Score one for freedom of information. Score another for correcting a mistake, albeit unintentional.

The company that produces the software used for website filtering that was responsible for blocking a number of LGBT-related websites on Montgomery County government computers has announced an update to its software so such sites will not be blocked.

Phantom Technologies Inc., which produces the ''iBoss'' software used by Montgomery County to block adult content, announced Nov. 16 it had, for the second time, adjusted the algorithm for the program that blocks content so it would not wrongly categorize nonsexual LGBT-related sites as ''adult'' or containing ''pornographic'' content.

The controversy, as reported by Metro Weekly last month, began after Jedediah Millard, an employee of Montgomery County Councilmember Nancy Floreen (D-At Large), complained to superiors that he was unable to access a variety of LGBT-related sites for various organizations or news outlets in the course of searching the Internet for news about a Montgomery county resolution regarding marriage equality.

When Millard tried to visit such sites, the iBoss browser blocked the sites, instead returning a notice that read, ''Website contains prohibited Pornography/Nudity content.''

Millard said he notified a technician from the Montgomery County's Office of Technology Services, who fixed some of the problems regarding wrongly flagged sites, but some still remained.

The Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the national ACLU then wrote a letter to Phantom Technologies about the blocked websites. Since February, the ACLU has carried out the ''Don't Filter Me!'' campaign, which fights to amend software filters on school computers that block LGBT-related websites while allowing students access to anti-gay organizations' websites. The ACLU says that such ''viewpoint discrimination'' violates students' rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Montgomery County officials also took steps, correcting the remaining erroneous censors and ''de-flagged'' the LGBT-related sites. According to the ACLU, iBoss also took steps to update its software to allow non-adult LGBT websites.

However, the ACLU said it contacted iBoss a second time, after those adjustments had been made, because of other LGBT-related websites that were still being blocked by the software. In response, Phantom Technologies announced additional software tweaks Nov. 16, which should ensure the software does not aggressively filter LGBT websites.

According to the Phantom release, the company ''took the extra step of adding a reporting mechanism on its website so customers can submit misclassified LGBT sites directly for instant re-categorization across its entire end user base.''

''Out of the box, iBoss Web Filter products do not block LGBT content and do not have any kind of LGBT filtering category,'' Peter Marin, a spokesman for Phantom Technologies, said in a statement. ''Our filters classify sites based on their content focus, so if a site is a dating site, regardless of who is dating, it's just dating. We are completely neutral in that regard and strive to ensure our products operate in line with the ACLU's Don't Filter Me campaign.''

Phantom Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for further clarification.

In the ACLU's press release, Deborah Jeon, legal director for the ACLU of Maryland, praised iBoss for ''moving quickly to bring its software into line with Montgomery County government's values of non-discrimination and free speech.''

''It is vital for web filtering companies to take this problem seriously, especially when working with government agencies and schools that are covered by state or local nondiscrimination laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,'' Jeon said in the statement.

Jeon later told Metro Weekly that although the ACLU has often run into the problem of viewpoint-discrimination filtering on school computers, this was the first instance where she had heard of a county government blocking access to LGBT-related sites.

''Other counties may have filtered them as well, but so far this is the only one that's been called to our attention,'' she said.

More than 30 local activists representing a coalition of LGBT organizations protested in front of Metropolitan Police Department headquarters and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia today to demand fair treatment of transgender individuals by police and increased efforts in solving and prosecuting crimes committed against transgender people.

The protest, the Transgender Day of Action, was organized to call attention what activists call an inadequate response to violence directed against members of the LGBT community. It also served as a preview of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, Sunday, Nov. 20, which memorializes people killed due to anti-transgender bias. Washington's memorial vigil will be held at Metropolitan Community Church, 474 Ridge St. NW, Sunday at 5 p.m.

Transgender Day of Action protesters in front of U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C.

(Photo by John Riley)

Members of the ''TLGB Police Watch'' coalition sponsoring today's demonstration included the DC Trans Coalition, the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, Gender Rights Maryland, Get Equal DC, Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS), the Rainbow Response Coalition, Transgender Health Empowerment and the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance.

Protesters walked in a circle outside the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters chanting pro-equality messages and carrying signs reading ''Stop the Killings; Solve the Crimes,'' ''The D.C. Human Rights Law is for All!'' and ''Train All Police to Respect Transgender People.'' Outside the U.S. Attorney's Office, five people held a very large paper banner reading, ''End Transphobia Now!!!''

Event organizers also issued a list of demands and goals, which they submitted to the offices of MPD Chief Cathy Lanier, U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Ronald Machen, and the 13 members of the City Council.

The list includes requiring LGBT sensitivity training for all MPD officers; closing what activists call a disparity gap between the clearance, or closure, rate of crimes against the transgender community and crimes overall; harsher disciplinary standards for officers failing to uphold the D.C. Human Rights Law; and better tracking and reporting procedures of cases involving transgender people, including referring to them by their preferred name and presenting gender.

The activists also called for the elimination of ''prostitution free zones,'' which they believe to be unconstitutional and say encourages police to engage in discriminatory profiling. A recently introduced City Council bill, submitted by Councilmember Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), would make such zones permanent.

In response, Lanier offered a statement, handed to protesters by MPD personnel, in which she reiterated both the MPD's commitment, as well as her own, to protecting ''all members of our communities'' and highlighting the department's outreach to the LGBT community.

''An example of our efforts to improve our outreach is that we scheduled a series of open houses – the first being last night to introduce our GLLU affiliates to the community,'' Lanier said in a statement. ''While 15 affiliate members were in attendance, no members of the GLBT community showed up. This has to be a partnership where efforts are made on both sides.''

The department has seven other open houses scheduled for November and December, one for each police district. Although none of the remaining MPD outreach events are specifically geared toward the LGBT community, the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) participates as a component of the Special Liaison Units (SLU) division, as was the case in the Nov. 16 open house cited by Lanier.

But the activists in attendance pushed back against Lanier's statement, which many viewed as a thinly veiled swipe to try and discredit them.

''We've had those kinds of open houses and those meetings, and nothing comes of it,'' said Janelle Mungo, a member of Get Equal DC and one of the organizers of the demonstration. ''They're not highly publicized. It's hard to know when they're going on. When they are publicized and we do know of it, we send folks. Nothing comes out of it. It's the same story over and over.''

Lanier's statement also prompted a rebuttal from Get Equal's Charles Butler: ''We had 30 people show up at our event. You had none. Next time, if you contact us, we'll help you with your P.R.''

In this installment of Outspoken, Ebone Bell heads over to Omega for the DC Different Drummers amateur drag event, ''DCDD Does Drag, Too'' on Sunday, Nov. 13. See who knows their ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' contestants!

Food & Friends, the local organization that provides specialized meals, groceries and nutrition counseling for people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, is seeking volunteers for its annual ''Slice of Life'' Thanksgiving pie sale.

Volunteers are needed for Tuesday, Nov. 22, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. for a series of three-hour shifts to help hand out five types of pre-ordered pies.

The pies – sales for which closed Nov. 17 – can be picked up at Food & Friends headquarters, 219 Riggs Road NE, and at 25 different CVS locations throughout the District, and Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

Stacy England, special events director for Food & Friends, says there are still some volunteer shifts the organization needs to fill for the Nov. 22 pickup. She asks anyone interested in helping to sign up online through the organization's website. That volunteer site will be active till Monday, Nov. 21

For more information on Food & Friends, to volunteer for the ''Slice of Life'' campaign, or to make a donation, visit foodandfriends.org/pie. To reach Food & Friends by phone, call 202-269-2277.

Why isn't Jay Brannan more of a true folk/pop star? Certainly the gay community could use more of the sort.

There does seem to be an obvious answer, and it was intermittently on display at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Friday, Nov. 19.

Jay Brannan

But first and foremost, the concert highlighted his qualifications for a starring role. Brannan proved he's got the goods. His sweet, sensitive, Paul Simon-esque tenor sounded as good (at times even better) than it does on record. He also proved that he can play a mean acoustic guitar -- it's not just any kind of studio trickery.

And his songs are as catchy and melodious as they are smart and complex. ''Housewife,'' ''Half-Boyfriend'' and ''Can't Have It All'' stood out every bit as much live as they did on his brilliant 2008 debut Goddamned. He also previewed a couple strong new songs, including a tune called ''Greatest Hits,'' to be released on a forthcoming album. And he covered Adele's ''Someone Like You'' and Nicky Minaj's ''Superbass,'' putting his stamp on both.

Brannan's got the looks, too. Even when fully clothed as at this performance -- and not naked as in the film Shortbus, which launched his career -- the athletically built, 6'1, nearly 30-year-old man, with dirty blond hair and piercing eyes, is stunning, plain and simple.

