Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center

5 Offbeat Things To Do in L.A. This Week

See also: *10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A. *10 Best Stand-Up Comedy Shows in Los Angeles Tired of frequenting the same routine haunts for entertainment? Suffer no longer with these fantastically quirky events, from Kathy Griffin ... More >>

Escape from the D-List

L.A. County Meningitis Stats Raise More Questions -- County Only Recently Began Tracking Sexual Orientation

Updated at the bottom: Health experts say only some types of bacterial meningitis are spread person-to-person, these types are not as contagious as flu and are not sexually transmitted. The CDC says there is no increased risk among gays and no rationale for county officials to alter their approach. ... More >>

UPDATE: Brett Shaad, West Hollywood Lawyer, Brain Dead after Contracting Meningitis

Update: Shaad family releases a statement about the tragedy, after the jump. Shock. That's what a lot of people in West Hollywood were feeling after hearing the news that Brett Shaad, a gay man and lawyer in his early 30s, was announced brain dead after contracting bacterial meningitis. As of Frid ... More >>

Oh, To Be Young & Gay & Witty

We Miss You, Brett Sommers!

Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson

Manhattan Beach Gay-Sex Ring: Should Police, Media Have Circulated Suspect Mugshots?

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center blasted an angry presser yesterday, calling out sister news stations CBS2 and KCAL9 for printing/airing the "mug shots, names and birthdates for the 18 men who were recently charged in an undercover sex sting operation at a Manhattan Beach public restroom." We were a l ... More >>

Prop. 8 Ruling: Los Angeles, West Hollywood to Host Celebration Rallies Tonight

Surely you've heard the good news by now: Proposition 8 was just overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. And, though the religious zealots at ProtectMarriage will inevitably appeal that decision, it's definitely time to take this Internet party to the streets. LGBT advocates and city o ... More >>

O(h), Bananas!, Jackie Five-Oh! and more new reviews

​Our critics were in a upbeat mood this week, serving up a Pick of the Week to Jackie Hoffman's Jackie Five-Oh!" at the Gay and Lesbian Center​, with recommendations for the Actor's Company's O(h), the production company's The Beauty Queen of Lenane (at the Lex) Days of Wine and Roses at the Lou ... More >>

If You Like It Then You Shoulda Put a Lid on It

Gay History Bill: Why Is the Los Angeles Times Spreading Sex-Ed Lies Birthed by 'Stop SB 48'?

​Hide your little boys and girls... 'cause California's scheming, sexed-up politicians are about to sneak gay porn all up in their kindergarten classrooms! Heh. That's the gist of the "Stop SB 48" campaign, which seeks to repeal a new California law requiring the contributions of LGBT-identif ... More >>

MAKE US LAUGH, FUNNY BOY!

ALEC MAPA

Stop SB 48 Campaign Seeks to Repeal California's Gay History Law

​Gay Californians and their straight allies may soon have to fight off another ballot measure. Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a state bill into law that ensures that the contributions of gays and gay rights are included in school textbooks. A group called Stop SB 48 now wants to repeal ... More >>

Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays

Stage Raw: Aaron Sorkin's First Stage Play

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS NEW THEATER REVIEWS Stage FEATURE on The Chinese Massacre and House of the Rising Son ​Maia MadisonAaron Sorkin's first stage play, Hidden in This Picture, is reviewed by Amy Nicholson; Neal Weaver was taken with the collection of theater-celeb-scribed gay-theme ... More >>

The Sonneteer

Stage Raw: The Sonneteer

NEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE ANNOUNCING THEATER AWARDS NOMINEESNEW REVIEW GO THE SONNETEER ​Photo by Katie Pomerantz Nick Salamone's play examines the ways in which homophobia, guilt, self-delusion and hypocrisy cause the gradual disintegration of the Cardamones, a first-generation Italian-A ... More >>

Proposition 8 Hearing Underway at U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Jesse Jackson In Favor of Gay Marriage

Ted SoquiGay marriage supporters in West Hollywood.​The Proposition 8 hearing is underway at the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, with pro-Prop. 8 attorney Charles Cooper laying out his case for why anti-gay marriage forces have legal standing to appeal U.S. District Cour ... More >>

Lemon Durang Pie

L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Uncomfortably Finds Itself in the Middle of a Knock-Down Union Blow Out

The Bilerico ProjectL.A. Gay & Lesbian Center CEO Lorri Jean​The Los Angles Gay & Lesbian Center, which bills itself as the "world's largest LGBT organization," probably hoped its battle with hotel workers union Unite Here Local 11 would somehow fade away before its big gala dinner this Satur ... More >>

Does Gay Activist David Fleischer Debunk Myths Surrounding 2008 Prop. 8 Campaign?

