Thursday, February 07, 2013

LOS ANGELES: Lesbian Officers Targeted By Fugitive Ex-Cop Suspected Of Murder

Multiple law enforcement agencies across southern California are conducting a joint manhunt for a former Los Angeles cop suspected of murdering three people, including a member of the LAPD. Local news outlets have published a lengthy manifesto from Christopher Dorner, 33, in which he vows revenge on lesbian, Latino, and Asian members of the police. An excerpt:
Those Hispanic officers who victimize their own ethnicity because they are new immigrants to this country and are unaware of their civil rights. You call them wetbacks to their face and demean them in front of fellow officers of different ethnicities so that you will receive some sort of acceptance from your colleagues. I’m not impressed. Most likely, your parents or grandparents were immigrants at one time, but you have forgotten that. You are a high value target.  Those lesbian officers in supervising positions who go to work, day in day out, with the sole intent of attempting to prove your misandrist authority (not feminism) to degrade male officers. You are a high value target. Those Asian officers who stand by and observe everything I previously mentioned other officers participate in on a daily basis but you say nothing, stand for nothing and protect nothing. Why? Because of your usual saying, ” I……don’t like conflict”. You are a high value target as well.
Dorner claims to have been fired in 2011 after he filed an excessive force complaint against a fellow police officer.

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Code Pink Forces Suspension Of Senate Confirmation Hearing For CIA Director

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1000+ Flights Canceled For Blizzard

This afternoon major airlines announced the cancellation of over 1000 flights in advance of the arrival of tomorrow's nor'easter.
Already, as of 2:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, more than 1,000 U.S. flights have been canceled for Friday, according to FlightAware. The bulk of that total comes at Northeast airports that are likely to see severe weather. Among those is Newark Liberty, which tops the list with more than 490 of its Friday flights already canceled. United Airlines, which operates a major hub at Newark, has axed 365 mainline flights Friday as well as dozens of others operated by its regional affiliates, as of 3 p.m. ET. "We expect all the majors to have announced a significant chunk by this evening," FlightAware's Duell adds.
United, American, JetBlue and Delta have waived flight change fees at dozens of the affected airports.  Boston Mayor Tom Mennino has ordered the closing of public schools for tomorrow.  The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard watch for Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Long Island. Amtrak has cancelled some trains from Boston to Maine and local news reports that changes that affect service to New York City might be announced later today.

Via New York Times:
By the time the storm has passed through the New York area, sometime on Saturday, forecasters predict it will have dumped as much as a foot of snow in the area, while delivering blistering winds reaching 50 m.p.h., and flooding coastal areas. If the current models hold, the storm could rival the blizzard of 1978 in New England, when more than 27 inches of snow fell in Boston and surrounding cities. That storm, which occurred on a weekday, resulted in dozens of deaths and crippled the region for days. Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said more than 20 agencies had gathered at the agency’s operations center in Framingham, Mass., where they were preparing for a historic storm.
UPDATE: Boltbus has cancelled all service to Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston for tomorrow. Megabus has cancelled all service to Boston.

UPDATE II: The blizzard warning has been extended to include New York City.
The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning from 6 a.m. Friday to 1 p.m. Saturday, meaning major travel delays from the 35 mile-an-hour wind gusts, heavy snow and rain, said Joe Pollina, a weather service meteorologist. “The city could see anywhere from 10 to 12 inches of snow,” he said, with a dusting overnight Thursday changing to rain and snow Friday, and then back to heavy snow overnight and into Saturday. New Yorkers started stocking up on supplies and shovels ahead of the storm. “We’re selling out of everything. The most popular item is the trunk shovel that fits in your car,” said Katherine Wankel, whose family has owned an Upper East Side hardware store for 117 years. If everything falls the way it has the potential to it could be among the top 10 snowstorms in New England history, said meteorologist William Babcock.
UPDATE III: NYC government has issued an alert.

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Indiana Drops Marriage Ban Referendum

The Indiana legislature will not ask voters to ban same-sex marriage. Not this year, at least.
Earlier today legislative leaders from both the Senate and House announced that they will not move forward a bill this year that would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would deny any recognition of gay and lesbian couples and their families. There remains the possibility that this could still come up in 2014, however. By tabling the discussion for this year, Indiana legislators recognize that this divisive issue takes away from other important issues facing Hoosier families. Many leading Indiana employers, including Eli Lilly, have publicly stated their opposition to the amendment. An Eli Lilly spokesperson recently stated, "We just believe that in order to attract the best and the brightest, we can't have this kind of legislation."

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These Nine People

Details.

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Satan Loves A Full Moon

That's when he activates his powers!

