Episcopal conservatives win key battle over gays

Nearly a dozen conservative church congregations in Virginia have won a lawsuit in which they sought to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute over theology and homosexuality.

The final rulings came from a Fairfax County judge who said the departing congregations are allowed under Virginia law to keep their church buildings and other property as they leave the Episcopal Church and realign under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops from Africa.

Several previous rulings had also gone in favor of the departing congregations. The diocese said it will appeal.Eleven Virginia congregations were involved in the lawsuit, including two prominent congregations that trace their histories to George Washington - Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church in Falls Church.

The congregations voted to realign in late 2006. Since then, the rift in the Episcopal Church has grown, and entire dioceses have voted to leave the denomination. Similar property disputes are expected there as well.

The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia argued it was the true owner of the church property and that the congregations’ votes to leave the Episcopal Church were invalid.

The case was decided under a Civil War-era law unique to Virginia, which stated that when a division occurs within a particular denomination, a congregation can vote to decide with which branch it wishes to affiliate.

In earlier rulings, Circuit Judge Randy Bellows declared that a division had indeed occurred within the Episcopal Church, and that Virginia’s law was constitutional.It was widely anticipated that the departing congregations would prevail after those preliminary rulings were issued; Friday’s rulings dealt largely with technical questions related to property deeds and the like.

The Episcopal Diocese contends that Virginia’s law is unconstitutional because it requires a judge to wade into theological issues and thus violates First Amendment protections guaranteeing freedom of religion.

“Within the Episcopal Church, we may have theological disagreements, but those disagreements are ours to resolve according to the rules of our own governance,” said the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Episcopal bishop of Virginia.

Whether the decision in the Virginia case is indicative of what will happen nationally is doubtful. Even leaders in the departing congregations acknowledge that the judge’s rulings turned on interpretation of a statute unique to Virginia.

Valerie Munson, assistant director of the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, said property disputes tend to be fact-specific and state laws governing them vary greatly.

Still, she said lawyers will look closely at Bellows’ various rulings for specific points that might be persuasive in cases across the country.

Jim Oakes, vice chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, an organization formed by the departing congregations said he thinks the ruling will be “encouraging to other orthodox congregations across the country.”

NY's Diaz Sr. Lobs Gay-Hating Missile in Senate Leadership Wars

Above, a flyer sent out by Democratic New York Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., who hates gays and loves Pastor Rick Warren, as a response to a recent ad taken out by the Working Families Party targeting the constituencies of Sens. Diaz and Espada in the Bronx urging voters to convince their leaders to get behind majority leader Malcolm Smith.

The flyer also states "I am still a Democrat. And I will always be a Democrat."

[Oh look, his address and phone number are on the flyer… hmmmm]

Campbell Stands Behind Advocate Ads, Doesn’t Cave to AFA

Despite demands from the American Family Association calling for e-mails to Campbell Soup Co. urging the company to stop “pushing the gay agenda,” the icon of all things American is standing behind a decision to advertise in the gay and lesbian market.

The two-page spreads for the Swanson division represent Campbell’s first foray into the gay market. One ad, which appears in the December 2 issue of The Advocate, features two women and a young boy enjoying soup made with Swanson Chicken Broth. Accompanying text identifies the women as a couple. On the opposite page is a chef, Christopher Lee, who is not identified as gay or straight. The second, in the January 13 issue, has Lee on one page and another chef, Wil Crutchley, on the other. Neither man's sexual orientation is identified.
Upon seeing the ads, the AFA immediately took it its website, urging Campbell to “remain neutral in the culture war.”

Campbell rep Anthony Sanzio said the company stands behind the ads.

"Our position on this is pretty straightforward. Inclusion and diversity play an important role in our business, and that fact is reflected in our marketing plan," he said. "For more than a century people from all walks for life have enjoyed Campbell's products, and we will continue to try to communicate in ways that are meaningful and relevant to them."

Sanzio said plans for the Swanson brand include further placements in The Advocate.

AFA has long called for boycotts of companies that place ads in gay publications. The organization waged a multiyear war against Ford Motor Co. for its outreach to gay consumers.

To thank Campbell for its gay-supportive stance, consumers can contact company president Douglas R. Conant at Campbell Soup Co, Campbell Place, Camden, NJ 08103, (800) 442-7684 or (800) 257-8443, douglas_r_conant@campbellsoup.com. There is also a feedback form on the Campbell corporate website, CampbellSoupCompany.com.

'Virginity Pledges' Are Ineffective

Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.

The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.

"Taking a pledge doesn't seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior," said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. "But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking."

[Wow… all the money the Bush administration has poured into ineffective abstinence only education.]

Pastor Warren: I love gays

Under fire for opposing gay marriage, influential evangelical pastor Rick Warren says that he loves Muslims, people of other religions, Republicans and Democrats, and he also loves “gays and straights.”

The 54-year-old pastor and founder of Saddleback Church in Southern California told the crowd of 500 on the weekend before Christmas that it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to agree on everything all the time.

“You don’t have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand,” said Warren.
Warren also defended President-elect Barack Obama’s invitation that he give the invocation at the Jan. 20 inauguration in the keynote speech he delivered at the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s annual convention in Long Beach.

Obama’s choice of Warren earlier this week sparked outcry from gay rights and other liberal groups, who said choosing such an outspoken opponent of gay marriage was tantamount to endorsing bigotry.

“Three years ago I took enormous heat for inviting Barack Obama to my church because some of his views don’t agree (with mine),” he said. “Now he’s invited me.”

Warren said he prays for the same things for Obama that he prays for himself: integrity, humility and generosity.

Obama defended his choice on Thursday, saying that he has also invited Joseph Lowery, a Methodist minister and civil rights leader who supports same-sex marriage and gay rights, to deliver the benediction.“During the course of the entire inaugural festivities, there are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented. And that’s how it should be, because that’s what America’s about. That’s part of the magic of this country … we are diverse and noisy and opinionated,” Obama said.

New Bush medical rules could harm LGBT, HIV patients

The Bush administration, in its final days, has issued a federal rule reinforcing protections for doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other procedures because of religious or moral objections.

Critics say the protections are so broad they limit a patient’s right to get care and accurate information.

“The refusal clause goes beyond women’s health and a woman’s right to an abortion or birth control,” said openly lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.

“Under the new regulations, a doctor may also refuse to treat a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender person. Medical care must be based on science and the patients’ best interest, not the providers’ religious, political, or other philosophical views.”

The Human Rights Campaign also expressed concern over the new Department of Health and Human Services regulations, saying they could be used by a provider to administer an HIV test to a gay patient, and even be exempt from the statutory duty to tell the patient where else he could receive the test.

