CALIFORNIA: Three Marines Face Charges In Alleged Marriage Scam

Three Marine corporals stationed at Camp Pendleton are facing charges over allegedly sham marriages created in part, those charged say, to evade the restrictions of DOMA.

The scam was hatched when a lesbian couple, one a Marine and the other a civilian, decided to live together off base, according to 1st Lt. Maureen Dooley, a Marine spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton. The female Marine found a male Marine willing to get married, allowing them to collect a $1,200 housing benefit, Dooley said. The civilian woman also eventually married a male Marine and collected government funds, according to officials.

The corporals, assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Camp Pendleton, will face fraud and larceny charges, Dooley said, adding that other charges could come later. It was not clear whether the civilian woman would face charges, but the military would not have jurisdiction in such a case, Dooley said. "It doesn't matter what their sexual preferences are, if they're violating the law and making fraudulent use of government money, they will be held accountable," Dooley said. In addition to the charges, the three Marines could have to pay back $75,000 to the military.

The female Marine, Cpl. Ashley Vice, told San Diego's KGTV-TV Friday that she and her partner, Jaime Murphy, were forced to enter sham marriages because the military does not provide allowances for unmarried couples and they couldn't afford to live off base without the extra money. She and her partner only wanted to "be a family," Vice said.

Only legally married military couples are eligible for the housing allowance. Thanks to DOMA, that will not change even with the repeal of DADT. The three Marines face a year in jail.

(Tipped by JMG reader Bill)

RHODE ISLAND: Gov. Lincoln Chafee Signs Civil Unions Bill Into Law

Against the vehement objections of some LGBT rights groups, today Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed his state's controversial civil unions bill into law.

The new law includes a section that says no religious organization -- including some hospitals, cemeteries, schools and community centers -- or its employees may be required to treat as valid any civil union, providing a religious exemption "of unparalleled and alarming scope," Chafee said in a statement. As a result, a civil union spouse could be denied the right to make medical decisions for his or her partner, access to health insurance benefits, property rights in adjoining burial plots or family memberships at some community centers. That could cause partners significant harm at critical moments in their lives, the governor said. "This extraordinary exemption eviscerates the important rights that enacting a civil union law was meant to guarantee for same sex couples in the first place," Chafee said.

Cher Rips Marcus Bachmann

(Via - Towleroad)

WASHINGTON: Anti-Gay Group Asks Again To Block Petition Names

World Net Daily has dug up those years-old anonymous internet comments (some from JMG) to illustrate a story about the latest attempt to block the names of those that signed an anti-gay petition in Washington state.

A federal court in Tacoma, Wash., has been asked to order that the names of signatories of a state petition seeking to protect traditional marriage be redacted to protect them from death threats from homosexual activists. "What is becoming increasingly evident," said James Bopp of the James Madison Center, "is that some groups and individuals, certainly a minority, have resorted to advancing their cause, not by debating the merits of the issue but by discouraging participation in the democratic process itself. "The First Amendment was designed to ensure that all groups, whatever their persuasion, could participate fully in our republic," he said. That breaks down when some groups or individuals are cowed into silence for fear that they or their families will be targeted or threatened if they speak up."

Remember folks, please don't make even the vaguest threat of physical violence on the internet. The quotes in the above-linked story are seeing a very long life.

GOP ON TV: The Plan To Launch Fox News Began During Nixon Adminstration

Tony Perkins On New York Marriage

"[The law] does not protect individuals. It does not protect private business owners. It does not protect, for example, a bed and breakfast owner who is using their own private personal property in the type of intimate setting that a bed and breakfast is. It does not protect licensed professionals. For example, it does not protect counselors. It also does not protect lawyers--you may have a family law attorney who does not want to do a same-sex divorce because of their deeply held religious beliefs. It does not protect fertility doctors who may have a strict belief and only want to help [heterosexual] married couples because they believe a kid deserves both a mom and a dad. The dominos from this decision are just starting to fall. One newspaper is reporting that the New York Department of Correctional Services is already rewriting its rules for inmates' 'conjugal visits,' which will now be open to homosexual 'spouses.' Prisons will provide the condoms! - Hate group head Tony Perkins, via press release.

Olbermann On Marcus Bachmann

William Shatner - O Canada

A really cute and classically Shatner-esque bit that includes a shout-out to same-sex couples and universal health care.

NOM Staffer Explains Why NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Should Be Denied Communion

Thomas Peters is the NOM staffer who embarrassed himself by posting a preemptive National Review article declaring that same-sex marriage had been defeated in New York. He's also the son of the Vatican adviser who earlier this week called for Gov. Cuomo to be denied Holy Communion. Yesterday the younger Peters appeared on a Catholic news program to explain why. (And how gay does he seem? Of course!) Peters first appears at the 11:00 mark after some recapping of the New York marriage vote.

Matt Foreman: Celebrating Our Gains

Former NGLTF executive director Matt Foreman takes to the Huffington Post today for a thoughtful essay on why we continue to see hard-fought gains in the LGBT movement. An excerpt:

While opponents of LGBT rights have at least eight national advocacy organizations with budgets of more than $10 million, the LGBT movement has just one. In fact, the annual budget of just one of the biggest opponents of LGBT rights, Focus on the Family/CitizenLink, is greater than the budgets of the 39 largest LGBT advocacy, legal and research organizations, combined. So what explains the continued traction that the LGBT movement has enjoyed in the face of such adversity? There are a lot of related factors. For example, more LGBT people are coming out and more non-LGBT people are getting to know them and are themselves becoming advocates for equal rights. There is also the influence of popular culture and celebrities, the high profile of LGBT issues in the media, and the vibrant presence of LGBT bloggers in social media. But the legal and policy advances of the last decade did not spring miraculously from the results of a public opinion poll or a single heartfelt, pro-gay acceptance speech at the Oscars. Instead, they happened because LGBT organizations made them happen.

