President Barack Obama's new view on gay marriage doesn't seem to faze black voters

BY ERRIN HAINES AND JESSE WASHINGTON, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS

ARDMORE, Pa. -- Like many black Americans, Dorsey Jackson does not believe in gay marriage, but he wasn't disillusioned when Barack Obama became the first president to support it. The windows of his suburban Philadelphia barbershop still display an "Obama 2012" placard and another that reads "We've Got His Back."

If Obama needs to endorse same-sex marriage to be re-elected, said Jackson, so be it: "Look, man - by any means necessary."

With that phrase popularized by the black radical Malcolm X, Jackson rebutted those who say Obama's new stand will weaken the massive black support he needs to win re-election in November. Black voters and especially black churches have long opposed gay marriage. But the 40-year-old barber and other African-Americans interviewed in politically key states say their support for Obama remains unshaken.

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Take survey now: Philanthropic Our Fund is assessing needs of South Florida LGBT community

Our Fund, a South Florida philanthropic organization, is conducting a survey to assess the needs of our local LGBT community.

From Our Fund CEO/President Anthony Timiraos:

South Florida has one of the largest, most diverse and fastest growing LGBT communities in the country. In our effort to better understand its needs, we have launched a new online anonymous survey to assess these needs on issues including housing, education, health, public safety and community involvement. The survey will also provide us with donor preferences and trends and the results will be used by Our Fund and local LGBT non-profits to address the issues raised, develop programs and to advocate for government and private sector funding.

Click here to take the survey.

Aqua Girl 2012: A success with 9,000 tickets sold to benefit Aqua Foundation for Women

News release and photos from Aqua Girl:

Ladies Love Aqua Girl® 2012

The Country’s Largest Charitable Women’s Festival Draws Thousands of Women to South Beach

Miami, FL- May 11, 2012 – Cultural events, pool parties, nightlife, a comedy show and networking events made up the 2012 Aqua Girl® schedule. Attracting thousands of women from across the country and around the world this year’s AquaGirl® event was a huge hit, with about 9,000 tickets sold and all proceeds going to benefit Aqua Foundation for Women, a funding catalyst for lesbian, bisexual, and transgender wellness and equality in South Florida.

“The success of this year’s Aqua Girl® means our organization can ramp up its efforts to provide vital services to the LBT community so we can continue to Lead, Build and Transform South Florida,” said Robin Schwartz, the foundation’s Executive Director. “I want to thank all our attendees, staff and volunteers as well as the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County for the incredible support they continue to give us.”

Aqua Girl®’s 13^th annual event kicked off on Wednesday, May 2 with the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival’s Women’s Spotlight. The audience was treated to a screening of Nicole Conn’s latest project, A Perfect Ending, which details the sexual and emotional awakening of a repressed middle-aged socialite.

The nightlife events started on Thursday with the well-attended Traffic Jam at Dream Nightclub. Hundreds of women in stoplight-hued glow necklaces got down late into the night to the sounds of top girl DJs and enjoyed performances by drag kings Spikey Dykey and Rico Suave.

Friday started with BodyToning, an intense session of morning calisthenics led by reality TV star and fitness trainer Rachel Robinson at the Surfcomber Resort, Aqua Girl®’s main host hotel.  Splash, Aqua Girl®’s first of three poolside blowouts, got the action going with DJs Pat Pat and Lisa Pittman spinning tracks for the ladies.

Following a performance by Elaine Lancaster of The Real Housewives of Miami, stand-up comic Jessica Kirson had the crowd howling with laughter on Friday night at A Night of Comedy, in the Colony Theater. Jessica’s banter with the audience and frank, hilarious riffs on her sexuality, her family, her weight and her Jewish heritage earned her a standing ovation. The fun continued into the wee hours at Nikki Beach with Havana Nights, with girl DJs cranking out Latin-infused sounds while percussionists and go-go dancers added their own brand of spice.

Things kicked up a notch on Saturday when Aqua Girl®’s centerpiece pool bash, The Beach House, swung into gear. This sold-out extravaganza boasted an awe-inspiring line at the entrance gate. Celebrity DJ Tracy Young spun her trademark house and electro beats, the Miami Heat dancers signed autographs and The Real L Word cast members worked the capacity crowd of bikini- and cutoff-clad ladies.