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Meh Mix

Copyranter notes the disappointed look of the cat on the generic bag. If I tried serving that stuff to Shelley, she'd punish me by scattering the contents of her bowl over every inch of the apartment.

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One Million Moms: Stop Sports F-Bombs

"Dear Joe, Together we will hold CBS accountable for airing profanity in front of children and families! The network did not keep their promise that the Super Bowl broadcast would be safe for children and families. CBS aired an unedited 'F-bomb' during the Super Bowl broadcast in front of an estimated audience of 108 million Americans - including tens of millions of children and families. CBS is to blame for not taking precautions against broadcasting it into every home in the country. The network has violated the law and shows no remorse. CBS has had ample time to apologize but has chosen not to. No apology for their error shows lack of responsibility and zero regret." - One Million Moms head Monica Cole, demanding that followers sign her FCC complaint against CBS.

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Freedom To Marry Pledges $2M To Marriage Battles In Multiple States

Chris Geidner has the news at Buzzfeed:
Freedom to Marry, which spent more than $4 million on state marriage efforts in 2012, announced plans Thursday to spend another $2 million on advancing marriage equality in the states in 2013. According to a statement provided to BuzzFeed, Freedom to Marry is starting the 2013 effort — called the Win More States Fund — by investing $800,000 in the six states where marriage bills are being debated: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

"Building on our 4 for 4 ballot victories in November, Freedom to Marry is calling on supporters to join us in continuing the momentum and winning still more states in 2013. With the clock ticking on the Supreme Court's review of marriage cases, we want to make as much progress as we can – and with battles already underway now in state capitals, we all need to put our money where our momentum is," Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, said in a statement.
Zoom, zoom, zoom!

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NYPD Gives Finger To NYCLU

I recently wrote about the smartphone app that allows users to record interactions with the NYPD and send the video directly to the NYCLU.  The app launches officially today and the NYCLU has posted the below response from two New York City cops.

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FL School Board: Ban All Clubs To Keep Out Gay-Straight Alliance

Several members of the Lake County, Florida school board have proposed banning all extracurricular clubs in order to prevent students from forming a Gay-Straight Alliance.
School Board members Bill Mathias, Debbie Stivender and Chairwoman Kyleen Fischer spoke in favor of a rule that would ban extra-curricular clubs in secondary schools while fellow board members Tod Howard and Rosanne Brandeburg favored banning extra-curricular clubs only in middle schools. Fischer said the district should focus on education and that "social engineering" is not the job of the School Board. "It is not our job to socially mentor students, but to educate them," she said. Howard said he was worried about the clubs that would be lost under stricter rules. "I am very concerned that one club would push out the remainder of the clubs that are doing good things," he said.
The issue arose after a 14 year-old middle school student was denied a permit to form a GSA in response to anti-gay bullying.  So goodbye chess club, drama club.  Them gay kids must be stopped at all costs.

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TODAY: Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Today is the annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. From the website:
February 7, 2013 marks the 13th year for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a national HIV testing and treatment community mobilization initiative targeted at Blacks in the United States and the Diaspora. There are four specific focal points: education, testing, involvement, and treatment. Educationally, the focus is to get Blacks educated about the basics of HIV/AIDS in their local communities. Testing is at the core of this initiative, as it is hoped that Blacks will mark February 7th of every year as their annual or biannual day to get tested for HIV. This is vital for those who are sexually active and those at high risk of contracting HIV. When it comes to community and organization leadership, getting Blacks involved to serve is another key focus.
The program is funded by the CDC.

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God Sent The Super Bowl Blackout

The Super Bowl blackout was an act "by the hand of God" and was a warning about the timing of the rapture. So says the Third Eagle of the Apocalypse and Co-Prophet of the End Times. Also: God is working through Hyundai's ad agency.

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MTA Union Hands Out Bloody Cards

Members of NYC's subway workers union are handing out fake MTA cards today in a campaign urging to the city to act on the rising number of passenger deaths and injuries. Several riders have been murdered in recent months by being pushed onto the tracks by mentally ill people.
"The union is sponsoring the outreach to bring public attention to the grave dangers facing passengers every day on the tracks," said a union spokesman, who said that, while the MTA is investigating "numerous high-tech solutions that would cost billions of dollars and take decades to implement," the union already has "a quick, easy and no-cost solution." Subway deaths spiked in 2012, with 55 people killed, up from 47 in 2011 — the highest number of deaths since 2007, according to Metropolitan Transportation Authority stats.

