Asteroid to be named after gay folk singer
A new asteroid is to be named after a transvestite gypsy folk singer from Bulgaria.
The asteroid, temporarily been called 2005 UT12, was spotted in the Taurus constellation by Bulgarian astronomers, with the help of scientists from Spain and the UK.
A spokesperson for the Bulgarian team said: "We want to name the asteroid after the folk singer Azis, who is quite famous here."
Azis is a controversial figure in the conservative country as he is openly homosexual, and a political campaigner for the rights of the minority Roma population.
Madonna Named A 'Transvestite' at the MTV Europe Music Awards
This year, the host of the MTV Europe Music Awards was Sacha Baron Cohen, the British AliG comedian. The problem is he might have pushed the comedy a little too far when calling Madonna a 'transvestite'.
After the opening being performed by the famous Material Girl, Cohen walked on stage saying:
�Welcome to the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. The singer before me - who was he? It was very courageous of MTV to start the show with a genuine transvestite", he added later, without mentioning Madonna's name. But still�
Anyway, the pop diva is in no position to be upset, as everybody else has praised her performance. In an article from The Sun, entitled �Madge still looks magic�, the queen of pop is said to be, at 47, amongst �the world's sexiest women�. Pictures of her are included in a slideshow on The Sun site.
Gay hunk Hunter's transvestite love scene was simply `Divine'
Vintage teenthrob Tab Hunter says Divine, the 300-pound transvestite he co-starred with in the 1981 John Waters flick ``Polyester,'' was ``one of my favorite leading ladies.''
Hunter, now 74 and officially out of the closet via his new memoir ``Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star,'' said he took the rather gay-centric role after his career hit the skids. ``
(Waters) said, `How do you feel about kissing a 300-pound transvestite?' '' Hunter recalled. ``And I thought about it for a minute. I thought, `I'm sure I've kissed a heck of a lot worse.' ''
Hunter, who rode his blond, surfer-boy good looks to stardom in a string of straight '50s flicks including ``Island of Desire'' and ``Damn Yankees!'', said writing the memoir was difficult for him because he is a ``private person.''
``I grew up full of denial,'' the 74-year-old actor said. ``I just didn't like any suggestions or questioning of my sexuality.''
When Confidential magazine published a story in 1955 that implied Hunter was gay, ``I wasn't angry, I was more fearful,'' Hunter said. ``I had very, very few close friends and even a smaller number knew what my sexuality was.''
Hunter was able to hide his sexuality from the public � partly by being seen escorting a number of Hollywood's lovelies to premieres and parties. But his acting career hit a dry spell in the 1960s and wasn't resurrected until he teamed up with Divine.
American wins transvestite and transgender beauty queen title
PATTAYA, Thailand -- American Mimi Marks won 8,000 dollars, a crown and several other gifts by beating out contestants from around the world to win the Miss International Queen beauty contest for transvestites and transgenders here over the weekend.
Blonde Marks pipped Korea's Yu Ri and Thailand's Tiptanlree Rujiranon to win the title in the beauty quest being held for the second time.
Contestants from across the world took part in the contest, which selected the most beautiful woman who had been born a man.
Miss International Queen organizers said the contest aims to raise awareness of issues facing transvestites and the transgendered and improve their human rights. It also hopes to build a bridge between the transgender, lesbian, gay and bisexual communities.
Anybody born a man but living as a woman is eligible to enter the contest, though only one Thai may take part in the final.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is one of the sponsors of the event. Marks will be expected to return to Thailand at different times over the coming year to promote tourism to Thailand.
Real-life Victor/Victoria
Couple determined to accommodate hubby's new sexual identity
By VALERIE GIBSON, TORONTO SUN
Marilyn, left, was married to Victor for 24 years, and then he became Vicky, right. (Ernest Doroszuk, SUN)
If you suddenly caught your husband wearing your lingerie, what would you do?
Scream, shout, burst into tears, throw him out, or laugh, give him a hug and not only go on loving him but stay happily married to him?
While many women might react badly to such an experience, Marilyn X wasn't one of them. When she discovered Victor, her husband of 24 years, in such a situation she was shocked, but chose to embrace him and his proclivity. (Marilyn and Victor declined to give their surname.)
WEARS LINGERIE
Marilyn continued to be supportive even when he made the stunning announcement not long after he was caught that he wanted to not only continue wearing lingerie, but publicly become the woman he had always felt he was.
So, with Marilyn's help and encouragement, he did just that. The retired couple are in their 60s and have now been married for 28 years, but Victor is now Miss Vicki, a male to female transsexual, who wears women's clothing continuously and openly.
"I knew for a period of time that things weren't quite right," says the cheerful, outgoing Marilyn, "something was wrong. I didn't know if it was another woman or what. Obviously I began to realize what it was when I found him in my lingerie."