Read the full article.

Cory Monteith: Straight But Not Narrow

Bryan Fischer Flips Out Over Log Cabin Appointee To RNC Finance Team

Tired Old Queen At The Movies #78

Ronald Coleman in 1937's Lost Horizon.

Nate Silver: California Voters Would Overturn Proposition 8 In 2012

Elections prognosticator Nate Silver has published another super-complicated voting trends analysis. Even though there's no plan to place a repeal of Prop 8 on the 2012 California ballot, Silver predicts that voters would overturn the measure if given the chance.

Even the relatively cautious Linear Model predicts that 54 percent of Californians would vote against a measure like Proposition 8 if one were on the ballot next year, while 55 percent of Oregonians would vote against a ban on same-sex marriage like the one the state’s voters approved in 2004. Neither prediction seems too far out of line: Oregon’s marriage ban was rejected by 43 percent of voters seven years ago, and California’s by 48 percent two years ago, and public opinion has shifted meaningfully in favor of same-sex marriage since then.

Organizational Flow Charts

(Source)

KANSAS: Abortion Now Effectively Illegal

Boston Red Sox - It Gets Better

PhoboQuotable - Linda Harvey

"Our President has launched a broad scale attack on traditional values. If homosexuals and transgenders are allowed to live and love as they see fit, we would have a whole societal mess on our hands, which is already starting to happen in some areas. We’re already seeing the denial of liberty, intimidation tactics, and flat out dirty tricks in the effort to silence concerned citizens, especially Christians. And I’m sure many of you are as dismayed as I am over our hyper-sexualized culture, well homosexual activism only puts that trend on steroids. It’s not a rights issue, its cultural revolution, where homosexuality is declared acceptable, the harm and detriments disguised, and no other views are allowed. And that’s not human rights, friends, it’s anti-family tyranny. We need someone else as President, don’t you think? Someone who loves and honors God, His design, and truth itself." - Linda Harvey, head of the SPLC-certified hate group Mission America.

Recapping The End Of Glenn Beck

The end of Beck on Fox, at least.

Don't Kiss The Evil Preacher

A 74 year-old North Carolina woman has been charged with assault for kissing an anti-gay preacher demonstrating outside a gay pride event.

Joan Parker admits she kissed a preacher on the cheek at the event, proclaimed by the Salisbury mayor as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Day. "He was just waving his arms and has a Bible in one hand, up and down, and screaming at the top of his lungs, `sodomites' and `you're going to hell,"' Parker said in a phone interview. "I thought he needed a hug. So I gave him a hug." At some point, Parker said, the preacher turned to yell to a man with a camera to take a picture of her. Also at some point, she kissed him. On the cheek, she said, not on the mouth. "He claims I kissed him on the lips, and he's a damned liar," said Parker, who is from Colfax and said he was at the event with her husband to show support. "I believe I did kiss him on his cheek." The preacher, James Edward Belcher of Taylorsville, said he never claimed Parker kissed him on the lips, but that's only because he turned his face as she came toward him.

Police estimate that 200 anti-gay protesters attended the small pride event, which saw only 2000 LGBT attendees.

Bjork - Crystalline

The first track from her coming album, Biophilia.

Movies At Bryant Park

During the summer months, New York City screens classic movies in Midtown's Bryant Park. Here's an oddly compelling and unnarrated clip from last week's screening.

Log Cabin Head Named To RNC

Log Cabin Republicans executive director R. Clark Cooper has been named to the RNC's finance committee. The AFA reports:

The Log Cabin group says R. Clarke Cooper will play a "critical" role in raising funds for the party's efforts to elect Republicans to the White House and across the country. Cooper says he will be working to elect what he calls "pro-equality Republicans." Bob Kabel, a former national chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans who now chairs the District of Columbia Republican Committee, lauds Cooper's new role and references the GOP's "winning strategy for 2012, one based upon inclusion and the conviction that with a big tent the GOP can recapture the White House."

OHIO: Loaded Guns In Bars? Sure!

What could possibly go wrong?

Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich on Thursday signed into law a bill that allows gun owners in the state to carry concealed weapons into bars and other places where alcohol is served. The measure, which was forwarded to Kasich on June 22 by the Ohio General Assembly, was signed on Thursday afternoon. Kasich is scheduled to sign the Ohio budget later Thursday.

Herman Cain: Media Is Scared That A "Real" Black Man Will Run Against Obama

Happy Canada Day!

Last night JMG reader Inga submitted the above photo after the Empire State Building shrugged off its Pride Month palette and slipped into Canada's national colors.

Rahm Emanuel Backs Gay Marriage

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has endorsed same-sex marriage, saying that he hopes Illinois soon follows the example of New York. Emanuel is Barack Obama's former White House chief of staff.

"I would hope that the state would move in that direction," Emanuel said in the interview that aired Wednesday. "Tremendous progress has been made across the country on a value statement and I think that's very important." Emanuel declined to comment on Obama's stance on the issue, but noted that the president has signed into law legislation that recognizes hate crimes based on sexual orientation and a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevented gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

25 Years Ago Today

Madonna's True Blue was released June 30th, 1986. And 25 years later, every single track from an album I never owned remains burned into my brain, each song irrevocably linked to images of bars, boys, cars, and vacations. That, to me, is the hallmark of superstardom - when casual or even non-fans cannot help relating personal timelines to an artist's catalog.

