False Arrests Protest At Mayor Bloomberg's House

Today a group of LGBT rights and sexual freedom activists gathered just down the block from Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Upper East Side mansion to protest the false arrests of gay men in NYC's adult bookshops. Robert Pinter, a victim of this campaign, gave interviews to a number of local and national newsmedia outlets as two dozen gay men marched with placards denouncing Bloomberg and the NYPD.

On hand were a number of familiar LGBT activists: Brendan Fay, Gilbert Baker, Ann Northrop, Father Tony, Eric Leven, John Weis and journalists Andy Humm and Duncan Osbourne. It was Osbourne's relentless pursuit of this story that brought the entire illegal campaign to light.

Also present were protest observers from the National Lawyers Guild and Susan Wright, the founder and spokesperson of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, with whom I had a chat about our mutual enemy, Peter LaBarbera. The NYPD was generally friendly and cooperative, although they did not allow the protesters within 100 feet of Bloomberg's home.

Curious passersby and tourists exiting Central Park took photos of the protest and were handed fact sheets about the action. Many of the men giving interviews to the press stressed that the entire "prostitution" campaign was in fact meant to close the city's adult businesses under nuisance abatement laws.

BELOW: Father Tony gets video of playwright George Tynan Crowley reading his special Valentine's poem to Mayor Bloomberg. Go to Father Tony's site for more on the rally, including photos and more video.

UPDATE: Robert Pinter tells his story to Eric Leven.

UPDATE II: The New York Times has published their coverage of the protest.

Happy V.D.

Gay singer/songwriter Matt Alber has "lent" the video of his lovely single End Of The World to the Empire State Pride Agenda for this Valentine's message. Alber has been added to the cast of Defying Inequality, Broadways all-star fundraiser for marriage equality which benefits the Pride Agenda and other groups.

Cornell Students Stage Valentine's Kiss-In

The University of Colorado wasn't the only place to stage a Valentine's kiss-in for homo visibility today.

Love — or, at least, lust — was in the air on Ho Plaza at 12:15 p.m. A group of roughly 20 students lined up to hold a colorful banner that read “QUEER KISSIN’ … in progress” and then proceeded have a queer kiss-in, which lasted about five minutes. Direct Action to Stop Heterosexism sponsored the event, according to kiss-in participant Ashley McGovern ’09. She explained that heterosexism is “kind of like homophobia except heterosexism has to do with all facets of society … so the normalization of heterosexuality in society.” Heteronormativity refers to the idea that heterosexuality is the “normal” sexual orientation. This includes the notion that people fall into two discrete categories — male and female — and that sexual relations are normal only between two people of different sexes.

I know y'all are wondering about "Ho Plaza." The plaza was a gift from the Ho family which has had five members graduate from Cornell.

Anti-Gay Televangelist T.D. Jakes' Son Busted For Public Gay Sex

T.D. Jakes' megachurch draws 30,000+ worshippers weekly and in 2001, TIME called him "the next Billy Graham" despite his famous "prosperity" style of preaching which advises that God wants you to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle. The flashy Dallas-based televangelist regularly rails against the evils of homosexuality and same-sex marriage on his television shows, calling us a "broken" people. And yesterday his son was arrested for public sex in a Dallas park.

Jermaine Donnell Jakes, 29, faces a charge of indecent exposure after allegedly exposing himself in front of two undercover vice detectives shortly after 10 p.m. on Jan. 3. Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther, a DPD spokeswoman, confirmed Thursday, Feb. 12 that the detectives were both male. According to an arrest affidavit, the detectives were conducting an investigation into citizen complaints of sexual activity when they observed Jakes and several other unknown males park their vehicles in the lot east of the park at 2106 W. Kiest Blvd. The detectives followed Jakes into a wooded area, where he approached them with his penis exposed through his unzipped pants, the affidavit states. Jakes masturbated for several seconds while making eye contact with one of the detectives. Jakes made no attempt to conceal his penis despite people walking and jogging on a trail nearby, the affidavit states. According to court records, Jermaine Jakes listed his place of employment as T.D. Jakes Ministries. Jakes was released at the scene after being detained.

If Jermaine Jakes is "broken", we all know who broke him. Always, always, always - behind these public haters is the sad personal story of one of our own, either the hater himself or somebody close to him. No schadenfreude for T.D. Jakes here, just pity for his son.

CNN Interviews Gay Congressman Jared Polis On Stimulus Bill

A Familiar Boycott Conundrum

On Wednesday, Californians Against Hate launched a boycott against the Utah-based Ken Garff Automotive, which has 53 dealerships in six states, due to the $100K donation to Prop 8 by the head of the family that founded the company.

That same day, CAH's Fred Karger met with executives at the dealership chain and may be about to announce an amicable resolution, possibly due to the "sizable" donations the company has made to the HRC in the past and its support of Utah Pride.

Katharine Garff, who was out of town Thursday and unavailable for comment, is company president John Garff's mother. She made the donation to the pro-Prop 8 group ProtectMarriage.com, a week before the Nov. 4 election, according to filings with the California Secretary of State. Karger and John Garff said they had agreed to keep the substance of their settlement discussions confidential for now, but both confirmed that Karger was drafting a proposal for steps the company might take to resolve the boycott, following the pair's meeting late Wednesday at Garff offices. "Fred and I focused on common ground, and there is plenty of common ground,'' Garff said of their meeting, adding that the exchange included details of the company's extensive history of support for Utah's gay and lesbian community.

Karger called the meeting with Garff "a good healthy dialogue" and said he hoped his call for customers to stay away from Garff dealerships could be withdrawn soon, though he refused to be specific about a time frame. Karger said the group's Internet site and other Internet-based efforts would remain active until final details of the settlement were worked out. This is a civil rights issue," Karger said.