She says she then went on the Internet to find more information about the world of cross dressing, the transgendered, transexuals and transvestites. She found many other people were in the same situation, but was upset to discover most marriages didn't survive the difficulties associated with a transgender relationship.
"I wasn't going to let that happen," she says firmly. "We're soul mates."
She told Victor she'd not only stand by him but be helpful and supportive. "I'd rather live with you than without you. Love will prevail and we'll adjust," she assured him.
But they both agree that the changeover from dressing and behaving as a male to being female wasn't easy.
The first difficult step was letting family, long term friends and close neighbours know, despite it being more than obvious with Victor now permanently dressed in women's clothing and accessories.
"I decided the best route was to send everyone a special letter," Victor says. In it, he carefully outlined what had happened and asked for their compassion, understanding and support -- even their sense of humour. He explained he is transgendered -- specifically a male to female transexual.
The response was, he says, surprisingly good. Even members of his very masculine car club responded well, he says.
WHY STAY?
Mothers were a different matter. Marilyn's mother stated she "didn't like it" but would accept it and, because of her frailty, they decided not to tell Victor's mother.
What about the attitudes of other women, specifically other wives? Marilyn says, for the most part, they ask why she's staying with him, some noting they don't know how she does it, as they couldn't.
The couple eventually began to face the practical day to day details of the transgendered life, a life that would not include surgical change as an option because of Victor's medical history.
"Although we do everything we used to do (except sex, she confides), one of the first things was to go shopping for outfits for him -- and we found we have similar tastes!"
Their first stop was the well-known and unique Toronto "drag emporium" Take a Walk On the Wildside, on Gerrard St. E. (Wildside.org). The boutique specializes in clothing and accessories for cross dressers, offering everything from clothes, wigs, hose, makeup and high heels to silicone breastforms suitable for men.
Take A Walk On The Wildside also incorporates a private club, a bed and breakfast plus Paddy's Playhouse where plays with a transgendered connection are presented. Marilyn and Vicki are involved in the company's latest venture -- a monthly series of elegant high teas. Yesterday, the couple shared their experiences and demonstrated how a relationship can thrive when one partner cross dresses.
Despite some difficulties dealing with bank accounts and credit cards that still carry the male name, the couple say the crossover has been relatively smooth for both of them. "Our relationship is actually much better," says Marilyn. "We have fun with it too. I call him my dumb blond!"
And they laugh heartily together.
Frock horror
Playwright Doug Wright was charmed by the stories of a Berlin transvestite. Then he made a shocking discovery. He talks to Rupert Smith
All of this has come too late for the play's real-life subject, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a Berlin institution who died in 2002. Born in 1928, little Lothar Berfelde (as his mother called him) showed an early interest in dressing as a lady, a tendency discouraged by his alcoholic Nazi father, who tried to beat some sense into his camp little son. Lothar sought solace with a lesbian aunt and a gay uncle. Eventually, the Oedipal conflict resolved itself when Lothar bashed his daddy's head in with a revolver handle, leaving him free to live out his life as Charlotte, a nice Berlin girl with an interest in antiques.
This, at least, is the version as told by Charlotte, a famous raconteur who attracted thousands of visitors to her Berlin furniture museum, which was really little more than a front for the Charlotte von Mahlsdorf fan club. It was here that playwright Doug Wright first met her in 1992. "She was enchanting, disarming and instantly fascinating," says Wright, who also wrote the play, Quills, about the Marquis de Sade. "An elderly man in a simple black dress with a Peter Pan collar and a string of pearls showing me round a collection of Gr�nderzeit furniture. Then we sat in her basement bar while she told me stories about her life, how she'd lived through the Nazi and communist regimes as a transvestite. By the time I left, I'd decided to turn her story into a play."
Over the next two years, Wright regularly visited Berlin, and built up a complex picture of his subject. "On the surface she was frank but the more I talked to her, the more I realised that her delicate manner masked a ruthless survival instinct."
Her personal history, as recounted in her autobiography (Ich Bin Meine Eigene Frau, brilliantly filmed by Rosa von Praunheim in 1992), cast its heroine as a tough survivor and a champion of individualism. But as Wright dug deeper into his subject's past, he unearthed some less flattering facts. "I knew that the Stasi [East Germany's secret police] would have kept a file on Charlotte, so I got her permission to go and look it up. The secretary at the archive said, 'You think you're getting the file of someone who was spied on, don't you? Well, you're getting the file of a spy.' It turned out that Charlotte had worked as an informant for the Stasi in the 1970s, and gave information which led to the arrest of a fellow antiques dealer. It was a petty affair, but she hadn't written about it in her memoirs, never mentioned it, and when I asked her about it she had a coy way of undermining the allegations."
