PHOTOS: GETTY
Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins suited up on Friday for a very "impressive" first day at the Houston Texans' rookie training camp. The 21-year-old phenom played for Clemson University and drafted earlier this week by the Texans in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
One more AFTER THE JUMP ...
Continue reading "SPORNO: WR DeAndre Hopkins at Houston Texans' Rookie Camp" »
Catching up with the brilliance otherwise known as Viola Davis ...
The Academy Award-nominated actress discusses the Barbara Jordan biopic project in an extensive new interview with EBONY. The late and iconic politician rose from poverty to become the first Black woman elected to Congress from the South. Jordan was also lesbian.
Is your [production] company going to be behind the Barbra Jordan biopic? Yes it is! We’re perfecting the script right now and working with some fabulous producers, Shelly Glasser, Diane Nabatoff, and a great director, Paris Barclay, to perfect the story, because 80 percent of work is the narrative. ... And then you you just enhance it. So we’re just trying to perfect that now, but it’s coming.
It seems like a common thread of characters you’ve been playing the last four years —the ones that have been earning your Oscar nominations—is they’re heroines. Is that something you look for? I think that those are the projects that just find me. I think that that’s maybe a quality people feel like I emanate. That they feel that I am larger than life. I’m the reluctant hero.
The award-winning director Paris Barclay is also Black and gay.
Davis offers more insight on the biopic in a new interview with the Houston Chronicle while promoting "Won't Back Down," which opens on Friday.
Davis' influence now extends to producing: Her nascent company has a number of projects in gestation, including a biopic on Houston's Barbara Jordan - civil rights leader, congresswoman, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and flag-planter of many significant firsts in American politics.
"It's a chance for me to transform, to create someone who was such a public, heroic figure, who at the end of the day, had a lot of secrets and was very human. To present a character on a really large scale, to use my craft. We're just in the process of making all that happen. But it will happen, as well as other stories I've always wanted to see," she says.
Barbara Jordan represented her hometown of Houston in the Texas Senate from 1967-1973. Jordan became the first Black state senator since 1883 and the first Black woman to serve in that body. She was elected to Congress in 1972 and later became the first Black woman to keynote the Democratic National Convention.
The biopic is partially based on Mary Beth Rogers' biography Barbara Jordan: American Hero ... which never addressed Jordan's sexuality. Viola Davis is a terrific LGBT ally. Can't wait for this project to hit the big screen. I looove Viola Davis and am confident that she and Paris Barclay treat Jordan's legacy with respect and honesty.
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The view from the back row at the 2012 LGBT Editor/Blogger Conference in Houston (#HAAS12). The convening is underwritten by the San Francisco-based Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. The conference gathers 40+ of the nation's leading LGBT editors, bloggers and writers for an update on research and political/policy developments around immigration, LGBT youth and various federal lawsuits regarding marriage and family recognition.
The mobile offices of Joe Jervis and JoeMyGod.
EDGE Editor and R20 buddy Michael Lavers.
Atlanta-based blogger and activist Darian Aaron makes his first appearance at Haas.
Daily Kos' Scott Wooledge and MetroWeekly's Daniel Villareal are having too much fun.
This morning's first presentation: Nina Perales, Vice President of Litigation at the MALDEF, crunches the numbers and presents the latest info on minority voter disenfranchisement and voter suppression tactics.
This should be interesting. Academy Award-nominated actress Viola Davis is reportedly in talks to star in a biopicture on the late and iconic Barbara Jordan, who rose from poverty to become the first Black woman elected to Congress from the South. Jordan was also lesbian.
The film would be based on Mary Beth Rogers' 2000 biography Barbara Jordan: American Hero. Davis would star in the film and act as a producing partner with her husband, reports IndieWire. Paris Barclay will direct from a script adapted by Emmy-nominated writer Paris Qualles
Jordan was the first African American to serve in the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, and the first to deliver the keynote address at a national party convention.
But, given how private a life she led, Jordan was considered something of a mystery, even to her close friends–friends who didn’t know about the illness that would eventually kill her at just 59 years old…. And while she never publicly discussed her sexual orientation (not that she had to), Jordan’s obituary mentioned her long-term (30-year) relationship with Nancy Earl, an educational psychologist.
The award-winning director Paris Barclay is also Black and gay. Barclay tells Variety the project has been in development for "a few years." "We’re hoping this becomes a movie that shows the world everything that Viola can do," says Barclay. "People haven’t seen everything that she’s capable of and this role is so powerful."
Lyndon B. Johnson was an early supporter of Jordan and later became a mentor. In 1974, Jordan delivered an influential and live televised speech before the House Judiciary Committee that supported the impeachment of Richard Nixon.
Jordan died in 1996. Ten years later, the Jordan/Rustin Coalition was founded in California in her namesake and that of Bayard Rustin. JRC organizes and mobilizes the Black LGBT community around Los Angeles.
Patti LaBelle has filed a countersuit against the West Point cadet who claims that she ordered her bodyguards to viciously attack him outside Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport on March 11. The R&B diva's lawsuit accuses Richard King of drunkenly instigating the incident by hurling profanity and racist slurs and attempting to force his way into her SUV, reports the Houston Chronicle.
