Good Stuff in Bad Times
Broadway stands up for freedom, NYCLU, ACLU
BY DAVID NOH
One of the most important
and inspiring events to
take place in Manhattan
this fall will be happening
October 28 at Town Hall, when
the 17th annual Broadway Stands
Up for Freedom concert will be
held. Co-founded by Erich Bergen
(“Jersey Boys,” “Madam Secretary”)
and Liana Stampur, the annual
extravaganza is a joint fundraising
event by the New York Civil Liberties
Union (NYCLU) and the American
Civil Liberties Union, and this
year’s special focus is transgender
rights and women’s reproductive
freedom.
Among the honorees this year
is Celia Keenan-Bolger, who won
Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer
Critic Circle Awards for her turn
as Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird”
and is also a founding member
of the annual concert’s planning
committee.
Overseeing the whole shebang
will be Donna Lieberman, for
nearly 20 years now the executive
director of the New York chapter of
the NYCLU, which was active in
the successful marriage equality
litigation of past years and is currently
engaged in the efforts to win
nondiscrimination protections for
LGBTQ Americans in the courts
— among its many activities in defense
of civil liberties and rights.
I had the pleasure of meeting
with the articulate, warm, and
quite fun Lieberman on October
16 in her offi ce at the very bottom
of Manhattan, with a magnifi cent
view of the greatest harbor in the
world. When I told her she had long
The NYCLU’s Donna Lieberman in 2017, when she accepted a Gay City News Impact Award.
been familiar even to apolitical me,
as one of the indefatigable good
guys and gals in our city, she demurred,
“Aw, I’m camera shy,” then
seeing my reaction, added, “I’m being
self-deprecating!” In fact her
favorite pictures are ones where
she is photographed with the late
marriage equality pioneer Edie
Windsor and with a group of mothers
whose children were killed as
victims of the NYPD’s broken windows
enforcement policy.
I observed how with marriage
rights won four years ago, many
in the LGBTQ community may
have begun to take the work and
achievements of groups like the
NYCLU and the ACLU for granted
— with basic human rights in this
country assumed to be fi nally set
in stone and inviolate. Then Donald
DONNA ACETO
Trump was elected, and everything
changed.
“And, of course, now with all
manner of threats to democracy
spilling out of the White House on
a daily basis, our work is more important
than ever,” Lieberman observed.
“And it is gratifying to see
millennials, whom it’s seemingly so
easy to criticize, connecting with
us and really rallying. The NYCLU
has set up many on-campus organizations
for activism, especially
in the wake of Charlottesville, the
immigration camp, and other developments
put forth by this administration.”
Lieberman whose own father
was a victim of the McCarthy era
and lost his job, is especially excited
abut this year’s concert.
“The Broadway community has
always been maybe my favorite ally,
so giving and generous, and, really,
in these times, what could be better
than for everyone to come together
as theater people know how
to do it better than anyone?,” she
said. “I am so glad we are honoring
Celia, who’s been an activist forever,
besides being such a brilliant
performer. And that performance
of hers in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ a
play that relates so directly to the
struggle going on now, again, well
I couldn’t think of a more worthy
recipient of the fi rst Michael Friedman
Freedom Award” — named for
composer and lyricist who died two
years ago at age 41.
“Our theme, ‘My Body My Business,’
could not be more timely at
a time when women and women’s
rights are facing threats, again,
along with the trans community,”
Lieberman continued. “How appropriate
and thrilling that we
have Rachel Chavkin ‘Hadestown’
as our director, along with Anne
Tippe “Octet”, to pull everything
together.”
The always lovely, funny, and
unpredictable Laura Benanti will
host, and the range of gorgeous,
gifted performers on hand this year
is impressive, indeed: Kelli O’Hara,
Montego Glover, Judy Kuhn, Phillipa
Soo, Eva Noblezada, Shaina
Taub, Alysha Umphress, and the
Brooklyn Youth Chorus, among
many others.
Also honored, along with
Keenan-Bolger, will be three-time
Tony-winning producer Eva Price
and the founders of Level Forward
(Adrienne Becker, Abigail Disney,
Rachel Gould, and Angie Wang), a
female-led entertainment company
that has a deep commitment to
producing projects spearheaded by
women and people of color, along
with creating innovative and oh-so
welcome revenue-sharing partnerships
with nonprofi ts.
“Now, more than ever, we must
come together as a community to
fi ght for the rights of women and
trans people, especially those most
marginalized because of their race,
class, disability, or immigration
status,” Lieberman summed up.
“Art has always been a powerful
cornerstone of social justice movements,
and this year’s concert will
continue the tradition of using
music to bring people together, celebrate
our victories, and inspire us
for the fi ghts ahead.”
BROADWAY STANDS UP FOR
FREEDOM | “My Body My Business
| Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. | Town
Hall, 123 W. 43rd St. | Tickets begin
at $32 at broadwaystandsup.com
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October 24 - November 6 36 , 2019 | GayCityNews.com
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