Under the regulations, a pharmacist could refuse to fill a prescription for hormone therapy if he or she has religious objection to transgender people.

It could also threaten women’s access to comprehensive health care by permitting pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraception even when doing so significantly burdens the patient’s access, or to refuse to participate in an emergency abortion even when the woman’s health is at risk.The regulations override many state laws protecting patients’ access to medical services.

“These regulations sacrifice patients’ right to medical care, permitting providers to refuse to do their jobs when they choose,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “We ask the Bush administration: what happened to ‘first, do no harm?’ Denying patients legal, safe medical treatments for any reason is simply wrong, and violates the trust that all Americans, regardless of our sexual orientation or gender identity, place in our doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.”HRC submitted comments objecting to these regulations when they were proposed, asking the administration to amend them to protect patients while preserving religious liberty.

“We are now calling on Congress to take action to eliminate these harmful regulations, and will encourage the incoming HHS leadership to amend them through the regulatory process,” said Solmonese.

NH Bill Seeks to Turn Civil Unions Into Marriage

"New Hampshire State Rep. Jim Splaine, submitted a bill asking that civil unions, which are currently recognized by the state, be changed to allow marriage. State Rep. Paul McEachern, is co-sponsoring the bill.

The bill would essentially provide for full marriage equality," Splaine said. "I submitted the bill because I think it's important that we keep this dialogue going." Splaine said the bill will be presented on Jan. 7 along with the other bills introduced for the session. He said then it will be scheduled for a public hearing or sent to a committee."

Head of Episcopal Church Calls Homosexuality 'A Gift'

While Pope Benedict thinks of the gays as dangerous bushwhackers destroying the rainforest of heterosexuality and Rev. Rick Warren defends his homophobia by saying he's actually met some honest-to-goodness homosexuals in his life.

Katharine Jefferts Schori, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church told the Washington Post over the weeken that homosexuality "Is a reality of creation, not just the human species … For some people to say it’s against the order of creation, it’s a very interesting comment – it doesn’t accord with what we can observe in nature" and then called homosexuality "a gift."

AG calls for rejection of Prop 8

California Attorney General Jerry Brown told the state Supreme Court Friday that it should invalidate Proposition 8, the voter approved amendment to the state constitution that bans same-sex marriage.

In a brief submitted to the court Friday, Brown’s office said the measure should be invalidated because it deprives people of the right to marry—an aspect of liberty that the Supreme Court has concluded is guaranteed by the California Constitution. “Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification,” Brown’s brief said.

Brown argued that in order to invalidate such a fundamental right, the court “must determine that there is a compelling justification to do so.”But in the marriage cases that the court ruled on earlier this year, striking down the ban on gay marriage “the court found that no such compelling justification exists. Accordingly, Proposition 8 must be stricken,” the brief said.

Brown also said that he believes that same-sex marriages entered into between June 16 and November 4, 2008 are valid and recognized in California regardless of whether Proposition 8 is upheld.

The position was a surprise to some. Although he personally supports same-sex marriage many thought as Attorney General Brown would ask the court to uphold Prop 8. Brown’s office said that as Attorney General he is obligated to argue state constitutional law, which is what he did.

The court had ordered Brown’s office to submit its brief by today in reaction to legal challenges to Prop 8.

Following passage of the proposition the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the vote. They were joined by additional suits by the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The lawsuits charge that Proposition 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution’s core commitment to equality for everyone, by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group – lesbian and gay Californians.

They also say that Proposition 8 improperly attempts to prevent the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting the equal protection rights of minorities.

The suits say that under the California Constitution, such radical changes to the organizing principles of state government cannot be made by simple majority vote through the initiative process, but instead must, at a minimum, go through the state legislature first.

The California Constitution itself sets out two ways to alter the document that sets the most basic rules about how state government works, the groups said in a statement.

Through the initiative process, voters can make relatively small changes to the constitution. But any measure that would change the underlying principles of the constitution must first be approved by the legislature before being submitted to the voters.

That didn’t happen with Proposition 8, and that’s why it’s invalid, the petitioners said.

The Supreme Court set Friday as the deadline for Brown’s office to reply and it said that in addition to hearing arguments on the validity of the vote it wanted to address what effect, if any, a ruling upholding the amendment would have on the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that were sanctioned in California before Election Day.

In addition to the brief from attorneys for the Protect Marriage Coalition, the umbrella group that put Prop 8 on the ballot. It argued that the will of the people must be respected by the court and that the measure also invalidated those marriages performed prior to the vote.

The coalition has hired Ken Starr who led the inquiry into President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica L. Lewinsky, to argue its case before the high court. It said it needed a high profile attorney because it did not trust Brown to fight for Prop 8.

The court is expected to study the briefs and then ask for comment from the litigants. Oral arguments in the case could be heard as early as March but a ruling would not come for months after that.

A Long March for Marriage Equality

We just felt we had to do something. We were in the marches right after the election, but every time we wound up marching right back to West Hollywood. We were tired of marching in circles. We wanted to go somewhere.

This is how Valerie Paget explains why she and her wife, Tracie Jones, decided to go on 450-mile protest march from West Hollywood to the Supreme Court in San Francisco, where they arrived over the weekend.

The trip took a little over a month, and on the day we caught up with the women in Salinas, California, they were in good spirits. "One of the things we wanted to do was to go to the places that voted against our interests and meet them. It's as much about being visible and talking to people as it is the marching," said Paget.

As talking to strangers is a goal, it's nice to know people have been so receptive to the lesbian couple. "Originally we had planned on camping or checking into a hotel every night, but for all but two nights out of the trip, people have put us up. It's really amazing", Valerie said, noting that sometimes people offer because they hear about her on the Internet.

As the pair moved through California, each wearing a sign – one reading "L.A. to S.F." and the other "Revoke Prop. 8" – they reportedly had nothing but good encounters with people. Sometimes passersby waved at them while they walk along the road, other times they offered food or drinks. Valerie marveled, "One town we walked into and we got to the gas station and the lady at the counter there already had packed up lunches for us to eat, because word had gotten ahead of us that we were coming." "You always wonder how people are going to react when they see you walking into town with these signs on, but we've been amazed by how warm and friendly everyone's been," she added.

In addition to being a visible sign of protest, Tracie and Valerie found themselves making connections and friendships with marriage equality advocates in rural California who have felt isolated from the cities where protests and civic actions have occurred. Along the way they collected signatures for a petition that would begin the process of getting a ballot initiative to repeal Prop. 8 in California and arriving on the steps of the California Supreme Court on Friday, they delivered letters and signatures on the day of the court's filing deadline for the upcoming case reviewing Prop. 8's constitutionality.