The altercation was captured on a security camera. Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...
LaBelle's legal petition, filed last week in Houston federal court, is her first response to King's lawsuit, which he filed earlier this month. In her lawsuit, which seeks actual damages and litigation costs, LaBelle says an inebriated King launched the verbal and physical attack without provocation. When Zuri Edwards, 37, LaBelle's son and driver, told King he was addressing his mother, the lawsuit says, the military cadet hit him in the face.
The suit says LaBelle and her staff believed they were in immediate danger and responded with "the degree of force that was necessary." King was taken to a local hospital with a concussion.
King's attorney John Raley, dismissed the lawsuit as "the same false story they told the police. We have the surveillance videotape, which speaks volumes, and neutral eyewitnesses who will testify that Richard was brutally assaulted without provocation," Raley said.
The 23-year-old West Point senior and football player said he had a few drinks on the flight to Houston but denied he was intoxicated.
The altercation between King and LaBelle's entourage was captured on a security camera, but no sound was recorded. Two men and a woman, members of the LaBelle's staff, are seen pushing and punching King, and slamming his head into a concrete pillar.
King suffered a concussion and was "suspended for a year from the football team, effectively ending his football career at West Point, reports CBS Sports. "As if all that wasn't enough, King was also sent into active duty."
In the video, LaBelle does not leave the vehicle until after King was taken away by ambulance. As blood lays splattered on the pavement next to her, LaBelle poses for pictures with a Houston police officer. The lawsuits have forced the Houston Police Dept. to reopen an investigation into how the incident was handled, reports KTRK.
Not sure how the cadet hurled racial slurs at Patti LaBelle if she was unseen and behind tinted windows. Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...
Continue reading "LaBelle Countersues, Claims Cadet Hurled Racist Slurs Before Beating" »
R&B legend Patti LaBelle is being sued by a West Point cadet who claims he was beaten by her bodyguards for standing too close to her luggage.
The singer, her driver and three of her bodyguards are among those sued by Richard King. The assault outside Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport on March 11 was captured on video surveillance. The footage shows King violently punched in the face.
Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...
The 23-year-old senior was waiting for a ride outside one of the terminals while on spring break from West Point, reports the AP. King says LaBelle "lowered the window of her limousine and gave a command to her bodyguards."
The limo driver and a bodyguard claim the man was intoxicated. "The investigating officer also noted in his report that King appeared to be intoxicated and smelled of alcohol. King [said he] had a few drinks on the flight to Houston but denied he was intoxicated."
King was a player for the Army football team. The cadet has been suspended for at least one year and ordered to go on active duty.
In the video, LaBelle does not leave the vehicle until after King was taken away by ambulance. As blood lays splattered on the pavement next to her, LaBelle poses for pictures with a Houston police officer. Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...
Continue reading "VIDEO: Patti Labelle Sued by West Pointer Over Bodyguard Attack" »
It's always the bathrooms, isn't it? A Houston transgender woman says she was so "humiliated" and "belittled" after being arrested for using a public restroom that she is ready to move from Texas, reports FOX 26.
"[Tyjanae] Moore was arrested Nov. 17 at the Houston Public Library in downtown.... 'When I came out, the female told me I wasn't supposed to be and I asked if there was any particular reason why not. She said I'm a transgendered female and I was really shocked that they even stopped me for this,' says Moore. Even though she is seen as a protected class by the City of Houston, Moore entered a guilty plea. Earlier in 2010, Mayor Annise Parker, who is openly gay, issued an executive order that allows transgendered persons to use the city restroom of their choice. Moore tells FOX 26 News she tried to use the men's restroom in the past. 'I went to the males' restroom and the man followed me into the restroom, so I figured that was not good. It wasn't safe and I started going to female restrooms and that's where I'm comfortable with,' says Moore."
A coalition of anti-LGBT Houston pastors want the Texas Attorney General's Office to rescind Mayor Annise Parker's sweeping anti-discrimination order that protects LGBT employees, and, in this case, transgender residents who use public restrooms on city property.
There's also a good panel discussion on the law and transgender rights after the package. Watch it WHEN YOU JUMP ...
Continue reading "WATCH: Houston Trans Woman Arrested for Using Ladies' Room" »
Navy Seaman August Provost III was killed one year ago today.
The 29-year-old sailor from Houston, who gay and out to family and some co-workers, was brutally murdered at the sentry station at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, on June 30 2009. Provost was shot three times, had his hands and feet bound, his mouth gagged, and body burned. The shack also was set on fire. The Provost family later told the media the military initially did not tell them this was a homicide and also neglected to reveal the manner of death.
Provost had confided to his family that he was harassed and ostracized for at least a year because he was gay and black. Provost's sister suggested he tell a supervisor—unfortunately not an option for gay and lesbian servicemembers due to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Despite the torture and brutal murder, the military maintained from the beginning this was a "random act of violence" and there was "no evidence" to believe it was a hate crime.