In addition to having a nondiscriminatory policy on hiring and employment, Garff Automotive is an annual donor to the pro-gay rights Human Rights Campaign and has donated vehicles to the Utah Pride parade, along with a range of other diversity-promoting causes, Garff said. "Fred learned some things I don't think he knew," Garff said. Jerry Rapier, Utah's representative on the Human Rights Campaign's national board of governors, confirmed that annual donations from the Garff company made up a sizable share of corporate largess for the group's banquet and silent auction. Noting that he was expressing his personal view, Rapier said the boycott call "offends me and seems shortsighted."

This is a familiar conundrum. Do we punish a company that seems to be doing to right thing, in order to hurt the haters that benefit from the company's profitability? Remember Coors?

Spanish Families Defy Mandatory Homosexual Indoctrination!

Last week a Spanish court ruled that parents may not take their children out of classes that teach about LGBT rights. Some Spanish families are rebelling, as demonstrated by the above video. From the Christianist LifeSiteNews, where I also got the title of this post.

Spanish families who are resisting their government's mandatory homosexualist indoctrination program have made a video expressing their defiance. "Freedom begins with defiance" the video begins. It then includes scenes of adults, teenagers, and children expressing their rejection of the classes, which are being given as a required civics course in the nation's schools, both public and private. "We're not giving in" says one mother. "We're not going to enter the classes," say two teenagers. "We're going to continue fighting ... for our freedom and the freedom of all," say two groups of families. The video has appeared in the wake of a recent decision by the Spanish Supreme Court, which has not been formally announced yet, but which purportedly confirms that the government may compel students to take the course, which is entitled "Education for Citizenship and Human Rights." Although the course is billed as a type of civics instruction, it has been criticized for promoting secularist values strongly opposed to Christianity, including homosexualist ideology.

I prefer "homosexualista". Sandinista, fashionista, Clintonista. Nicaragua just keeps giving.

Lesbians Blamed For Octomommy

Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council knows where the fault lies in the octomommy case. Lesbians did it!

When Nadya Suleman became a mom for the 14th time, she raised more than a few eyebrows. The drama grew by national proportions when details trickled out that Suleman was not only unmarried, but chose to have multiple embryos implanted in her womb through in-vitro fertilization. Last week, taxpayers learned that they would be partially liable for the family's care through hundreds of dollars in food stamps and disability payments. The news fueled even more conviction that the fertility doctor should have refused the procedure.

But is he really to blame--or are our courts? In California, the state Supreme Court made it virtually impossible for a physician to exercise his own judgment after two lesbians sued in 2001 for the right to be artificially inseminated over the doctors' personal or social objections. Last year, in Benitez v. North Coast Women's Care Medical Group, the justices ruled that anti-discrimination laws trumped physicians' rights. In so doing, the court tied the hands of the medical field, leaving little recourse against irresponsible and unhealthy decisions like Suleman's.

Got that? This isn't the fault of a deranged baby machine with a completely unethical doctor, (who has another patient pregnant with quadruplets, by the way). It's the fault of lesbians who demanded their legal right to be parents.

Heroes Of Love

The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center has set up a Valentine's Day e-card of thanks to send to our straight allies. You can send cyber-thanks to: Julian Bond - NAACP Chairman, Jerry Brown - California Attorney General, Judy Chu - State Board of Equalization, Maria Elena Durazo - L.A. County AFL-CIO, Dianne Feinstein - U.S. Senator, Ronald George -Chief Justice California Supreme Court, Dolores Huerta - Co-founder United Farm Workers, Alice Huffman - California NAACP, Bill Maher -Host, Real Time with Bill Maher, Gavin Newsom - Mayor of San Francisco, Jack O'Connell - Superintendent of Public Instruction. Brad Pitt - Actor, Jerry Sanders - Mayor of San Diego, Antonio Villaraigosa - Mayor of Los Angeles, Karin Wang - Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

What, no Jon Stewart? No Keith Olbermann?

Civil Unions Pass In Hawaii House

The Hawaii House of Representatives approved civil unions for same-sex couples yesterday.

The state House yesterday passed a bill to legalize civil unions among same-sex partners, a vote several lawmakers believe will help end discrimination against gays and lesbians in Hawai'i. The bill, which now moves to the state Senate, would grant partners in civil unions the same benefits, protections and responsibilities as married couples under state law. The state would also recognize civil unions, domestic partnerships and same-sex marriages performed in other states. Partners in civil unions would not have the same protections as married couples under federal law, so the recognition is a rung below treating homosexual and heterosexual couples equally. The House vote was 33-17 with one lawmaker excused, one vote shy of a veto-proof supermajority. The lawmaker who missed the vote, state Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Newtown, Waiau, Pearl City), who is preparing to deploy with the Hawai'i Army National Guard to Kuwait, supports civil unions.

The bill is still in committee in the Hawaii Senate. Three states presently have civil unions: New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

UK: Cocaine Now Cheaper Than Beer

I don't know if this is related to the economy or not.

Based on reports from police forces, the Home Office said that cocaine is now being sold for as little as £20 a gram in some parts of the country. The most common price for the drug is £40 per gram. Home Office figures for 1998 show the average price was £77. A gram of heroin can now be bought for as little as £25, with the average price somewhere between £40 and £50 per gram. In 1998, the average was £74.

The Home Office figures are based on data collected from police forces and the Serious Organised Crime Agency. According to DrugScope, a charity that provides research and advice on drugs policy, gram of cocaine can make between 10 and 20 lines for snorting, depending on its strength. That means a line of cocaine can cost as little as £1, with an average price per line of between £2 and £4. The average price of a pint of lager is around £2.75, although some pub chains have reacted to the credit crunch by cutting the price of a pint as low as 99p. A glass of wine typically costs £3.50.

I tried the DEA's site to see what the comparative price is in the U.S. but there's some gobbledygook about purity strengths.