In the end though, Valerie and Tracie say that their main goal was to start a conversation and keep people talking and thinking about equal rights for gays and lesbians. As Valerie puts it, "You wear a sign around your neck and people come up and talk to you."

It'll Be Two Years Before They Take Up 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

If you're expecting a quick repeal of Don't Ask-Don't Tell, the controversial policy that's been used to dismiss thousands of American servicemen and women simply for being gay, don't hold your breath; though if you ask Congressional Democrats, including Rep. Barney Frank and Rep. Tammy Baldwin, it'll be worth the wait.

Iowa City Council Debates Gay Marriage

Sioux City, Iowa, council members voted Monday to delay taking action on a resolution to publicly oppose same-sex marriage, reports The Des Moines Register.

Before moving forward on the proposal, Mayor Mike Hobart said he first wanted counsel from the state attorney general "on whether we have the jurisdiction and authority to pass the resolution."

Councilman Brent Hoffman introduced the proposal to publicly support the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Though the city has no legal authority over defining marriage, Hoffman said the symbolic move would have been instructive for city departments, boards, and commissions. The resolution also requests a statewide vote on gay marriage.

The Register reported that nearly 60 people attended Monday's council meeting to hear the debate, but the matter was "tabled indefinitely," according to Hobart.

Gay unions are a hot topic in Iowa, where the supreme court is deliberating over whether to uphold the state's Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits same-sex marriage, or declare the law unconstitutional. The ruling is expected to come any time in the next year and a half.

TV Ads Promoting Repeal of Prop. 8 to Hit California

A television campaign aimed at warming Californians to the idea of same-sex marriage will premiere during inauguration week in January.

Part of an effort by the group GetToKnowMeFirst.org, the five 30-second spots will run in both rural and urban markets. The ads feature gay families describing their experiences and urging their neighbors to "get to know" them before judging them.

"Don't take my family's rights away," plead Sonia and Gina, a lesbian couple with two children, in one of the ads. "Get to know me first. Our families may look different from yours, but we're not. We need the same things ... like marriage ... so we can protect and provide for our kids."

The hope is that the commercials -- produced by POWER UP, a nonprofit film organization based in Los Angeles -- will change the voter sentiment that led to the passage of Proposition 8, the November 2008 ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in the state. Although the voters have no say in the next decision to be made in legalizing same-sex marriage in California -- the state supreme court will decide on Proposition 8's constitutionality in March -- "it's important that ... Californians see the faces of the real families that are directly affected by the passage of Proposition 8," John Ireland, GetToKnowMeFirst.org's founder, said in a press release.

Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, two of the original plaintiffs in the marriage lawsuit that eventually led to the overturning of a ban on same-sex marriage (which was later overturned itself by Proposition 8), are featured in one of the commercials.

Defrocked pastor promoting documentary about own gay sex scandal

Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard has agreed to help promote a new documentary following his life in exile after a 2006 gay sex scandal - no longer bound by an agreement with his former church that prohibited him from talking publicly about the events that led to his downfall.

“The Trials of Ted Haggard,” directed by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is set to air next month on HBO. Haggard has agreed to take part in publicity for the project, HBO said.

“We look forward to presenting the film, Ted Haggard and his family at a press tour in Los Angeles next month,” a spokeswoman for the cable network said Wednesday.

Haggard’s latest return to the public eye comes after he re-emerged last month at a rural Illinois church, where he delivered guest sermons and said he was sexually abused as a second-grader.

Haggard, 52, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was fired as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., in November 2006 after a former male prostitute went public with allegations that Haggard paid him for sex and used methamphetamine.

A married father of five, Haggard said he bought the drugs but never used them. He confessed to undisclosed “sexual immorality” and has said, “I really did sin.”

In February, New Life Church announced that Haggard prematurely ended a “restoration” process designed to help him heal.

Neither Pelosi nor Haggard responded to requests for comment on the documentary, which is scheduled to first air Jan. 29. However, a Web site for a Toronto-based entertainment company that promotes HBO and other television projects describes it as “a behind-scenes-look at the rise and fall of Pastor Ted Haggard.”

The 41-minute documentary “follows Haggard and his family as they move from houses to motels as the excommunicated pastor tries to redeem himself and support his loved ones,” it says.

Haggard was not excommunicated, but rather dismissed as pastor by a church oversight board. Under a severance deal with New Life Church, Haggard agreed to leave Colorado Springs and not talk about the scandal publicly, church officials said. He received a year’s salary, or about $130,000.

The deal expired at the end of 2007, which allowed Haggard to move his family back to their Colorado Springs home, the church’s new pastor, Brady Boyd, said earlier this year. But Haggard continued to tell reporters last summer and again this fall that he was forbidden to talk to the press.

Boyd said Wednesday that church leadership decided in the last few weeks to release Haggard and his wife, Gayle, from any legal obligations. He said they can do as they wish, including promote the documentary.

“They are not acting outside any parameters we set for them,” said Boyd, who recently met with Haggard. “We want them to be free to move forward with their lives the way New Life has really moved forward.”

Haggard moved his family to Arizona after the scandal, and also lived in Texas. He is now selling insurance. At the Illinois church last month, he was introduced as a “Christian businessman,” hinting at a possible future speaking to churches and organizations about his experiences.

His public return was criticized as premature by a former counselor and church members who think his sins cost him any public role, but allies say Haggard has a gift and calling that cannot be suppressed.

Haggard was prominently featured in the 2007 HBO documentary “Friends of God: A Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi,” which was filmed before the scandal.

Connecticut Voters Support Same-Sex Marriage

A new poll shows that a majority of registered voters in Connecticut support same-sex marriage, which the state's supreme court legalized in October. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, 52% of voters support the ruling, 39% oppose it, and 9% are undecided, Newsday reports.

A stronger majority -- 61% -- oppose banning same-sex marriage via a state constitutional amendment, the paper reports. Marriage-equality foes had hoped voters would approve a constitutional convention so state legislators could discuss the matter, but the proposal failed at the ballot box on Election Day.

The poll surveyed 1,445 registered voters December 11-15 and has a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.

Battle to reverse Prop 8 begins

LGBT groups have begun efforts to put a repeal of Proposition 8 on the 2010 ballot.

Prop 8, passed by voters in November, bars same-sex marriage in California. The constitutionality of the measure will be taken up by the state Supreme Court in 2009, but LGBT groups say they are taking no chances on how the court will rule and have begun making plans for a ballot measure that would reverse the ban.

