Is this early enough notice for you Minnelli fans? Liza hits the road this summer and slowly makes her way to play the Meyerson October 8 and 9. So Dallas gets a double dose of the non-diva diva.

Personally, I hope she plays the heck out of her Pet Shop Boys-produced Results album. That CD is still amazing 21 years later. Her quirky image was even retooled for the videos into a more sultry look as you can see in the video above for “So Sorry, I Said.”

Ah, those were the days.

Constance McMillen will get her day in court. And that day will be Monday, March 22.

The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Constance, a senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Miss., after IAHS officials canceled the senior prom rather than let Constance wear a tuxedo and take her girlfriend as a date to the prom. The judge has set the first hearing in the case for next Monday.

Constance McMillen

Constance and the ACLU are asking the court to issue an injunction forcing the school to hold the prom.

The prom was originally set for April 2.

In a recent interview with Dan Savage, Constance said that she has had a hard time in her hometown since th prom was cancelled. She told Savage:

“The locals don’t like me, but I can’t help it. And things were really hostile in school last week after they cancelled prom. People were rude, and if people talked to me at all it was real short answers. There are a few people who are with me, my real friends, people who are intelligent enough to realize what’s really going on here. But the majority are not on my side.”

She also asked that supporters who want to write letters to IAHS officials “please be respectful. No one hears if you’re screaming and mad and cussing and stuff. Tell them exactly how you feel, but in a respectful way.”

A Facebook page in support of Constance already has more than 320,000 fans.

Hiram Monserrate was running for his old New York state senate seat. This video shows his girlfriend campaigning for him.

Nothing wrong with that, right?

Wrong.

Following the New York senate vote on same-sex marriage, Monserrate had to rush from Albany to Queens to be sentenced for assaulting her. He was removed from his Senate seat because of his conviction.

Monserrate lost the special election yesterday by 67 to 27 percent.

The new senator is José Peralta, a pro-marriage equality assemblyman. Monserrate was one of eight Democrats in the Senate that voted against marriage equality. The LGBT community has targeted the other seven in this fall’s election.

On Feb. 21, Cody Carmichael, 21, shot and killed Troy Clattenburg, 24.

The murder took place in Clattenburg’s mother’s apartment in San Antonio. Carmichael was arrested and confessed to the murder. He said he shot Clattenburg because of unwanted sexual advances.

San Antonio police are refusing to investigate the murder as a hate crime and Carmichael is preparing a “gay panic” defense, according to the San Antonio Express News.

Carmichael and another man were at Clattenburg’s house earlier in the evening. The two left. The other man gave Carmichael the gun. He returned and shot Clattenburg. No charges have been filed against the other man who supplied the gun.

Many film series keep their tone, and their success, by hiring the same directors for multiple installments. It makes sense: The directors know the process, know the actors, know the plot and characters. It is efficient. Spielberg has helmed all four Indiana Jones movies; Terence Young did three of the first four Bond films; Chris Columbus launched the first two installments in the Harry Potter series, and now David Yates is finishing up the last four.

Not Twilight.

Four movies — five if they end of breaking the final film into a two-parter — and four different directors, it’s looking like: Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz, David Slade (for the upcoming Eclipse) and … well, that’s the question. None of the prior three can be called “acclaimed hitmakers” … at least not at the same time. Hardwicke made the indie Thirteen; Weitz directed About a Boy… but also The Golden Compass (a film series that never was, nor should be); Slade’s best known film is about vampires in the arctic.

Worst yet, none of them are gay.

See, Twilight needs to be directed by a gay man. Personally, I think the films are MISERABLE, AWFUL affairs, but I watch them because of *sigh* Taylor Lautner. My preoccupation with him is no secret. But don’t translate that into appreciation for these movies.

Well, maybe the producers are finally on to something. Word has it that two gay male directors — both of whom have actual Oscar cred — have been approached for the final film (or films): Gus Van Sant (Oscar nominee for Milk and Good Will Hunting) and Bill Condon (director of Dreamgirls, Oscar winner for writing Gods & Monsters). Also in the mix is honorary gay man Sofia Coppola who (gag!) also has an Oscar.

This is a good start. But it’s not necessary. Since the movies are shitty anyway, why spend that kind of dough on A-listers? You haven’t so far. Give it to me. I haven’t read the books, meaning I haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid. I know what’s wrong with the movies, so I’ll steer clear. I know how to make Taylor Lautner *sigh* look hot. And I’ll work cheap … like, if you let me share a trailer with one of the now-18-or-over stars who shall remain nameless (and shirtless). Why go classy now?

I’m sure I can work something out with my boss. You have my number.

This just in: The Senate Judiciary Committee in the Pennsylvania Legislature has defeated Senate Bill 707, which would have banned same-sex marriage in that state.

According to an announcement sent out by Sen. Daylin Leach, an LGBT ally in the Pennsylvania Legislature, this vote comes just two years after the same committee voted 10-4 in favor of a similar bill.

Leach said: “Since then there has been only one change in personnel on the committee. However, after speaking with my colleagues, I found that several members had grown increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of Pennsylvania continuing to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples and denying them the right to live in peace, dignity and equality.”

Leach credited SB 707’s defeat to a “bipartisan coalition,” and that he looks forward to “redoubling our efforts to bring full marriage equality to our great state.”

John Wright blogged yesterday about this newest effort to ban gay marriage in his home state. Read that post here.

Twitter seems, quite possibly, the best tool for conferences and festivals to find out quickly what’s going on or who’s appearing where. After following (at times, almost with an addiction) the Creating Change and NX35 Twitter feeds, I wondered if the bears were jumping on the Twitter-wagon to plan their antics throughout the upcoming Texas Bear Round Up which starts Thursday. Alas, no.

Fortunately, the feed has already started here (#TBRU) but so far, @NaughtyCub is the only one tweeting his bearish fingers to the bone. And who doesn’t wanna know what a naughty cub is up to?

We’ll have more about the goings-on in this week’s issue this Friday.

Gen. David Petraeus

Gen. David Petraeus testified before the Senate this morning that it is time to rethink the Don’t ask, don’t tell policy.

He did not say he thought it was time to change it, just rethink it. He said he wanted to see a report being prepared by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and if changing it would hurt recruiting or retention. Not sure if he thought that not kicking thousands of people out of the armed forces would actually help retention.

Petraeus is the commander leading the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tulsa trio  Eric and the Adams jaunted down to Dallas over the weekend to play Sunday’s Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 Marathon benefiting Susan G. Komen. They captured some of the footage on their latest YouTube posting, a video diary appropriately titled, “one minute, day, week, month in the lives of Eric and the Adams!”

They head back to Tulsa and then down again to play SXSW which I didn’t find on my official festival schedule. However, they add to my goal of finding the LGBT acts that are playing the Austin fest. Their MySpace page schedule lists them to play at Touche (with God-des and She on the bill) on Thursday and Darwin’s Pub on Friday as part of the Red Gorilla Music Showcase.

Renee O’Connor and Todd Terry are starring in “Beyond the Farthest Star,” filming now in North Texas

Renee O’Connor — best known to many from her days as Gabrielle from “Xena: Warrior Princess” — is on location in North Texas this month, filming the locally-produced movie “Beyond the Farthest Star.”

I got to go the location on Monday to talk to Renee and to Benjamin Dane, a locally-based actor who appears in the film and is a producer for it. The film also features  locally-based actor Todd Terry and Barry Corbin, among others.

Watch Friday’s issue of Dallas Voice for the story.