Father Of UK Gay Rights Allan Horsfall Dies At 84

Joe.My.God. reports:

Pioneering British LGBT rights activist Allan Horsfall has died at the age of 84.

Horsfall became a local councilor in Nelson, north-west England, in the 1950s but started to discover inconsistencies in the way the law against homosexuality in Britain was applied. One public lavatory used by men meeting to have sex was well known to police and magistrates but there hadn’t been a conviction there in 30 years. But at other times, police would arrest a suspected gay or bisexual person, go through their address book and round up many of their contacts. They would then appear in court accused of being a ‘homosexual ring’, even though many of them didn’t know each other.

This inspired Horsfall to set up the Homosexual Law Reform Society. It’s first offices were donated by the Bishop of Middleton in Salford, Manchester in north-west England. This later became the Campaign for Homosexual Equality which at one point had thousands of members across the UK.Even after homosexuality was decriminalized in Britain in 1967, with an age of consent set at 21 for gay men in private, Horsfall continued his campaigning work which spanned 50 years. In 1998 he worked on the case of the Bolton Seven – a group of men who had sex with each other and got prosecuted because, although homosexuality was legal, group sex between men was not.

Noted British activist Peter Tatchell: “Allan was arguably the grandfather of the modern gay rights movement in Britain. We all walk in Allan’s shadow. He was active in LGBT campaigning until a few months before his death. Allan deserves a Queer State Funeral.”

Legendary Comedianne Phyllis Diller Dies At 95

The New York Times reports:

Ms. Diller, who became famous for telling jokes that mocked her odd looks, her aversion to housekeeping and a husband she called Fang, was far from the first woman to do stand-up comedy. But she was one of the most influential. There were precious few women before her, if any, who could dispense one-liners with such machine-gun precision or overpower an audience with such an outrageous personality. One chestnut: “I once wore a peekaboo blouse. People would peek and then they’d boo.” Another: “I never made ‘Who’s Who,’ but I’m featured in ‘What’s That?’ ” Ms. Diller, a 37-year-old homemaker when she took up comedy, mined her domestic life for material, assuring audiences that she fed Fang and her kids garbage soup and buried her ironing in the backyard. She exudedan image that was part Wicked Witch of the West (a role she actually played in a St. Louis stage production of “The Wizard of Oz”) and part clown.

Gay Actor Ron Palillo Dies At 63

TMZ reports:

Ron Palillo — the actor who played Horshack on “Welcome Back, Kotter” — died this morning at his home near Palm Beach, FL from an apparent heart attack … this according to someone close to the actor.

We’re told Palillo was found by his partner of many years Joseph Gramm around 4:00 AM. Gramm called an ambulance and Palillo was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

We’re told the heart attack was very unexpected. Palillo was 63.

According to one of Palillo’s colleagues at G-Star School of the Arts, Palillo had appeared to be in good health … but was a heavy smoker. We’re told he had been suffering from a bad cough and had even scheduled a doctor’s appointment for today.

Palillo was known for calling out, “Ooh ooh ooh, Mr. Kotter” as one of the Sweathogs on the show … which he appeared on with John Travolta from 1975 to 1979.  

After Kotter, Palillo appeared in “Laverne & Shirley” and voiced a character on the Disney cartoon, “Darkwing Duck.”

Palillo’s “Kotter” co-star Robert Hegyes — who played Epstein — also passed away earlier this year after suffering a heart attack.

Feminist Icon Helen Gurley Brown Dead At 90

Via The New York Times:

Ms. Brown, who wrote “Sex and the Single Girl,” took over at the magazine in 1965, giving it its sexually frank tone. She remained editor until 1997 and is still listed as editor in chief for Cosmopolitan International on all mastheads. Until her death, Ms. Brown was known for coming into her pink corner office nearly every day. The Hearst statement reads: “It would be hard to overstate the importance to Hearst of her success with Cosmopolitan, or the value of the friendship many of us enjoyed with her. Helen was one of the world’s most recognized magazine editors and book authors, and a true pioneer for women in journalism — and beyond.”