One group announced Wednesday that it will air five 30-second commercials to run throughout Inauguration Week in January.

The group, GetToKnowMeFirst.org, said the spots will run in both urban and rural markets throughout California. They are currently being previewed on the group’s Web site.
“It’s important that our fellow Californians see the faces of the real families that are directly affected by the passage of Proposition 8,” said John Ireland, the group’s organizer.

One of the spots in the campaign will feature Sonia and Gina, a couple who are raising a son and daughter, ages 6 and 3.

“Don’t take my family’s rights away. Get to know me first,” Sonia says in the ad. “Our families may look different from yours, but we’re not. We need the same things… like marriage… so we can protect and provide for our kids.”

Another spot will feature Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, two of the original plaintiffs in the marriage lawsuit that led the California Supreme Court to legalize marriage for same-sex couples in May 2008. That ruling was overturned by the passage of Proposition 8 in November.
Two of the ads will also be in Spanish. One profiles a Latina couple and the other profiles a family with triplets, headed by two men.

The spots were financed and produced by Power Up, an award-winning LGBT cinema incubator based in Los Angeles.

The final results of the November election were certified this week, showing that Prop 8 won by 599,602 votes. The results showed that the 52-48 percentage point spread held from early results on election night. It was approved in 43 of the state’s 58 counties.

Meanwhile, in another development, the American Civil Liberties Union has blasted a high school for ordering a 16- year-old student to remove a T-shirt opposing Prop 8 the day before the election.

The T-shirt that Mariah Jimenez wore to class at Big Bear High School on Nov 3 said ”Prop. 8 Equals Hate.”

A teacher ordered her to remove the T-shirt. When Jimenez refused she was sent to principal Michael Ghelber’s office.

The ACLU said that Ghelber told the student to either remove the T- shirt or remain in his office.

Jimenez reluctantly changed shirts and returned to class.

The ACLU in a letter to schools superintendent Carole Ferraud said that Jimenez’s federal and state constitutional rights of free speech had been violated.

The letter said that Jimenez deserves an apology. Ferraud had not responded by Wednesday morning.

Prop 8 advocate to deliver Obama invocation

Gay right groups are voicing their opposition to the choice of Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at President-elect Barrack Obama’s inauguration.

Warren is the outspoken evangelical pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. - one of the state’s largest megachurches.

He was a major supporter of Proposition 8, the measure that amended the California constitution to ban same-sex marriage in the state.

“There is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population,” he said during the Prop 8 campaign “This is not a political issue - it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about.”

When LGBT activists demonstrated at Saddleback following the passage of Prop 8, Warren accused gays of attempting to take away his constitutional right to practice religion.

During the presidential election campaign, Warren hosted a presidential forum with Obama and Sen. John McCain. Warren did not endorse either presidential candidate.

People For the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert said Warren should never have been selected to deliver Obama’s invocation because of his support for Prop 8.

“[T]his decision further elevates someone who has in recent weeks actively promoted legalized discrimination and denigrated the lives and relationships of millions of Americans,” said Kolbert in a statement.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, in a letter to Obama, called for the invitation to Warren be rescinded.

“We have been moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country. And that you have publicly called on religious leaders to open their hearts to their LGBT family members, neighbors and friends,” Solmonese said in the letter to the President-elect.

“But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination. Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.”

During the election campaign, Obama drew the ire of gay groups for choosing gospel singer Donnie McClurkin to appear at rallies targeting evangelical Christians.

McClurkin is an ardent supporter of the so-called ex-gay movement and has called homosexuality a choice that can be cured.

When opposition to McClurkin surfaced, Obama distanced himself from the singer’s views, but did not remove him from campaign appearances.

Obama has appointed one openly gay person to his administration. He selected Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor of Los Angeles, to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

On the issues, Obama supports repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ban on gays serving openly in the military; passage of the Mathew Shepard hate crime bill; and an inclusionary ENDA. He opposes same-sex marriage, but believes gay and lesbian couples should have many of the rights of marriage and supports repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Nobel Winner predicts HIV vaccine in 5 years

One of the scientists sharing the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering the HIV virus said on the weekend that he believes there will be a therapeutic vaccine to treat it within five years.

Luc Montagnier said in Sweden he believes it is ”a matter of four to five years” before a therapeutic vaccine to treat HIV infection is developed.”

He did not elaborate as to why he believes scientists are close.

Scientists have developed lifesaving drugs that can inhibit the disease but there is no vaccine to prevent or treat HIV infection. Finding a vaccine has proved elusive in the past, with the most recent trials ending in failure.

However, a therapeutic vaccine would be a key step in fighting the virus, he said. A therapeutic vaccine would be given to people who are already infected, in order to lessen the impact of the disease while a preventative vaccine would, ideally, protect people from HIV.

So far, scientists have focused on drugs to fight the disease because they have been proving effective. In developed countries, AIDS has become manageable, rather than fatal, because of the drugs.

HIV was first identified 25 years ago but still poses difficult challenges. Scientists cannot explain, for example, why it causes the immune system to collapse.

Montagnier, together with other Nobel laureates, began arriving in Stockholm on Saturday ahead of a week of Nobel festivities that culminates with a lavish banquet and awards ceremony Dec. 10.

The 76-year old scientist shares one-half of the US$1.2-million prize with 61-year-old Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, also of France, for their research on HIV. The other half goes to Germany’s Harald zur Hausen, 72, for showing a viral cause for cervical cancer.

Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf will hand over the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Wednesday, along with the awards in chemistry, physics, literature and economics. The Nobel Peace Prize is presented at a separate ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

Many of World’s Coral Reefs Will Be Gone By 2050: 25% of Marine Species Too & Half a Billion People Without a Job

Sobering news on a Friday morning: Worldwatch Institute is pointing out how global coral reef losses—19% of coral reefs in the world are dead, mostly the result of warming sea-surface temperatures and water acidification—is really a sign pointing towards a coming global extinction event.

And unlike the five previous waves of extinction that this planet has seen, this one is caused by humans. Oh, and did I mention that this one is likely to happen in decades rather than centuries, with a quarter of the world’s species wiped out by 2050?

From Different Sides....

NYS birth certificates to reflect both same-sex parents

State officials will now let married same-sex couples list both their names on their children’s birth certificates in a policy shift deeply important to many gays and lesbians.

The decision, which echoes similar provisions in states that allow gay marriages or civil unions, is one of many changes since Gov. David Paterson ordered state agencies in May to respect out-of-state gay marriages.

