ESPN Airs Pro Bowling Champion Kissing His Husband After Winning Final Match

Out Sports reports:

In what might be a first, ESPN this weekend showed an openly gay male pro athlete kissing his husband and they did not shy away from describing the relationship. The event was the 2012 PBA Chameleon Championship in Las Vegas, held in November, but shown on TV this Sunday.Scott Norton won the event over Jason Belmonte and afterward broke down and cried in memory of a friend who had died. He was then shown kissing his husband, Craig Woodward, as they exchanged affectionate words (video below). During the telecast, ESPN’s announcers referred to Woodward as Norton’s husband or spouse.I am indebted to JW, himself gay and a bowler, and Jaime Perez, who runs iabowling.tv, and shoots footage of bowling events, for their reports. Perez and his partner are themselves bowlers and friends with Norton.

USA: First Same-Sex Marriage Proposal In The White House

Gawker reports:

Active duty U.S. Marine Corps captain Matthew Phelps made history over the weekend by proposing to his partner Ben Schock inside the White House.
“Such a special night surrounded by wonderful people in an amazing place, and the best is still yet to come,” Phelps wrote on his Facebook page. “Thanks for all the wonderful greetings and messages, and thanks to Barack Obama and Michelle Obama for lending us your home for the occasion!”
After a photo of the historic proposal was shared by the American Military Partner Association, it was subsequently picked up and shared by many across multiple social networks.
“Ben and I are blown away by the amazing love and support we have received,” Phelps wrote in a follow-up post. “Thank you all so much for sharing in our joy and our lives.”

WASHINGTON: Dan Savage & Terry Miller Among The First Gay Couples To Receive Marriage Licenses

Joe.My.God. reports:

Shortly after midnight last night, Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller were among the first Washington state couples to receive to their marriage licenses.  Savage and Miller first married in Canada in 2005.

Hundreds of couples lined up in downtown Seattle Wednesday night for the state’s first batch of same-sex marriage licenses, in a historic, jubilant event that began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday and was expected to last for hours.They formed an eager, festive crowd, with couples young and old braving a night-time chill and wee-hours wait for the chance to make history at the normally dull King County Administration building. Supporters cheered for them with roses, coffee, hand-warmers and serenades of “Going to the Chapel.”

Photo via Seattle Slog, where you can find many more.

WASHINGTON: 140 Gay Couples To Marry At City Hall On December 9th In Seattle

Here’s a fundraising pitch for decorations and to make everything “completely free” for the participating couples.

Denmark: Gay Penguins Become Dads

BuzzFeed reports:

After nearly a year together at the Odense Zoo in Denmark, the same-sex couple attempted to become parents of their own. Keepers witnessed the pair trying to steal other couples’ eggs. And during brooding season, the penguins even tried to incubate a dead herring.
“[The two] seriously wanted to stay with an egg,” zoologist Nina Christensen toldThe Star.
The Odense Zoo reports that the penguins were recipients of an unexpected blessing when a female penguin laid not one but two eggs. She ultimately ditched the second egg, which afforded the male couple to become adoptive parents.
However, before they were given the egg, the males had to practice on artificial eggs. Once proven capable, they received and successfully incubated the egg. The chick was born a month ago but the sex won’t be determined for another eight months.
Congrats to the new dads!

Who says “Homosexuality” isn’t in nature?

AUSTRALIA: Gay Winner Of Big Brother Benjamin Norris Proposes To Boyfriend During Finale

USA: “Legalize Love Bug” - Gay Couples For President Obama

Like them here.

Zachary Quinto On Coming Out, Dating Struggles & Celebrity Boyfriend Jonathan Groff

The Huffington Post’s Gay Voices reports:

“I thought about it as coming out from behind the wall. Walls now are only as high or as thick or as strong as we allow them to be.”
That’s how Zachary Quinto describes his decision to publicly address his sexuality in a new interview with Out magazine. The “American Horror Story” hunk speaks at length with Aaron Hicklin about coming out as a gay man in a New York Magazine profile last year, and also shares some intimate details on both his childhood and current love life.
“One of the most defining conversations that I had with myself was that absolutely no good can come from me staying quiet about [my sexuality],” Quinto continues. “Literally, no good can come from it. But if I take the step to make the acknowledgment and be honest, so much good could potentially come from it.”
It may come as a surprise to some fans to learn of Quinto’s earliest dating struggles — something the star partly attributes to having lost his father at a young age. “I found myself in a pattern of being attracted to people who were somehow unavailable, and what I realized was that I was protecting myself because I equated the idea of connection and love with trauma and death,” he recalls. “I had to do a lot of work on the couch to really get to a place where I was able to show up to a relationship with someone who was actually capable of being in one — and that took a lot of trial and error. And I’m still working on all that stuff — that will never stop.”
Not only does the 35-year-old actor say he wants children, but he also confirms reports he’s dating fellow actor Jonathan Groff, who can currently be seen opposite Kelsey Grammar in “Boss” and is known for his guest-starring role as Jesse St. James on “Glee.” Otherwise, though, he remains tight-lipped about the relationship, simply noting, “I’m incredibly happy, I’m incredibly lucky.”

