GLAAD Red Carpet Celebrities Speak OUT

In this exclusive audio montage Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson, host of OUTTAKE VOICES™, talks with celebrities on the Red Carpet at the 23rd GLAAD MEDIA Awards in NYC. John Stamos and Broadway Legend Bernadette Peters presented the Vito Russo Award to the producing team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago, Hairspray, Smash). Craig and Neil talked with us on the Red Carpet about LGBTQ teen bullying and the new film they’re producing about Constance McMillen for LIFETIME TV. Constance McMillen was the young teenager who ignited such national controversy in 2010 when she was banned from bringing a female date to her prom in Mississippi’s Itawamba County School District. The incident brought such national attention as she appeared on network talk shows including Ellen DeGeneres and met with President Obama to tell her story.

In his acceptance speech Zadan stated, "I want to thank GLAAD for selecting us to be honored, and for their extraordinary work every single day. When we did THE REAGANS movie, we had death threats for telling the truth about that President's outright refusal to acknowledge the growing AIDS crisis in America. We would not have survived that ordeal, I must point out, without the help of GLAAD. They got us through the political firestorm leveled against us by the Republican National Committee. So we got to see first hand what GLAAD's capable of accomplishing when they mobilize the troops, and thank God for them." Zadan finished his acceptance by thanking his late friend and GLAAD's founder, Vito Russo, "Some people become your heroes and they don't even know it. Vito Russo was mine. And the lucky thing for me was I got to tell him while he was here”.

We also talked about crucial LGBT issues facing our community with emphasis on LGBTQ teen bullying with celebrities including: fashion guru Carson Kressley, fierce gay allies Broadway stars Bernadette Peters and actress Megan Hilty, GLAAD Board of Directors co-chair Sheri Fults, GLAAD Acting President Mike Thompson, the fabulous transgender actress Laverne Cox, Robin Skye whose play SOUTHERN COMFORT won for Outstanding New York Theatre Off-Off Broadway, Zach Wahls who appeared in a GLAAD Media Award-nominated episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and received a standing ovation as he spoke to the crowd about the impact of his 2011 speech to the Iowa senate in which he spoke about his lesbian moms. Then we chatted with NY INK’s ROBEAR, figure skater Johnny Weir and his new husband Victor Voronov, actress Kim Wayans talked about her role playing the mother on PARIAH which won the award for Outstanding Film- Limited Release, CHOPPED host Ted Allen shared his spin on LGBT issues and we concluded with Jay Manuel sharing his advice for LGBTQ teens faced with the bully epidemic.
The 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards were hosted by GLEE stars Naya Rivera and Corey Monteith and sponsored by Ketel One and Wells Fargo at Marriott Marquis Theater on March 24, 2012 in New York City. Additional awards will be presented in Los Angeles on April 21st at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites and in San Francisco on June 2nd at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.
For More Info & List of Winners & More Info: glaad.org

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New Gay Television Series "For & Against"

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson, host of OUTTAKE VOICES™, talks with progressive commentator Jim Morrison who hosts the new 30 minute political analysis series FOR & AGAINST on here! TV. FOR & AGAINST offers viewers the chance to explore news and headlines through a uniquely LGBT lens. Each episode features Morrison digging deeper into the issues to focus on how everything from campaign finance to current and future White House policy effects our LGBT people. Additionally, Morrison sits down with top policymakers and pundits spanning the political landscape and challenges them on the issues that influence LGBT voters. We talked to Morrison about FOR & AGAINST and his spin on our LGBT community’s concerns in this Presidential election year.