The state Health Department said it agreed to the change, which came after a lesbian couple who are expecting a baby filed a lawsuit. The change would apply statewide except in New York City, which is considering revamping its own birth certificate forms to accommodate same-sex couples.

Under state law, a woman’s husband is automatically deemed a parent of a child the pair conceives through artificial insemination, whether or not he is the genetic father. Gay couples have complained about having to jump through legal hoops to secure equivalent parental rights.


Judge Removes Child From Lesbian Parents

The West Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving a lesbian couple’s appeal of a lower court ruling that removed a child they had reared from birth because the judge wanted the child placed with a married opposite-sex couple.

Circuit Judge Paul Blake originally agreed to allow Kathyrn Kutil and Cheryl Hess to be foster parents for the infant girl, following a positive assessment by the Department of Health and Human Resources.

Court records show that the little girl was born to a drug addicted mother and the baby had had cocaine, opiates and benzodiazepines in her system. Shortly after birth the baby went through drug withdrawal. The father was unknown.

The Department placed the child with Kutil and Hess, who had been approved as foster parents, when it could not find any blood relatives of the mother.

But nearly a year later when the couple applied to adopt the little girl both the Department and Judge Blake balked. In his ruling Blake ordered the child removed saying the baby should be permanently placed in a home where the parents would be a married opposite-sex couple.

The ruling said that he had agreed to allow the women to foster the child because it was the best option at the time. But he never intended it to be permanent.

"I think I’ve indicated time and time again, this court’s opinion is that the best interest of a child is to be raised by a traditional family, mother and father," Blake’s ruling said.

"Now, that’s this court’s opinion as to what a typical West Virginian would feel and what the typical attitude is of the West Virginia Supreme Court, a traditional family."

In their appeal to the state, Supreme Court the women argue that Blake exceeded his authority and violated their constitutional rights. The appeal argues that Blake is "setting a dangerous precedent" for discriminatory treatment of non-traditional families.

A different judge recently approved Kutil’s adoption of a 12-year-old girl whom she’d been fostering for over two years, the appeal notes.

West Virginia law allows either single individuals or married couples to adopt. It says nothing about same-sex couples.

The Kenneth Cole Fashion Campaign That Looks Like You

Late Night Jokes

Urban Outfitters Tee Pulled Not Over Homophobia, But Slacking Sales?

"Urban Outfitters landed in some hot water earlier this week when consumers started to question company standards after an 'I Support Same-Sex Marriage' T-shirt mysteriously vanished off shelves in California. Yesterday, Urban Outfitters reached out to us to comment on the situation: 'The T-shirt was pulled because it was not selling,' a spokesperson for the company told us. 'This is a common practice because sales space is so valuable, especially in this challenging economic climate.'"

Showtime to Produce Coming-Out Reality Show

Showtime announced Thursday that it is developing a reality series, Way Out, that will document gay people's experiences as they come out to friends and family. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network has ordered a pilot presentation from Bryan Freedman, a former journalist and executive producer of A&E's Intervention. In each episode of Way Out a closeted person reveals his or her homosexuality during a group meeting and is then followed while telling others. The show is one of several Showtime has ordered to beef up its reality programming.

Rick Jacobs to No on 8 Leaders: 'Do Not Try to Run This Again. Ever.'

Rick Jacobs isn't your average run-of-the-mill critic of the No on 8 campaign. As founder of the Courage Campaign, a progressive netroots organization with over 300,000 members that partners with labor, religious and netroots groups, Jacobs is in a unique position to look at what went wrong with the No on 8.

Like many groups, the Courage Campaign offered its support and services to the No on 8 Campaign, but felt largely rebuffed. When the Jacobs saw that the Mormon Church was donating unprecedented sums of money through its members to Prop 8, the Courage Campaign created a television ad featuring two Mormon missionaries invading a lesbian's home and taking their marriage certificate and rings from them. It would be the only large-scale criticism of the Mormon Church before the election.

Queerty spoke with Jacobs about No on 8, why the leaders of the campaign owe us an apology and what the gay community needs to do next.

What was the Courage Campaign's involvement with Prop. 8 both before and after the election?

In August of this year, we made a very clear choice. We have considerable online organizing expertise and relationships in progressive communities and groups across the state and nation. We work closely with MoveOn.org, SEIU/United Healthcare Workers-West, California Nurses Association, SCLC of Greater LA and many others. We could have offered a great deal to the No on 8 campaign, but having tried to “break in,” I decided not to push any more.

I feel bad about that. Had we all broken down the doors, things might have been different. We worked with the campaign, but were never allowed into the inner sanctum.

As we saw the situation deteriorate, Courage decided to take on the leadership of the Mormon Church very directly. The Church leadership had pushed its members to donate as much as $22 million and to make calls and knock on doors. The official campaign would not take the church on, so we did.

We worked closely with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of LA. We got 17,000 people to sign a letter calling on the president of the church to stop breaking the ninth commandment, not condone blackmail and stop using the church to take rights away from a minority. We were not allowed to deliver the letters at the temple in L.A. so we found two wonderful ex-Mormons who had been excommunicated for being gay. They delivered the letters in SLC in front of five TV cameras.

Colin Powell Says It’s Time to Reevaluate ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

Appearing on CNN’s The Situation Room on Thursday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said it was time to reevaluate ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ the discriminatory policy that prevents gay and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Powell's acknowledgment is significant in that DADT was instituted while he was serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former president Bill Clinton.

“We definitely should reevaluate it,” Powell told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria when asked about his current feelings regarding the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

“It's been 15 years since we put in DADT which was a policy that became a law. I didn't want it to become a law but it became a law. Congress felt that strongly about it. But it's been 15 years and attitudes have changed and so I think it is time for the Congress, since it is their law, to have a full review of it, and I'm quite sure that's what President-elect Obama will want to do."

In addition to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, Powell, who publicly endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, also took aim at his own Republican Party in the interview as he called on the GOP to face some contemporary realities.

“I think the party has to take a hard look at itself,” Powell said in the interview. “There is nothing wrong with being conservative. There is nothing wrong with having socially conservative views — I don’t object to that. But if the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities. In another 20 years, the majority in this country will be the minority.”

“I think the party has to stop shouting at the world and at the country,” Powell said. “I think that the party has to take a hard look at itself, and I’ve talked to a number of leaders in recent weeks and they understand that.”

Powell, also said it was time for Republicans to stop listening to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh for political guidance.

Top Evangelical Steps Down After Supporting Gay Unions

With evangelical church money second only to Mormon Church donations in helping to pass California’s Prop. 8, the resignation of an outspoken and polarizing voice from the National Association of Evangelicals Thursday after outwardly supporting same-sex unions made ripples in the divide between church and gay rights.

