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Mark Gilbert Talks Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2014 (AUDIO)
Mark Gilbert Talks Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2014 (AUDIO)
This week I talked with Mark Gilbert, Interim Executive Director and Board Chair of the Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, which takes place in association with the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and is one of the most highly regarded LGBT film festivals in the nation. The sixth annual Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Film Festival has expanded to seven days, taking place Friday, Oct. 10, through Sunday, Oct. 12, and Thursday, Oct. 16, through Sunday, Oct. 19. FLGLFF 2014 will be presenting 50 diverse, award-winning feature films and shorts, along with special events and parties throughout the city. Its mission is to enrich, entertain and educate the public through the presentation of international and culturally diverse films that offer meaningful perspectives on the historic and contemporary gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.
I talked with Gilbert about this year’s festival and his spin on LGBT issues. When asked what he would like to see happen for LGBT equality in the next few years, he stated:
I would like to see the movement continue at the pace that it is. I mean, my dream, my vision — I used to do editorials and talk about what I hope would be one day, and we’re already seeing it. I’m a grandfather of two, and my boys don’t know any different — and when I say that, of course I mean as a grandfather of two adorable, loving children — and they’ll never know the difference, that gay was ever anything to wonder about. They’ll only know that Papa’s gay and their grandfather and they love him. My dream is 50 years from today — and even to take that to the next level, where, when they hear talk about marriage, gay marriage, marriage equality, if you will, they’re only going to know that there’s my two mommies, my two daddies, or Joey has two mommies or two daddies or two grandmas. Whatever it is, they’re going to feel the same love for them. It’s not going to be something special or different. It will just be part of our everyday lives that everyone will accept everyone for who they are, and it will be a world of just equality.
LISTEN:
Presented by HBO, Merrill Lynch and the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB/Broward Office of Film, Music & Entertainment, the sixth annual Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Film Festival promises to be a wealth of films ranging from hilarious takes on relationships to compelling dramas and documentaries touching upon some of the more compelling issues in the LGBT community. There are also fabulous parties and events presented by Florida’s LGBT nonprofits.
For more information, please visit flglff.com.
Listen to more interviews with LGBTQ leaders, allies, and celebrities at OUTTAKE VOICES™.
Download interviews on iTunes.
Adult Films Stars Asked Regular People To Touch Them And This Happened
Adult Films Stars Asked Regular People To Touch Them And This Happened
Imagine being in the same room as your favorite adult film stars and being invited to touch them. How would you respond? Would you be shy or bold enough to grope them? Maybe you’d kiss them on the lips or, ahem, lick their feet? In a promotional video/sociological experiment made to tout the Barcelona Erotic Show that took place last week, several folks took advantage of this unusual opportunity and all sorts of reactions took place.
Watch the touching video below.
Jeremy Kinser
Wingnut Mat Staver Says A Third Political Party Is Needed to Stop Gay Marriage, Like With Slavery: AUDIO
Wingnut Mat Staver Says A Third Political Party Is Needed to Stop Gay Marriage, Like With Slavery: AUDIO
Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver, the wingnut who previously said gay marriage was a direct attack on God, is so mad at the Republican Party’s tepid response to the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision on Monday that he thinks a third political party will be necessary to lead the fight against LGBT equality.
Right Wing Watch reports:
Staver told Greg Corombos of Radio America yesterday that a third party will be needed to take a strong stance against the legalization of same-sex marriage, just as the Republican Party emerged in the 1850s to oppose slavery as the Whigs were foundering due to divisions on the issue.
When Corombos asked why Republicans have delivered a muted response to the marriage decision, Staver didn’t hold back: “They’re cowards, and if Republicans don’t stand up for this, the party will become a non-issue and there will be a third party that will ultimately take its place. That’s what happened with the issue of slavery and there’s no party that’s immune from this situation.”
Staver went on to complain about the missed opportunity to enshrine discrimination into the Constitution with the Federal Marriage Amendment following the 2004 elections, as well as his belief that it’s “absolute stupidity” to think that the fight over marriage equality is over.
“That would be like saying with regards to Dred Scot, when the Supreme Court said, ‘Sorry Dred Scott, you’re black and blacks are inferior human beings, you don’t have rights of a citizen, therefore the debates over.’ That would be ridiculous then, it’s ridiculous now.”
Listen to the insanity, AFTER THE JUMP…
Earlier today, we reported that Mike Huckabee was also threatening to leave the Republican Party over its non-response to this week’s news.
Kyler Geoffroy
New LGBT Minor at LSU
New LGBT Minor at LSU
Louisiana State University introduced a new LGBT minor under the School of Social Work this semester. So far, students are enjoying the unique courses.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hRQ69x6Ls4&feature=youtube_gdata
Indiana's Same-Sex Marriage Ban Is Officially Lifted
Indiana's Same-Sex Marriage Ban Is Officially Lifted
After an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, most county clerks have begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Daniel Reynolds
www.advocate.com/politics/2014/10/09/indianas-same-sex-marriage-ban-officially-lifted
Christopher Isherwood Returns to Berlin
Christopher Isherwood Returns to Berlin
This adventure began over dinner.
