By Ramy Eletreby

GLAAD Media Awards L.A. Ceremony April 8

On March 27, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) honored Brokeback Mountain with the Outstanding Wide Release Film award at the GLAAD Media Awards' New York ceremony. Director Ang Lee accepted. The L.A. ceremony takes place on April 8 at the Kodak Theatre where Charlize Theron will receive the Vanguard Award, awarded to media professionals who increase visibility and understanding of the LGBT community through their work. Melissa Etheridge will receive the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, awarded to an openly LGBT person who promotes equal rights for the community. For tickets, see www.glaad.org/mediaawards.

Porn Star Austin Black Dead at 43

Gay porn star Austin Black, whose porn career spanned two decades, was found dead in his Long Beach apartment on March 9 by his friend Randy Summers. The coroner reported that Black died of natural causes. He was 43. His films included Das Butt, and Run With the Bulls. (See www.austinblack.com). A memorial will be held at 7 p.m. on April 24 at the Metropolitan Community Church, 8714 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. For more information or to participate in the memorial, contact Summers at RandySummers8@aol.com.

Gay-Friendly L.A. Times Columnist Patt Morrison Heads to KPCC

After an short stint as interim host of 89.3 FM KPCC's Talk of the City, including a remarkable two-hour special on the immigration demonstrations, openly gay journalist John Rabe returns to reporting while longtime (near legendary) Los Angeles Times columnist, author, and Pulitzer Prize, Emmy, and Golden Mike winner Patt Morrison becomes the new host, starting April 10 at 2 p.m. The gay-friendly walking encyclopedia is such an L.A. treasure, Pink's, the famed hot dog stand on La Brea, named its veggie dog after her.

"For all the scrutiny that Los Angeles gets from reporters around the world, much of the true nature of the place doesn't always get covered or talked about, and I hope to do something about that," Morrison told IN. "There are stories that fall outside the cookie-cutter reportage, or stories that fly under the radar -- among them stories in and about the gay community. So, let's talk!"

The one-hour daily show features newsmaker interviews and listener calls at (866) 893-KPCC or (866) 893-5722. -- Karen Ocamb

Domestic Partner & Property Tax Advice

While AB205, the California Registered Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act, provides several rights to domestic partners, it will not provide a great many of the protections that come with a civil marriage license, which is where property taxes come into play, John Chiang, chair of the California State Board of Equalization, told a Domestic Partners Town Hall at the Metropolitan Community Church in West Hollywood recently. Prop. 13 calls for a change in the ownership tax system, which guarantees that once a base year value is established, property taxes cannot be raised more than 2 percent per year until the property changes ownership. When a property changes ownership, its base year value for property tax purposes is reassessed to its fair market value, which is about 1 percent the new market value. What this means is that if domestic partners own or co-habit a house together, when one dies or they divorce and a share of the property is transferred, the remaining owner may have to pay higher property taxes. To get around this, Chiang encourages domestic partners to both become an original transferor (OT) because transfer of a joint tenancy interest to an OT is not considered a "change in ownership" for Prop. 13 purposes, and is therefore not reassessed. To become an OT, make a transfer of part of the property to either another person or to your trust and become a joint tenant. Tenants-in-common who become joint tenants avoid reassessment after one dies.

Chiang has held five free town hall meetings since 2004 to educate domestic partners and same-sex couples about federal and state tax laws and their potential impact on registered domestic partners. For more information, see the Board of Equalization Web site at www.boe.ca.gov.

Marriage Smack Down: Debates at UCLA's Williams Project

On April 21 and 22, the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law and Brigham Young University are co-sponsoring what promises to be feisty debates over the purpose of marriage and the California marriage case, featuring Lambda Legal's Jenny Pizer and Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center Lesbian Rights. The day-long debates will also look at data on same-sex couples (with the Williams Project's Gary Gates), studies of gay and lesbian parents, and arguments about education and religion with a match-up between Tobias Wolff, professor of law at UC Davis Law School and Robert A. Destro, professor of law at Columbia School of Law.

For more information, go to www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute, or call Desmund Wu at (310) 267-4382.

Liberty for All Tour Stops in Los Angeles

Human rights leaders might know each other through e-mail, phone calls or shared media events. But Equality California came up with the bold idea of taking organizers on the road throughout California in a Liberty for All bus tour so those relationships can be personalized, solidified, and built upon to develop an enduring grassroots network to advance human rights and respond to threats. On March 29, the tour stopped at Bienestar and Congregation Kol Ami in Hollywood.

"We are gathering community leaders in 19 cities across California from a variety of civil rights organizations and engaging them in a series of networking exercises, with the goal of building a bigger and broader team of activists ready and willing to work with one another. We are helping to facilitate coalition building, one relationship at a time," EQCA Field Director Molly McKay told IN.

New Drug May Prevent HIV, But Others Fear Backlash

Studies of a new HIV drug, Truvada, a combination of two of Gilead Sciences drugs, tenofovir (Viread) and emtricitabine, or FTC (Emtriva), have shown promise in preventing contraction of HIV disease. It is already used to prevent infection in health care workers accidentally exposed to HIV, and in babies whose HIV-positive pregnant mothers take the drug. However, there are substantial fears by health officials that Truvada could serve as a "biomedical condom," according to The Associated Press, and promote unsafe sex and a false sense of security. Additionally, there are rumors of healthy men taking Viread and Viagra before a night on the town. Such abuse of Truvada could affect its success on the business front, which is expected to exceed $1 billion in sales this year. "It is tricky for the company," Mitchell Warren of the nonprofit AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition told Marilyn Marchione of AP. "It is a real political and business dilemma for Gilead." In the United States, wholesale costs for tenofovir are $417 a month and $650 for Truvada.

Health officials say the drugs should only be given along with counseling, condoms and regular testing.

L.A. County Passes Medical Marijuana Ordinance

On March 28, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to allow regulated medical cannabis dispensaries, making it the largest county in the U.S. to pass such an ordinance. Over 80 patients and medical marijuana advocates witnessed the supervisors agree to permit on-site medical marijuana consumption at these dispensaries as long as safety precautions and adequate supervision are provided. The ordinance further allows the dispensaries to provide cuttings of cannabis plants to patients so they may grow their own medicine at home, a first in cannabis law. Also, all cannabis edibles must be clearly labeled, "for medical use only," and the sale of alcohol at these dispensaries is strictly prohibited.

Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country's largest medical marijuana advocacy group, applauded the Supervisors for passing the ordinance. "This victory for patients establishes an effective and sensible ordinance that not only provides safe access to medical cannabis patients in the Los Angeles area, but also provides a road map for other localities across the state," said Amanda Brasel, ASA L.A. County field coordinator. Supervisor Mike Antonovich of the 5th District was the only vote not in favor of the ordinance.