WA May Grant Marriage-like Rights for Couples

If you're happily ensconced in a card-carrying Domestic Partnership in Washington state, very good news may be on the way. A measure passed Tuesday night by the Washington state Senate (30 to 18) may extend to same-sex couples nearly all the legal rights enjoyed by straight marrieds.

Prop 8: It's Not Over Yet

Proposition 8 (aka Prop H8), the ban on same-sex marriage, is not carved in stone just yet. Despite passing by a tiny margin, activists are taking their righteous indignation to court for another go 'round. And other states in the U S of A are keeping a keen eye on the outcome.

300,000 Turn Out For Sydney Mardi Gras

The 31st annual Sydney Mardi Gras drew in huge crowds as always this year. Australia's Matthew Mitcham, the only openly gay athlete competing in the Beijing Olympics, said that the event's still got impact even after 31 years: "Mardi Gras is the biggest celebration of homosexuality in the world, and aims to promote not just the tolerance but the acceptance of the gay community in the wider community"

Xbox Bans Lesbian Gamer

All she wanted to do was game it up online, but when she revealed herself to be lesbian, the harassment skyrocketed. To the point where Microsoft suspended her account because other gamers found her lesbianism "offensive."

Oh yeah, Microsoft's working on an apology and some policy changes.

How to Make a Rainbow Cake

Okay, this is beyond cute -- and perfect for your next potluck or Coming Out party. Or just any occasion that happens to be particularly gay. And like the site says, "If you’re a lesbian, they’ll be thrilled that you won’t be forgoing your feminine kitchen duties." Work that kitchen ware, grrls! Make yourself a Rainbow Cake! And do save us a slivver?

Last Chance to Buy From Oscar Wilde

The legendary NYC bookstore, that is. After 41 years, the Oscar Wilde gay and lesbian bookshop will be closing its doors forever. Sadly, the world's oldest LGBT bookstore is so deep in debt that they can't afford to even switch to a fulltime online presence. They can, however, take online orders through March 29th.

Christian Wingnuts Upset With Academy Awards

Ooh, hangover from Oscar Night is still subsiding and already the FundaMENTAList religious whackos are in an uproar over a few gay-friendly remarks made during the big show. If you haven't seen a wackjob blog in a while, you need a laugh! Check out what "Americans for Truth" has to say about the 2009 Academy Awards.

Actually, we think Jesus Christ would be rolling his holy eyes over this bunch.

Federal Judge: Denial of Health Coverage to Same-Sex Spouse Unconstitutional

The validity of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act has been called out by Federal Judge. When health coverage of the same-sex partner of an LA lawyer was denied, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt ruled that discrimination was bogus in a bad way (aka "unlawful"). Legal eagles are taking note, and this ruling could spread.

Gene Robinson Backing Same-Sex Marriage in NH

New Hampshire does have civil unions, but that may change if the right voices get heard. The U.S. Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop is supporting a bill to allow same-sex marriage in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, one of the bills he's up against is one that would ban gay marriage outright.

Note: Although Robinson's very moving invocation started 10 minutes before the official telecast of the Obama inauguration, you can read it here.

Sally Kern's Found Our Agenda!

Anti-gay Okie State Rep Sally Kern has obviously been headfirst in homo homework, and has figured out the secret code for the Gay Agenda (tm). It was buried in an adaptation of an Oscar Wilde play! Guess I can stop looking under the couch cushions for it now.

New iPod Gadget Gives Owners a Good Vibe

In a world cluttered with iPod add-ons, there's a new gadget out there that brightens your day with more than a happy tune. It's the OhMiBod, an accessory that delivers the beats from your music into a buzzing, humming vibrator. Designed by former Apple executive Suki Dunham, the OhMiBod Freestyle does it all wirelessly.

Although the Freestyle's not available until March, there are other options available now such as the original wired model, the cell phone-activated BodiTalk, the OhMiBod Naughtinano and the bullet-shaped BodiTalk Escort.