For sure, Brannan has developed a devoted fan base. At the Rock and Roll Hotel, the sizable crowd was referential throughout his performance, hanging on nearly every utterance. They also cheered loudly and basically demanded an encore. ''Is everyone always this nice in D.C.?'' Brannan asked. It's apparently not the typical response he gets on tour. In fact, he confessed he was pleasantly surprised by the nice turnout, since he doesn't know ''a soul'' in D.C.

And why is that? It's not like it was his first time here: in fact, he's stopped in D.C. on several occasions over the past few years.

Ultimately, it seems Brannan isn't as well-connected and popular as he could be because he's rather afraid to let his guard down to connect with people. He's as racked with self-doubt as he expresses on record, and his first instinct seems to be distant, even difficult, toward strangers. Early in the concert, the New York-based artist griped at length about his sorry experiences hailing and calling cabs in D.C. If not for his talent and beauty, it's doubtful any crowd would have stuck through this tirade, as well as the rest of his between-song banter, which was mostly negative, cynical, and only occasionally funny.

Brannan also doesn't observe standard concert protocol. He watched the clock throughout the 75-minute set, as if in a hurry to get through it, and then announced when he had time for just four more songs -- and these ended up being mostly new or unfamiliar. And then when the crowd cheered for an encore before he had even left the stage, he asked, ''Should I do something new or something you know?''

He went with something new, over the crowd's understandable pleas for something it knows, including shouts of particular tunes.

Instead of leaving fans humming a familiar tune, they left thinking about what might have been, and what could be.

Lambda Legal announced today that Baltimore County must grant equal employment benefits to same-sex couples as a result of a binding arbitration decision. That decision came from grievances filed by Lambda and the Baltimore County police union on behalf of two officers who were refused benefits for their same-sex spouses.

Lambda and the Fraternal Order of Police filed grievances on behalf of Officers Margaret Selby and Juanika Ballard, who each married their spouse out-of-state, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, respectively. The two women had asked the County Police Department to add their spouses to their health coverage and were denied because their spouses were of the same-sex, and Maryland does not grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Following a February 2010 legal opinion by Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler (D), the state of Maryland recognizes legal, out-of-state, same-sex marriages. Lambda and the union held the position that because the state recognizes the officers' marriages as valid, the county did not have the right to deny them spousal benefits.

According to Susan Sommer, Lambda Legal's director of constitutional litigation, the collective bargaining agreement between the county and the police union granted spousal benefits to ''a spouse in a marriage recognized by the state.''

After Lambda and the union entered into binding arbitration with the county, arbitrator Lois Hochhauser found that denying spousal benefits to the police officers was discriminatory and contrary to the county's agreements giving benefits to spouses legally recognized under Maryland law.

In a prepared statement, Sommer said she was pleased that Baltimore County would have to ''fulfill its obligation'' to the police officers by granting them the same employee benefits and protections granted other officers. She also thanked the Fraternal Order of Police for standing up for the rights of two of its members.

''We believe the county tried to save themselves a few bucks by penny-pinching at the expense of these lesbian police officers,'' Sommer later told Metro Weekly.

A spokeswoman for the county said its lawyers were still in the process of reviewing the decision, and declined to comment on the ruling.

Heavenly Round-Up: You've circled the block on your tricycle so many times you're getting mondo frequent rider miles stacked up. You're torn between enthusiasm for the next little thing and appalling cynicism that you or anyone still cares enough to bother. You're psyched for the kick-off of the holiday season, and dreading all the obligations you'll be fulfilling, or choosing not to, at the last minute. Take a deep breath. Take a multi-vitamin. Take a bubble bath and a long nap. Use a calendar to plan through the New Year.

Aries: You're on a roll, and you're gaining momentum. Wouldn't it be peachy if you didn't find yourself possessed of a desire to know how to stop in case you want to get off? You'll do just fine, come the day, but you do need a solid exit strategy. Consult.

Taurus: Looking around at the situation, you can either retreat or you can choose to reach out. Use collateral skills belonging to your cronies or partner. Use old techniques you've let fall by the way over time. It's neither beneath you nor amateurish to be effective.

Gemini: If you can't keep your hands in your pockets and you don't know of a safe alternative (like a buddy to hold hands with in tempting circumstances), you may have to choose to get the heck out of Dodge, or stay the heck out of Dodge. Or rewrite the rules. Whichever.

Cancer: It wasn't the first thing that crossed your mind. And it might not be the most germane at the end of the day. All the same, you want to snag that thought and begin to incubate it for all you're worth. There's a real gem in the dung-heap and you want in early!

Leo: It's bigger, messier and not quite as much fun as you'd hoped. But you've given your whole heart to the endeavor and you will never give up whilst you have a say in the proceedings and resources to throw at the matter. Call up a Sagittarius to get the long range.

Virgo: You're one of a kind, and you know it. You're low-key, and you cultivate it. You're ready to take off, and you're not likely to let people know until it's almost past the point of departure. You've got a grand adventure ahead of you. It's a brand, new life phase!

Libra: Isn't it delightful when people get together and have a real good time? Isn't it charming when your acquaintance find their way to knowing each other better. Isn't it surprising when folks turn out to be connected above and beyond your graces? Celebrate.

CAPRICORN Dec 22-Jan 20

AQUARIUS Jan 21-Feb 19

PISCES Feb 20-Mar 20

ARIES Mar 21-Apr 20

TAURUS Apr 21-May 21

GEMINI May 22-Jun 21

CANCER Jun 22-Jul 22

LEO Jul 23-Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24-Sep 22

LIBRA Sep 23-Oct 23

SCORPIO Oct 24-Nov 22

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23-Dec 21

Scorpio: However determined you may be (and you are), you may not have the entire resource set to go this one alone. You're not good at reaching out for help. Could you inveigle investors instead? Could you seduce silent partners? Could you just do the research?

Sagittarius: Full of the good cheer of the season, you're on a tear. You're talking and you can't find where they put the discretion override. You're sharing, and you're pretty clearly over-sharing. You're acting like you don't get out much. Slow down and think first.

Capricorn: You want to enjoy the holiday but you've got beef with the location, the guest list and the menu. You're less than thrilled with your cohorts in attendance and you don't like the timeline for the festivities either. Get it off your chest, then shut your mouth.

Aquarius: Welcome to the fun house. Nothing you can see is quite where it should be. Everything you see is somewhat distorted. Can these oddities work in your favor? Are you capable of applying your astounding capacity for logic to the puzzle before you?

Pisces: Walk the line. Walk the talk. Walk out the door. Walk a mile in someone else's shoes. But do get moving. You have a ways to go and the journey of ten thousand miles begins with a single step. You've got the motivation. You have an internal map. Walk.

Nostalgia's a funny thing. It nags us when we least expect it, triggered by a smell or a phrase or some odd sensation that's burrowed for years. It's bittersweet, a rose-colored take on what's shaped and inspired us for years. Watching The Muppets is uncut nostalgia, multiplied a dozen times over, with hand puppets. There's rarely a scene that unfolds that doesn't tug at an old memory about Jim Henson's troupe of vaudeville creatures. Fozzie's still mugging with bad jokes and a goofy smile. Miss Piggy hasn't stopped karate chopping fools and preening over her hair. Animal remains, well, an animal. And Kermit, always a stand-in for Jim Henson's hopes and dreams and feelings, still has that incredibly expressive face that's capable of anything with the flick of a wrist.

But, even the lesser of the Muppet movies have carried those qualities. No, there's a different reason why The Muppets, directed by James Bobin, taps into what fans love and remember -- it recognizes the weight those memories carry for so many, then plumbs that meaning in the present tense. How, it asks, did the Muppets manage to fade from relevance?

The Muppets

And that's where the passion floods in. Within minutes of the opening credits, Jason Segel, who stars in the film and co-wrote the script with Nicholas Stoller, is quickly spotted as a Muppets superfan. He packs each scene with affectionate winks to past Muppets minutiae, while playing on camera with an enthusiasm that suggests the movie was as fun to film as it is to watch.

His story is simple enough: Alongside an adopted brother, Walter (voiced by Peter Linz), Segel's Gary was raised on the Muppets as a kid. As Gary hit puberty, starts dating the love of his life, Mary (Amy Adams), and generally eases into adulthood, Walter holds onto Kermit and the gang; they look like him, and that's just about all he's got. During a sightseeing trip to Los Angeles, Walter learns that the long-decrepit Muppet Theater is slated to be demolished by oil magnate Tex Richman (Chris Cooper). To stop Richman, he enlists Gary and Mary to help track down the Muppets for one last reunion, a theater-saving telethon.

