[G]ays do not belong in the U.S. military because American troops need to be hardened warriors. "We aren't the Brits. We're not the Europeans. We're not the Swedes," says Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter, who is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. The choicest quote from the 16 Dec 2007 60 Minutes investigation into gays in the military (recently updated).
posted on Jul 14, 2008 - View this thread

As the gay marriage fight unfolds in California, some gays (and others) are fighting back: one gourp is boycotting a rich hotel owner, others are standing apart and one is suing the Bible (who gets subpoenaed for that one?). Meanwhile, a key opponent to gay marriage keeps its doors open (and its ballot committee going) despite being suspended. They say they're working on it, but no changes yet.
posted on Jul 10, 2008 - View this thread

Canadian military to gays: Join us! They're even setting up recruiting booths at Gay Pride events (when they are allowed) Note that CBC moderators deleted some of the comments on that first link, but you get a hunch on what they said from the other comments. You may also have heard about two gay soldiers who wed on a military base.
posted on Jun 29, 2008 - View this thread

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were the first to wed in California -- again. Martin and Lyon are best known for founding the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organization in the U.S. Congratulations, Del and Phyllis!
posted on Jun 16, 2008 - View this thread

"Imagine the year is 2053 and homosexuality were accepted to the point of being of no importance. Now, is the deviate allowed to continue his pursuit of physical happiness without restraint as he attempts to do today? Or is he, in this Utopia, subject to marriage laws?" The same-sex marriage debate in ONE magazine in 1953. [via]
posted on Jun 7, 2008 - View this thread

The plague is over, lets party. Article by Elizabeth Pisani describing the troubling consequences of a gay scene in a world where HIV is treatable and AIDS is avoidable.
posted on Jun 2, 2008 - View this thread

Mehdi Kazemi is granted asylum in the UK. Mehdi, now 20, was studying in the UK when Parham (his boyfriend) was arrested for the crime of homosexuality by the Iranian government. Mehdi was named by his boyfriend and warned he was liable to arrest on his planned return. The UK Home Office denied him asylum [despite a thoughtful campaign by human rights campaigners] - because it was said he had overstayed his student visa and was therefore not seen as genuinely seeking asylum. So he escaped to the Netherlands. That's where it gets complicated.
posted on May 20, 2008 - View this thread

Mercedes Allen looks at who's in charge of deciding the fate of Gender Identity Disorder in the DSM-IV. The APA (American Psychological Association) has announced it's intention to revise the DSMV (Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). The expert they've named to chair revisions on sexuality and gender is Kenneth Zucker. Zucker is the major remaining proponent of Reparative Therapy for LGBT folks.
posted on May 17, 2008 - View this thread

NewsFilter: The California Supreme Court has just overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriages. Read the decision.
posted on May 15, 2008 - View this thread

Take my arm, my love. Don't write a check from a joint bank account. Hide all the photographs in your home and office which would identify you as a couple. Take off your wedding rings. Touch each other, and talk to each other, in public, in ways that could only be interpreted as you being "friends." A thoughtful post on "self-editing," homophobia, and the day-to-day experience of many LGBT folks, at Shakesville (aka Shakespeare's Sister), by Teh Portly Dyke.
posted on May 6, 2008 - View this thread

In 1974 - or 1976, depending who you ask - Armistead Maupin began writing "an extended love letter to a magical San Francisco” in the form of a serialized, fictional drama published originally in the Pacific Sun, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner, originally called "The Serial" which then became collectively known as Tales of The City. It is a suprisingly beautiful, deep, emotional, cosmopolitan and lasting tale about life in San Francisco in the turbulent, heady days of the 1970s and 1980s. Widely credited with and cherished for helping spread a little of the openess, tolerance and acceptance that San Francisco is now famous for. It then became a series of books - Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Babycakes, Significant Others, Sure of You - and lastly, the spin-off tale of Michael Tolliver Lives. Almost exactly twenty years after first publishing, it then became an excellent miniseries from the United Kingdom's Channel 4, which aired in the United States on PBS, but not without protest or limitations.
posted on May 4, 2008 - View this thread

Friday Free Game Download: If you were presented with the concept of a lesbian BDSM video game, the first word that leapt to your mind would probably not be "adorable." But that is exactly what Mighty Jill Off is.
posted on Apr 11, 2008 - View this thread

An anti-gay rant for the ages. By an American state rep. In 2008. Oklahoma state representative Sally Kern told fellow republicans at a private audience that the homosexual agenda is destroying the nation and that gay people are a bigger threat to our national than terrorism. And that no society that has embraced gay culture has survived. And much more. Well, doggone if these things don't get leaked and find themselves online. Have a few links to the videos and coverage. There are some rumors that Kern has a gay son, but who knows? For her part, Kern says that her remarks were misconstrued and that she is "not going to apologize for standing up for God's word."
posted on Mar 12, 2008 - View this thread