Legendary Composer Marvin Hamlisch Dead At 68

USA Today reports:

The film and Broadway communities suffered an unexpected blow on Tuesday, when Marvin Hamlisch, one of their most prolific and enduringly popular composers, died at 68, after a brief, unspecified illness.Perhaps best known for his work on the beloved musical A Chorus Line and movies The Way We Were and The Sting, Hamlisch also wrote the scores for celebrated films such as Ordinary People, Sophie’s Choice and Take the Money and Run, and contributed to the James Bond hitThe Spy Who Loved Me, co-writing Nobody Does It Better with Carole Bayer Sager.For his efforts, Hamlisch earned entry into that elite club of artists who have received Tony, Emmy, Grammy and Academy Awards. He won four Emmys and three Oscars, the third for his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s ragtime music featured in The Sting.His Broadway credits, in addition to the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning A Chorus Line, included They’re Playing Our Song, The Goodbye Girl and Sweet Smell of Success. The last show, though not a critical hit, was notable for giving musical theater star Kelli O’Haraher first principal Broadway role.Hamlisch was also a prolific arranger and conductor, leading symphony orchestras across the country. The youngest student ever accepted into New York’s prestigious Juilliard School— he began studies there at age 7 — he got his start on Broadway as a rehearsal pianist and assistant vocal arranger for Funny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand, for whom he would later compose The Way We Were.His work on Broadway also included arrangements and orchestrations for Liza Minnelli’s triumphant 2008 return Liza at the Palace and the earlier engagements Minnelli on Minnelli (1999) and Liza (1974). He also provided music for the 1984 special Shirley MacLaine on Broadway.The veteran performer and standards champion Michael Feinstein, who had joined Hamlisch recently in a concert with the Pasadena Pops, described him to USA TODAY as “one of the most immensely creative people I ever know. He was a true musical genius, unfettered by labels. Even last month, he still had the enthusiasm of a 20 year old, with so many creative ideas. It would have taken 10 lifetimes to accomplish what Marvin had inside him.”Several Broadway insiders expressed regrets on Twitter. Fellow stage and screen composer Alan Menken, who won a Tony in June for Disney’s Newsies, tweeted, “So shocked about Marvin Hamlisch’s sudden passing! What a loss. R.I.P. His songs and scores will live on. And we will treasure knowing him.” Another recent Tony winner, singer/actress Audra McDonald, wrote, “RIP Marvin Hamlisch. You were an amazing composer and a bundle of light.” Betty Buckley added, “So shocked & sad to learn of Marvin Hamlisch passing away at 68 after a brief illness. Such a lovely, gracious, talented man. Such a loss.”Hamlisch’s new musical adaptation of the film The Nutty Professor made its world premiere in July at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. The composer had been scheduled to fly to Nashville this week to see the Broadway-bound production.He was working on another musical as well, Gotta Dance, and had written the score forBehind theCandleabra, an upcoming HBO movie about Liberace. And Hamlisch was expected to lead the New York Philharmonic at its next New Year’s Eve concert.While Hamlisch’s sweeping, unabashedly sentimental style didn’t always earn him rave reviews, he seemed content with the popular appeal that so much of his music retained over decades.“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing a very wondrous, fabulous, commercial show,” he told Broadwayworld.com in a 2010 interview. “There’s nothing wrong with the word ‘commercial.’ “

Joe.My.God. reports:

Well known Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence member, one-time San Francisco mayoral candidate, and early AIDS activist Jack “Sister Boom Boom” Fertig passed away Sunday night at age of 57. The Sisters send us this remembrance:

On August 5, 2012 at 9:30 PM, Sister Boom Boom aka Jack Fertig succumbed to liver cancer in the loving presence of his partner Elias Trevino and dogs, Chloe and Perry. Jack was also known to many as teacher, astrologer, artist, and a devout and faithful scholar of Islam. Sister Boom Boom was a key Queer pioneer who took Queer Consciousness to the mainstream. In 1982, Sister Boom Boom nearly won a Board of Supervisors seat by running a uniquely San Francisco campaign of radical politics and nun drag. She won 23,124 votes with her occupation listed as “Nun of the Above.”