The deaths have sparked interest in potential protections for straphangers, including calls to install pricey platform screen doors, like the ones seen in some European cities and on the JFK AirTrain, plans to rig subway platforms with “intrusion technology” that would sound alerts when someone steps onto the tracks, as well as the union's slow-down plan. The union, which is currently in contract negotiations with the MTA, also wants the MTA to put agents on crowded platforms and install emergency shut-offs to tracks in station booths.
MTA officials have said that installing platform-long barriers and doors is unworkable because the system presently uses several different models of cars, meaning that the doors would not line up for some trains. The MTA is considering testing such a system on the L line, which does not share tracks with other lines and uses only one model of train.

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Quote Of The Day - MN Gov. Mark Dayton

"I believe that every Minnesotan should have the freedom to marry legally the person she or he loves, whether of the same or other sex. Last year, Minnesotans began a conversation about why marriage matters, and we found our common belief that it is about love, commitment, and responsibility. I want Minnesota to be a state which affirms that freedom for one means freedom for everyone, and where no one is told it is illegal to marry the person you love." - Gov. Mark Dayton, speaking yesterday in his State Of The State address to the Minnesota legislature. (Tipped by JMG reader James)

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Del & Xavier - Let Me Tickle Your Fancy

Alex Erickson writes at Paper Magazine:
Since the Scissor Sisters announced their indefinite hiatus at a London show last October the "Let's Have a Kiki" band members have been off working on projects of their own. Guitarist Del Marquis teamed up with Boys Choir of Harlem alumnus Xavier to record a new mixtape, Tickle, available for free download on Del's website. We've got the world premiere of the video for the über-sexy lead track, a cover of Jermaine Jackson's 1982 ditty "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy." The duo chose director Robin Comisar for his gritty, unpolished reel, and he delivered one sexy, '80s-inspired fantasy scene involving a disrobing tennis pro (whom you may recognize as a go-go boy from Daniel Nardicio's underwear parties) and an unlikely voyeur. Enjoy!
Xavier is a pal of mine!

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The Latest Issue of TIME

Rubio will be delivering the Republican response to this year's State Of The Union Address and some wingnuts are very unhappy that he'll be speaking in both English and Spanish.
The decision to name Rubio — the son of Cuban immigrants — to respond to Obama’s address comes as the GOP seeks to broaden its base with Hispanics. The GOP took a drubbing in the 2012 presidential election, as 71 percent of Hispanics voted to re-elect President Barack Obama. They were critical to Obama victories in three key battleground states — Florida, Nevada and Colorado — according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Only 27 percent of Hispanics voted for the GOP candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, according to Pew. Latinos comprise about 10 percent of the electorate, Pew says. Since the election, Rubio’s profile has been steadily rising — furthering his stature as one of the nation’s best-known Hispanic leaders and an oft-mentioned candidate for president in 2016. In Congress, the first-term senator sits on both the Senate Intelligence and the Foreign Relations committees.

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Dan Savage On Joel Burns

In his latest Take Part clip, Dan Savage revisits the story of openly gay Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns (JMG reader!), whose emotional 2010 speech on bullying went viral, prompting Burns to take the lead in getting Texas to pass a statewide bill against bullying.

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Two Phelps Girls Defect From Westboro

Two of Fred Phelps' granddaughters have defected from the Westboro Baptist Church. One of the defectors is Megan Phelps-Roper, best known for her musical parodies mocking Lady Gaga and other pop stars.  She writes on Medium:
We know that we’ve done and said things that hurt people. Inflicting pain on others wasn’t the goal, but it was one of the outcomes. We wish it weren’t so, and regret that hurt. We know that we dearly love our family. They now consider us betrayers, and we are cut off from their lives, but we know they are well-intentioned. We will never not love them. We know that we can’t undo our whole lives. We can’t even say we’d want to if we could; we are who we are because of all the experiences that brought us to this point. What we can do is try to find a better way to live from here on. That’s our focus. Up until now, our names have been synonymous with “God Hates Fags.” Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what we did. We hope Ms. Kyle was right about the other part, too, though – that everything sticks – and that the changes we make in our lives will speak for themselves.
RELATED: Libby Phelps Alvarez, who left the cult in 2009, said yesterday that the church regularly prays for people to die.

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Alan Keyes: Gun Control Is A Plot To Murder Hundreds Of Thousands

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Brian Brown On The FRC Shooter

"Standing up for traditional marriage does not make anyone 'anti-gay' and it is deplorable that some reporters covering this issue allow mere opposition to redefining marriage to be labeled as such. It is even more reckless for news reports to allow the charge of 'hate group' to be applied to any organization because their beliefs affirm a traditional Judeo-Christian view of marriage and sexual morality. We hope that media organizations will seriously reflect on these issues knowing that irresponsible 'hate group' charges nearly led to a massacre at the Family Research Council." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, whose organization literally plotted to sow animosity against the African-American community.

