True colors to shine

Jerry Fink, Las Vegas Sun

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."