Rachel Weisz to play Elizabeth Taylor in new biopic about her HIV work
Elizabeth Taylor on the Oprah Winfrey Show, 1992 (Photo: YouTube)
British actress Rachel Weisz has been cast to play the role of Elizabeth Taylor in an upcoming biopic of the Hollywood legend.
Variety reports that Weisz, 49, will star in A Special Relationship, penned by Slumdog Millionnaire writer Simon Beaufoy).
The film will focus on Taylor’s AIDS and HIV advocacy, as well as her relationship with personal assistant Roger Wall, a gayman who grew up in poverty in the southern US.
Taylor started to campaign to raise awareness around HIV when friends began to fall ill in the early 1980s. Actor Rock Hudson was the first major celebrity to reveal he had the disease, and Taylor publicly stood by his side as his health deteriorated.
The Oscar-winner went on help found amFAR in the mid-80s. She is credited with persuading Ronald Reagan to acknowledge the disease for the first time in a speech in 1987 and testified before the US Senate and House for the Ryan White Care Act.
She launched her own Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. She was honored with her third Oscar, in recognition of her humanitarian work, in 1993.
Taylor died in 2011, aged 79.
Rachel Weisz in 2018 movie, The Favourite
Weisz is best known for her roles in The Mummy, The Bourne Legacy, and last year’s The Favourite. She won an Oscar for her role in 2005’s The Constant Gardener, among numerous other acting awards.
The movie will be directed by female directing duo Bert&Bertie for See-Saw Films. The production company will pitch the movie to distributors at the American Film Market in Santa Monica in early November.
Strapping Saxophonists Successfully Destroy Street Preacher’s Homophobic Vibe: WATCH
A homophobic street preacher was offering a public sermon about how LGBTQ people are going to burn in hell this week in New York City’s Union Square when the day was saved by Augie Bello and Julian Roel, a couple of young saxophonists at The New School for Jazz, one of whom knows how to toot while riding on a Swagtron electric scooter.
The intervention was captured on film by videographer Nicolas Heller. Augie Bello, the scooter-riding lad, wrote on Instagram: “Today @roel.julian and I were hanging and we stumbled upon some homophobic guy with a mic so we played over him. Shoutout to @newyorknico for capturing this moment. And big shoutout to @swagtronofficial for the Swagcycle it really made this situation a lot better. Swipe up on my story to get one!!”
Comments always appreciated, as long as you keep it clean – I love to hear your feedback! xx
Friday night out in Sheffield with the lovely Trisha and of course my bestie Gemma!
At a club called Soyo which we enjoyed very much, and was quite different to a lot of the places we usually go. Very subdued lighting, and different music to what we normally go for, but we had a great time!
In honor of LGBTQ History Month, we’re taking a deep dive look-back at the first gay publication in America—ONE magazine. Launched in Los Angeles in 1953, ONE was published by One, Inc., which grew from The Mattachine Society, the seminal gay-rights group founded by Harry Hay. Its editorial founders were Martin Block, Don Slater, and Dale Jennings. Produced on a shoestring and sold for 25 cents, ONE began to change the course of history with an unapologetic exploration of homosexuality and the largely unexamined societal taboo against it.
This is the seventh in our series of ONE magazine cover stories.
Volume 12, Issue 4: On Life and Art and the Homosexual
In this lyrical and culturally scorching essay, Bob Waltrip muses on the gayman’s existential condition — which in some ways echoes the general human condition:
I have often heard the cry, “But nobody understands.” Unfortunately, this is entirely true. Dear reader, nobody — absolutely nobody — understands you, and nobody ever will. You can live with another person all your life and he still won’t completely understand you. You can talk to a psychiatrist for twenty years and even he will not entirely understand you. Your parents never understood you, your friends have never understood you, and God himself probably never fathomed your mind. In order for another person to understand you, he has to shuck off his own problems and live your life for you inside your body. This is impossible, so it is impossible for anyone else to really understand. The best thing you can do is try to understand yourself.
Waltrip is also realistic about what a gayman could expect from the majority of his neighbors and acquaintances:
After you understand yourself, accept yourself for what you are and love yourself. But never, never make the horrible mistake of trying to make the heterosexual world accept you as well. It is not yet possible to ask Mrs. Bluelip down the street to accept you as a homosexual. She will accept you on a thousand other terms — if you’re that nice Mr. Jones who raises gardenias and dresses so well. This is what you must work with — dress well, raise gardenias, and be friends with her. After you are very good friends she might come to a realization of your sexual proclivities. But I would never recommend that you come right out and tell her.
… The homosexual wages a continual battle, and wears a disguise that is only discarded during those rare moments when he is alone with another man, making love to him. Only then can he be himself. He is not a fictional character. He is not a strong character. He is an extremely frail and complicated thing called a human being. And he is also my brother. And I love him.
We wish we could show Mr. Waltrip an episode of Queer Eye, in which even the most prim neighbors understand and accept, or take him to a Pride parade where hundreds of thousands of allies march in the streets.
We think he’d be glad to see how much love there is to go around these days.
Thanks to ONE Archives Foundation for making this series possible. ONE Archives Foundation provides access to original source material at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries—the largest such collection in the world.
Laura Ingraham, Sean Duffy Attempt Sick Smear of Impeachment Inquiry Witness and Decorated War Vet Alexander Vindman Ahead of Testimony: WATCH
Alexander Vindman, a decorated Iraq war veteran, who was on Donald Trump’s call in which he pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, is testifying before the House impeachment inquiry today.