Wanda Sykes To Host White House Correspondents' Dinner

In what may be a first for an openly gay person, Wanda Sykes will host this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Wanda Sykes will soon get the chance to make fun of President Barack Obama to his face. The comic actress said Thursday that she has been selected as the entertainer at the annual White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner in Washington, slated for May 9. Obama is expected to attend the black-tie affair at the Washington Hilton and to follow in his predecessors' tradition by putting on a comedy act of his own. The guest list of some 2,000 people will likely include the usual mix of Washington elite, White House press corps and Hollywood celebrities.

"The first thing I did when they asked me to do this gig — I made sure my taxes were paid," quipped Sykes, taking a dig at the withdrawal of former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle from Obama's cabinet due to unpaid taxes. Sykes, who booked the gig this week, said the idea of performing for such a high-profile crowd is "scary but very exciting." The dinner has tripped up comedians before. Rich Little and Stephen Colbert both provoked criticism of their performances before the crowd. She said it's her job to "poke fun and ridicule," and even a popular figure like Obama isn't off limits. She already has some ideas about what she could mine for laughs. For example, she noted, Obama can be "a little long-winded. So we can get him on that."

I'm not sure anybody could ever top Stephen Colbert from a couple of years ago, but this should be great.

Till The End - Tom Goss

Singer/songwriter Tom Goss gives you some sweet gay lovin' for Valentine's Day.

Saturday At Noon: Protest At Bloomberg's Home Over Gay Men Falsely Arrested For Prostitution

Tomorrow at noon there will be a protest at Mayor Bloomberg's Upper East Side home over the NYPD's practice of falsely arresting gay men for prostitution at the city's adult bookstores. Duncan Osbourne at Gay City News has been following this story for months; I first mentioned his coverage here in late October.

Basically, the cops are sending hot young guys into porn shops where they offer to pay much older gay men for sex off the premises. As ridiculous as that scenario may be, if the customer does leave with the young man, he is arrested outside. So far over 50 gay men have been arrested. Some have plead guilty in order not to go to trial. Others are vigorously denying the charge.

The protest is being organized by Robert Pinter, who was arrested in October. Pinter's story is here. The arrests have been condemned by several high-ranking NYC officials, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Mayor Bloomberg lives at 17 E.79th Street near Central Park. I'll be there and get some photographs of the protest.

Flash Mobbing For Equality

Students at the University of Colorado are planning an interesting demonstration today.

Most Friday mornings, the fountain area outside the University Memorial Center serves as hub for any number of run-of-the-mill student activities, from studying and chatting with friends to just passing through on the way to class. Just before noon this Friday, however, the University of Colorado’s Dalton Trumbo Fountain will play host to something a bit steamier: a mass make-out session. Student organizers say the demonstration, titled “Make Out Stake Out,” will give gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students — along with their straight allies — an avenue to playfully challenge societal norms about public displays of affection. If all goes as planned, at precisely 11:53 a.m., a “flash mob” of student couples of varying sexual orientations suddenly will appear at the UMC fountain square, make out for two minutes — and then disperse. “We’re trying to remove the stigma that surrounds same-sex affection in public and, more importantly, the misconception that if you are queer and you are expressing affection in public that you are rubbing it in people’s faces,” junior Spencer Watson said.

Uniting American Families Act Introduced

A bill that would allow same-sex binational couples the same immigration rights as straight couples was reintroduced to Congress yesterday.

The bill, known as the Uniting American Families Act, was introduced in the House by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and in the Senate by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Versions of the bills have been introduced in each session of Congress since 2000, when the legislation was known as the Permanent Partners Immigration Act. Current law allows spouses of foreign nationals to sponsor their immigration to the United States, and the bill would allow the partners of gay foreign nationals to bring them into the country on the same basis.

In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Nadler said he submitted the bill because it’s “gratuitous cruelty to keep people who love each other apart.” Nadler said there’s a “fair chance” the legislation could pass this session. He said one possibility for passing the bill would be to fold it into a larger immigration omnibus bill. Nadler said if UAFA becomes law, incidents of fraud would carry “the same harsh penalties” as they do for married couples. Fraud would be punishable by up to five years in prison and as much as $250,000 in fines, according to Immigration Equality.

Read Immigration Equality's press release on the legislation here. Urge your representative in Congress to support the UAFA by using this contact form.

Broadway Friday

Defying Inequality, Broadway's all-star benefit for marriage equality, plays the Gershwin Theater on Monday, February 23th. Appearing: Nathan Lane, Harvey Fierstein, Matt Alber, David Hyde Pierce, Cyndi Lauper, Judy Gold, Mary Testa, the NYC Gay Men's Chorus, Alison Janney, Douglas Carter Beane, Lynda Carter (!!!), Gavin Creel, Kerry Butler, and many many more. Among the numbers to be performed will be Hairspray author Marc Shaiman's Prop 8 - The Musical. Tickets: $250-$1000. The show benefits the Family Equality Council, Garden State Equality, Empire State Pride Agenda, Equality California, and the Vermont Freedom To Marry Task Force.

- Minsky's, a musical-comedy set in the Great Depression (!!!) and currently playing Los Angeles may move to Broadway for the '09-'10 season. The budget for a Broadway version is estimated to be $10M-$12M.

- Big name stars set to appear in new shows this spring: Jane Fonda. Jeremy Irons. Joan Allen. James Gandolfini. Geoffrey Rush. Susan Sarandon. Angela Lansbury. Rupert Everett. Nathan Lane. Bill Irwin. Matthew Broderick. David Hyde Pierce.

- The Tony Awards committee has ruled that all three boys that appear as the titular star of Billy Elliot are will be considered jointly for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. The show airs on June 7th.

- This Sunday's edition of Broadway Jukebox at the Birdland, in which audience members select the songs, will star Tony Yazbeck, Lisa Howard, and Jack Noseworthy. Showtime 6:30PM. Tickets $25-$35.