Steve La​ Last night at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, David Fleischer, founder of the LGBT Mentoring Project, sought to debunk common wisdom in gay rights circles on why Proposition 8 passed in 2008, offering up results from his study, "The Prop. 8 Report." "The bottom line is that what most ... More >>

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck Addresses Hollywood Gay Bashings

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck​Concerns about recent gay bashings in Hollywood were brought up at the Los Angeles Police Department's LGBT forum at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center last night, where LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said the incidents had been addressed at a CompStat meeting in May. LAPD brass ... More >>

L.A. Gay Pride Co-Founder Morris Kight Remembered

Gay rights pioneer Morris Kight.​Forty years ago, Christopher Street West, which oversees this weekend's L.A. Gay Pride Parade, was co-founded by the late gay rights pioneer Morris Kight, who also started up the Gay Liberation Front in Los Angeles in 1969 and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center in ... More >>

They Done Me Wrong

Victim-heroines in The Women of Brewster Place and Born to Be Alive

Theater Reviews: The Confusion of My Illusion, The Psychic, Sweet Sue

Also, No-No Boy, The Wake, Lascivious Something and more

Queer Town: L.A. Raises Money for Maine's Gay Marriage Fight

On the day anti-gay marriage forces aired their first TV ad in Maine, Los Angeles gays and lesbians gathered for a fund-raiser at West Hollywood's East/West Lounge, hauling in between $5,000 and $6,000 for Protect Maine Equality, the campaign that's fighting to keep same-sex marriage legal in that s ... More >>

LiveNation & AEG Live Cancel Buju Banton Concerts Due to Gay-Bashing Lyrics

Under pressure from the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, concert promoter monoliths LiveNation and AEG Live have each canceled upcoming concerts by Jamaican dancehall artist Buju Banton, including the AEG promoted October 14 date at Club Nokia. The artist, who has been decried for his homophobic lyrics, ... More >>

Queer Town: Courage Campaign Seeks $200k for 2010

Over the past few days, Courage Campaign, one of the leading political organizations in the fight to overturn Proposition 8, has been asking supporters to donate $200,000 so it can help launch a pro-gay marriage ballot measure in 2010. The self-imposed deadline for this major fund raising effort is ... More >>

Stage Raw: Bingo and Natives

The latest NEW THEATER REVIEWS are embedded in this coming week's COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS; Also, see this week's  THEATER FEATURE on Oleanna at the TaperBINGO WITH THE INDIANS, a late night entry by Adam Rapp at Rogue Machine, is among the new productions being reviewed this coming wee ... More >>

Stage Raw: The Post-Play Discussion

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, THIS WEEK'S COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS(THE LATEST NEW REVIEWS ARE EMBEDDED WITHIN THE LISTINGS)Also, this week's INTERVIEW with playwright Richard GreenbergFOOD FOR HEARTBURN: THE POST PLAY DISCUSSIONAfter watching the opening night production of Vern Thiessen's Apple at Th ... More >>

Queer Town: The Torie Osborn Speech

Torie Osborn in downtown Los AngelesIn a recent speech given by Torie Osborn at a grassroots training seminar called Camp Courage, the longtime gay rights activist and former executive director of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center called for a new way of doing things within the gay establishm ... More >>

Emergency Response: Ambulance Feature Continues to Inspire

Plus, on Patrick Range McDonald’s Queer Town, Jonathan Gold, and our L.A. Infrastructure story

Queer Town: L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Holds Amateur Contest to Fend Off Gay Marriage Foes

Last week, the National Organization for Marriage, an anti-gay marriage group, released a very professional, very message-driven video titled "Gathering Storm" on YouTube and also bought TV air time in Iowa, where that state's supreme court recently legalized gay marriage. In response to the slick a ... More >>

Stage Raw: Actors and Chickens and Bears, Oh My!

