'Do it all': Singer Lorna Luft, Judy Garland's younger daughter, offers advice for going into show business

Jared Kenwood, a journalism student at Broward College, recently interviewed singer Lorna Luft, one week before she began treatment for breast cancer.

Luft, Judy Garland's younger daughter, spoke to Kenwood March 19 at Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, where she performed her tribute show, Songs My Mother Taught Me.

“If you want to go into this business, you have to learn to do it all. Don’t learn how to be vocal aerobics and stand on a stage and not do anything else but that. There is something in between the songs called dialogue and you have to be an actor and learn how to be choreographed,” Luft told Kenwood.

Click here to read more at The Judy Garland Experience website.

Florida gay activist raising money to produce, direct social justice documentary, 'London Innovators'

From LGBT activist Jeff G. Peters of Tallahassee, who grew up in North Miami Beach:

London Innovators examines the global impact of some dynamic individuals & groups helping to shape the world we live in.

London Innovators is an inspiring new feature documentary. The film is being made in cooperation with Southbank Oia Films LLC. We have a lot of wonderful, dedicated people involved with this film project. We hope you'll join us! Your contribution and help in promoting the project is the key to the success of this film. We truly appreciate your help! You're getting involved at the crucial beginning phase of the documentary. Help us make this one of the most successful Indiegogo film campaigns!

My name is Jeff G. Peters and I'm the Director/Producer on this project. I have a background in the arts with an emphasis in film, literature & theatre. I've been the Executive Producer on several films including, Gods Cartoonist: The Comic Crusade of Jack Chick, and Dead Buffalo. I've also produced movie sountracks. I'm a judge with the Tallahassee Film Festival and serve on the board of Anhinga Press, one of the oldest publishers of beautiful books of poetry - here in the US. I have a passion to bring innovative indie films to audiences. To that end, I've raised money and helped bring many indie films to art cinemas; films including the award winning, Immokalee U.S.A.

Click here to read more at indiegogo.

LGBT youth groups in South Florida to benefit from 'You Can Play Night' at Miami Marlins game June 14

News release from South Florida Gay News and Miami Marlins:

“YOU CAN PLAY NIGHT” PROMOTES EQUALITY IN SPORTS, BENEFITS LOCAL LGBTQ YOUTH GROUPS

Ft. Lauderdale – May 13, 2013 – South Florida Gay News (SFGN) and the Miami Marlins have teamed up to host an evening of baseball to promote equality in sports and to benefit South Florida area LGBT youth organizations.  “You Can Play Night” will take place Friday, June 14 at Marlins Park beginning with a social mixer at 5 p.m. followed by the baseball game versus the St. Louis Cardinals at 7:10 p.m.

“With the recent announcement of Jason Collins coming out as a pro athlete, the timing for ‘You Can Play Night’ is perfect,” said Justin Wyse, Sales Manager for SFGN. “The message the You Can Play Project makes to LGBT youth and their allies who are involved in sports is that locker rooms should be safe and sports venues should be free from homophobia. Athletes should be judged on talent, heart and work ethic and not sexual orientation. We are delighted to partner with the Marlins to bring this message to our local youth.”

Tickets to “You Can Play Night” start at $20. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to South Florida LGBT youth programs, including Pridelines Youth Services, Safe Schools South Florida, The Pride Center, NVEEE, Sunserve, Youth Pride Band and The Alliance for LGBTQ Youth. For tickets, order before June 10 at www.marlins.com/ycp.

“You Can Play Night” is sponsored by Storks Bakery, Dugout Sponsor; 93.9 MIA, Mark’s List, Hotspots, Wire Magazine, She Magazine, and The Murry Agency Public Relations, Media Sponsors. Special thanks go to the Gay and Lesbian Business Exchange (GLBX), the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (MDGLCC), Greater Ft. Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (GFLGLCC) and Rainbow Business Coalition (RBC).

2 Russians arrested for brutal homophobic killing

ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW -- Investigators say a 23-year-old Russian man was brutally beaten and left to die by his companions after drunkenly telling them he was gay.

A former schoolmate of the victim and another man have been arrested for the killing, which happened on Friday.

The RIA Novosti news agency on Monday quoted an investigator in the southern city of Volgograd saying that one suspect admitted that he and another suspect decided to haze the victim by sending him home naked then "decided not to stop there."

Investigators say the victim had such severe injuries, including to his genitals, that he could not initially be identified. His name has not been released.

Gays face serious social stigma and official pressure in Russia, where parliament voted to ban "homosexual propaganda" earlier this year.

Gallery | SAVE Dade, now 20 years old, celebrates eighth annual Champions of Equality reception

More than 600 supporters helped SAVE Dade celebrate its 20th anniversary Friday night with the gay-rights group's eighth annual Champions of Equality reception held at the Hilton Miami Downtown hotel.