A more mature and laid-back crowd spent their Saturday evening at Sip N’ Savor, held on the rooftop deck of The Betsy hotel. They mingled and networked while sampling an array of fine wines and cheeses provided by Whole Foods Market.

For the party crowd, the fun moved across the bay to Downtown Miami Saturday night as top female DJs, performers Bionic Ballerina and Nitro Girl and singer Doxi Jones took the Aqua Girls® on a space Odyssey of lights, sounds and visuals at Grand Central.

On Sunday afternoon, Rachel Robinson and the cast of The Real L Word joined the women at the Catalina Hotel and Beach Club for the Aqualicious Tea Dance, the last of the festival’s pool parties. The ladies closed out the festivities in style atAfterglow, Aqua Girl®’s official final blast, held at Score.

“We’re thrilled with the turnout and thankful for the backing of all our awesome sponsors, entertainers and partners,” said Aqua Girl® founder and co-chair Alison Burgos. “We’re already looking ahead and working to make next year’s Aqua Girl® even better for these amazing women.”

Sean Dorsey Dance kicks off South Florida's 2012 Out in the Tropics for LGBTQ artists, arts events

From Ever Chavez:

Out in the Tropics kicks off this year with Sean Dorsey Dance from San Francisco, Saturday May 12, 2012

Out in the Tropics, a different kind of performing arts series, brings a full range of award-winning, contemporary GLBTQ (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) artists and arts events to South Florida annually. In its third year of Out in the Tropics, FUNDarte is presenting two wildly different and intriguing groups: Sean Dorsey Dance from San Francisco at May 12, 2012, and Teatro El Publico’s staging of Caligula from Havana, Cuba on June 15-17, 2012, both at the Colony Theater. Besides performances, this series will also include a variety of events such as panels, master classes and artist receptions from May 12 – June 16, 2012, and will feature three screenings of Pedro Almodóvar’s films; Bad Education (La Mala Educación), Law of Desire (La Ley del Deseo) and All About my Mother (Todo Sobre mi Madre), which will be shown at the Centro Cultural de España in Miami.

Opening the Series this year is Sean Dorsey with his outstanding Florida premiere of The Secret History Of Love. Award winning choreographer Dorsey creates visual poems hinging on universal narrative of love, heartbreak and the desire for community. His dances seamlessly stitch together past and present, hope and history, personal intimacy and social context. Secret History is an epic work that chronicles the ways LGBT people have built relationships throughout history, under circumstances when it was required that they remain inconspicuous. The result is a rollicking, stirring treatise on the enduring language of the heart.

The Secret History Of Love is the culmination of a two-year community research process conducted by Sean Dorsey. Dorsey conducted archival research and directed LGBT Elders Oral History Projects in San Francisco and Boston. The Secret History Of Love features the voices and stories of these elders, along with powerful, moving and hilarious episodes from our community’s buried history of love.

Sean Dorsey is an award-winning choreographer, writer and dancer. Celebrated as the nation’s first out transgender modern dance choreographer, Dorsey has won audiences from San Francisco to New York with his powerful dances that provide a window into transgender and queer experience. Dorsey is also the founder and Artistic Director of Fresh Meat Productions, the nation’s first transgender arts nonprofit creating, presenting and touring year-round transgender arts programs.

The Secret History Of Love features a stellar cast of dancers and performers: Sean Dorsey, Juan De La Rosa, Brian Fisher, Nol Simonse and Shawna Virago. Original music by Jesse Olson Bay, StormMiguel Florez, Alex Kelly, Keith Kenniff, Ben Kessler, Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney and Ramon & Jessica. Sound Engineering by Laura Dean; Lighting Design by Clyde Sheets; Costume Design by Tiffany Amundson.

The Miami performance will be preceded by a panel at the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, and a free master class for artists and community members at the Colony Theater. For details regarding panel and masterclass, please contact FUNDarte staff at 305.519.6877 or at elizabeth@fundarte.us.

After making its world premiere in San Francisco, The Secret History Of Love tours to Boston, Miami and Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, Chicago and Wisconsin and Philadelphia, San Antonino, Chico, Claremont and other cities in 2013 -2014.

