Names and faces
Hillary Clinton told an audience of advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people that the progress they’ve achieved in recent years may not be secure under the Donald Trump administration, and urged them to keep fighting. “I know that the election hit a lot of us hard,” Clinton said Thursday of her loss to Trump in November. “But I can tell you this: Even when it feels tempting to pull the covers over your head, please keep going.” The audience at the fundraising dinner for The Center, an LGBT community group in New York, greeted Clinton with multiple standing ovations and cheers as she accepted the organization’s Trailblazer Award. One of the biggest cheers came when she reiterated remarks she made in Geneva in 2011 as secretary of state: “Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights. … But I think we have to face the fact that we may not ever be able to count on this administration to lead on LGBT issues.”
Actor Bill Murray is set to go on tour with a chamber music trio for a p rog ram of songs and literary readings. The actor is pairing up with cellist Jan Vogler for the project titled New Worlds. The New York Times reported that the odd pairing for the tour stems from Murray and Vogler sitting across from each other on a flight from Berlin to New York in 2013. Tour highlights will include songs from Van Morrison and West Side Story and readings from Mark Twain, Walt Whitman and Ernest Hemingway. Music includes the works of Gershwin, Bach and Schubert. The program will premiere in the U.S. on July 20 at California’s Festival Napa Valley. A recording of New Worlds is planned for release in August.
Country music star Dierks Bentley has been nominated to serve on the government board that oversees the Nashville International Airport. The Tennessean reported that Mayor Meghan Barry recently chose Bentley, who rose to the top of the charts in 2014 with the song “Drunk on a Plane,” to fill the latest vacancy on the Nashville Airport Authority’s board of directors. Barry said in a statement that Bentley will bring a “unique perspective” to the board. Bentley is a Nashville resident and a pilot.