LGBTQ news and entertainment
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In North Carolina, cities and counties that offer domestic partner benefits to employees are in limbo after voters passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
In some other states, such amendments have led to the end of domestic partner benefits for public workers. And that’s exactly what some families in North Carolina are afraid of.
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| Melissa, Moira, and Libby Hodges, left to right, pose in front of a Christmas tree. |
Ever since voters approved the constitutional amendment on May 8, Libby Hodges has worried about what could happen to her family’s health coverage. But she’s trying to put on a good face for her 4-year-old daughter, Moira.
“Sometimes it just happens that way,” Libby Hodges tells her daughter. “Like when you play a soccer game. … If I lose or win it’s okay.”
Libby works for the city of Durham, one of nine local governments across the state offering domestic partner benefits. Moira is on her insurance plan. But since Libby isn’t the little girl’s biological mom, that benefit could end.
Libby’s partner, Melissa Hodges, who gave birth to Moira, could add their daughter to her insurance plan. That would cost an extra $500 a month, a big hit to their budget. Melissa says they may have to move to a state where domestic partner benefits are assured.
“I’m going to stay on the lookout for jobs in all these various different places in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maryland,” says Melissa Hodges. “I was looking back at the list today of which states do we have all the same benefits and rights or at least as close as we can get.”
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| John, Olivia, Guy Fieri and Tommy Lasorda |
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| Michael, John Easterling, Olivia and nephew Emerson on the Yard of Bricks at Indy 500 |
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Olivia Newton-John rides at the front of the 2012 Indy 500 Parade as the Grand Marshal
Bill Maher shot down claims that Obama has been racking up the government spending with statistics showing that of every president since Ronald Reagan, Obama has had the smallest annualized growth of federal spending. Or, in Maher’s words, “the black man’s is the shortest.”
He pointed to Obama’s concessions and moderate actions on the financial crisis, oil drilling, and other big issues.
Once again, Maher asked conservatives exactly what they mean when they claim Obama is the most radical president of all time.
[Obama] didn’t go on a spending spree. He didn’t break up the too-big-to-fail banks. They’ve only gotten bigger. And fail-ier. That’s not what liberals wanted. That’s what conservatives wanted.
At the 2008 convention, Sarah Palin chanted “drill baby drill!” Under Obama, there’s more drilling than ever. That’s not what environmentalists wanted. That’s what conservatives wanted.
Obama spent most of last year conceding the Republican premise that government needed cutting. That’s not what progressives wanted. That’s what the Tea Party wanted.
The Dow was at 7949 when he took office. Now it’s 12000 and over, and corporate profits are at their highest ever. If he’s a socialist, he’s a lousy one. He could not be less threatening if he was walking home with ice tea and Skittles.
So the question remains. How could you guys be so unhappy with Obama while I’m so unhappy with Obama? You think you got coal in your stocking? I wanted single payer health care, a carbon emissions bill, gun control and legalized pot. If you get to carry around all this outrage over me getting that sh*t, shouldn’t I have gotten it?
So just admit it. This isn’t about what Obama is. It’s about what you need him to be. Because hating him is what gets you up in the morning.
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See legally deaf 10-year-old Sammie Hicks receive her cochlear implant, and for the first time hear the world in all its crazy polyphony.
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This is really sweet. Starts out a bit silly, and then gets sillier and sillier, which is fabulous. I think it’s great!
Bruno Mars saw the video and tweeted this:
“Congrats to Isaac Lamb and the future Mrs. I don’t think I could’ve made a better music video for this song. Thank you.”
– @BrunoMars
An MIT lab has come up with a painless, controlled way of shooting medicine through the skin without using needles.
The jet injector delivers its drugs through an opening as wide as a mosquito’s proboscis.
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Joey Lawrence talks about his upcoming run as Celebrity Guest MC/Singer for Chippendales in Las Vegas at the Rio All-Suite Hotel.
His run will begin June 7th and run through June 24th.
From Newsy: The saying “out with the old, and in with the new” is hitting home in New Orleans. The city’s daily newspaper, The Times-Picayune, announced starting this fall it will only publish Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Jobs will also be cut as the paper makes some more modern changes. CNN explains.
“The publisher said in a memo the Time-Picayune needed to dedicate more resources to its online presence. He announced a new media group including NOLA.com which will continue to report seven days a week.”
A new company called NOLA Media Group will include the Times-Picayune and its affiliate website. Forbes.com says according to the paper’s publisher the…
“…best path to success lies in a digitally focused organization that combines the award winning journalism of the Times-Picayune and the strength of NOLA.com”
The Times-Picayune received international recognition for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But many of its subscribers were forced out of the city by the storm, never to return. Today, the paper reaches about 155-thousand doorsteps on Sundays and 134-thousand on weekdays. But Poynter says it was double that before the storm.
“…circulation in March 2005, before Katrina flooded the city and shrank the population: about 285,000 on Sundays and 257,000 on weekdays.”
On Twitter, David Hammer, the investigative reporter at the Times-Picayune told his followers…
“…It’s like a morgue in the newsroom today.”
But According to Gambit, a New Orleans Weekly newspaper, it may be the way the announcement was made that had people so upset. The website says…
“…Even longtime senior writers and editors — said they learned of their fates from The New York Times report. One employee said, ‘I had to find this out by Twitter. Do I go into the office tomorrow? Do I even have a job to go in to tomorrow?’”
That same report says about a third of the paper’s reporters will be fired, along with top executives. When the change is made, New Orleans will become the largest U.S. city without a daily newspaper.