Wright's agenda changed overnight. "I met and fell in love with this wonderful character and intended to write a hagiography of her. Then I found out she'd been a spy. I didn't want to compromise the honesty of my play, but I didn't want to betray our friendship either. That's why it took me so long to complete." Wright argued the toss for nearly 10 years before Von Mahlsdorf's death in 2002. "I finally felt I could write a true portrait of her, with all her contradictions, her strengths and her weaknesses. She'd given me her blessing, knowing that I was going to use the Stasi material."
And so von Mahlsdorf never saw herself portrayed by Jefferson Mays, whose performance has won him a best actor Tony. "I play her as Doug described her to me," says Mays, "telling her stories as if they were true. He said that talking to her was like talking to a 19th-century music box; the same old stories time after time, the eyes rather glassy. She wafted through life like a housewife, but she was steely underneath. She needed to be."
So why should we be interested in the ambiguous tale of an antique-dealing trannie spy? "Her life is a model of courage and self-preservation," says Wright. "She disguised key elements of her nature in order to avoid violence and discrimination. I grew up as a gay man in Texas - a very conservative part of the world. It was nothing like Germany, and I never had Charlotte's courage, but it inspired me. It gives me great pleasure now that the play is opening on tour across the US in places like Milwaukee and Wyoming at a time when our president is demonising gay Americans. I like to think my old Granny Trannie is out there posthumously shaking things up".
� I Am My Own Wife opens at the Duke of York's Theatre, London WC2, on Thursday. Box office: 0870 060 6623.
An appeal brought to court by a Co Antrim transsexual who refused to pay a fine for breaching the peace has been adjourned by a judge after she failed to show for the hearing.
Denise Martin (44), who was known as Douglas before having a sex change 22 years ago, was fined �30 in Larne Magistrates Court on September 30 for breaching the peace.
It is understood the charge relates to an incident involving Denise and a transvestite which took place at Dunluce Street in the Co Antrim town on April 4.
At the court hearing, the judge referred to Denise as Douglas. The transsexual, from Latharn House in Larne, was ordered to pay a �30 fine or serve seven days in prison but she lodged an appeal in a bid to force the legal system to recognise she is a woman and highlight the fact that if she is sent to jail, she wants to be sent as a female prisoner to a female jail.
The appeal was due to be heard at Ballymena Appeal court yesterday correctbut both Denise, who planned to represent herself during the appeal, and the injured party involved in the incident failed to appear.
Judge Desmond Marrinan asked a prosecuting barrister why the injured party - the witness in the case - had not appeared at the hearing. He was told the summons to appear in court was not served in time
Judge Marrinan also ordered that a letter be written to Denise to ensure she appears at the next appeal hearing.
A really big role
J.P. Dougherty finally gets a chance to shine in 'hairspray'
The musical hairspray opened on Broadway in August, 2002, and went on to win eight Tony Awards.
J.P. Dougherty was there to help it happen.
�I was the standby for Harvey Fierstein for 2� years,� Dougherty said in a telephone interview from Columbus last week. �I stood by for Harvey originally, then Michael McKean took over and I stood by for him, and then it was Bruce Vilanch.�
Dougherty said he replaced Vilanch a few times, but the Tony Award-winning Fierstein was an iron man. �He played his entire run without vacation. Never an illness except some years ago, he got food poisoning or something and wasn�t able to play the second act and I had to go on for him.�
Dougherty gets to go on a lot more these days. He has the key role of Edna Turnblad in the national touring production that opens at the Stranahan Theater on Tuesday for an eight-show run.
That�s right. A man plays a woman. Dougherty said it all has to do with tradition.
Filled with bouncy pop music, hairspray is based on the 1988 John Waters film of the same name about a plump Baltimore teenager, Tracy Turnblad, who teaches the Baltimore of 1962 a thing or two about dancing and tolerance.
In the movie, Waters had his good friend and long-time colleague Divine, a transvestite, play Edna, Tracy�s mother. When they put the stage play together, the creative staff decided to keep a man in the role.
�It was just in keeping with the lineage of the movie. I really believe that�s the case, if for no other reason than a fat woman could play the role and she would probably be more attuned to what a mother is like. But in this case, I think it makes the musical more fun.�
In the musical, Tracy�s big passion is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, which is sort of like American Bandstand, Dougherty said.
�She wins a spot on the dance show and overnight she is transformed from an outsider to an irrepressible teen celebrity. She becomes a fat model and eventually she wins the cute boy over the pinup girl. Along the way, she also integrates the television show,� he said.
As for his own role, Dougherty called Edna a very groovy mother.
�Edna Turnblad is wonderful. I always describe her as sort of an earth mother. She�s not a judgmental woman, she just wants to make a nice life for her husband and child. She takes in laundry so they can subsidize her husband�s joke shop.
