Singer Rufus Wainwright weds longtime partner in New York

Singer Rufus Wainwright has married his longtime partner, Jorn Weisbrodt, according to People.com:

Wainwright, 39, and Weisbrodt, the German-born artistic director of the Luminato Festival, wore custom Viktor & Rolf Monsieur and were married by a longtime friend, the artist Justin Vivian Bond.

In 2006 and '07, Wainwright caused a stir when he re-created Judy Garland's entire 1961 Carnegie Hall concert at venues around the world -- sometimes dressed in Garland's trademark men's tuxedo jacket, black stockings and high heels.

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Fort Lauderdale gay film festival to present 'Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean' on Sept. 12

From the Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festival:

The Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festival wraps up its monthly movie series “954 GLOW” (Gays & Lesbians on Wednesdays) by presenting “Joshua Tree: 1951 A Portrait Of James Dean,” directed by Matthew Mishory.

Part portrait, part love story, part road trip exposé, “Joshua Tree: 1951” presents an intimate, untold portrayal of James Dean and those closest to him. Illustrated through dreamlike sequences that jump back and forth in time, the film melds historical and fictionalized accounts of Dean’s life to depict an icon-in-the-making who is at once childlike and world-weary; brutish and romantic; playboy and sensitive; all wrapped up in complicated sexuality.

“James Dean's mythology is so complex, it's hard to separate fact from fiction, but that only opens possibilities for a filmmaker like Matthew Mishory. Most of ‘Joshua Tree’ is shot in exquisite black and white, which is especially effective in footage of Joshua Tree itself. James Preston is credible as Dean, just as the actor is beginning to break into films, and knowing who some of the players were in Dean's life can be helpful, but the film is largely a poetic meditation on Dean's life, with telling details about the secrecy of gay life in the '50s. The desert becomes an apt metaphor for this phase of Dean's life, and, appropriately enough, Mishory intercuts color footage to suggest how radically the actor's life would change once he hit it big. The movie is art and borders on art-film pretentiousness here and there, but there's no question that it's also mesmerizing and sexy.”

- David Wiegand, San Francisco Gate

The FLGLFF “954 GLOW” series consists of a monthly program filled with feature films and documentaries produced with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in mind. The films chosen are produced and directed by prominent independent filmmakers from across the globe.

8 p.m. Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Gateway Theater
1820 E Sunrise Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304

Advanced:  $9 Members / $11 Guests
Box Office: $11 Members / $13 Guests
+ $2 transaction fee per order

Member Code: 954glow

Available at: www.flglff.com or 800-927-0939

FESTIVAL INFO: 305-751-6305

Vermont inn, 2 women settle gay marriage lawsuit

BY DAVE GRAM, ASSOCIATED PRESS

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Two New York women and a Vermont country inn have settled a lawsuit that accused the business of refusing to host the couple's wedding reception.

The American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to the Vermont Human Rights Commission and to place $20,000 in a charitable trust.

Under the settlement, the inn also agreed it would no longer host weddings and their receptions. The innkeepers' lawyer, Jim Campbell, said they had decided previously to end that part of their business.

"We're glad that the Wildflower Inn has recognized that the way we were treated was wrong and that no other family will have to experience what we did," said Ming Linsley in a statement released by the ACLU. "Although we found a different location and had a beautiful day, all families should feel welcome at any resort that's open to the public."

The ACLU said Ming Linsley and Kate Linsley contacted the civil rights organization after Ming's mother was told by the inn's events manager that the inn didn't host "gay receptions" because of the innkeepers' "personal feelings."

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Gay New York City judge challenges father's will; petitions that his husband is their son's 'mother'

BY TOM HAYS, ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- A gay man and his longtime partner decide to become parents using a surrogate mother. Shortly after their son is born, the couple gets married. But there's a catch for this modern family: A will left by the man's wealthy father decrees that he must marry the mother for the child to collect an inheritance.

That quandary has prompted the man, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert M. Mandelbaum, to contest the will in surrogate's court.

Mandelbaum has filed a petition on behalf of his now 2-year-old son, Cooper, that argues that a condition that might "induce the beneficiary to enter into a sham marriage of convenience" should be invalid.

The petition makes two further arguments: that Mandelbaum's partner could be considered the boy's "mother," and that excluding the boy from sharing in the family fortune would run counter to public policies protecting same-sex marriages and their offspring.

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