- Laura Osnes replaces Kelly O'Hara in Lincoln Center's South Pacific on March 10th. O'Hara is scheduled to return to her role as Ensign Nellie Forbrush on October 6th, following the birth of her baby.

- Rupert Everett makes his Broadway debut next month in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at the Shubert Theater.

The Curse Of Obama's Cabinet Goes On

Sen. Judd Gregg has decided he can't get along with the Obama administration and has withdrawn his nomination for Secretary of Commerce. (At least, that's what he says the reason is.)

President Obama’s choice for Commerce Secretary, Senator Judd Gregg, withdrew his nomination on Thursday. He said there were “irresolvable conflicts” between him and the administration. “It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census, there are irresolvable conflicts for me,” Mr. Gregg said in a statement. “Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.”

I guess this undoes the deal to replace Gregg in the Senate.

To Love Oneself Is The Beginning Of A Lifelong Romance - Oscar Wilde

That Oscar Wilde quote sprang to mind while watching this clip from Nip/Tuck. Audio NSFW. Wait for the last line. If I recall correctly, what they speak of has its own category on certain "social networking" sites.

(Tipped by JMG reader DallasCub)

Maine: Anti-Gay Marriage Site Launched

The Maine Marriage Initiative has launched a website to help residents contact their legislators and complain about the coming vote on marriage equality. Note the perfect Aryan family depicted in their header.

Maine Marriage Initiative was established with the goal of informing Maine people about the consequences of the legalization of same-sex marriage. Maine Marriage Initiative is a coalition of concerned Maine citizens committed to preserving traditional marriage in the state. We believe that all Maine citizens are entitled to equal rights (JMG: SNORT!) and respect regardless of their gender, race, creed or sexual orientation. We further believe that the values exemplified in traditional marriage are optimally beneficial to society, and therefore do not believe that changing the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples is warranted or advisable. The objection(s) to same-sex marriage are based not only on religious tenets but also human reason and the good of society at large.

Although they are too chickenshit to say so on their site, the Maine Marriage Initiative is actually the work of Focus On The Family and the Portland Catholic Diocese. Maine's legislature is being presented with a marriage equality bill by state Sen. Dennis Damon, but the GOP is positioning opposing bills, including one to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage.

Congress Folds On Salary Caps

It looks like the top executives at bailed out firms won't have to give up that house in the Hamptons after all.

Congressional efforts to impose stringent restrictions on executive compensation appeared to be evaporating yesterday as House and Senate negotiators worked to fine-tune the compromise stimulus bill. Provisions to impose a penalty on banks that paid hefty bonuses and to cap pay at $400,000 for all employees at firms applying for additional government funds did not survive the compromise, sources said. The situation was in flux last night, but provisions in the Senate bill that called for a ban on bonuses for all companies receiving government funds also appeared to be headed to the chopping block, congressional sources said.

Even if you completely fuck things up and the government has to come to the rescue, you still get your millions.

Poz Woman Suing After Being Refused Gall Bladder Surgery

A 35 year old HIV-positive female prisoner has filed a federal lawsuit because her doctor refused to perform surgery on her gall bladder.

Melody Rose's case is supported by gay equality advocates Lambda Legal and the AIDS Resource Centre of Wisconsin (ARCW). The lawsuit was filed today in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Ms Rose says the defendants –- Steven Cahee, MD, Agnesian HealthCare Inc, and Fond du Lac Regional Clinic, violated four different state and federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its state law counterpart, which both prohibit disability discrimination by places of public accommodation, including healthcare providers.

Rose's surgery was eventually performed by a doctor at a different medical facility.

Someone At The AP Doesn't Like Us

At the bottom of the Associated Press story I excerpted in the post below this one, readers are directed to three sites:

On the Net:

Marriage Equality USA:
http://www.marriageequality.org

Join the Impact:
http://jointheimpact.com

Family Research Council:
http://www.frc.org

Family Research Council? Really?

Hundreds Turned Away At NYC Hall Marriage Protest

As part of Freedom To Marry day, hundreds of gay couples were turned away from New York City Hall this morning when they arrived to demand marriage certificates.

Hundreds of same-sex couples seeking to wed were turned away from the city marriage bureau Thursday, part of a nationwide protest aimed at recent decisions restricting the right to marry to a man and a woman. Wearing signs that said "Just Not Married," the activists were part of a wave of demonstrations expected throughout the day at marriage bureaus or county clerks' offices from New York City to California, in communities large and small. Matt Flanders, 37, of Brooklyn, participated with his 29-year-old partner, Will Jennings. Both wore gold engagement rings.

When he was denied a marriage license, Flanders said he told officials: "'I should be able to marry the person I love.' And they said, `We can only offer you a domestic partnership.'" Micah Stanek, 23, stood outside in a floor-length wedding veil after he and his partner were rejected. He said he moved to New York from San Francisco after gay marriage was outlawed in California on the November ballot. New York is especially important because the rest of the country follows what happens here," he said. Outside the bureau, protesters sang "Love and Marriage" and chanted, "What do we want? Marriage! When do we want it? Now!" One man held a sign that read: "Love your husband? Let me love mine!"

(Photos via Towleroad & Gothamist)

Octomom Goes Begging

That woman with a clown car for a uterus has launched a website asking for cash and baby supply donations. Meanwhile Page Six is claiming that NBC paid up to seven figures for Octomommy's interview on Tuesday. NBC says "Bullshit, we paid nothing." And folks in California are going nuts because of this:

A big share of the financial burden of raising Nadya Suleman's 14 children could fall on the shoulders of California's taxpayers, compounding the public furor in a state already billions of dollars in the red. Even before the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother gave birth to octuplets last month, she had been caring for her six other children with the help of $490 a month in food stamps, plus Social Security disability payments for three of the youngsters. The public aid will almost certainly be increased with the new additions to her family. Also, the hospital where the octuplets are expected to spend seven to 12 weeks has requested reimbursement from Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, for care of the premature babies, according to the Los Angeles Times. The cost has not been disclosed.