The NYT reports: ‘Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman of the Army, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, twice registered internal objections about how Mr. Trump and his inner circle were treating Ukraine, out of what he called a “sense of duty,” he plans to tell the inquiry, according to a draft of his opening statement obtained by The New York Times.’
Wrote Vindman in his opening statement: “I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine. I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained.”
Monday night, ahead of his testimony, FOX News’ Laura Ingraham and CNN’s recently hired commentator Sean Duffy attempted to smear Vindman.
Ingraham suggested that the decorated Iraq war veteran is a Ukrainian double agent, and John Yoo threw out the word “espionage.”
Said Ingraham: “Here we have a U.S. national security official, who is advising Ukraine while working inside the White House apparently against the president’s interest and usually, they spoke in English. Isn’t that kind of an interesting angle on this story?”
Added Yoo: “I find that astounding. Some people might call that espionage.”
Oh my God, look at the spin they are using right now, actually saying that Vindman is a Ukrainian double agent….this is so freaking bananas pic.twitter.com/ritg9QcNgV
New CNN hire Sean Duffy went after the same talking point on Tuesday morning: “It seems very clear that [Vindman] is incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense. I don’t know that he’s concerned about American policy, but his main mission was to make sure that the Ukraine got those weapons. I understand that. We all have an affinity to our homeland where we came from. Like me, I’m sure that Vindman has the same affinity or like Mark Meadows.”
Responded Berman: “Are you suggesting that you would put Irish defense over U.S. Defense? Is that what you’re saying?”
Added Duffy: “So are we saying that by giving this money to the Ukraine that absolutely is the money that’s going to secure American national defense against Russia? I don’t believe that. And so he’s entitled to his opinion. He has an affinity I think for the Ukraine. He speaks Ukrainian, and he came from the country and he wants to make sure they’re safe and free.”
Sean Duffy on CNN on Army Lt. Col. Vindman: “It seems very clear that he is incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense. I don’t know that he’s concerned about American policy … we all have an affinity to our homeland where we came from … he has an affinity for the Ukraine.” pic.twitter.com/dlsYlTnCwR
God forbid we should have national security professionals who can communicate with foreign officials in their native language & are country specialists. Vindman has a valid security clearance, which is more than can be said for the president & 2 of his senior advisors. t.co/7RXY8wKEMf
They are so desperate, they will say anything, anything, including flailing about to try and tear down this American hero, just because of where his parents are from.
John Yoo, @IngrahamAngle and @AlanDersh have a combined total of ZERO military service. As close any of them ever came to war was Yoo creating a legal fiction for Bush/Cheney to commit war crimes. @FoxNews should be ashamed for this bullshit, but shame requires a conscience. t.co/lzbJPmQeU0
This is disgusting, and @RepSeanDuffy (and others doing the same) know better. Soldiers with skills and cultural backgrounds like LTC Vindman are specifically recruited for Foreign Area Officer (FAO) duties to benefit the US. And they are passionate about their patriotism. t.co/T6mGa6kS5U
Does Sean Duffy realize that he’s casually accusing the Trump White House of the most epic counterintelligence failure in American history? t.co/HlkK98kP2H
OCTOBER 29: Sean Duffy smears Purple Heart recipient as insufficiently loyal to the U.S. because he offered testimony critical of Trump t.co/nAkoRW3oCd
Virginia Republican Leaders Embrace Anti-LGBTQ Agenda Ahead of Legislative Elections
With 7 days left ahead of the tightly contested Virginia Elections, one thing is clear: Republican leaders have no problem showing off their anti-LGBTQ agenda. In recent days, the Virginia GOP has attacked Danica Roem for her identity and used the incorrect word “transgendered” in a mailer to attack pro-Equality candidates.
Next week, Virginia voters will choose equality and reject the anti-LGBTQ extremism of the Virginia GOP.
Here are some of the lowlights of Virginia Republican’s anti-LGBTQ candidates and campaign:
Prince William County GOP launched a transphobic attack on Danica Roem
Additionally, Roem’s opponent Kelly McGinn signed onto a letter that compared support for marriage equality and reproductive rights as “morally repugnant” practices like slavery.
Daily Beast: Danica Roem, Trans History Maker, Fights Another Anti-LGBT Candidate—and Their Donors—in Virginia
Minority Leader Tim Hugo accused children of lying about their gender identity to gain access to bathrooms and locker rooms.
He said, “it’s not the potential, it happens–that somebody will say, ‘I now identify as a girl or I identify as a boy, I want to use the boys locker room but I’m biologically a girl and vice versa.’” [WMAL, 5/11/15]
State Sen. Amanda Chase called homosexuality “sexual dysphoria”
Chase also supports conversion therapy and said “Some parents believe along with their kids that homosexuality is a sin and, you know, they need options.”
VA Dogwood: Read Sen. Amanda Chase’s most provocative comments against LGBTQ people, equal rights, and Toni Morrison
Anti-LGBTQ funder, and Roy Moore donor, Dick Uihlein gave Del. Nick Freitas $500,000 for his write-in bid
Richmond Times Dispatch: Freitas will report getting $500K from GOP megadonor, campaign says
GOP Del. Todd Gilbert said prohibiting anti-LGBTQ discrimination “may not be in the best interest of society.” [Washington Post, 1/1/11]
Gilbert also said an anti-LGBTQ non-discrimination bill would lead to “situations where you have cross-dressing cops, where you have your child’s kindergarten teacher who is this semester a male and next semester a female.” [Washington Post, 1/1/11]
Paid for by Human Rights Campaign PAC (www.hrc.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