FedEx Invokes DOMA to Deny Benefits

Federal Express (FedEx) has been named one of the best companies to work for by Fortune magazine in terms of GLBT equality issues. However, a legally-married same-sex couple in Masschusetts got a nastygram from the company that used the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to deny benefits. Kinko's, a subsidiary of FedEx, still retains the benefits they had prior to being pulled under the FedEx umbrella.

If you'd like to do a little protesting, here's the customer service link so you can share your feelings with FedEx.

Obama Seeks Assessment on Gays in Military

Doing away with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has been part of Obama's plan from the beginning, and now he's asking for a intensive Pentagon study on the implications for national security. Considering the number of troops drummed out who had highly-valued skills, we like to think the survey's going to blow DADT out of the water.

Video: Support My Right

Beautiful video created by Jessica Moore shows why we need more support for the legal right to marry. Music by Sarah McLaughlin. Keep a tissue box handy. This one's a tear-jerker.

Deathbed Confession: "Victims Called Me a Lesbian"

Since 1967, nobody knew who committed the robbery and execution-style slayings of two young women in a Virginia ice cream shop. Sharon Smith knew, and almost took the secret to the grave. Turns out that being called a lesbian was an insult so bad that Smith felt compelled to gun them down. And she says a detective helped her cover up the crime.

(Pic Info: Daughter of murder victim Carolyn Hevener Perry, Kim Graves, left, talks to Joyce Bradshaw, right, after a press conference concerning two slayings at an ice cream store 41 years ago in Staunton, Va., Friday, Jan. 23, 2009. Bradshaw's information given to a relative investigating the 41-year-old case was instrumental to solving the case. AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Iceland Gets Hot New Prime Minister

Meet the new prime minister of Iceland, Johanna Sigurdardottir, said to be the first out lesbian prime minister in Europe. Formerly head of that country's social ministry, she's taking charge of a country that's facing the same financial meltdown that the US is undergoing now. She's also a political fave of the populace. Said one government source, "In opinion polls Johanna has repeatedly been chosen as the most popular politician in Iceland."

How Barack and Michelle Keep that Spark Going

Send the hearse. We have just officially died laughing.

How Martha Stewart Almost Got Shanked

As her former cellies finish their sentences and return to the outside world, secrets are coming out about Martha Stewart's time in the big house. The domestic diva may be great at insider trading and creating fabulous last-minute centerpieces for the elegant table, but she's got a helluva lot to learn about certain social niceties in the pokey. "Chop chop" indeed!

Gay Episcopal Bishop to Speak at Obama Inauguration Week Kickoff

Apparently, he's gotten wind of the firestorm of upsetted-ness (to put it mildly) over his choice of anti-gay Rick Warren. So to balance things out a bit, Barack Obama's asked Right Reverend Gene Robinson, the first openly gay man to be ordained a bishop in the Episcopal Church, to give the invocation at the opening of the inaugural week's festivities.

Said Robinson, "I am humbled and overjoyed at this invitation, and it will be my great honor to be there representing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community."

Also participating will be the Lesbian and Gay Band Association. So yeah, we can bitch if we want to, but we're actually getting SOME representation for the first time ever at a Presidential shindig.

Historians Reject Anti-Gay Boycott

So the American Historical Association was all like, "We should SO NOT meet at a hotel that supported Prop H8!"

But some members were all like, "But that might get like way pricey because we'd have to have WAAAY more meetups at a smaller hotel!"

So then they were all like, "Okay, we'll meet at that H8 hotel -- but we'll talk about loads of gay stuff!"

"KEWL!"

Will Obama End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"?

Sixteen years after "Don't Ask" came into being, attitudes have changed -- even in the military world. Ending the careers of 12,500 or so people, many of whom were in essential jobs, hasn't made the military better, faster or stronger.

President-Elect Barack Obama promised to be the one to send DADT away for good.
"The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve," says he. "Discrimination should be prohibited."

Even his soon-to-be Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says DADT will vanish. (at 4:17 in the video).