I watched the NBC interview and couldn't understand why Suleman wasn't asked about her duck lips. Seriously. Who paid for THOSE? Amanda Lepore must be SO jealous. I am so in love with this entire story, just because of the way the Freeper types are twisting themselves into logical ropes.

AIDS Cure Claim From Germany

German doctors are claiming to have cured a man of HIV infection with a stem cell transplant from a person naturally immune to the virus, a process I mentioned here last week.

A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia appears to have no detectable HIV in his blood and no symptoms after a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus that causes AIDS, according to a report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The patient underwent a stem cell transplant and since, has not tested positive for HIV in his blood. The patient underwent a stem cell transplant and since, has not tested positive for HIV in his blood. "The patient is fine," said Dr. Gero Hutter of Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany. "Today, two years after his transplantation, he is still without any signs of HIV disease and without antiretroviral medication." The case was first reported in November, and the new report is the first official publication of the case in a medical journal. Hutter and a team of medical professionals performed the stem cell transplant on the patient, an American living in Germany, to treat the man's leukemia, not the HIV itself. However, the team deliberately chose a compatible donor who has a naturally occurring gene mutation that confers resistance to HIV. The mutation cripples a receptor known as CCR5, which is normally found on the surface of T cells, the type of immune system cells attacked by HIV. The mutation is known as CCR5 delta32 and is found in 1 percent to 3 percent of white populations of European descent.

Doctors note the high mortality rate of the process (which the patient had to have due to another illness) and warn against false hopes.

On Anniversary Of Lawrence King's Murder Comes New Revelations

Today is the anniversary of gay teen Lawrence King's murder by fellow classmate Brandon McInerney. Yesterday the prosecutor in the case revealed that according to students, King was not, in fact, sexually harassing McInerney.

Lawrence "Larry" King wasn't sexually harassing fellow eighth-grade student Brandon McInerney in the weeks leading up to King's shooting death, prosecutors contend in court documents. McInerney was the aggressor, teasing the effeminate King for weeks and vowing to "get a gun and shoot" him, according to a prosecution brief. Multiple students provided accounts of a growing hostility between the two boys, the document shows. Witnesses said King was usually not the aggressor. But after months of teasing by McInerney and other male students who called him "faggot," he had began to retort, according to prosecutors.

The day before the shooting, the two boys were bickering during seventh period. When King left, a student witness said that McInerney commented, "I'm going to shoot him." Just after that class, another student heard King say "I love you" to McInerney as they passed in a hallway. The same student then heard McInerney say he was "going to get a gun and shoot" King, according to prosecutors. A few minutes later, prosecutors allege, McInerney told one of King's friends: "Say goodbye to your friend Larry because you're never going to see him again."

The prosecution brief also reveals for the first time that McInerney was familiar with firearms, and that he had used that particular weapon in the past during target shooting with his family. Investigators found a training video in his possession titled "Shooting in Realistic Environments," as well as skinhead and neo-Nazi books and similar writings from the Internet, prosecutors wrote. "I had to tell the court what we knew at the time the decision was made to file in adult court," Fox said. "So that's what I did."

Memorials for Lawrence King are planned for today. Brandon McInerney is scheduled to be tried as an adult, despite pleas from a broad coalition of LGBT and progressive groups that he be tried in juvenile court.

HomoQuotable - Evan Wolfson

"As a candidate for the Illinois Senate in 1996, a body in which Lincoln also served, Obama in his own hand supported the Marriage Resolution now on Freedom to Marry's website. He said, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." I believe Lincoln, with today's understanding of who gay people are, would, too. And once Lincoln had taken such a step, he would have stuck with it, as when he courageously refused to retreat from the Emancipation Proclamation even when facing a difficult reelection battle in 1864. As Lincoln said, "The promise, being made, must be kept."

"In recent years, Obama has wavered on marriage equality, while expressing commendable support for gay families and substitute legal status such as civil union -- getting the what (equality) right, but not the how (marriage). Lincoln, however, would not have abandoned a clear commitment to the right result even when, where necessary, moving by intermediate steps.

"President Obama seems determined to embrace Lincoln's empathy model -- "there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America.... We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states." I hope he and other politicians also embrace Lincoln's courage and lessons on how to combine strategy with moral education, moral leadership, that prepares and moves Americans in fulfillment of our deepest values. After all, as a recent Freedom to Marry study reported, no legislators who voted for marriage equality or against anti-gay measures lost their seat in the last several election cycles.

"As Lincoln's words and actions skillfully paved the way for America's "new birth of freedom," he returned again and again to the Declaration of Independence's promise that "all should have an equal chance." Lincoln didn't expect that promise to waft in by itself, or solely on the work of others. He led." - Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom To Marry, marking the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln today in the Huffington Post. Wolfson begins the piece with a few paragraphs noting the speculation that Lincoln may have been gay.

Today is national Freedom To Marry Day.

Gay Paper Supports End To Canada's Law Against Hate Speech

A columnist in Canada's gay magazine Xtra has come out in support of a move by MP Keith Martin to remove the provision against hate speech from the Canada Human Rights Act. Brenda Cossman:

[T]he best way to get your opinions about offensive speech into the paper is to bring a human rights complaint trying to censor the offensive speech. The hate speech provisions create an incentive to bring a complaint, so that you can actually then attract attention to your claim that something is offensive. Sorry, but this is crazy. Human rights commissions should not be censors. They should not be deciding just what words are too offensive for the Canadian public to hear. Imagine how gay presses might have fared over the years with these kind of laws, since lots of Canadians think that the stuff that gay people say is, well, totally offensive. I think I'm with Keith Martin. Let's get those provisions out of the human rights codes, and go back to fighting words with words, even if it's hard, and even if the words are, well, offensive.

