Sing Out, Sondheim! exhibit featured through Feb. 28 at Stonewall National Museum & Archives

News release from Stonewall National Museum & Archives in Fort Lauderdale:

Sing Out, Sondheim!: Stonewall National Museum & Archives Presents Stephen Sondheim Exhibition

FORT LAUDERDALE, January 7, 2013– The Stonewall National Museum & Archives presents Sing Out, Sondheim! on display from January 7- February 28, 2013 with an opening reception on Thursday, January 10, 2013 from 6-8 pm. The evening will also celebrate the grand reopening of the Charles L. Ross Gallery. All are welcome to attend.

Sing Out, Sondheim! focuses on award-winning composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and his career in musical theatre from 1957- 2010. The exhibition appeals to all types of Sondheim audiences — those who have enjoyed his musicals for decades as well as those who have just discovered him.

A display case will feature 24 Playbills from the Archives' extensive collection, including Playbills from the original Broadway casts of West Side Story (1957) and of Gypsy (1959) starring Ethel Merman. Sing Out, Sondheim! also consists of fourteen 30"x40" panels—text and images—about Sondheim and his musicals.

Sarah Crompton of the U.K.’s The Telegraph has observed that Sondheim musicals are “a vehicle not only for the joys of life but also for its disappointments,” and lauded him as “the most significant composer of his times.”

Sondheim has been honored with many awards such as the Pulitzer Prize, eight Tonys, eight Grammys, an Oscar and the Kennedy Center Honors/Lifetime Achievement.

Sing Out, Sondheim! celebrates the achievements of this venerable artist.

Read the January 2013 museum newsletter

Actor Matt Dallas comes out, Tweets engagement

Actor Matt Dallas (Kyle XY) has come out via Twitter and announced his engagement to musician Blue Hamilton:

From GLAAD blog:

Dallas has never publicly addressed his sexual orientation before, but has been photographed with Hamilton in public on several occasions. GLAAD congratulates Dallas and Hamilton on their engagement, and thanks them for sharing the happy news with their followers and fans.

Former gay, lesbian service members subject to discriminatory policy to receive separation pay

News release from the ACLU:

ACLU Challenged Policy that Cut Separation Pay in Half for Service Members Discharged for Their Sexual Orientation

WASHINGTON – Former service members who are part of a class action lawsuit challenging a Defense Department policy that cuts in half the separation pay of those who have been honorably discharged for “homosexuality” will receive their full pay after a settlement announced today.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Mexico had filed a class action lawsuit against the policy, which was not part of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" statute and so was not changed when that law was repealed.

“There was absolutely no need to subject these service members to a double dose of discrimination by removing them from the armed forces in the first place, and then denying them this small benefit to ease the transition to civilian life,” said Laura Schauer Ives, managing attorney for the ACLU of New Mexico. “This decision represents a long-delayed justice to these veterans.”

The ACLU’s class action lawsuit represented approximately 181 honorably discharged veterans who had their separation pay cut in half because of the discriminatory policy. The total amount of separation pay withheld from those veterans is approximately $2.4 million. The lead plaintiff in the case is Richard Collins, a former staff sergeant in the Air Force who served for nine years until he was discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Collins was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico before being seen by a co-worker exchanging a kiss with his boyfriend in their car while stopped at an intersection off-base.

“This means so much to those of us who dedicated ourselves to the military, only to be forced out against our will for being who we are,” said Collins. “We gave all we had to our country, and just wanted the same dignity and respect for our service as any other veterans.”

Under the settlement, all service members covered by the lawsuit will be contacted by the government and notified that they are eligible to opt in to the settlement and receive 100 percent of the separation pay that they would have received had they been discharged for any other honorable reason. Federal law entitles service members to separation pay if they have been involuntarily and honorably discharged from the military after completing at least six years of service in order to help ease their transition to civilian life.

The settlement covers service members who were discharged on or after November 10, 2004, which is as far back as the settlement could extend under the applicable statute of limitations.

“It makes no sense to continue to penalize service members who were discharged under a discriminatory statute that has already been repealed,” said Joshua Block, staff attorney for the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. “The amount of the pay owed to these veterans is small by military standards, but is hugely significant in acknowledging their service to their country.”

More information on the case is available at: http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/collins-v-united-states-class-action-military-separation-pay

Cameroon judge frees 2 men jailed for 'looking gay'

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DOUALA, Cameroon -- A court has overturned the conviction of two men who were sentenced for five years in prison for "looking gay" and ordering Bailey's Irish Cream.