The Gayest Songs of All Time. To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Sydney's Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, the Australian LGBT social networking site SameSame asked its members to vote on the campest of classics.
posted on Mar 6, 2008 - View this thread

People with a History is "an online guide to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans history." Ranging from the first stirrings of civilization to the modern day, People with a History gathers together original sources and academic articles dealing with queerness throughout history. To give you a feel for the wealth of material on the site, here are a few pages that caught my interest: The Vikings and Homosexuality, Coptic Spell: Spell for a Man to Obtain a Male Lover, an acount of a gay marriage ceremony described by Michel de Montaigne, But Among Our Own Selves (an 18th Century gay ballad), a chapter from The Life of St. Theodore of Sykeon, a 7th Century Byzantine monk and bishop, which mentions adelphopoiesis, or the rite of brothermaking, Wu Tsao, 19th Century Chinese lesbian poet, and finally Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men.
posted on Feb 2, 2008 - View this thread

GayHappinessFilter: Early studies on the subject concluded that "heterosexual relationships may have a great deal to learn from homosexual relationships." (pdf) But even so, do gay relationships tend to end sooner? Perhaps, but according to recent research, gay and lesbian couples are just as committed in their relationships as heterosexuals. (pdf) In fact, same-sex couples are actually more satisfied with their relationships, (pdf) and reported more positive feelings toward their partners and less conflict than heterosexual married couples. (Probably just as well, since just because you can be a gay newlywed doesn’t necessarily mean you can be a gay divorcee.) So what’s the secret to gay happiness? Most likely not ”the most satisfying orgasm you can get ... pure sexuality ... almost like pure heroin,” although that’s a heck of an endorsement from a “researcher” who claims to be against it.
posted on Jan 24, 2008 - View this thread

Pages Unbound is a portal for serialized web novels, similar to web comic portals such as Buzz Comix and Top Web Comics, if not nearly as fancy. It is a new project by Tales of MU author Alexandra Erin. Note: Tales of MU and some of the novels found on Pages Unbound may be NSFW, as they contain explicit material of various sorts. MU, specifically, is concerned with LGBT issues and racism in a fantasy setting.
posted on Dec 18, 2007 - View this thread

Since we've seen Jon Stewart's Greatest Gay Moments (previously on MeFi), how about Jon Stewart's Greatest Lesbian Moments?
posted on Dec 12, 2007 - View this thread

Trent Lott announced today that he will be resigning from the U.S. Senate at the end of the year. His swift and unexpected decision to retire just one year after a re-election that many saw as a comeback from his much disgraced comments at Strom Thurmond's birthday party in 2002 has puzzled many folks. Rumor is spreading that his resignation is due to an alleged scandal: his involvement with a gay escort.
posted on Nov 26, 2007 - View this thread

A Look Back at Jon Stewart's Greatest Gay Moments. "There's a whole lotta gay going on in the brand-spanking-new archive of The Daily Show video clips."
posted on Nov 14, 2007 - View this thread

Don't make Barney Frank angry.
posted on Nov 8, 2007 - View this thread

Tired of the same old gadget blogs? Try Homotron, the gay gadget blog.
posted on Nov 7, 2007 - View this thread

Closeted gay GOP elected official with an anti-gay voting record #756,394 --(Special Halloween Edition!) GOP Washington State Representative Richard Curtis says he’s not gay, but police reports and court records indicate the Republican lawmaker from southwestern Washington dressed up in women’s lingerie and met a Medical Lake man in a local erotic video store which led to consensual sex at a downtown hotel and a threat to expose Curtis’ activities publicly…. He resigned today.--Curtis is the third conservative lawmaker in just as many months to resign amid allegations of soliciting gay sex.
Bubbling up--and being sat on--by the DC Press Corps is a potentially devastating sexual scandal involving a leading Presidential candidate.
posted on Oct 31, 2007 - View this thread

The NY Times looks at the decline of gay meccas. The GLBT Historical Society of San Francisco has held several discussions about the Castro district. A shift in values, gentrification, and violence are named as factors in the "de-gaying" of the Castro. The area's famed Halloween party has been canceled and revelers told to stay out. What will happen to this gay destination?
posted on Oct 30, 2007 - View this thread

Gay Pulp. Enjoy Queens in Drag. Thrill at The Killer Queens. Puzzle about The Flesh Mast in this fascinating (and mildly NSFW) photoset from one Miss Magnolia Thunderpussy.
posted on Oct 25, 2007 - View this thread

