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Lesbian U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin to keynote HRC Atlanta Dinner

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin

The Human Rights Campaign has announced its keynote speaker for the upcoming HRC Atlanta Dinner and Awards Gala.

U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wi.), who represents the state's 2nd Congressional District, will be the dinner's featured keynote speaker. Baldwin, a candidate for one of Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seats, is the founder and co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and one of only four openly gay members to serve in the U.S. Congress. She was the first person to be openly gay when elected to Congress (others had come out while in office) and if successful in her current campaign, would be the first openly gay U.S. senator.

The HRC says of Baldwin:

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Faith & Religion: Coming out of the religion closet

Each community has its own taboos, practices and interests that people don’t always discuss openly, and for some it’s sharing that they are both gay and religious.

As the executive director for the MEGA Family Project, Kathy Kelly is one of the most well-known names amongst Georgia’s gays with kids set. She’s helped couples adopt children, conceive them, and talked people through the thorny issues of gay parenting in the Deep South — but one thing she doesn’t often share is her faith.

“I find that I’m somewhat closeted when I’m out in the community… it’s not something that I bring up or find the need to talk about it. Even though faith is a very important thing in my life I don’t talk about it,” Kelly said. “I think that faith in the gay community is like being bisexual — people don’t like to talk about it because it’s not politically correct.”

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Gay Israeli brings coming out story to Saint Mark

Israeli television personality Assi Azar

Israeli television celebrity Assi Azar will debut his autobiographical film, “Mom, Dad; I Have Something to Tell You,” to Atlanta audiences on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at Saint Mark United Methodist Church. Azar came out publicly in 2005, and the film explores his coming out process, as well as the challenges other LGBT Israelis face.

Azar is the co-host of the Israeli version of reality television program “Big Brother” and was named as one of Out Magazine's 2010 "Most Influential Gay People in the World" list.

Gay-founded Congregation Bet Haverim is sponsoring the event with the Atlanta Israeli Consulate. A screening of the film and a Q&A session with Azar follows the film.

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Atlanta lesbian involved in boating accident, missing

Fox 5 Atlanta reported late yesterday that Atlanta-resident Laura Zekoll went missing Saturday evening during a sailing trip after the boat she was on hit a reef in waters near the Bahamas.

According to Fox 5, Zekoll is a 46-year-old Atlanta resident.

The report states that the accident occurred near Avaco Island, which is part of the Bahamas. Four crew members boarded a lifeboat after the boat capsized, but the life raft was unable to support all four and each fell into the water. According to the article, three of the four made it to land and were eventually rescued.