McCain: I'll Filibuster DADT Repeal

Sen. John McCain said over the weekend that he would filibuster any attempt to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the lame-duck session after the November midterm election.

According to The Huffington Post, McCain spoke in a pretaped interview for Sunday Square-Off on Arizona’s Channel 12.

“When asked how far he would go to prevent an attempt to repeal the controversial policy from being approved in the upper congressional chamber, McCain responded by saying, ‘Absolutely I will filibuster or stop it from being brought up until we have a thorough and complete study on the effect of morale and battle effectiveness.’”

McCain, who is up for reelection this year, leads Democratic challenger Rodney Glassman in polls. He notes that if he wins, and Republicans win a Senate majority, he would become the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Homophobia Literally Kills: Yankees Game

Federal judge may rule on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’

A federal judge who halted the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays is expected to decide Monday whether to permit its enforcement pending an appeal.

Judge Virginia Phillips in Riverside, Calif., issued an injunction against enforcing the 17-year-old policy last week in a lawsuit filed by a gay rights group.

The military has promised to abide by the judge’s injunction as long as it remains in place. However, the Department of Justice has asked the judge to stay the ruling while it prepares an appeal.

The government asked Phillips to issue her decision by Monday.

Under the 1993 law, the military cannot inquire into service members’ sexual orientation and punish them for it as long as they keep it to themselves.

President Barack Obama has said he wants the law repealed in Congress, rather than addressed in a court.

Cuomo Wants Marriage Equality for N.Y.

New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he wants to be the governor who makes “equality a reality” in his state.

Cuomo, the Democratic nominee for governor, spoke in Manhattan during the reception before the fall dinner of the Empire State Pride Agenda, the statewide LGBT lobbying group. His brief remarks, which included a denunciation of the agenda of his Republican opponent, Carl Paladino, set the tone for an evening focused on the upcoming elections under the pall of recent LGBT youth suicides and a brutal gang-related hate crime in the Bronx.

“Let me be clear,” said Cuomo, who has not yet been endorsed by the Pride Agenda. “I don't want to be the governor who just proposes marriage equality. I don't want to be the governor who lobbies for marriage equality. I don't want to be the governor who fights for marriage equality. I want to be the governor who signs the law that makes equality a reality in the state of New York.”

Vince Vaughn Wants To Keep 'Gay' Joke In Movie

Universal agreed to remove the word 'gay,' used in a derogatory sense, from a movie trailer last week under pressure from GLAAD. Now Vince Vaughn, whose character says the line, says he hopes it stays in the film.

Vince tells Deadline:

"Let me add my voice of support to the people outraged by the bullying and persecution of people for their differences, whatever those differences may be. Comedy and joking about our differences breaks tension and brings us together. Drawing dividing lines over what we can and cannot joke about does exactly that; it divides us. Most importantly, where does it stop."

In the old trailer for the Ron Howard-directed 'The Dilemma,' Vince's character said, "Ladies and gentleman, electric cars are gay."

Anderson Cooper first brought attention to the controversy when he went on 'Ellen' to talk about gay bullying. "I just find those words, those terms, we've got to do something to make those words unacceptable cause those words are hurting kids," he said.

Family Embraces "Princess Boy"

The Kilodavis family has no problem with the fact that 5-year-old Dyson likes to dress as a princess. In fact, they're so supportive, mom Cheryl has written a book about it. Now, Dyson's school uses My Princess Boy as an antibullying tool.

3 Teens Accused of Beating Boy, 14, For Being Gay

Less than two weeks after a gang beat and sexually assaulted several men in the Bronx, three Long Island teens were arrested for twice attacking a victim they thought was gay. The attacks took place two days in a row--and both attacks were carried out on a school bus.

The victim had been harassed for months, media stories said. When the bias-motivated bullying got physical on the afternoon of Oct. 12, the beating was severe: WPIX-TV reported in an Oct. 14 story that the 14-year-old victim was stomped on and kicked by the three teens, who were identified as David Spencer, 18, Chase Morrison, 16, and Roy Wilson, 14. The assault was carried out on the school bus after classes that day.