Now that it's OK2BGAY, you can totally meet up with other dudes for Soccer Practice and hardly anyone cares. Can I get a What What?
posted on Oct 22, 2007 - View this thread

The world's most famous boy wizard has had to dodge claims of being gay ever since he first appeared in print. Some claim him to be a gay icon, others wonder that there is something about Harry and still more waste their time making gay Potter mashups online. It seems, for some reason, that everyone wants to know. Is Harry Gay? Nope. Dumbledore is.
posted on Oct 19, 2007 - View this thread

On July 1st, 26 year old Fiji-native Satender Singh was gay-bashed to death by several Slavic immigrants in Sacramento.
posted on Oct 9, 2007 - View this thread

Up for consideration is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which has been written to provide a comprehensive Federal prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Last week, Barney Frank released a Statement saying that it is a mistake to continue seeking inclusion of "gender identity" as part of the Act. Or to put it in other words, there'd be protections for only the "GLB" part of the larger "GLBT community".
posted on Oct 5, 2007 - View this thread

McHenry and his "roommates" -- GOP Rep Patrick McHenry (NC), co-owner of a DC home with Scott G. Stewart, former chair of the College Republican Nat'l Cttee (and bilker of many senior citizens), received a DC home-ownership reduction improperly. McHenry's actual home in North Carolina was apparently also home to quite a collection of young men: (convicted fraudulent voter) Michael Aaron Lay, Neil Everett Capano, Matthew Allen Hamilton, and (multiple violations, including "death by vehicle") Jason Jent Deans. Also, McHenry's 04 consultant Ralph Gonzales was one of the men involved in a recent FL murder/suicide, and links to Robert Drake, the killer (political work in NC and escort service connections), are still being documented. Stay tuned!
posted on Sep 28, 2007 - View this thread

The Mayor of San Diego has a change of heart. GOP Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego comes out in support of gay marriage.
posted on Sep 22, 2007 - View this thread

A gay Republican news story that you probably didn't read about in the paper: In late August, Ralph Gonzalez--Republican strategist, former Georgia GOP executive director, and "political powerhouse"--was murdered (along with his roommate, David Abrami, another Republican political consultant) by Gonzalez' "friend" and former Marine Jason Robert Drake. Characterized as the result of a "lovers' quarrel," it's a bizarre crime story that should've made at least a ripple in the national news, given some other recent incidents. But it never did.
posted on Sep 19, 2007 - View this thread

How a Gay Rights Leader became straight is a column by Michael Glatze, one-time editor of Young Gay America magazine. In the column, Glatze explains how be became gay ("I was already weak") and his eventual redemption ("Every time I was tempted to lust, I noticed it, caught it, dealt with it"). When he was still gay, Glatze seemed pretty in touch with gay youth. When interviewed for a Time cover story, he discussed gay teens' alienation saying that today's queer youth just want to be "normal kids." Apparently Glatze wanted to be a normal kid, too! Gay City News had its own take on the Glatze fiasco, quoting him as suggesting America "'examine whether homosexuality should be legal' or if gay sex should instead be punished by 'imprisonment.'" YGAmag responded to Glatze with an open letter. More archived Young Gay America issues here.
posted on Sep 10, 2007 - View this thread

ENDA House hearings start tomorrow --a record 94% of Fortune 500 companies now provide Sexual Orientation Discrimination Protection, and 89% of Americans polled believe Homosexuals should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities. Repeatedly introduced and then killed since 1994, the 2007 version--H.R. 2015--Employment Non-Discrimination Act (text of bill)--includes transgender protection for the very first time. The TVC is just one of many organizations fighting it. (there is a religious exemption, but groups like the TVC would be covered by it)
posted on Sep 4, 2007 - View this thread

In 1955, at least twelve men in Boise, Idaho were arrested for "infamous crimes against nature.". In the resulting dragnet, the vice president of the Idaho First National Bank was sentenced to seven years in prison, while national magazines fomented a McCarthyite Lavender Scare with headlines such as Male Pervert Ring Seduces 1,000 Boys. This dark chapter in Idaho gay history was documented in both John Gerassi's 1966 book, The Boys of Boise and the recent film, The Fall of '55, by documentarian Seth Randal, but neither Gerassi nor Randal could identify The Queen, a closeted but politically connected homosexual who allegedly used his massive clout to stop the witch hunt.
posted on Aug 28, 2007 - View this thread

GOP Senator Larry Craig arrested in 'bathroom incident' --and pleads guilty. ... At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” ... He's denied similar stories in the past.
posted on Aug 27, 2007 - View this thread