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HomoQuotable - Matt Moore

"Despite my recent hypocritical behavior and disobedience to Christ, I stand firmly in saying that the Word of God, in totality, is true in every matter it addresses: including the sin of homosexual behavior. In all of this, the Word of Christ should not be questioned. It is not at fault, I am. Jesus is a good and loving Savior. He is gracious and forgiving to all of those who repent and ask Him for forgiveness. But sin and Jesus cannot be mingled together. I have sinned, and I believe that Christ has forgiven me because I am repenting….. but if I were to continue on in sin and refuse to repent, it would be evident that I have no part with Christ.

"I want to be clear as ever that a true Christian cannot embrace a lifestyle of sin—specifically here a lifestyle of homosexuality. I say this so that you all know I’m not changing my theology and disregarding what the Bible clearly says to make room for my sinful desires. Rather, I’m asking God to change my heart. And no, I don’t mean I’m asking him to change my sexual desires. I’m asking Him to change my heart—-so that whatever my desires may be, I choose Him over them." - Matt Moore, writing on his personal blog where he claims that he never hooked-up with any of those guys on Grindr.  Moore also tweeted me last night to say he "never supported or adopted the term 'ex-gay'."  He adds that he'll be telling his Grindr story on the Christian Post, where he blogs against the evils of homosexuality.

Matt Moore: Yes, I Was On Grindr.

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Open Thread Thursday

Tell us about your hometown. Still there? Ever go back?

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Al Jazeera On LGBT Rights In Asia

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Wednesday, February 06, 2013

New Banner At HRC Headquarters

You might need to embiggen to read it.

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Perkins Claims Boy Scouts Victory

"Last week, it was a done deal. Or so thought some of the Boy Scouts of America's national Board of Directors. The board was poised to revoke their longstanding policy against having openly homosexual leaders and Scouts. Only a perfunctory discussion this week stood in the way, and the board would make the decision, appeasing corporate elites and homosexual activists. A done deal. Then, America stood tall. Thanks to you and countless other Americans who espouse the Scouts' same timeless values, the board wisely decided that the repercussions of such a move made revoking the policy too hot for them to handle. Your countless phone calls, tens of thousands of emails, support in social media, and the half page ad placed in USA Today helped turn the tide." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, taking credit for today's delay by the Boy Scouts.

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Quote Of The Day - IL Gov. Pat Quinn

"Marriage equality is coming to Illinois. Now, it's time to take the next step in achieving full equality.  Let's pass this bill for marriage equality and let's do it now.  Our Illinois is not a land of discrimination." - Gov. Pat Quinn, speaking today in his State Of The State address to the Illinois legislature. The marriage equality bill is scheduled for a vote before the state Senate on Valentine's Day.  The bill has the backing of state GOP chairman Pat Brady, who has become the target of resignation demands from anti-gay groups.

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Canadian Heritage Minute

I don't think this is an official episode in Canada's famed Heritage Minute series, which runs often on TV there. But it sure is lovely. Queerty has an earlier gay male version which features the filmmaker himself.

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Marc Jacobs For Diet Coke

Diet Coke's ad agency really loves the gay designers. Garth Johnston writes at Gothamist:
When catsh*t crazy designer Karl Lagerfeld was named Diet Coke’s creative director and released his custom Diet Coke bottles we smiled. Because c'mon...Karl Lagerfeld. But that was back in 2011—he was followed by Jean Paul Gaultier at the "helm" in 2012, and now it is time for a new celebrity designer. But did it have to be Marc Jacobs? Isn't it enough he has half the shops in the West Village at this point? And did the 49-year-old fashion mogul have to kick off his stint by taking his clothes off? We know he's been very proud of his new body and all, but still...
Hit the link for the new clip featuring Jacobs.

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IDAHO: State GOP Rep Intro's Bill Requiring Atlas Shrugged In High Schools

Idaho GOP state Sen. John Goedde has introduced a bill that requires high school students to read Ayn Rand's libertarian opus, Atlas Shrugs.  You don't graduate if you can't pass a test on the book.
The 1957 novel has been embraced by libertarians and the tea party movement, in part for its opposition to “statism” and embrace of capitalism, as Rand expressed her philosophy of “objectivism,” focusing on “the morality of rational self-interest.” In recent years, the novel has been touted by conservative commentators including Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. “When I read Atlas Shrugged, and it’s been probably 30 years since I read it, but it certainly gives one a sense of personal responsibility,” Goedde said. Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, D-Boise, questioned the choice of the book for a graduation requirement. “We have a wide variety of children who will be trying to graduate and reading and grasping some of these things, and their cultural context may be different,” she said.
Goedde says he doesn't intend to lobby for the bill's passage, he's just trying to make a statement. After all, that's the book that "made my son a Republican."

