Photo Of The Day - New York NOM Fail

The Hate Bus lurched into Albany today where the NOMbies were again far outnumbered by protesters, who ringed the podium holding rainbow-colored umbrellas. (With their backs turned for added emphasis.) More photos of this latest NOM Fail over at the Courage Campaign.

FLORIDA: Gay-For-Pay Sean Cody Porn Star "Addison" Charged With Murder

Jason Andrews, also known as Sean Cody performer "Addison" and as popular Chicago nightlife figure DJ Veritas, has been charged with murdering a Florida man hired for sex by Andrews' female porn star lover and alleged accomplice. Andrews was first arrested for the crime in May, but at the time detectives found the evidence inconclusive.

Jason Andrews was a bisexual Chicago DJ with a British accent, whose chiseled jaw and good looks landed him roles in countless gay porn videos. Amanda Logue was a married, bleach-blond Georgia woman who once owned a lingerie shop, dabbled in prostitution and starred in several X-rated videos herself. Together, they stabbed and bludgeoned a 41-year-old tattoo shop owner to death with a sledgehammer -- and hatched some of their plans in typo- and expletive-laden text messages, Florida detectives said. "I'm so glad you're really commited to this take. Keep eyes for a knife, etc for me!" Andrews typed on his BlackBerry hours before the slaying, according to a transcript of the messages included in court records. Logue replied in a nearly incomprehensible text that she was excited -- and she wanted to have sex after they killed him.

Both are charged with first degree murder. Andrews awaits extradition to Florida from Tennessee, where he was apprehended working at a Chattanooga "upscale cigar bar." His videos remain available for viewing on SeanCody.com (NSFW) despite the arrest.

Sharron Angle: God Told Me To Run

NOM Begs For Tire Money

Embiggen the image to read NOM's plea for tire money after their (probably self-inflicted) slashed tire incident in New Jersey.

WARSAW: EuroPride Held For First Time In Eastern Europe

The 17th annual EuroPride took place in Warsaw, Poland today, the first time the traveling event has been staged in Eastern Europe. Approximately 2000 Polish riot police were on hand to protect marchers from far-right and Catholic extremists.

The parade, part of the EuroPride gay rights festival, is meant to give a boost to the fledgling gay rights movement in Poland. Gay rights were strongly repressed during the communist era, and gays and lesbians have struggled since communism fell 20 years ago for acceptance in a society still strongly influenced by the church. "We feel like they are 20 years behind the Netherlands," said Ad Bakker, a 39-year-old from Holland who traveled to Warsaw to show solidarity with Polish friends. "But the atmosphere is good and we hope that EuroPride will help." A Polish friend of his, Sebastian Blaszczyk, 36, said the situation in Poland "gets better and better every year," but the country still has far to go in accepting gays. An initial police estimate put the number of participants at 8,000.

Catholic groups opposing homosexuality distributed pamphlets to parade goers with an image of Jesus Christ saying: "I have not come to condemn but to redeem." They also held prayer vigils at local churches "in the intention of redeeming parade participants." The decision to hold Europride in Warsaw sparked controversy in deeply-Catholic Poland -- where gays have long complained of intolerance, and openly homophobic remarks by politicians are far from rare. "We started lobbying already in 2005 against all odds and amid a very unfriendly atmosphere towards gay rights in our country," said Adam Biskupiak of the Equality Foundation, the Polish group which is organising the rally.

Police arrested eight men for pelting the crowd with rocks and eggs. Unfortunately, among those attacked were my longtime friends Jerry and Martin, the latter of whom took a rock to the head. Jerry reports that Bibles were also thrown at them. Unswayed by the hatred, our heroes bought a hat to cover Martin's gash and continued on to Warsaw's bear dance party. Below, Martin displays his blood and egg-flecked shirt.

RELATED: Europride 2011 will be held in Rome.

For The Boy Who Has Everything

Product description:

With the use of actual fencing, 9 gauge 6 core centers, foam padded rails and synthetic leather covers, this will last forever, just like the real deal. MDF Stairs include replica diamond plating Throwdown Anvil detail. Looking to get this bed for someone other than the little guy or gal? In addition to Twin, we have Full, Queen and King size as well!

You can personalize it with your nickname on the footboard. Soon to be seen at the IML vendor mart, no doubt.

Installed By The Machine, Part 2

NOM's Hate Bus Uses Fake Families

Good As You's ever-resourceful Jeremy Hooper has shown that the families depicted on the sides of NOM's Hate Bus don't actually exist, they're just actors ripped out of generic stock photos. We know NOM is having a hard time getting people to show up for the Hate Tour, but seriously, they couldn't find ONE real homo-hating family to pose for their bus?

Behind Argentina's Marriage Vote

Video site Newsy looks into the possible motivations for Argentina's president's support of marriage equality.

