newsmakers

September 21, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

Actress, partner make it official

COLLINGSWOOD, N.J.

Actress Kelly McGillis has been joined in a civil union with her girlfriend in New Jersey.

McGillis and Melanie Leis’ civil union was performed in municipal court in Collingswood on Sept. 15.

McGillis, 53, starred in the movies “Witness,” “Top Gun” and “The Accused” in the 1980s.

Her civil-union partner is an executive with Independence Communications, a company that provides Muzak to businesses. The New York Times first reported their civil union.

McGillis, who lives in Collingswood, came out as a lesbian last year in an interview with SheWired.com. She has been married and divorced twice before and has two daughters.

Her latest film, “Stake Land,” had its debut last week at the Toronto International Film Festival.

London fashions

LONDON

Rock ’n’ roll fanatic Paul Smith says he’s drawing on the spirit of Jimi Hendrix for a dark and rich spring-summer show, one of the highlights of London’s Fashion Week.

Smith got his start in fashion hawking T-shirts at concerts and has since turned into a menswear icon, managing 12 collections and a chain of retail outlets across the world — including more than 200 stores in Japan.

The 54-year-old’s womenswear show is a fixture of the British capital’s five-day fashion extravaganza, which is still due to see collections from Burberry’s Christopher Bailey, Jonathan Saunders, Stella McCartney and Scottish style icon Pringle.

Lady Gaga at rally

PORTLAND, Maine

Lady Gaga wants Maine’s Republican senators to cast votes this week to help repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays.

The Grammy Award-winning pop singer was to attend a rally organized by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network on Monday in Deering Oaks Park, near the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus.

Lady Gaga was expected to stand alongside veterans who were discharged because of the policy, which prohibits service members from revealing if they’re gay, the group said. The policy also bars military recruiters from asking about people’s sexual orientations.

A proposal to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is attached to the defense-authorization bill, which Democrats will try to bring to a vote this week.

Democrats need 60 votes today to cut off debate and proceed to the bill, again putting Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine in the role of casting what could be deciding votes in the Senate, said Trevor Thomas, spokesman for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

Vindicator wire services