Scanner : gay marriage ban

This Week in Gayness: Men's Magazines

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:01:00 GMT

For the first time ever, Britain's poet laureate is a woman. Oh, and she just happens to be a lesbian.

If this Dr. Phil show turns out to be as offensive as the participant search comes off, you'll have yet another reason to hate that guy.

This is another one to send hate mail to: Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the dumbass who called Matthew Shepard's murder a "hoax" and claims it was a robbery and not a hate crime, has been very vocal about stopping hate crime legislation in Congress. Shepard, you may recall,"was tied crucifixion-style to a fence, repeatedly pistol whipped and left for dead."

The good news is there are fewer known child porn sites on the web. Bad news? They've gotten more disgusting overall.

Here's one for ya: a lesbian was asked not to attend prom hand-in-hand with her girlfriend because it might bring unwanted media attention. When that came because of the principal's ignorant decision, she then tried to enforce a nonexistent dress code demanding both women wear dresses. We're not sure of the result.

India's only homosexual men's magazine has returned.

The next battle in Iowa will be over birth certificates.

And on Iowa's first day of legalized gay marriage, over 300 couples applied for licenses. Let's hope very few of them are nutjobs intent on causing big scenes by trying to marry their dogs or something.

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This Week in Gayness: Gay Conversions Under Attack

Brian Fairbanks — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:53:00 GMT

Please right-click links and open them in a new window.

Evidence has emerged (finally) basically proving Masters & Johnson faked their "gay conversion" evidence.

A man who killed a transgender woman he was dating for not telling him she was born a male has been sentenced to life in prison in Colorado. Congress started work on a bipartisan hate crimes bill this week, one that gay groups have been pushing for many years.

Gavin Rossdale apparently had a gay lover before Gwen Stefani came along.

The gay marriage fight now moves to Maine.

Gavin Newsom announced he is officially running for Governor of California.

Was Marie Nixon canned from her day care center job for her lesbianism?

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While You Were Sleeping: Blake Fielder-Civil In Trouble Again

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:54:00 GMT

Who cares if it makes us sound like a two-year-old: we can't stop shouting "I want! I want! I want!" when we watch this video about Tweenbots.

It was the biggest Easter box-office of all time, thanks to Hannah Montana topping that dumb car race movie.

First, gay marriage and now sexting will be legal in Vermont?

A good way to figure out how to meet people is to find out how other people are meeting people.

Blake Fielder-Civil apparently knocked up his mistress.

This photo of a woman getting chewed on by a polar bear is scary and one of the strangest we've ever seen in a major news story.

It took long enough: the porn industry is working on a Seinfeld "parody."

A truly awful story keeps getting worse: parents of a ten-year-old who was killed while offroading by a highway are suing the driver who hit her, a man who was already cleared of wrongdoing.

It may be time to attempt an intervention: Suri Cruise is going to attend Scientology school.

And Roger Federer got married.

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Anti-Homo Kid is a Homo

Colleen Kane — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:48:00 GMT

I am so very grateful there was no such thing as the Internet when I was a kid. I held some pretty questionable opinions as a youth, such as "McDonald's is good" and "this jacket should be worn inside-out to show its plaid lining, so that it will match nicely with my different plaid pants." So I can't say for sure that I wouldn't have posted incriminating videos that would come back to haunt me not just in the future, but in the present.

Take this 12-year-old boy, who has posted numerous videos of himself on YouTube, one expressing his feelings against gay marriage in which he admits that he "used to be gay" but is now "very interested in girls." The wiseacres who inhabit the Internet have responded with a meme of calling him a homo, and it is decidedly not going over well with this poor young fellow.

First, his inarticulate video explaining why gay marriage is wrong.

And now, his reaction to the allegations.

Godspeed to that young man; he has a long journey ahead.

Related:

BREAKING: Gay Marriage Now Legal in... IOWA?!

Emily Farris — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:54:00 GMT

We must say, we didn't see this one coming. We expected New York, Oregon or maybe even New Jersey to be one of the next states to legalize gay marriage, but this morning the Iowa Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling that found the state's same-sex marriage ban violated the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples.