It's a common conceit for Muppet movies -- the gang is separated, they're tasked with a seemingly impossible financial goal, they can only succeed by working together. If you know the Muppets, you know the story. What separates this run, though, is an awareness of that story; Segel and Stoller smartly frayed the edges and rubbed in a pinch of grit. (Kermit and Fozzie, to mention one bit, haven't spoken to each other in years.) While some fans -- and Frank Oz, who does not appear in the film -- have groused about the implications of that tone, I thought that added an unexpected, yet poignant, heft to the gang's eventual reunion. Even Walter, the drip that he is, doesn't strike as a mistake for The Muppets. He's more a cipher for Segel's loving fandom than a Poochie-like disaster -- and, it can't be forgotten, he's the anchor for the film's message about finding courage in identity. This is, after all, technically still a movie meant for kids.

That's the other thing about nostalgia -- if we spend too much time considering how something fits into what we already know and love, it's all the more likely that we miss the point. The Muppets is fueled by what we remember, but it's also sweet and funny and all of its own. It's not a shadow of something passed -- it's a reflection.

Click here to take our quick Muppets poll and enter for a chance to win movie passes!

MY WEEK WITH Marilyn is nothing if not fun. Sure, it's probably awards-season catnip. And, okay, it's not the most thoughtful fare, but damn is it a joy.

The film follows the allegedly true story of Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), a production assistant on The Prince and the Showgirl, a 1956 movie starring Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). Clark, in two books that inspired the movie, wrote about his experiences on set -- including a short tryst with Monroe, who was married to Arthur Miller at the time.

In spite of a thin story, there's just a lot to love. From open to close, director Simon Curtis's camera cuts and jives and sprints, pacing itself just past the limits of controlled chaos. Michelle Williams coos and cries and has all those fantastic Norma-Rae-or-Marilyn-Monroe mannerisms down pat, while Kenneth Branagh steals scenes as a steaming, hammy Laurence Olivier. It's not a great movie, or even a very good one, but My Week With Marilyn still sings like an old Hollywood standard.

Which is to say, Williams's Monroe is steeped in cultural perspective. She's everything that we've impressed on Monroe's memory -- tortured, manipulative, enigmatic and beautiful. What's ultimately missing, however, is a sense of her reality. We're told that she was managed (and drugged) by her handlers to a fault, and that she's torn over their attention, but what's past that? Was Monroe really that manic, that dreamlike, that maddening? If Adrian Hodges's script knows, it's not telling.

Call it nitpicking, but My Week With Marilyn ultimately stumbles by missing that answer. Clark's book, famously, suffered from an unreliable narrator. Save for trusting his word, we never know if he's telling the truth. Still, Curtis delivers that story authoritatively, without a sense of fallibility. Williams's Monroe, as entertaining as she is, doesn't deserve that truth.

''I was the first gay Scrooge they ever had,'' says Michael Sharp, who starred in Kathy Feininger's A Broadway Christmas Carol when it was originally staged at Silver Spring's Round House Theatre a decade ago. The show tells the famous Dickens classic by altering the lyrics to familiar Broadway tunes, 40 or so in all, from The Music Man to Sweeney Todd to Annie.

In Sharp's first year, the cast even changed the lyrics during one rehearsal. To the tune of ''Oklahoma'' -- known here as ''Ebenezer'' -- they sang, ''And then we say, yeah! This year our Scrooge is gay!''

A Broadway Christmas Carol at MetroStage

(Photo by C. Stanley)

''I fell on the floor laughing,'' Sharp says. This year, the Helen Hayes Award-winning actor returns to the show, in its second year at Alexandria's MetroStage. In addition to playing Scrooge, Sharp's also the director and choreographer.

''I always think of it like the Carol Burnett Show,'' says Sharp. ''[Three] people playing a million different characters. Sometimes we crack each other up. You never know what's going to happen.''

Sharp teases that the show may be gayer than simply featuring a gay actor. ''[Scrooge] never married,'' he laughs, ''and he had a strange relationship with his partner, so who knows?''

Of course, there's the whole Broadway angle too. What's gayer than that?

Sharp, who grew up in Broadway-bereft Hot Springs, Va., says his school drama teacher turned him on to Broadway. ''My first show I ever saw professionally was A Chorus Line,'' he says. ''I knew what I wanted to be [right then and there].'' After earning his arts degree from Shenandoah University, Sharp moved to D.C. and started work in theater, eventually becoming a regular at Signature Theatre.

The past few years Sharp has been missing in action on D.C. stages, caring for his ailing parents. He only returned now because his mother encouraged him. ''She loves watching me onstage,'' he says.

Sharp says his mother has made a remarkable recovery from a stroke last January. ''Doctors thought that she was going to die,'' he says, ''but I got her good care and didn't give up on her.''

Could he be any less like Scrooge?

A Broadway Christmas Carol runs to 'Dec. 18 at MetroStage, 1201 North Royal St., Alexandria. Tickets are $45 to $50. Call 800-494-8497 or visit metrostage.org.

Am I in the right theater? That's what you might wonder as Jersey Boys opens when an African-American performer launches into a hip-hop number. In French.

Isn't this supposed to be about four white guys from Jersey, who found success a half-century ago with a doo-wop style of pop?

Jersey Boys

(Photo by Joan Marcus)

Well yes, soon enough it tells exactly that story. Frankie Valli (Joseph Leo Bwarie), Bob Gaudio (Preston Truman Boyd), Tommy DeVito (John Gardiner) and Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda) made up the original lineup of the Four Seasons, the most popular band in the land before The Beatles arrived a few years later. The quartet remained wildly popular for more than a decade after, too, though eventually Valli was the only original member left. In fact, the band's several dozen hits still have staying power, and international appeal.

That opening hip-hop number is the 2000 French version of ''December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night).'' It's performed here by the phenomenally versatile Donald Webber Jr., who adds pizzazz to every small part he plays in the show. The song was a late entry in the Four Seasons' repertoire, hitting in 1975, well after two of the four original members had left the group and were eventually replaced.

But the standard English version of the song comes relatively early in the program for Jersey Boys: It becomes the soundtrack to lead songwriter Gaudio losing his virginity to a prostitute at the urging of his three original bandmates.

What, you thought this was light and wholesome family fare? The boys are from Jersey, people -- the shore was dirty well before MTV camera crews came rolling. God bless it, this ain't no Bible Belt state.

Ultimately, though, aside from a few curse words and some suggestive sexual content and intimations of violence -- and a little jarring French hip-hop -- this show is about as non-threatening as it gets. It's also as crowd-pleasing as Broadway comes. At a performance last week at the National Theatre, the crowd could barely contain its glee after the actors playing the band gave spot-on traditional covers of ''Sherry,'' ''Big Girls Don't Cry'' and ''Walk Like A Man.'' The three songs are performed one after another to signify that once the Four Seasons finally solidified itself and broke through to the mainstream, it was an unstoppable force.

Jersey Boys, which just may be the most successful jukebox musical in history, proves that the band was no fluke. The show -- which won four Tonys in 2006, including Best Musical -- is still on Broadway and has been touring now for five years. (There are currently two national U.S. tours running.) And it was only two years ago that it first stopped in D.C. for a prolonged, nearly sold-out holiday run. Now, it's encamped at the National Theatre for a two-month stretch, going through the holidays.

So if you leave feeling slightly underwhelmed, less than enraptured, at a musical that is more style than substance, and stronger in song than in story, well, you'll certainly be in the distinct minority.

Maybe it's better to just focus on what makes this show, and especially this production, work. First and foremost, there's all those hit songs, and the revelation that one of the very best, ''Can't Take My Eyes Off You,'' only got released after Valli struggled valiantly with the label. John Samorian does a fine job leading a nine-piece rock orchestra, helping give these songs even more power.

The show also works because of a strong ensemble of 19 actors. And while the four leads get most of the audience's applause, I don't think Jersey Boys would be half as strong without its supporting cast of actors who do double-, triple-, even sextuple-duty, playing multiple bit parts. In addition to Webber, who plays the French rapper and several men in uniform, there are the show's three Angels -- Lauren Decierdo, Denise Payne and Kara Tremel. Without such strong women, this show -- and by extension Jersey itself -- might just fade into the background. Broadway veteran choreographer Sergio Trujillo also adds luster, giving the actors restrained but still charming moves.

Even if Jersey Boys doesn't fully move you, at least the evening will give you a nice jolt. As that French rapper sings, ''Ces Soirées-La.''

Rihanna is a bad, bad girl.

At least that's what she has noted on several occasions since her 2007 album Good Girl Gone Bad, released when she was only 19.

Rihanna

From ''Don't Stop The Music'' to ''S&M,'' nearly every year Rihanna has released a single naughtier than what came before.