Don Bachardy, the artist and partner of the late Christopher Isherwood, was in Sacramento, California for a screening at the Crocker Art Museum of Chris and Don: A Love Story — the documentary by Tina Mascara and Guido Santi about Don’s 33-year relationship with the Anglo-American writer.
In a restaurant after the film, I turned to Don and asked, “Have you ever been to Berlin?”
His answer took me by surprise.
We know what Berlin was like in the early 1930s, when the German capital was the center of personal and artistic freedom for all of Europe, largely because of the keen observations and brilliant writing of one man: Christopher Isherwood. Yet Chris and Don had never visited Berlin together, and Don had never been to the city which launched his partner’s career as a giant in 20th century literature.
When I described the vibrant contemporary arts and cultural scene of Berlin, Don smiled and said, “It sounds like fun!”
I called Don a few weeks later at his home in Santa Monica and asked him if he had an interest in traveling, on his and Isherwood’s behalf, to the city of Sally Bowles, Christopher Bradshaw, Mr. Norris and the other characters of the musical Cabaret. It took him a few days to decide, and then Isherwood’s editor and biographer Katherine Bucknell called me with the news: Let’s go.
Next week, Don Bachardy arrives in Berlin.
His visit coincides with the 75th anniversary of the publication of Goodbye to Berlin, Isherwood’s novel about Berlin 1930-1933 as Hitler was rising to power, and the 50th anniversary of the publication of A Single Man, his novel about a middle-aged gay literature professor in 1960s California. Goodbye to Berlin provided the material for Cabaret, and A Single Man was made into a 2008 film directed by Tom Ford. German translations of both books are being published by Hoffman and Campe during the visit.
Contemporary Berlin is a vibrant, international city filled with artists, playwrights, dancers, musicians, authors and, increasingly, hundreds of technology entrepreneurs. The unofficial city motto is “Arm Aber Sexy” — Poor, But Sexy.
“Don is closing a circle with this visit,” says Katherine Bucknell. “Isherwood visited Berlin for the last time in 1952, the year before he met Don. Berlin today is much like the city that first drew him away from London, looking for sexual freedom and his ideal partner.”
Three communities in Berlin will welcome Don Bachardy and, through him, Christopher Isherwood.
The American ambassador to Berlin, John Emerson, and his wife Kimberly (both from Los Angeles, a sister city to Berlin), are convening the city’s political and cultural innovators to meet Don and commemorate Isherwood’s legacy.
The City of Berlin is hosting an evening of readings from Goodbye to Berlin and A Single Man and a conversation with Don. Among the talent on stage will be British actor Simon Callow, an old friend of Isherwood and Bachardy.
And the Schwules (Gay) Museum is hosting a reception to introduce Don to Berlin’s gay and lesbian community.
“It is exciting that Don is able to return to Berlin in person and celebrate today’s open culture on Isherwood’s behalf,” says Bucknell.
A year ago, it struck me that Berlin should embrace Isherwood and Bachardy. Somehow, Isherwood’s achievement — his writing, the life he shared with Bachardy, Bachardy’s own work — all needed to be reintroduced in a new and personal way to the people of Berlin.
And next week, Berliners are reaching out to Don Bachardy and extending an enthusiastic and genuine “Willkommen.”
HRC Continues the Call for Protection of Transgender Women
Documentary 'To Russia With Love' Looks at LGBT Rights In Russia In The Lead Up To Sochi Olympics: VIDEO
Documentary 'To Russia With Love' Looks at LGBT Rights In Russia In The Lead Up To Sochi Olympics: VIDEO
To Russia With Love, a new documentary from EPIX narrated by Jane Lynch, takes a closer look at what life is like for LGBT people in Russia and at the convergence of sports, human rights and activism that took place during the Sochi Olympics earlier this year. As the film’s synopsis notes, “LGBT athletes and activists [had to] choose whether to risk their own safety by speaking out against Russia’s anti-gay laws.” The doc follows out figure skater and commentator Johnny Weir and official US Olympic delegate Billie Jean King as they come to Sochi and meet a 17-year-old gay Russian named Vlad who details the tragic truths of the hardships faced by LGBT people in one of the world’s most virulently anti-gay nations. The film also features Jason Collins, Stephen Fry, Greg Louganis, Blake Skjellerup and Mark Tewksbury.
Watch young Vlad talk about his experience of Russia’s hatred for the LGBT community, along with his meeting Weir and King along with a trailer for the documentary, AFTER THE JUMP…
The documentary will debut on EPIX on October 29 at 8 PM.
To Russia With Love: Clip 1 from EPIX PR on Vimeo.
To Russia With Love: Clip 2 from EPIX PR on Vimeo.
To Russia With Love: Clip 3 from EPIX PR on Vimeo.
Sean Mandell
Dates n Mates Hugh Torrance LGBT YOUTH Director on DNM PAST
Dates n Mates Hugh Torrance LGBT YOUTH Director on DNM PAST