In its decision, the court upheld a 2007 district court judge's ruling that the law violates the state constitution. It strikes the language from Iowa code limiting marriage to only between a man a woman.

"The court reaffirmed that a statute inconsistent with the Iowa constitution must be declared void even though it may be supported by strong and deep-seated traditional beliefs and popular opinion," said a summary of the ruling issued by the court.

The ruling set off celebration among the state's gay-marriage proponents.

"Iowa is about justice, and that's what happened here today," said Laura Fefchak, who was hosting a verdict party in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale with partner of 13 years, Nancy Robinson.

Robinson added: "To tell the truth, I didn't think I'd see this day."

Des Moines attorney Dennis Johnson, who argued on behalf of the gay and lesbian couples, said "this is a great day for civil rights in Iowa."

"We have all of you courageous plaintiffs to thank: Go get married, live happily ever after, live the American dream," he said.

Court rules dictate that the decision will take about 21 days to be considered final, and a request for a rehearing could be filed within that period. That means it will be at least several weeks before gay and lesbian couples can seek marriage licenses.

[Yahoo: Iowa court says gay marriage ban unconstitutional]

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Breaking: Connecticut Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

The Gay Marriage Debate Rages on in California

Emily Farris — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:14:00 GMT

Yesterday the California Supreme Court met to deliberate on the issue of gay marriage in the state yet again, after the court's May ruling to allow same-sex couples to marry was reversed when voters approved Proposition 8 in November.

The hearing lasted more than three hours and though the seven justices all seemed to agree that the 18,000 same-sex couples who married legally before Prop. 8 passed would remain legally wed, it appears the court may be leaning in favor of Prop. 8

"Here we are dealing with the power of the people, the inalienable right, to amend the Constitution," Justice Joyce Kennard, who voted in favor of legalizing gay marriage in May, said.

What else was heard at the hearing? And what did Kenneth Starr have to say?

"A guarantee of equality that is subject to exceptions by the majority is no guarantee at all."

-Therese Stewart, San Francisco chief deputy city attorney, arguing that Prop. 8 violates equal-rights principles in the state Constitution

"The people established the Constitution. As judges, our power is very limited."

-Justice Joyce Kennard

"Is it for this court to limit the people's power to amend the Constitution?"

-Chief Justice Ronald George

"Proposition 8 does not erode any of the bundle of rights that this state has very generously provided" to same-sex couples.

-Kenneth Starr, lawyer for Protect Marriage, the sponsor of Prop. 8

"If you're in the marriage business, do it equally. If you're not going to do it equally, then get out of the marriage business."

-Michael Maroko, a lawyer for same-sex couples, replying to a question about whether the court should reserve the name "marriage" for religious ceremonies and convert existing civil marriages to civil unions

"It would exceed the power of this court."

-Starr, answering the same question

[SF Gate: Justices seem to be leaning in favor of Prop. 8]

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Video of the Day: Don't Divorce My Dads!

Emily Farris — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:07:00 GMT

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

This video, set to the tune of Regina Spektor's 'Fidelity' is put out by the Courage Campaign.... and it breaks my heart.

[Via BUST]

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We've Changed Our Minds, We're Against Gay Marriage

Scanner Matt — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:00:00 GMT

After seeing this video our eyes have opened and our minds have closed. The evils of gay marriage are too sinister to unleash on our free-thinking, God-fearing America.

The wacky political site 23/6 brings us this insightful and informative video:

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

This Week In Gayness: Straight Man Sues Over Homophobic Taunting

Did Obama Sell Out The Gays?

The Human Herp: Ken Starr Returns To Defend Marriage Against People Who Want It

Pope Makes Insane Gay Metaphor

This Week In Gayness: Straight Man Sues Over Homophobic Taunting

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:44:00 GMT

Caroline Kennedy, who seems to be losing steam in her quest for the Senate, supports gay marriage.

