193 Reason to Have Pride: Part Two

Click here to read part one and click here to read part three of The Advocate's "193 Reasons to Have Pride in 2011."

 Because
GAY FAVES ARE HITTING THE ROAD THIS SUMMER
Sizzling music acts are going to make the hottest months of the year even more scorching. While Janet Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, and Britney Spears all have dates lined up across the country, Melissa Etheridge, the Indigo Girls, Cyndi Lauper, and k.d. lang are playing a few select dates. And if you like the Vegas heat, there’s always Céline Dion, who’s once again holding court at Caesars Palace in Sin City.

And while we’re speaking of the devils, P!nk, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry have proved they care about their gay fans with a quartet of gay rights anthems — “Raise Your Glass,” “We R Who We R,” “Born This Way,” and “Firework.” Now we just need some from the fellas. Ricky? Enrique?

Because
WE’VE WON OVER THE VOTERS
The November 2010 election saw record wins by out LGBT candidates. Among the 106 elected were our fourth member of Congress, Rhode Island’s David Cicilline; another mayor of a major Southern city, Jim Gray in Lexington, Ky. (after Annise Parker’s 2009 Houston victory); the nation’s first openly transgender elected judge, Victoria Kolakowski in Alameda County, Calif.; and one of our few statewide officials, Connecticut comptroller Kevin Lembo. Wins have kept coming in communities large and small, with April’s election of James Cappleman as Chicago’s second out gay city council member (joining the reelected Tom Tunney) and John Buchheit as mayor of Delaware City, Del. (population roughly 1,500).

Because
A GLBT HISTORY MUSEUM OPENED IN SAN FRANCISCO
Harvey Milk’s pink-rimmed sunglasses are among the items on display at the GLBT History Museum in San Francisco. Believe it or not, the 1,600-square-foot space operated by the GLBT Historical Society in the Castro is the first gay museum in the country. San Francisco seems like the ideal place.

 Because
HE DOESN’T NEED A WAND
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe will be honored with the Hero Award by the Trevor Project, the LGBT-teen suicide prevention organization he’s tirelessly supported since 2009.

Because
BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, A GAY MAN IS LIKELY TO HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED TO THE FEDERAL BENCH
President Barack Obama nominated J. Paul Oetken, a Yale law graduate who once worked for President Bill Clinton, to the U.S. district court for the southern district of New York. He appeared on track to be confirmed before Edward DuMont, an out nominee for the U.S. court of appeals for the federal circuit, who still awaits a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Alison Nathan, an out lesbian nominee, could join Oetken in the southern district.

 Because
BARBARA BUSH SUPPORTS MARRIAGE EQUALITY
Former first daughter and Manhattan resident Barbara Bush appeared in the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality video series from the Human Rights Campaign, leaving advocates to wonder, Would her voice encourage state senate Republicans to support the bill?