Bishop Thomas Tobin: God Will Punish Rhode Island For Civil Unions

"I am deeply disappointed that Rhode Island will establish civil unions in our state. The concept of civil unions is a social experiment that promotes an immoral lifestyle, is a mockery of the institution of marriage as designed by God, undermines the well-being of our families, and poses a threat to religious liberty. [snip] Can there be any doubt that Almighty God will, in His own time and way, pass judgment upon our state, its leaders and citizens, for abandoning His commands and embracing public immorality? I encourage Catholics to pray for God’s patience, mercy and forgiveness in these distressing times." - Bishop Thomas Tobin, of the Providence Catholic Diocese.

CHINA: World's Longest Bridge Opens

The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is 26.2 miles long and was completed in four years. We need to put them to work on the Second Avenue subway.

Maine Goes For It Again

Confirmation from the Bangor Daily News:

With momentum growing from last week’s victory in New York, supporters of marriage equality think that the time has come for another try in Maine. Today, EqualityMaine will launch a campaign to gather signatures to place marriage equality on the ballot in November 2012. They will face much work and a long campaign to legalize same-sex marriage here.

Organizers must collect 57,000 signatures by January in order to make the November 2012 ballot.

Worst Record Of The Year

Unoriginal, unmusical, AND pretentious.

HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"The mistake that straight people made was imposing the monogamous expectation on men. Men were never expected to be monogamous. Men had concubines, mistresses and access to prostitutes, until everybody decided marriage had to be egalitar­ian and fairsey. [Rather than granting women] the same latitude and license and pressure-release valve that men had always enjoyed, we extended to men the confines women had always endured. And it’s been a disaster for marriage." - Dan Savage, quoted in an extensive NYT Magazine article on fidelity.

New From Mitt Romney

MSNBC On Marcus Bachmann

Paul Lynde + Charles Nelson Reilly = the voice of Marcus Bachmann. Throw some Liberace in there too.

Christians Only At TX Prayer Rally

And here's why, according to an event organizer:

This is an explicitly Christian event because we are going to be praying to the one true God through His son, Jesus Christ. It would be idolatry of the worst sort for Christians to gather and invite false gods like Allah and Buddha and their false prophets to be with us at that time. Because we have religious liberty in this country, they are free to have events and pray to Buddha and Allah on their own. But this is time of prayer to the One True God through His son, Jesus Christ, who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.

I'm still trying to figure out how a state-sanctioned, explicitly exclusive religious event is being allowed to take place. Where are the lawsuits?

EDIT: It was pointed out to me that the above-quoted person is one of the prayer rally's organizers and that he was not speaking as Texas Gov. Rick Perry's spokesman, even though Perry is the event's headliner. Therefore I've changed the opening line of this post.

MISSOURI: Gay Activist Confronts Wingnut Rep. Vicki Hartzler On Marriage

Earlier this month, Rep. Vicki Hartzler compared same-sex marriage to incest and pedophilia. And prior to being elected to Congress, she headed Missouri's successful 2004 constitutional ban on ban marriage equality. In the clip below, she tells a Missouri activist that he "shouldn't feel bad" about her bigotry. After all, it's been "the law of the land" for years now.

(Tipped by JMG reader Danny)

News Corp Sells MySpace

Six year's ago Rupert Murdoch's News Corp purchased MySpace for $580M. Yesterday the floundering site was sold for a mere $35M.

The sale closes a complex chapter in the history of the Internet and of the News Corporation, which was widely envied by other media companies when it acquired MySpace in 2005. At that time, MySpace was the world’s fastest-growing social network, with 20 million unique visitors each month in the United States. That figure soon soared to 70 million, but the network could not keep pace with Facebook, which overtook MySpace two years ago. As users fled MySpace, so, too, did advertisers. The market research firm eMarketer estimates that the site will earn about $183 million in worldwide ad revenue this year, down from $605 million at its peak, when the site introduced many Web users and many advertisers to the concept of social networking.

Goodbye, Glenn Beck

In observance of Glenn Beck's last day on Fox News, Media Matters provides the below video recap of the lies, the insanity, and the hate.

Washington Post: Evolve Already

From the editorial board of the Washington Post:

With a presidential campaign that promises to be closer and more contentious than the one that got him elected four years ago, Mr. Obama and his team might be reluctant to embrace a controversial social issue when the economy and jobs are of paramount importance to voters. At some point, though, doing the right thing must trump politics. If Mr. Obama does come out in favor of gay marriage, his base would surely rally around him.

And all supporters of gay rights should be girding themselves for battle with those who would use the president’s position to deny him a second term. The first question at the news conference was about Republican recalcitrance on tax increases. “Hopefully leaders at a certain point rise to the occasion and do the right thing for the American people,” Mr. Obama said. Later, he would say, “If you know you have to do something, you just do it.” The same words apply to him on marriage equality. So just do it already.

Women Are Better At Everything

So says a study cited by TIME Magazine. Men do things worse, apparently, because they have a penis.

What's the problem with men? "There's been a lot of academic research suggesting that men think they know what they're doing, even when they really don't know what they're doing," John Ameriks, the author of the Vanguard study, told the New York Times. The reason for that overconfidence may come down to biology, research suggests. There's a growing field of study called "neuroeconomics," in which scientists are examining the link between hormonal and neurological impulses and financial decision-making. One such recent study by John Coates, a research fellow in neuroscience and finance at Cambridge University, tested male traders' hormone responses to workplace decisions. He found that testosterone — the stuff that makes men, well, men — surges during winning streaks. And that may drive both risk-taking and an attitude of infallibility. The so-called "winner effect," which has been seen in athletes during competition, also seems to apply to male traders.

Tom Petty To Crazy Eyes: Stop Using My Song At Your Campaign Stops

Bachmann has ignored the cease-and-desist demand.

Feds Drop Deportation Case For Gay Man

In what the New York Times says may be a precedent-setting decision, the federal government has dropped its deportation case against a gay Venezuelan legally married to an American man.

