her reward was becoming the first person from her high school to ever be accepted to Harvard.

“There were times when I felt like it would be easiest if I gave up,’’ the 18-year-old told NBC News. “But it was never in me to give up, because I realized that I was never going to be successful unless I got an education.’’