Rev. Richard Cizik spoke in support of gay civil unions during a Dec. 2 “Fresh Air” radio broadcast on National Public Radio – he said his attitude toward the LGBT community is shifting.

NAE was quick to distance itself from Cizik. He has become an increasingly outspoken opponent of some of NAE’s positions in recent years – in particular, the organizations stand on the environment and global warming.

Rev. Leith Anderson, a Minneapolis-area pastor who serves as NAE president, said Cizik’s resignation was necessary.

"Any organizations that speak to controversial issues are going to have critics," Anderson told the Associated Press. "What was different this time was our individuals and organizations felt there was a loss of credibility for him clearly espousing our positions and values. When you lose that, it's very difficult to re-establish."

BIBLICAL Marriage

If we're really after BIBLICAL Marriage, here are some propositions we should be seeing in upcoming elections:

A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)

B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)

C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)

D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden.
(Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)

E. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)

F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Gen 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10).

G. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your town, it is required that you get your dad drunk and have sex with him (even if he had previously offered you up as a sex toy to men young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of course, this rule applies only if you are female. (Gen 19:31-36)

The 12 Gays of Christmas

U.S. Still Unattached to United Nations' First Gay Rights Statement

A United Nations joint statement calling for countries to decriminalize homosexuality and keep LGBT people safe has been backed by nearly every Western nation -- except possibly the United States.

A U.N. spokeswoman for the United States said the government has not shown its support because the statement has not been finalized, but U.K. gay activist Peter Tatchell says it has been put through the final steps.

"The U.S. government often berates Zimbabwe, Burma, and Sudan over their human rights violations," Tatchell said in an e-mail on Wednesday. "These condemnations will ring hollow if the U.S. refuses to support this U.N. joint statement. This is a test of the U.S. government's commitment to universal human rights. Washington will lose ever more respect and credibility if it fails to endorse this statement of support for LGBT human rights."

All 27 countries in the European Union have already approved of the French-proposed statement, to be submitted to the U.N. General Assembly by December 20. The Vatican -- which is neither a European Union member nor a voting member of the U.N. -- denounced the declaration last week. Additionally, several Eastern European countries, Mexico, Japan, and Australia have pledged their support to the statement. However, there is still not enough international support for a majority.

Tatchell said the joint statement represents a reduction from its initial status as a declaration, which tends to carry more weight in the United Nations. Some countries were apprehensive about signing onto a declaration, but consented to sign a joint statement instead. Tatchell is asking Americans to contact their representatives in Congress and the White House to urge them to support the statement.

With the landmark 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas the U.S. Supreme Court overturned 13 standing state laws that allowed authorities to arrest and prosecute people for gay sex. Still, neither sexual orientation nor gender identity are protected under federal hate-crime or nondiscrimination laws; such protections are urged in the statement.

As of May 2008, more than 80 countries around the world still criminalize consensual sex between two people of the same gender, according to a report by the International Lesbian and Gay Association. Among those counties, seven consider such offences punishable by death.

New Jersey Commission Says Gays Should be Allowed to Marry

In a landmark new report released Wednesday, a New Jersey commission has recommended that state legislators allow gays and lesbians to marry. The report paves the way for the Garden State to potentially become the first to legalize same-sex marriage by passing a law, rather than by a court ruling, the Associated Press reports.

The Civil Union Review Commission, tasked with evaluating the state's two-year-old civil unions law, determined that marriage was superior. "This commission finds that the separate categorization established by the Civil Union Act invites and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children," the report says, according to the AP.

The commission’s 13 members, comprising LGBT leaders and government officials as well as a Republican and two clergy members, unanimously agreed on their conclusions. It found that in addition to being unequal, the rights afforded same-sex couples under civil unions aren't always well understood, the AP reports. For example, the commission documented cases in which people in civil unions had been prevented from visiting their partners in the hospital.

"The report is a sweeping indictment of the failure of the civil union law," Steven Goldstein, head of Garden State Equality and the vice chairman of the commission, told the New Jersey Star-Ledger. "The report asks Governor Corzine and the legislature: Do you want equality or not? If so, there is only one way to go."

"The commission's report should spark a renewed sense of purpose and urgency to overcoming one of society's last remaining barriers to full equality for all residents," state assembly speaker Joseph Roberts Jr., a Democrat from Camden and one of the key figures in setting the legislature's agenda, told the AP.

Though a spokesperson for New Jersey governor Jon S. Corzine said the governor would not comment until he had reviewed the report, Corzine has said in the past that he would sign a bill allowing gay marriage.

Wanda Sykes on Jay Leno

The Gay Rights Ad Salt Lake Woke Up To This Morning

Salt Lake Tribune readers who opened their newspapers today got a message straight from the gay community. Truth Wins Out, responding to ad that ran Friday in the New York Times headlined, "No Mob Violence" that accused the LGBT protesters of attacking religious communities unfairly, ran its own full page ad in the city most closely associated with the Mormon Church.

The ad, titled "Lies in the Name of the Lord", includes defamatory remarks made by Christian leaders James Dobson, Chuck Colson and Rick Cizik. Most of the remarks are made against Mormons and the ad concludes saying, "It appears the only thing these men have in common with the Mormon Church is an uncommon zeal for promoting anti-gay legislation."

New York Senate Democrat Deal Falls Apart

As Senator Ruben Diaz Sr.'s earlier remarks suggested, the power-brokering deal between Senator Malcolm Smith and the "gang of three" (Senator-elect Pedro Espada Jr., Díaz Sr. of the Bronx, and Senator Carl Kruger of Brooklyn) has collapsed.

Smith issued a statement this morning:
"Today I am announcing that the Democratic Members of the Senate have elected to cease negotiations on reorganization matters with all three Senators as discussed both in private and in the press. We are suspending negotiations, effective immediately, because to do so otherwise would reduce our moral standing and the long-term Senate Democratic commitment to reform and to change. We believe that ultimately, we must do what is right for the people of the State of New York. Furthermore, real reform cannot and should not ever include limiting the civil rights of any New Yorkers. Those issues must be part of the legislative process. The members of this Conference have come a long way to consider the demands placed on the table. But frankly, we would rather wait two more years to take charge of the Senate than to simply serve the interests of the few. New York State cannot afford the type of self-serving politics being proposed and I will not be the leader to sacrifice what is right for New York for a quick political solution."