The three assailants repeated their attack the following morning, again on the bus, on the way back to school. The boys slapped the victim and hurled anti-gay abuse at him, the article said. The driver and a bus monitor were questioned as to what happened. Though the driver stopped the bus at one point due to the assault, neither adult reported the attack against the boy.

AFA's Bryan Fischer: Parents Who Let Kids Identify As Gay Are Responsible If They Kill Themselves

Insists Fischer: "It bears repeating: speaking the truth about homosexual behavior is not bullying. Nor is it harassment, as much as the deviancy cabal wants it to be." And: "Paladino has already, of course, been accused of fomenting violence against homosexuals, now that truth has become the new hate speech."

Because "homosexuals cannot reproduce," insists Fischer, "they have to recruit. It's the only way to swell their numbers." Which means "homosexual activists are not totally innocent in these [bullying] tragedies." The "sexually normal," then, "should never sanctify those relationships with the term 'marriage' or even 'domestic partnerships' or even 'civil unions.'" And that's where GLSEN comes in, trying to get young people to "come out of the closet and declare a disordered sexual preference for themselves." And any adult who complies will "share some culpability for those that take their life. Just like an adult encouraging a young student to experiment with injection drug abuse."

Pentagon Issues DADT Ban Orders

The Department of Defense issued new orders via email late Thursday afternoon informing all five branches of the military that they must comply with an injunction ordered by a federal judge on enforcement of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” according to a Pentagon spokeswoman.

“The Department of Defense will of course obey the law, and the email noted that, in the meantime, the Department will abide by the terms in the court's ruling, effective as of the time and date of the ruling,” Cynthia Smith said in an e-mail. “Earlier today, the Staff Judge Advocate Generals [J.A.G.] from the Military Services, in consultation with the OSD Office of General Counsel, sent to their Service Staff Judge Advocate counterparts in the field an email informing them of the ruling by Judge Virginia Phillips of the Central District of California.”

Bishop Gene Robinson: 'God Loves You The Way You Are'

'At 13', A Spoken Word Anti-Bullying Performance by Kenneth Morrison

When Did You Choose to Be Straight?

Jackass 3D Screened at Leather Bar

The Eagle, a Los Angeles gay leather bar, was treated to a screening of the new Johnny Knoxville film, Jackass 3D.

Knoxville, wearing a leather vest, described the Eagle as his favorite leather bar, adding that he was at the establishment with "some very hungry bears."

Filled with homoerotic stunts and half-dressed pranksters, Jackass 3D is perfectly suited for gay audiences and was greeted with a warm reception at the Eagle.

Steve-O, another Jackass star, recently told Vanity Fair, "We always thought it was funny to force a heterosexual MTV generation to deal with all of our thongs and homoerotic humor. In many ways, all our gay humor has been a humanitarian attack against homophobia. We’ve been trying to rid the world of homophobia for years, and I think gay people really dig it too."

Govt. Appeals DADT Injunction

The Department of Justice requested a stay Thursday of a federal judge's injunction barring enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell."

Justice Department attorneys filed the request to U.S. district judge Virginia A. Phillips in Riverside, Calif., this afternoon.

Should Phillips deny the request for a stay, government attorneys will file an emergency request to the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit.

“At a minimum, this case raises serious legal questions, and without the entry of an order immediately staying the application of this Court’s judgment, defendants will be irreparably harmed before they can appeal this Court’s decision to the Ninth Circuit,” assistant U.S. attorney Paul G. Freeborne wrote.

Few were surprised by news, least of all the leadership of the Log Cabin Republicans, which will oppose the application for a stay of Phillips's injunction.

“After years of fighting this lawsuit, Log Cabin Republicans expected that the Obama administration would continue to pull out all the stops to defend ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” said Christian Berle, deputy executive director of the organization. “Log Cabin Republicans will continue to advocate on behalf of the American service members who every day sacrifice in defense of our nation and our Constitution.”