Press quotes from The Secret History of Love:

“San Francisco’s Best Dance/Performance Company”   - SF Weekly

“the most imaginative and intriguing dance artist in the Bay Area”   - Bay Area Reporter

“trailblazing”    - San Francisco Chronicle

“exquisite…poignant and important””   - BalletTanz

Tickets may be purchased in advance online for all events. Advance ticket sales may also be purchased in-person at the the Colony Theatre without a service charge. Group sale discounts can also be arranged by calling (305) 519-6877. All venues are wheelchair accessible.

For anyone who wishes to stay overnight in Miami Beach over the weekend, there are discount room rates available at The Deauville Beach Resort, the official host hotel.

More information about the series can be found online at www.fundarte.us, or by contacting FUNDarte at info@fundarte.us or 305.519.6877.

FUNDarte is a multidisciplinary non-profit organization, founded and directed by Ever Chavez, dedicated to producing, presenting, and promoting music, theatre, dance, film and visual arts that speak to Miami’s diverse cultures.

Support for Out in the Tropics comes in part from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts; the GLBT Community Project Funds at The Miami Foundation, in partnership with the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force; GlassWorks Multimedia; The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald; Miami New Times; South Florida Gay News; and Wire Magazine.

Saturday, May 12, 2012 – 8:00 p.m.

Sean Dorsey Dance

The Secret History of Love

Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach

Tickets are $20 and $15 for students/seniors and may be purchased at fundarte.us or ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 745-3000 or in-person at the Colony Theatre box office (305) 674-1040.

The Secret History Of Love dances through the decades, exploring the secret and not-so-secret ways that transgender and queer people managed to find – and love – each other in years past. Secret love affairs, the history of outlawing love and the underground ways that transgender and queer people found each other through the decades are revealed in these new dances. The Secret History Of Love is being created with support from the Creative Work Fund, National Performance Network, New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, San Francisco Arts Commission and project partners The Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco), The Theater Offensive (Boston) and Links Hall (Chicago).

Video | U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation: Firing gay people not 'a big issue with small businesses'

From ThinkProgress:

Rep. Allen West (R-FL), no stranger to controversy, declared on Thursday that gay people are never fired because of their sexual orientation in the United States.

“That don’t happen out here in the United States of America,” West told ThinkProgress during an interview on Capitol Hill.

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Biden proves catalyst for Obama on gay marriage

BY JULIE PACE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- Sorry, Mr. President.

After nearly single-handedly pushing gay marriage to the forefront of the presidential campaign and inadvertently pressuring President Barack Obama to declare his support for same-sex unions, there was only one thing left for Vice President Joe Biden to do: apologize.

Biden's mea culpa came Wednesday in the Oval Office, shortly before the president sat for a hastily arranged interview in which he told the American people that he now supported gay marriage.

The vice president expressed remorse and regret for declaring his support for same-sex unions ahead of Obama, said a person familiar with the exchange, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation. Obama accepted the apology, saying he knew Biden had only been speaking from the heart.

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Barack Obama reelection campaign releases video, 'Mitt Romney: Backwards on Equality'

Released Thursday by President Barack Obama's reelection campaign:

President Barack Obama affirms his personal belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, but Romney supports the first constitutional amendment to discriminate and deny rights.

Miami Herald video | South Florida locals discuss President Obama and gay marriage

South Floridians talk about President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage. Video by Kristofer Rios.

President Obama jokes with George Clooney at star's gala fundraiser

BY JIM KUHNHENN, ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES -- George Clooney played the suave host, chef Wolfgang Puck whipped up something for dinner, and President Barack Obama and about 150 of his Hollywood set donors enjoyed a few laughs at Clooney's good humored expense.

Obama told the crowd that his famed Hope poster from the 2008 was derived from a photograph of Obama sitting next to Clooney when Obama was a U.S. senator. Clooney had been in Washington advocating on behalf of Darfur.

"This is the first time that George Clooney has ever been photo-shopped out of a picture," Obama said. "Never happened before, never happen again."

In fact, the artist who created the poster, Shepard Fairey, used another photograph of Obama but said he relied on the Obama-Clooney picture to avoid a copyright infringement case with The Associated Press. He pleaded guilty in February to criminal contempt for fabricating and destroying evidence.

In this crowd, Obama didn't even need to mention gay marriage to get a vigorous applause. "Obviously," the president said obliquely, "yesterday we made some news."

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