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Fox Accuses Clinton Of Face Lift

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Ad Campaign Of The Day

Jezebel has more examples from the ad campaign for a new line of "personal hygiene wipes."

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BRITAIN: Christian Concern Is Concernstipated About Yesterday's Vote

Britain has their own version of Kalley Yanta and today we meet their take on Penny Nance. Here's Christian Concern's Andrea Williams bleating out all of the tired objections as openly gay radio host Neil Sexton rolls his eyes. Entertaining clip.

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Two Minutes Of British Hate #4

Britain's version of Kalley Yanta is back today with the fourth in the Coalition For Marriage's video series. Today C4M also posted seven YouTube clips of anti-gay MPs making speeches at the House Of Commons during yesterday's debate. In the clips' descriptions, C4M celebrates that "175 MPs voted against redefining marriage!"  They make no mention that the bill passed or that 400 MPs voted in favor.

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FRIDAY: Winter Storm Nemo

Forecasters are pondering airport and rail closures this weekend as the nor'easter Nemo bears down on New England. (Things sound so much more serious now that winter storms have names.) Anyway, if you've got travel plans, you might want to keep an eye on things.  This hasn't been much of a winter so far around here.

UPDATE: Gawker is mocking the conflicting forecasts with the headline: "NYC Will Get Either 3 Or 30 Inches Of Snow This Weekend."

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Rep. Jared Polis Introduces Bill To Decriminalize Marijauna Possession

Openly gay Rep. Jared Polis today introduced a House bill that would decriminalize the possession of marijuana and allow states to collect taxes on legal sales.
Polis said he expects his measure could draw bipartisan support from fellow Democrats and from Republicans, especially those with Libertarian leanings. "The more states lead the way, the more pressure it puts on Congress to recognize that the drug war has failed policies," Polis said. Polis' act would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act; transfer the DEA's authority over marijuana to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and Firearms, which would be tasked with regulating marijuana like it does alcohol; and require marijuana producers to purchase a permit. States could choose to continue to outlaw marijuana production or use of the drug in their states, and it would be illegal to transport marijuana to a state where it's not legal. Boulder attorney Jeff Gard, who has represented several medical marijuana businesses, said he will be traveling to Washington, D.C., in coming weeks to advocate for Polis' legislation.
Voters in Polis' home state of Colorado voted in November to legalize personal use of marijuana.

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FRC Shooter Pleads Guilty

The man who last October shot a security guard at the Washington DC headquarters of the Family Research Council today pleaded guilty to several felony charges related to the shooting.
Floyd Corkins pleaded guilty to one federal count of crossing state lines with guns and ammunition. He also pleaded guilty to one count of intent to kill while armed and one count of committing an act of terrorism with the intent to kill. Those last two counts are District charges. Prosecutors say Corkins, who had been volunteering at a center for gay, lesbian and transgender people, was carrying ammunition and Chick-fil-A sandwiches in his bag. Chick-fil-A was making headlines at the time because of its president's stated opposition to gay marriage.
Corkins' crime at the FRC office prompted several other anti-gay groups to claim to have been on his "hit list."  Thus far the FBI has not released any such list. Virtually every LGBT group in the nation strongly denounced the attack immediately after it took place.

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HomoQuotable - Evan Wolfson

"With France and Britain poised to become the next countries to embrace the freedom to marry, it's clear that the momentum we see here in the United States for ending marriage discrimination is, in fact, a global movement toward greater freedom and equality for all - and the U.S. should be leading, not lagging. America cannot afford to fall behind its closest allies and trade partners in this global economy, and needs to do right by its families, as a right-of-center British prime minister and left-of-center French president have called on their parliaments to do, with resounding success." - Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson, in a press release noting this week's victories in Britain and France.

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Suede - It Starts And Ends With You

From their first album in over a decade.

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Boy Scouts Delay Decision

UPDATE: Here's the official statement.
For 103 years, the Boy Scouts of America has been a part of the fabric of this nation, providing it's youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. In the past two weeks, Scouting has received an outpouring of feedback from the American public. It reinforces how deeply people care about Scouting and how passionate they are about the organization.

After careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the Boy Scouts of America's National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy.

To that end, the executive board directed its committees to further engage representatives of Scouting's membership and listen to their perspectives and concerns. This will assist the officers' work on a resolution on membership standards. The approximately 1,400 voting members of the national council will take action on the resolution at the national meeting in May 2013.
UPDATE II: The HRC reacts.
Every day that the Boy Scouts of America delay action is another day that discrimination prevails,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Now is the time for action. Young Americans, gay and straight, are hurt by the inaction associated with today’s news. The BSA leadership should end this awful policy once and for all, and open the proud tradition of Scouting to all.”