Her brand new album Talk That Talk features several stabs at a contender in the one-up series. There's the edgy, hip-hop-flavored ''Cockiness (Love It),'' on which Rihanna sings of wanting a ''sex slave'' and of being a ''queen of your body parts.'' And then, in a digitally distorted voice, she repeatedly says, ''I love it when you eat it.''

That wild track is followed by the even wilder ''Birthday Cake,'' which lasts barely a minute, but doesn't end until Rihanna says, ''I wanna fuck you right now.'' And yet, she expresses her desire so dispassionately, in a distorted voice, you have to force yourself to notice it. Talk about understatement.

Only one naughty track has obvious hit potential, ''Roc Me Out,'' bedecked in typical glossy electronic fashion by Rihanna's right-hand production duo StarGate. But the track offers a telling lyric. ''Take a peek at the girl I hide, I'll let you in on a dirty secret,'' Rihanna sings. ''I just want to be loved.''

All naughty fronting aside, love and commitment are the predominant themes of Talk That Talk. The appealing new album is brighter and lighter than Rihanna's last two tough-as-nails sets, Rated R and Loud, both colored by her disastrous, abusive relationship with singer Chris Brown. She seems to have completely exorcised the demons that had haunted her then, and now she's ready to play again, to love again, to reveal her vulnerable side without worry about looking weak. Two songs even offer magnanimous support to an ex, quite possibly Brown. For example, the ballad that closes the album, ''Farewell,'' is about the need to end a relationship because it's the right thing to do for both parties, even if it's not what either wants.

In other words, Rihanna proves here that she's actually a good bad girl. She's certainly far more good than bad this time around, in every way.

The album opens on a giddy note, with the bouncy ''You Da One,'' and then, with two tracks co-produced by Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, moves into the same Euro-trance and techno party vibe that Rihanna so effectively mined with last year's ''Only Girl (In The World).'' Later, on the sweet ''We All Want Love,'' Rihanna makes a convincing case that she's not alone in pining for amour, whose heady affects she covers on the moody, trance-y ''Drunk On Love.'' Rihanna offers some sexual innuendo on the mildly taunting ''Watch n' Learn,'' but the track is far more notable for its bright-eyed, patty-cake rhythm. It's the type of subtle nod to the Barbados-born singer's tropical roots that gives Rihanna's otherwise relatively commonplace pop music its distinctiveness.

You won't walk away loving, or even humming, every track, of course. Rapper Jay-Z, who gave Rihanna her start in the business when he was head of Def Jam Recordings, does the title track no favors by spouting his typical boasting inanities. And the austerity of Rihanna's naughty tracks doesn't make it easy to warm up to them.

Still, there's much aural enjoyment to be had on Talk That Talk, and the set is almost guaranteed to produce another handful of hits for the ever-prolific Rihanna, who has released six albums in seven years. At age 23, she has already become one of the best-selling artists of all time. She's also already tied Whitney Houston for third place among female artists with the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard pop chart, behind Madonna and Mariah Carey.

Certainly, irresistible first single ''We Found Love'' is likely just the first No. 1 to come from Talk That Talk. ''We found love in a hopeless place,'' Rihanna sings on the dance track.

In reality, love -- and hope -- seems to abound for the singer.

For a month, Frank Mugisha is out of Uganda. In late October, he arrived in Norway, where he received the Rafto Prize on behalf of the organization he leads, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). Earlier this month, he accepted the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award from the D.C.-based RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, which includes ongoing assistance from the center and $30,000 for Mugisha to use at his discretion. Then there are the countless media demands – certainly welcome when you're promoting a cause.

In Mugisha's case, the cause is equality for LGBT people in Uganda. And as the head of its primary LGBT organization, when he's not out of Uganda, he's out in Uganda. The slight 29-year-old stands in a harsh spotlight, unblinking.

Frank Mugisha

(Photo by Julian Vankim)

''Someone will come out to one person, who then hates them, and then they don't want to leave their house because they are scared everyone is going to hate them,'' Mugisha says of the situation for gay people back home. ''They call you, they want to commit suicide. I tell them, 'You know what? I came out to my brother and he hated me. But after a year, two years, he loves me. I came out to some friends. Three of them love me, and seven don't.' That kind of courage and hope – the sharing – is healing for me from my own discrimination. It helps me. It gives me a lot of courage.''

And he needs it. Take the grim reminder during Mugisha's trip abroad: Nov. 10, the day he received the RFK Center honor, a court in Uganda sentenced Sidney Nsubuga Enoch to 30 years in prison. Enoch had confessed to murdering David Kato, beating him to death with a hammer, according to Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper. Cato had been Mugisha's friend and colleague at SMUG.

Then, of course, there is the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill – aka the ''Kill the Gays bill'' in that it calls for the execution in cases of ''aggravated homosexuality'' – introduced by Member of Parliament David Bahati in 2009.

Mugisha says the introduction of the bill, seemingly influenced by anti-gay American evangelicals visiting Uganda and touting so called ''ex-gay'' therapies, made a bad situation worse.

''It hasn't been as bad as it is now,'' says Mugisha. ''The bill came in 2009. I was harassed and went in exile to Nairobi [Kenya] with my colleagues. That was 2008. In 2007, I had to move from my house because I was being harassed. That was before the bill. The problem was mainly for us activists, not for the ordinary gay person. Now they are being harassed as well – even more than we are harassed.''

Two years on, the bill refuses to go away.

As Moses Mworeko, a gay Ugandan granted asylum in the United States and living in D.C., points out, ''The people who initiated it in the first place are still there, still in that government. It's been held up by a few people, but it's still there.''

''I think Frank has some immunity,'' adds Mworeko as he praises Mugisha's work in bringing Uganda's small LGBT groups together under the SMUG umbrella. ''Most people know him, so there is no way the government can arrest him. But he has to be very careful. He has to watch his back all the time.''

Alison Peters, studying international affairs at George Washington University, also knows Mugisha, having met him a year ago while working as an intern in the Ugandan Parliament. And she also worries about his return home at the end of the month.

''I'm a bit nervous now that there's a higher profile,'' she says in light of the recent awards, and countering Mworeko's assessment. ''It's definitely a bit disconcerting. And I'm not really sure how to help. If I was to go over there, that would just backfire. What's the next step? A letter-writing campaign? It's a fundamental uphill battle.''

That battle, however, has traction, even here. For example, Peters helped organize an event for Mugisha at GW. All 300 seats sold out – including 25 seats to a campus fraternity whose pledge master mandated his pledges attend after hearing one use anti-gay language, Peters shares.

That's a small victory, but a victory just the same. And Mugisha is confident he can win many more back at home.

METRO WEEKLY: Tell me what a typical day in like for you in Uganda.

FRANK MUGISHA: I have a work plan. I have projects. I have campaigns, advocacy work, capacity development for all the organizations, because my organization is a network. And we do emergency response. Under emergency response, I have a whole security team, six people.

Maybe I have a campaign on HIV/AIDS work. Maybe I have a media campaign. Maybe I have a campaign to lobby the police or teach the police. Different campaigns. It could be a ''no hate'' campaign. And I have capacity development. Under capacity development, there are many different programs I'm running at this moment – for leadership, management, entrepreneurship – many different programs I'm running. Then we have litigation and legal support. We work with lawyers who can work with LGBT people who are being arrested.

That is ''on the book.'' That's what I'm supposed to do.

But when I wake up in the morning, I have emergency response and crisis response. I try to respond to anything that has happened. If someone calls me and they need counseling, I have to give them references. That is not in the program, but I have to take their call if they've not called the hotline, if they've called my number because they just found it from the Internet or somewhere. I'll pick it up and I'll respond to that. If someone is arrested, something I see in the media – I pick up a paper or I'm watching television and see it – I have to go where they are, even if it is 200 miles from where I live. I have to get there, get to the prison, interview them, ask them what happened, how they were arrested. And, if need be, find them a lawyer and get them out of jail. If someone is beaten up, they just call my phone. Some have memorized it. They just call and say, ''I'm at this location. I was beaten by homophobic people. I need help.'' So I just run there, take them to the hospital, rescue them.

Every day I go to work, there are different activities I have to do. It depends on what I'm doing in a month, in a week, in a quarter.

MW: And your phone is always ringing?

MUGISHA: Yes. Every second. And text messages. I don't say I work from 6 to 8. I work 24 hours. Anytime my phone rings, I respond.

MW: Is the work tiring?

MUGISHA: Of course it is. I just do it.

MW: Do you get enough support?

MUGISHA: What kind of support?

MW: From other activists, other organizations?

MUGISHA: Yes. I have a staff of about six people and very many volunteers. People come mostly for the campaigns.