How Dummies Protect Marriage

That's Gay: Homo-Villains In The Movies

Here's Why The Government Dropped The Charges Against Choi And Pietrangelo

Metro Weekly's Chris Geidner tells us why the government dropped the charges against Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. James Pietrangelo. According to a DC spokesman, it mostly had to do with the fact that they were standing on a ledge.

''While chained to the fence, the defendant was standing on a ledge – NOT – the sidewalk. As such, he was not blocking pedestrian traffic," Hobson wrote. "Once that was realized, the focus of the investigation shifted to what happened immediately prior to his handcuffing himself (i.e., was he blocking the sidewalk at that time and did an officer ask him to move on). After interviewing law enforcement, it was determined that the defendant had not been asked to move on at that point. Therefore, he could not be prosecuted for any activity prior to the handcuffing either.''

The White House claims they did not intervene in the case.

Tea Party Leader: The NAACP Is Lying About Teabagger Racism

According to Tea Party Express founder Mark Williams, all those racist signs seen at their events were brought in by outsiders trying to make them look bad. Riiight. I guess the creator of TeaParty.org was crashing his own event with HIS sign (below.)

Montreal Divers/Cité: July 26 - August 1

A couple of days after I get back from Netroots Nation, I'll be making my Canadia debut when Tourisme Montréal brings me up to cover Divers/Cité, the 18th annual gay pride arts, music, and party festival.

Eighteen and going strong. All together different! Divers/Cité is an event whose mission is to present an arts and music festival that illustrates and celebrates the value of diversity in a spirit of sharing, solidarity and openness with the world. Eighteen years of constant growth and expansion has established Divers/Cité as an internationally recognized festival. Most of the programming is outdoor and free. Our programming also follows set themes that cover a wide range of artistic tendencies that address widely varying audiences. The event proudly showcases modern dance, blues, jazz, pop, Latin, rock, world, funk, ambient, techno and electronic concerts, drag queen performances and an outdoor cinema. The 2010 edition, from July 26th to August 1st, will offer more than 47 hours of free outdoor performances spanning 7 days.

Tourisme Montréal is lodging me in the heart of Montreal's gay village, where they are providing me a strapping young homo guide who promises to tour me through "authentically JMG places of interest." Oh my and stand by. Obviously this trip calls for a Québécois-JMG reader drink-up. I welcome your location suggestions. And feel free to hit the Divers/Cité site and point out anything you think I'd especially enjoy as the number of options are a bit dizzying.

Gays And Monogamy: Here We Go Again

NOM is already happily tweeting the link to another story about gay men and open relationships. You may recall the brouhaha that erupted in January when the New York Times published a story about a study which reported that 50% of gay male couples are non-monogamous. While the truth of that study seemed self-evident to me, many questioned its methodologies and conclusions. From today's San Francisco Chronicle about the same researcher, who has now published her study:

They call them "San Francisco relationships." A term coined by the local gay community, it's defined as two men in a long-term open relationship, with lovers on the side. A new study released this week by the Center for Research on Gender & Sexuality at San Francisco State University put statistics around what gay men already know: Many Bay Area boyfriends negotiate open relationships that allow for sex with outsiders. After studying the sexual patterns of 566 gay male couples from the Bay Area for three years, lead researcher Colleen Hoff found that gay men negotiate ground rules and open their relationships as a way to build trust and longevity in their partnerships. "I think it's quite natural for men to want to continue to have an active and varied sex life," said 50-year-old technology consultant Dean Allemang from Oakland, who just ended a 13-year-open relationship and has begun another with a new boyfriend. "I don't own my lover, and I don't own his body," he said. "I think it's weird to ask someone you love to give up that part of their life. I would never do it."

Hoff has received a $3.5M grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to continue her research for five more years. (Cue wingnut outrage!) According to Hoff, of the male couples surveyed, "47 percent reported open relationships. Forty-five percent were monogamous, and the remaining 8 percent disagreed about what they were."

Obviously our enemies will once again leap on these statistics as "evidence" that gay people are undeserving of marriage equality. And once again, some gay men will decry non-monogamy in general and rip apart Hoff's research as unscientific. Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin is first out of the box in the the latter regard.

[B]ased on the pattern of the stories and my communication with the authors, I have a new conclusion: When the news repeatedly and consistently reports conclusions that cannot possibly be determined from your data, it’s not because you’re trying to correct them. Huff has, in all occasions I’ve seen, made broad generalizations about the nature of gay relationships – not just those in her study – that lead me to wonder if her research is little more than an attempt to provide talking points to support her presumptions. And Huff’s study – which does, at least, seem to have structure – now leads to press reports about a “study” which has almost no validity whatsoever.

My own opinion is unchanged. Regardless of the methodology in which Hoff arrived at her conclusions, my gut tells me she is not only correct, but that her estimation of the percentage of gay male couples in open relationships may even be low. I've been out for almost 35 years, and yes, that's a purely anecdotal conclusion, but I've known thousands of couples over these decades and most of them were non-monogamous. Of course, the places I've lived and my chosen social circles have surely influenced that perception.