Deliciously Gross Food

Unrelated to today's open thread, you may want to check out This Is Why You're Fat for photos of "deliciously gross food." Yeah, I can see myself trying this Krispy Kreme sloppy joe.

Hungary Tries Again On Domestic Partners

Months after a court struck down a domestic partners act because it was too similar to marriage, which their constitution holds is only for a man and a woman, the Hungarian government is trying again.

The Hungarian Government has approved a new bill on registered partnerships. It replaces a previous law on registered partnership that was struck down by the Constitutional Court in December, just weeks before its was due to come into force. The new bill introduces the institution of registered partnership only for same sex couples and a scheme of domestic partnership registration for both same sex and different sex couples. Support for the bill in the Parliament is still an open question. In December the Hungarian Constitutional Court ruled that the law on registered partnership adopted by the Hungarian Parliament a year earlier was unconstitutional.

The new bill specifically excludes the right for same-sex couples to take their partner's name or to adopt children.

Mormongate

Californians Against Hate executive director Fred Karger is relentless.

The money war over Proposition 8 shows no signs of letting up. Opponents of the measure, which banned gay marriage in California, said today that they plan to file a second complaint with the state alleging the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints deliberately did not disclose its financial contributions to the Yes on 8 campaign. Californians Against Hate already filed one complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, sparking an ongoing investigation of whether the church violated campaign finance laws. The church has repeatedly said it did not violate any rules and was not trying to hide how much the church gave. Records released last month show the church donated about $198,000 to the Yes on 8 case. “I’m calling this Mormongate,” Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, told the Associated Press. “I think there’s been a massive coverup.”

Karger is also part of a coalition of activists demanding that Bill Clinton cancel an upcoming speech at Doug Manchester's San Diego Hyatt. Manchester donated $125K to Prop 8.

Open Thread Thursday

What's delicious? Submit your favorite dish.

Please Select Your Level Of Hate

Jeremy at Good As You points us to the Traditional Values Coalition's a la carte menu of targeted hate donations so you can make sure that your hate money only supports the particular hate that you love the most. Get free unlimited texting with their SuperHate™ package!VERY RELATED: The Southern Poverty Law Center rates the Tradition Values Coalition as a hate group.

Broadway Backwards 4 Recap

The Broadway sites have posted their coverage of Monday's Broadway Backwards 4, the annual all-star fundraiser for the NYC LGBT Center in which classic showtunes are given a gay twist. Above is Broadway World's Walter McBride's shot of Cheyenne Jackson bottoming for Sandra Bernhard. McBride has many more photos here.

Go to Theater Mania for a great photo recap by Tristan Fuge. Broadway.com has a lengthy clip of performances and interviews posted, which for some reason won't embed here. Go see it. And AfterElton's Michael Portantiere has posted a series of super hot performance shots, including the one below of Florence Henderson. Below that is the LGBT Center's interview with Jai Rodriguez and his partner. My own review from yesterday is here.

Special Swag Wednesday

Courtesy of Fly Life Inc, we have a special Swag Wednesday giveaway today - two tickets to the fabulous reunited Labelle concert on Feb. 26th at Manhattan's Beacon Theater. I saw Labelle's first performance together in decades at last year's Out 100 Awards and the ladies just blew the roof off the place. Tickets are on sale now.

Enter to win your tickets by commenting on this post. Only enter once and please remember to leave an email address you check frequently. Tickets are transferable to another party, so if you can't get to NYC for the show, you can gift the tickets to your favorite local homo. Entries close Thursday night at midnight PST.

eBay CEO Meg Whitman Announces Bid For California Governor

As widely predicted, today eBay CEO Meg Whitman announced that she will run for governor of California in 2010. Whitman famously came out in support of Proposition 8 last fall, but tells the LA Times that she does support other LGBT right issues.

Explaining her support for Proposition 8, the November measure that banned same-sex marriage, she called it a "matter of personal conscience and my faith." But Whitman, a Presbyterian who supports gay civil unions, said the thousands of same-sex marriages that took place last year before the ban should be legally recognized -- a sentiment opposed by many Proposition 8 backers. Moreover, she said, gay and lesbian couples should be able to adopt children.

A friend of Mitt Romney, Whitman only recently registered as a Republican in California because she believed the head of eBay should appear to be politically neutral. California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who has petitioned the state Supreme Court to overturn Prop 8, may also run for governor in 2010.

Former NY Mets Star Roberto Alomar Sued For Exposing Ex-Girlfriend To HIV

Former star New York Mets player Roberto Alomar is being sued for $15M by an ex-girlfriend who claims he had unprotected sex with her while knowing he had full-blown AIDS. Considered by some to be baseball's greatest second baseman ever, Alomar retired at the top of his game in 2005 due to health issues.

Baseball great Roberto Alomar has full-blown AIDS but insisted on having unprotected sex, his ex-girlfriend charged Tuesday in a bombshell lawsuit. The shocking claim was leveled by Ilya Dall, 31, who said she lived with the ex-Met for three years and watched in horror as his health worsened. In papers filed in state and federal court, Dall said Alomar finally got tested in January 2006 while suffering from a cough, fatigue and shingles. "The test results of him being HIV-positive was given to him and the plaintiff on or about Feb.6, 2006," the $15 million negligence suit says. Nine days later, the couple went to see a disease specialist who discovered a mass in the retired second baseman's chest, the court papers say. Alomar's skin had turned purple, he was foaming at the mouth and a spinal tap "showed he had full-blown AIDS," the suit says. Alomar, 41, who quit baseball over health issues in 2005, could not be reached for comment.

Alomar's girlfriend says that he told her he was raped by two Mexican men at the age of 17 after playing in a baseball game in a southwest U.S. state. She stayed with him for almost three years after his 2006 positive HIV test, but says that she longer had unprotected sex with him after that. The couple broke up in October 2008. She is now suing for "emotional distress" and for "exposing her children to the AIDS virus." Her own HIV status is not disclosed in the suit.