We don't have enough resources in terms of funding to pay people who can be on standby every minute in case people need help. I started as a volunteer in SMUG. Not until July of this year am I being paid. We got a grant so I can be paid.

But it is very difficult. If someone calls me and they're in prison, I could call a colleague and say, ''Come with me,'' and they'll come with me. It's risky. People get scared. They say, ''You're taking me to prison to get someone – what if I get arrested myself?'' I can't rely so much on people, because they can put down my energy. If I call them and they tell me, ''We can't go. It's scary.'' Then I could get scared also. So I just, some days, just do it on my own. The person I used to work most with was David, who was murdered, because he would respond to a call anytime.

MW: How closely did you work with David Kato?

MUGISHA: I met him in 2006 and from that time we started working together and never stopped. We taught each other a lot.

MW: What do you think of the sentencing?

MUGISHA: I don't believe in the whole process, the trial. It was very quick. I don't believe in the way it happened. We heard he was sentenced, but we don't know what happened. We're confused about the whole process. I'm not satisfied.

MW: Do you think anyone in Uganda will argue the 30-year sentence is too severe?

MUGISHA: Severe? When someone has murdered someone and has confessed to the murder and is only given 30 years? I don't think anyone could say that's severe. Not even ordinary people on the street.

MW: How dangerous is the work you do?

MUGISHA: I don't have an answer. I just do it. Bad things happen. People get hurt. David was killed. But I don't know. I just don't think about that. I don't want to think about that. If I think about it, I won't do it. Though I know it is dangerous, I don't know how dangerous it is.

MW: Do you get threats?

MUGISHA: Yes. I get threatened many times. I get all sorts of threats. My threats are more or less the homophobia I receive every day.

I don't know if people could really understand about being gay and being an activist. It's not a job you sign up for. I did not sign up to be an activist. I just became an activist. It's part of me. I grew up with all the discrimination. I've been facing it, I've lived with it. You deal with it all the time.

MW: I'm puzzled by a difference between Uganda and more conservative countries. Iran or Saudi Arabia, for example, are incredibly homophobic countries, but they're also intolerant across the board. In Uganda, on their other hand, there is a lot of alcohol. There are topless women in tabloids. Uganda doesn't seem so socially conservative.

MUGISHA: People know about alcohol. People know about going out and partying and all those things. However conservative Uganda may be, these are open issues. But the issue of homosexuality has been so much related to sex.

If you had people in Uganda kissing on the street, heterosexuals, Ugandans would not take that easily. They would not harass them or bash them, but they would see it as something not normal, whereas in other countries people can kiss on the street and no one would take time to look. Issues that are connected to sex and sexuality, Ugandans don't want them to come out in public. Red Pepper, the tabloid, many times publishes nude pictures, … but it's not Ugandan society doing it. Ugandan people, you cannot find them doing what the tabloid is saying. People have always tried to shut that out.

I remember a time, recently, when Ugandans were very hostile to women wearing short skirts. We had a government official saying we must bring a law against women wearing short skirts.

So it is something to do with sex and sexuality. People just don't want these things talked about, and many times the media portrays homosexuality as sex.

MW: You've pointed to American evangelicals in Uganda to push ''ex-gay'' beliefs, laws against gay people. What have you seen?

MUGISHA: Religion is part of the reason why there is a lot of homophobia in Uganda. Religion has made homosexuals very, very evil. Religion has picked on homosexuality only. The reason? I don't know why.

There are so many things going on. Religious leaders, in many cases, are even part of the corruption, ripping people off every day. They're not condemning corruption, but they are condemning homosexuality.

Part of it has to do with the influence from conservative voices from other countries. Conservative Americans have told our Christians, ''Homosexuality is evil, and it is from our countries. It is not African.'' That has gone into our society, that homosexuality is not African, it is evil, and they should reject it.

Frank Mugisha

MW: ''Importing'' homosexuality is different than importing Christianity?

MUGISHA: It's difficult to explain. Christianity is big. It is very, very, very big in Uganda. Homosexuality is not big in Uganda. You cannot come and say Christianity was brought, and homosexuality also brought. You do not have a space to explain this. You don't have the avenue, whereas Christianity has the avenue. They have the language. Religion has been interpreted in all the languages of Uganda. Everyone understands religion, because there are very many churches.

[The Americans] did have influence. I don't know how much. They came to Uganda the same time the [Bahati] bill came. I don't want to play the blame game. American evangelicals came to Uganda, right. But Ugandans could have said no. ''No, we cannot take your issues. We are good people. We don't want to be homophobic.'' The Ugandans themselves picked up on what the Americans said. And American evangelicals teamed up with the elite – the pastors, the preachers who know that homosexuals had not done anything wrong. But they teamed up with the elite preachers and members of Parliament.

MW: Are there any churches that are affirming or sympathetic?

MUGISHA: No, they are not there. If they are, they are not open about it. We don't know about them. So there is no avenue. There is a church every meter in Uganda, and in that church are people who have never even met an openly gay person.

MW: You were raised Catholic?

MUGISHA: Yes.

MW: Do you still belong to the church?

MUGISHA: I still belong to the Catholic Church. I still love my faith. I'm still a believer in Christianity, but I don't go to church for many reasons. One reason is that I'm very busy. I work a lot. The other reason is that I don't want to listen to what the preachers are going to say. I believe they are just human beings. They have nothing to do with my faith. They are talking, and I don't have the space to talk back if what they are saying is wrong and I have another opinion. If it was a debate every Sunday, I would go. I would talk back and maybe change some people's minds. But it is them talking and I can't talk back. I would rather stay home.

MW: Would there be any point to American LGBT activists coming to Uganda to try to help SMUG's mission?

MUGISHA: They would get killed. I don't think Uganda can allow any public dialogue that is not protected by the police or the army to happen. People would get stoned. What would they do? What do you envision if American activists came?

Like I told you, the church space is big, it's welcome, it's clear. I started understanding the language of ''conservative,'' ''progressive,'' ''right wing,'' ''left wing'' – all of that – after Americans came to Uganda. I had to learn the language as an activist. Before that, I did not know there were ''ex-gay'' people. Who is ex-gay? There is no ex-gay, but now I know that. I did not know about ''recruiting.'' If someone talked about recruiting in my country, it would be recruiting into the army. But now they're saying gay people recruit. There are ex-gay people. There are conservative and progressive churches. There are affirming churches, non-affirming churches.

Those are things I never knew. That is the language I am learning as an activist.

The churches called conservative, churches I'm learning are very homophobic, have been having homophobic sentiments all the time I've grown up. But what they have done in Uganda is build schools, which is a good thing. They support orphans – thousands of orphans – in Uganda. There is a church in Uganda, which used to be called Kampala Pentecostal Church, that as a young person I loved so much, because, A, it had very many young people going there, and, B, it had open space for young people to express themselves with concerts, different kinds of celebrations. It was a place where a young person would want to go to church. They've got the [Watoto Children's Choir], which everyone loves. There are orphans who have no support at all, but they are brought into this church and they come out with a good education. Now it is called Watoto Church. This church is run by one of the most homophobic people in the world. It is run by Gary Skinner, who is very conservative – Canadian, not American – and in 2010 invited Lou Engle from Kansas City [Mo.] to come and preach in Uganda and give more support to the [Bahati] bill.

So this church, if you are going to bring American LGBT people to Uganda, what message are they going to bring? Accept homosexuality? Homosexuality is good? They are going to get killed. [Ugandans] have someone who is giving them religion, giving them health care, giving them education, who is telling them, ''Love your country. Love Africa. Homosexuality is evil.'' And you're coming as an LGBT person and telling them, ''Support homosexuality''?

MW: So you would need an established, LGBT-affirming church to counter that?

MUGISHA: I think that's what we need. And you'll have to take a very, very long time to even start the conversation on homosexuality. The churches here [in the U.S.] who are very affirming should do the same work that the other churches are doing, because they have money and you're going to need support in those areas. Let them do the same work. Let them teach the message of love.

MW: What can one person do, though? Say there is a lesbian in California who reads about you and SMUG and she wants to help. What should she do?

MUGISHA: There are many ways people here can help. First, we want the conversation here to stay here. In Uganda, they say homosexuality is Western, so if you get a [white, American] lesbian here to come to Uganda, that's ''homosexuality being promoted in Uganda by white people.''

The conversation is mainly political, asking your politicians, ''This issue in Uganda, do you know about it? What are you doing about it?''

MW: A couple of years ago, there was a protest in D.C. by LGBT activists and allies in front of the Ugandan Embassy–

MUGISHA: That helps. When there is a demonstration and the picture is brought back to Uganda, you see the relationship, that there are people like you out there who are concerned.