The Empire State Pride Agenda reacted to Smith's statement with one from ESPA's Executive Director Alan Van Capelle:
"We applaud Senator Malcolm Smith’s ongoing efforts to lead the new Senate Majority that voters chose during the recent elections. By stating that reform in the Senate cannot include bargaining away civil rights, Senator Smith has once again demonstrated his commitment to standing up for all New Yorkers. The Pride Agenda looks forward to continuing to work with Senator Smith when the legislative session starts. In the meantime we will be working with legislative leaders—Democrats and Republicans—and continuing to do what we’ve been doing all along, and that is working with our community and our allies across New York, including those from communities of faith and organized labor, to earn the votes we need to bring the marriage equality bill to the floor of the Senate for passage."

And The Band Played...

The Lesbian and Gay Band Association, a musical group with members from gay marching and symphonic bands across the country, has been accepted by President-elect Barack Obama to march in the 2009 inaugural parade. This is the first inaugural parade to feature a gay group.

“What we have in mind with these documents is we feel the president's accomplishments haven't been given the attention they deserve.”

CARLTON CARROLL, a White House spokesman referring to a two-page memo sent to Bush cabinet members and other officials as a guide for public speeches in which they discuss the President's eight-year tenure

A Day Without A Gay

Call in gay: Grassroots protest against Prop 8

Some same-sex marriage supporters are urging people to “call in gay” Wednesday to show how much the country relies on gays and lesbians, but others question whether it’s wise to encourage skipping work given the nation’s economic distress.

Organizers of “Day Without a Gay” - scheduled to coincide with International Human Rights Day and modeled after similar work stoppages by Latino immigrants - also are encouraging people to perform volunteer work and refrain from spending money.

Larry Craig Loses Another Attempt to Clear His Name

Outgoing Idaho senator Larry Craig has lost his latest appeal to withdraw a guilty plea after being caught in an Minneapolis bathroom sex sting. According to the Associated Press, Craig's appeal was rejected by a three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday morning.

The senator was arrested in June 2007 for disorderly conduct after he was accused of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in a restroom at the Minneapolis airport. He initially pleaded guilty and paid a fine, but he attempted to withdraw the plea once his arrest was made public.

Craig's attorney, arguing before the court in September, said the evidence was insufficient to find him guilty.

[Like you thought I would leave this one alone. Ha! I can't resist.]

“We want to get the conversation going in the community that gay is not bad.”

SCOTT CRAIG, fifth-grade teacher at Philadelphia's Independence Charter School, in support of the Dec.10 national protest "Day Without a Gay," designed to show how much the US relies on gays and lesbians

Marc Shaiman and Company Talk About Prop 8: The Musical

Marc Shaiman, Jack Black and John C. Reilly appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann to discuss the Prop 8: The Musical web sensation, how and why it was conceived, and how they all came to participate.

Newsweek Discovers Holy Book Not Actually Against Gay Marriage

One of the most useful side-effects of the pasage of Prop. 8 in California is that people are asking, "So why won't we let the gays get married again?" and anti-marriage advocates, unable to win their case in the civic square have retreated to religion, pulling out the "Because the Bible tells me so" defense.

Not true, says Nesweek's Lisa Miller in this morning's cover story, The Religious Case for Gay Marriage, which argues that there's a pretty compelling theological argument for gay marriage. Looking at the institution Miller asks:

Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife Sarah was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women (two sisters and their servants)? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel—all these fathers and heroes were polygamists.

The New Testament model of marriage is hardly better. Jesus himself was single and preached an indifference to earthly attachments—especially family. The apostle Paul (also single) regarded marriage as an act of last resort for those unable to contain their animal lust. "It is better to marry than to burn with passion," says the apostle, in one of the most lukewarm endorsements of a treasured institution ever uttered. Would any contemporary heterosexual married couple—who likely woke up on their wedding day harboring some optimistic and newfangled ideas about gender equality and romantic love—turn to the Bible as a how-to script?

Miller goes on to argue that the traditional family values that religious conservatives in this country are so fond of protecting are virtually absent from the Bible and are modern inventions and interpretations of the Bible. She says:

Religious objections to gay marriage are rooted not in the Bible at all, then, but in custom and tradition (and, to talk turkey for a minute, a personal discomfort with gay sex that transcends theological argument).

Which is lately what we've been thinking too. The arguments against gay marriage are objectively pretty weak and almost every extended conversation we have with someone against gay marriage eventually devolves into a "gay sex is icky" conversation, to which I have to explain that most of us don't have plans on to invite the wedding reception up to our rooms at the end of the night.

It's an even-handed piece that will, if history is any indicator, result in Lisa Miller getting lots of nasty phone calls at the behest of the Christian Anti-Defamation League.

Court Ruling May Pave the Way for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to Go

A court ruling handed down on Thursday may pave the way for "don't ask, don't tell" to be repealed. According to the decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Air Force Maj. Margaret Witt's earlier victory invalidating her discharge will be allowed to stand, leaving the military to acquiesce -- or go to the Supreme Court, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

In May, Witt, a decorated nurse, won her case before a three-judge panel of the appeals court, which ruled that the military must show why an individual soldier is being discharged for being gay. The Air Force now has 90 days to appeal to the Supreme Court, the Chronicle reports; otherwise, the new requirement becomes binding in the eight states of the Ninth Circuit, including California.

RNC spends $180K on Palin and family

Salons and spas, including $350 at Escape Skin Care and Day Spa in New York, were the latest unusual expenses to appear in the Republican National Committee’s coordinated expenses account with the McCain-Palin campaign, according to November reports released late Thursday.

Overall, the RNC has reported spending a total of about $180,000 for clothes and various accessories for the family of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Federal Election Commission records show. As Politico first reported in October, the bulk of that spending, about $150,000, was spent in early September on clothes for the Alaska governor and her family. The RNC’s post-Election Day report documented another $30,000 at outlets that read like a suburban shopping directory. Dick’s Sporting Goods, The Limited, Foot Locker, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Victoria’s Secret are all listed in between the expected payments for media buys, direct mail and polling. Major payments to big department stores and boutique clothing outlets also continued.

Thousands of dollars in payments to Macy’s, Nieman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue — all major recipients of RNC cash in early September as Palin upgraded her wardrobe for the campaign — were made in October, too. In addition, hundreds of dollars were also spent at Brooks Brothers, the Gap, Express and J.C. Penney on clothes and accessories, apparently for other members of the vice presidential nominee’s family.

Republican donors reacted with anger when news of the spending broke in October. Typically, such coordinated campaign accounts are used to supplement a party nominee’s advertising and voter turnout operations.

The November report, which is the first post-election accounting, shows that the RNC spent heavily — more than $19 million — on both of those political activities from its coordinated expenses account. The party also spent more than $34 million on independent expenditures in the final weeks of the campaign to help nominee John McCain's presidential bid.