There has been a 16% rise in violence against gays and lesbians this year, while 2007 had already seen a 16% rise over '06, according to the author of this story about a woman gang-raped in San Francisco for having a rainbow sticker on her car.

Strollerderby reported on the principal who censored a student's pro-gay rights paper...

Students at the Academy for Arts, Science & Technology near Carolina Forest have traditionally printed their paper on their own, using funds from ad sales to cover the cost of printing the quarterly paper. But when administrators, including Principal Ronnie Burgess, saw the picture of two male students holding hands and an editorial advocating for same-sex marriage, they told the kids the paper couldn't be distributed. They offered $500 in school funds to reprint the paper - without the editorial and picture.
Burgess said he was afraid the original paper would be "disruptive."
"I had some concerns about the content of the article and how it might impact students here and what the community concerns might be when the article was distributed," he told the Myrtle Beach-based Sun News. I'm not surprised that an administrator is afraid of community backlash (even homophobic, small-minded backlash), but what floors me is the rest of Burgess' statement to the paper: "At the academy we encourage diversity, we don't look to silence student voices, we hope to facilitate their expression."

Queen guitarist Brian May was the only person on earth who didn't know his lead singer, Freddie Mercury, was a homosexual.

Arizona's activists aren't taking state-sanctioned bigotry lying down.

"Mommy and Mama Now Legal In New York," at least on the birth certificates of kids born of gay parents in the state.

75% of Americans support gay marriage and/or civil unions, while 63% support strengthening hate crime laws.

And a court in Brighton, England ruled that a straight man can be considered "sexually harassed" over gay jokes even if he is not gay himself.

Pope Makes Insane Gay Metaphor

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The Human Herp: Ken Starr Returns To Defend Marriage Against People Who Want It

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:27:00 GMT

Ken Starr serves as a shining example for all those who believe lawyers deserve their own special circle of hell: he's arrogant, blows through cash like a 93-year-old lottery winner, has no sense of justice or fairness, and is utterly oblivious to his own hypocrisy.

Take for example his latest endeavor: he currently finds himself at the center of the gay marriage battle in California, a closeted homosexual (you heard it here first!) "defending" marriage from people who actually want to have it. This guy's hypocrisy never ceases to amaze us...

From the Los Angeles Times:

Kenneth W. Starr, the former U.S. Solicitor General who led the inquiry into President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica L. Lewinsky, will argue the case in favor of upholding a ban on gay marriage before the California Supreme Court.

Starr was today named lead counsel for the official proponents of Proposition 8. This afternoon, the group filed court briefs defending the legality of the proposition, which was approved by 52% of California voters last month throwing into question thousands of marriages performed during the five months the practice was legal in the state.
Opponents of the proposition argued that it amounted to a constitutional revision instead of a more limited amendment.

There out to be some equivalent of the "asshole tax" for guys like Ken Starr: only it should be for not knowing their history. In other words, people like Starr, who are constantly on the wrong side of history, humanity, and the Bill of Rights should be fined every time they stick their noses in everything. (Of course, that would be unconstitutional, but Starr doesn't even know what that means, so fuck him.)

Let's just make sure this is Kenny's Last Hurrah, and send him, Rick Warren, Rush Limbaugh, to whichever circle of imaginary hell they are most afraid of ending up in...

Read more at the LA Times.

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This Week in Gayness: Gotta Love Them Bathhouses

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:37:00 GMT

For the ten millionth time in a row, research suggests being gay is not a choice.

Have you heard about the Day Without a Gay? No, it's not some Fred Phelps extraordinary rendition program, it's a pro-gay event on December 10th in which gay people will not participate in the economy.

Next Friday, possibly-gay Florida Governor Charlie Crist is getting married. So, in light of the recent statewide amendment banning same-sex marriage, pro-gay advocates are going to protest and possibly even invade the wedding itself.

