The Human Rights Campaign Austin holds its annual black-tie ball Saturday, March 15, at the Four Seasons Hotel. This year’s HRC Equality Awards recipients include fundraiser favorite the Austin Babtist Women, an all-male singing and comedy troupe; Ted Smith, philanthropist/activist and founding chair of the major-donors program for AIDS Services of Austin; and filmmakers Laura Barton and Judy Wilder, whose Dildo Diaries documentary explores Texas’ criminalization of adult sex toys. HRC’s special guests will be former major league baseball player Billy Bean, who came out as a gay man in The New York Times following his retirement, and actor/comedian Jason Stuart, who will emcee. Tickets are $225, which includes a sunset cruise on Town Lake. For more info, see www.hrcaustin.org.
UT-Austin will host a pair of symposiums this month for the politically minded.
On Wednesday, March 19, 8:30am-5pm, the UT School of Law will host the Texas Forum on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights’ “Capital Punishment in Modern Society” in the Eidman Courtroom (inside the Connally Center, at 26th and East Campus Drive. It’s followed by a 7pm reception and banquet with guest speaker Molly Ivins, at the UT Club inside Memorial Stadium. The symposium is free ($50 for lawyers seeking CLE credit). The banquet costs $20 for students, $35 for nonstudents, through Friday, March 14; prices go up $10 after that. Seating is limited to 150. 587-1829 for info.
Then, on March 26, 9am-noon, media law experts, attorneys, and journalists will observe the 30th anniversary of the Texas Open Records Act at the Bass Lecture Hall in the LBJ School of Public Affairs, 2315 Red River. Keynote speaker is University of Minnesota professor Jane Kirtley, former executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Call 471-1990 for more info.
This article appears in March 14 • 2003.