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News: Schwarzenegger, Anthony Woods, Queen Latifah, Ref 71

· Federal court orders California to reduce its prison population by 43,000 inmates within two years.

· California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announces he will file a lawsuit against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The suit contends the governor "violated his constitutional authority" in making line item vetoes when he ordered "huge and potentially disastrous cuts in vital California health and welfare programs, including those that affect people living with HIV/AIDS, seniors, the disabled, and the very young."

· Washington: Rejection rate rising signatures for Referendum 71, which would rescind the state's recently passed "everything but marriage" domestic-partnership law.

· For the seventh year in a row, the City of Chicago issues a mayoral proclamation and holds a ceremony "recognizing the service of GLBT veterans. It is the only such municipal recognition ceremony in the country."

· Queen Latifah now a regular at New York City lesbian party "Eden."

· Congressional candidate Anthony Woods as a positive role for black gay youth: "Woods' ability to connect with a youth culture increasingly accepting of gays suggests a number of possibilities for black gay community. Should Woods win the seat and go on to enjoy a lengthy and successful career in politics, it will be very hard for history to downplay his contributions to the political world the way it was done with civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Many—including a number of black gays—know little about Rustin's work to combat segregation, apartheid, and homophobia. In the digital age where everything is photographed, taped, and blogged, Woods' potential ascension from fallen victim of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' to the first black openly gay person elected to Congress will be a story told repeatedly to young gays of color."

Neighborhood Inaugural Ball: The Evening in Pictures

The Neighborhood Inaugural Ball is now airing on ABC.  The guests include Beyonce, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, will.i.am, Mariah Carey, Shakira, Sting, as well Rod 2.0 boldface names such as Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Sean "Diddy" Combs and the very! straight! Jamie Foxx. (What "neighborhood" was this, DuPont Circle?) Nick Cannon is the DJ.

The Obamas had their first dance as Beyonce performed her cover of the Etta James' classic "At Last." This was a beautiful moment. Some pictures from the ball ...

After the jump, more photos of the new First Couple and the Hollywood beautiful people.

Openly Gay Bishop to Deliver Inaugural Concert Invocation

Very promising news. The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire whose elevation created a schism in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion, will deliver the invocation at the inauguration concert for President-elect Barack Obama this Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial. The concert will be the first event attended by Obama that weekend.

Bishop Robinson was an early supporter of the president-elect, and, like many progressives, expressed his disappointment at Obama’s choice of Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration. Robinson said the right-wing anti-gay, anti-choice and anti-science televangelist deserved "to be at the table" but not in such a prominent capacity.

Politico's Mike Allen quotes an "Obama source" who says "Robinson was in the plans before the complaints about Rick Warren. Many skeptics will read this as a direct reaction to the Warren criticism – but it’s just not so."

Sure. That's why they were willing to give their name and stand by that remark.

The concert is certainly not as grand nor important as the inauguration, but, it is the official kick-off of the festivities. More importantly the location is rich is symbolism. Robinson will deliver his invocation at the same location where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the historic "I Have a Dream."

UPDATE: The concert talent has been announced and will include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Heather Headley, John Legend, Usher Raymond ... and Queen Latifah. Possibly there are questions Usher and Latifah may have for the openly gay bishop.

Gay Bishop to Open Inaugural Weekend [Politico]

Queen Latifah "Considered" Naming New Album "The L Word"

This is from last week but sometimes better late than never. RollingStone.com reports the Harley Davidson-loving singer-actress Queen Latifah "considered" naming her new hip-hop album The L Word "just to mess with people’s heads." A joke, of course, 'cuz Latifah is very! straight!

The New Jersey rapper/actress has endured much speculation about her sexuality because she doesn’t discuss her personal life and played a lesbian in the 1996 film Set It Off. "L was gonna stand for love though or La," she laughs. "Since people want to play games, I like to jab back sometimes just for fun, but I’m like, ‘Nah, that’s too much energy wasted.’ "

Heh. It's a step up from her "no comment" to Ebony.

Speaking of rappers and gay rumors Rolling Stone reports LL Cool J and Dr. Dre produced some of the new material on Latifah's new project. Those should have been some very strenuous recording "sessions."

No comment on LL and Dre's thoughts about Latifah's "joke." Dre has a big sense of humor, though.

Thanks ALICIA BANKS!

Queen Latifah Returns to Hip Hop with Dr. Dre [RS]

You May Have Missed ...
Latifah: "Ain't Gonna Be No (Lesbian) Wedding" [R20]
Latifah to "Ebony" on Gay Rumors: "No Comment" [R20]
Evan Ross in "Life Support" [R20]
Asked & Told: Jodie's Got No Comment [Popnography]
Quickies: Queen Latifah, Cherry Jones [Popnography]

Queen Latifah: "There Ain't Gonna Be No (Lesbian) Wedding"

Queen Latifah says don't rush to the Home Depot to buy matching "her and her" power tools for the (alleged) wedding between the chanteuse slash actress and Jeanette Jenkins, her longtime personal-training companion. In her words, "There ain't gonna be no wedding."

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker asked Latifah to comment on the latest rumors on the internets.

I did ask Queen Latifah for reaction to recent tabloid gossip that she allegedly was going to wed her long-time female personal trainer.

She quipped, ''When you're famous these days, it's just part of the deal -- unfortunately. People will make up all sorts of things that are not true...There ain't gonna be no wedding.''

It's a clever denial, albeit scripted from Jodie Foster-esque talking points. There ain't gonna be no wedding. It's not quite the "no comment" that she recently told Ebony on her long-rumored sexuality, or, her claim that she was still "looking for a good brotha".

