But she has always felt more at home in the community she loves and serves. And from May 24 to May 27, Jewel will celebrate the 40th anniversary of her historic Los Angeles gay nightclub and disco with four days of parties, awards and activities over the Memorial Day Weekend at the famous disco and LAX Hilton Hotel. Catch One Disco is one of the oldest and longest running LGBT discos in America and has served as a community center and cultural institution in much the same way as Harlem Renaissance nightclubs served New York's African Americans and progressives in the 1920s. It is for good reason that Jewel Thais-Williams is considered an icon and inspiration in the L.A. LGBT community.

The country was mired in a recession in 1972-73 when Thais-Williams decided to get out of the women's clothing business. "When economic times are bad, women stop buying things for themselves, so I started looking for a recession-proof business" Thais-Williams says, "My brother suggested I buy a liquor store - but that was too impersonal. But then as I was looking in the L.A. Times, I saw there was a neighborhood bar for sale. I knew about the bar because I worked across the street four years earlier and later kept passing by it looking for opportunities. I didn't think much about it because it didn't allow black folks in. And now it was for sale."

Thais-Williams borrowed and hocked possession to buy the bar. But other problems quickly became apparent: she had no bartending or bar business skills and, in 1973, California did not allow women to tend bar. "But business is business," Thais-Williams, a UCLA graduate, says. "So even though I walked in cold, I still took action based on core business principles."

What happened next surprised Thais-Williams and grounded her in what would become a core principle of her own: to serve humanity, no matter race or status.

On May 1, Stephen J. Kaufman, attorney for 13th C.D. candidate John Choi, filed an official complaint with the Public Integrity Division of the L.A. County District Attorney's office alleging "illegal electioneering and vote tampering by Mitch O'Farrell campaign workers."

The complaint says the Choi campaign "has received disturbing reports from permanent vote-by-mail voters that campaign workers associated with Mr. Choi's opponent, Mitch O'Farrell, have come to their homes to manipulate them into voting for Mr. O'Farrell, physically complete their VBM (Vote-by-Mail) ballots and collect them for return to the City Clerk. The details of these incidents show a concerted effort to defraud these voters and tamper with the vote-by-mail process, in direct violation of the penal provisions of the California Elections Code and the Election Code of the City of Los Angeles."

The complaint alleges that O'Farrell campaign workers "fraudulently misrepresented the candidates on the ballot. These voters, who are of Armenian descent, were in many cases told they should vote for Sam Kbushyan, a candidate of Armenian descent who ran but lost during the primary election and has since endorsed Mr. O'Farrell. Mr. Kbushyan is not actually on the general election ballot, but voters were nonetheless fraudulently "shown" by O'Farrell campaign workers how to mark the spot on their VBM ballots to vote for him.

"In numerous cases, voters reported that O'Farrell campaign workers physically took possession of the VBM ballots, filled them out and then left with those ballots in hand. In other cases, voters were told to deliver their completed ballots to O'Farrell campaign workers.

"In one particularly brazen occurrence, the campaign was told that O'Farrell campaign workers went to an Armenian senior home, told the elderly residents that they should vote for Sam Kbushyan and then proceeded to fill out each of the seniors' vote-by-mail ballots individually. ... These actions threaten to sabotage the democratic process and may very well affect the outcome of this election."

Frontiers Magazine contributors Renee Sotile & MJ Godges of Traipsing Thru Films and LGBT Hollywood have been on something of a mission since the Supreme Court heard arguments on Prop 8 and DOMA to get celebrities on the record about where they stand on marriage equality. Often the celebrities are so taken aback, they're answers are refreshingly candid and humorous.

On April 24, the married lesbian filmmakers went to the American Film Institute's AFI.com special "Target Presents AFI Night at the Movies" - a one-night only event where fans could see 13 classic films with the stars who made them. From their red carpet perch at the ArcLight Hollywood, Renee and Mary Jo shouted out to the stars as they made their way into the theatre asking their opinions about same sex marriage.

Video of the stars' responses are after the break.

On Saturday, April 27, just days after Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk testified before Congress about the need for more funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, actress and Creative Coalition member Sharon Stone was making the rounds at the White House Correspondents' gala sharing how profoundly arts education had impacted her life as a child. At the same time in West Hollywood, the Lambda Literary Foundation was honoring the lifetime achievement of five Los Angeles-based LGBT literary pioneers whose work and personal authenticity may well have saved millions of lives.