When asked what’s his impression of the anti-gay GOP candidates running for President, Morrison stated, “Oh God, I mean the answer to that question is implicit in the question. I mean it’s disappointing, really disappointing. This is not a winning issue for them. I think they’re using the 2004 playbook and the 2008 playbook where they could turn out people who were against marriage equality but the polls are showing that is not the case. So I think it’s just like this war on women. It’s like they put their eggs in one basket and that’s just not going to do it. They’re going to be shocked when I think they’re going to lose significantly by concentrating on these issues. But even more frustrating is when you look at the LGBT Republican groups. Now I have no problem with if you want to be fiscally conservative, I get that. That’s part of the American discussion. We have different views, that’s how we get good policy. But to suggest that you can be for any of these candidates, whether it’s Mitt Romney or even Ron Paul, without examining fundamentally what their positions are on our very identities bothers me. There’s a lot of people who say that Ron Paul is in favor of marriage equality but the fact is he’s not. He hides behind these states rights issues and then he goes and supports DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), which clearly is against us.”

Morrison is a liberal-leaning pundit not afraid to challenge convention. He is a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and holds a law degree from Columbia University with an emphasis on Constitutional Law and Civil Rights. Jim ran for the New Jersey State Senate and successfully litigated the first sexual orientation discrimination case against a high school student. Additionally, he was a finalist on the first season of the reality series THE MOLE and was subsequently, the first openly gay man to be placed on People magazine’s “Most Eligible Bachelor” list.
For More Info: heretv.com/forandagainst

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Dinah Shore Weekend Comes To Las Vegas

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Dr. Robin Gans who founded GIRL BAR in Los Angeles with Sandy Sachs in 1990. GIRL BAR is the largest dance and entertainment group for lesbians in the United States. After moving to LA from New York in the late 80’s, Sachs and Gans recognized the need for an upscale nightclub catering to the lesbian community. “We wanted to do something to help make the lesbian community more visible and create a place for women to come together,” said GIRL BAR co-founder, Sandy Sachs. “GIRL BAR is a place where our patrons can come and feel safe, feel comfortable and most of all feel empowered,” adds Robin. Now the duo is producing GIRL BAR DINAH SHORE WEEKEND LAS VEGAS April 27th to 29th with Linda Fusco and Michele Agnew of TRUCK STOP GIRLZ. We talked about the move to Las Vegas and Robin’s spin on crucial issues facing our LGBT community.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights, Dr. Gans stated, “Well first of all I’m a licensed clinical psychologist in the State of California and certainly I know what it’s like to be coming out. Actually when I was in college and having those feelings when I was in high school, I went to private school back east, so one of the things that I always wanted to do was work with the gay community to help fellow gays and lesbians to not only come out but to have clearly a much better understanding of themselves and a much more integrated self. So I have several patients that are within the gay and lesbian community and I’ve worked with couples. When I was training I worked with the LA Gay and Lesbian Center for a year and I worked with troubled teens. I actually did an internship with them for a year, some who were definitely gay at the ages of fifteen and sixteen. Certainly I feel a commitment within my community and I feel a personal commitment in general just being involved with HRC and with any fundraiser, and anything that really contributes to awareness and obviously political rights in the LGBTQ community. But personally I would say absolutely working as a therapist. I do my best to help raise awareness and help people lead more integrated and happier lives.”

Since last year, GIRL BAR and FUSE EVENTS have been working exclusively with Caesars Entertainment to create the ultimate women’s weekend experience featuring all the best that Caesars Entertainment properties have to offer. Official events and hotels for the Dinah Shore Weekend in Las Vegas will be situated within walking distance, across a variety of Caesars-owned properties, including Planet Hollywood and Flamingo hotels. “Our sophisticated ladies wanted ‘bigger, better and more’ in a city that never sleeps with the finest in entertainment and accommodations, with non-stop flights both domestically and internationally,” said Girl Bar producers Sandy Sachs and Dr. Robin Gans; adding, “We listened and Caesars Entertainment delivered, recognizing our global potential and wooing us with full sponsorship and a 24/7 package of perks, food, beverages and entertainment where there are no last calls!”
Info For Events, Tix, Hotel & VIP Options: dinahshoreweekend.com

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New Play Addresses Gay Family Rights

