While I Was Out …
I took the opportunity on Wednesday to head up to New York City to see Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika, staged by the Signature Theatre Company. The tickets, purchased at the beginning of August, were among the only days with seats remaining for the initial run of the show, so I jumped at the chance to see the first New York production of the show since its original staging.
I had no idea at the time, however, that the show would be the day after the unsuccessful Senate vote relating to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” or the day of the Florida appellate court ruling striking down the gay adoption ban. I also had no idea at the time that multiple high-profile events of interest to the LGBT community would be happening up and down the East Coast as I sat in the theater.
Luckily, others didn’t have tickets for the show!
Of the first of many happenings, Corey Johnson writes at Towleroad:
Tonight I attended a highly anticipated fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) in New York City at the Mandarin Oriental in the Time Warner Center. The fundraiser was co-chaired by former Republican National Committee Chair/Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts partner Ken Mehlman, Paypal Co-Founder Peter Thiel and Elliott Management hedge fund CEO Paul Singer.
The AFER event, Johnson reports, raised more than $1 million for the organization fighting Proposition 8 in federal court.
It wasn’t just AFER and theater in NYC, as the NAACP head visited the LGBT Community Center and Michael Lavers wrote for EDGE on the Net:
NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous urged LGBT Americans to participate in an Oct. 2 march in Washington, D.C., that organizers hope will spur lawmakers to address unemployment, education and social justice. The Human Rights Campaign, the National Black Justice Coalition, GetEQUAL, Equality Wisconsin and the National Center for Transgender Equality are among the myriad of LGBT, labor and other progressive organizations that have endorsed the march.
Finally, back in the District, the Log Cabin Republicans held their national dinner, an event that was supposed to include and honor both Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.).
According to The Hill:
[O]n Wednesday night, nearly 200 Republicans – many openly gay – sporting “Fire Pelosi” buttons gathered to support the five House Republicans’ bid for reelection this November.
Yet:
Neither Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, nor Sessions, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, appeared in person to accept their awards.
[UPDATE: I am informed by an LCR official that “Senator Cornyn did attend the pre-dinner PAC reception.”]
I am now on my way back to D.C. — where I am sure I will be met with more newsworthy information.
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