Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight is an English singer and songwriter who was nominated for 6 Grammy awards. Today's Out Spotlight is Sam Smith.

Samuel Frederick "Sam" Smith was born May 19, 1992 in London, England, the son of Kate Cassidy and Frederick Smith. He is an alumnus of Youth Music Theatre UK and starred in their 2007 production of "Oh! Carol". Before entering the musical theatre, Smith had been in jazz bands.

Smith studied singing and songwriting under jazz vocalist/pianist Joanna Eden. He attended St Mary's Catholic School in Bishop's Stortford and was a member of the Bishop's Stortford Junior Operatics (now Bishops Stortford Musical Theatre Society) and the successful Cantate Youth Choir.

He rose to fame in October 2012 when he was featured on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. His subsequent feature—on Naughty Boy's "La La La"—earned him his first number 1 single in May 2013.

In December 2013, he was nominated for the 2014 BRIT Critics' Choice Award and the BBC's Sound of 2014 poll, both of which he won. He released his debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour, in May 2014 on Capitol Records The lead single, "Lay Me Down", was released prior to "La La La". The second single was "Money on My Mind" which became his second number one single in the UK. The album's third single, "Stay with Me", was an international success, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart and number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, while the fourth single "I'm Not the Only One" reached the top five in both countries. Fifth single "Like I Can" reached number nine in the UK.

On January 20 2014, Smith made his American television debut performing "Latch" with Disclosure on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He also performed on Saturday Night Live on March 29 2014, performing "Stay with Me" and an acoustic version of "Lay Me Down". "Stay with Me" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The fourth single from the album, "I'm Not the Only One", reached number three in the UK and number five in the U.S.

In August 2014, Smith's single "Stay with Me" was named Variance Magazine's Song of Summer. He performed "Stay With Me" live at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on August 24 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. On November 15 2014, Smith joined the charity group Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London.

In February 2015, Smith subsequently awarded 12.5% of the royalties from his hit "Stay with Me" to Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, co-writers of Petty's 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down", upon being confronted with the similarities between the two songs. Petty and Lynne are now listed as co-writers on the track.

Smith won a 2014 American Music Award for Favorite Male Artist - Pop/Rock.

In December 2014, Smith was nominated for six Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, "Stay with Me" for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, and In the Lonely Hour for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. During the Grammy's held this evening (February 8, 2015) he won four including: Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. During one of his acceptance speeches Smith said his success came when he was able to truly be himself.

In May 2014, Smith revealed to the public that he is gay. His former partner is Jonathan Zeizel.

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight is known as "Hip-Hop’s First Lady," she is an acclaimed entertainer in music, film and television. She has received a Grammy, a Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards. Today's Out Spotlight is Queen Latifah.

Born Dana Elaine Owens in Newark, New Jersey, she was raised in the Baptist faith and attended Catholic school. At age 8, a Muslim cousin gave her the nickname Latifah, an Arabic word meaning “delicate and sensitive.” In high school, Latifah was a star basketball player and with friends formed a rap group called Ladies Fresh.

At 18, a demo recording of Latifah’s rap song “Princess of the Posse” landed her a recording contract with Tommy Boy Music. In 1989, her debut album, “All Hail to the Queen,” was released and went platinum. She has recorded seven albums, including a collection of soul music and jazz standards titled “The Dana Owens Album.” In 1991, she founded and became CEO of Flavor Unit Records. Three years later, she earned a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rap Performance for “U.N.I.T.Y.”

Her acting career launched on television in the 1990s with a starring role on the sitcom “Living Single.” She then appeared in a series of successful films, including “Set it Off” (1996), “Living Out Loud (1998) and “The Bone Collector” (1999).

Her breakout role came in the Oscar-winning film version of the musical “Chicago” (2002), playing the part of Matron “Mama” Morton. For her performance, Latifah received a SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for an Academy Award, making her the first female hip-hop artist to receive an Oscar nod.

Latifah’s subsequent film appearances include the box office hits “Bringing Down the House” (2003) and “Hairspray” (2006). For her portrayal of an HIV-positive woman in the HBO film “Life Support” (2007), she won a Golden Globe and her second SAG Award.

Queen Latifah received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On September 16, 2013, Latifah premiered her own syndicated daytime television show titled The Queen Latifah Show. On January 26, 2014, Latifah officiated the weddings of 33 same-sex and opposite-sex couples during a performance of "Same Love" by Macklemore at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight is a philanthropist and community leader who was the first openly gay United States Ambassador. Today's Out Spotlight is James Hormel.

In 1992 when Jim Hormel sought to become a United States Ambassador, he had no idea it would take seven years and a bruising political battle to achieve his goal. Ironically, he had enough votes from both Democrats and Republicans to win confirmation, but three anti-gay Senators repeatedly blocked his nomination from coming to a vote.