As for the clothes, RNC spokesman Alex Conant said: "The accessories have been returned, inventoried and will be appropriately dispersed to various charities."

[Wait, it gets better!]

Sarah Palin Still Wearing Campaign Clothes

After a 12-day hiatus, Sarah Palin stepped back into the spotlight on Monday to campaign for Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss. Spectators experienced déjà vu as the Alaska governor sported the same jacket she had worn on the campaign trail this fall.

UPDATE: the jacket was first photographed on Palin on August 31st, two days after joining the McCain ticket, when she started the day at a rally in O'Fallon, Missouri before flying to Minneapolis for the Republican National Convention. So was Palin valiantly recycling old clothes or defiantly wearing items from her $150,000 wardrobe? You be the judge.

Sarah Palin and John McCain at a campaign rally in O'Fallon, Missouri on August 31st.

Sarah Palin on December 1st at a Chambliss rally in Savannah, Georgia:

[I thought she said she was going to return them?]

Same-Sex Marriage: Bargained Away in New York Senate Deal?

New York State senate Democrats may have secured control of their chamber by bargaining away marriage equality on Thursday.
Since Election Day, when Democrats won a two-seat majority in the chamber after decades of Republican rule, three conservative members of the caucus had threatened to defect to the GOP unless they received more power. But a handshake deal in New York City apparently gave the holdouts what they wanted, The New York Times reports.

For one, Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. of the Bronx, the concessions may have included postponing a vote on marriage equality until 2010 at the earliest, according to the paper.

New York assembly member Daniel J. O'Donnell, who is gay and carried a same-sex marriage bill that passed his chamber in 2007, told the Times that he expects momentum to continue for marriage equality regardless of what transpired.

"All civil rights movements have moments where they move forward, and moments of perceived setbacks," O’Donnell, who represents Manhattan, told the paper. "If in fact our civil rights were bargained away, that's deplorable. But in the end, I think justice and fairness will prevail."

Still, Freedom to Marry's executive director Evan Wolfson says its important to remain positive.
“Don’t buy into the idea that marriage is being put on the backburner," he told Advocate.com "Politicians always float trial balloons. There are those who want us to surrender and walk away, and expect less. We’ve only just begun to fight, and we can’t give up before we’ve started.”

Alan Van Capelle, head of Empire State Pride Agenda, said he and his team were awaiting more details about the deal. "We would expect that any rumors that marriage equality was somehow a part of this deal are just that -- rumors," Van Capelle said in a statement. But, he cautioned, "civil rights should never be a bargaining chip in any political leadership battle, and we would be outraged if the issue of marriage equality was even part of the discussions."

A same-sex marriage bill has yet to pass New York's senate.

Iowa Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Gay Marriage Case

The Iowa Supreme Court is ready to hear oral arguments Tuesday in a gay marriage case that USA Today reports, "could echo throughout the nation and be far more difficult to challenge at the ballot box than a high-profile ruling in California, legal experts say."

If Varnum v. Brien is decided in favor of the six same-sex couples who filed the case, Iowa will become the first Midwestern state to legalize gay marriage according to Iowa law professor Angela Onwuachi-Willig.

Iowa legislators passed a Defense of Marriage Act in 1998, but the state currently has no constitutional prohibition against gay marriage. Passing an antigay constitutional marriage measure retroactively would be an involved process requiring a simple-majority vote of both the Iowa House and Senate in two consecutive legislative sessions followed by a majority approval of voters in the next general election.

"This is the heartland of America — a place where family values are revered," says University of Iowa law professor Angela Onwuachi-Willig, who signed a court brief supporting gay-marriage rights. "It would be an incredibly strong signal for the Iowa Supreme Court to find that same-sex marriages are legal."

LA Episcopal diocese OKs gay bishops and same-sex unions

The feud between liberals and conservatives within the worldwide Anglican Church has grown wider with the decision by the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese to call for the lifting of a moratorium on consecrating gay bishops.

Bishop J. Jon Bruno also told clergy in the diocese they could bless same-sex unions.

The 77-million-member Anglican Communion has been splintering since 2003, when the U.S. Episcopal Church consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
In 2006 at the urging of the titular head of the denomination, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Anglicans imposed a moratorium on elevating other gays to become bishops.

The Episcopal Church, the American branch of Anglicanism, signed onto the agreement as conservative parishes began leaving.

Last month the theologically conservative Diocese of Fort Worth voted to split from the liberal-leaning Episcopal Church, becoming the fourth whole diocese to leave the denomination. Last week the four dioceses and a handful of breakaway parishes founded the Anglican Church in North America - a move designed to remain within the Anglican communion but focus on conservative beliefs.

As the feud grew, LGBT Anglicans have said they were being marginalized.

On the weekend, the Los Angeles Diocese at its annual meeting overwhelmingly voted to call for the lifting of the moratorium.

The resolution stated that the moratorium violates church canons, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The Rev. J. Edwin Bacon of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena called the moratorium “blatantly discriminatory.”

“It tells a lie about God’s love - radically inclusive love - for everyone.”

All Saints has a history of social activism. Bacon told the synod that he recalled as a child that a pastor told his congregation that racial segregation was God’s will. Bacon said that in the same way some Episcopalians today use the Bible to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

The weekend vote means the issue will be brought before the Episcopal Church national convention in July.

PROP 8: THE MUSICAL

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman (whose boycott lead to the resignation of Sacramento's California Musical Theatre creative director Scott Eckern following his donation to Prop 8) wrote and conceived this hysterical short piece (presented with a wink and a nod by the 'Sacramento Community College Players'), which was directed and staged by Hairspray director and choreographer Adam Shankman and features plenty of folks you will recognize.

Shaiman plays the piano. Jordan Ballard, Margaret Cho, Barrett Foa, J.B. Ghuman, John Hill, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Rashad Naylor, Nicole Parker star as 'California Gays and The People That Love Them'. John C Reilly as a Prop 8 leader, and Alison Janney as his wife. Kathy Najimy as his second wife. Jenifer Lewis as a riffing Prop 8'er. Craig Robinson as a preacher. Rashida Jones, Lake Bell, Sarah Chalke as Scary Catholic School Girls from Hell. Katharine "Kooks" Leonard, Seth Morris, Denise "Esi!" Piane, Lucian Piane, Richard Read, Seth Redford, Quinton Strack, and Tate Taylor as The Frightened Villagers.

Jack Black stars as Jesus Christ, and Neil Patrick Harris is billed as 'A Very Smart Fellow'.