Read the full Out interview with Zachary Quinto here.

Davey Wavey: Brothers Or Gay Boyfriends?

MSNBC Host Thomas Roberts To Marry Longtime Partner Patrick Abner

Queerty reports:

[…] MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts has been out since 2006 and come late-September, longtime partner Patrick Abner will make an honest man out of him. 
Roberts and Abner will marry in Manhattan with 150 guests in attendance so in preparation, Roberts has flown into full bridezilla mode.  He told The New York Observer, “I was on the treadmill for three miles this morning. I will be on it for three miles tomorrow. I had a Red Bull for lunch and I eat gum. I’m the typical groom!”
You say groom, we say “where’s the veil?”
After being canned at CNN — not a result of his coming out or so he claims — Roberts resurfaced at MSNBC where he’s taken a decidedly less objective stance than the silver-haired squire of Gloria Vanderbilt. Though he doesn’t necessarily make a beeline to LGBT-centric stories, Roberts believes that his seshuality can be an asset when covering them.
“Because I am who I am, I can provide a different viewpoint, because people at home might know who I am or where I’ve come from—and that’s O.K.,” the blushing anchor said.
His relative forthrightness doesn’t mean that Roberts begrudges Mr. Johnny Coming-Out-Lately. Rather, Roberts sounds proud of his former colleague. “Now people can stop asking me when do you think Anderson’s going to come out,” Roberts said. “I have had that for years! And I think it’s great … I think he’s in a place now where he wants that personal-professional synergy. And he deserves that.” […]

WASHINGTON, D. C.: Gay Couple Bashed In Hate Crime

Joe.My.God. reports:

Washington DC police are investigating an attack on a local gay couple who was attacked by a mob as they walked home. Investigators say they suspect the assault was hate-motivated as the assailants “did not ask for anything and did not take anything.”

Michael Joel Hall and his partner, Michael Roike, were jumped by a gang of men as they were walking home. The men had been dropped off near their home, when friends say they were ambushed. The group severely beat Hall. His cheek was broken and he suffered other facial injuries. Roike was also beaten, but his injuries were far less severe. Roike’s mother, Michelle, says she is convinced the men would have been killed had it not been for a woman and her boyfriend who intervened. The attackers ran away with tone of the victim’s cell phone. Hall was taken to Howard University Hospital where he underwent surgery on Monday afternoon.

Hall does not have health insurance and friends have set up a Facebook page and PayPal account to help him pay for his hospitalization.

USA: Congressman Barney Frank Marries Longtime Partner James Ready

MSNBC: Gay Couple Share Their Proposal Story At The White House

TEXAS: Teen Lesbian Couple Found Shot In Park

Mary Cheney Got Marries Her Long Time Partner Heather Poe

The DC Caller reports: 

Mary Cheney, the openly gay daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has married her long-time partner Heather Poe, The Daily Caller has learned.

Cheney spokeswoman Kara Ahern confirmed to TheDC that the couple married Friday morning in Washington, D.C.

In a statement provided to TheDC, both the former vice president and his wife, Lynne, said they are “delighted” the couple could have their “relationship recognized.”

“Our daughter Mary and her long time partner, Heather Poe, were married today in Washington, DC,” the Cheneys said.

Poe and Mary Cheney have two children: Cheney gave birth to a son in 2007, and a daughter in 2009. They live together in Virginia.

“Mary and Heather have been in a committed relationship for many years, and we are delighted that they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to have that relationship recognized,” the Cheneys said. “Mary and Heather and their children are very important and much loved members of our family and we wish them every happiness.”

“We are all so happy for Heather and Mary and their beautiful kids,” friend and former Cheney adviser Mary Matalin told TheDC. “Happy and moved by the blessing of their commitment and strength.”

Mary Cheney’s sexual orientation has long been known, but she and her family said that it should not be used as political issue throughout her father’s political career.

“This is a baby,” Mary Cheney said in 2007 about her son. “This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child.”

Jimmy LaSalvia of the conservative GOProud organization celebrated the news on Friday, telling TheDC, “Mary and Heather have had a tremendous impact on the way America views gay people.”

“Simply by living their lives openly, honestly, and as authentic conservatives, they have done more to change hearts and minds in this country than any gay advocacy group,” he said. “This is one more way that they are demonstrating that gay Americans are just like everyone else. Good for them.”