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Meshell Ndegeocello, like many people, would rather not turn on her camera during Zoom calls. “I want to hear you,” she says. “I enjoy my hearing apparatus. The eyes will fool you.”

It’s for this reason that, during a recent conversation from her home in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Ndegeocello’s only visible presence on-screen was her Zoom display name: “Just a Soul on a Planet.”

It’s a fitting description for the one-time Nineties R&b and dance music hitmaker (1994’s “Wild Night” with John Mellencamp, 1996’s “Who Is...

Hot Docs is to honor Canadian writer-producer-director Alison Duke with the Don Haig Award, which recognizes “creative vision and entrepreneurship,” as reflected in her work, as well as a track record of mentoring emerging Canadian filmmakers.

The award is presented to a Canadian independent producer with a feature-length film at the festival, with the recipient being selected by a jury of filmmakers.

Duke is the producer of “A Mother Apart,” directed by Laurie Townshend, in which Jamaican American poet and LGBTQ+ activist Staceyann Chin embarks on an international journey to re-imagine the art of mothering—having been abandoned by her own mother as a young child.

Duke will be presented with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of the Don Haig Foundation.

Duke said: “When my partner, Ngardy Conteh George, and I joined forces to found Oya Media Group in 2018, we did so to bring an authentic perspective to screen-based platforms through socially relevant,...

Equality Now, a leading international Ngo dedicated to using the law to promote women’s equality, held its annual Make Equality Reality Gala last night at Capitale in New York City.

Rhonda Ross Kendrick and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attend the annual Make Equality Reality Gala hosted by Equality Now on November 19, 2019

Credit/Copyright: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Equality Now

The evening honored international best-selling author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and author and activist, Scarlett Curtis.

Margaret Atwood and Scarlett Curtis attend the annual Make Equality Reality Gala hosted by Equality Now on November 19, 2019

Credit/Copyright: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Equality Now

The evening’s honoree, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, was presented her award by singer-songwriter Rhonda Ross, daughter of Diana Ross. Audrey Gelman, CEO & Co-Founder of The Wing presented Scarlett Curtis with the second annual Changemaker Award presented by Gucci and Chime For Change.

Linda Perry, Yasmeen Hassan, Margaret Atwood...

The Tribeca Film Festival will launch its inaugural Tribeca Celebrates Pride event on May 4 which will include a day of Lgbtq-focused programming of speakers, conversations, and events featuring Neil Patrick Harris, Asia Kate Dillon, John Cameron Mitchell, Raul Castillo, Patti Harrison, Angelica Ross and iconic writer Larry Kramer. The day will celebrates Lgbtq+ culture and honor the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. It will all conclude with the world premiere of the HBO documentary Wig, which spotlights the art of drag, followed by a performance by the legendary Lady Bunny. The event will also include a curated program of seven Lgbtq+ short films, all of which are playing in competition at the Festival.

“This year, Tribeca will showcase artists who have used storytelling to bring people together around a common goal: inclusivity. We’ve come so far in the fifty years since the Stonewall riots, but there is...

The next “Hamilton” might be among this year’s crop of Off-Broadway Alliance Award nominees. Nominations for their 6th Annual Off-Broadway Alliance Awards, which honor commercial and not-for-profit productions that opened during the 2015–16 season, have been announced. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” won last year’s Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Musical. Mike Birbiglia (“Thank God for Jokes”), Staceyann Chin (“MotherStruck!”), James Lecesne (“The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey”), Joanna Rush (“Kick”), and Andrew Schneider (“Youarenowhere”) are among this year’s nominees for Best Solo Performance. Broadway publicist Merle Debuskey, Tony Award–winning performer Linda Lavin, director and Playwrights Horizons founder Robert Moss, and Tony-nominated actor Lois Smith are set to receive Legend of Off-Broadway honors. Meanwhile Hall of Fame Awards will be presented posthumously to longtime married actors Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach, actor and comedian Anne Meara, as well as writer, composer, musician, and theater director Elizabeth Swados.

You may recall that, last month, I profiled the IndeGoGo fundraising campaign for the web series Truth. Be. Told., a 30 minute docu-web series that seeks, according to its filmmaker and activist creator Katina Parker, to “reclaim the birthright of Queer Black visionaries within Black families and communities by providing a platform for out, Black Lgbtq people to tell their personal stories of challenge, radical self-inquiry, transformation, and triumph.” Among the persons who were profiled in the first season of the series were, Tony Award-winning playwright/actress/author Staceyann Chin; Emil Wilbekin, Editor-at-Large for Essence magazine; former New York Times editor Linda...

Tags: Morning BrewIMDbSandra BernhardClea DuvallSarah PaulsonEvan Rachel WoodChicago FireBrittney GrinerEdie WindsorThe Dalloway

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Sarah Paulson attended the after-party for Trust Me at the Tribeca Film Festival with Amanda Peet and Felicity Huffman.

The next night she was at the screening of Mud.

Also at Tribeca, Evan Rachel Wood for the premiere of A Case of You.