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USPS To Suspend Saturday Mail

Starting in August, you won't be getting mail on Saturdays.
The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service plans to stop delivering mail on Saturdays starting Aug. 1, the agency is set to announce Wednesday. This means that for the first time Americans will receive mail only five days a week, a significant shift for the storied mail agency, which has suffered tens of billions of dollars in losses in recent years with the advent of the Internet and e-commerce. USPS plans to continue Saturday delivery of packages, which remain a profitable and growing part of the delivery business. Post offices would remain open on Saturdays so that customers can drop off mail or packages, buy postage stamps, or access their post office boxes, officials said. But hours likely would be reduced at thousands of smaller locations, they said.

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It's National Gay-Straight Alliance Day

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Rep. Paul Broun To Run For Senate

Back in October, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) announced that evolution is a "lie straight from the pit of hell" and that anybody who doesn't believe the earth was created in six days needs Jesus.  He further declared that his votes in Congress were done under "direction from the Holy Bible."  Today Broun will declare his candidacy to replace Saxby Chamblis in the Senate.  This is good news.
A Broun candidacy would likely be welcome news for Democrats eager to revisit the list of Broun's incendiary remarks and to paint Broun as extreme—a label establishment Republicans are fighting against this election cycle after their 2012 presidential loss. Broun has also openly questioned President Barack Obama's citizenship and, last month, suggested Obama abides by the "Soviet constitution." Broun would likely be challenged in the primary. Former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel and Georgia Rep. Tom Price are among the Republicans regarded as potential candidates.
PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: Paul Broun calls for armed militias to revolt against the federal government. Paul Broun calls for Congress to declare it to be the "National Year Of The Bible."  Paul Broun says that President Obama is planning to create Gestapo-like force to impose a dictatorship.  Paul Broun authors a bill to block the sale of Playboy on military bases.

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More Support From Brendon Ayanbagejo


He's really giving Chris Kluwe a run for the title of best sports ally, isn't he? Amazing. Watch this.

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Rosanne Cash For Homeless LGBT Kids

"As a longtime supporter and member of the St. Luke's community, I am so happy and humbled to offer this track to help benefit the outreach programs at St. Luke's. I wrote this song about an elderly gay couple in Chelsea who were very dear to me, and it was an exercise in compassion and awareness to see myself through their eyes, and them through my eyes. Love is Love, and love doesn't contain itself within arbitrary borders of gender, orientation, race, nationality, creed or age. Love is Love, and I send as much as I can to the outreach programs and the entire St. Luke's community." - Rosanne Cash, about her new single Jim And George, proceeds of which go to the homeless LGBT youth and AIDS programs of NYC's St. Luke In The Fields.  Hit the link to preview and purchase the track.

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Liberty Counsel Attacks HRC

"For them [HRC] to say that that is 'not good enough' just shows the level of the hubris inherent within the radical homosexual activist lobby. It shows that they are relentless and they will not be satisfied until each and every one of their extremist demands are met. They want access to our children, to be able to corrupt their minds and instill in them this worldview that says there is no right and wrong, that there is no such thing as sexual sin or sexual morality." - Liberty Counsel spokesdouche Matt Barber, speaking about the HRC's Boy Scouts ad to OneNewsNow.

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Hailey Rowe - My Boyfriend Is Gay

Some of the commenters on YouTube are upset about the stereotyping, but it seems like harmless fluff to me.

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FRIDAY: Blowoff NYC @ Highline Ballroom

Blowoff will bust its sweaty, furry self into Chelsea's Highline Ballroom this Friday. Doors open at 11:30pm. Advance tickets here. This party will probably sell out.

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Tuesday, February 05, 2013

The British Press Reacts

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Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of the event's producers, today Swag Tuesday prize is two tickets to Whiteout: Evolution Of A Dancer III, the third installment of the dance party that explores the history of gay nightclubbing. Evolution takes place next Sunday, February 17th at Manhattan's Rebel Club. Performing that night are legendary DJs Michael Fierman, and John Celgia. Making his NYC debut that night will be DJ Jimmy DePre.
While dance culture has branched off into many variants and has become a global phenomenon, our concept is to tell our story, chronologically, through the music that is relevant to the people who danced in the clubs from The Loft and the 10th Floor through 12 West, Flamingo, The Garage, The Sandpiper, The Pavilion, Ice Palace, Cherry Grove, Infinity, Studio 54, The Underground, The Saint, Palladium, into The Sound Factory, Twilo, Roxy, Octagon, Discotheque, Element, Love and of course Roseland. A ride in a time machine and a musical journey like no other club experience has ever been presented. We have witnessed a whirlwind of technological advancement both in music production and DJ tools for the presentation of music in the club, as well as the development of the musical styles that move us today.
Evolution Of A Dancer begins at 6pm and continues until 3am. Get advance tickets.  Enter to win tickets by commenting on this post. Only enter once and please remember to leave your email address in the text of your comment. Entries close at midnight on Thursday, west coast time. If you cannot be in Manhattan on the day of the party, your winning entry is transferable to your favorite disco historian. Publicists: If you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