THE WEEKEND'S NEW REVIEWS ARE EMBEDDED IN THIS WEEK'S COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSCo-hosts Vanessa Claire Smith and Jake Broder at the 20th annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards Monday night. Photo by Tim NorrisTHE 30TH ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDSCo-hosts Jake Broder and Vanessa Claire Smith wer ... More >>

Bruising for Besos

Waiting for a Decision: Will State Court Overturn Prop 8?

California's State Supreme Court begins hearing arguments for and against overturning Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban approved by voters last November. The state's high court will issue its decision within 90 days. The San Francisco proceedings, based on three separate cases challenging the ... More >>

Queer Town: The Subtle Lessons of the Equality Summit

On Saturday, January 24, Equality California and other major gay organizations hosted an event called the Equality Summit at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown L.A.. Since these groups, many of which were heavily involved in the "No on 8" campaign, never held a live, in-person town hall m ... More >>

Queer Town: "No on 8" Executive Committee Revealed

Late yesterday, gay rights activist and blogger Michael Petrelis accomplished the seemingly impossible--he found and published the 16 "principal officers" of the "No on 8" campaign's executive committee. If you think that kind of information would have been easily available, you are very, very wrong ... More >>

The 30th Annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards

The Arts Crisis Edition

Stage Raw: L.A. Weekly Theater Awards Nominees

Light up the Sky is this week's Pick of the Week. Light up the Sky Photo by Maia Rosenfeld THEATER PICK Moss Hart's sharp, hard-boiled 1946 farce, Light up the Sky, is the quintessential backstage tale of the mid-20th century. His characters are often based on real people: fast-talking produ ... More >>

My Trip Down the Pink Carpet

Queer Town: Power Lesbian Criticizes "No on 8" Campaign

On Saturday, in the Huffington Post, power lesbian and longtime gay rights activist Torie Osborn did something few people in her A-list position have been willing to do: Publicly criticize the "No on 8" campaign.   While Osborn doesn't name names, she still takes the "No on 8" campaign to ... More >>

Queer Town: "No on 8" Leadership on the Hot Seat

For weeks, activists and political observers in the gay community have been calling for a post-Prop. 8 town hall meeting, where "No on 8" staffers can take, and hopefully answer, tough questions about the Proposition 8 loss. Tonight at 6 p.m., the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center will host a "vi ... More >>

A Changing of the Guard at the Westwood March

Fore more photos, view Ted Soqui's Westwood protest slideshow. Related Posts: Patrick Range McDonald's "The Last, Passionate Rant of a Long Night in West Hollywood" Patrick Range McDonald's "The Long March to the Mormon Temple" Joe Donnelly's "Election 08: What Happens To A Dream Deferred? Prop ... More >>

Queer Town: "No on 8" Supporters Rally in West Hollywood

With less than 48 hours until Election Day, hundreds of "No on 8" supporters gathered in West Hollywood Park on late Sunday afternoon, showing their resolve to defeat Proposition 8, the ballot measure that seeks to eliminate the right of gays and lesbians to legally marry in California. The peaceful ... More >>

Queer Town: Pro-Gay Marriage Fund Raiser at Ultra Suede

It was a quiet early evening in West Hollywood this past Saturday--few people were walking the strip on Santa Monica Boulevard, the Abbey wasn't jammed, and the house music wasn't pounding away. But a little after 8 p.m., a hundred or so gays and lesbians met up at Ultra Suede on Robertson Boulevard ... More >>

Queer Town: Big Gay Night at Armani

Christoph Babka, a handsome blonde with a keen sense of duty, was burned out working in Hollywood, so he decided to shake things up. "We try to get the younger generation involved," he said, holding a clipboard inside the Armani Exchange store on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. "There's a lot o ... More >>

Queer Town: No Time For Gay Losers

On Monday, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen officially certified the anti-gay marriage ballot measure. If passed, the initiative would overturn last month's California Supreme Court ruling--which legalized same sex marriage--and insert one sentence into the state constitution. It would re ... More >>

California Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage!

Citing the 60-year-old landmark case Perez v. Sharp, which struck down California's ban on interracial marriage, the California Supreme Court ruled today that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is unconstitutional. The Court's decision nullified Proposition 22, the statewide referendum out ... More >>