Patti Lupone And Sting Headline 'Uprising Of Love' Benefit Concert For Global Equality, In NYC On September 15th

On September 15th, producers Stephen Schwartz and Bruce Cohen will partner with the United Nations Foundation for "Uprising of Love: A Benefit Concert for Global Equality." The concert, headlined by Broadway diva Patti Lupone and international superstar Sting, falls strategically around the UN General Assembly and Clinton Gobal Initiative and aims to raise awareness about the unfortunate state of affairs for many LGBTI-identified communities around the world. Proceeds from the event will go to Fueling the Frontlines, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice's 3-year, $20 million global LGBTI rights campaign.

The concert's website has more information:

At this unique moment in history, when we are seeing such rapid progress in the fight for equality in the West, we cannot be blind to appalling crimes against humanity elsewhere. Today in Russia, Uganda, Nigeria, and elsewhere, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people are facing harassment, abuse, and violence. In some countries, recent laws have deemed homosexuality punishable by death and the situation appears to be getting worse, not better. 

THE MISSION:

1. To raise awareness among the international community of violence, discrimination, and atrocities committed against LGBTI people.

2. To support LGBTI people and communities in areas where safety and dignity is compromised through funds and solidarity.

3. To support and collaborate with LGBTI and human rights organizations concerned with these issues.

The concert will be scripted by Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black (of Milk and Tom Daley fame) and directed by Schele Williams (Motown the Musical). Among the members of the benefit's host committee are Julianne Moore, Lance Bass, Calpernia Addams, Chris Colfer, and Melissa Etheridge.

To learn more and buy tickets, check out the website.

Dustin Lance Black: ‘Allowing Russia to host these (Olympics) is a monumental hypocrisy that threatens to tarnish one of this world’s greatest traditions’

So the Olympics are underway in Sochi, Russia, and the focus is on the athletic competitions.

But it’s hard to enjoy the games for some of us because they are being held in a country with oppressive anti-gay laws.

I wrote about some of the arrests of LGBT demonstrators over at Gay Star News and included is a video that leaves you feeling outraged.

The crime? Waving rainbow pride flags in Red Square and singing the Russian national anthem.

Oscar winning screenwriter and LGBT activist Dustin Lance Black shared his thoughts on the situation in Russia in a blog post earlier today.

Here is an excerpt:

Last night a torch was lit to mark the opening of the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi. While I commend every athlete who takes part in these games, I can’t help but think of the many LGBT brothers and sisters I met on my recent trip to Russia who are persecuted daily just for being who they are.

The Olympic Charter’s 6th principle clearly states that discrimination of a person based on their immutable characteristics is “incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.” With this in mind I ask: how can the Olympics be held in a country that illegalizes, brutalizes, and marginalizes an entire group of people just for being who they are? Allowing Russia to host these games is a monumental hypocrisy that threatens to tarnish one of this world’s greatest traditions. We must never allow such hypocrisy again.

****

For the sake of those suffering in Russia and beyond, this moment must not be wasted. Over these next two weeks, I urge those within the glow of the Olympic flame: athletes, coaches, visitors, spectators and Russians alike to live in bravery and speak their truth openly as LGBT persons or allies of equality. History tells us that such valiant honesty can correct the record, dispel the lies and ultimately save countless lives.

These new laws in Russia were designed to create silence and darkness. The Olympic flame was built to shed light. With courage and heart from those on the ground, the light of the flame may yet prove one of the greatest heroes of these Olympic games.

To learn how you can support LGBT Russians visit http://uprisingoflove.org/

Dustin Lance Black on why the SCOTUS rulings on Prop. 8 and DOMA are so personal to him

Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar winning screenwriter (Milk), is one of the LGBT activists behind the formation of the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) in order to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court.

He writes in a blog post on Huffington Post that it ‘has been the honor of my life to be involved with this case.’

But it is also very personal because between the time he began to fight to defeat Prop. 8 and tomorrow’s ruling, Black lost his brother to cancer – a brother who had come out to him during the filming of Milk.

Lance writes:

My big brother is with me still in this fight. I know it. And regardless of the decision tomorrow, I know that together we will soon be equal in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. Because this is personal. I know we as a people will not stop fighting until we live in a nation where we no longer leave a single one of our brothers or sisters behind, no matter whom they love or what state they call home.

For so many of us, for so many reasons and for so long now, tomorrow is, was and has always been about family… those we’ve loved, those we’ve lost, those we were born to, the families we’ve built and the families we still dream of building.

And for me, tomorrow is about my big brother.