Most of the ambassadors who come from African countries are friends to the government, relatives to the government. You never see someone from the opposition coming to be an ambassador. And when an issue is brought to their attention in such a public demonstration, then they'll say this is an issue to talk about, maybe talk to human rights organizations and see why people are so concerned about homosexuality. A demonstration outside the Ugandan mission in the U.S., it's news in Uganda.

MW: As you travel outside of Uganda, do you consider not returning? Perhaps applying for asylum somewhere?

MUGISHA: It's not a choice for me. I don't see the reason why I would want to live somewhere else. How would I be happy? Like I told you, my activism is not a job I signed up for. I didn't see an ad in the newspaper. If I live somewhere else, my body would be safe, but my mind won't be safe. The movement is not me. It is so big, bigger than me. But I represent very many people – those that talk with me or see me, and those who don't even know me or even hear about me.

MW: When you look at your goals, where are you hoping to take SMUG? Or is it just like you're dealing with a house on fire?

MUGISHA: It's not a house on fire. I don't want Uganda to be portrayed as this place that is burning, where homosexuals are killed. I wouldn't live there. I wouldn't be alive. I can survive there. And I have parts of civil society that are working with me to try to change people's minds. And I can walk into a prison and manage to convince a police officer to let someone go. Or if I have to get a lawyer to help get someone out, that shows that at least the judiciary is independent – we have won cases. I know journalists, two or three, who very much want to write my positive story – but their editors won't accept that – so for me that is positive. And people are contacting me every day, asking, ''Frank, how can we help you?'' I'm seeing progress.

MW: Where do you want that progress to lead?

MUGISHA: I want to get to a place where there are no laws criminalizing same-sex acts in Uganda. I want to get to a place where there is no member of Parliament who thinks he should come up with laws on homosexuality to ''cure'' homosexuals. I want to get to a place where Uganda – this is the hardest part, it's going to take a very long time – where I see Ugandan people accept that homosexuals are normal. I want to see that.

MW: Do you think you will someday?

MUGISHA: In my generation, that chance is close to 10 percent. With laws, I know those things can change. I tell my colleagues, ''You know what? It is a marathon.'' We are going to put our government on the spot. We're going to get all the help we need. We're going to do this and ask the government to decriminalize homosexuality. That could even happen in five or 10 years. I could see it.

MW: What is your message for LGBT Americans? What do you want them to know about Uganda, about you and SMUG?

MUGISHA: I want them to know that there is a lot going on in Uganda. There is a lot of homophobia. There are a lot of hate crimes, violence towards LGBT people. But we are not standing back. We are standing up to this homophobia.

And I don't work alone. I've got great friends that I work with in Uganda. We are doing everything we can to try to change how people perceive us in Uganda. And we need support, moral support. Send us messages of support. The only question people ask me is, ''What are gay people to do here [in the U.S?]'' And I say support us. Talk to your politicians. Sign petitions. Support progressive work or churches in Uganda. Donate money to SMUG or donate to organizations that work with us, like the RFK Center.

It's not only our struggle in Uganda. When American evangelicals came to Uganda, imagine if we had given in. Imagine if the bill had been passed. It was asking for people to be reported in 24 hours. Every person who is known to be gay would be reported, even those who are not public. And they would go to prison, where they would give you two options: Do you want to go to Family Life Network and the churches that are going to change you to become straight, or do you want to get killed? Who would choose to be killed or to stay in prison? People would choose to get ''cured.'' To avoid prison, they would say, ''Oh, we're cured.'' The study would come back here to the U.S. or to Europe and they would say, ''Healing therapy works. In Uganda we've cured hundreds of homosexuals!'' You may not believe it, but many people believe what is written. It can come back here.

MW: With the upcoming American tradition of Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for?

MUGISHA: I'm thankful, first of all, for my own courage, that I'm able to help people. The biggest thing that has happened to me in my life in Uganda is having a family of new people, gay and lesbian people, who are my family. When I'm in my comfort zone in Uganda, I go to work and it's all my friends there. I make my own world, my own fantasy world, and forget about all the homophobic people in Uganda. I'm very thankful for my brave colleagues that I work with every day.

For more information about Sexual Minorities Uganda, visit the group online at smug.4t.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/smug.2004.

Oregon holds off on 2012 marriage ballot measure

Marriage activists in Oregon have announced they will not continue their campaign effort to legalize marriage between same-sex couples in the state in 2012.

Basic Rights Oregon, a statewide LGBT activist group, had launched multiple television ads promoting marriage legalization, but cited the economic downturn as the primary reason for not continuing their campaign. While the campaign will hold off on a ballot measure for now, the group still plans to continue outreach efforts regarding marriage equality.

''It's a disappointing sort of position to be in,'' Jeana Frazzini, the group's director told the Associated Press. ''At the same time, it creates a tremendous opportunity. The groundwork that's been laid, the momentum we've created can only get stronger.''

If the group had gone forward and voters had approved, Oregon could have been the first state in the country to vote for marriage-equality legalization in an open ballot. Voters in Maine still could have that distinction, as efforts toward a ballot measure move forward in that state.

–Brian Vetock

New study shows benefit of Gay-Straight Alliances

The Family Acceptance Project has announced that a recent survey found that LGBT young adults tend to have an increasing success rate when they are involved in high school or middle school Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs.)

The study, which examined 245 LGBT young adults, ages 21 to 25, found that LGBT youth are more at risk for school bullying, based on their sexual orientation, which leads to mental health problems such as depression. The study's findings also demonstrate that a support system such as a GSA can positively affect the academic performance of LGBT youth.

Co-author Stephen T. Russell said in a news release, ''This study adds to the mounting evidence that youth-led clubs are important for healthy development – especially for youth at risk. For LGBT youth, high school [GSAs] make a significant positive difference.''

–Brian Vetock

LGBT history museum and archives honors elected officials

Elaine Noble and Joel Burns were both honored by the Stonewall National Museum and Archives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Nov. 11.

Noble, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to a state legislature, in Massachusetts, was honored with the organization's Heritage Award. Joel Burns, who is a city council member in Fort Worth, Texas, and who brought attention to the issue of school bullying through a speech he made that has been viewed more than 2.5 million times on YouTube, was honored with the organization's Spirit Award.

The museum, which honored Noble and Burns at its ''Our Stars Party,'' is one of only a few such LGBT museums/in the country. Among its offerings are art exhibits and a library.

–Brian Vetock

On Monday, lawyers for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network took the next step in their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of unequal spousal benefits granted to servicemembers in same-sex marriages, arguing in federal court in Massachusetts that "American service members and their families are among [the Defense of Marriage Act]'s victims, and our national security may suffer as a result."

Telling the court that there are no facts in dispute in the case, SLDN lawyers argue that the court should rule on the legal issues in the case and decide those issues in SLDN's favor.

The lawsuit, which challenges the application of the Defense of Marriage Act to provisions of federal law that detail military benefits, was brought by SLDN on Oct. 27. In the Nov. 21 filing, SLDN's lawyers argue that the inability of LGB servicemembers to get spousal benefits for their same-sex spouses violates several constitutional mandates, including the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment; limitations on congressional authority in Article I of the Constitution and the 10th Amendment; prohibitions on conditions placed on federal benefits; and prohibition on ''bills of attainder,'' which the lawsuit defines as "any law that legislatively determines guilt and inflicts punishment upon an identifiable individual without provision of the protections of a judicial trial."

In the filing, SLDN lawyers take aim at DOMA by applying the same principles to the now-LGB-inclusive armed forces that were long used by opponents of out LGB servicemembers to implement and then keep "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in place.

The lawyers write: ''Any claim that DOMA, as applied to military spousal benefits, survives rational basis review is strained because paying unequal benefits to service members runs directly counter to the military values of uniformity, fairness and unit cohesion.''

Among the benefits denied to same-sex couples currently and at issue in the lawsuit are medical and dental benefits, basic housing allowances, travel and transportation allowances, family separation benefits, military ID cards, visitation rights in military hospitals, survivor benefit plans, and the right to be buried together in military cemeteries.

The defendants, Attorney General Eric Holder, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, are yet to file any defense in the case, and SLDN lawyers stated in the initial complaint that they did not expect the government to defend DOMA's restrictions.

Spokespersons from the Department of Justice and Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the government's position on the case.

SLDN's lawsuit, McLaughlin v. Panetta, was filed in the same federal court where Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders filed a challenge to Section 3 of DOMA in a non-military context. That lawsuit, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, resulted in a decision at the district court that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional and is cited throughout the Nov. 21 filing. A similar decision was reached in the court in a related case, Massachusetts v. United States, which was brought by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D). Those decisions are now on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, where DOMA is being defended by the Republican leadership-controlled House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG).

