19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, Sunday, April 27, 2008 – Sally Field, T.R. Knight, Rachel Griffiths, Matthew Rhys, Garry Marshall, Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Kimmel, Sofia Vergara and Zoe Saldana were among the dozens of celebrities who joined the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) as it honored Janet Jackson, Rufus Wainwright, and Herb Ritts, and presented awards for Outstanding Drama Series, Comedy Series, and Reality Program last night in Los Angeles at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards.

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their lives.

At the ceremony, Ellen DeGeneres presented Janet Jackson with GLAAD's Vanguard Award, honoring media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

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Gay Armenian in LA committed suicide after being forced into marriage

A few days ago a young gay Armenian in LA committed suicide... He was 22 years old. The stress of being gay was too hard for him to handle. He was forced to get married with an Armenian girl to cover up his sexuality... He came out to his family and they forced him to marry a girl to keep up appearances... and sadly 3 months into the marriage . . . he couldn’t take it anymore... he was under a lot of stress from his family and the general stress that the Armenian community brings to the table about homosexuality...

Here is what his friend has to say: [He was] an amazing friend of mine… we loved him dearly... he was young, smart and handsome... god I’m going to miss him...REST IN PEACE MY GOOD FRIEND WE WILL MISS YOU.What is wrong with Armenians how can we keep letting this happen! This isn’t right, this isn’t fair! The sad part is no one mentions that he did it because he was gay! He even wrote it in his suicide note and no one mentions it! How many Armenians are we going to lose like this!

related links:

Armenia: Homophobic Values

Gay Armenia

depressing news

Experimenting with boundaries of identity

The play, "The Barber of East L.A.," focuses on the stories of the gay Latino community in Los Angeles.

Discovering what it means to be a gay minority, while trying to find a place of belonging in the cultural minefield that is Los Angeles, is a theme that is explored in "The Barber of East L.A.," a performance that will be held at Ground Zero Coffeehouse tonight and Saturday night.

This play demonstrates the double marginalization of being gay and being Latino in Los Angeles and is performed by the dynamic trio of Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, a multimedia ensemble that got its start in 2002 as community activists.

"We basically crafted a story around this woman's trajectory, and the life she spent in the piece of the world that had her name on it: the barbershop she owned," said Raquel Gutierrez, a member of BdP and assistant director of the Center for Feminist Research.

In "The Barber of East L.A." and in many of its other sketch-driven performances, the overarching theme is experimenting with the boundaries of identity and creating visibility of gay and Latino experiences that are often brushed over in society's portrait of sexuality.

"As a queer performer, I've always been galvanized by queer performance. It made up for the fact I didn't see myself represented in the real world, and it called me to find my own voice," Gutierrez said. "The play is about the consequence of trying to be yourself in the places you are from and about not having to compromise who you are to satisfy the expectations of others."

"The Barber of East L.A." starts at 7 p.m. tonight and 6 p.m. Saturday night at Ground Zero Coffeehouse.

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TWO CALLS FOR THE RESIGNATION OF PFOX EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REGINA GRIGGS AFTER GROUP FABRICATES HATE CRIME

LOS ANGELES - Truth Wins Out called on PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs to resign today for faking a hate crime incident at a the Arlington County Fair in Virginia. Griggs claimed that a gay activist at the PFOX booth physically attacked an "ex-gay" volunteer. She said that police intervened and ejected the assailant from the event. Ex-Gay Watch editor David Roberts investigated her claims and found that Griggs' story appears to be a complete fabrication.

"Once we started checking with people who would know, the evidence was overwhelming that it could not have happened the way they claimed," said David Roberts, Editor of Ex-Gay Watch. "Fair officials, the police, eyewitnesses - they all report that no physical attack took place, police were not involved, and no one was escorted off the property. PFOX claimed all those things, and Focus on the Family and other Christian media repeated the claims."

"Regina Griggs has lost all credibility and must resign in shame for her dishonest behavior," said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. "What PFOX did was warped, twisted and an insult to real hate crime victims."

"The entire notion of ex-gay is a big lie, so I can imagine it is not a difficult leap to take it to the next level and completely manufacture a fraudulent story for political and financial gain," added Besen. "The police, Arlington County Fair officials and eyewitnesses refute Griggs' story. She has a lot of explaining to do if she wants to save her reputation and keep her job."

Truth Wins OUT is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.

Yolanda Retter, Scholar And LGBT Activist, Dies

Yolanda Retter, an activist, archivist and scholar who devoted the last four decades to raising the visibility of lesbians and minorities and preserving their history, has died. She was 59.

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Retter died Aug. 18 at her home in Van Nuys after a brief illness, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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She was a pivotal advocate for lesbians during the early years of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, the country's first social service agency to exclusively serve gays. She helped organize lesbian history repositories at USC, UCLA and in West Hollywood, it was reported.

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Retter is survived by her partner of 13 years, Leslie Golden Stampler; her father, Henry, and stepmother, Dottie, of Florida; Stampler's two children, Belinda and Martin; and six brothers and sisters, according to reports.

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A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sept. 29 at Metropolitan Community Church, 8714 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, according to The Times. Memorial donations may be sent to the Yolanda Retter Foundation, c/o Law Office of Karen L. Mateer, 618 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106.