The announcement comes as immigration officials put into effect new, more flexible guidelines governing the deferral and cancellation of deportations, particularly for immigrants with no serious criminal records. Immigration lawyers and gay rights advocates said the decision represented a significant shift in policy and could open the door to the cancellation of deportations for other immigrants in same-sex marriages. “This action shows that the government has not only the power but the inclination to do the right thing when it comes to protecting certain vulnerable populations from deportation,” said the couple’s lawyer, Lavi Soloway. The case has been closely watched across the country by lawyers and advocates who viewed it as a test of the federal government’s position on the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

CHINA: Male Cheerleader Wows Crowd

(Source)

PhoboQuotable - Marcus Bachmann

"We have to understand: barbarians [gays] need to be educated. They need to be disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t mean that we are supposed to go down that road. That’s what is called the sinful nature. We have a responsibility as parents and as authority figures not to encourage such thoughts and feelings from moving into the action steps.

"And let’s face it: what is our culture, what is our public education system doing today? They are giving full, wide-open doors to children, not only giving encouragement to think it but to encourage action steps. That’s why when we understand what truly is the percentage of homosexuals in this country, it is small. But by these open doors, I can see and we are experiencing, that it is starting to increase." - Marcus Bachmann, husband of Crazy Eyes, "ex-gay" therapist, and fuh-laming closeted homosexual.

Westboro Trained FBI Agents

Strangest story this week.

The FBI said Wednesday that members of an anti-gay fundamentalist group participated in the bureau's training of police officers and FBI agents — a move the bureau says it will take steps to remedy in the future. The bureau extended the invitations to Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., for training this spring at two bureau facilities in Virginia: Quantico and Manassas. Westboro has stirred widespread outrage with raucous demonstrations at the funerals of U.S. military service members. The group contends God is punishing the military for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. National Public Radio first reported the FBI's involvement with Westboro. At FBI headquarters in Washington, bureau spokesman Paul Bresson acknowledged that Westboro was invited to the training sessions.

Dan Savage Visits Keith Olbermann

Savage and Olbermann ran into each other at a performance of The Book Of Mormon and this web-only interview resulted.

RHODE ISLAND: Civil Unions Pass Senate

Last night Rhode Island's controversial civil unions bill passed in the state Senate by a vote of 21-16. The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who is expected to sign it over the protests of some major LGBT groups.

The legislation, which passed overwhelmingly in the state's lower house on May 19, affords same-sex couples a host of new state tax breaks, health-care benefits and greater ease of inheritance. Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an independent, is expected to sign the bill into law, according to his spokesman, Michael Trainor. If signed, the law would take effect on July 1, making Rhode Island the fifth state in the country to allow civil unions between same-sex couples.

Katrina Was God's Punishment

Because of Southern Decadence! Old news!

Open Thread Thursday

What are your plans for the Fourth?

Obama's Pride Reception Speech

RHODE ISLAND: Activists Demand Governor Veto Civil Unions Bill

Saying that Rhode Island's proposed civil unions bill will "allow religious organizations and their individual employees to completely disregard the validity of a civil union in any context," major LGBT activist groups are asking Gov. Lincoln Chafee to veto the act should it come to his desk. Via press release:

"This flawed civil union bill undermines a crucial principle that Rhode Island has always stood for -- respecting the separation of church and state,” said Marc Solomon, National Campaign Director for Freedom to Marry. “Not only does the bill propose a separate-and-unequal status instead of ending the denial of marriage itself, it grants an unprecedented license to discriminate against same-sex couples and their families. Governor Chafee should veto this defective bill and work with the legislature to enact a marriage bill that ends discrimination while preserving religious and personal freedom on equal terms for all.”

The letter, which was signed by groups including Freedom to Marry and GLAD, reads: This amendment could allow individuals, who are legally required to recognize everyone else’s legal commitments, to opt out of doing so only for gay and lesbian people. In practical terms, this law could allow religiously affiliated hospitals to deny a civil union spouse’s right to be by his spouse’s side and make medical decisions for him, and could allow religiously affiliated agencies to deny an employee’s right to leave in order to care for his civil union spouse under Rhode Island Family and Medical Leave.

Joad Cressbeckler On Homosexuality

An elderly gold prospector interviews a fake Brian Brown about marriage equality. It can only be the work of The Onion.

WASHINGTON: Queer "Anarchists" Wreck DC's Human Rights Campaign Shop

From Anarchist News:

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) gift shop in Dupont Circle in Washington, DC is a god awful monstrosity. We were in there yesterday and between wiping our genitals on the clothing and discovering that the snow globes wouldn't properly fit up our bums, we got to thinking: "This place would look great with a bit of shattered glass and splattered paint." So we strapped on our riot chaps, poured pink paint into light bulbs, grabbed hammers, and went party party party! all over that tacky testament to the transformation of radical queer liberation into consumer junk.

The New Gay has a statement from the HRC:

“HRC’s DC Action Center and Store was vandalized last night with paint on the front windows and an LGBT group has claimed responsibility for the crime. It’s unfortunate that after a marriage win in New York that represented an unprecedented coming together of LGBT groups, some are more interested in fostering division in the community.”

[Photo Credit: The New Gay]

Matt Barber: Kids In Gay Families Are Just Props To Promote Sexual Anarchy

Bill Donahue: Naked! Gays! Everywhere!

"There is no demographic group in the nation, among all the racial and ethnic affiliations, which ever features nudity, half-nudity and simulated sex acts in their parades. Indeed, they don't even march in dog collars. But to those whose idea of freedom is genital liberation, sexuality is their central identity. The real problem here is the reluctance of the media to accurately cover gay pride events. The bias is palpable." - Catholic League blowhard Bill Donahue, who apparently has never attended NYC's Puerto Rican Day Parade.