A year later, Boom Boom ran for the 1983 mayoral race against incumbent Dianne Feinstein and, as a result, San Francisco passed a law that requires candidates to only use their legal names on the ballot. This law is often referred to as the “Sister Boom Boom” law. Due to internal disputes, Jack Fertig broke from the Sisters in 1985. Jack Fertig went on to pursue his Divine calling and became an award-winning astrologer and respected Queer Muslim activist. He was also an avid organizer in the leather and sober communities. Cleve Jones, AIDS activist and creator of the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt remembers Sister Boom Boom as a “dear friend” and a “fierce advocate for the poor and immigrant communities.”

Fertig eventually reconciled with the Sisters, who will announce a public memorial for Sister Boom Boom shortly.

Mexican Lesbian Folk Singer Chavela Vargas Dies At The Age Of 93

Joe.My.God. reports:

Most Americans may not know the name of Chavela Vargas, but foreign film buffs will recognize her distinctive voice from the soundtracks of Pedro Almodavar’s movies. Vargas died yesterday at the age of 93.

Vargas rose to fame flouting the Roman Catholic country’s preconceptions of what it meant to be a female singer: singing lusty “ranchera” songs while wearing men’s clothes, carrying a pistol, drinking heavily and smoking cigars. Though she refused to change the pronouns in love songs about women as some audiences expected, many of her versions of passionate Mexican folk songs are considered definitive. Born in San Joaquin de Flores, Costa Rica, on April 17, 1919, Vargas immigrated to Mexico at age 14. She sang in the streets as a teenager, then ventured into a professional singing career well in her 30s.

“I was never afraid of anything because I never hurt anyone,” Vargas told the audience at a Mexico City tribute concert in June 2011. “I was always an old drunk.” Vargas recorded 80 albums, becoming a major figure in Mexico City’s artistic explosion of the mid-20th century. She was a friend and a frequent house guest of the Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and was close to the Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca. Along the way she was honored as a “distinguished citizen” of Mexico City and was given Spain’s Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic. In 2007 the Latin Recording Academy gave her its lifetime achievement award.

Although it had been widely known among her fans for decades, Vargas did not publicly confirm being a lesbian until the age of 81.

Tanzania: Gay Activist Maurice Mjomba Found Dead At 29

Identity Kenya reports:

A Tanzanian MSM activist, Maurice Mjomba, was found dead today in his house in Dar es Salaam in unclear circumstances.
According to Julius Lumanyika Kyaruzi, the coordinator at the Center for Human Rights Promotion (CHRP) where Mjomba was working as the Outreach Training Coordinator for injecting drug users (IDUs), Mjomba was found dead at his home.
Julius said he received a call from Mjomba’s neighbor who told him that Mjomba was found dead in his house.
Julius told Identity Kenya that a neighbour  ’noticed a foul smell’ from Mjomba’s house and called the police.
By the time Julius and his colleagues arrived at Mjomba’s house, police officers were present.

The police officres requested Julius to go with them to the police station for more interrogation, while officers from CHRP escorted the body to Muhimbili Mortuary.
This could mean Mjomba could have been dead for days. Reports say that he used to live with a house-help but at the time of his death, he was living alone. Additionally, he is said to have been ‘unreachable on phone’ since last Saturday.
His body is now at Muhimbili Mortuary awaiting an autopsy tomorrow to determine the cause of death.
The police investigations are also being conducted though initial reports point he may have been murdered.
Mjomba, 29, (inset) was a member of Tanzania’s premier MSM group, Stay Awake Network Activities (SANA) since 2008. He was also one of the founding member, and served as the group’s assistant secretary and executive committee member.
According to SANA, Mjomba was strangled to death by unknown persons and they hope that the police will conduct investigations to establish the cause of his death.
In a Facebook post on their Wall, SANA wrote, ‘We sadly announce that Moris Mjomba, one of our founding member, a friend and activist, was strangled by unknown person (s) the date of his death has not been confirmed yet. For more information, we will let you know.’
Colleagues describe him as a ‘hard-working’ ‘honest’ and ’ a diligent worker.’
Pade, who worked with him described him as ’ A kind, sincere and an open minded person. He was always ready to help others at all times and he would take time to see things are done accordingly and provide solutions.’
Pade also noted that Mjomba ‘never wanted to be on the forefront (activism) but he would be at the back when you fall he would catch you. He was a thinker too!’
Condolences in various LGBT list serves started pouring in with many wishing his family and friends sympathies and well-wishes.