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Britain's Journey On LGBT Rights

A nice recapping from Channel Four.

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What's Next For Britain's Marriage Bill

Over on AmericaBLOG, John Aravosis quotes a British source on how bills proceed to law in Parliament.  British commenters here on JMG have been weighing in with similar information, but I figure we Yanks could all use the lesson.
Before becoming a law, a bill goes thru these stages:

1st reading – effectively announcing that the bill has been published.

2nd reading – at which a substantive debate takes place on the principles underpinning the proposed law; a yes vote at this stage typically means that the bill will become law in a form somewhat close to the draft. [JMG: Today was the second reading.]

Committee Stage – a small committee of members of Parliament reviews the law, makes amendments; typically this is where bad drafting is fixed but also where lobbying really makes a difference.

Lords stage – the House of Lords votes on the Bill and sometimes has its own committees. If they vote no, the Bill goes back to the Commons. The Commons can insist on their own version and overrule the Lords but it’s a big pain to do it.

3rd Reading – once the Lords’ have passed the bill, the Commons votes one last time on the final amended version.

The shorter answer to your Q is that there is 98% chance of marriage equality happening – what is left to be argued over is how the law is implemented, how religious institutions are affected, tidying up how divorce law impacts gay married couples, etc. There will be a small number of attempts to amend the law, but on the whole this vote means the big fight is won.

I am totally guessing, but I’d say this will be law in late-September.
We're also told that the House Of Commons can automatically override the House Of Lords if they have not acted on a bill in one year, meaning that in the worse case scenario, Britain will see marriage equality in 2014. Is all this correct?

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Gay MPs Argue For Marriage Equality

Openly gay Tory MPs Mike Freer, Nick Herbert, and Margot James gave three of today's best speeches.


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How Britain's Parties Voted

Via the Guardian's live blog, I've tried to compile their lengthy listing on how the House of Commons voted today.  This is what I came up with so far.

Labour 217 Yes, 22 No
Conservatives (Tories) 136 Yes, 144 No
Liberal Democrats 44 Yes, 4 No
Plaid Cymru (Wales) 4 Yes, 0 No.
Democratic Unionists (Northern Ireland) 0 Yes, 8 No
Alliance 1 Yes, 0 No
SDLP (Northern Ireland) 1 Yes, 0 No
Independents 2 Yes, 0 No

There are 649 MPs. The numbers don't exactly add up because some didn't vote and a few members voted both yes and no, the British version of an abstention. As far as I can tell, anyway. Help me out, Brits?

UPDATE: Here's an interesting comment I got on Facebook: "Worth mentioning in the hope of dispelling lazy Islamophobic stereotypes that all six Muslim Labour MPs voted in favour of the bill."

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ILLINOIS: Marriage Bill Advances

Here comes Valentine's Day!

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New Site: Chic Gay Honeymoons

They call themselves "the first bespoke luxury travel company to focus on chic romantic getaways and sophisticated honeymoons for gay couples." Strictly for the high rollers, obviously. It'll be Niagara Falls for the hoi polloi.

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BREAKING: British House Of Commons Overwhelmingly Approves Marriage Bill

The final vote was 400-175.  A large number of Tories "rebelled" against Prime Minister David Cameron and voted against the bill.  The bill now heads for its third and final reading.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg reacts: 
I genuinely believe that we will look back on today as a landmark for equality in Britain. Tonight’s vote shows parliament is very strongly in favour of equal marriage. No matter who you are and who you love, we are all equal. Marriage is about love and commitment, and it should no longer be denied to people just because they are gay. The Liberal Democrats have long fought for equal marriage. It is party policy and I am proud that the Liberal Democrats are part of the coalition government that are making it happen.
From the Guardian's live blog:
MPs have voted for the gay marriage bill by 400 votes to 175 - a majority of 225. Such a large majority probably increases the chances of the bill being able to get through the House of Lords this year, without the government having to rely on the Parliament Act to push it through in 2014. More than half of the Tory MPs who voted chose to oppose gay marriage. Initial figures suggest that 139 Tories voted against, and only 132 voted for. Technically this is not a rebellion, because it was a free vote. But it is a severe embarrassment to David Cameron.