But Richard Socarides, a New York lawyer and former LGBT adviser to President Bill Clinton, said getting the stay on the suspension of discharges was not guaranteed and that if the court of appeals failed to grant it, the Justice Department would have to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In order to get the stay, Socarides said the government would have to prove it would suffer serious, irreversible damage if it were denied.

“It’s considered an extreme remedy,” Socarides said. “Just coming in and saying that it would be better to do it in a more orderly fashion isn’t enough.”

Socarides explained that DOJ was also in a tricky situation given the president’s position that he believes gays and lesbians should ultimately be able to serve openly in the military.

“They have severe political restrictions on what they can say,” Socarides said, noting that the Justice Department cannot argue, for instance, that allowing gays to serve openly would be harmful to the military. “They’re now in difficult position of having to articulate a position as to why, on an emergency basis, an order that is wholly consistent the president’s position should be denied.”

Clovis family speaks out against bullying

A valley family speaks out against bullying after their transgender teen commits suicide.



Justin Lacey graduated from Buchanan High School in 2009. Just recently, the 18-year-old started living as Chloe -- a transgender woman.

Chloe's family says overall, her peers accepted her for who she was. But, she was still terrified of being bullied for coming out. They say that's what led her to commit suicide.

According to gay rights group Equality Forum, in the past month, 7 teens have taken their own lives over these very same issues.

At Buchanan High School, Justin Lacey was your typical guy. He liked snowboarding, BMX riding, and art. But, when the 18-year-old decided to transition into Chloe earlier this year, family members say she struggled with fears of harassment and abuse.

Chloe's mom says, "Who wants to see a young man walking down the street with a dress on? In his eyes, that was the worst fear of all time, for someone to throw rocks at him, beat him up. It's just the overall society judgment is what did this."

Just days before her 19th birthday, Chloe shot and killed herself inside her Eureka home where she was living for school. Her family says Chloe's death mirrors that of other teens who have recently committed suicide due to bullying.

Last month, Rutgers University freshman, Tyler Clementi committed suicide after his roommate leaked a private encounter between clementi and another male on the internet. Weeks before that incident, 13-year-old Kern County resident Seth Walsh, hung himself after he was bullied at school for being gay.

Chloe's step-dad says, "That's what we're creating as a society. We're creating this incredible cloud of fear for these individuals and they feel they have nowhere to go."

IT GETS BETTER: "Modern Family"

Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns' Amazing Tearful Statement to Bullied Gay Teens

Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns broke down at last night's City Council meeting during an emotional personal statement about his own taunting by anti-gay bullies as a teen.

"I was cornered after school by some older kids who roughed me up. They said that I was a fag, and that I should die and go to Hell where I belonged."

Burns went on to discuss meeting his partner, getting elected, and developing a bond with his dad, promising teens, "It gets better."

Facebook Steps Up Monitoring of Anti-Gay Hate Speech

GLAAD reports that it has been working with Facebook following anti-gay remarks left on a memorial page for those who have taken their lives to due to bullying, and says that the social network is increasing its enforcement of violations to its terms and conditions dealing with hate speech.

Said Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes. to GLAAD: "Educating people about the lasting and damaging impacts of ignorant and hateful comments is a responsibility shared by parents, educators, organizations like GLAAD, and services like Facebook. We take our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities very seriously and react quickly to reports of inappropriate content and behavior. The goal of these policies is to strike a very delicate balance between giving people the freedom to express their opinions and viewpoints–even those that may be controversial to some–and maintaining a safe and trusted environment. We have policies that prohibit hateful content and we have built a robust reporting infrastructure and an expansive team to review reports and remove content quickly. In addition to responding to reports, we have automated systems that use a number of factors to flag content that might violate our policies, so we can review and take it down as quickly as possible and before it’s reported.”

Mom Counters Perkins on Suicides

Sirdeaner Walker, whose son Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover killed himself in 2009 at age 11 after being subjected to bullying and antigay taunts, has an essay in The Washington Post’s On Faith blog countering assertions made by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in the forum Monday, blaming gay activism for suicides by young people.

