"[I]f this can happen in San Francisco, it can happen anywhere"

Just a quick reminder of why we have Pride events. Apparently, someone vandalized a San Francisco memorial to gay holocaust victims. Said one of the installation's co-founders: "if this can happen in San Francisco, it can happen anywhere."

Perez Hilton is a Douche (in 6 steps)

Step 1) Perez Hilton called will.i.am a f****t.


Step 2) Someone from will.i.am's posse smacked Perez Hilton.


Step 3) The fight goes viral. And I mean this in the worst sense of the word. By 'viral,' I mean to invoke a conceptual stew of: the Plague, Twitter and Stupid People (the following video gets this across quite nicely).

Step 4) Perez threatens to sue will.I.am.


Step 5) Perez pledges to give any money he might obtain in this lawsuit to the Matthew Shepard foundation. Yes; Matthew Shepard. The boy who likely died while his killers hurled homophobic epithets.


Step 6) Judy Shepard - Matthew's mother - responds:



And that is why Perez Hilton is a DOUCHE.

Michael Jackson Shirtless: An Experiment

My most popular blog post ever was about some shirtless pictures that were snapped of Barack Obama about 18 months before he won the presidency. To this day, I get more hits from people searching for "obama shirtless" or "obama pecs" than everything else - combined.

So I thought I'd do a little experiment to see if a person's fame always covaries with people's desire to see that person shirtless.

To test this hypothesis, Michael Jackson is the perfect person at the perfect time. At this moment, he is by far the most famous person in the world. At this moment, he is also probably one of the last people anyone *should* want to see shirtless.

In an attempt to mitigate the callousness of this endeavor, I've chosen a picture that won't gross anyone out. A picture of the Jackson 5 shirtless when they were still just a group of fairly normal-looking kids. A pic that isn't intended to be the least bit sexual:


...Afro-wholesome, ain't it?

Stonewalled

Sunday is the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In honor of this anniversary, "stonewalling" is Stephen Colbert's word of the day. The implication of the bit is that Obama is stonewalling his GLBT supporters.

While I am frustrated with Obama, I wouldn't describe his approach quite so harshly. "Non-commital," maybe; but not "stonewalling." Or, as Colbert phrases it later in the show, "Obama swings both ways."

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Stonewalling
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

Interview with a Gay Exorcist

CNN just interviewed Patricia McKinney, pastor of Connecticut's Manifested Glory Ministries Church. From the looks of her, she could stand to lose a few demons of her own.

Gay Exorcisms: A Lesson in Unintended Consequences

By now, everyone has heard of the "gay exorcism" that went down at Manifested Glory Ministries. The video shows a teen rolling around while people yell things that...well...you'd expect them to yell at a gay exorcism. Portions of the video can be found here.

Outrageous? Yes.

There is, however, a silver lining. As Stephen Colbert pointed out tonight, there is now a gay demon on the loose. A "poltergayst" (sp?) on the prowl...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Gay Demon on the Loose
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

I for one hope this demon finds Hunter Parrish.

Lordy, Lordy...that boy looks amazing shirtless. Praise Jebus!

IS HE GAY? Jonathan Platero Edition

So you think you can dance seems to be systematically eliminating the cutest boys. One by one they go.

This is ironic, of course. I don't really have any information on the show's demographics, but I'm gonna go ahead and guess that it skews homo.

Just like the contestants.

So, is Jonathan Platero - the boy who got kicked off tonight - gay?

Unfortunately, no. I can report that - based on a detailed analysis of his web presence (i.e. his myspace page) - Jonathan is NOT gay. This is unfortunate, because the boy sure looks good shirtless:

Bush to Veto Hate Crimes Bill

Looks like Dubya is gonna veto the GLBT-inclusive hate crimes bill that just passed the House.

Chalk it up to an amazingly idiotic dis-information campaign by the religious right ("with invocations of the "thought police," etc.)

Who to Root AGAINST in 2008

I hate to be a negative-nelly, but Republicans have a better chance than you might think of retaining the presidency in 2008. Presidential politics doesn't really track the partisan affiliations of the country, and several Republicans are polling extremely well in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups with the front-runners in the Democratic primary.

So, which Republican candidate for President should you be most afraid of?

Here are the results from the American Family Association's online straw poll:

Democrats		Republicans
Joe Biden	126 vote(s)	Sam Brownback	5,084 vote(s)
Hillary Clinton	2,160	Jim Gilmore	170
Chris Dodd	27	Newt Gingrich	16,909
John Edwards	3,457	Rudy Giuliani	9,943
Barack Obama	2,669	Chuck Hagel	113
Bill Richardson	316	Mike Huckabee	5,084
		Duncan Hunter	1,034
		John McCain	8,262
		Ron Paul	3,590
		Mitt Romney	13,557
		Fred Thompson	42,951
		Tommy Thompson	762
		Tom Tancredo	3,358

So, if Fred Thompson wins, pack your bags and buy a plane ticket to Sweden...

Legislative Progress

New Hampshire moved one step closer to allowing civil unions today with a 14-10 vote in the state senate. The civil unions bill passed the New Hampshire Hoes a couple weeks ago, and the New Hampshire governor has said he will sign the bill.

In Iowa, a comprehensive LGBT anti-discrimination bill won approval in the Iowa House of Representatives yesterday. The Senate has already passed the bill, and the governor has said he will sign it.

In Oregon, a same-sex domestic partnership bill cleared a key senate subcommittee today. The Oregon House has already approved the proposal, and the governor has indicated his support for the bill.

Finally, a federal LGBT hate crimes law was approved by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee today.

Woohoo!