But we shouldn't really care, whatever the number is. I think we do the truth about our lives and our unique culture a tremendous disservice when we try to deny aspects of our world just to buy a few meager points on some marriage survey. We should happily and proudly own all of the ways in which gay men build their lives, even if some of those ways seem alien to us personally.

Critics Question International Donations By San Francisco AIDS Foundation

This weekend's AIDS Walk in San Francisco is expected to raise about $3.5M, but many are concerned over the revelation that only a small amount of the money is disbursed to local AIDS charities.

While a majority of the money collected at the event goes to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation itself, only a small fraction in recent years has actually gone to those other local H.I.V./AIDS charities. Instead, an analysis of government tax filings shows that a significant part of past donations has gone to an international AIDS charity — as much as $1 million during one recent year. By comparison, that same year 26 local organizations split $340,000. The disparity — foreign spending versus local — has led to concerns that the walk’s benefits to Bay Area charities have been misrepresented, according to leaders in the local H.I.V./AIDS care community who would not speak publicly for fear of losing the financing they currently get. When asked about this possible lack of clarity, Barbara Kimport, the interim chief executive of the foundation, which oversees the walk, said, “We could do a better job of that.” But Ms. Kimport also bristled at the criticism, saying, “It saddens me that our own community is back stabbing about money when we should be collaborating together.”

One AIDS-walker feels deceived, saying, "Does it bother me? Yeah, it does. You’ve got to take care of home first." The above-linked New York Times story goes on to cite pressing needs at local San Francisco AIDS charities, all of whom have suffered funding crises in recent years. The Times doesn't allege that any of the international donations went to undeserving organizations.

(Tipped by JMG reader Sam)

Wine Rack

For a mere $30, party-hearty gals can have the Wine Rack, a sports bra with a 750ml capacity and a sipping tube. Of course, your bust line will deflate as your buzz inflates. Soon to be seen at Phish concerts, no doubt.

Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach: I Still Don't Know If I'm Being Kicked Out

HomoQuotable - John Browne

"The biggest problem with concealing your sexuality is walling yourself off from the people closest to you. Keeping secrets is not fair to anyone. It denies friends and family the chance to know who you really are. I realise now that being open about your sexuality is not about pleasing the public. It is about being honest with the people who know you best and love you the most. Looking back, I wish I could have been more truthful with those closest to me, especially to my mother.

"I should have realised that leading a double life was also not practical. I thought I could protect my secret as long as I was careful about who I trusted and who I spoke to. But that was unrealistic. People guessed, people knew, and eventually it was only a matter of time before it all had to come out." - Former BP chairman John Browne, writing in the Guardian. In 2007 Browne resigned after his "kept boy" sold his story to a British tabloid. Browne now says being outed was a blessing in disguise.

Installed By The Machine

Gothamist tips us to this cool clip of the giant tunnel-boring machine breaking through the final wall of rock to extend the 7 train out to 11th Avenue. Very sci-fi. You have to wade through a minute of Bloomberg's blah blah blah first.

COLORADO: Anti-Gay GOP Candidate For Governor Busted For Plagiarism

Former GOP Rep. Scott McInnis, who is running for governor of Colorado, has been accused of plagiarizing work that earned him a $300,000 fellowship from a local education foundation. McInnis claims that the stolen work came from a researcher he hired. From a newspaper editorial calling for him to drop out of Colorado's governor race:

McInnis can make a reasonable case that he didn’t know of the plagiarism that initiated this whole scandal. Words lifted from the writings of now-Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs were included in papers McInnis submitted to the Hasan Family Foundation, and for which he was paid handsomely. It was Rolly Fischer, the retired water engineer from Glenwood Springs, who took Hobbs’ words and included them in research he prepared for McInnis. Fischer has admitted as much. But Fischer also told Channel 7 News in Denver he believed he was preparing raw research for McInnis to use as background in a future Senate race, not a final product that McInnis would submit to the Hasan Family Foundation for possible publication. Fischer said he would have checked with Hobbs and fully attributed the parts taken from Hobbs’ writing if he had known how it was to be used.

Some GOP leaders including Tom Tancredo are calling for McInnis to suspend his campaign. During his three terms in Congress, McInnis voted to ban gay adoption in Washington DC and voted against other LGBT rights measures. His 2010 platform states that he "strongly opposes" same-sex marriage.

PhoboQuotable - Eugene Delgaudio

"It was truly a sight to sicken the soul. Thousands of men in bright neon bikinis hanging all over each other. Groups of men and women -- it was hard to tell the difference sometimes -- acting out their homosexual lusts in defiance of all standards of decency and morality. There were tens of thousands of them flooding the streets. Throngs of 'gay rights' radicals rallied all over our Nation's Capitol. Tourists had to rush to shield their children from the depraved displays of near nudity.