We're surprised Michael Phelps went along with A Very Gay 60 Minutes, but he's always been, you know, a good sport. [Watch here]

Linda Harvey is a scary bitch:

"Males need to stop having homosexual sex," said Harvey. "That means, close homosexual hang-outs, especially all bathhouses. Patrol public parks and arrest men having sex in public toilets. Stop sponsoring large public events, like Folsom Street Fair, that allow public sex and nudity. Ignore the screams of the homosexual lobby when officials do the right thing, even for them. Think of the lives that would be saved and disability prevented." [G-A-Y]

If you're a church that financially supported Prop 8, you may be saying goodbye to your tax-exempt status. Yeah, like the government is going to fuck with the churches.

And don't forget Milk is out in theaters, getting excellent reviews.

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Sloppy Seconds: Which Power Ranger Is Guilty of Murder?

Emily Farris — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:54:00 GMT

Feeling like you want to do something about Proposition 8 but aren't a card carrying Calinfornia voter or don't have a million dollars to give? Check out 8 Against 8, a group of eight lesbian bloggers who have launched an eight-day collaborative fundraising drive to help defeat the proposition that, if approved, would overturn the ruling that allows gay marraige in California. [8 Against 8]

What would happen if John McCain hired Wes Anderson to make his ads? [FilmDrunk]

Any idea who Anne Hathaway's sexy new mystery man is? [People]

Oh that Jewel. Now that she's a country star she's such a prankster. She had her tour mate Brad Paisley (who's never done anything wrong in his life, apparently) arrested at an airport. [Us]

Reporter Judith Miller (of going to jail/Valerie Plame fame) has joined the Fox News channel as a contributor. [Yahoo!]

And one of the Power Rangers is guilty of one of the most horrific homicides we've heard about in years. Three homicides, in fact. [People]

Video of the Day: Vote No on Prop 8

Emily Farris — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:33:00 GMT

Okay, we think it finally makes sense now...

Part 2, "And She's the California Constitution" after the jump.

[noonprop8.com]

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Gay Marriage: God Is Gonna Getcha... Claim Scary Freaks

Brian Fairbanks — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:40:00 GMT

Since I, Scanner Brian, originally hail from the Connecticut farm country, I have been watching with great interest as the rural rednecks, the city bigots, and the pro-gay holdouts react to the decision last week to allow homosexual marriages in the state...

Suffice it to say, so far, the victors have received no free ride...

From the Hartford Courant, which, in the interest of full disclosure, I wrote for from 1996 to 1999, here are two letters to the editor:

The state Supreme Court decision recognizing same-sex marriage in Connecticut [Page 1, Oct. 11, "Free To Wed"] is above all a victory for religious freedom.

Finally, the United Church of Christ, Unitarian, Episcopalian and other churches and religions that perform marriages for gay, lesbian and bisexual couples have the dignity, freedom and equality they deserve.

The government never should have been in the marriage business in the first place. This ruling puts marriage back where it belongs. Now each church can decide for itself!

Sara Ferah, Hartford

Two days in a row we have this front-page splash on the passage of gay marriage and all the elation and celebration. Do not forget, however, that this will not have a happy ending.

God is the creator of happy endings and he will have the last word, not the judges or politicians. When he acts, and that day is coming very quickly, it will make 9/11 and the economic crisis look like a walk in the park.

We, as a nation, have turned away from him and trampled on his commandments for too long.

Helen Ryan, Enfield

There is so much funny here that we won't even bother, but we do have to ask: when are these religious yahoos going to get it? People have been saying for thousands of years that "that day is coming very quickly" and that "the end is near" and yada yada yada... and nothing has come of it. Time to get with reality, folks.

(P.S.: Lee Bolin of the LGBT Caucus responds with kind of a cheap shot: [A hypothetical third letter: Dear Helen: I thought I'd be neighborly and let you know that some drunk has hacked into your e-mail account and is sending out crazy stuff in your name. -- LB])

Image via Flickr. Letters via the Courant.

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Breaking: Connecticut Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

Emily Farris — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:35:00 GMT

As of today, gay New Yorkers need only travel via the Metro North should they want to get hitched.