Because of her issues of weight, she hasn�t been out of her house in a very long time.� With Tracy�s help, Edna learns to accept and even love herself. Perhaps the only down side to the role is the costuming.
�I make noises when I�m coming out of the fat suit like, �ohhhhhhh, unnggghh.� These are sounds that I recall my mother making when I could hear her in her bedroom unrobing after a night out on the town. Ohhhh, so happy to get the brassiere off or the rubber girdle.�
Dougherty, 52, was born and reared in Illinois, where he attended Southern Illinois University. �I�ve just been very lucky to work in the theater pretty much all my life. In the last 15 years, I�ve not stopped on stage,� he said, adding that he�s no stranger to the Stranahan.
After playing the comic character Thenardier in Les Miserables on Broadway two different times, he hit the road with the show. �I�ve been at the Stranahan several times � I played Les Miz there three times that I can recall.� Asked if there was much difference between the Broadway production of hairspray and the touring production, Dougherty said there were a few changes, mostly in the sets, to make them less of a logistical problem. And sometimes, technology comes to the rescue.
�For example, there�s a new Lite Brite wall in the back. They had the original from Broadway but � it�s like a curtain now � just as costly as the original � and they can fold it up instead of having to put the whole wall into a semitrailer.
�And certainly the talent is as equal. I�m not saying for myself of course � none can be as good as Harvey Fierstein, but the talent is really top-notch in this production.�
Audiences of touring companies often have an advantage over Broadway audiences, he said. �When a show has been in New York for awhile � it can become a little complacent � all Broadway shows can � and when it�s moving, there�s a different energy, new theaters, press openings every week.�
Dougherty said hairspray is close in spirit to Bye Bye Birdie.
�[hairspray] is a sweet little story. It�s a little gem, sort of like the last time there was innocence in pop culture.�
The Broadway musical �hairspray� will be staged Tuesday through Nov. 13 in the Stranahan Theater, 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd. Performances are 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Nov. 12, and 2 and 7 p.m. Nov. 13. Tickets range from $51 to $65. Information: 419-381-8851.
Contact Nanciann Cherry at: ncherry@theblade.com or 419-724-6130.
OSBOURNE'S CROSS-DRESSING STALKER
Pop singer/reality TV star KELLY OSBOURNE is being stalked by an obsessive transvestite fan.
The 21-year-old daughter of BLACK SABBATH rocker OZZY has hired minders to keep the male devotee away from her at public events.
She says, "Honestly, I have got security men who have to really keep an eye out for this one fan.
"I can't stand it when he shows up although it's hilarious as he loves wearing women's clothes.
"At first I didn't realise he was anything to worry about and I am sure he is harmless.
"But you have to be careful in this industry so I'm not taking any chances."
High court lets transsexual cop's win stand Ann Rostow, PlanetOut Network
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Monday the workplace discrimination case of a transgender Cincinnati police officer. The decision leaves intact a ruling in favor of the officer, Philecia Barnes, issued last March by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
At least four of the nine justices must agree to review a case in order for a petition to be accepted. The high court winds up hearing only a tiny fraction of the appeals it receives, but the Barnes case was one that some observers felt might make it to the docket.
At the heart of the case was the question of whether this country's main federal law against workplace discrimination, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, protects transgender workers (and tangentially, gay workers) against sex discrimination. Neither "transgender" nor "sexual orientation" appears in the text of Title VII, which bars job bias because of religion, race, sex and other factors. But in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that an employer who punishes a worker because he or she does not match gender stereotypes is guilty of sex discrimination under Title VII. Ignored in the early 1990s, that 16-year-old ruling is now gaining currency as more courts defer to the precedent in favor of gay and transgender plaintiffs.
Philecia Barnes was a Cincinnati policeman for over two decades before beginning a transition from Phillip to Philecia. In 1998, Philecia was working as a man, but living as a woman, when she took the sergeant's exam, placing 18th out of 105. She was then subjected to a stressful three-month probation, during which time she was monitored on a daily basis, forced to wear a mike, and rated on a six-page form designed specifically for her. At the end, she failed. According to court papers, Barnes was the only officer to fail probation during the seven years from 1993 to 2000.
Barnes convinced a federal jury that the Cincinnati police department did not approve of her gender presentation, and that her lack of masculinity and so-called "command presence" led to her demotion. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit agreed, ruling that Barnes had a legitimate claim of sex discrimination under Title VII. It was the second such ruling out of the Sixth Circuit, where a transgender fire fighter won the right to sue under Title VII in July of last year.
