From John Adams, who was recently named the "most performed living American Composer" to Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music, BMI composers cover the full spectrum of contemporary classical music… read more
The BMI Foundation held its 58th Annual BMI Student Composer Awards May 17 at the Jumeirah Essex House Hotel in New York, where eleven young classical composers were recognized with scholarship grants totaling $20,000 for their superior creative tale...
Student Composer Award Winners
The BMI Student Composer Awards is a competition for young composers of classical music. Founded in 1951, the competition has become one of the most coveted and prestigious awards for young composers in the Western Hemisphere. See all winners
Pulitzer Prize Winners
The Pulitzer Prize in Music is given for distinguished musical composition by an American in any of the larger forms including chamber, orchestral, choral, opera, song, dance, or other forms of musical theater, which has had its first performance in the United States during the year. As of 2008, 29 BMI composers have won the Pulitzer Prize in Music. See all winners
Academy of Arts & Letters
Election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an honor society of 50 composers, 100 architects and artists, and 100 writers, is considered the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in the United States. Members are elected for life and pay no dues. As vacancies occur, the Academicians nominate and elect new members. As of 2009, BMI is proud to represent 27 of the 46 composer members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. See all
Presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman on Tuesday said he would be OK if New York adopted a gay marriage law. Huntsman, who on Tuesday formally declared for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination at a press conference held in New Jersey near the Statue of Liberty, has previously supported recognizing gay and lesbian couples with civil unions. When reporters on Tuesday asked the former Utah governor whether as president he would attempt to override a gay marriage law in New York with a constitutional amendment banning such marriages, the 51-year-old Republican replied, “I would respect the state's decision on that,” The Huffington Post reported. President Barack Obama appointed Huntsman, a Mormon, to Ambassador to China, a post he left in April. Huntsman's support for gay rights, in particular civil unions, puts him in the minority among the 9 declared candidates. While former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson also supports civil unions, and openly gay Fred Karger supports gay marriage, five candidates – Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich – support an amendment to the constitution that would ban gay marriage, former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain has said being gay is a “sin,” and Texas Rep. Ron Paul does not support government recognition of gay and lesbian unions.
Kia Ora! After a few months of anticippppppppation, Same Same is proud to present the first episode of our brand new online reality series Ski Camp.
Five hot guys, one Kiwi mountain and a whole world of pain, Ski Camp is the sequel to the cult hit series that has now racked up close to 1 million views around the world.
Last year we headed off to in stunning Queenstown with five boys in tow. Each of the contestants had never skied before and so we took them to the top of the mountain just to see what would happen. The result is a fun five-episode series called Ski Camp that is launching today. Produced by a brand new episode will air on Same Same every fortnight throughout Winter.
The five Ski Campers – Mike, Kirk, Dan, Brodie and Adam – face challenge after challenge to whittle them down each episode until there is just one winner left. Who will be the ultimate Ski Camp champ? You will decide.
Ski Camp is brought to you by the best way to get to the land of the long white cloud. They have just launched an amazing new deal that gives you $150 off any return economy flight to New Zealand right now. Read more about that great deal here.
Gay Ski Week NZ this year is happening from July 23 to 31 and comes with a hearty seal of approval from all of the Ski Camp boys who had an amazing week of fun (until they were evicted one by one!).
Stay tuned to Same Same this week to see how you can win your way to Gay Ski Week thanks to Air NZ just by watching Ski Camp.
reports on a recent incident involving a pilot for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines whose cockpit microphone became stuck on, allowing air traffic controllers and crews from other flights to hear an anti-gay, misogynistic, ageist rant about what the pilot considers a lack of flight attendants suitable for him to have sex with.
An air traffic controller repeatedly tries to interrupt the pilot and alert him that his microphone is on, but the pilot doesn’t notice. Much of the anti-gay language has been bleeped out in the audio posted on Channel 2′s website, but it’s not hard to fill in the blanks:
“Well, I had Tucson to Indy all four weeks and, uh, Chicago crews … 11 out of 12 … there’s 12 flight attendants, individual, never the same flight attendant twice,” the pilot says. “Eleven (expletive) over the top (expletive), (expletive) homosexuals and a granny. Eleven. I mean, think of the odds of that. I thought I was in Chicago, which was party-land. … After that, it was just a continuous stream of gays and grannies and grandes …”
After an inaudible comment by his co-pilot, presumably about gays, the pilot continues: “Well I don’t give a (expletive). I hate 100 percent of their (expletive). So, six months, I went to the bar three times. In six months, three times. … Once with the granny and the fag, and I wish I hadn’t gone.”
Channel 2 has a complete transcript as well as the audio.
According to Southwest Airlines, the pilot was suspended without pay for the incident, but the company declined to say for how long and added that Southwest considers it “a family matter.”
The FAA also issued a statement saying it “expects a higher level of professionalism from flight crews, regardless of the circumstances.”
Cece Cox, executive director of Resource Center Dallas, is quoted extensively in the story, and RCD reportedly will be issuing a follow-up statement about the incident Wednesday morning.
“This individual has made statements that are anti-woman, anti-age, and anti-gay in a way that can’t be disputed and they’re hateful and they’re damaging to the employees of Southwest Airlines as well as consumers of Southwest Airlines,” Cox told Channel 2. “I hope it’s an isolated incident. I hope they look and see what’s happening in their culture because clearly this incident shows that there’s something happening in this culture that allowed this person to make those kind of remarks and exhibit this kind of hostility, discrimination and hate.”
In case you’re wondering Southwest Airlines received a score of 95 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2011 Corporate Equality Index. According to HRC, the company conducts mandatory LGBT diversity training for all employees.