From the NYT/AP:

Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry, making the state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions.
The divided court ruled 4-3 that gay and lesbian couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry under the state constitution, and Connecticut's civil unions law does not provide those couples with the same rights as heterosexual couples.
"I can't believe it. We're thrilled, we're absolutely overjoyed. We're finally going to be able, after 33 years, to get married," said Janet Peck of Colchester, who was a plaintiff with her partner, Carole Conklin.
Connecticut will join Massachusetts and California as the only state to allow same-sex couples to marry.
"Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice," Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote in the majority opinion that overturned a lower court finding.
"To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others," Palmer wrote.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Friday that she disagreed, but will not fight the ruling.
"The Supreme Court has spoken," Rell said in a statement. "I do not believe their voice reflects the majority of the people of Connecticut. However, I am also firmly convinced that attempts to reverse this decision -- either legislatively or by amending the state Constitution -- will not meet with success."
The lawsuit was brought in 2004 after eight same-sex couples were denied marriage licenses and sued, saying their constitutional rights to equal protection and due process were violated.
They said the state's marriage law, if applied only to heterosexual couples, denied them of the financial, social and emotional benefits of marriage.
Peck said that as soon as the decision was announced, the couple started crying and hugging while juggling excited phone calls from her brother and other friends and family.
"We've always dreamed of being married," she said. "Even though we were lesbians and didn't know if that would ever come true, we always dreamed of it."

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New York to Follow California in Legalizing Gay Marriage?

[Image]

This Week In Gayness: Man Gets 150 Days For Being Accessory To Gay Murder

Brian Fairbanks — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:40:00 GMT

An anti-gay advocate told his viewers to pray for God to rain (water? frogs?) down on Obama's outdoor acceptance speech later this month.

Wait, how can someone be both gay and a Mormon? Good luck to you, pal, 'cause that's a rough road yonder.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown, himself a former Governor, may have higher aspirations (again.) Which may or may not be the reason he says gay marriage will remain legal in the state, regardless of the outcome of Proposition 8.

Tila Tequila appears to be in a relationship with a woman. The endless putdowns from Lesbiantopia make Tequila's continued celebrity a bit more tolerable.

A businessman in Colorado appears to be a lock for the next openly-gay Congressperson after winning the Democratic primary.

About.com has Gay Pride pics from Chicago.

A 9/11 scammer who turned to blogging about gay life for extra cash has been extradited. Fucker.

Female-on-female prisoner violence has been exposed at one notorious New York prison.

UK straight divorce? 50 percent. UK gay divorce? Zero percent.

And the saddest news of the week is this:

Aleksandr Shevchenko was convicted of disturbing the peace after allegedly throwing a bottle at Satender Singh during a confrontation in July 2007 at a Sacramento-area lake. The jury deadlocked on whether to add a hate-crime charge to Shevchenko's sentence.

His friend, of course, is the one that threw that fatal punch that killed Singh. We're pretty sure he'll get community service, though.

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This Week In Gayness: Sean Penn's Next Movie

Brian Fairbanks — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:34:00 GMT

A lesbian wedding announcement in a Utah paper is causing a (small) stink in the conservative state.

About.com wonders what will happen if Proposition 8 passes, thus banning gay marriage in California.

Only 64% of gay people have come out to a family member, but 80% of gays would like to integrate suburbia.

Local bigots (or pranksters) have defaced a married lesbian couple's Pride flag in California and the police refuse to help put a stop to the destruction.

Barack Obama supports LGBT adoptions. Meanwhile, Charlie Crist, the possible VP choice for McCain and the current Governor of Florida, has said he would likely support a gay marriage ban there.

The latest scientific experiment to prevent HIV transmissions: a pill to be popped just before sex.

As we mentioned yesterday, Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk in the new Gus Van Sant movie. Will you go see it?

[It's] set to be released on December 5.

Penn definitely has the look for the part and since his stellar Mystic River performance, we know he can deliver the drama. But can Van Sant and his powerhouse ensemble (Josh Brolin, James Franco, Diego Luna, Emile Hirsch and Denis O'Hare) pull off a feature film that's able to honor the late Harvey Milk and keep us in our seats for double hours?