"Radical Homosexuals are everywhere, rallying constantly, it seems, demanding some new "special" right. They are in the newspapers, radio, television, confronting Christian values in the churches, in our schools ... and they seem to have a thousand front groups. And now that they've passed Thought Control, any and all opposition to their public indecency can be squashed as just another hate crime. You see, the Radical Homosexuals' strategy is to move us from shock to indifference to fear, to desensitize us to their perversion and then make us fear their wrath. And it's working on too many Americans. After the pain of blisters your hands will eventually develop a callus. That's what the Radical Homosexuals are doing to our hearts." - Eugene Delguardio, head of the Christian extremist group Public Advocate Of The U.S., from his latest "emergency" plea for donations.

Fake Michele Bachmann Explains Slavery

GEORGIA: Gay Teen Launches Group To Help LGBT Youth In Crisis

Georgia teen Derrick Martin has partnered with the Trevor Project and other groups to create Project Life Vest, an organization meant to assist LGBT youth facing discrimination after they come out. You may recall that Martin was kicked out of his home in March after attending his high school prom with his boyfriend.

“My situation and the attention it has drawn have provided me a unique perspective and opportunity that I feel I cannot pass up”, Martin noted. “Young people who, like myself, have been disadvantaged because of discrimination, hate, or ignorance need somewhere to turn for help. GLAAD was my life vest, and I plan to be a life vest to as many others as I can. I only want those who face obstacles like mine to know that they are not alone, for everyone has the right to love regardless of sexual orientation.” Project LifeVest’s mission is simple: “To be a helping hand, a life vest, to as many LGBT teens and adults as possible. We will carry out this mission through the establishment of safe places in as many cities as possible; through a call center with a qualified team of counselors who can give advice where needed; through screening a network of families who can, when need arises, host rejected teens while they finish schooling or find a new home.”

Project Life Vest is accepting donations.

Advice From The Little Mermaid

NEVADA: New Poll Shows Harry Reid Leading Teabagger Sharron Angle

Senate majority leader Harry Reid has surged past GOP candidate Sharron Angle in a new poll after having trailed Nevada's teabagger hero in past surveys.

The Democratic incumbent's aggressive strategy of attacking Angle's staunch conservative views from the moment she won the June 8 primary has cost her support among every voter group -- from men and women to both political parties and independents -- in vote-rich Clark and Washoe counties. "He's had five perfect weeks," said Brad Coker of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which conducted the survey. "The race has been all about her, and he's been doing a good job of pounding her. Yet Coker said it's too soon to write off Angle. More than one-quarter of the nonpartisan swing voters who probably will decide the Nov. 2 election haven't jumped to the still-unpopular Reid but instead are undecided or in the "other" or "none of these candidates" columns, the poll showed.

Angle's campaign has posted a notice saying they are "unmoved" by the new poll, blaming the result on "false TV ads" from the Reid campaign.

Mexico City Offers Free Honeymoon To First Gay-Married Argentine Couple

Mexico City's tourism agency is offering a free honeymoon to the first gay couple to wed under Argentina's just-passed marriage equality law.

The offer was "in recognition of tolerance, but also to promote gay friendly tourism in Mexico City," said Alejandro Rojas, according to a statement. Argentina on Thursday became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, following a landmark Senate vote which stirred controversy in the majority Roman Catholic nation. Authorities in the Mexican capital, which legalized gay marriage last year, offered air tickets for the first couple to benefit from the Argentine law, and was seeking sponsorship from hotels and restaurants in Mexico City and the beach resort of Cancun, Rojas said. Around 15 percent of world tourism -- 150 million tourists per year -- is gay friendly, while gay tourists are discerning, respectful and spend 47 percent more than heterosexual tourists, Rojas added.

Mexico City legalized same-sex marriage in December.

Hate Tour Home Movie

There's some pretty scenery but it's a little short on humans for such a hyped "national tour."

The Big House Gets Bigger

After $226M in renovations, Michigan Stadium has become the nation's largest sporting arena. A comparison of its new seating capacity:

For some context, 109,901 people will make the stadium the seventh-largest city in Michigan on game days (passing up Ann Arbor, ironically), and is significantly larger than the largest city in Delaware, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire or North Dakota. The combined populations of the largest cities in West Virginia (Charleston, 53,421) and Wyoming (Cheyenne, 55,362) couldn't quite fill it.

Michigan Stadium is now the third-largest in the world behind arenas in North Korea and India.

World Net Daily's Unfunny DJ Dolce Thinks It's OK To Use "Faggot"

After I posted that super not funny clip from World Net Daily "comedian" DJ Dolce yesterday, WND has added the below clip to their YouTube channel. Recorded in March, in this clip DJ Dolce smirks and shrugs and indicates that it's perfectly fine to call Rep. Barney Frank a "faggot." Remember this is an official "performer" of the nation's most widely read "Christian" website.