At the same time, special interests launched a slanderous public campaign against him. The Senate never voted, but President Clinton made Hormel U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg in a 1999 recess appointment.

Following his appointment, the State Department made major revisions to its regulations, including measures that for the first time allowed gay Foreign Service officers to bring their partners on overseas assignments.

James C. Hormel was born in Austin, Minnesota on January 1, 1933. He graduated from Swarthmore College and now serves on its Board of Managers. He earned a JD degree from the University of Chicago Law School and later served as its Assistant Dean and Dean of Students.

Hormel served as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1995 and to the United Nations General Assembly in 1996. He has also been active in Democratic politics and has served several times as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Hormel sits on the boards of several national and Bay Area (California) political and cultural institutions. He is chairman of Equidex, Inc., a family-run investment firm.

His philanthropy and activism center on promoting human rights and equality. In 1995, he established the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the new San Francisco Main Public Library, which houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of LGBTQ literature.

 "I learned in the civil rights era that nobody gives you anything - you have to fight for it. The same is true of our effort today to bring equality to all Americans."

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight was a drag performer, singer and activist. He was the first openly gay man in the world to run for public office.  Today's Out Spotlight is José Sarria.

José Sarria, who was of Latin-American descent, was born in San Francisco December 12, 1923. He was raised by his mother and grandmother, who allowed him to dress in women’s clothes.

During World War II, Sarria enlisted in the army. His fellow soldiers discriminated against him because he was gay. Sarria became friends with some by giving them tours of San Francisco.

Sarria began performing at “The Black Cat,” a San Francisco gay club. His shows, which included warning guests of police extortion and raids on gay bars, were a hit. Although the messages were often serious, Sarria presented them humorously and with a gay twist. He became famous for his closing song, “God Save Us Nelly Queens.”

In 1961, Sarria became the first openly gay candidate for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He lost, but received 5,600 votes, demonstrating that a gay voting bloc could wield political power. The possibility of empowerment laid the groundwork for the election of Harvey Milk.

In the 1960s, San Francisco gay bars were being shut down. The Tavern Guild of San Francisco organized a drag ball to protest. Sarria was crowned Queen of the Ball.

Sarria cofounded the Imperial Court System, an international organization that raises money for people living with HIV/AIDS and other causes. In 2006, a street in San Francisco was named in his honor.  Sarria passed away August 19, 2013.

 “Why be ashamed of who you are?"

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight was a soldier and activist, and the first person to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians in the U.S. military. Today's Spotlight is Sgt. Leonard Matlovich.

A a self-described "Air Force brat" who wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, an Air Force master sergeant, Leonard Matlovich at 19 enlisted and volunteered for Vietnam. He served three tours of duty, earning the Bronze Star for bravery, the Purple Heart, and an Air Force commendation.

Matlovich was an unlikely champion of gay rights. Religiously and politically conservative, he was brought up in a Catholic family and converted to Mormonism as he attempted to control his homosexual inclinations through strict religious beliefs.

He remained closeted in the gay-excluding military. But in March 1975, the decorated 12-year veteran handed his commanding officer a letter stating that "my sexual preferences are homosexual as opposed to heterosexual" and requesting a waiver of the military's anti-gay policies because of his exemplary service record.

The Office of Special Investigations declared him unfit for military service and recommended that he be discharged. His challenge to the ruling thrust him into the glare of headlines. The New York Times wrote about him, NBC made a television movie, and in 1975, Matlovich became the first openly gay person to be on the cover of Time Magazine.

In 1980, a federal judge ordered the Air Force to reinstate Matlovich with back pay. The Air Force negotiated a settlement with him and the federal court's ruling was vacated when he agreed to drop the case in exchange for a tax-free payment of $160,000.

After his case passed from the headlines, Matlovich became active in gay rights and AIDS organizations. In 1986, he was diagnosed with AIDS. When he died in June 1988, he was buried at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC with full military honors.

His headstone does not bear his name; it reads simply "A Gay Vietnam Veteran." The words "Never Again" and "Never Forget" are chiseled beneath two triangles. Below them are these words:

"When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."

 Happy Hanukkah!

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight  is an American political activist, scholar, and author. She emerged as a prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, although she was never a party member. Today's Out Spotlight is Angela Davis.

Angela Yvonne Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama on January 26, 1944, and grew up under the oppression of Jim Crow laws. Her family lived in an integrated neighborhood plagued by racial conflict. Bombings by the Ku Klux Klan were so common that the neighborhood was called "Dynamite Hill." Davis was surrounded by political activism. Her mother was a civil rights campaigner and a member of the NAACP.

Davis was a precocious child who possessed an acute awareness of her social status as an African-American woman. By the age of fourteen, she had aligned herself with socialist and communist politics, joining the communist youth organization, Advance.

