Obama May Pick Lesbian for Labor Secretary

Mary Beth Maxwell is a community organizer and labor leader with an adopted African American son. She's also a gay woman and may be named the next Secretary of Labor. She's getting good buzz from certain members of the AFL-CIO and other labor groups. However, this news has the religio-fundamentalist crowd in a state of horrified panic.

US Blows Off UN Gay Rights Declaration

Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and one of the highlights of the program will be a UN declaration calling for the global decriminalization of homosexuality. The United States, however, has not jumped on board, and is one of the few Western countries still ignoring LGBT rights.

And yes, the article does include an informative worldwide sh*tlist of the countries who aren't signing up to stop prison terms for being gay or lesbian.

The Vatican's also catching flak for being aggressively against the declaration. No surprise there, but here's an article about it. Bonus: the last two paragraphs reveal a lot of hypocrisy at the UN.

Wanda Sykes is Out

We're not the only folks pissed off about California's marriage rights being taken away. Comedian Wanda Sykes is also pissed, and she's finally decided to step out of the closet and be loud and proud of being gay. And black. And a woman.

Where to Go for the Holidays

Cheesed your way out of another uncomfortable holiday season with the family? Good for you! Now treat yourself to a actually pleasant vacation by checking out some recommendations from Out Traveller, ala their 2008 Readers Choice Awards for the best in LGBT travel.

The obvious choices are there, but you might be surprised at some of the locations gay and lesbian travellers chose as great places to get away.

Prop 8: The Musical

A darling little star-studded musical that really should have landed in our inbox about a month ago. Still, it's worth sharing.

Wednesday's To Do List: Be Gay

Remember that old joke about "if being gay is an illness, let's all call in to work queer tomorrow?" Well, a new protest for December 10th is exactly that -- and designed to let the US workforce know what it's like to go "a Day Without a Gay." It's also International Human Rights day.

With the headlines dominated by how crappy the economy is, and how many people are getting laid off, I'll leave it to you to decide if protesting this way is a good idea right now.