Flying 58 combat missions over Pacific gets you to certain privileges. Number one of these? Rocking pink socks without shame.
(via ilyagerner)
Gay Star News reports:
The premier of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has come out in support of same-sex marriage.
‘As a Liberal who believes that commitment and family units are one of the best ways in which society is organized, I support the concept of same-sex marriage,’ said Barry O’Farrell to Fairfax Media, dismissing the argument that gay marriage would damage traditional marriage as ‘utterly ridiculous’.
O’Farrell urged Liberal party leader Tony Abbott to allow a conscience vote on the issue, as Liberal MPs and senators being told to tow the party line against same-sex marriage is a significant obstacle to passing legislation in Australia.
Shadow education minister Christopher Pyne said today that the Liberal party may allow a conscience vote in the next parliament. ‘The party room will get to decide that,’ he said. ‘We might well end up with some recognition of same-sex couples.’
O’Farrell was inspired by this week’s passage of marriage equality legislation in New Zealand.
‘It was NZ that in 1893 first gave votes to women; it took us another nine years to do it,’ said O’Farrell. ‘It shouldn’t have to take us another nine years to get the lead of our cousin across the ditch.’
The NSW state leader said it would be better for the federal government to pass legislation, but if necessary states could go ahead themselves.
The five lawmakers (The Nationals Trevor Kahn, Liberal Bruce Notely-Smith, Greens Cate Faehrmann, Labor Penny Sharpe and independent Alex Greenwich) who make up cross-party working group on bringing marriage equality to NSW, welcomed the Premier’s support.
‘NSW now has the same political setting that lead to the successful NZ vote, with both leaders supporting the reform, all parties having a conscience vote, and all sides of politics working together to progress the reform,’ said a statement from the group.
The Labor oppostion leader in NSW John Robertson, who’s son is gay, also supports marriage equality.
Campaign group Australian Marriage Equality (AME) said that O’Farrell’s support shows that same-sex marriage is ‘no longer a left/right issue but one that conservatives can support because it’s about equality, individual freedom and family values’.
‘With strong support from such a prominent Liberal we can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this important and urgent issue,’ said AME national director Rodney Croome.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Abbott both reiterated their opposition to marriage equality this week.
Bills legislating for same-sex marriage were voted down Australia’s House of Representatives and Senate last September.
Australia will go to the polls in a general election in 14 September this year. Australian Greens are the only party to include same-sex marriage as a policy.
Joe.My.God. reports:
Montana’s governor has signed the bill repealing the state’s ban on sodomy.
When Montana Gov. Steve Bullock signed Senate Bill 107 decriminalizing gay sex, cheers erupted in the Capitol’s Rotunda. It had been 16 years after the state Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional and 24 years after gay rights activists began their fight to take government out of the bedroom. “I am not going to speak too long because, frankly, the longer I talk, the longer this embarrassing and unconstitutional law stays on the books,” Bullock said.
The victory, though a powerful one for the gay community in Montana, is highly symbolic with no tangible benefits aside from striking the obsolete law condemning gay sex from Montana code. The outdated code has not been used to prosecute individuals for years. And previous efforts to offer gays and lesbians protection under the law, including a push to prohibit civil discrimination, have been thwarted by a GOP-controlled Legislature.Towleroad tips us to this clip.
Queerty reports:
Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was “as American as anybody,” according to one of his high school friends.
So it comes as no surprise that his Twitter account reflects the usual ramblings of a 19 year old, along with a few homophobic touches.
Tsarnaev’s tweets make it clear that he’s straight and likes women (and weed), but he can’t resist a few swipes at gays along the way.
“Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet, probably the gayest thing I ever heard but don’t mind me I obviously just get wet,” Tsarnaev writes in one tweet.
In other cases, he liked to retweet not particularly funny jokes.
- “Oh, you’re gay? That must be a real pain in the ass.”
- “In a Grammar class : Teacher:- “HE does not like girls.” What is ‘He’ in this sentence. . ?? … . . Student :- Gay… . !!””Oh, you’re gay? That must be a real pain in the ass.”
- “If you were sleeping between a beautiful girl and a gay man, who’s side would you turn your back to?”
Compared to what Tsarnaev is accused of, these are incredibly mild. There are no death threats against gays or invocations about the wrath of God on homosexuals. Instead, what they highlight are the average, casually homophobic beliefs of a young straight American male. In that sense, Tsarnaev was depressingly a lot like everyone else.
(Source: queerty.com)
Out Magazine reports:
T’was a time not too long ago that Terry Miller, Dan Savage’s main squeeze (who isNo. 45 on Out’s Power List this year), was too shy to have his photo taken.Seriously, there were nearly no photos of the cute guy and dad to the couple’s adolescent son.
But lately Dan Savage has been tweeting all sorts of pics of his husband (and co-founder of the It Gets Better project). Now it seems Mr. Miller has posed for fashion label Mr. Turk. And Dan Savage has tweeted out the evidence for all of us to enjoy.
Oh it CERTAINLY gets better. Lucky guys.
Read here the exclusive interview The Underwear Expert has with Terry.
[video]
[video]
[video]
[video]
[video]
Towleroad reports:
The French Senate today approved Section 1 of its marriage equality billin a vote of 179 to 157. Section 1 removes the requirement for different genders as a condition of the right to marry.
The bill was adopted after more than 10 hours of discussion. The National Assembly has already passed it 329-229 and according to AFP will not need to see it again.
Looks as though marriage equality is going to happen in France!
There are mostly French news reports right now so if anybody would like to fill in the details of what happens next, please feel free in the comments.
(Source: towleroad.com)
[video]
Joe.My.God. reports:
The director of Immigration Equality said today that she does not expect that gay couples will be in included in the immigration reform bill about to be introduced in the US Senate. Michael Lavers reports at Washington Blade:
“We are not expecting LGBT families to be included in the Gang of 8 bill,” she told the Washington Blade during a conference call ahead of a rally in support of comprehensive immigration reform on Wednesday that is expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the U.S. Capitol. “That in our minds means that of course the bill is incomplete.” Tiven’s comments come roughly three months after President Obama publicly unveiled an immigration reform proposal that includes bi-national gay couples.Rep. Jerrold Nadler confirmed to the Blade that “LGBT-specific language will likely not appear” in the bill. Nadler: “This is disappointing but not particularly surprising.”
(Source: joemygod.blogspot.com)
[video]