Obama On Marriage Equality: I'm Not Gonna Make News On That Today

More from today's press conference: "I'm gonna keep giving you the same answer until I get a different one. And that won't be today."

Obama: Marriage Is A State Issue And I'm Happy About The Vote In New York

At today's press conference, the president was asked if he believes marriage is a civil right. Obama side-stepped the question and said this:

We’ve said that we cannot defend the federal government poking its nose into what states are doing and putting our thumb on the scale against same-sex couples. What I’ve seen happen over the last several years and what happened in New York last week, I think was a good thing. Because what you saw was the people of New York having a debate, talking through these issues. It was contentious, it was emotional, but ultimately they made a decision to recognize civil marriages and I think that’s exactly how things should work. I think it’s important for us to work through these issues because each state is going to be different and each community is going to be different.

(Transcript and video via Igor Volsky at Think Progress)

AMA Denounces Photoshop

The American Medical Association says that image manipulation programs like Photoshop are helping push young women into eating disorders.

The use of photo retouching doesn't just make for unrealistic images – it can also be bad for your health. The American Medical Association has taken a stand against the Photoshopping of images since "such alterations can contribute to unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image – especially among impressionable children and adolescents, according to a decision announced this week. The AMA has adopted a new policy that encourages ad agencies to work with agencies devoted to child and adolescent health to develop guidelines for ads.

U.S. Senators - It Gets Better

Thirteen U.S. Senators for the It Gets Better Project!

Ken Mehlman Confronted Over Past

Activist Jon Winkleman tried to get former RNC chair Ken Mehlman to own up to his role in numerous anti-gay campaigns, but Mehlman wasn't having it. Clip description:

I ran into Bush's former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman who oversaw the anti-LGBT campaigns and ballot questions Bush used as wedge issues and to throw red meat to his base. Mehlman claims he came out after Bush left office, though it was widely known in DC that Mehlman was gay at the time. He knew what he was doing and that it was hurting other LGBT Americans. I know he helped with the efforts to pass marriage in NY but he still supports those who do us harm. Also his cynical anti-LGBT campaigns at the RNC fanned the flames of hate and violent hate crimes increased in the districts they focused. LGBT people were hurt...physically, because of Mehlman's actions. So of course I had to go over and say something.

MASSACHUSETTS: Nine Charged With Hate Crimes In Bashing Of Gay Man

Nine Springfield, Massachusetts youths have been charged with hate crimes in the beating of an openly gay man.

Sgt. John Delaney said the beating occurred shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday as the 30-year-old victim walked down a Springfield street. Delaney said the victim told police he was then attacked by the suspects who knocked him to the ground, kicked him in the head and abdomen and punched him in the face with closed fists. He said the females in the group encouraged the males to beat up the victim and others yelled disparaging remarks about the victim's sexual orientation during the attack.

MassLive.com has more.

The victim and the people accused of attacking him all live in the same neighborhood. While none of the suspects knew the victim by name, they were familiar with him from the neighborhood, police said. The victim told police that a group of youths inside Barrows Park yelled and asked him to come inside the park, said Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet. The victim kept walking and told police he was then attacked, knocked him to the ground, kicked him in the head and abdomen and punched him in the face with closed fists, Delaney said. “During the beating, the females encouraged the males to beat up the victim,” Delaney said. He said all yelled remarks disparaging about what they believed to be the victim’s sexual orientation.

The victim was released from the hospital after being treated for head trauma and facial lacerations.

FRC's Call2Fall: July 3rd

The Family Research Council wants every Christian to simultaneously fall to their knees in public prayer on July 3rd. And then something's gonna happen!

NYT Keeps Marriage Heat On Obama

The New York Times has published yet another story critical of the president's position on marriage equality.

Legal scholars say Mr. Obama is correct; regulating marriage is indeed the province of the states — to a point. Federal courts have at times intervened to declare state marriage laws unconstitutional, as was the case in Loving v. Virginia, the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case that effectively ended all race-based restrictions on marriage. Yet in the context of the New York debate, Mr. Obama’s comments infuriated some prominent advocates and potential donors. They include Chad Griffin, who sits on the finance committee for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign and recently co-hosted a fund-raiser featuring Michelle Obama that raised more than $1 million, and Paul Yandura, a Democratic strategist who advises gay philanthropists, including some Obama donors. “That language is really a dog whistle for the right,” Mr. Yandura said. Mr. Griffin, who said he intended to continue to work to re-elect the president, called the comments “a step backwards,” and said Mr. Obama should use Wednesday’s reception to clarify them. The White House sees no need to clarify.

President Obama will be hosting a LGBT Pride reception at the White House today. GetEQUAL has promised to picket.

The Pope Has An iPad

And a Twitter account. Almost 1300 tweets in the first couple of days.

Giuliani Won't Marry Gay Pals?

Remember when former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani fled to the home of his gay best friends during his divorce? And how he promised to personally marry them once it became legal? Not so much.

"I asked if he would marry us," recalled Howard Koeppel, the unlikely provider of an emergency Midtown crash pad to Giuliani for six months when his marriage to Donna Hanover was crumbling and Gracie Mansion was a war zone. "He said, 'Howard, I don't ever do anything that's not legal. If it becomes legal in New York, you'll be one of the first ones I would marry.'Ten years later, Koeppel is distressed that his former house guest hasn't returned the many calls he began making before the legislation was passed last week. "It seems like a lot of people he was close to become persona non grata," Koeppel observed.

One political wag observed: "[Presiding at the wedding] would be a sign he's no longer interested in running [as a Republican] for president -- ever."

Elaine Donnelly: The DADT Fix Was IN!

