PITTSBURGH — Chelsea Handler will perform April 4 at the Benedum Center.

Tickets start at $39 available at TrustArts.org and the Box Office at Theater Square for the 7:30 p.m. benefit for the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh, the region’s leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization. Tickets also can be purchased by calling 412-456-6666.

“An Evening with Chelsea Handler” will be hosted by six-time Emmy winner Bruce Vilanch, who for quite a few years could be found on “Hollywood Squares” to the left of Whoopi Goldberg (“if that’s possible” according to his bio).

After a successful 10-year career in TV, Handler ended her most recent talk show, “Chelsea,” and last October announced she would pursue political activism.

She has authored five books that have made the New York Times Best Seller List, four of which reached number one. She also writes columns for Cosmopolitan and NOW, a UK celebrity magazine. She was the host of the 20th annual GLAAD Media Awards and received the “Ally for Equality Award” from the Human Rights Campaign, and was named a Grand Marshal of LA Pride.

The post Bruce Vilanch To Host Chelsea Handler At Pittsburgh’s Benedum Center April 4th first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

He’s a comedy writer but, for Bruce Vilanch, there was nothing funny about Election Day 2016.

As the results came in, Vilanch was working on a project in Los Angeles.

“I was writing, and every now and again, I would shift from my work to go online to see what was going on,” said the “Hollywood Squares” alum.

“At first I went to Facebook and there were all these people saying, ‘This is getting scary,’ ” Vilanch, who supported Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, said. “And I thought ‘gee, you mean she’s not winning?’ ”

“And it just got worse, and worse, and worse,” said Vilanch — sporting a shirt with the message “Dance Like Russia Isn’t Watching” on it, along with his signature red-framed glasses.

“And then people began calling. It was like that scene out of ‘American Horror Story’ this season, where people can’t believe what’s going on and have to share,” he said.

“So it was a strange, surreal evening,” Vilanch, a writer for the Academy Awards, said. “You step into an episode of ‘Twilight Zone,’ or something.”

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When a rally tonight in Los Angeles honors the Black Cat protest — which preceded Stonewall by two years — it will be a reminder to President Trump and his administration that protest works.

“You put a microphone in front of me, I’m going to talk about Trump,” said Mitch O’Farrell, the Los Angeles city councilman who is helping organize the rally, which begins at 8 p.m. outside the Black Cat Tavern.

O’Farrell says the Trump administration’s anti-equality agenda is backfiring. “Their authoritarian and anti-constitutional executive orders are galvanizing other historically oppressed communities into greater solidarity,” he said. Trump is giving Americans “an opportunity for us to be more enlightened and stand in stronger solidarity.”

The Black Cat protest in 1967 was itself a turning point triggered by authority. Undercover officers had gone on New Year’s Eve to the tavern in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles and waited until the clock struck midnight, when partygoers would kiss. It was illegal to kiss a person of the same sex. As partners embraced, the officers took out their badges and started violently making arrests.

The queer community was fed up with regular police brutality and took what was a highly unusual step: they organized a protest on February 11, 1967.

The founders of that protest would also create a group — Personal Rights in Defense and Education, or PRIDE — and that group created a newsletter called The Advocate. That newsletter became the magazine you’re reading now.

A lot has changed in 50 years. At tonight’s rally, for example, police are taking part in commemorating history. But LGBT Americans also have to contend with President Trump, whose policies are met repeatedly with protests. The Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration included millions of people across multiple cities all over the world. Protests broke out the next weekend at airports when Trump signed an executive order that implemented his Muslim ban at the border. Last weekend, a queer solidarity rally was held outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City after Trump threatened to sign a “religious freedom” order, which would make it optional for federal workers to recognize same-sex marriages so long as they cite a religion that says it’s immoral.

This weekend, as Los Angeles marks history, it will also be speaking directly to Trump and the likes of attorney general Jeff Sessions. Late Friday night, Sessions’ Justice Department filed a legal brief that effectively ends the Obama administration’s protections for transgender students. They had been guaranteed, for example, the right to use bathrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity.

O’Farrell says the Black Cat proves that protest works.