"I’m pretty much afraid of the comments I’ve read. Some are positive and most of them negative. Why would you want the pilot to be fired? There is the option of free speech; however, the mic was left on which is a total misnomer on the pilot’s fault, whether the button got stuck or not. He voiced his opinion about certain entities and will now feel the brunt of his mistake. Let Southwest take care of the problem; we can’t offer any cure for his mistake and certainly can’t offer an apology to those who’ve been offended….Southwest can, however, and I think they’ve done their duty within their own guidelines. There’s no reason to condemn the pilot for this mistake. It was totally unintentional and his conversation with his co-pilot was on a personal level. Yes, we all heard it but the fact remains it was intended to be between the two of them. It was a mistake, pure and simple. His being pardoned is not acceptable and Southwest knows this. They’re taking care of the problem with their own standards. Lets not get our undies in a bunch over this. It happens every single day in our lives where homophobes make dangerous and submitting gestures. His comments are totally stupid on his account but I consider the source. There are much more waryimg people out there who’d just love to catch a gay guy and beat the hell out of him. This I fear, but the pilots comments go into one ear and out the other. There’s no need to be upset about his homophobic attitude. He’ll come around soon enough and will ultimately be a supporter, in kind."
Activists, leaders, local personalities, and organizations gathered for "United in HIV: Taking Control Through Unity and Advocacy" June 14 at Sidetrack—a tweet-up in celebration and unity for HIV/AIDS outreach, research, and, above all, knowing one's status. The event was in recognition of National HIV Testing Day, June 27.
Produced and emceed by performer Cyon Flare, the event was a tribute to the Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus ( CBGMC ) and Rae Lewis-Thornton for their HIV/AIDS-awareness initiatives among the Black and Black LGBT communities.
Chicago Department of Public Health ( CDPH ) Commissioner Bechara Choucair and members of his staff, including Assistant Commissioner for STD/ HIV/ AIDS Policy and Prevention Programs Christopher Brown, were at the event. Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez also stopped by after her own pride reception at the Center on Halsted.
Lewis-Thornton was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1987 at age 23. She made the transition to AIDS in 1992. Since then, she has used her status and experience as an educational platform to advocate for HIV/AIDS testing and empower the LGBT Black community, in particular heterosexual women life herself. She has spoken at a number of institutions and universities, has been featured in publications, and has won the Chicago Emmy for "Living with AIDS," for Channel 2 in 1995. Lewis-Thornton, who was in the hospital hours before the event, was happy to be a part of the evening and said that even though the event was a step in the right direction, it's just the beginning.
"I hope that people will walk away from this event knowing that we are united, that we are one, and that HIV affects all of us. It can infect all of us and affects all of us. If we're really going to get a handle on this in the African-American community, then we will have to work together," said Lewis-Thornton.
CBGMC's Craig Johnson, who also works as a community health promoter at Rush University Medical Center, represented his organization at the event as a special guest speaker. Johnson sits on the policy and advisory committee for the CBGMC. He shared with guests the importance of getting tested for HIV, the commonality between gay Black men and Black women regarding HIV/AIDS, and breaking down the stigma of HIV/AIDS in the Black community. He worked with Flare and Lewis-Thornton on the event with a mission to bring together different groups of people that shared common ground on HIV/AIDS.
Read more story below....
"We wanted to create an opportunity to bring all the audiences together for an awareness event specifically about HIV/AIDS. National HIV Testing Day was such an opportune moment to host this event. There's about 12 awareness dates throughout the year that target different segments of the community. So, we wanted to use this event to bring everyone together and unite everyone for a common cause," said Johnson.
Flare worked closely with Lewis-Thornton, CBGMC, Sidetrack and other local organizations to organize United in HIV. Flare, who was diagnosed HIV-positive, said that the event was born out of a personal vision. He was "very humbled" by the dozens of people who attended the event.
"I wanted guests to see people supporting getting tested. I wanted guests to see people supporting people who are living with HIV and AIDS. One of the things I see in the Black community is that it's very difficult to even say the letters HIV, or even have an open dialogue about it. The goal of this event was to create a safe space to get tested and to talk about HIV/AIDS," said Flare.
Flare expressed how "overwhelmingly wowed and humbled" he was over the success of the event.
Art Johnston, co-owner of Sidetrack and co-founder of Equality Illinois, said it was important to host the event since HIV/AIDS is such a hot-button issue among the community.
"It was a pleasure for Sidetrack to host an event that touches so many parts of our community. We are seeing different people of our community that are coming together for this event in ways that don't happen enough. We are thrilled to be involved," said Johnston.
DJ Lora Branch spun top-40 music and classics, while Test Positive Aware Network ( TPAN ) , a community partner for the event, carried out HIV testing for guests and offered on-site special services and counseling to those testing positive. Guests were encouraged to tweet the event to their followers by using #UnitedInHIV. There was a $10 optional donation to benefit CBGMC and Rae Lewis Lewis-Thornton's HIV/AIDS efforts. More than 40 community partners sponsored the event including Center on Halsted, Equality Illinois, GO Pride Corporation, Windy City Media Group, Hydrate, 50 Faggots and a host of others.
"I think it's so important that people are aware and people take the proper steps to prevention," Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez told the crowd. "No matter what community you're from, we have to make sure we take care of our health and ourselves. We need to spread the awareness."
Both Flare and Lewis-Thornton plan to take what they learned from the past event and continue the getting tested tweet-ups in other markets.
The gay community's really worried about the attacks and tonight's not going to be the end of it. The Queer the Night Collective is also holding a public meeting next Thursday to talk about issues around homo and transphobia.