Poll: Will you see Milk?
1) Definitely 2) Maybe 3) Not Interested

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While You Were Sleeping: James Franco and Sean Penn Go At It

This Week in Gayness: McDonald's Makes Jesus Cry?

Brian Fairbanks — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:23:00 GMT

Hatemonger and classic "Southern gentleman" Jesse Helms died at the age of 86. Meanwhile, a government worker actually retired rather than lower his office's flag to half-mast. Now, that's a gentleman.

Four teenagers are giving their LGBT Center a bad name after beating up a priest who tried to intervene in their fight.

In another setback to bigots in California, a conservative county that anti-marriage advocates had hoped would buck the State's new position agreed to hold gay marriage ceremonies after all...

An adult lesbian adoption was defeated after a residency issue was brought to light by the bitter, greedy family of Thomas Watson, who helped launch IBM Computers. How shameful.

Florida, which has been making a run lately for the title of Craziest State in the Nation, helped bring itself closer to reality this week by ignoring the "gay panic" plea of a drag queen's coldblooded murderer, sentencing him to life in prison. Don't worry, buddy, there's no chance of butt sex in prison.

The Religious Right, in the form of the so-called American Family Association, urged its members to boycott McDonald's restaurants nationwide after the chain so much as voiced support for National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. These are actual quotes from the right-wing group, believe it or not:

[T]he boycott "is not about hiring homosexuals ... It is not about homosexuals eating at McDonald's ... It is not about how homosexual employees are treated.
"It is about McDonald's, as a corporation, refusing to remain neutral in the culture wars. McDonald's has chosen not to remain neutral but to give the full weight of their corporation to promoting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage," the site went on to say.

Read more at Gay.com. See also: "McDonald's Makes Jesus Cry" via Yahoo!

Heinz Commercial Furor Proves The UK Can Be Just As Bigoted

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:08:00 GMT

The above photo is a screengrab (via the Daily Mail) from a Heinz commercial that recently ran in the UK during the day. The controversy, as you can see, is obvious... but there's more...

The ad opens with two children, a boy and a girl, readying for school:

They refer to a man making sandwiches in the kitchen as 'mum'.
He is dressed like a delicatessen worker and has a New York accent.
Their father enters the kitchen, grabs a sandwich and says to the man: 'See you tonight, love'.
The 'mum' then shouts back 'Hey, ain't you forgetting something', before the two men kiss.
'Mum' then tells him: 'Love you. Straight home from work sweetcheeks.'
It finishes with the slogan: 'Heinz Deli Mayo – Mayo with a New York Deli flavour.'

Just so you UK people know: gay marriages aren't legal in New York either. Or are we missing the point?

Anyway, the ad received hundreds of complaints before being pulled. Heinz, of course, stood up to the pressure and defended gay people in a heroic press conference speech:

Nigel Dickie, of Heinz UK, said: 'It is our policy to listen to consumers. We recognise that some consumers raised concerns over the content of the ad and this prompted our decision to withdraw it. The advertisement, part of a short-run campaign, was intended to be humorous and we apologise to anyone who felt offended.'

It's perhaps gays who might be offended by Mr. Dickie (no jokes, please)-- after all, they're the ones being insulted, judging by the complaints quoted by the Daily Mail, and by the ad, which sounds pretty dumb on paper, for starters...

Let Them Eat Cake

Emily Farris — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:38:00 GMT

Let's face it, we all know that unless you're Martha Stewart's niece, your gay best friend will probably have a better wedding cake than you.

This is especially true for us, considering we're not sure if we'll ever get married, but we imagine that if/when we do, we'll probably keep things pretty simple.

But bakers better start to get their shit together — and by "shit" we very lovingly mean same sex couple figurines — lest they want a young opportunist to sweep in and take over the gay wedding cake business, especially in places like California.

Of course, if we were to marry a woman, we'd probably skip the roses and figurines and go for something a little more like this:

But for now, our 12-year-old girl fantasy remains. We'll marry a big, burly man outdoors in a super casual wedding with a super simple, all-white cake or we'll go over the top with an Ace of Cakes style get-up.

