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'.