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LIVE VIDEO: Britain's House Of Commons Debates Marriage Equality Bill
UPDATE: Vote Coming Any Minute

It's happening right now and you can watch live. A vote on this second reading is expected sometime around 2PM New York City time. (Or maybe earlier!) The Guardian is running a live blog.

UPDATE: Governmental processes are usually such a dreary drudge to witness, but there is nothing more entertaining than the back-and-forth acidic sniping in the House of Commons.

UPDATE II: Here's what should happen today.
At second reading the House debates the whole principle of the bill. It usually takes place no sooner than two weekends after first reading.  The Member in charge or the Minister moves the motion ‘that the bill be now read a second time’. MPs then debate the bill. At the end of the debate the Speaker determines whether there are any objections to the motion being debated and asks for the Ayes and Noes.

Members voice their opinion, and if no objections are made, the bill passes second reading without a vote. If the Speaker believes Members have voiced disagreement a division is called and a vote taken. If the Bill passes second reading and the programme motion is agreed, the Bill will go to a Public Bill Committee for consideration. At a Public Bill Committee, each clause (part) and any amendments (proposals for change) to the Bill may be debated. MPs table amendments they wish to be considered.
UPDATE III: I've pushed this post back to the top because it appears that the vote may come any minute now.  Over 70 MPs (from both sides of the issue) have spoken so far, but the original schedule called for a free vote by 7PM London time.
UPDATE IV: After the chair ruled that the House is in DIVISION (he shouted that, actually), an individual vote is now taking place.

UPDATE V: The initial vote is 400 to 175 in FAVOR of marriage equality. More procedural stuff now taking place. Stand by.

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Southern Baptists Head Richard Land: Gays In Boy Scouts Will Be Castastrophe

GLAAD gives kudos to the CNN hosts. 
This is a little different from some of the acocuntability we have seen in the past. Berman and Baldwin didn't haul out comments from Land's past so viewers would learn more about his patterns of engagement. Instead, the anchors calmly and quietly challenged most everything Land put on the table. They saw right through his obvious goal of connecting gays with child sexual abuse (despite his protests to the contrary) and reacted in the spirit his words deserved. The anchors didn't talk over him—they simply refused to let their network serve as Richard Land's echo chamber. Bravo.

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Improv Everywhere: Grand Central Lights

In celebration of the terminal's 100th birthday.

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Porn Star Arpad Miklos Dead At 45

Famed porn star Arpad Miklos has committed suicide at the age of 45. The news came today via Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman, who this morning interviewed a close friend of Miklos on his web series, Gwissues. According to Bragman's source, Miklos left a note in which he stipulated how to dispose of his remains. Miklos, whose real name was Peter Kozma, was formerly a chemist and emigrated from Hungary after becoming an adult film actor. Here in New York City he contributed to several LGBT charities and worked on an American Apparel fundraiser for the Ali Forney Center.

RELATED: You may recall that Miklos appeared last year in the startling music video for Perfume Genius.

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Military Chaplains File DOMA Brief

The Chaplain Alliance For Religious Liberty, which claims to represent over 2500 current and former military clergy members, has filed a Supreme Court brief against the overturn of DOMA.  The brief largely treads the ridiculous claim that anti-gay chaplains will be denied promotions or disciplined for refusing to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies.  The brief also cites several bits of the bible and the Manhattan Declaration, whose signees vow to disobey laws that grant LGBT rights.
The harm to military religious liberty will be felt in at least two broad ways. The first, as amici’s collective centuries of military experience instructs, would be the weeding out of service members who hold traditional religious beliefs about marriage and the family. Service members are evaluated for promo-tion and retention via processes, such as Officer Evaluation Reports, which specifically ask whether the service member under consideration promotes the military’s equal opportunity policy.8 8See Army Officer Evaluation Report at 2 (asking whether the evaluated officer “promotes dignity, consideration, fairness, and EO [i.e., equal opportunity], see generally Army Regulation 623-3, Evaluation Reporting System. If this Court declares irrational and impolitic traditional religious beliefs about marriage, that inquiry would, for the first time, prove toxic for many devoutly religious service members. Even if nothing directly negative was put into such Reports, the lack of the superlative commendations that are necessary for advancement would be enough to permanently stall a service member’s career. And in the military, if a service member is not on the way up, he is on the way out.
From the first line of the group's mission statement: "The Bible is the inerrant, infallible Word of God in the original languages and the absolute standard for moral conduct."

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