Our parents' wedding cake got lost in a snow storm so the first image we have of our parents' life together is our mother violently stabbing her Entenmann's cake. That's about how the rest of it went, so forgive us if we're a little too concerned with cake.

What was your wedding cake like? Or what is your dream cake?

[Via Serious Eats]

[Image via sundogg's flickr, Cake and Art]

This Week In Gayness: The Gay Marriage Revolution

Brian Fairbanks — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:34:00 GMT

The lawyer of a boy accused of murdering a gay classmate blames the school for coddling the gay kid instead of addressing the real problem: unwanted advances. (On an unrelated note, ever heard of a straight teenagers shooting each other for sexual harassment? What does it say about our culture that anti-gayness drives teenagers to shoot each other and get life sentences?)

Teens having sex is almost okay with grandparents these days, but apparently not this kind of sex...

Police said a 61-year-old Reading, Pa., woman beat her 16-year-old granddaughter severely after finding her in bed with another girl. [Gay.com]

Meanwhile, gay priests exchanged vows in England, which is against the boring old rules.

The rest of the gay news this week is: California, California, California.

First, as seen above, photos from the groundbreaking legal gay marriages.

Another attempt at stopping them was shot down.

And Star Trek star George Takei married his longtime partner.

Image via SFChronicle.

This Week in Gayness: Al Franken's Lesbian Jokes

Brian Fairbanks — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:34:00 GMT

Last month's ruling all but totally legalizing gay marriage in California is already faced with stiff opposition.

First, the high court refused to stop the marriages from going into effect. Meanwhile, the bigots are back on the ballot-- November's election not only will feature a question about amending the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, but a question about parental notification for abortions as well. (The abortions of minors only, of course, but can parental notification for everyone be too far behind?)

Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank introduced Congress to its first ever LGBT Equality Caucus. Shockingly enough, a lot of other Congresspersons have joined. Not so shockingly, no Republicans have yet signed on, as their is the party of the future... a future ruled by Soylent Green, of course.

The New York State Assembly proves its worth for the first time in ages by passing a law amending the state's human rights law to include protections for transgender people. Now if they could pass a law giving us our tax refunds within ten years of filing for them, that would be great.

Al Franken's campaign for the US Senate may be in jeapordy following attacks on his character by Minnesota Republicans. The GOP is running incumbent Norm Coleman (the guy who beat a former Vice President of the United States and one time Presidential candidate named Walter Mondale in a Democratic-leaning state for the seat.) Here's what they quote from in their press release about Franken's alleged attacks on women and lesbians in particular:

Franken kidded at a 1999 New York feminist event that Afghan women didn't need any more freedom, and he announced at a White House press dinner that then-Attorney General Janet Reno would perform a lap dance for $25.
He joked at a Human Rights Campaign dinner that he had asked organizers to pay him for his speech by "send[ing] a girl to my room. And they did. But she turned out to be a lesbian. Great! Next time you do that, could you at least send two?"

Of course, these were both more than seven years ago when Franken was a fucking comedian. You wonder how come they haven't found any poorly-worded off-the-cuff comments about Republicans while hosting an Air America show for several years.

Breaking: Same-Sex Marriage Now Legal in California

Emily Farris — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:56:00 GMT

Today the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved gay marriage ban.

In a 4-3 decision, justices said that domestic partnerships for same-sex couples are not a good enough substitute for marriage.

In striking down the ban, the court said, "In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights."

Hot damn, that's good news! We image the justices of the peace are going to be very, very busy beginning, um, now.

[New York Times: California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban]

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Arizona May Go Gay For Ban on Gay Marriage

Katie Halper — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:21:00 GMT

When state statute bans on gay marriage aren't quite anti-gay enough, go for a constitutional amendment!

Arizona law already bans gay marriage. But, because the threat of gay marriage is so scary, some Arizonans (including two "with Democrats like these who needs Republicans?" Dems) want to rewrite the state constitution-- just in case.

Here's the story.