Mitchell Gold has made a name for himself as part of the powerful team Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. In 1989, Gold and Williams created their namesake furniture company in Taylorsville, North Carolina. Just nine years later, Inc. magazine positioned the company at number 57 on its list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies. In April 2005, Inc. named Gold one of its "26 Entrepreneurs We Love."

A long time supporter of  our community, Mitchell Gold is increasingly becoming known not just for amazing furniture, but also for his work as an advocate for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender equality.  Gold founded the non-profit advocay organization Faith in America; and has edited a new book, Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal Social, and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing up Gay in America, which will surely become a must-read for all LGBT advocates, and has the potential to impact the future of our movement.

For their September show, In the Life visits the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on its 10th anniversary, with a look at its kick-off feature, "Ask Not," about the impact of the U.S. military's ban on gays in the armed forces.

The clips from the movie are wonderfully compelling, and the interview with Director/Producer Johnny Symons brings new insight to the film.

Also on In the Life this month: Margaret Cho, The Cliks, It's Elementary anniversary, and a a look at the film Nina's Heavenly Delights. more after the jump.

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Community will be well-represented at the Democratic National Convention and many GLBT Leaders and Organizations will play a role in convention events.

There will be a ground-breaking number of GLBT delegates at this year's convention.  The Stonewall Democrats estimate that When final number counts are released in Denver, more than 350 GLBT participants will attend the convention. This represents approximately 6% of total convention attendees and is 27% increase from the 282 LGBT participants who attended the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004.

Transgender Women of Color are rarely seen on reality television, as are LGBT People of Color.  But two African-American transgender women are changing that and making history and breaking barriers on reality television this season. 

When America's Next Top Model starts in September, Isis will be competing along with the other women.  Isis is the first ever transgender contestant on the popular reality show.  And even though the show has yet to begin, Fox News has already started with the inappropriate and ill-informed commentary. 

The National Black Justice Coalition has announced that Connecticut State Representative Jason Bartlett (D-2) will serve as their new Deputy Director.

Alexander Robinson, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, stated "I am thrilled to have an accomplished executive and legislator join our team. Jason is the realization of NBJC's vision of a society where we all live and serve openly as Americans."

Don't let the boyish good looks and boundless energy fool you; Michael Feinstein is rapidly approaching two silver milestones. Next year will mark the 25th anniversary of the four time Grammy nominee's professional debut; and Feinstein's forthcoming album, The Sinatra Project, due September 2 from Concord Records, will be his 24th release (and eighth since joining the label in 1998).

Arguably the world's foremost, and certainly the most passionate and indefatigable, anthropologist and archivist of the Great American Songbook, Feinstein has dedicated his career to preserving, protecting and promoting the work of the great tunesmiths, ranging from household names like Gershwin, Porter and Berlin to such lesser-known craftsmen as Hugh Martin and Burton Lane. It's no wonder that the Library of Congress invited him to serve on its elite National Sound Recording Advisory Board.

(video preview after the jump)

In the latter part of the 1960's the Civil Rights Movement made its way into the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community. Across the country LGBT persons defiantly stood up and fought for the right to be out, proud, and equal. Today, the LGBT Community is out and definitely proud; however, they are far from equal. Those who fought for our equalityare older now and are facing an onslaught of discrimination from their government, social service networks, and even from their own Community.

Ten More Good Years introduces remarkable LGBT Elders who share inspiring stories of their lives and Queer History. It is through these stories that the governmental and social injustices quietly reveal themselves, shedding light on what it is now, and what it will be to grow old and Gay in America.

The Rocky Mountain News reports that Jared Polis has won the Democratic Primary in his race to represent Colorado's second district in Congress.  Polis is strongly favored to win the general election in this heavily democratic district, which will make him the first openly gay man elected to Congress from Colorado. 

Polis, who served six years on the Colorado State Board of Education, focused on Higher Education as a core issue in his campaign.  Other key issues included ending the War in Iraq, Global Climate Change, and Healthcare. 

Polis has also been outspoken on LGBT issues, and was endorsed by eQuality-Giving...

GLBT Leaders are expressing strong support for the proposed Democratic National Platform.  Two members of the LGBT community played a key role in drafting the platform: Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Diego Sanchez, the first-ever transgender member of the Platform Committee.

The national platform is an official statement of the Party's position on a wide variety of issues. A new platform is adopted every four years at the Democratic National Convention.

In separate statements, The Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Stonewall Democrats all expressed strong support for the draft platform.

2004 and 2006 Ballot Measures Help Put 2008 Measures in Perspective

November 2nd, 2004 was a discouraging day for Marriage Equality.  Ten states voted on ballot measures opposing marriage equality in the general election, and we lost each and every one.  A total of 12 states passed anti-gay ballot measures that year (AR, LA, GA, KY, MI, MS, MT, ND, OH, OK, OR, and UT). 

Adding insult to injury, the ballot measures were widely credited for turning out Republican voters for the tight Presidential race putting key states in the George Bush Column.  A more detailed analysis from experts at the DNC Office of GLBT Affairs and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force showed that this was not in fact the case.  Same-sex marriage had little net effect on the outcome of the election.  Still, same-sex couples were an easy scapegoat and many LGBT folks were put in the akward position of explaining to our allies why they should be standing up for us.