“Mr. Perkins’ tactic, and that of others like him, is to use faith and religion to divide us,” Walker writes in a piece published Tuesday. “They seek to thwart efforts to deal with a problem at the heart of this current crisis — anti-gay bullying and harassment. But Perkins goes further — his ‘facts’ are taken out of context and are, frankly, untrue.” For one thing, she says, Perkins claims that there is no empirical evidence linking antigay discrimination to higher rates of depression and suicide among LGBT people, when in fact there is.

After her son’s suicide, Walker, who describes herself as “a devout Christian,” became involved with the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network and its efforts to end bullying in schools. Some friends and relatives told her they thought GLSEN’s work controversial, but she is now a GLSEN board member, and she has this to say about bullying:

“If schools perceive addressing anti-gay bullying as a controversial issue, then they’ll continue the status quo of putting their heads in the sand and hoping the issue takes care of itself . ... I know all too well that if schools and society are unwilling to name the specific types of bullying that occur most frequently, we will never get a handle on this problem.”

DOJ Files Appeal in DOMA Case

The Department of Justice filed a one-page “notice of appeal” Tuesday in the case of Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, a challenge to Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. The case was heard in May by U.S. district court judge Joseph L. Tauro, who on July 8 ruled Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional.

Mary L. Bonauto, director of the Civil Rights Project at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the organization that brought the case, said she was not surprised by the filing.

“We fully expected an appeal and are more than ready to meet it head on,” said Bonauto. “DOMA brings harm to families like our plaintiffs every day, denying married couples and their children basic protections like health insurance, pensions, and Social Security benefits. We are confident in the strength of our case.”

Martha Coakley, the attorney general for Massachusetts who filed the case along with GLAD, echoed Bonauto's statements.

"We look forward to presenting our case," Coakley said in a statement. “DOMA is an unjust, unfair, and unconstitutional law that discriminates against Massachusetts married couples and their families. DOMA denies same-sex married couples from being treated equally under the law across a wide range of areas, from accessing basic health care, retirement, and social security benefits to being buried with their loved ones in a veteran’s cemetery.”

According to a press release from GLAD, the next step will be for the government to file its brief to the first circuit court of appeals arguing against Judge Tauro’s ruling. GLAD will then file its brief in opposition to the government, and finally the government will file a reply brief. At that point the appeal will be scheduled for oral argument. Briefing could be concluded by next spring, with oral argument to follow in the fall.

The government also today filed its notice of appeal in the related case Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Department of Health and Human Services.

Perkins: Gay Community Causing Suicides

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins recognized National Coming Out Day by blaming recent youth suicides on the gay community in an online column for The Washington Post.

In the Post’sOn Faith blog, Perkins wrote that the “homosexual movement” was responsible for creating a sense of despair that drives some gay people to suicide.

“Some homosexuals may recognize intuitively that their same-sex attractions are abnormal — yet they have been told by the homosexual movement, and their allies in the media and the educational establishment, that they are ‘born gay’ and can never change,” he wrote. “This — and not society's disapproval — may create a sense of despair that can lead to suicide.”

Watchdog group Media Matters criticized the Post for giving the antigay Perkins a platform, in what appears to be a tendency for the publication.

Rob Thomas: Gay Teens Are Courageous

Chicken Nuggets Are Made From This Pink Goop

This is mechanically separated chicken. Chickens are turned into this goop so we can create delicious chicken nuggets and juicy chicken patties. It's obscenely gross and borderline alien but it's not going to stop me from eating nuggets. They're too good.

The process works a little something like this:

There's more: because it's crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be refalvored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color.

Coulter May Face Voter Fraud Charges

A Connecticut elections commission will soon decide whether conservative pundit Ann Coulter will face felony charges over allegations of voter fraud in the 2002 and 2004 elections.

The State Elections Enforcement Commission will vote next week on whether to pursue charges against Coulter based on a complaint made by Daniel Borchers, an activist with Citizens for Principled Conservatism.

In his complaint Borchers cited a New York Daily News article alleging Coulter voted illegally in Connecticut in the 2002 and 2004 elections by submitting an absentee ballot from her home in New York.