Author: Randy Slovacek

Posted on

Today is National Coming Out Day

On Oct. 11, 1987, half a million people participated in the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. It was the second such demonstration in our nation’s capital and resulted in the founding of a number of LGBT organizations.

Recognizing that the LGBT community often reacted defensively to anti-gay actions, they came up with the idea of a national day to celebrate coming out and chose the anniversary of that second march on Washington to mark it. From this idea the National Coming Out Day was born.

To this day National Coming Out Day continues to promote a safe world for LGBT individuals to live truthfully and openly.

More at HRC.org

Posted on

Olivia working on limited edition T-Shirt for cancer awareness

Olivia Newton-John and friend Yvette Nipar, who owns BeSoDoSo T-Shirts, are collaborating on a limited edition t-shirt for cancer awareness with proceeds to benefit the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre.

About BeSoDoSo (from Yvette): “This started with me wanting to make any bit of a difference that I could.”

“I knew I was doing the right thing when the owner of one of my stores called
& said “A women going through treatment for Breast Cancer just bought all of the
“Attitude is everything” shirts to share with her fellow fighters”! And when I was
told that “Don’t let fear stop you” was pivotal in helping an actress who had all but left the business, go for it one more time, & now works constantly.”

“Be So Do So’s designs/sayings are not mass produced; I like it like that.”

More details to come.

Posted on

Wolf Blitzer on breakdown of NBA negotiations

The NBA has cancelled the first 2 weeks of the NBA season due to inability to come to agreement with the players union.

Excerpt from Wolf Blitzer’s excellent post about the current NBA stalemate.  Read the whole post here.

I don’t feel badly for the players or the owners at all.

At a time of severe economic hardship around the country with very high unemployment, I can’t worry about players who make $700,000 a year or $7 million a year. These are enormous salaries.

There are tens of millions of people around the country who are simply struggling to put food on the table.

The owners are very wealthy and I can’t feel sorry for them even though the NBA says 22 of the 30 teams in the league lose money.

But I do feel sorry for the fans, many of whom will simply get fed up with the NBA and will turn to college basketball and other sports for their entertainment.

And I feel especially sad when I think of all the hard-working employees who work at the arenas or in nearby neighborhoods; people who sell popcorn or beer at the stadiums; people who work at the restaurants and bars. These people can’t afford to lose a season, especially during these tough economic times. Thousands of them are about to lose their jobs.

These are the people I worry most about.

It’s simply ridiculous that the owners and the players can’t figure out a fair way to split $4 billion in revenue and play ball.

Posted on

Gay opponents fail to qualify referendum to repeal FAIR Education Act

(via press release from EQCA) Anti-equality advocates announced that they have failed to collect the required number of signatures to place a referendum for the November 2012 ballot to overturn the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act.

The FAIR Education Act was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown earlier this year. It requires schools to integrate age-appropriate and factual information about historical roles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, people with disabilities and people of color into existing social science instruction.

“The FAIR Education Act will simply ensure that California’s students learn an honest, accurate, and inclusive account of history, but opponents of equality have grossly distorted the intent and the effect of the FAIR Education act in their quest to secure signatures for this referendum. Today’s victory shows that their lies cannot stand up to our truth,” said Roland Palencia, Equality California Executive Director.

“Now it’s time to focus on implementing the FAIR Education Act and demonstrate to the public that our opponents’ lies are nothing more than smear tactics designed to censor the historical contributions of LGBT people, people with disabilities and people of color from social studies classes,” said Laura Valdez, Interim Executive Director of Gay-Straight Alliance Network.

Posted on

Cheyenne Jackson’s one night only Carnegie Hall concert – November 18, 2011

Star of Broadway, Glee, and 30 Rock, Cheyenne Jackson invites you to snap your fingers and tap your toes to the cool, swinging tunes of the 1950s and ’60s—a time when bossa nova was new, the lounges of Las Vegas were hip, and catchy dance music spun on every hi-fi.

Jackson will sing songs from the 50s and 60s for a one-night-only concert next month with The New York Pops orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

According to a press release, the show “will take audiences back to the ‘Mad Men’ era, when bossa nova was new and dance music was smooth and hip.”

The Nov. 18 concert will include Jackson crooning such songs as “Feeling Good,” ”Luck Be a Lady” and “Sway.” Steven Reineke, who is the musical director, also promises some contemporary songs that are a throwback to that time.

Jackson has appeared on Broadway in “Finian’s Rainbow,” ”Xanadu,” ”Thoroughly Modern Millie,” ”On the Twentieth Century” and “Aida.”

Click here for ticket info.

Posted on

Stocks see biggest gain in over a month

U.S. stocks saw their biggest gains in over a month after European leaders signaled a willingness to tackle the financial crisis brewing there.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended Monday up 330.06 points, or 3%, to 11,433.18. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index jumped 3.4%, or 39.43 points, to 1,194.89.

Over the weekend, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in Berlin that they would come up with a plan to help stabilize and recapitalize struggling European banks. They gave few specifics but said a definite plan would be ready by a Nov. 3 meeting of the Group of 20.
(via LAtimes)