Actress Diane Lane has agreed to star in the HBO movie Cinema Verite, which looks at the groundbreaking PBS documentary series An American Family, according to AOL Television. An American Family, which debuted in 1973, introduced the country to the Loud family, which included son Lance, the first out character/person on TV. Lane will play matriarch Pat Loud, who asked for a divorce from husband Bill—while the cameras rolled.
Openly gay former boy-band singer Lance Bass is joining lesbian celebrity chef Cat Cora and members of the punk band Green Day in sponsoring a gay-friendly prom in Mississippi after Constance McMillen—who tried to bring her girlfriend to such an event—was tricked into going to a fake prom, according to an Advocate.com item. The celebrity-sponsored prom will take place May 8 in Tupelo, Miss., and will be open to students of all sexual orientations. On April 2, McMillen and her girlfriend went to a prom that had seven people, while all the other students at Itawamba Agricultural High School went to another prom sponsored by those students' parents.
Glee co-star Jane Lynch has announced her engagement to her longtime girlfriend, psychologist Lara Embry, according to the New York Daily News. Lynch, 49, told US Magazine, "We don't have any plans at all yet. But I have a ring and everything. We're very happy and very excited!" Embry has joint custody of two children with her former lesbian partner.
Kitty Kelley's new unauthorized biography of Oprah Winfrey deals with the much-discussed question of the talk-show host's sexual orientation—but concludes that there is no evidence of a lesbian relationship with friend Gayle King, according to Advocate.com . The book, Oprah: A Biography, also has a quote from Rosie O'Donnell, who said in an interview with Howard Stern last year that Winfrey and King are the "emotional equivalent of a gay couple." Winfrey was not interviewed for the book.
The release of the Jim Carrey-Ewan McGregor movie I Love You Phillip Morris has been pushed back from April 30 to July 30, according to Variety. The movie has had trouble being shown since premiering at Sundance in 2009, primarily because of the film's subject matter. In the movie, Carrey plays a married con man who falls in love with his cellmate, played by McGregor.
In an interview with The Advocate magazine, Christian-pop singer Jennifer Knapp came out of the closet. However, the publication stated that Knapp resists the "lesbian" label, saying that "she's just the Jennifer Knapp she's always been, just with a significant relationship with a woman." Knapp said that she realizes that she's going to stun some of her fans: "I think it's going to be shocking and feel like a betrayal to some people who live their spiritual lives through the music they listen to."
Gwyneth Paltrow apparently will not be Nicole Kidman's wife in the upcoming trans-centered movie The Danish Girl, according to Advocate.com . Paltrow was a replacement for Charlize Theron in playing the wife of Einar Wegener, a Danish painter who, in 1931, became the first person to undergo sexual-reassignment surgery to become a woman. Paltrow felt that a location change in filming would be too much for her children.
Actor/activist Reichen Lehmkuhl and his boyfriend, Rodiney Santiago, may be part of the cast of Logo's "gay housewives" project, according to Advocate.com . Also, ex-model Derek Lloyd Saathoff is expected to join the series, which should start production next month. Lehmkuhl is no stranger to reality TV, having won The Amazing Race several years ago with then-partner Chip Arndt.
The estate of the late out disco singer Sylvester is helping people living with HIV/AIDS, according to the Bay Area Reporter. Sylvester—who died in 1988 at 41 from AIDS-related complications—originally bequeathed that royalties from his songs, which include "You Make Me Feel ( Mighty Real ) ," go to the San Francisco, Calif., agencies the AIDS Emergency Fund and Project Open Hand. Recently, the two agencies split a check from Sylvester's estate that totaled almost $140,000.
Singer Rufus Wainwright has said that he knows rapper 50 Cent is gay, according to Towleroad.com . Wainwright, in an interview scheduled to run in the May issue of Details magazine, said, "I love, love 50 Cent. I think he's just the sexiest, and a brilliant writer. And I know he's gay...That cute little voice of his. It's okay, 50 Cent. Feel free to call me anytime. My boyfriend and I are experts. You can come over for dinner. And maybe dessert." However, 50 told Playboy in 2004 that "I don't like gay people around me, because I'm not comfortable with what their thoughts are."
Adam Lambert, the cast of Glee, Johnny Weir, Sofia Vergara, Eric Dane, Chaz Bono, George Takei, Constance McMillen, Candis Cayne, Wilson Cruz, RuPaul and New Orleans Saints linebacker Scott Fujita were among the celebrities who joined the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ( GLAAD ) as it honored Drew Barrymore, Wanda Sykes and the best in film, television and journalism April 17 at the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, according to a press release. Iron Chef America's Cat Cora presented the Vanguard Award to Barrymore while Mississippi teen Constance McMillen—whose high school cancelled her prom instead of letting her attend with her girlfriend—presented the Stephen F. Kolzak Award to Sykes, who joked, "This means the world to me and I promise that I will continue to be a voice, and hopefully a positive image, but I've got to tell you—you might have to put up with a stint in rehab, I'm sorry."