NOM's Hate Tour Attracts Tens Of People

Actually that looks like less than 20, so maybe "tens" isn't really accurate. Two days into the Hate Tour and pro-gay counter-protesters have outnumbered the Nombies by 5-1 or more. Congrats, NOM! Them there's WESTBORO numbers y'all are pulling down.

The Homosexual Menace

The follow-up to The Perils Of Lesbianity.

(Tipped by JMG reader Dana)

Concerned Women Are Concernicated

"No question, the case should be appealed to the United States Supreme Court. This case goes to the fundamental issue of our right to self-government. We hope the Supreme Court affirms this right and rejects the idea that no rules apply when it comes to homosexual 'rights.'

"This case is just the latest example of the judicial tyranny CWA's more than 500,000 members around the country are committed to fighting. It highlights the importance of the current nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, someone who has already circumvented the law to impose homosexual 'rights' in denying access to the military recruiters at Harvard Law School. And it reminds senators of how important their 'advice and consent' role is when selecting judges." - Concerned Women for America CEO Penny Nance, who should be concerned about botox poisoning instead of today's affirmation by the DC Appeals Court that minority rights cannot be put to a public vote.

VIDEO: Argentina Vote Reactions

Even though I only speak "disco Spanish," as I watched the live video stream of the endless debate all through the night, I was amused at my ability to pick out the familiar figures - the earnest progressives and the hectoring Christianists - so often seen in our own battles. If the bottom clip doesn't make you tear up a little, you are worse than Hitler.

WASHINGTON: House Democrats Pledge LGBT-Inclusive Immigration Reform

U.S. House Democrats held a joint press conference with major LGBT and immigrant groups this morning to restate their support for a comprehensive immigration reform bill that provides for the equal treatment of LGBT couples.

Democrats from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus were joined by a coalition of 37 immigration, LGBT, and faith advocacy groups in support. The Congressional speakers, particularly Luis Gutierrez (IL), Jerrold Nadler (NY), Jared Polis (CO), and Mike Honda (CA) expressed confidence that a bill that included equal treatment of LGBT bi-national couples would be passed this term. According to Immigration Equality, 36,000 bi-national couples in the United States face imminent or future separation because the US citizen of same-sex couples cannot, like those in heterosexual married couples, sponsor their partner for citizenship.

The top three evangelical groups say they support immigration reform, but will block any attempt to include LGBT provisions. The Southern Baptist Convention, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference all vow that they will derail any reform bill that incorporates the Uniting American Families Act, which provides immigrant status to the partners of gay American citizens.

REACTIONS

Immigration Equality:

"Every day that Congress fails to take action, American families are separated or forced into exile, including more than 17,000 families raising young children," said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality. "For those families, and their loved ones, today's clear call to action, from key Congressional champions, could not be more welcome or more timely. We are proud to stand with those leaders, and with immigrants and their families across our country, in working to fix our broken immigration system. The LGBT community can be a steadfast partner in that effort, and Immigration Equality is proud to mobilize allies in support of inclusive immigration reform."

Equality California:

“We are grateful that this powerful coalition is standing together to help fix our broken immigration system. California’s elected leaders have already endorsed the Uniting American Families Act, urging our U.S. Congressional leaders to act quickly to end the grave inequities facing binational couples and their families. We hope this vital legislation passes soon, so that no more families headed by same-sex couples are torn apart.”

National Gay & Lesbian Task Force:

“The U.S. has 12 million undocumented immigrants, including at least half a million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Thousands of binational same-sex couples and their families have been kept separated or forced to live abroad. This discriminatory practice is unfair and inhumane. No one should ever have to choose between their partner and their country or be denied the freedom to be with their families. UAFA is consistent with U.S. immigration law's existing policy of keeping families intact. We thank the members of Congress standing for equality today and for supporting the inclusion of LGBT families in all future comprehensive immigration reform efforts.”

Human Rights Campaign:

“Our nation should bring families together, not tear them apart, yet same-sex, bi-national couples are too often forced to separate because the government views them as strangers under the law. For far too long, leaders have ignored the devastating real-life consequences for these couples imposed by our current immigration policies. Family reunification is a primary goal of our immigration system but our government fails to accomplish this basic objective for thousands of loving same-sex couples.”

Matrix Directors Plan Gay Love Story

The quirky Wachowski siblings, whose Matrix trilogy earned bajillions, are planning to film a love story between a gay American soldier and an Iraqi man.

Production Weekly took to Twitter to report that casting on the film has begun. There's not a wealth of information out there about CN9 -- in fact, all we really know for sure at this point is that it's going to be a "hard-R war picture about a homosexual American soldier who falls in love with an Iraqi." But, before you assume it's just Brokeback Mountain set in the Middle East, consider that CN9 could stand for the ninth cranial nerve (it does in medical terminology), which is the nerve responsible for receiving information from the tongue, middle ear, and tonsils according to website Playlist. When you do that, the site suggests that it doesn't seem like a stretch to picture the filmmaking duo once again venturing into the world of strange alternate realities and sci-fi.