RELATED: In 1996 Alomar spat in the face of an umpire after a disputed call, prompting another umpire to demand that Alomar submit to an HIV test. The spat-upon umpire says today that he is not concerned for his own health and only wishes Alomar well.

Another Gay-Straight Club Suit In Florida

Two high school students in Jacksonville, Florida are being backed by the ACLU in their lawsuit to establish a gay-straight club.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed the suit Tuesday in federal court on behalf of Yulee High School students Hannah Page, a freshman, and Jacob Brock, a junior. The lawsuit claims violations of the First Amendment and the Federal Equal Access Act. The act requires schools to grant access and recognition to a Gay-Straight Alliance and other groups if the school allows any extracurricular group to meet on campus, said ACLU attorney Robert F. Rosenwald. The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to allow the club to meet at Yulee High while the case makes it way to trial. Page said the group just wants to meet like others do. "We just want the club so that straight and gay kids can get together to talk about harassment and discrimination against gay kids in an open environment. The school is discriminating against us and that's exactly the kind of thing we want to prevent," she said.

The Nassau County School Board, who was served with the suit, says that clubs that "highlight sexual orientation" are a violation of policy. Last year the ACLU won a similar case against Florida's Okeechobee County.

Scotland May Outlaw Oral Sex Between Consenting Youths

Capitalizing on their success at outlawing intercourse for teens 13-15 years old, Christian activists in Scotland are now trying to criminalize oral sex between consenting teenagers under 16.

Kenny MacAskill has indicated that more forms of sexual activity between children may be banned, following pressure from religious groups. The justice secretary has told MSPs that he will reconsider plans to criminalise only sexual intercourse between children aged 13 to 15. The move means oral sex between youngsters might now become a crime. But last night Mr MacAskill was warned that bowing to pressure from the Christian Institute, which lobbied the justice committee on the issue, and banning oral sex would take him deeper into a moral "minefield". Tina Woolnough, chairwoman of the group Parents in Partnership, said: "Unless (the government's] interests are protecting children from abuse, they have no business going into this area. Where do you draw the line between what is legal and what is illegal?" Only boys who have sex are currently held to be committing an offence, while there is no specific law against consensual oral sex, although it could be regarded as an "indecent behaviour" offence.

Because the only thing teenagers love more than sex is obeying the law.

China's Deathmobile

China has launched a mobile death chamber.

Zhang Shiqiang, known as the Nine-Fingered Devil, first tasted justice at 13. His father caught him stealing and cut off one of Zhang's fingers. Twenty-five years later, in 2004, Zhang met retribution once more, after his conviction for double murder and rape. He was one of the first people put to death in China's new fleet of mobile execution chambers. The country that executed more than four times as many convicts as the rest of the world combined last year is slowly phasing out public executions by firing squad in favor of lethal injections. Unlike the United States and Singapore, the only two other countries where death is administered by injection, China metes out capital punishment from specially equipped "death vans" that shuttle from town to town. Makers of the death vans say the vehicles and injections are a civilized alternative to the firing squad, ending the life of the condemned more quickly, clinically and safely. The switch from gunshots to injections is a sign that China "promotes human rights now," says Kang Zhongwen, who designed the Jinguan Automobile death van in which "Devil" Zhang took his final ride.

I guess we should stop referring to the Chinese bus lines in NYC as "deathmobiles", now that the real thing is in use.

Quote Of The Day

Speaking to a Florida audience yesterday, Barack Obama compared the state of the economy to a burning house and said this about Florida Gov. Charlie "Closet Case" Crist: "Everybody needs to grab a hose and that is what Charlie Crist is doing here today."

Crist responded by demonstrating his preferred hose size.

Koala Rescue As Australia's Fires Rage

As wildfires continue to ravage Australia, where there have already been almost 200 deaths, koala bears are approaching humans to beg for water. In the clip below, a firefighter comes to the rescue of a dazed koala.

The Australian prime minister is calling arsonsists who are suspected of starting some of the fires "mass murderers".

Senior Citizen Wins Westminster

Ten year-old Stump, a Sussex spaniel, has become the oldest dog ever to win Westminster.

At 10 years old, Stump the Sussex spaniel should be well into his dotage. Instead, the dog who technically retired four years ago took home Best in Show on Tuesday at the 133rd Annual Westminster Kennel Club show at Madison Square Garden, becoming the oldest to win the award. Stump, officially named Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee, might have surprised aficionados, who had their eye on a giant schnauzer, but the crowd clearly preferred the jaunty spaniel. Stump was greeted with deafening applause each time he plodded around the ring. It was the first time that a Sussex spaniel won the top prize, although the breed, which originated as a hunting companion in England, was among the first to be recognized by the American Kennel Club.

The judge was unaware of Stump's age.

Michigan TV Station Under Siege Over Anti-Gay Program From The American Family Association

A Michigan television station that was slated to run Silencing Christians, the hate-filled informercial from the American Family Association, has canceled its running twice as the station receives pressure from Christiantist and LGBT groups over the show.

A controversial one-hour paid program on the "radical homosexual agenda" scheduled for WOOD-TV is delayed for the second time as partisans on both sides debate its merit. Opponents decry it as verging on hate speech, as they press WOOD-TV officials to cancel a special funded by the American Family Association. But backers are just as passionate in their belief it should air, adding heat to an issue that has long divided West Michigan. The program was originally slated to air Monday in the time slot before President Barack Obama's 8 p.m. news conference.

WOOD-TV program director Craig Cole said Tuesday that station officials decided to move it to Wednesday, before it was moved again. "We didn't feel that it was the appropriate place, leading into the presidential event," Cole said. Cole said he had received about a hundred emails on the subject, about evenly split on the issue.

In a letter promoting the program, the American Family Association asserts that most Americans get their "information about the homosexual movement from the secular news media and Hollywood, which not only support but promote the gay agenda. What people know is tainted by pro-homosexual propaganda." Colette Beighley, assistant director of Grand Valley State University's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center, called it "irresponsible programming. I am just so disappointed that WOOD-TV would participate in something like this.