The Sixth Circuit may have made up its mind about the scope of Title VII, but the question remains unsettled as courts continue to head in conflicting directions. As more federal appellate rulings seek to interpret the high court's precedent in the context of LGBT plaintiffs, however, the pressure on the justices to review one of these cases will only increase.
For now, LGBT advocates can only be pleased that the Supreme Court justices are letting this victory stand.
Clayton State to host first lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual film festival
Stephanie Seaborough is optimistic about a new film festival slated to begin at Clayton State University today.
�I think it's a good thing to have at Clayton State,� Seaborough, 21, said of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) Film Festival.
The festival's organizers, comprised of Clayton State faculty members and students, agree.
�Our festival committee members agreed over a year ago that LGBT should absolutely be our first theme,� said Dr. Virginia Bonner, chair of the festival committee and curator of the festival. �There is so much vibrant cinematic creativity in LGBT films and so many great films from around the world, it was an easy choice. Plus, there are few LGBT events in the Southern Crescent despite the strong LGBT population in metropolitan Atlanta.�
Clayton State has hosted multiple national and international film festivals in recent years, but organizers sought to create a theme beyond nationality this year, she said.
The festival will showcase films by, for and about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual communities.
There has been no opposition to the festival with the exception of one e-mail from an �offended� student, Seaborough said.
The festival will feature the airing of seven films, starting with �The Wedding Banquet,� an English and Mandarin language film with English subtitles, which will start tonight at 7:30 p.m. All other films also are scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Upcoming films that will be shown include �The Watermelon Woman,� an English language film, and �Show Me Love,� a Swedish language film with English subtitles. Both will be played Tuesday. �Strawberry & Chocolate,� a Spanish language film with English subtitles, will be shown on Wednesday. �Better than Chocolate,� an English language film, will air on Thursday. �Southern Comfort� and �The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,� both English language films, will be shown on Nov. 14.
Students have had mixed reactions about the festival.
Rachel Roberts, a 25-year-old junior, said she thought the festival was a good idea, but probably wouldn't attend because of a lack of interest in the films.
Christian Halpen, a 20-year-old freshman, said she wasn't �really that curious� about the event though she thought the festival was a good idea.
�It does raise questions in my mind about awareness of the gay and lesbian (communities),� she said.
The festival is funded by Lyceum program, which is a division of Clayton State University's Office of Student Life.
For more information, call (770) 960-2109.
Cop charged in transsexual's assault
SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A 16-year veteran of the San Antonio police force faces a federal charge of sexually assaulting a transsexual, which carries a maximum penalty of life.
Dean Gutierrez, 45, was arrested Thursday, two days after a federal grand jury indicted him on deprivation of civil rights by committing aggravated sexual abuse while on duty, the San Antonio Express-News reports.
The indictment was unsealed Thursday during Gutierrez' initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Pamela Mathy. Prosecutors did not seek his detention and he was released on a $100,000 unsecured bond with several restrictions, including orders not to have firearms, the report said.
The alleged victim in the case is a 22-year-old man. Several officers testified before a federal grand jury in August, leading to the indictment.
Israel's Transsexual Dana International takes back seat to ABBA in "Best of Eurovision"
By Associated Press October 22, 2005
Swedish pop group ABBA's catchy "Waterloo" hit that won the European Song Contest 31 years ago has been voted the best song in the event's history by viewers across the continent.
The European Song Contest celebrated 50 years of glamour, glitz and catchy pop tunes with a special jubilee show Saturday that lets viewers in 31 countries pick the best song in the popular event's history.
The songs were performed by the original artists or by other performers. Viewers of the show broadcast live from the Danish capital cast their votes on the 14 entries by telephone, in the same way that the winner is selected in the regular Eurovision contest.
The two-hour show featured performances by British bands Brotherhood of Man and Bucks Fizz, Ireland's Johnny Logan, and Israel's Dana International.
Transsexual Dana, who back in 1998 performed the reprise with Jean-Paul Gaultier's memorable feathers suit, took the stage in Copenhagen with a new Gaultier's design named Spanish Bride. 'Back in 1998 we wanted to win, so tried to be different but still not be outrageous' said Dana in a press conference in Tel-Aviv today. 'But, this time I don't really care being more provocative'.
When asked wether she keeps in touch with Gali Atari, her fellow Israeli Eurovision winner who also is set to perform Saturday, Dana replied: 'We are acquainted, not much more. We will probably meet in Copenhagen. I think I'll give her a good sway to make her change her outfit...."
Before the show, Dana said she was convinced ABBA's Waterloo would win, 'But I wouldn't mind being second to them. It will be a great honor to be a runner up to this legendary band', she said. In the end, she was not even one of the five finalists.
The show, to be staged at a downtown Copenhagen concert and exhibition hall, has been titled "Congratulations," after Cliff Richard's second-placed song in the 1968 edition of the contest. Richard will not attend the event.