The Court of Appeals Monday acquitted the men and ordered their release. The two men had already spent more than a year in jail where they were subjected to abuse from guards and other prisoners, according to human rights advocates.

The new ruling has been hailed by human rights lawyers and gay rights advocates who urged President Paul Biya to release all other prisoners found guilty under the country's harsh anti-gay laws.

On December 17, a Cameroonian court upheld the five-year-sentence of another man, Roger Jean-Claude Mbede, who was convicted of sending a text message that said "I love you" to another man.

Supreme Court to hear two days of arguments, March 26 and 27, on gay marriage laws

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court says it will hear two days' worth of arguments over laws affecting gay marriage during the last week of March.

Justices on Monday announced they will hear arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry on March 26 and United States v. Windsor on March 27.

The first case involves California's constitutional amendment that forbids same-sex marriage. The second concerns a federal law that denies gay couples who legally marry the right to obtain federal benefits available to heterosexual married couples. The court scheduled one hour's worth of arguments on each day. Justices can still extend the amount of time given to arguments in each case, however.

Nine states - Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington- and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage.

Log Cabin Republicans release second ad criticizing Chuck Hagel for gay-rights record

Log Cabin Republicans continue their campaign against former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel's nomination at Secretary of Defense. In Monday's Washington Post:

Here's the LCR news release:

(Washington, DC) - Today, the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) took out a full-page ad in The Washington Post exposing former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-Neb.) long history of anti-gay positions. He is widely believed to be President Obama’s pick for Secretary of Defense, and could be nominated by the President as early as today.

The Washington Post ad addresses Chuck Hagel’s recent apology by stating, “Chuck Hagel’s Apology: Too Little, Too Late.” Hagel’s apology was submitted after his anti-gay remarks opposing the Ambassadorship of James Hormel for being "openly, aggressively, gay" surfaced in the media. In Hagel's apology to Politico he said his comments did not reflect the "totality of [his] public record."

However, in actuality, the "totality" of Hagel's public record on gay issues is dismal:

• In 1996 Hagel said he supported the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law defining marriage as one man and one woman. He also supported a state constitutional amendment barring gays from marrying.
• In 1998 Hagel opposed the nomination of James Hormel as Ambassador to Luxembourg, arguing that an "openly, aggressively gay" man should not be selected to represent the U.S.
• In 1999 Hagel opposed repealing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, saying, "the U.S. armed forces aren't some social experiment."
• In 2005, in reaction to a federal judge's ruling that Nebraska's voter-passed ban on same-sex marriage violated the constitutional rights of lesbians and gay men, Hagel opposed the decision saying, "I am hopeful the federal appeals court will recognize the rights of Nebraskans to determine their own laws governing marriage and reverse this decision."

"At Chuck Hagel's request, we looked into the 'totality' of his public record on gay rights, and it did nothing to assuage our concerns that his anti-gay record makes him the wrong choice to oversee the ongoing integration of gays and lesbians in the military," stated Gregory T. Angelo, Interim Executive Director of the Log Cabin Republicans. "Until his name surfaced as a potential nominee for Secretary of Defense, he has stood firmly and aggressively against not only gay marriage, but also against gay people in general. Log Cabin Republicans helped lead the charge to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell and is extremely invested in seeing that we don't lose any ground due to a lack of sincere commitment to gay people and their families on the part of the incoming Defense Secretary."

Today's ad is Log Cabin's second to condemn Hagel, following a December 27th advertisement in The New York Times.

Gay marriage remains a tough sell in Illinois

BY SARA BURNETT, ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The stalling of Illinois' gay-marriage push - at least for now - shows the difficulty of approving legislation to legalize it, even with a nudge from the home-state president, steadily rising support in the polls and national momentum from the November elections.

Democrats control both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor's office in the solidly blue state. Yet the margin of support Senate Democrats were able to pull together for a bill last week was so thin that a death in one lawmaker's family and another senator's extended trip to Israel were enough to push the issue into the next legislative session.

Supporters downplayed the delay, saying a Senate committee's vote to advance the measure was history itself and insisting same-sex marriage here is inevitable. But there's no denying that even as the nation's feelings about the issue appear to be shifting, lawmakers have been more reluctant to do so - particularly in the nation's heartland.

No legislature in the middle of the country has approved gay marriage. Of the nine states that allow it, Iowa is the only one not located on the nation's coasts, and it adopted same-sex unions through the courts, not the Legislature.

Click here to read more.