Petty Officer Jonathan C. Campos, who was served in Provost's unit, was arrested the night of the murder and charged almost one month later. Campos was accused of a bizarre, month-long crime spree that included murder, solicitation of murder, drugs and weapons violations. The military investigation was sharply criticized by family members and several members of Congress, most notably Sheila Jackson Lee, who later called for a congressional investigation. It never happened.
Campos committed suicide in the brig at the Camp Pendleton on July 31. The military later admitted that Campos was under video surveillance because he'd made two previous suicide attempts. The surveillance was allowed to lapse. The military announced it would "investigate".
David Badash at the New Civil Rights Movement: 'The circumstances surrounding this murder are ghastly, but the Navy’s response [is] ghastly as well. The military [investigation] is evidence that the military cannot possibly be trusted to police [or] investigate itself when it comes to gay soldiers and gay rights. Which leads us to ask how the military will handle integration of openly gay and lesbian servicemembers into its ranks."
Will we ever learn the truth about Seaman August Provost's murder?
Rod 2.0's complete coverage HERE.
Steph Jones defies labels. And that's a good thing.
The independent artist and singer-songwriter created a huge buzz with his single "Mr. Ordinary" and has been favorably compared to neo-soul favorites such as Maxwell and D'Angelo. But the raspy voice and sometimes soaring falsetto is so reminiscent of a younger Marvin Gaye or Al Green. And while many brand new artists would consider a contract with Def Jam and working with Ludacris the virtual equivalent of hitting the Powerball, the Houston-area native walked away from it. "There's always room for growth," Steph Jones tells Rod 2.0. "If there isn't, you're settling and I don't like to settle."
Watch Steph Jones perform "Gravity" behind-the-scenes during his shoot for Tightrope Magazine, and watch him as the romantic lead in Shontelle's new video "Impossible" AFTER THE JUMP ....
The singer slash songwriter originally began his career as a model. Signed to Ford and featured in numerous national print and television campaigns. After leaving Def Jam/Disturbing Tha Peace, Jones began marketing himself through social media. It all began on My Space before Steph Jones segued to his YouTube channel which now has almost a million views. And of course there is StephJonesMusic on Twitter, where he is über-popular and constantly updates his status, uploading photos from the red carpet, out at dinner, and the occasional shirtless Twitpics that have become #TrendingTopics. Steph also regularly broadcasts and even takes requests on UStream.
Jones has also become one of the very few younger male R&B singers to embrace a gay fanbase—especially at the beginning of his career. "Mr Ordinary" was featured on the "DL Chronicles" soundtrack. Steph also participated in photographer Adam
Bouska's striking "No H8" campaign, spoken out for equality and against homophobia. We discussed all this on a short phone call ...
ROD 2.0: That No H8 photo is ferosh. How and why did you get involved?
STEPH JONES: I love that photo and was happy to do it. A friend of mine hit me up and asked to do it. I didn’t hesitate and I'd do it again. If you believe in something, you have to stand up. I am not about to intrude on anybody else' s happiness because they'll take away someone else's rights next time. And I don’t want to hear about how it used to be. "Back in the day" we were picking cotton. Now we have President Obama.
R20: It's refreshing to hear that point of view, especially from a new jack in RnB. There's so much pressure to be gangsta and homophobic to gain street cred.
STEPH JONES: That's a problem in American culture and African American culture. There are a lot of insecure people, insecure straights, insecure gays. And to be honest, a lot of the insecure straight bullies ... they're probably fighting something on the inside. Ya feel me? But if you look at a lot of these singers and celebrities, they've been given a gift. So much power, such a platform and many waste it. That's why I want to reach out to everyone, all people, black, white, Latino, gay, straight ... people helping people.
Watch Steph perform "Gravity"—and talk music, movies, modeling and homophobia in black Hollywood—AFTER THE JUMP ....
Last week you'll recall Houston Mayor Annise Parker issued one of nation's "most comprehensive" executive orders protecting LGBT municipal employees. A coalition of Houston pastors want the mayor to rescind the recent sweeping anti-discrimination order.
The pastor's problem: The city's "openly gay mayor" has now "opened women's restrooms to cross-dressing men", claims the Christian Post.
"The latter order [gender identity] as it specifically states, covers hiring, contracting and/or access to City facilities and programs/activities. And this, Houston clergymen say, will open women’s restrooms to men, among other results. 'Forcing women in particular using city facilities to be subjected to cross-dressing men invading their privacy is beyond the pale and offensive to every standard of decency,' said Pastor Steve Riggle, senior pastor of Grace Community Church and an Executive Committee member of the Houston Area Pastor Council (HAPC). 'This is not only morally wrong it exposes the city and therefore the taxpayers to endless litigation and expenses,' added Pastor Hernan Castano, senior pastor of Iglesia Rios de Aceite and a member of the HAPC Executive Committee. 'It is irresponsible and indefensible.' Notably, however, supporters of the executive order are insisting that it remains unlawful for men to go into the women’s restroom.
It's always the bathrooms, isn't it?
The Houston Chronicle correctly n otes the executive order applies only to city employees and not the public at-large. FOX 26 in its report does not.