Each year millions of viewers across Europe and the Middle East watch the Eurovision contest, which was created in 1956 by the European Broadcasting Union.
The show is often derided as a showcase of kitsch and the winners often fade into obscurity -- although it launched the career of supergroup Abba.
"Either you love or you love to hate it," Mads Lebech, a Copenhagen mayor said on the eve of the anniversary event. "Anyhow, it's great entertainment."
Maine voters turn back bid to rescind state's gay-rights law
By Asociated Press | November 9, 2005
AUGUSTA, Maine -- Voters in Maine rejected an effort to repeal the state's gay-rights law, making Maine the last New England state to legally protect homosexuals from discrimination.
With more than half the precincts reporting, nearly 57 percent of voters were opposing repeal of the new law, which is broadly worded to protect transsexuals and transvestites as well as gays and lesbians.
''This is such a much-needed victory for our national community, because we've experienced so many losses," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. ''We've got to press forward on nondiscrimination protection, and not let marriage continue to swamp the movement."
The issue, put before voters for the third time since 1998, pitted a coalition of mainstream religious and business groups and politicians, including Governor John Baldacci, against a network of Christian church groups that sees gay rights as an assault on traditional marriage.
The vote was a referendum on the law, enacted earlier this year, to amend the Maine Human Rights Act by making discrimination illegal in employment, housing, credit, public accommodations and education based on sexual orientation.
The Maine law had prohibited discrimination based on race, color, sex, disability, religion, ancestry, and national origin. The gay-rights provision was broadly worded to protect transsexuals, transvestites, and those who have undergone sexual reassignment surgery, in addition to gays.
The law exempts religious organizations that do not receive public funds. It also is worded to say it is not meant to address a right to marry. The law had been put on hold pending the outcome of the balloting.
A similar gay rights law, which was passed by the Legislature with a referendum provision, was rejected by voters in 2000. Two years previous, an earlier version of the law was rejected at the polls in a special election that was called under Maine's people's veto process.
A proposal in 1995 that sought to preemptively ban municipal gay rights laws was rejected by voters in a statewide referendum.
Leading up to this fall's vote, both sides reached out to their well-established bases to reinforce their messages, while keeping advertising for the electorate at large low-key.
Fatlip
By: Lane Brown
November 9, 2005
If an MC's place in the hip-hop game depended solely on keeping it real, Fatlip would be the one dating Beyonc�. His long-awaited solo debut, TheLoneliest Punk, is a candid look at a life in shambles: He's broke, he lives with his mother, and he borrows clothes from his siblings. While most Left Coast rappers of his caliber brag about drug deals, doin' time, and fat chrome, the L.A.-based Fatlip eschews gangsta posturing altogether: "I'm sort of like a dweeb, but that don't sell / I've never been shot or been to jail," he raps on "Writers Block." Besides, he's got bigger problems than the police, namely child support and erectile dysfunction.
In the early 1990s, Fatlip's future seemed somewhat more assured. He was the most eccentric member of the Pharcyde, an influential West Coast crew that met with solid crossover success, particularly on college campuses. Even after he was booted in '97 for erratic behavior, solo success seemed a forgone conclusion. But a few years later, when a proper full-length hadn't yet materialized, fans began to worry. The Spike Jonze-directed video for the rapper's 2002 single "What's Up Fatlip?" snowballed into a short documentary on his M.I.A. status (Watch the documentary!).
For Fatlip (real name: Derrick Stewart), the past ten years were mired in a fog of cocaine abuse, creative stagnancy, and the accidental courtship of transvestites, according to the documentary. But just before the album could have turned into Chinese Democracy, TheLoneliest Punk finally arrived, and, given its tortured history, it's one of the most surprisingly vital hip-hop records of the year. Tracks like "Joe's Turkey" and "Cook" are the immediate standouts, their lyrical candor matched only by the shamelessly old school beats. And even at his most self-effacing, Fatlip's sense of humor and inventiveness shine through. When he claims, "I could've been a legend like B.I.G. and Pac, but I caught a bad case of writer's block," you're almost inclined to believe him -- and give him Beyonc�'s digits.
2005 International Fine Art Photography Exhibition
G.M.B. Akash, a photojournalist from Bangladesh, was awarded best in show at The Center for Fine Art Photography 2005 International Fine Art Photography Exhibition.
The 28-year-old is a senior staff photographer at New Age, a daily English-language newspaper in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has shown his work in several international photo exhibits, including some in Japan, Paris, Bangladesh, India and the United States. He has won numerous international photography awards including those sponsored by the World Health Organization, China press association and Popular Photography magazine.
�The themes of my personal photo essays concentrate on people living on the edge of society. In particular, transvestites, prostitutes, refugees, circus performers, refuse scavengers, etc.,� Akash said.