"The results of the Pentagon survey had actually been pre-scripted as early as July of 2010, even before the survey of the troops went out. Somebody leaked to The Washington Post a highly misleading story. It misrepresented the views of the troops and suggested that about 70 percent of them were just fine with repeal of the law on gays in the military. They were used as props in a campaign to create the illusion of military support for repeal of the law. All of this was done to help the president to deliver on a political promise." - Center For Military Readiness hate group head Elaine Donnelly, claiming that the DOD's survey on the repeal of DADT was "fixed" in advance.

NOM Reveals NY Repeal Plans

But it's ALL so complicated, Slaggie!

We're putting together a 4-year campaign strategy that will reverse same-sex marriage in New York. We'll have many more details, and ways for you to get involved, in the days ahead but the overall plan will have three phases:

PHASE 1:
Elect pro-marriage majorities next November that will approve a marriage amendment in both the Assembly and Senate during the 2013 legislative session.

PHASE 2:
Protect pro-marriage candidates in the 2014 elections, so that the amendment can receive final legislative approval in the 2015 legislative session.

PHASE 3:
Successfully pass the ballot measure when it goes before voters in November 2015.

A 4-year process seems like a long time—and it is—but it's achievable. In New Hampshire and Iowa, they've had same-sex marriage for just 2 years, but are already well on the way to reversal. The key to success is electing legislative majorities who will answer to the people of their state, and not to special interests.

Lots of federal work can be done in four years.

Christian Nightmares Production Reel

(Source)

The Narrowing Food Tree

(Source)

Friendly Voices - Ron Darling

"I don't think we're there yet, and I think that is sad. But it is going to happen. It is going to take one of the great players to come out. At some point, one of our athletes is going to reveal that he is gay, and I think that will be a joyous moment - not only for gays and lesbians, but for all of us." - Retired New York Met and current sportscaster Ron Darling, speaking on when a currently-playing major league athlete might come out. Darling tells the Daily News that he's "joyous" over the passage of marriage equality.

Marriage: The Wedge Issue Of 2012?

Beyond Creepy

(Via - Newsweek)

FLASHBACK: Diaz Gets Smacked Down

In case you missed the unparalleled pleasure of seeing NY Sen. Ruben Diaz getting smacked down for violating chamber rules, the Senate has just posted this video of the final moments of Friday's marriage vote.

Lambda Legal To Sue NJ For Marriage

Just in via press release:

Lambda Legal to Announce Marriage Equality Lawsuit with Garden State Equality on Wednesday at 10:00 am

Save the Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.

(Trenton, June 28, 2011) - Tomorrow Lambda Legal and Garden State Equality will hold a press conference announcing a marriage equality lawsuit.

When: Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Where: Trenton Marriott Downtown, Salon C
1 West Lafayette Street
Trenton, New Jersey 08608

Who: Hayley Gorenberg, Lambda Legal Deputy Legal Director ; Steven Goldstein, Chair and CEO of Garden State Equality; Case plaintiffs

Interesting timing!

Brian Brown Rides The Waambulance

NOM's Brian Brown appeared on the American Family Association radio program to complain that the New York Senate "under the cover of darkness, betrayed marriage."

Upstate NY Town Clerk: Jeebus Won't Let Me Issue Homo Marriage Licenses

Aaaand here come the pious town clerks.

Barbara MacEwen, the town clerk in upstate Volney who is responsible for signing marriage licenses in the town, said she’s morally opposed to same-sex weddings and does not intend to affix her signature to any marriage documents for gay or lesbian couples. “If there’s any possible way to not do it, legally, then yes, I would not want to put my name on any of those certificates or papers,” MacEwen told POLITICO. “That’s their life, they can do it, but I don’t feel I should be forced into something that’s against my morals and my God.” MacEwen said she’s written her state senator – Republican Patty Ritchie, who voted against legalizing gay weddings – to determine her legal options.

MacEwen, 75, is up for reelection this fall. Hopefully she'll have been fired long before then.

Vatican Adviser: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Should Be Denied Communion

One day after World Net Daily called for NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo's arrest for supporting same-sex marriage, a top Vatican adviser has declared that Cuomo should be denied Holy Communion.

A senior adviser to the Vatican, who is a theology professor in Detroit, blasted the Catholic governor of New York for his strong backing of same-sex marriage, saying that he should be punished for his "brazen" violation of Catholicism by being denied Holy Communion — a key part of the Catholic faith. He's also calling for the Catholic Church to investigate Gov. Andrew Cuomo for violating church law, calling the politician's actions a "danger" to faithful Catholics. Professor Edward Peters of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, a consultant to the Vatican's highest court, hopes that punishing Cuomo would "serve as an example" to other Catholic politicians and clergy across the U.S. who might be considering same-sex marriage in light of New York's approval on Friday.

TOTALLY FUCKING RELATED: The Vatican adviser quoted above is the father of Thomas Peters, the douchebag NOM staffer who made news last week by preemptively declaring in the National Review that gay marriage had been defeated in New York. (National Review yanked the article within a couple of hours.) The younger Peters writes a blog titled The American Papist, which is hosted on CatholicVote.org.

George Takei On New York Marriage

"I am confident that Proposition 8 will be gone by the end of the year and we'll have marriage equality again in California too."

Get Under The Spout

(Source)

Fischer: Gays Cannot Be Faithful

MAINE: Another Run At Marriage?

Buoyed by the result in New York, some activists in Maine say they are considering bringing same-sex marriage back to the ballot in 2012. In 2009 Maine's voters rescinded same-sex marriage mere months after it had been approved by the state legislature.

Since the defeat, gay rights advocates said they have been working behind the scenes to try to change public opinion and said same-sex marriage could come up for a vote again in 2012 in the form of a citizens' initiative. "We do have that option, and we'll decide once we get to the point where we've had enough conversations and we believe the majority of voters support us. And I will say that people are changing, people are moving, people are changing their minds on this issue," said Betsy Smith with Equality Maine.