Out Hunger Games producer Nina Jacobson was part of a panel on Women in Film at Cinema Con over the weekend. When she was asked about the Fifty Shades of Grey film adaptation and if it was "the best or worst thing" to happen to women, she replied, "Female desire is a very complex subject." Snaps! Nina also accepted the Fandango Fan Choice Award for the movie Hunger Games.

A site called Business2Community has some ideas on how Lgbt consumers can best be reached. I hope Chik-Fil-a is paying attention.

The New...

Tags: Morning BrewLiz CarmoucheDa BratDiana KingSuze OrmanKenyon WilsonFingeringOtepIMDb

Good morning! I'm so out of whack from traveling across the country to Philadelphia and back over the weekend. But I promise I have a lot of great things to share with you from that experience, so look out for it later today.

One of the people I met at the Lgbt Media conference is Faith Cheltenham, who wrote this rad piece about black bisexual women for The Huffington Post. I've co-opted Faith to write some pieces for AfterEllen, so stay tuned!

Out Ufc fighter Liz Carmouche lost her big fight over the weekend, but she went down with a rainbow mouthpiece. She tweeted that she might be down, but not out.

I gave 100% tonight. Thank you for your support! I shall return. #lizbos

— Liz Carmouche (@iamgirlrilla) February 24, 2013

Suze Orman penned an important piece for CNN about how much gay Americans end up paying in taxes.

Over a decade ago, Staceyann Chin burst onto the scene with Russell Simmons’ “Def Poetry Jam” on Broadway. Sharing the stage with other prominent poets and hip-hop artists, she garnered a Tony Award for her performance.

Chin, known for candidly revealing her frustrating childhood in Jamaica -- a country known for homophobia -- said she became aware of a growing interest in her experience as a Jamaican lesbian immigrant. In 2010, she released her critically acclaimed memoir, The Other Side Of Paradise.

Chin, 40, a lover of “a good story,” is now working on a new book about motherhood and parenting. When she’s not writing, on stage or traveling the world, she's hosting comrades for tea, wine, “crap TV,” or political talk. In the living room of her Brooklyn apartment, her daughter by her side, Chin chatted with HuffPost about homophobia, Jamaica, motherhood, and more.

What urged you to write your memoir,...

Cavu Pictures is releasing the documentary Let Fury Have the Hour in theaters December 14. This new film offers an intriguing look inside the creative process, with performers and artists explaining how their inner rage fuels their success, including street artist Shepard Fairey, director John Sayles, rapper Chuck D., guitarist Tom Morello, and comedian Lewis Black. To celebrate this new release, we're giving away posters and mini-posters designed by Shepard Fairey himself, along with a set of postcards. Take a look at how you can win from this innovative documentary.

Winners Receive:

Let Fury Have the Hour poster designed by Shepard FaireyLet Fury Have the Hour mini-poster designed by Shepard FaireyLet Fury Have the Hour postcards

Here's How To Win!

Just "Like" (fan) the MovieWeb Facebook page (below) and then leave a comment below telling us why these prizes must be yours!

If you already "Like" MovieWeb, just leave a comment...

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Did you miss Sue Sylvester on last week's Glee? Don't worry — she's back, and just in time for Christmas.

Several lesbian artists in the UK have contributed to an It Gets Better charity single for something called The L Project. Here's a behind-the-scenes look, led by Horse.

Have you seen the Indigo Girls video for "Making Promises"? Well just in case you haven't.

The day after Christmas you can tune into E! and watch E! Entertainment's Celebrity Wedding Primetime Special for a glimpse of Chely Wright and Lauren Blitzer's nuptials.

Bitch put The Watermelon Woman through their Bechdel Test Canon. Do you think it passed?

Rebecca Walker is behind a new collection of essays called Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness. Staceyann Chin is one of her contributors.

I'm still upset about Chicago Code being cancelled but at least Jennifer Beals is able to move on. The...

As 2009 comes to a close, we take a look back at some of the people and events that made this the Best. Lesbian. Decade. Ever. in pop culture.

Luckily for all of us, there was far more information to have mentioned from the last ten years than we could have included in this brief survey. That's why our lists for each year are not intended to be exhaustive, but are instead snapshots of different memorable moments that included the representation of lesbians and bisexual women in film, television, music, literature, comics, sports and the Internet since the year 2000.

2000

Chavela Vargas[/link] comes out

Mexican ranchera music legend Chavela Vargas publicly came out as a lesbian at the tender age of 81.

Angelina Jolie wins Best Supporting Actress Oscar

Angelina Jolie won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Girl, Interrupted and told Talk Magazine, "I only play women I would date.

Just When You Think It's Safe To Go Back In The TV Water

To keep things interesting (for you and for me), I've decided to reserve this first page for whatever I want to write about each week — whether that's nominations for the Woman of the Week, a news roundup, highlights of relevant tweets, or a rant about something relevant to the site.

This week, it's a rant. About (surprise) lesbians on TV. Specifically, about the new development involving the only leading lesbian on TV next season: Ming-Na's Camille on Stargate: Universe.

If you haven't been following our coverage of the upcoming Syfy series that debuts in October, here's a short summary: Ming-Na plays Camille Wray, an openly gay Hr exec who is among a group of scientists and soldiers whose ship, Destiny, gets trapped on the other side of a Stargate (a transportation device to other galaxies), forcing them...