Neither a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) nor the lead attorney hired to represent BLAG immediately responded to a request for comment about whether the government had informed them about the government's position on the case.

District Court Judge Joseph Tauro, who decided the Gill and Massachusetts lawsuits at trial, was initially assigned the McLaughlin case as well. On Nov. 9, according to the court docket, the case was reassigned to Judge Richard G. Stearns. No reason was given for the reassignment.

At first glance, Sharon Lettman-Hicks doesn't seem like your typical LGBT activist.

For starters, she's a straight woman. She's married to a military husband. She proudly says she was raised with ''strong Christian values.'' But LGBT people, especially those of color, would have a hard time finding a more passionate advocate who demands nothing less than their full equality and freedom to express their identity.

Just don't call her an ally.

Sharon Letterman-Hicks

''I hate the word 'ally,' because I don't consider myself an ally,'' she says. ''I consider myself a sister in a movement, because to me it is a family affair and black LGBT people are my brothers and sisters.''

Currently serving as the executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), a civil rights organization dedicated to empowering black LGBT people by fighting racism and homophobia, Lettman-Hicks describes her involvement as a fierce advocate for LGBT equality as part of a ''natural migration'' resulting from her own experiences facing discrimination from within the African-American community.

Growing up as the dark-skinned child of Hispanic immigrants, Lettman-Hicks says she often faced discrimination from both the Latino and African-American communities, who were unsure of how to deal with her. A personal battle with obesity during adolescence also made her a target for discrimination.

''It's very cultural for me,'' she says of the struggle of black LGBT people to gain acceptance, particularly within the African-American community. ''It's very much a part of my DNA. And how dare anyone, especially within our cultural community, deny another black person the right to be whole after all we've overcome after generations and centuries as a people?''

In October 2009, after eight years working for People for the American Way Foundation, Lettman-Hicks joined NBJC, where she began working on initiatives to engage the black church community on LGBT issues. At times, she wages a two-front effort on behalf of the black LGBT community to earn recognition and respect as a potential partner from both LGBT and black organizations.

''My first responsibility is to remove the black-on-black crime against black LGBT people within the black community,'' she says. ''I coin it, 'We are black, too.' And it's also to build more inclusion of recognition of the beautiful black talent within the LGBT community.''

But she says there are some significant hurdles to those goals.

''As far as I'm concerned, black people still live by 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' Culturally, it's not a social issue that we talk about, because of some of the overt homophobia – and at the same time, not wanting to take on mommy, daddy, uncle, aunty. It starts in the family. And then it's in the schools, in the community.''

To begin addressing some of those issues, including the bullying of black LGBT youth in schools and violence against LGBT people, NBJC has begun an outreach and education campaign to a number of black media outlets, including Black Enterprise magazine, Essence magazine and the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

''I think people can count on the National Black Justice Coalition to be on the forefront of bringing awareness of black LGBT issues, challenges and triumphs to the black community in a much more deliberate way,'' says Lettman-Hicks.

With Nov. 20 marking the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, Lettman-Hicks says it can – and must – move beyond simply memorializing victims lost to anti-transgender violence or bias, which has recently increased to a level Lettman-Hicks characterizes as a ''crisis situation.''

''I think this is going to be the time where the 'urgency of now' will prevail. I think that this particular anniversary is not just about remembrance, but about how the level of violent crimes against the transgender community has escalated at a more aggressive and accelerated level.

''We can see this year in remembrance as a time to do a call for action. … It needs to be more on an 'Occupy Wall Street' level, where it's much more speaking out in solidarity, it's a much more strategic arm. We're declaring this day as a kick-off to a much more aggressive strategy of recognition and education about the challenges within the transgender community, particularly around violent crimes.''

For more information about the National Black Justice Coalition, call 202-319-1552 or visit nbjc.org.

Following a year that saw a spike in reported anti-transgender attacks, the Washington-area LGBT community held a vigil at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, D.C., Nov. 20 to mark the internationally recognized Transgender Day of Remembrance, which memorializes people killed due to anti-transgender hatred, bias or violence.

The overarching theme of the vigil, now at its 10-year milestone in the District, was ''That my living not be in vain.'' In keeping with the theme, the vigil fluctuated between two separate moods: one prayerful, solemn and somber, with moments of deep reflection; and another loud, boisterous and celebratory, as the Agape Praise Choir of Unity Fellowship Church sang hymns, audience members stood and danced amid the rows of chairs, and speaker Ellen Johnson even spoke in tongues.

During the vigil, organizers and speakers read aloud the names of local victims from years past, as well as all known international victims for the November 2010 to November 2011 calendar year as Rev. Abena McCray, pastor of Unity Fellowship Church DC, slowly poured out a pitcher of water. After each name, the audience responded, ''We remember you.''

In the solemn moments, many speakers used the opportunity to pray for an end to violence directed against members of the transgender community. Jessica Xavier, one of the vigil's organizers, asked those present to remember the basic humanity of those who lost their lives to violence.

''The fact is that these were brothers and sisters, family members, friends, people of faith in their communities,'' she said. ''And quite often, as is the case in this crazy world of ours, they get taken from us. But they're not martyrs. They didn't die for a cause. They weren't a member of any political movement. They were human beings, just like all of us.''

Jeffrey Richardson, director of the Mayor's Office of GLBT Affairs, tied in Mayor Vincent Gray's oft-repeated campaign theme of ''One City'' to advocate for greater inclusion of transgender people.

''Mayor Gray calls upon all residents of the District of Columbia to join us in saluting our transgender brothers and sisters, and calling for an end to the violence against transgender members of our community,'' Richardson said. ''Tonight let us not allow these precious souls to go forgotten, but let us honor their lives by doing all that we can, in every way that we can, to rid our city and our country of the hatred, the self-hatred and the anger that took their lives.''

But in keeping with the more upbeat parts of the vigil, other speakers encouraged the audience to harness their sadness and anger and transform it into positive action.

''As you know, we've had a challenging year,'' said Jason Terry of the DC Trans Coalition. ''But we know the horizon of justice is ahead of us. We can see it, and we're getting there.''

Local longtime activist Christopher Dyer invoked recently deceased gay rights leader Frank Kameny in his short address.

''You know, Frank Kameny said that gay is good,'' Dyer said. ''Well, trans is good. LGBT is good. And it's all on us to make it better.''

More than 30 local activists representing a coalition of LGBT organizations protested in front of Metropolitan Police Department headquarters and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia Nov. 17 to demand fair treatment of transgender individuals by police and increased efforts in solving and prosecuting crimes committed against transgender people.

The protest, the Transgender Day of Action, was organized to call attention to what activists deem an inadequate response to violence directed against members of the LGBT community.

Ruby Corado at Transgender Day of Action protest

(Photo by John Riley)

Members of the ''TLGB Police Watch'' coalition sponsoring the Thursday demonstration included the DC Trans Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, Gender Rights Maryland, Get Equal DC, Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS), the Rainbow Response Coalition, Transgender Health Empowerment and the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance.

Protesters walked in a circle outside MPD headquarters chanting pro-equality messages and carrying signs reading ''Stop the Killings; Solve the Crimes,'' ''The D.C. Human Rights Law is for All!'' and ''Train All Police to Respect Transgender People.'' The protesters then marched across the street to the U.S. Attorney's Office, where five people displayed a large paper banner reading, ''End Transphobia Now!!!'' while speakers addressed the crowd.

''For the last 15 years, we have endured a lot of violence on the streets of D.C., and a lot of our sisters have actually fallen due to that violence,'' said local transgender activist Ruby Corado. ''We can no longer afford one more murder. We can no longer afford one more stabbing. We can no longer afford one more shooting. What we need is to move forward with initiatives that help our community thrive.''

Event organizers also issued a list of demands and goals, which they submitted to the offices of MPD Chief Cathy Lanier; U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Ronald Machen; and the 13 members of the City Council.

The list includes requiring LGBT sensitivity training for all MPD officers; closing what activists call a disparity gap between the clearance, or closure, rate of crimes against the transgender community and crimes overall; harsher disciplinary standards for officers failing to uphold the D.C. Human Rights Law; and better tracking and reporting procedures of cases involving transgender people, including referring to them by their preferred name and presenting gender.

''It's gotten to a point now where something needs to be done,'' said Xion Lopez, a transgender woman who addressed the crowd in front of the U.S. Attorney's Office. ''I'm here because I'm standing up for my rights, not just for myself, but for all people of the LGBT community.''

The activists also called for the elimination of ''prostitution free zones,'' which they believe to be unconstitutional and say encourages police to engage in discriminatory profiling. A recently introduced City Council bill, submitted by Councilmember Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), could make such zones permanent.