On his Facebook profile, LGBT activists and friends posted as many received the news of his death with shock. They described Mjomba as a hard-working activist and said his death was a loss to the nascent LGBT community in Tanzania.

Alex Okrent, Gay Key Obama Staffer, Dies After Collapsing At Chicago Headquarters At 29  

LGBT Weekly reports:

Alex Okrent, 29, a staff member of President Obama’s reelection team, died Friday following a collapse at the campaign headquarters. Okrent was treated by paramedics at the Prudential Building and was later transported to Northwesters Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Obama offered his condolences to Okrent’s parents following the announcement of his death.
Okrent was a deputy field director in Cleveland during Obama’s Illinois senate campaign in 2004.
“I worked with Alex during the successful 2008 Obama campaign and he was an incredible voice for LGBT issues with the president.”  said Stampp Corbin, 2008 National Co-Chair of the Obama LGBT Leadership Council.
Several of Okrent’s counterparts and peer staffers offered condolences as well.
“[He was a] beloved member of our team. It’s been a very emotional day,” saidDavid Axelrod, Obama’s senior campaign adviser, via Twitter.
Jeremy Bird, Obama’s National Field Director, tweeted, “We will miss you, Alex. You left a beautiful legacy. We will never forget your spirit or your passion. Rest in peace, brother.”
The exact cause of death has not yet been released.

Vancouver: Celebrity Chef Anthony Sedlak Dies At 29

Details.

I had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times around some of the most unexpected places you migth think you could find such a talented chef. He was talented and really nice. It’s shocking he’s gone at such an early age.

R.I.P.

Nora Ephron Dead At 71

ABC News reports:

Nora Ephron, the writer, producer and director of such American film classics as “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” died today. She was 71.
Ephron died in a New York City hospital after a long battle with leukemia and taxing chemotherapy treatment, friends of hers told ABC News.
Her family released this statement, “Nora Ephron passed away June 26, 2012 at 7:40 p.m. at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center surrounded by her family. The cause of death was acute myeloid leukemia. She was 71. Donations can be made in her honor to The Public Theater and The Motion Picture and Television Fund. We thank you all for your thoughts.”
The three-time Academy Award nominee was a prolific author, screenwriter, playwright and director who was a pioneer in Hollywood, where she was one of the first women to write and direct her own films. She contributed essays and reporting to outlets including the New York Times and the Huffington Post, for which she last wrote a story in June 2011.
Numerous notables, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, are mourning Ephron’s passing.
“The loss of Nora Ephron is a devastating one for New York City’s arts and cultural community,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “From her earliest days at New York City’s newspapers to her biggest Hollywood successes, Nora always loved a good New York story, and she could tell them like no one else.”
Ephron had most recently written the play “Lucky Guy,” a drama based on the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mike McAlary, which was expected to open on Broadway in 2013 with Tom Hanks as its star.

Ephron left an indelible mark on the field of romantic comedy. Icons like Hanks, Meryl Streep, and Meg Ryan, often fronted her films. Streep starred in Ephron’s first hit, 1983’s “Silkwood,” which was directed by Mike Nichols and earned Ephron her first Oscar nomination for screenwriting.

 Porn Star Erik Rhodes Dead At 30 

Joe.My.God. reports: 

Erik Rhodes has left us this morning at 5.30am his family and boyfriend Riccardo are in deep pain, please respect this sad moment

— Erik Rhodes (@Erik_Rhodes) June 14, 2012

Industry insiders are reporting across Twitter that famed gay porn star Erik Rhodes died of a heart attack this morning at the age of 30. Rhodes was a prolific blogger and frequently wrote of his heavy usage of both club drugs and bodybuilding steroids. With a chilling coda, Rhodes’ final Tumblr post cited his most recent steroid cycle.