The movie will be set in the "near future" and work backwards through the war, according to the above-linked story.

PhoboQuotable - Rick Santorum

"A majority of Americans still supports traditional marriage. It has been on the ballot in 31 states and won every time. However, the inside-the-Beltway power centers - the media, campaign contributors, and politically active special-interest groups - passionately want to, as the 2004 Massachusetts majority opinion put it, 'eradicate that stain' on our country. That's why, when last week's ruling in Boston knocked down the last defense against judicially mandated same-sex "marriage," there was largely silence from the political class. With the exception of a core group of conservatives, most politicians - including the president - continue to publicly back marriage while eagerly awaiting the day when judges will take this issue out of their hands. In this case, silence, as my former colleague Zell Miller once said, is not golden; it's yellow." - Former Sen. Rick Santorum, in an editorial in the Philadelphia Enquirer.

NATE SILVER: 250 Million People Live In Jurisdictions With Full Marriage Equality

Nate notes this about his graph:

The big spike you see in 2008 is California recognizing gay marriage through the courts, and then un-recognizing it through the passage of Proposition 8. Right now, it's possible to marry your same-sex partner in Buenos Aires, in Mexico City, in Ames, Iowa, and in Pretoria, South Africa, but not in San Francisco. With countries like Argentina and Portugal now recognizing same-sex marriages, however, the global trajectory has returned to its slow-but-steady upward pace.

Photo Of The Day - Mark Foley

The ostensible purpose of this post is to pimp my beloved Father Tony's South Florida Gay News profile of the good Mark Foley, who is a Fort Lauderdale park ranger and environmentalist and should not be confused with disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley, who also lives in South Florida. But to be truthful, I just wanted to post this photo of my favorite bartender at the Ramrod, where Mark moonlights on weekends.

MAINE: Gay Man Wins $1M Employment Discrimination Suit Against Airline

A Portland, Maine jury has awarded $1M to a gay man who says Express Jet Airlines unfairly passed him over for promotion because he is gay.

According to court documents, the company faced a complaint in 2003-04 from three female employees who had unsuccessfully applied for an open supervisory job. At the time, Express Jet managers at the jetport were all gay men. The women complained that the general manager at the time, who was gay, would hire only gay men. The general manager lost his job, according to court documents. Over the next four years, that position became open four times. Russell filled in several times, and wanted the job, but was told by regional managers not to waste his time applying for it, the documents said. "Our theory was they decided they did not want another gay man out there," Loranger said. At one point, according to the documents, the company hired a general manager whom a regional executive described as a "real man." That general manager made disparaging comments about gay people at work, according to the complaint. Russell left the job in 2007 "because of the discriminatory treatment," court documents said.

The jury awarded $500,000 for emotional distress, $500,000 for punitive damages and $47,000 in lost wages.

GEORGIA: GOP Candidate For Governor Wants To Ban Gay Adoption

Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel can't say why, exactly, but she just rilly rilly opposes LGBT rights. The interviewer asks for her reasoning. "As a Christian woman, I just do." Jeebus loves her! Glory! Praise His Name! (Turn this clip up, low audio.)

HomoQuotable - Glenn Greenwald

"Argentinian politicians acted in the face of 'polls showing that nearly 70 percent of Argentines support giving gay people the same marital rights as heterosexuals.' That's what is most striking here: this is not happening in some small Northern European country renown for its ahead-of-the-curve social progressivism (though gay marriage or civil unions are now the norm in Western Europe).

"Just as is true for Brazil, which I've written about before with regard to my personal situation, Argentina is a country with a fairly recent history of dictatorships, an overwhelmingly Catholic population (at least in name), and pervasive social conservatism, with extreme restrictions on abortion rights similar to those found on much of the continent. The Catholic Church in Argentina vehemently opposed the enactment of this law. But no matter. Ending discrimination against same-sex couples is understood as a matter of basic equality, not social progressivism, and it thus commands widespread support. The contrast with the U.S. is quite instructive and depressing." - Glenn Greenwald, writing for Salon.

IOWA: Teabagger Billboard

We know who's really "preying on the fearful and naive." Via Americablog.

Tired Old Queen At The Movies #40

Judy Holliday and William Holden in 1950's Born Yesterday. Kristen Chenoweth has always reminded me of Judy Holliday.

TRAILER: Howl

Has there been an Allen Ginsberg biopic yet?

WASHINGTON: Appeals Court Rejects Bid To Force DC Marriage Referendum

The Washington DC Court of Appeals ruled 5-4 this morning to reject a bid to put marriage equality to a public vote. The Human Rights Campaign reports via press release:

“The court’s ruling today is a significant victory for justice, the rule of law and the protection of all D.C. residents against discrimination,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "It’s time for the National Organization for Marriage to realize equality is here to stay no matter how much money they want to throw at turning back the clock." In its decision, the Court of Appeals, D.C.’s highest court, decided 5-4 that the Council properly exercised its authority under the D.C. Charter in establishing the requirement that a proposed initiative may not authorize, or have the effect of authorizing, discrimination prohibited by the D.C. Human Rights Act.