Dennis Rodman: His third autobiography, "I Should Be Dead By Now,"
Dennis Rodman is on the line, and he�s sober. This, I quickly realize, is a good thing because he�s talking at warp speed, the words rattling off my eardrum like handfuls of gravel thrown at the side of a barn. I can barely catch a third of what he�s saying as it is. If he had a quart of Jagermeister in him, it would be hopeless.
But the days when life was an endless party washed down by gallons of booze are gone, Rodman says. He sobered up a couple of years ago when his last NBA comeback ended before it began in the parking lot of a Vegas strip joint. He was test driving someone�s crotch rocket, stewed an inch or two beyond the gills, when he did a Kellen Winslow Jr. into a light pole. End of comeback with Denver. Beginning of the road to sobriety.
Of course, there�s no sense going to all the trouble to stop drinking if you can�t get a book contract out of it. Rodman�s first book was called �Bad as I Wanna Be.� It was a best-seller. His new one is titled �I Should be Dead by Now.� (Sports Publishing LLC. $24.95. 224 pages.) It�s as honest a title as you�ll find. Story continues below ↓ advertisement
The book was released Tuesday, and Rodman is making the rounds flogging it. Hence the phone call. It�s a lively read, rendered into prose by co-author Jack Isenhour. If you like Rodman and want the down and dirty on Madonna, Carmen Electra and an endless stream of faceless women who felt their lives wouldn�t be complete unless they went to bed with the NBA�s most famous rebel, you�ll like the book.
Don�t worry. Being sober hasn�t slowed him down or changed his thinking. He never had any use for NBA commissioner David Stern and has less now that Stern has instituted his NBA dress code. He also thinks the modern game of basketball is a travesty � too much styling, not enough team play � that, he says, �I won�t even watch.�
And he understands very well the irony of doing what America says you should do � pursue happiness, express yourself, enjoy the blessings of freedom � and being labeled a freak for his troubles.
What�s delicious is that it all started years ago when he was playing in San Antonio, between his championship stints in Detroit and Chicago. �I got bored,� he says, pointing out superfluously that it�s easy to be bored in San Antonio. �So I dyed my hair blond.�
It was dye that washed out in the shower, but it was enough to make people talk about how weird he was. When he started trying different colors, he was certifiable.
When you think about it, it�s amazing how little you have to do to be labeled weird in this country, where everyone wants to be an individual as long as they�re just like everyone else. But it�s also amazing how much you have to do to continue to be perceived as living in another dimension.
So the piercings and tattoos, the dressing in drag and hanging out with transvestites, the motorcycles and parties were just more of the same � just Rodman fighting boredom. And, while the arbiters of proper behavior were continually shocked and outraged at him, regular folk ate it up.
�I can�t tell you how many people have told me, �If I could be anyone in the world for one day, I�d be you,� � he says.
One day would be enough to find out that being Dennis Rodman, pop icon and basketball sideshow isn�t as much fun as you might imagine.
�There are positives and negatives� to what he became, he says. �I have money. That�s the only positive thing.�
Okay, he has fame, too. �I have one of the highest Q ratings in America,� he points out. The fame generates the cash. It also generates a lot of people who say they�re his friend, but really aren�t.
There�s a lot of loneliness in the man, the loneliness of someone who doesn�t know who � if anyone � actually loves him, and worse, who he actually loves.
If you twisted my arm, I�d admit I kind of like Rodman.
�I never hurt anyone but myself,� he says, which isn�t entirely true, unless you don�t count his wife who suffered through his years of nonstop partying and philandering, that cameraman he kicked, the neighbors he annoyed � it could get to be a long list. But it is true that he didn�t go around kicking puppies and yelling at small children and getting into brawls and forcing himself on women against their wills. By the modern standards of celebrity, that�s as close as you�ll get to not hurting anyone.
Seven or eight years ago, when he was in his glory, I even used him as a role model when I was asked to speak at a middle school. I asked the kids if they liked Dennis Rodman and was greeted with a wildly enthusiastic response. So I told them I liked him, too, at which the jaws of several dozen teachers dropped in horror.
Then I told the kids that the way to be like Rodman � if that was their goal � wasn�t to get covered in tattoos and pierced in every place that could be pierced. Street corners are full of people like that, and none of them are earning Rodman�s salary.
If they wanted to be like Rodman, I said, they should work their tails off and become the best in the world at one thing. Rodman made rebounding his own, and he was one of the greatest defenders ever to play the game. When he had done that, he could dye his hair, go under the needle and pierce himself like a colander. As long as he could grab boards and defend, he could do anything he liked.
