National
Elton John, Bernie Taupin to receive Library of Congress Gershwin Prize
Internationally acclaimed duo to be honored on March 20 at D.C. concert
The Library of Congress announced on Jan. 30 that it has named singer and songwriter Elton John and Bernie Taupin, John’s longtime songwriting lyricist, as 2024 recipients of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
A Library of Congress spokesperson said the prize will be presented to John and Taupin at an invitation-only concert on March 20 at D.C.’s DAR Constitution Hall that will be broadcast on PBS stations nationwide on April 8 at 8 p.m.
“Elton John and Bernie Taupin have written some of the most memorable songs of our lives,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in a statement announcing the prize. “Their careers stand out for the quality and broad appeal of their music and their influence on fellow artists,” Hayden said. “More than 50 years ago, they came from across the pond to win over Americans and audiences worldwide with their beautiful songs and rock anthems.”
Hayden added, “We’re proud to honor Elton and Bernie with the Gershwin Prize for their incredible impact on generations of music lovers.”
The statement notes that John and Taupin began their collaboration of more than 50 years in 1967, when John was a young piano player who started writing music and Taupin had just begun as a lyricist.
“Their process seems simple,” the statement says. “Taupin writes lyrics and sends them to John who goes to work at the piano and creates a song. The results of their enduring partnership have been simply incredible.”
“Your Song,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Rocket Man,” “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” are just a few songs they wrote together that became timeless standards,” the statement says. “Not to mention the fun they had with “Bennie and The Jets,” and “Crocodile Rock,” which became their first No. 1 single in the U.S. in 1973.”
The statement says the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song was created in recognition of the legendary American songwriting team of George and Ira Gershwin. It is “the nation’s highest award for influence, impact and achievement in popular music,” according to the statement.
John, who is gay and who has been a longtime supporter of LGBTQ rights, established the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992, which has raised more than $565 million for HIV/AIDS grants that have funded more than 3,000 projects in more than 90 countries to care for people with HIV/AIDS and provide education and HIV prevention programs, the statement points out.
U.S. Military/Pentagon
Pentagon gives honorable discharges to 800+ LGBTQ veterans
Admin has committed to remedying harms of anti-LGBTQ military policies
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday announced the Pentagon has upgraded the paperwork of more than 800 veterans who were discharged other than honorably before discriminatory policies like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” were repealed.
“More than 96 percent of the individuals who were administratively separated under DADT and who served for long enough to receive a merit-based characterization of service now have an honorable characterization of service,” said Christa Specht, director of legal policy at the department’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.
The change will allow veterans to access benefits they had been denied, in areas from health care and college tuition assistance to VA loan programs and some jobs.
Separately, this summer President Joe Biden issued pardons to service members who had been convicted for sodomy before military laws criminalizing same-sex intimacy were lifted.
More than a decade after the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the administration has made a priority of helping LGBTQ veterans who are eligible to upgrade their discharge papers, directing the department to help them overcome bureaucratic barriers and difficult-to-navigate processes.
However, as noted by CBS News, which documented the challenges faced by these former service members in a comprehensive investigation published last year, these efforts are ongoing.
The department is continuing to review cases beyond the 800+ included in Tuesday’s announcement, with an official telling CBS, “We encourage all veterans who believe they have suffered an error or injustice to request a correction to their military records.”
National
Detroit teen arrested in fatal stabbing of gay man
Prosecutor says defendant targeted victim from online dating app
A 17-year-old Detroit man has been charged with first-degree murder for the Sept. 24 stabbing death of a 64-year-old gay man that prosecutors say he met through an online dating app.
A statement released by the Wayne County, Mich., Prosecutor’s Office says Ahmed Al-Alikhan allegedly fatally stabbed Howard Brisendine inside Brisendine’s home in Detroit before he allegedly took the victim’s car keys and stole the car.
The statement says police arrived on the scene about 4:04 p.m. on Sept. 29 after receiving a call about a deceased person found in their home. Upon arrival police found Brisentine deceased in his living room suffering from multiple stab wounds, the statement says.
“It is alleged that the defendant targeted the victim on an online dating app because he was a member of the LGBTQ community,” according to the prosecutor’s statement.