The Lambda Literary Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary with an historic OUTWRITE! event at the West Hollywood Public Library honoring author Rev. Malcolm Boyd, historian and professor Lillian Faderman, novelist Katherine V. Forrest, author and professor John Rechy and author and Bilerico Project contributor Patricia Nell Warren. The well-produced event featured presenters who cited personal experiences about the honorees, followed by either a reading or song or film clip to underscore how indelible their artistic contributions have been on the consciousness of LGBT America at a time when telling their truth was desperately needed and dangerous.

It looks like Meningitis Hell Week in West Hollywood may be over. On Friday, April 12, news emerged that popular gay attorney Brett Shaad had gone quickly from "fit" to brain dead as a result of contagious bacterial meningitis. On Friday, April 19, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health posted a notice on its website that they had "not identified any other cases of meningococcal disease associated with this patient, nor identified any linkage between this patient and cases being reported in other areas of the country," such as New York City.

But while the L.A. gay community might feel some relief after a week of intense fear and anxiety, the mess created by mistrust and misunderstandings exposed the dire need for cultural competency in how public health departments deal with LGBT populations. Indeed, had Public Health been culturally aware and forthcoming from the beginning, this mess might not have happened.

Just as some African-Americans still distrust government health officials 80-plus years after the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, some gays believe L.A. Public Health initially had no concept of how withholding information about a contagious disease is a 'legacy' issue for gays who are still deeply unsettled remembering the neglect of government when the AIDS crisis began 30 years ago.

(13th CD candidate Mitch O'Farrell with supporter Luis Lopez. O'Farrell won the Stonewall endorsement. Photo by Karen Ocamb)

There was tension in West Hollywood Park Auditorium Monday night as battling campaigns geared up to make pitches for Stonewall Democratic Club's endorsement in the 13th and 6th city council district races for the May 21 LA City elections. There was whispering, elbow nudging and a few outright sneers. But somewhat shockingly, there really was little acrimony or rancor or nasty swipes at a candidate's character that one has come to expect at cranked up grassroots political endorsement meetings. Perhaps most surprisingly, the candidates who lost the endorsements also felt pleased with how they had fared in the process.

Earlier in the day, Clinton campaigned for LA Controller Wendy Greuel as she seeks to become this city's first woman mayor in the May 21 election. News reports show Clinton as the rock star campaigner we've come to expect over the years and I think some of us expected to see the old politico who made arithmetic cool at the Democratic National Convention take the stage at the GLAAD Awards. There was some of that after he donned his glasses and assumed a bit of the professorial mode. But Clinton seemed old and tired, even as he joked about it.

"I don't know why Harvey made Jennifer do that," Clinton said, referring to powerhouse producer Harvey Weinstein and how actress Jennifer Lawrence flubbed Clinton's name during the introduction. "She really was like 2-years-old when I became president. I met her backstage and she looked like she was touring the Museum of Natural History."

At times, though, Clinton seemed almost frail, as if accepting the GLAAD award was a swan song to the gays that he was doing as a favor for his very gay-friendly daughter Chelsea.

Fielding said this is NOT an outbreak because the CDC criteria for an outbreak establishing specific links among the cases have not been established. He did acknowledge, however, that there is an 85 percent overlap between three cases here in Los Angeles and cases in New York City, where the bacterial meningitis infection has caused seven deaths since 2010. Fielding said they are still investigating the strains of bacterial infection.

Fielding also said that the rate of new infections this year is similar to the average 25 cases annually they've seen over the past five to eight years. Nonetheless, Public Health will remain "vigilant and on alert" and ready to respond "at the first hint" of an outbreak.

Fielding also specifically said, "This is not a gay disease," and while it is high contagious, it is "rare and sporadic," and "not as communicable as many viral diseases, or influenza or the common cold." Symptoms are sudden high fever, headache, a stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, a rash - all of which can be treated with antibiotics if caught quickly. If not, meningococcal disease can lead to brain damage, loss of hearing, and even death.

Under pressure over its longstanding ban on gays, the Boys Scouts of America is proposing to lift the ban for youth members but continue to exclude gays as adult leaders.