The Court ruled unanimously that the proposed initiative would in fact impermissibly permit discrimination against gays and lesbians in the District. “The D.C. Council made a wise decision decades ago that no initiative should be permitted to strip away any individual’s civil rights. The Court unanimously found that the proposed anti-marriage initiative would have the effect of causing discrimination, and in doing so, stood up for the entire D.C. community,” said Solmonese.

The HRC notes that while Maryland-based Bishop Harry Jackson (above) is the person most connected with the bid to overturn gay marriage in DC, the driving forces behind the now-failed initiative were the Alliance Defense Fund and NOM. Another win for the good guys today and a big FAIL buzzer for Bishop Harry!

Divorce Ban Pranksters To Start Collecting Signatures For 2010 CA Ballot

Last September I told you about Rescue Marriage, the prankster group that claims to want to ban divorce in California. Yesterday the state granted permission for the group to begin gathering the required 694K signatures to place the issue on the 2010 ballot.

Rescue Marriage founder (and straight ally) John Marcotte said last year, "People who supported Prop 8 weren't trying to take rights away from gays, they just wanted to protect traditional marriage. That's why I'm confident that they will support this initiative, even though this time it will be their rights that are diminished. To not support it would be hypocritical."

World Net Daily's Unfunny Comedian Is Extra Super Unfunny

World Net Daily's DJ Dolce is probably the worst comedian in history. I have no idea what WND thinks they're accomplishing with this. DJ Dolce clearly shares producers with fellow WND asshat, Molotov Mitchell.

Liberal-Teabagger Catfight

With douchebag wingnut Ben Stein chiming in.

Beavis & Butt-head To Return

MTV confirmed yesterday that they have green-lighted a new season of Beavis & Butt-head.

The new series would keep Beavis and Butt-head in their perpetual high-school state, but it would be updated so that the pals -- who obsessively watch music videos on a battered TV set -- could lob their snarky comments at more current targets like Lady Gaga. The show's minimalist animated style is also expected to remain intact. The return of "Beavis and Butt-head" will be a backdoor means for MTV to return to showing music videos -- something the network was founded upon but abandoned in the last decade to make room for popular reality shows like "Laguna Beach," "The Hills" and "Jersey Shore." "Beavis and Butt-head," which premiered in 1993, began as an animated short called "Frog Baseball," which aired on MTV's "Liquid Television." The basic plotline revolved around two shorts-wearing, spectacularly immature teenage pals whose banter was delivered against the backbeat of their constant idiotic laughter. Series creator Mike Judge, who's also creating the new episodes, voiced both characters.

The show ended its first run in 1997.

Sarah Palin: Teabaggers Aren't Racist

Let's go to the tape, shall we?

Maddow On DADT Comic Book

Last night Rachel Maddow gave an amusing recounting of yesterday's revelation that the U.S. Army published a comic book meant to instruct troops on how to handle DADT regulations. The below clip includes an audio performance of the comic's panels.

QUEBEC: Montreal Pride Launches "Queer Of The Year" Contest

Montreal Pride has launched a "Queer Of The Year" contest in which the winner gets a week in Montreal, a shopping spree, and their very own float in the parade. Details at the link and in the video clip below. You don't have be Canadian to win and you've got until July 22nd to enter.

Networks Reject GOP's Mosque Ad

NBC and CBS have refused to air the GOP's Kill The Ground Zero Mosque ad. Politico reports:

In her letter rejecting the spot, NBC Universal advertising standards manager Jennifer Riley wrote: "An ad questioning the wisdom of building a mosque at ground zero would meet our issues of public controversy advertising criteria. However, this ad which ambiguously defines 'they' as referenced in the spot makes it unclear as to whether the reference is to terrorists or to the Islamic religious organization that is sponsoring the building of the mosque. Consequently, the ad is not acceptable under our guidelines for broadcast." A CBS official, Marty Daly, also rejected the ad, according to e-mails shared by NRT PAC executive director Scott Wheeler. "They have very selective standards — they’ll run anything MoveOn.org throws out there," said Wheeler, also citing a controversial 2004 NAACP ad invoking the slain James Byrd.

Yesterday World Net Daily, the nation's most widely-read conservative site, posted a top-of-page "emergency" plea for their readers to sign on to a petition condemning the mosque plan. WND's story includes first-person accounts of 9/11 and the below nine year-old photo showing the planned location for the mosque.

BREAKING: Argentina's Senate APPROVES Marriage Equality 33-27!!!!