If another ballot campaign is launched, activists must collect 57,000 petition signatures by this January.

Sen. Ruben Douchebag: I Made History

"The problem with the Christian movement, with the Christians and pastors, is that they pray too much and act too little. Pastors and religious leaders are supposed to remember that we are supposed to be Christians before being Democrats or being Republicans. Our responsibility is with Jesus and not with Democratic Party or Republican Party. I made history. I'm the only New York State Democrat that voted against the bill. I will wear it as a badge of honor." - NY Sen. Ruben Diaz, interviewed by the Christian Post. The article concludes with Diaz declaring that gay marriage will hasten the End Times.

RELATED: Diaz says he will go to Buffalo to campaign against GOP Sen. Mark Grisanti, who voted in favor of same-sex marriage.

HRC's Joe Solmonese: NOM Made A Lot Of Noise In New York But Came Away Losers

Photo Of The Day

(Via - Bilerico)

NOM Cheers Queerty "Admission"

Once again, Queerty says something the wingnuts love to hear.

Even LGBT organizers agree that they’d rather pass marriage equality by legislature than at the ballot because at the ballot WE ALWAYS LOSE. People who oppose the ballot also like saying that if America voted on interracial marriage in the 60s, that still might be illegal too. But is that really our only defense against the ballot argument? If so, it’s no wonder that Obama hasn’t articulated a reason to support marriage that doesn’t fly in the face of the democratic process that had denied us our rights.

Bill Donahue Melts Down

ZOMG! In less than five minutes, Catholic League mental case Bill Donahue hits on every viciously anti-gay lie in the religious right's arsenal. Polygamy, procreation, incest, and even some wild shit about prongs and sockets. SRSLY. Huge huge kudos to the show's host for firing back at every bit of Donahue's batshittery.

BRAZIL: Judge OK's First Gay Marriage

In what may be a precedent-setting decision, a Brazilian judge has ruled that a gay couple can convert their civil union into a fully legal same-sex marriage.

A Brazilian state judge on Monday approved what the court said is the nation's first gay marriage. Sao Paulo state Judge Fernando Henrique Pinto ruled two men could convert their civil union into a full marriage. Brazil's Supreme Court cleared the way in May for the recognition of same-sex civil unions, but stopped short of approving gay marriages. A court statement said Pinto made the decision based on the top court's ruling on civil unions and on Brazil's constitution, which outlines how a civil union can be converted into a legal marriage. Benjamin Polastri, a spokesman with the Sao Paulo state Attorney General's Office, said it was not immediately clear if the ruling set a strong national precedent.

I'll post some analysis on this ruling when it comes in.

TX Gov. Rick Perry's Call To Prayer

Texas Gov. Rick Perry invites you to the official state-sanctioned Christian (only) prayer rally where you will be asked to "pray and fast like Jesus did."

Improv Everywhere - Carousel Horse Race

More On Seattle's "Queer Anarchists"

The so-called "queer anarchists" who rampaged through the streets after Seattle Pride have issued a statement.

Last night, some queer hooligans had the audacity to take the streets for the third year in a row. It was a smashing time! Queers Fucking Queers, a free, all-ages street party, erupted on the corner of 12th and Madison at midnight last night. The party quickly breached the confines of what’s tame and legal during Pride weekend when somebody smashed the window of a Ferrari dealership near the meeting point. Then the homo hoards charged down Pike, the windows of two cop cars left shattered in their wake. Rainbow flags became weapons as the queers raged on down Broadway, the cops sniffing along after like rabid dogs on the prowl. But these fascist prudes were too slow to protect a Bank of America ATM and American Apparel from this hot mob of style vandals. The hood of a cop car briefly transformed into a dance floor, and queers fought the cops in the streets. One person was hauled off to jail for "pedestrian interference", but others fought off the pigs and escaped their nightsticks with the help of friends.

At the top of this post is the front of the flyer handed out before the dumbassery began. Download the rest of it here (PDF).

Rev. Al Sharpton Vs. NOM's Brian Brown

Quote Of The Day - David Frum

"I find myself strangely untroubled by New York state's vote to authorize same-sex marriage -- a vote that probably signals that most of the 'blue' states will follow within the next 10 years. I don't think I'm alone in my reaction either. Most conservatives have reacted with calm -- if not outright approval -- to New York's dramatic decision. Why? The short answer is that the case against same-sex marriage has been tested against reality. The case has not passed its test. Since 1997, same-sex marriage has evolved from talk to fact. If people like me had been right, we should have seen the American family become radically more unstable over the subsequent decade and a half. Instead -- while American family stability has continued to deteriorate -- it has deteriorated much more slowly than it did in the 1970s and 1980s before same-sex marriage was ever seriously thought of." - Conservative columnist David Frum, announcing a change of heart on marriage equality.

Second City On "Natural" Marriage

Perkins Rips The Empire State Building

"People at the Empire State Building said it was a coincidence. Officials explained that it takes hours to change the lights. But there was no mistaking the message Friday night when the highest point in the city lit up like a towering rainbow, its colors blazing across the New York skyline. Like a warning flare, the reds and blues and greens exploded over the city, announcing the arrival of same-sex 'marriage' to the world. Overnight, New York had become a beacon in the fight for family--a symbol of people who had lost their way.

"When the law goes into effect next month, New York will be the sixth and largest state to shatter the definition of marriage in America. To understand the devastation of that defeat, consider this. Within hours, the number of people living in jurisdictions with same-sex 'marriage' doubled. With one vote, New York forced more Americans to bow to its twisted definition of marriage than the combined population of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, and the District of Columbia. And none of it would have been possible without the political cowardice of New York Republicans." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins.