Janelle Mungo, a member of Get Equal DC and one of the organizers of the demonstration, said the prostitution-free zones are ''huge detriments'' to the LGBT community.

''When you think about it in theory, it sounds nice,'' Mungo said of the prostitution-free zones. ''But when you really dig down into it, it creates huge problems for the communities that live there, whether they are sex workers or just people in the area. It doesn't create a safe environment. It creates a heavily policed environment, which creates a lot of aggression in the people, and it's not safe. That's why we need to educate the community about the real problems with these prostitution-free zones.''

In response to the demonstration, Lanier offered a statement, handed to protesters by MPD personnel, in which she reiterated both the MPD's commitment, as well as her own, to protecting ''all members of our communities'' and highlighting the department's outreach to the LGBT community.

''An example of our efforts to improve our outreach is that we scheduled a series of open houses – the first being last night to introduce our GLLU affiliates to the community,'' Lanier said in the statement. ''While 15 affiliate members were in attendance, no members of the GLBT community showed up. This has to be a partnership where efforts are made on both sides.''

The department has seven other open houses scheduled for November and December, one for each police district. Although none of the remaining MPD outreach events are specifically geared toward the LGBT community, the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) participates as a component of the Special Liaison Units (SLU) division, as was the case in the Nov. 16 open house cited by Lanier.

But the activists in attendance pushed back against Lanier's statement, which many viewed as an attempt to discredit them.

''We've had those kinds of open houses and those meetings, and nothing comes of it,'' Mungo said. ''They're not highly publicized. It's hard to know when they're going on. When they are publicized and we do know of it, we send folks. Nothing comes out of it. It's the same story over and over.''

Lanier's statement also prompted a rebuttal from Get Equal's Charles Butler: ''We had 30 people show up at our event. You had none. Next time, if you contact us, we'll help you with your P.R.''

Others attending the demonstration said they hoped there would be positive developments once public officials realized they are being held accountable for how they respond to crimes against transgender people.

Cyndee Clay, executive director of Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS), said she came down to support better treatment of transgender individuals by law enforcement.

''I think this is a problem with individual officers on the streets, which is a training problem, which is also a leadership problem,'' Clay said. ''We need to system-wide try to address these issues, do system-wide trainings, and give officers the tools they need, which they often don't.''

Clay added that, as a community activist, she used to have a good working relationship with the GLLU officers, but feels the decision to change how the unit operates by focusing more on affiliate officers in each of the seven police districts instead of a centralized unit has harmed its ability to provide culturally sensitive service to LGBT crime victims.

''I think it was an example of something that was going well that got all screwed up,'' she said. ''I'm not sure why they took something that was working and disbanded it to the point that it became largely ineffective.''

Also attending the rally were five high school students representing the Gay-Straight Alliance of Washington-Lee High School, in Arlington. The students said they came because they wanted to support members of the transgender community and were particularly influenced by the attack last April against transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis in a Baltimore-area McDonald's restaurant, as well as anti-transgender shootings in the District.

''Honestly, I think people are more indifferent to trans rights than anyone else in the LGBT community, just because there's a lot of misinformation about it and people cling so tightly to their ideas of gender norms and gender roles,'' said 15-year-old sophomore Gwen Yamanaka. ''So there's a lot of ignorance, a lot of indifference. It's really easy for people not to care or be against us.''

It was the "golden hour" of late afternoon on Nov. 3 during the viewing for gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny when I walked outside the Carnegie Library for some fresh air. I had been greeting people arriving to pay their respects. The sun hung low above the White House to the southwest, bathing the cars on New York Avenue in a golden light. Charles Francis, co-founder of the Kameny Papers Project, sat beside me as I searched for a WiFi signal for my new iPad. The first book I had downloaded was Frank's 1961 petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, which Charles had published on Kindle. New tools, old struggle.

Two hours later, night had fallen when I walked behind Frank's flag-draped casket. There at curbside under a half moon stood Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Vincent Gray, several D.C. Council members, and an honor guard of gay servicemembers. They were a testament to how far we've come since Frank first fought back. Inside earlier, the Rock Creek Singers of the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington had sung three selections including a gorgeous a cappella "Star-Spangled Banner."

Speaking at a memorial gathering for Kameny on Capitol Hill on Nov. 15, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) praised Kameny's assertiveness, noting he was no "shrinking violet." He drew laughter when he said he appreciated Kameny for proving that effective activism did not require being a neat dresser.

We are all Kameny's legacy. That is one of the blessings I count this Thanksgiving. Other blessings include my partner Patrick and my family who welcomed him. I am thankful too for departed friends who enriched my life, and for remarkable new friends. One is Kadeem, a gay teen thrown out by his parents who built his own support network, finished high school, and has ambitious college plans. Sixty-seven years separate this natural leader from Kameny, whom he met in April.

I am grateful for other fighters in top form — not gripers and snipers, but smart, well-grounded change agents like these:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who united squabbling marriage equality activists and new allies with a winning combination of commitment, leadership, savvy and guts.

Attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson, whose thoroughness in the Proposition 8 case gives reason for confidence, especially since a ruling last week puts it on a likely path to the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, who on July 22 signed the certification that ended the military gay ban.

MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, architect of RomneyCare, who hit a bull's-eye last week against Mitt Romney's desperate, implausible critique of ObamaCare when he told Capital New York, "They're the same fucking bill."

I was helping sort through documents in Kameny's office a few weeks ago, and found an old policy brief from the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance. I have had to work on the 2012 edition without his input. We continue the struggle through a new election with new issues. I will miss Kameny's updates on the gay-hating obsessives of the radical right, whom he monitored avidly. They certainly haven't let up.

Lies by our opponents are easily spread and require great talent and energy to refute. Five years ago I sat in a darkened room with Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, watching a focus group through a two-way mirror as part of the advance work for D.C.'s marriage-equality law. Historic breakthroughs do not happen without preparation. So I add to my thank-you list our dedicated voter researchers and political pitchmen. Finally I add campaign volunteers and donors. All are vital to our future victories. Now fuel up for the long fight ahead, and save a wishbone for me.

Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and activist. He can be reached at rrosendall@starpower.net.

For much of my life, I've tried hard not to be that guy.

You know that guy, the one who has a number of sincerely held and generally laudable opinions and beliefs that unfortunately are always conveyed with just the slightest sense of smugness. That guy who so obviously feels a sense of moral superiority when holding forth on whatever topic might be at hand. That guy who is on the crusade to turn off or change the channel on public TV screens that are showing Fox News.

It's that last one where I may have turned a bit of a corner on the road to that guy.

So my gym's locker room is filled with video screens, which are generally set to one of four cable networks: CNN, MSNBC, ESPN and Fox News. My own personal preference is for ESPN, because it's a gym and it just makes a certain amount of logical sense to me. Not everyone feels the same, which is why the channels get changed so often. Notably, when the earlier and older crowd is about, more screens get turned to Fox. The later evening, younger and basketball-playing crowd turns more of them back to ESPN.

Normally, I try to ignore most of what's onscreen because it's a locker room, and hanging out for an hour or so watching television while guys are showering and changing would just make me that creepy guy. But Fox News can be hard to ignore. This week, they caught my attention with a discussion focused on justifying the use of pepper spray by heavily militarized police officers on nonviolent college protestors. Because Fox News apparently hasn't met a police state it doesn't like.

So, click. And I will click again.

There are a couple of points to prove that I'm not yet totally that guy. I'm only turning off or switching to ESPN when I'm the only one watching. I have no desire to enter into a ''conversation'' or ''dialogue'' over the propagandistic evils of Fox News — I go to the gym to work out, not hone my political argumentation skills. And I can always find another locker near a screen where Rachel Maddow or Don Lemon are playing, giving me a more comforting cocoon to reinforce my beliefs.

Also, in fairness, I've turned off CNN and MSNBC as well when they're showing another annoying shout-fest between people from the ''left'' and people from the ''right.'' I know I'm not alone in finding them tedious, but I do find myself more alone in not finding them addictive. I'm all for news — I've been addicted to news since I was a kid — but I'm not so much into the all-spin, all-the-time mindset that's prevalent on most cable news channels and reigns supreme at Fox.

I'm pretty content getting most of my news through newspapers, magazines and websites. If anything of interest happens — say, Fox's Megyn Kelly dismissing pepper spray as ''a food product, essentially,'' as if UC Davis college police were serving up spicy Thai noodles rather than dousing students with a searingly painful compound with documented dangers — I'll catch it online because people on the Internet live for that stuff.

So I'm not completely that guy, yet. I see the signs and the potential smugness — I'm sure a Fox News fan would say, ''Potential?'' — and I'm keeping myself alert. I'll always think before I click.

Click here to take survey