Champions of Equality honorees: U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Miami; Miami-Dade Commission Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa; and state Rep. David Richardson, Florida's first openly gay legislator.

Hall of Champions honorees: gay rights pioneers Fran Bohnsack and James Pepper.

Political celebrities included three visiting members of Congress (Raul Ruiz, D-Calif.; Mark Takano, D-Calif.; Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona); Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez; and mayors and commissioners from throughout Miami-Dade County.

Click here to view more pictures from the reception. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff. 

Sizzle Miami returns May 23-28; view the schedule

Sizzle Miami returns to South Florida Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-28, 2013. Here are the details with links to the website.

Native Americans torn over gay marriage

BY ROB HOTAKAINEN, MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- For Heather Purser, the first pang came more than a decade ago as she gathered clams on Puget Sound’s Chico Beach, watching her cousin’s new husband assist with the digging. She figured she’d never have a legal spouse to help with the backbreaking work.

Then Purser, a member of Washington state’s Suquamish Tribe who knew she was gay at age 7, decided to act: She led a personal lobbying campaign that ended with her tribal council voting in 2011 to approve same-sex marriage.

“I realized that I do have the power to change my situation,” said Purser, who’s now 30 and a commercial seafood diver from Olympia, Wash.

With more Native Americans making similar demands, the Suquamish tribe is one of three that have signed off on marriage by same-sex couples, laws that apply only on their land. Legal analysts predict that more tribes will follow, giving new rights to what many Native Americans call “two-spirit” individuals, who carry both a feminine and masculine spirit.

Click here to read more.

Charlie Crist listened to Miami activist Joseph Falk, returned to Tampa and posted gay marriage support

BY STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Charlie Crist, rumored to be running as a Democrat for Florida governor, has come out in favor of gay marriage.

“I most certainly support marriage equality in Florida and look forward to the day it happens here,” Crist quietly announced Wednesday night on his Facebook page, hours after Delaware became the 11th state to legalize gay marriage.

Crist, formerly a Republican governor, apparently has evolved since the last time he ran for public office in 2010. During the GOP primary campaign against Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate, Crist told CNN he supported a constitutional ban against marriage equality.

“I feel that marriage is a sacred institution, if you will. But I do believe in tolerance. I'm a live and let live kind of guy, and while I feel that way about marriage, I think if partners want to have the opportunity to live together, I don't have a problem with that,” Crist said at the time, adding that when it comes “to the institution of marriage, I believe that it is between a man and a woman. It's just how I feel."

Wednesday afternoon, Crist met in a Biscayne Boulevard restaurant with Miami mortgage broker Joseph Falk a public policy advisor at Akerman Senterfitt and former board chairman of SAVE Dade, the county’s largest gay-rights group.

“We discussed a great number of topics, one of which, of course, was the issue of marriage equality,” said Falk, a national Democratic Party fundraiser and activist. “He listened to some of the topics and he did not tell me that he was going to go on Facebook later that night and announce his decision to support marriage equality.”

Falk said Crist said little about the issue at lunch, before the former governor returned to Tampa.

“We talked and he said, ‘I’m already there,’" Falk recalled. "I did not press him, nor question or give him advice on whether it was the appropriate time to make any kind of formal announcement. But I did say this was important to a large constituency group here in Florida.”

Minnesota House approves gay marriage; would be 12th state, plus Washington, D.C., to legalize nuptials

BY PATRICK CONDON AND BRIAN BAKST
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A pivotal vote Thursday in the Minnesota House positioned that state to become the 12th in the country to allow gay marriages and the first in the Midwest to pass such a law out of its Legislature.

The 75-59 vote was seen as the critical step for the measure, which would allow same-sex weddings beginning Aug. 1. It's a startling shift in the state, where just six months earlier voters surprisingly turned back an effort to ban them in the Minnesota Constitution.

The state Senate is expected to consider the bill Monday, and leaders expect it to pass there. Gov. Mark Dayton has pledged to sign it into law.

Click here for updates.

Minnesota House passes gay marriage bill; state Senate to meet in a few days

From GayPolitics.com:

The Minnesota House of Representatives has passed a bill legalizing marriage for same-sex couples, and the legislation is expected to be taken up by the state Senate in the next few days.

“This is a historic day for Minnesota,” said Karen Clark, the openly lesbian sponsor of the bill.  ”In Minnesota we don’t turn our back on family… Freedom means freedom for everyone.”

Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund, congratulated Clark and her colleagues.  ”We’re incredibly proud that out lawmakers like Representative Clark are leading the fight to win more freedom for LGBT Americans.  She stood up and asked her colleagues to see her as their equal, and that’s an incredibly powerful request,” Wolfe said.

Sen. Scott Dibble, an openly gay Democrat, will lead efforts to pass the bill in the state Senate.

Ear-shattering cheers (and some boos) as House members leave the chambers. twitter.com/stribrooks/sta…

— Jennifer Brooks (@stribrooks) May 9, 2013