Maggie Gallagher Vs. Danny O'Donnell

Assholery After Seattle Pride

According to KOMO television, several hundred so-called "anarchists" rampaged through the streets of Seattle last night in an action that some said was in protest of the commercialization of gay Pride. Police cars and storefronts were destroyed by rock-throwers.

Several hundred people swarmed through the Capitol Hill area overnight, noisily vandalizing stores and smashing windows before dispersing into the darkness. Police say the drama began shortly after midnight Sunday when a flash mob gathered, passing out flyers, during a dance party. But the mob soon went out of control, creating havoc, said Renee Witt of the Seattle Police Department. The mob marched down 12th Avenue and Broadway, yelling and chanting. Some carried rainbow flags, while others carried red-and-black flags and wore masks.

Eventually some people started smashing store windows, damaging property, spray-painting slogans and bashing in the windshield of a patrol car. "It was just a walk down the street - it was a dance party down the street - and some idiot started throwing things," said one young woman who was there. Some people in the group, described as anarchists, apparently chose to use Gay Pride Weekend to send to message of protest - upset at how much gay pride is now part of the commercial mainstream. "There are some anarchists, gay activists, that don't want to be assimilated into capitalists' culture, and they feel like they're being exploited by companies like American Apparel," said Endresen Evans, who lives on Capitol Hill. That's why it appears protesters specifically targeted the store. A rock was thrown through the window and then vandalized with black spray paint.

Other say the melee had nothing to do with gay Pride at all and that only a handful of those on the street were with the group of "anarchists."

Crazy Eyes Loves Serial Killer

Michele Bachmann: "Well, what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too." Unfortunately for the perpetually fact-challenged Crazy Eyes, the John Wayne who lived in Waterloo, Iowa was infamous serial killer John Wayne GACY. The famed actor was born in Winterset, Iowa, a three-hour drive away from Waterloo.

World Net Daily: Arrest Cuomo

Right Wing Watch reports that World Net Daily has published an editorial calling for the arrest of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others that supported the "unconstitutional act" of legalizing same-sex marriage. The editorial has a byline from Dr. Ted Beahr, noted vicious homophobe and Christianist film critic.

With regard to the illegal action of the New York state government, it is more important to understand clearly that the civil government has no authority in area of the free exercise of religion such as marriage. If it has no authority and tries to With exercise power not vested to it, then the state is acting illegally. We need to stand for God's law in the face of the power grab by those in civil authority who know no restraints. New York and the other increasingly socialized states have not only violated God's law, they have also violated their own Constitution and the will of the governed.

When they do that, they are just like King George. They have abdicated their moral and legal authority and are subject to indictment, trial and just punishment. Now, all those who freely exercise their inalienable right to religious faith must stop acting like useful idiots and fellow travelers by going along to get along. Instead, they must stand for their God-given rights by proclaiming loud and clear that these New York government servants have crossed the line into illegal activity that has no authority and makes them criminals.

AFA Poll Of The Day

New York Marriage Gets Animated

It's National HIV Testing Day

So notes the Centers for Disease Control:

The majority of the estimated 56,000 new HIV infections that occur each year are transmitted by those who are unaware of their infection. Effective HIV treatments now allow people living with HIV to live long, productive lives, yet nearly 17,000 people with AIDS still die every year in the United States. Despite these troubling statistics, the majority of Americans have still never taken an HIV test. Many people don’t recognize that they’re at risk for HIV infection, even if they engage in behaviors that put them at risk. Others may fear what a positive diagnosis could mean for them, despite the effective treatments now available. And many people don’t yet realize that testing today is quick, easy and confidential. On this National HIV Testing Day, don’t let fear or misinformation stop you from getting tested. I strongly encourage all Americans to get tested for HIV, and to text and tweet hivtest.org to your friends and family to encourage them to do the same. HIV testing is the critical first step to protect yourself and your loved ones from HIV, and to help end the HIV epidemic in the United States.

In addition to the LGBT community health centers, there are many locations in New York City which offer rapid same-day HIV testing. Know your status.

Crazy Eyes Makes It Official

AMA Comes Out For Marriage

In response to the vote in the New York legislature, the American Medical Association has issued a call for the marriage equality across the United States. Via press release from Freedom To Marry:

With the New York State now the sixth – and largest – state to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a policy position declaring that excluding same-sex couples from marriage is “discriminatory” and reaffirming existing AMA policy to support relationship recognition of gay and lesbian couples as a means of addressing health disparities faced by those couples and their families. “With this deliberate policy statement by the American Medical Association, the nation’s doctors diagnose the pain and injury that exclusion from marriage inflicts on lesbian and gay couples, their children, and loved ones – and make clear that ending marriage discrimination is the cure,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry. “The AMA now joins every other mainstream public health organization in America in making the case for providing the freedom to marry – and the critical safety-net that comes with marriage – to loving, committed same-sex couples.”

Pat Robertson: God Will Destroy America For Allowing Same-Sex Marriage

Bill Donahue On New York Marriage

"Ultimately, this issue will not be resolved in the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court: it will be decided by a constitutional amendment. Though the Federal Marriage Amendment prevailed in the House in 2006 by a margin of 236-187, it failed to achieve the necessary 290 votes required to pass a constitutional amendment; two-thirds of both chambers of Congress, and three-fourths of the states (38), are needed.

"Standing in the way of a constitutional amendment is the legitimate reluctance on the part of federal lawmakers to decide what many believe to be a matter for the states. But given that we are left with the scenario of the people vs. the elites, we are quickly reaching a tipping point, and when that happens, chances are good that this issue will be resolved by a constitutional amendment." - Catholic League blowhard and pedophile defender Bill Donahue, writing on his personal blog.