Seattle Gay Bars Threatened With Bio Attack

Eleven LGBT hotspots in Seattle have received a threatening letter from a kook who claims he's planning to kill at least five people per bar via ricin. The letter warns club owners to "be prepared to announce the deaths of approximately 55 individuals all of whom were patrons of the following establishments on a Saturday in January."

The listed bars are: the Elite, Neighbours, Wild Rose, the Cuff, Purr, the Eagle, R Place, Re-bar, CC's, Madison Pub, and the Crescent.

UPDATE, 12Jan09: A Friday pub crawl was a smashing success for Seattle's bars, and we have a big clue about the individual who wrote the threatening letters. Seems he knows and plagiarizes gay poets.

Neither a Bride Nor a Groom...

So you're getting hitched (married, civil-unioned, domestic housecatted, etc) and those traditional labels of "bride" and "groom" just don't fit. A pair of enterprising newlyweds (Allyson in the white tie and Shelly in the maroon one) totally agree. So they came up with their own business: Broom and Gride.com We had to ask 'em to dish on the details!

How did the idea originate, and how did you go about getting shirts made?

When Allyson and I were in the process of getting married we could not relate to being called a "bride" or a "groom." We wanted to come up with names that better described us and didn't have stereotypical images or labels attached. We decided on "broom" and "gride" because we felt like a combination of bride and groom. Not too butch, not too femme, just us!



We got shirts made and wore them to our bachelorette party (or dykette party as we called it), our rehearsal dinner, and the night of our reception. We got such a great response that we decided to market them. We used a local printing company that was referred to us by a friend.



What made you decide to make the leap from "cool idea" to "online business?"

We got such a great response from our friends and family, gay and straight, that we thought that maybe we had something here. We looked into starting our own online business and did some other research and decided to go for it. We started out small, only printing a few shirts, and then as the demand increased we ordered more.



How has the response been? Any interesting, amusing stories from your customers?

The response has been great. We love talking to our customers and hearing about how they got engaged and how they meet. Some even have sent us photos of themselves in our shirts which we plan to publish on our website very soon. We were shocked to find that we had gone international when we made our first Australian sale a few months ago.



Any plans to expand the line into more items?

We do plan to expand our line into more items. We have several ideas in the works and are urging people to sign up for our newsletter at www.broomandgride.com and to check with our blog at www.broomandgride.blogspot.com as we will advertise our new products there first.



What's been the most fun about the Broom and Gride biz so far? The most challenging?

The best thing about starting this company has to be meeting so many new and interesting people. We have also become more active in the LGBT community because of our business and our passion for same-sex marriage rights. The most challenging part is keeping up on our social networking sites :)



Any advice for women thinking of starting their own businesses -- especially in these difficult economic times?

If you have an idea and you think it will be sucessful, go for it. We decided to move forward with our business because we didn't want to end up kicking ourselves down the line. Sometimes in life you have to take risks! However, we would suggest starting small and once the demand is there and business is successful branch into new products and ideas.

Arkansas ACLU Sues Over Adoption Ban

More than a dozen families have joined with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight a new law that forbids unmarried couples from becoming foster or adoptive parents. One of the plaintiffs is a lesbian grandma who is the only relative willing and able to care for her grandchild -- who's currently in state care.

Family Rejection Harms LGBT Youth

Well, that's stating the obvious. Family rejection's not much of a boon for adult children, either. But medical researchers have finally studied, documented and put it down on paper. Ill will toward LGBT kids causes "negative health outcomes" in those kids as they become young adults.

Arrests Made in Rape of CA Lesbian

Four males have been arrested in Richmond, California, during investigations over the alleged gang rape of a lesbian that took place on December 13th. And yes, it is being classified as a hate crime.

Please Don't Divorce Us

An incredible Flickr slide show featuring hundreds of families -- straight and gay -- who are making a simple plea in the aftermath of Prop 8. Absolutely heartbreaking, beautiful and worth sending around.

The Choice is Ours Now

As much as we're so not thrilled to know that homophobic pastor Rick Warren will be speaking at Obama's Inauguration fest, Melissa Etheridge reminds us that we need to get over it. Inclusiveness means everybody, and tolerance goes both ways.