“It is further alleged that on Sept. 24, 2024, at the victim’s residence in the 6000 block of Minock Street in Detroit, the defendant stabbed the victim multiple times, fatally injuring him, before taking the victim’s car keys and fleeing the scene in his vehicle,” it says.
It further states that Al-Alikhan was first taken into custody by police in Dearborn, Mich., and later turned over to the Detroit police on Oct. 1. The statement doesn’t say how police learned that Al-Alikhan was the suspected perpetrator.
In addition to first-degree murder, Al-Alikhan has been charged with felony murder and unlawful driving away in an automobile.
“It is hard to fathom a more planned series of events in this case,” prosecutor Kym Worthy said in the statement. “Unfortunately, the set of alleged facts are far too common in the LGBTQ community,” Worthy said. “We will bring justice to Mr. Brisendine. The defendant is 17 years and 11 months old – mere weeks away from being an adult offender under the law.”
She added, “As a result of that and the heinous nature of this crime, we will seek to try him as an adult.”
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said the office has not designated the incident as a hate crime, but said regardless of that designation, a conviction of first-degree murder could result in a sentence of life in prison. The spokesperson, Maria Lewis, said the prosecutor’s office was not initially disclosing the name of the dating app through which the two men met, but said that would be disclosed in court as the case proceeds.
The NBC affiliate station in Detroit, WDIV TV, reported that Brisendine was found deceased by Luis Mandujano, who lives near where Brisendine lived and who owns the Detroit gay bar Gig’s, where Brisendine worked as a doorman. The NBC station report says Mandujano said he went to Brisendine’s house on Sept. 29 after Brisendine did not show up for work and his car was not at his house.
Mandujano, who is organizing a GoFundMe fundraising effort for Brisendine, states in his message on the GoFundMe site that Brisendine worked as a beloved doorman at Gigi’s bar.
“We will do what we can to honor Howard’s life as we put him to rest,” Mandujano states in his GoFundMe message. “He left the material world in a volatile manner at the hand of a monster that took his life for being gay. Let’s not allow hate to win!”
In response to a Facebook message from the Washington Blade, a spokesperson for Gigi’s said the money raised from the GoFundMe effort will be used for Brisendine’s funeral expenses and his “remaining bills.” The spokesperson, who didn’t disclose their name, added, “Any leftover money will be donated to local LGBTQ nonprofit groups to combat hate.”
The GoFundMe site can be accessed here.
The White House
Karine Jean-Pierre becomes Biden’s fourth openly LGBTQ senior adviser
Press secretary’s promotion was reported on Monday
Following White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s promotion to a top role on Monday, four of the 10 officials serving as senior advisers to President Joe Biden are openly LGBTQ.
The other LGBTQ members of the president’s innermost circle are White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt, senior adviser to first lady Jill Biden Anthony Bernal, and White House Director of Political Strategy and Outreach Emmy Ruiz.
Jean-Pierre became the first Black and the first LGBTQ White House press secretary in May 2022. She spoke with the Washington Blade for an exclusive interview last spring, shortly before the two-year anniversary of her appointment to that position.
“Jill and I have known and respected Karine a long time and she will be a strong voice speaking for me and this Administration,” Biden said in 2022 when announcing her as press secretary.
Breaking the news of Jean-Pierre’s promotion on Monday, ABC noted the power and influence of the White House communications and press office, given that LaBolt was appointed in August to succeed Anita Dunn when she left her role as senior adviser to the president.
As press secretary, Jean-Pierre has consistently advocated for the LGBTQ community — pushing back forcefully on anti-LGBTQ legislation and reaffirming the president and vice president’s commitments to expanding rights and protections.
Pope Francis meets with transgender, intersex Catholics
D.C. LGBTQ Harris-Walz group seeks volunteers for phone bank
‘Witches’ unveils supernatural powers we get from growing up gay
Pentagon gives honorable discharges to 800+ LGBTQ veterans
PHOTOS: Franklin County Pride
Gay couple beaten, paraded in public in Nigeria
Thom Gunn bio explores joys, complexities of modern gay life
Murdered Israeli hostage’s cousin describes family’s pain
‘Beauty, beauty, look at you!”: 50 years of ‘Female Trouble’