Argentina's Senate has voted 33-27 to APPROVE marriage equality! The bill now goes to the president who has vowed to sign it at once. The debate, which Rex Wockner notes went on for 14 hours, lasted past 4am Buenos Aires time. Shortly after the vote, a massive and delirious crowd outside the chamber broke into dancing and singing. I'll update this post shortly with official news reports. Among those staying up all night to follow the debate was Ricky Martin, whose tweets on #matrimonio pushed the issue onto Twitter's top trending topics.First out with a U.S. reaction was Freedom To Marry, whose executive director Evan Wolfson writes:

"Today's historic vote shows how far Catholic Argentina has come, from dictatorship to true democratic values, and how far the freedom to marry movement has come as twelve countries on four continents now embrace marriage equality. Argentina's vote for the freedom to marry marks an important advance for fairness and family values as more couples around the world will now share in marriage, with families helped and no one hurt. Today's vote adds momentum to the international movement to secure the freedom to marry for all loving and committed couples. Key to Argentina's human rights achievement was strong leadership from legislators and the president. It is time we see more of our own elected officials standing up for the Constitution and all families here in the United States. America should lead, not lag, when it comes to treating everyone equally under the law."

OOPS, yesterday Slaggie Gilamonster foresaw the future! A future which is spreading across the globe in a lovely dark blue. See the already updated Wiki-map below.

A Woman Scorned

Somebody's seen a few drag shows....

Open Thread Thursday

Classic flicks, recent picks, unknown treasures, guilty pleasures. Movie tips, let's have 'em.

ARGENTINA: Supreme Court Poised To Rule In Favor Of Same-Sex Marriage

According to the below CBC report, even if Argentina's Senate votes against same-sex marriage today, the nation's Supreme Court has already written a ruling to legalize it and is just waiting for the result of the vote. The vote may not come until very late tonight/early tomorrow NYC time. But if the CBC's report is accurate, the win is already in the bag!

(Tipped by JMG reader Linda)

NJ GOP Rep. Chris Smith Works To Block LGBT Rights Group At United Nations

The International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has long been attempting to gain recognition as a consulting group with the United Nations, a status which would grant them access and the ability to comment officially on critical LGBT issues such as the murder and imprisonment of LGBT people around the world. In June, IGLHRC's recognition was blocked by Egypt "on behalf of all African nations."

After the U.S. delegation promised to pressure the UN on IGLHRC's behalf, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) vowed to stop them. Smith, who voted against the Matthew Shepard Act and other LGBT rights laws, says IGLHRC plans to muzzle anybody who preaches that homosexuality is immoral. He wrote the UN a lengthy letter demanding that they again decline IGLHRC's application.

Backing up Rep. Smith is the Christianist outfit Family Watch International, who has launched a petition campaign to the United Nations.

The IGLHRC is already pressuring a number of UN member states to change their laws to advance sexual rights. When the application was put on hold, the U.S. reacted very aggressively and announced that it was planning to take an unprecedented move to bypass the UN Committee on NGOs and go directly to the full ECOSOC body to try to ram the approval through. This has never been done before, and it has caused quite a stir among the UN delegations of many of the developing nations around the world. So we have a situation where the Obama administration is again putting support for the radical homosexual agenda above virtually all other considerations. In light of what this administration is doing domestically, we should not be surprised, but in this case, the United States government’s almost obsessive quest to advance sexual rights has been exposed to the whole world, and this should concern every American.

Once again, the American Christianist right is actively working to enable the murder, abuse, and imprisonment of LGBT people outside the United States.

VIDEO: Below is a history of the work IGLHRC has done for the last 20 years.

Mel Gibson, Quoted By Adorable Kittens

Many more examples here.

HomoQuotable - Randy Thomas

"I can’t imagine myself at 50 either! But when I was 24, EIGHTEEN years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined I would be single at 42 years old and not having sex with another person for the next 18 years! As a matter of fact, if I had know that at 24 my brain might have exploded." - Exodus International vice president Randy Thomas, writing to a young gay man worried about being alone at age 50. Thomas considers himself "ex-gay" just because (he claims) he longer has sex. (I can hold my breath, but that doesn't make me an "ex-breather.")

Neverland, The State Park?

The NAACP is backing a plan to turn Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch into a California state park.

As home to pop legend Michael Jackson, Neverland Ranch housed a working locomotive, a Ferris wheel and other amusement park rides, a 10,000-volume library and a zoo. But could the opulent Santa Barbara County estate become home to California's newest state park? A resolution is in the works to order state parks officials to study converting the roughly 2,600-acre property into a state park. The state NAACP is backing the idea, and a lawmaker has signaled he is on board to carry the legislation. "I think Michael's history is world history and I think it would become the No. 1 attraction for the state parks if we could pull it off," said state NAACP President Alice Huffman, who also serves on the state Parks Commission.

The state would have to pay Jackson's creditors an estimated $100M for the property, a seeming impossibility for a state near bankruptcy. But backers of the state park idea point to Elvis Presley's Graceland estate in Tennessee, which grossed $36M just last year for its private owners. An admission charge to a state-owned Neverland hasn't been discussed, but memorabilia sales alone could be considerable.