In 1962, Davis landed a full scholarship to Brandeis University, where she studied French and philosophy. In 1969, after receiving her master's degree from the University of California, San Diego and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, Davis began teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA terminated her position based on her involvement in the Communist Party USA. The university eventually reinstated her professorship following enormous pressure from national and international supporters.

In 1970, Davis was charged with conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide after a shotgun registered in her name was used in a courthouse hostage shooting linked to the Black Panther Party. Fearing for her life, Davis went underground, becoming the third woman on the FBI's Most Wanted List. The Bureau eventually captured her. She was brought to trial in one of the most publicized criminal hearings of the century. In 1972, an all-white jury found Davis not guilty on all charges.

A revolutionary of unequivocal prowess, Davis has devoted her life to combating racism and sexism. Despite acrimonious attempts by the U.S. government to suppress her political influence, she has never wavered in her commitment towards global social justice.

Davis writes and lectures on gender and race issues and remains on the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a co-founder of Critical Resistance, a national grass-roots organization addressing reform of the "prison-industrial complex."

 "Revolution is a serious thing, the most serious thing about a revolutionary's life. When one commits oneself to the struggle, it must be for a lifetime. "

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight is best known for writing, directing and starring in the cult classic film “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” Today's Out Spotlight is John Cameron Mitchell.

While the story of Hedwig is not autobiographical, the sexually ambiguous character—the lead singer in a fictional rock band—does share some traits with her creator, who was born April 21, 1963, in El Paso, Texas.

 Like Hedwig, who is from East Germany and spent her youth craving the freedom of the West, Mitchell used to visit his military father in Berlin and became haunted by the Berlin wall.

Hedwig, like Mitchell, is a performer with an insatiable passion for the stage. Both are perennial outsiders making their own way—idealists who transcend labels.

Hedwig confounds male and female identities and Mitchell is an out gay man who believes gays are on the verge of selling out as they assimilate into society.

Hedwig and Mitchell teach us to distrust appearances because true character comes from the inside out.

In 2008 Mitchell established a New York nightclub called Mattachine. It was located at Julius, the nation’s oldest known gay bar. Mattachine was an homage to activists who convened at Julius in 1966 to hold a “sip-in” protest of the State Liquor Authority’s regulation prohibiting bartenders from serving homosexuals.

In 1998 Mitchell’s rock musical, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” debuted Off-Broadway and won an Obie Award. Mitchell played the lead role for seven shows a week. In 2001 he directed and starred in the film version, for which he earned the Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor. The film garnered a cult following.

In 2014 a revival of “Hedwig” opened on Broadway with Neil Patrick Harris cast in the leading role.

Mitchell also wrote, directed and produced the film “Shortbus” and directed “Rabbit Hole,” starring Nicole Kidman.

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight  was an American author and activist known for his work on behalf of trans men. Today's Out Spotlight is Lou Sullivan.

Born Sheila Jean Sullivan in a Catholic household in Milwaukee, WI,  June 16, 1951, Lou Sullivan recorded in a childhood diary the joy of “playing boys.” As a teenager, Sullivan was fascinated by male homosexuality. “I want to look like what I am, but I don’t know what someone like me looks like,” she recalled. When Sullivan began to identify as a transgender gay man, the prospects were daunting: “What can become of a girl whose real desire and passion is with male homosexuals?”

Standing at the threshold of an uncertain new world, Sullivan took the first step by adopting the identity of a female transvestite. After moving to San Francisco, Sullivan took the first name Lou, lived as a gay man, identified as a female-to-male (FTM) transsexual and medically transitioned to a gender-confirming male body.

When Sullivan was initially denied transition surgery due to his homosexual orientation, he publicly advocated for homosexuality to be removed from the list of contraindications. The successful campaign provided a breakthrough in widespread acknowledgment of the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity.

He became a peer counselor for gender-questioning women and corresponded with FTMs nationwide. He founded FTM International, one of the first FTM organizations, along with SHAFT in the UK and Rupert Raj's Metamorphosis in Toronto, and is largely responsible for the modern acknowledgment that sexual orientation and gender identity are totally different concepts.

He wrote the first guidebook for FTM persons, and also a biography of the San Francisco FTM, Jack Bee Garland and was instrumental in demonstrating the existence of trans men attracted to men.  He is also credited for being the first to discuss the eroticism of men’s clothing.


He became a founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Historical Society (now The GLBT Historical Society), whose archive have one of the best collections of material on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual history in the world. He contribute his papers to the society as well.

Sullivan remained an outspoken transgender activist until his death from AIDS at age 39, March 2, 1991, in San Francisco, California.  He was the first trans man to die of AIDS.

 “My problem is that I can’t accept life for what it is. I feel that there is something deep and wonderful underneath it.”