“It just underscores the power of the U.S. Constitution and how we always lean towards advancements,” he said. “One misguided president being in office can not and will not reverse all of that progress. Understandably, there is a lot of anxiety fear and chaos created by what he’s doing, but we will prevail over all of that and we have the Constitution, and we have our level of sophisticated activism. The LGBT community knows how to effect change and that is one of our great strengths.”

Other speakers scheduled to be at the Black Cat rally tonight include Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the cast of Queer as Folk, actors Wilson Cruz, Guillermo Díaz and Darryl Stevens, plus comedians Alec Mapa and Bruce Vilanch, executive director of Equality California Rick Zbur, and editor in chief of The Advocate, Lucas Grindley.

The post Bruce Vilanch Spoke At The Black Cat LGBT Protests Feb 11, 2017 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Lily Tomlin, Hal Sparks and Bruce Vilanch “Come Out” For Torie Osborn

Posted by Marta Evry at Monday, April 09, 2012

Last Thursday, political supporters, comedy fans and lucky activists packed the 600-seat Director’s Guild Auditorium in West Hollywood for a hilarious night of standup fundraising for Torie Osborn’s campaign for the 50th Assembly District.

Headlined by six-time Emmy winner Bruce Vilanch, Hal Sparks (“Queer as Folk“) and Lilly Tomlin, the night got off to a bang with a standing ovation for Torie Osborn.

Torie Osborn

When Ms. Osborn took the podium, supporters sprang to their feet in unison, and gave her a thunderous standing ovation.

Ms. Osborn was gracious and down-to-earth in the overwhelming aftermath.

In fact, earlier in the evening, I spied the effervescent politician dashing up the aisles to greet guests – in a patterned shirt-jacket fashioned in eye-catching hues of turquoise and blue (teamed with a chic black “t” and tasteful dress slacks that matched up) – and lead ’em by the hand to their comfy seats in the orchestra pit.< By the way, Osborn is quite unlike the overly-coiffed plastic-looking females who tend to populate the political terrain. Osborne comes across as somebody’s caring “Mom”.

In her brief chat with the supporters present, she underscored it was time to bring back the “California Dream“, and that the spanking newly-created 50th seat in the State Assembly was a great place to start in the years ahead.

Sheila Keuhl – who was also on hand – went a step farther.

After noting that the 50th seat was comprised of a handful of tony neighborhoods (such as Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Malibu, and West Hollywood, to name a few) she made an astute observation.

“It’s an open seat for a fabulous candidate,” she enthused.

“And, that candidate is Torie Osborn!”

Packed 600-seat theatre gives a standing “O” to Torie Osborn

All three comics brought their A game, but the highlight of the night went to Lily Tomlin for reworking her famous “Ernestine” routine – Ernestine as an operator for the claims department of a health insurance company.

“Oh, that’s elective surgery. We elect not to pay for it,”

“We don’t care if you’re fed up. We only care that you are paid up.”

“HMO doesn’t mean Help Me Out, ‘ya know”

Lilly Tomlin

You can read a full review of the night on Julian Ayrs blog.

To see all my photos of the night, go to this link.

Hal Sparks

Bruce Vilanch

The post Bruce Vilanch Helps Fundraise For 50th Assembly District Campaigner Tori Osborn first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Mayor Jim Gray was one of the five community leaders honored Friday night by Lexington Fairness, the gay and lesbian advocacy group, for their efforts to promote equality.

Gray, who is openly gay, received the Ernesto Scorsone Political Leadership Award, which is named for the openly gay Fayette circuit judge.

Former Lexington Vice Mayor Isabel Yates received the Ally for Fairness Award, Tim Burcham and Phillip Marcum received the Jennifer Crossen Out for Fairness Award, and Wayne Clayton received the Fairness Leadership Award.
The event, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, was hosted by Emmy Award-winning comedian Bruce Vilanch and featured entertainment by Grammy Award winner Thelma Houston.

Recipients were chosen from a field of nominations submitted by the public.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/06/26/1789989/gray-yates-honored-by-lexington.html#ixzz1QPlSp3O4

The post Bruce Vilanch Hosts Lexington Fairness first appeared on We Got Bruce!.