True colors to shine
Wednesday, June 6, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.
Who: "The True Colors Tour"
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena
Tickets: $51.45 to $103.95; 891-1111
by Cyndi Lauper
You with the sad eyes
Don't be discouraged
Oh I realize
It's hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small
But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow
Show me a smile then,
Don't be unhappy, can't remember
When I last saw you laughing
If this world makes you crazy
And you've taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know I'll be there
And I'll see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow
Sexuality is a major element in the formula that made Las Vegas one of the most recognizable cities in the world. It's little wonder that organizers of a national concert tour to promote rights for sexually diverse people chose to launch their campaign in Las Vegas. The 16-city True Colors Tour premieres Friday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, kicking off Gay & Lesbian Pride Month and focusing attention on the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that actively fights for equal rights regardless of sexual orientation.
The concerts will feature five hours of nonstop music, including performances by Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Erasure, The Dresden Dolls, The Gossip, The Misshapes and Indigo Girls
Controversial lesbian comedian Rosie O'Donnell, late of "The View" talk show, will join the tour in several cities, including Las Vegas.
Comedian Margaret Cho hosts the concert.
Special guests at other stops on the tour include Rufus Wainwright, The Cliks, Cazwell, Amanda Lepore and Jeffree Star.
Lauper, who shot to stardom in 1983 with the release of her first album "She's So Unusual," organized the True Colors Tour.
"In 33 states you can be fired if you're gay or lesbian," Lauper said by phone from her Los Angeles home. "I always thought this was the land of the free. If it is you can't make a law that says 'Equality for all and freedom for all, except for you guys,' because then you never know if you're going to be among the next group of people that they say, 'Except for you.'
"You're either free, or you're not."
The tour is sponsored by MTV's Logo channel, which is aimed at the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender audience; the Human Rights Campaign; and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which was created after the University of Wyoming student was beaten to death in 1998 in Laramie.
A dollar of each ticket will go to the Human Rights Campaign.
"The Human Rights Campaign does wonderful work in Washington," Lauper said. "In fact, there's an amendment on the floor right now called the Matthew Shepard Amendment to amend the hate crime law to extend to people with different sexual orientations, which I think is really great."
Although the tour to focus attention on sexual preference issues is new, its roots extend back two decades to the tour promoting Lauper's second album, "True Colors." Although the title song was about racial equality, gays, lesbians and others found meaning in the music.
"After listening to the song a lot of people wrote to me and talked about how when the song came out how they were discriminated against, how they became cut off from their family, friends, jobs," Lauper said. "Some became suicidal, and then when they heard 'True Colors' it gave them strength.
"At that point I realized I had to do something."
She said when the opportunity came to do a tour to bring attention to the issues of sexual diversity, she took it.
"And I'm going to do it with joy," said Lauper, who will turn 54 on June 22. "There will be a lot of singing and a lot of laughter."
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