You May Have Missed ...
Queen Latifah (Finally) Coming Out? [R20]
Latifah to "Ebony" on Gay Rumors: "No Comment" [R20]
Evan Ross in "Life Support" [R20]
Asked & Told: Jodie's Got No Comment [Popnography]
Quickies: Queen Latifah, Cherry Jones [Popnography]
Queen Latifah: Is She or Isn't She? [Jasmyne Cannick]

Queen Latifah (Finally) Coming Out?

The internets are truly abuzz with the "totally unsourced rumor about Queen Latifah allegedly proposing to her girlfriend", which our good friend Shana Naomi at Out.com's Popnography describes as "just that: totally unsourced and unconfirmed."

The (alleged) girlfriend is longtime "personal trainer" Jeanette Jenkins and the story has gained huge traction this week after a tasty blind item on Page Six of the New York Post: "Which big Hollywood actress is about to come out of the closet? She's been living with her girlfriend in a small town, where all the neighbors know, and the two are now engaged to be married?"

Like in all blind items, the devil is in the details. Queen Latifah was the subject of a People cover where boasted that she’s proud of her plus-size. In the interview, the Queen once again refused to comment on her sexual orientation. The Page Six reference to a "small town" could be suburban Wayne, New Jersey, where Queen Latifah reportedly owns a home.

Or, the rumor could be totally coming out of left field. "For an industry where everyone likes to say it's nowhere near as "hard" for women to come out," Shana Naomi notes at Popnography. "We're hardly seeing an epidemic of loose-lipped lesbians.

You May Have Missed ..
Latifah to "Ebony" on Gay Rumors: "No Comment" [R20]
Evan Ross in "Life Support" [R20]
Asked & Told: Jodie's Got No Comment [Popnography]
Quickies: Queen Latifah, Cherry Jones [Popnography]

Queen Latifah to "Ebony" on Gay Rumors: "No Comment"

Queen Latifah is the subject of an extensive 12 page cover story advertorial in the October 2007 Ebony. The puff piece rarely steers from carefully scripted talking points—in this case, it's mostly about Latifah's endorsement contract with CoverGirl (four full page ads in the profile), her new clothing line, and, the magazine's promotion of Harley-Davidson and Honda motorcycles. (The magazine devotes two other features to "blacks on bikes.") The most interesting passage is when Queen Latifah channels Jodie Foster when the always intriguing subject of her sexuality was introduced in a throwaway line:

Asked about the stories swirling on the Internet and elsewhere that claim she is romantically involved with a female fitness trainer, Latifah immediately says: "No comment on that at all. I'm done commenting on all that ... It's ridiculous, I know me and that's all I need to know.

And if the readers don't know me, then that;s one part they aren't going to get to know. Those are my people but they don't sleep with me," she says in a very even tone that is very consistent with her relaxed mood. "It feels so invasive. It's the one thing I don't think people need to know about."

This is a clever denial. Unlike previous statements where Latifah claimed that she was still "looking for a good brotha", the singer-actress now says she is done commenting on one particular situation which is a private matter. (The interviewer also never questioned her sexuality, just that one relationship. Interesting.) Latifah has become the hip-hop Jodie Foster.

Flip past several more full page ads for CoverGirl and there is one more nugget of information: Latifah's "busy career" has prevented her from having children so she will adopt.

"People make assumptions about women who adopt, and I think its wrong," she says. "Some people assume unless you are Angelina Jolie, that you are adopting because you don't have a man and you may be gay and you want to have a kid. I think that's not the right connotation to put to that."

Ebony has almost zero online content so the entire profile—including the behind-the-scenes makeup steps and full page ads—has been included in this PDF. It's thirteen pages long, but, as we said, the most important questions were asked and not-answered in those two or three graphs. Makes you yearn for the old school Latifah who played lesbian on-screen characters (Set it Off, Chicago) and spoke out on the need for role models for all types women.

h/t: Jasmyne

Queen Latifah on a Roll [PDF-Ebony]

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Evan Ross in "Life Support" [R20]
Asked & Told: Jodie's Got No Comment [Popnography]
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Queen Latifah: Is She or Isn't She? [Jasmyne Cannick]

Evan Ross in "Life Support"

There is substantial buzz around Life Support. Rightly so.

The new HBO film is a important, political statement on the raw intersection of drugs, sexuality, HIV and relationships in the inner city. Much of the word-of-mouth is around Queen Latifah's brilliant portrayal of Ana, who coordinates a support group for women in the "Life Support" HIV/AIDS awareness center in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

One actor who needs to be singled out is young Evan Ross. (Yes, the same one we teased the other week. Sorry.) In case you haven't heard, Evan's teenaged character is HIV positive, an addict and hustler—and gay. No pretty pictures here—Evan's clothes are disheveled, hair uncombed and is totally the opposite of his usual clean cut persona. As Bernie would say, this is acting.

His character Amare is certainly one of the more complex and multi-dimensional black gay characters in recent television history. Amare is the best friend of Ana's (estranged) daughter. He was born poz and has been openly gay and using for some time; he often sells his medications to score, or, simply doesn't take them. His disappearance becomes the central focal point of the movie—Ana takes it upon herself to find him and, in the process, re-establishes a bond with her daughter. (BTW, here is some inspired casting: Tracee Ellis Ross, Evan's real-life sister, is cast as his on-screen sibling.) Certainly not your typical case of the television-movie gay black best friend who is the sassy sidekick. Life Support is an excellent vehicle for young Evan to hone his acting chops.

This is Nelson George's feature directorial debut and based upon the life of his sister, who is HIV positive and also runs a support group. Brilliant.

Life Support (Saturday 3/10 @ 8P on HBO)

Life Support (Variety)

Latifah Addresses Serious Issues (Movieweb)

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