I tell Rodman that and he says, �Kids look at me like a cartoon character. I tell them, �Don�t try to be like me.� �
Rodman thinks parents who let their kids get pierced or tattooed when they�re 12 are nuts. He�s got a young son, Dennis Jr., and no child of Rodman�s is going to get any tats at such a young age.
�Maybe when he�s 16 he can have one small one someplace that doesn�t show, so he can decide if he likes it,� Rodman says. �When he�s 18, he can do anything he wants.�
That�s exactly what Rodman did. Two years ago, it almost got him killed.
Students horrified
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" started out as an experimental production in the early '70s set in a small London theater and quickly developed into a major motion picture.
Today, the cult-like success of the RHPS has yet to be paralleled.
RHPS was a unique phenomenon, said UA film lecture professor Frank Scheide.
"It was one of those things that tend to be unpredictable," he said.
The movie was similar to a parody, but also had hints of horror and sci-fi.
"The play was supposed to mimic stereotypes of all kinds. The science-fiction movies, Marvel comics, Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello and rock n' roll of every vintage," said RHPS playwright Richard O'Brien, according to the film's official Web site. "I wanted to make fun of things that were very typical for youths of that day to relate to."
O'Brien wrote the play, the music and the lyrics to the show.
Jim Sharman, who directed both American and London productions of the show, made his motion picture directorial debut with the onscreen version of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Although RHPS triumphed in all aspects of production, when the movie opened its doors, it was a "bomb" at the box office, Scheide said.
Eventually, the movie developed a following and fans began to get involved in the RHPS movement.
"One thing that made the film different is people made it interactive," Scheide said.
In the theatrical productions of RHPS, audience members not only dress up as characters in the play, they also bring props to facilitate the show.
Props include rice to be thrown at the wedding scene and water pistols that the back row squirts toward the stage during the rain scene.
UA freshman Shelby Bourne loves RHPS and said she can easily recognize the importance of it during the Halloween season.
"Transvestite aliens from another planet...it's the epitome of a fun Halloween flick," she said. "Not to mention it has a cult following of people who love to dress up in fish nets and leather! How much more fun could a Halloween movie be?"
" 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' can be fun for anybody. You get to bring props! You become part of the show - not many movies have interaction like that," Bourne said.
The biggest appeal of RHPS is that there isn't too much work involved in understanding the show.
"The whole thing lacks plot and relevance, but that's what makes it fun," director Jim Sharman said, according to the RHPS site.
"It's kind of like a mockumentary way ahead of its time," Sharman said.
Showing RHPS around Halloween is a tradition at the UA.
The movie/musical offers characters from all spectrums of life.
Some examples include a lazy biker named Eddie; Dr. Frank N. Furter, the alien transvestite from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania who is a sexually bizarre character and a tap dancing groupie named Columbia.
Halloween allows people to have a time of fun and dress-up. People around the world perceive RHPS in the same manner.
"It's only natural for people to associate 'Rocky Horror' with Halloween, they go hand-in-hand," UA student Casey Ainley said.
Sharman recognizes the vast impact the movie has had on people of all ages.
"The fact that various generations have not only accepted the movie, but related to it as well, is a testament to the script itself," he said, according to the film's Web site.
O'Brien explained that the most frequently asked question he receives is "How on earth did you come up with this idea?" O'Brien maintains the same answer to that question as he had in 1973.
"The idea was a direct combination of my worst Halloweens. The characters themselves I chose because they were targeted individuals in that time period. Transvestites, though not accepted into our society, were becoming evermore popular, and even trendy," he said, according to the film's Web site.
"Yet, few members of our society greeted them with open arms. The unpopularity of transsexuals was stimulatingly interesting to me," he said, according to the film's Web site.
As well as choosing societal outcasts, O'Brien chose social taboos to openly discuss.
"[The film] took aspects of the period and brought them together," Scheide said. "It's a film of its time. I don't see that movie being made today."
In the original production, O'Brien himself plays the crazy role of Riff Raff, a hunchback henchman who has an incestuous affair with his sister Magenta.
"There were all of these things floating around that people were so hesitant to talk about simply because they were unaccepted and shunned. I quickly realized that things of that nature had the biggest potential to be humorous. So I chose the incestuous ones, and the transvestites," O'Brien said, according to the film's Web site.
Mixed in with these outcasts and taboos were normal teenagers simply trying to avoid troublesome situations.
"That's the best part of the whole movie, the integration of all the diverse characters in this crazy alternate culture that is coexisting with ours," Ainley said.
University Programs will sponsor the viewing of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" as well as supply the audience with props necessary to make the show complete.
"There will be props and water guns and all kinds of stuff just so the audience can participate," Ainley said.
"Everybody who's ever seen it and everybody who's never seen it has to be there," Bourne said.
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" will play at midnight Oct. 27 in the Union.