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Deborah Salem Smith, Playwright-in-Residence at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence Rhode Island about her new play LOVE ALONE. The play takes on medical malpractice, gay marriage and LGBTQ family rights. The play is about after a routine medical procedure goes tragically wrong, a lawsuit ensues and the lives of both the patient's family and the doctor charged with her care are transformed. This is a lovingly drawn portrait of how we grieve and how we heal. LOVE ALONE will have its World Premiere at Trinity Rep March 16th and runs through May 27th.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights, Deborah stated. “I’ve been with my partner for a long time and we have two young children together. So it’s really important to me when I realized that I had not been writing plays with gay characters in them, which is really bizarre and embarrassing. So it was important to me to put a gay family in the center of the story. The character Helen who has lost her partner of twenty years, her grief is grief we can all, regardless of sexuality can recognize and empathize with. This is the story of two women who are deeply in love and the unexpected death of one of them in minor surgery is a huge emotional tragedy for her partner, for the couple’s daughter and I think to some degree, which I think is important, for the audience to experience that too. And to let go of distinguishing gay-straight and just be reminded that a devoted couple regardless of any of these labels you want to put on it, is a relationship that we all recognize and empathize with.”

LOVE ALONE received an Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award to support its premiere at Trinity Repertory Company and also was recognized with an Honorable Mention by the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award. Deborah Salem Smith’s previous honors include an Emerging American Artist Fulbright for playwriting in Dublin, Ireland, where she worked with the Abbey Theatre, Ireland's national theater, and served as a Visiting Academic at the Trinity College School of Drama. Her work has been recognized by a National Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities, a MacDowell Fellowship, a Colby Fellowship, a Major Hopwood Award, as well as writing and visual arts prizes from the University of Michigan and Princeton University. LOVE ALONE runs from March 16th through May 27th at the Trinity Rep in Providence, Rhode Island.
For More Info & Tix: trinityrep.com

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Gay GOP Fred Karger Presidential Bid

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Fred Karger, the first openly gay Presidential Candidate from a major political party in American history. He was on the GOP ballot in New Hampshire and Michigan and has received confirmation that his name will appear on the ballot in California, New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Puerto Rico. Fred Karger was the first to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States on March 23, 2011. Throughout his career, Karger has worked on nine presidential campaigns and served as a senior consultant on campaigns for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford. He retired after 27 years and has since become an activist for gay rights, including his organization Californians Against Hate (now Rights Equal Rights) to investigate the LDS Church and the National Organization for Marriage in their campaigns against marriage equality in California and Maine.

When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights, Karger stated, “Well, as someone who struggled so much as an adolescent and through my teen years, someone who went to psychiatrists when I was in college to try and switch because it was the early seventies, it sounded viable; you thought there were options. Fortunately the three different ones that I went to, which was a trial to see which one I would go to, I asked all three about switching, fortunately each said, ‘Sorry, we can’t do that. We can work with you but it’s impossible.’ So I’m glad I had some very good help and advise back then when I was twenty-one. Actually I met somebody named Dan Brewster when I was twenty-one and he was just this great role model and I realized that it was okay to be gay. You could be like Dan Brewster. There wasn’t even a word ‘gay’ back then, it kind of evolved like everything else. I had to struggle and live a double life. I didn’t tell my parents until I was forty-one, or my sibling. I really didn’t come out publicly or professionally until I was fifty-six years old. And while I had a healthy gay life it was very limited and it was a terrible existence to have that double life. So now I’m into my sixties and have absolutely no hang-ups obviously as running for President. I really want to let that message resonate throughout the country and as it happens through all the international coverage I’ve gotten, through the world. If you happen to be gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender or queer, you can do anything you want to do. You can even run for President of The United States.”

Fred Karger is one of the bravest gay activists that our LGBT community has. His mere visibility in the most homophobic race for President this country has ever seen will be something to watch and take note of. Karger says he’ll stick around until August for the Republican Convention in Tampa that takes place August 27th through August 30th 2012.
For More Info: fredkarger.com

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