As I noted on Monday, the program attacks the gay community on virtually every aspect of the LGBT rights movement, including marriage equality, hate crimes protections, and gay parenting. It's an hour-long assault that we cannot allow to get a foothold on any station. Please use this contact form to tell WOOD-TV how you feel about Silencing Christians.

UPDATE: I see by my outclick tracker that over 1000 of you have visited WOOD-TV's contact form already today. So maybe we can take some small credit for this:

WOOD TV8 has rescinded the offer to air a controversial paid program originally set to air Monday. "Speechless: Silencing Christians" was scheduled to air Monday at 7 p.m ., in the slot immediately before President Barack Obama's prime time press conference. The program was pulled from that slot. The producers were contacted and offered another time slot. In a statement Wednesday, WOOD/WOTV/WXSP General Manager Diane Kniowski said the offer is now off the table. "We made a gesture of the 2-3 p.m. Saturday time period. It's been 24 hours and we had no response," Kniowski said. "Our station is being bombarded with calls and messages, and we find ourselves in the middle of someone else's fight. Ours was a fair offer and we are removing ourselves from this matter."

I will continue to follow the story. But for now, THE GAYS WIN.

Gay Youth Center Vandalism Committed By Former Clients

Now we know why it wasn't classified a hate crime. According to David Kilminick, the executive director of the Long Island gay youth center, two of the men arrested for last week's vandalism are former clients of the center. From his email:

Over three years ago, two of the four people arrested were former clients of LIGALY. The individuals regularly displayed inappropriate and disruptive behavior toward staff and other clients. This behavior made many of our clients feel unsafe, and the organization responded appropriately by discharging them from our services. We are saddened to hear that the individuals arrested continued to act out in hatred and violence, as these attacks illustrate.

While the vandalism is no longer being investigated as a bias crime, we feel that the investigation and the attention paid to these crimes by public officials and media was appropriate. Vandalism of this magnitude is intended to send a message of fear. The Center stands as the most public declaration of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender pride on Long Island. As the most visible symbol of GLBT presence and pride, the vandalism was indeed interpreted and felt as an attack on these already vulnerable communities.

Kilminick goes on to thank local law enforcement for their prompt and thorough investigation.

"Inauguretha (My What?)"

My pal Blake sends us his downtempo dance remix of Aretha Franklin's uniquely phrased performance at the inauguration, with some help from sound bites from Diane Feinstein and Larry King. It's very Slave To The Rhythm. Audio possibly NSFW.

Anti-Gay Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle Replaced By Gay-Friendly Jack Seiler

The long and horrible 18-year reign of Fort Lauderdale's virulently anti-gay Mayor Jim "Robo-Potty" Naugle ended yesterday when he was term-limited out of office. Replacing Naugle will be former Florida state Rep. Jack Seiler (D), 46, (left) who easily beat two openly gay candidates, businessman Earl Rynerson and lawyer Dean Trantalis.

Seilor was opposed by the gay political group Dolphin Democrats, who published ads noting his endorsement by Jim Naugle. The legitimacy of Seiler's candidacy was questioned early in the campaign when he rented a home six blocks from his longtime home in adjacent Wilton Manors, where Seiler was mayor from 1998-2000, in order to establish residency inside Fort Lauderdale's city limits. Seiler's state legislative district included a portion of Fort Lauderdale.

Our own Father Tony ran into Mayor-Elect Seiler late in the day outside his polling place and did the impromptu interview below, in which Seiler pledges support for the LGBT community on such issues as domestic partners and gay adoption, but say's "we not there yet" in regards to marriage equality. While mayor of the very gay Wilton Manors, Seiler supported the enactment of that city's domestic partners legislation.

We're Running Out Of Bullets

Gun dealers are running out of bullets. But folks don't know if that because of the coming race war thanks to Obama's election or if people just fear increased crime during a bad economy.

Selling bullets may be the most secure job in Florida as long as supplies last. After months of heavy buying, gun dealers across the state are experiencing shortages. Some say it began with the election of President Barack Obama. Others say it's about the economic downturn or fear of crime. Whatever the reasons, ammunition has been selling like plywood and bottled water in the days before a hurricane. "The survivalist in all of us comes out," said John Ritz, manager of East Orange Shooting Sports in Winter Park. "It's more about protecting what you have." Demand for bullets is so strong that suppliers are restricting deliveries. "Where we used to get 20 to 30 cases [in a shipment], we may get two to three cases now," said Vic Grechniw of Florida Ammo Traders in Tampa. "The supply just isn't there. . . . Everybody is pretty much rushing out to get their hands on whatever they can." Most in demand is handgun ammunition, including 9 mm and .45-caliber for semiautomatic pistols and .38-caliber for revolvers. Clerks at local Walmart stores, including Apopka and Kissimmee, say those sizes, along with .22-caliber, are on back order at the chain's warehouses. American gun owners buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition yearly, according to the National Rifle Association. It has been warning its several million members that Obama favors raising taxes on bullets to make them prohibitively expensive.

A Georgia-based arms dealer says that sales have doubled since the November election because people are "stockpiling." Today the Christianist news site World Net Daily began advertising a march on Washington for gun rights.

A coalition is being assembled to march on Washington to deliver to Congress, the president and even the U.S. Supreme Court a message that the Second Amendment is critical as the single right that allows Americans to ensure continuation of all of the others. The march is being spearheaded by the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners, but also is being coordinated with the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of American, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownerships, Second Amendment Foundation, Virginia Citizens Defense League, Ohioans for Concealed Carry, Virginia Shooting Sports Association and others. Plans tentatively are for tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people to assemble in Washington next spring, in 2010, to demonstrate broad national support for the recognition and preservation of the Second Amendment.