The university stated it would risk its accreditation if it didn’t require Keeton to follow the school’s Code of Ethics.  Keeton claimed the university was punishing her for her Christian views.

The specifics of the court’s ruling, tomorrow.

City Councilman Charles Samuels spearheaded a proclamation last year recognizing June as LGBT Pride Month in Richmond.

Samuels with Equality Virginia's James Parrish and the Gay Community Center of Richmond's Cindy Bray at last June's proclamation.

“It’s about us and what we can do together,” he said.

“I’ve owed James Parrish (Equality Virginia Executive Director) a beer for a while,” he jokes.  ”I support the Richmond Triangle Players and the work they’ve been doing.  Apart from obvious LGBT issues, we all face the same things.”

“[City council] made it clear, we were going to have a non-discrimination policy in the city despite what the state was doing.”

Samuels got started with community service during his days at Collegiate, volunteering in church, and continued that volunteering into college.  In Richmond City Council, he gets to take that service on a wider scale.

“You don’t need a Republican or a Democrat to fix a pot hole, it’s about trying to make the city better regardless of your political persuasion,” he says.

And coming up in this year’s election, he does have some competition from another Charlie – developer Charlie Diradour also running for the 2nd District spot.

“It’s always good to have competition – it makes you focus on what you honestly believe in and what you do,”  I’ve been fortunate to have spent some time everyday since 2003 doing something in our community whether that’s as president for our neighborhood association or in city council.  I’ve worked hard because I believe it’s what the community deserves.”

I am not sure what Kool-Aid I was drinking this past weekend because I assumed that Tracy Thorne-Begland would be appointed a judge but he was not. He fit all the molds that should placate main stream society like being white, male, cisgendered, upper class, employed, veteran, father, college graduate, and monogamous. I forgot the other identifier: homosexual. Regardless of his other identifiers, he is still a homosexual. Non-heterosexual sexualities never sits well with our society.

I may have still be hungover from the celebrations surround Obama’s ‘coming out’ in support of same-sex marriage. I overlooked the fact that he still thinks it should be a state issue. I forget that Virginia and the nation still lack any form of employment non-discrimination politices for LGBT.  We have no cure for AIDS and lack anything close to comprehensive safer-sex education. There are no anti-bullying policies in Virginia or ban on reparative therapy. Trans folks still aren’t allowed to openly serve in our militaries. DADT was repealed but Thorne-Begland is still considered sinful for his actions against a repealed policy.

Now that I have sobered up, I am scared. I’m scared because if this could happen to the most ‘normal’ of us then what about folks who are not as ‘normal’? If Thorne-Begland is denied this position because of  his activism over 20 years ago, then I wonder about folks who were ‘activists’ 10 minutes ago? For some in the queer community, their continued existence is activism. I am sure there are a lot more Thorne-Beglands in Virginia…

This may be the best example of a trailer that crammed the movie’s ONLY decent 2 minutes into a promising preview. The other 111 minutes are deadly dull. In this vague nod to the TV series, Johnny Depp stars as Barnabas Collins, who returns to his home in the 70s after being buried for 200 years. The potential for fish-out-of-water humor is wrung out in a handful of gags (all in the trailer) and the rest of the proceedings are incredibly tedious and listless. The only thing worth watching is the art direction. Otherwise, this is undoubtedly Tim Burton’s worst film ever.

GAY ANGLE: Even in the open-minded 70s, there’s not one gay person in evidence.

Unexpectedly the sounds of birds – particularly the quacking of a duck – preludes director Richard M. Parison, Jr.’s ambitious and rich staging of Lynn Ahrens’ and Stephen Flaherty’s “Dessa Rose,” which is showing at the Firehouse Theatre. These sounds capture the idyllic, still beauty that – admittedly as a Midwesterner – can only be found in the plush terrain of the South.

But it’s coincidental that this production – which ruminates on the (touchy) subject matter of Southern slavery – should come at the heels of 1) North Carolina passing the anti-gay marriage Amendment One, and 2) Virginia denying the judgeship for an openly gay nominee.