Robin Gibb, Bee Gees Singer & Co-Founder, Dead At 62

The Rolling Stone Magazine reports:

Robin Gibb, one-third of the Bee Gees, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer, his spokesperson has confirmed via a statement. Gibb was 62 years old.
“The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery,” reads the statement. “The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time.”
Two years ago, Gibb battled colon and liver cancer, but despite making what he called a “spectacular recovery,” a secondary tumor recently developed, complicated by a case of pneumonia. The singer was hospitalized in mid-April and fell into a coma at one point, although the singer was later said to have regained consciousness and communicated with family members. 
Gibb was born in Manchester, England, in 1949, along with twin brother Maurice. (Maurice died in 2003 of complications from a twisted intestine; eerily, Robin had surgery for the same medical issue in 2010.) Along with their older brother Barry, the brothers began harmonizing as a trio in Australia, where the family moved in 1958. Although the Bee Gees had some success in Australia – they hosted a weekly variety show there – they didn’t truly arrive until they returned to England and signed with manager Robert Stigwood. Robin’s quivering, vulnerable voice was featured prominently on several of the group’s earliest and most Beatles-eque hits, including “New York Mining Disaster 1941,” “I Started a Joke,” “Massachusetts,” and “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You.”
Although he looked and sounded like the meekest Bee Gee, Robin grew into the family rebel. By 1969, he and Barry were feuding over whose song should be singles, and Robin, then 20, was declared a “ward of the state” by their father when his drinking and partying seemed to take over his life. “It happened so fast that we lost communication between us,” Gibb later recalled. “It was just madness, really.”
But it also Robin who, in 1971, made the first call to Barry to reunite with his brothers. Robin’s solo career had stalled, and Barry and Maurice’s attempts to continue the Bee Gees as a duo had floundered as well. “If we hadn’t been related, we would probably have never gotten back together,” Robin said at the time. Robin’s voice was heard, beautifully, on the chorus of their minor 1972 hit “Run to Me.” 
The Bee Gees’ massive second wind arrived with their proto disco hit, “Jive Talkin’,” in 1975; two years later, their contributions to Saturday Night Fever made them bigger stars than ever. Most of the hits from that era featured Barry’s falsetto voice, but the brothers’ vocal blend remained an indelible apart of their sound.
The group entered another fallow period during the early Eighties, although during this time, Robin produced a semi-hit album by Jimmy Ruffin, brother of the Temptations’ David Ruffin. The last Bee Gees album, This Is Where I Came In, was released in 2001. Two years later, Maurice died, and with his passing the Bee Gees ended. (Their other, younger brother Andy died in 1988.)
Robin and Barry reunited periodically – in 2010, they made an appearance on American Idol and inducted ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – and talked about a duo tour, but nothing materialized. Robin, though, kept his hand in music. With his son Robin-John, he wrote an ambitious piece, The Titanic Requiem, a mix of orchestral and vocal pieces telling the story of the doomed liner on the 100^th anniversary of its sinking. “It’s a serious subject and it’s not a rock opera,” Gibb said before its debut. “There are no backbeats. This could have been written 300 years ago.”
Featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the work had its world premiere in London on April 10th. But in a sign that Gibb’s health had taken a turn for the worse, he wasn’t able to attend. 

Donna Summer, Queen Of Disco, Dead At 63

TMZ reports:

9:27 AM PST- TMZ has learned … Donna died from lung cancer.  Several sources are telling us Donna believed she contracted it by inhaling toxic particles after the 9/11 attack in New York City.
9:35 AM PST- Donna’s family just released a statement, claiming, they “are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy.”

Donna Summer — the Queen of Disco — died this morning after a battle with cancer … TMZ has learned. 
We’re told Summer was in Florida at the time of her death. She was 63 years old. 
Sources close to Summer tell us … the singer was trying to keep the extent of her illness under wraps. We spoke to someone who was with Summer a couple of weeks ago … who says she didn’t seem too bad. 
In fact, we’re told she was focused on trying to finish up an album she had been working on.  
Summer was a 5-time Grammy winner who shot to superstardom in the ’70s with iconic hits like “Last Dance,” “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls.”She continued her dominance in the ’80s with “She Works Hard for the Money” and “This Time I Know It’s for Real.”
Summer and her producer Giorgio Moroder defined the dance music era of the ’70s and influenced acts like Duran Duran and David Bowie to enter the genre.
Summer married Brooklyn Dreams singer Bruce Sudano back in 1980. They had two daughters together. 
We had the pleasure of shooting Donna back in 2009 on her way out of Mr Chow … and she couldn’t have been nicer — smiling, waving and signing for fans.

In Memoriam: Matthew Edison Bremer 1990-2012 (aka Corbin Fischer’s Sean)

His family has launched an online memorial site for Matthew.