The Scouts announced Friday that it would submit this proposal to the roughly 1,400 voting members of its National Council at a meeting in Texas the week of May 20.

The proposal is spelled out in a blog post for Scouting Magazine:

"Last year in LA County, we had about 13 cases of meningococcal disease and we are currently not having an outbreak in LA County," Liggins said. Asked why the West Hollywood gay community had not been informed about the presence of the infectious disease until two days after Shaad's diagnoses, Liggins said: "We don't normally alert the public about each case of meningitis. One of the first things I said was that last year there were 13 cases of meningococcal meningitis in LA County, so we normally do not put out a public alert with each case of meningococcal meningitis."

But at a Tuesday, April 16, news conference, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, West Hollywood City Councilmember John Duran and 26 year old Casey Hayden announced the death from meningococcal meningitis of Hayden's boyfriend Rjay Spoon (seen together in this photo from Facebook) last Dec. 18, raising questions about what appears to be the insensitive and virtually cavalier attitude with which DPH shares information.

What we know is that bacterial meningitis (meningococcal meningitis) is contagious and can be spread through close contact, coughing, sneezing, wet kissing and sharing utensils, cups, cigarettes where there's an exchange of saliva. Here's how Aravosis put it after talking with Dr. Thomas Clark, an epidemiologist and meningitis expert at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

I was quite surprised about how the bacteria is transmitted. As the NY warnings are targeted at gay men, and specifically at men who seek sex partners online, at a party, or at a bar, I just assumed that this was sexually transmitted. It's not.

More after the break.

(Brett Shaad. Photo from his Facebook page)

"Last weekend I was with him at a local restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard," said West Hollywood Councilmember John Duran at a news conference about the meningitis scare. "He was tall and muscular, robust, looking as fit as a fiddle and we notified on Wednesday he was at Cedars and then yesterday, he was in a coma. And now he's going to be removed from life support."

For Duran, who is HIV positive, the surprise of Shaad's death from meningitis is eerily familiar to the shock 30 years ago when friends and lovers started dying from a then-unknown illness that later was identified as HIV/AIDS. But this time it's different, Duran says, thanks in large part to social media, where the word is spreading quickly about the meningitis scare and what symptoms to look for.

Much more after the break.

(National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey speaking at comprehensive immigration reform rally in Washington DC on Wednesday. Photo courtesy NGLTF)

KNBC Channel 4 reports that activists, some holding signs for "Equality," demonstrated at rallies in the Los Angeles area calling for immigration reform and family unification for the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants. They also pressed Sen. Dianne Feinstein for an agreement over workers wages and visas to bring agricultural workers to the US under a new program.

"There's a tentative agreement on a number of things, and we're waiting to see if it can get wrapped up," Feinstein said told the AP. "I'm very hopeful. The train is leaving the station. We need a bill."

Immigration is an up close and personal issue for many LGBT people in Southern California. For instance, LGBT Angelinos are keenly aware that Dolores Huerta and her United Farm Workers have long been a solid LGBT ally, including strongly opposing Prop 8 and serving on the board of Equality California. Additionally, LGBT Latino organizations such as the Latino Equality Alliance, Bienestar and The Wall Las Memorias, to name just three organizations, work on healthcare rights for LGBT immigrants who seek safety to come out and/or are HIV positive and come to the US seeking medical services without drawing homophobic attention that could get them beaten up, murdered or disappeared. The US doesn't recognize asylum requests when the mortal danger is from family or neighbors. That's one reason why a comprehensive immigration reform bill in Congress - whether initially or through amendments - must include LGBT protections.

Video after the break.

On Wednesday, Freedom to Marry and OutServe-SLDN released a video of the couple as part of their joint "Freedom to Serve, Freedom to Marry" campaign in which they talk about the joyous proposal and what they expect to face next.

"There seems to be a contradiction between serving my country and my country not fully supporting my relationship with Ben," Phelps says. "Every day, I'm reminded that my marriage to Ben is different from everybody else's marriage, and it's just not right." ??

But perhaps most chilling is this: "While [his heterosexual colleagues are] worried about whether or not the place they're moving to will accept the breed of dog that they've got, I'm waiting on a decision from the Supreme Court to see if my husband is going to be allowed to move with me."

Video and more after the break.