So…what has changed here in the South besides displacing the slavery of one people (Black) to the oppression of another people (LGBT)? Wait, I hear there’s a new frozen yogurt shop opening somewhere near by – that’s progress! Unfortunately, gorgeous landscapes don’t equal liberal politics, now and almost one century and ½ ago, either.

Anyway, Desiree Roots’ performance as Dessa Rose, the black female protagonist, is full of harrowing depth and the huge ensemble lushly harmonizes during musical numbers that celebrate gospel hymns and African rhythms, boldly choreographed by Karen Getz.

Yet I had reservations toward Stacey Cabaj’s performance as Ruth Sutton, the white female protagonist: subtle intimations of “Eliza Doolittle” – particularly with her character’s marriage to an elderly gentleman and then a scene where she becomes a little tipsy – perniciously finds its way into her Southern characterization, along with some difficulty singing above the orchestra directed by Leilani Giles, making her the weakest link in this performance.

On the contrary, the standouts were Durron Marquis Tyre as Nathan and Todd Patterson as Harker, who portray a riveting duo of young black slaves, poking fun at – well – white people. Flippant and talented, these two provide the audience with barrels of humor (too much of the audience took the show too seriously though to laugh) in the second act of the production.

But the source material, impetuously redacted by Flaherty and Ahrens, does little to offer thoughtful commentary on race relations, especially since the production is an amalgamation of both fact and fiction, loosely based on the novel by Sherley Anne Williams about the fledgling friendship between Ruth and Dessa.

On top of this, extraneous issues of female oppression at the hands of men and interracial sexual relations between Ruth and Nathan inject their way into the narrative, acted upon a capacious set of burlap drapes, suggesting plantation drawing rooms and slave quarters, expertly designed by Todd Edward Ivins.

But clearly, the ratio of any kind of oppression between Dessa Rose and Ruth is not directly proportional, despite the authors’ attempts to make it seem as such. Dessa – a slave – sees her “husband” killed before her very eyes, and then she is whipped, jailed brutally and sexually abused. Ruth’s biggest problem is she has to endure 10 petticoats per day. Tragedy!

“Dessa Rose” runs through June 3 at the Firehouse Theatre Project. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit http://www.firehousetheatre.org/

What is your spirituality–your relationship with God, or with humanity? And how could this help you improve—or find—a close relationship?

When Tracy Thorne-Begland was discharged after coming out on national television during “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” 20 years ago, it didn’t stop his career in public service.

Now the Richmond deputy commonwealth attorney faces scrutiny again from the right as he was on a list of potential appointees for a state judgeship.  After Thorne-Begland received criticism from the Family Foundation and Bob Marshall, the General Assembly voted not to promote him into the judge position on Monday night.

Equality Virginia’s James Parrish released the following statement:

Equality Virginia is profoundly disappointed and dismayed that the Virginia General Assembly allowed fear mongering and shrill personal attacks by the Family Foundation and Delegate Bob Marshall to derail Richmond lawyer Tracy Thorne-Begland’s election to the bench simply because he is an out gay man. Mr. Thorne-Begland has served his country and his city with honor and unquestioned competence first as a Navy pilot and then as a prosecutor. Contrary to the Family Foundation’s shrill attack, the fact that Mr. Thorne-Begland chose to acknowledge his sexual orientation publicly and accept the consequences (an unwanted discharge from the military) rather than continue to live each day in a lie showed his honesty and integrity and respect for the law. Mr. Thorne-Begland should be seen as a hero, like others whose celebrated civil disobedience helped bring change to unjust laws, rather than vilified as a law breaker by those who continue without reason to oppose basic human rights and nondiscrimination laws for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Virginians. The fact that the legislature caved in to the Family Foundation’s biased blathering is another unfortunate marker on the forced march to the past on which they seem determined to lead the Commonwealth.

After Barack Obama’s announcement last week supporting marriage equality, Romney addressed the crowd with his only remark on marriage according to the Washington Post:

During Mitt Romney’s address this weekend to the evangelical Liberty University, he made precisely one mention of gay marriage, saying simply: “Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.”