Need advice? Ask a Theoretical Physicist. Ask A Gay Man. Ask A Dork. Ask A Ninja (previously). Ask Great Granny. Ask Poop Report. Ask a Hill Staffer (if you can have a job writing Ask A Hill Staffer). Ask A Nun. Ask the Dalai Lama. Ask the Magic 8 Ball. Or I suppose you could always just Ask Mefi.
posted on Aug 26, 2007 - View this thread

Meet Rick and Steve : The Happiest Gay Couple In All The World. The animated series follows a gay couple, Rick and Steve, and other couples from their (fictional) town, West Lahunga Beach. Rick (voiced by Will Matthews from MTV's "Punk'd") is Steve's stay-at-home partner. He is a genius but very insecure. Steve (voiced by Peter Paige, best known as Emmet Honeycutt from "Queer As Folk") is a real estate broker and devotee of the gym. Margaret Cho lends her voice to the character Condie Ling. The computer generated animated series began airing on Logo on July 10, 2007, and is based on the 1999 short films of the same name from creator Quenton Allan Brocka. Let the comedic stereotyping begin! In animation form, anyway. (Episodes 1-5 available in three parts each from the first link.) Not quite safe for work. Or the easily offended.
posted on Aug 25, 2007 - View this thread

Ted Haggard returns --with a cash for heaven offer to support him while he helps "broken people". Unfortunately, the procedure outlined is illegal, and the charity (Families With a Mission) is unregistered and run by a convicted sex offender. Meanwhile, Mike Jones, Haggard's favorite whore, pops up at a dirty bar trivia night (questions about Haggard and him, maybe nsfw, textwise)
posted on Aug 25, 2007 - View this thread

Move over Village People. Introducing Bearforce1 from Holland... the first gay bear man group. They are clearly having fun.
posted on Aug 16, 2007 - View this thread

In 1968, Mattachine Society of Washington co-founder Frank Kameny declared "Gay is Good"; in 1971 he became the first openly gay candidate for the US Congress. But if you're running for president today, while you know gays contribute money and definitely vote, Kameny's or any "gay support could cost candidates":

Quinnipiac University polls of voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- the big three Electoral College swing states -- found voters by large margins more likely to see the endorsement of a gay rights group as a reason to vote against, rather than for, a candidate.

Warning: Explicit sexual content. "These firefighters dedicated their lives to save the lives of others. They did not sign on to become unwilling props to a controversial political and social agenda," says Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, representing a group of brave men in uniform who were subjected to "vile sexual taunts" at a San Diego gay pride parade. Via Gawker.
posted on Aug 8, 2007 - View this thread

Get Your Ducks In A Row Or Else.

Those Atkins cheesecakes are delicious, but now they're leaving a bad aftertaste.
posted on Aug 6, 2007 - View this thread

VisibleVote08.com On Thursday, August 9th, at 9PM EST, the LOGO television network along with the Human Rights Campaign are going to host a televised forum with some of the leading Democratic presidential candidates for the discussion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trangendered issues. According to the network, if you are unable to see the program on cable, it will be available to you live via the special website. And as of August 2nd, surfers are invited to submit questions to be asked of the candidates live.
posted on Aug 1, 2007 - View this thread

BUTT MAGAZINE, a sexy pocket-size quarterly for and about homosexuals, refreshingly focuses on the allure of the everyday guys. And all their issues are archived online! NSFW.
posted on Jul 31, 2007 - View this thread

It's All Because. Have you ever had those days where you're wondering just why everything about your life is feeling like it's going down the toilet bowl? Oded Gross knows, and he will tell you all about it. In a song.
posted on Jul 26, 2007 - View this thread

Ever wondered how gay men signal each other with colored hankies? Ask Meathook. (warning: the photo section is not suitable for anyone, anywhere.)
posted on Jul 16, 2007 - View this thread

Anyone for a transvestite remake of the 1987 film The Lost Boys?
posted on Jul 11, 2007 - View this thread

High salaries and rising property values in Sodom and Gommorah? There Goes the Neighborhood: How and Why Bohemians, Artists and Gays Effect Regional Housing Values.
posted on Jun 23, 2007 - View this thread

Massachusetts will retain gay marriage. For now. The initiative petition which sought to amend the Massachusetts constitution to ban gay marriage (thereby revoking the decision of the Supreme Judicial Court in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health) will not appear on the ballot. The petition needed the votes of fifty legislators in two consecutive constitutional conventions to proceed; my representative was one of the nine house members who changed their votes from the last time. Thank you, Jim.
posted on Jun 14, 2007 - View this thread