Ok, kind of an odd commercial for soap here. Goes one way, then it’s not a soap commercial, then it is…
And does anyone really want a watermelon scented soap?
It does make me laugh in a “head scratching” kind of way.
Thoughts?
(h/t Towleroad)
Virginia: Attorney General Cuccinelli denied sodomy law review
On March 12th, a three-judge panel ruled that a section of Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” a section of Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” statute that outlaws sodomy between consenting adults, gay or straight, is unconstitutional based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2003 known as Lawrence v. Texas.
Virginia’s Attorney General, Kenneth Cuccinelli, filed a petition with the 4th Circuit US Appeals Court to reconsider the determination. The petition requests what is known as an “en banc” hearing before the full 15 judges to reconsider the earlier ruling by the three-judge panel.
Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond issued an order on Monday denying the petition.
None of the court’s judges requested a poll among themselves to determine which, if any of them, favored Cuccinelli’s request for an en banc rehearing of the sodomy case by the court’s 15 active judges and one senior judge.
Under court rules, if no judge calls for a poll or vote on the issue, the petition for a rehearing is automatically denied in what, in effect, becomes a unanimous decision.
“It’s a pretty resounding rejection,” said Claire Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia. “There really wasn’t any interest in doing this at all by anybody.”
Jon Stewart had fun with the story Tuesday night:
(source)
Oklahoma: Democratic House members walk out rather than vote on DOMA resolution
The vote, in support of the Federal anti-gay DOMA, was registered as “unanimous” but only after more than half of the state Democratic House members walked out rather than honor the resolution with their vote.
The House approved the resolution Monday on an 84-0 vote. House Democratic Leader Scott Inman and openly gay Rep. Kay Floyd of Oklahoma City were among more than half of the chamber’s 29 Democrats who walked out of the chamber instead of voting.
The resolution now heads to the state Senate.
The resolution would not carry the weight of law. Its supporters say it’s meant as a message to the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently heard arguments in two cases concerning same-sex marriage rights.
Read more at KJRH.com
Montana: House votes to decriminalize homosexuality
The Montana House decisively voted Tuesday to repeal Montana’s law making gay sex a crime, putting the bill one step away from the governor’s desk.
After a half-hour of emotional debate for and against the measure, the House voted 64-36 to endorse Senate Bill 107. Twenty-five Republicans joined all 39 House Democrats to support the bill.
The bill removes gay sex from the definition of the crime of “deviate sexual relations,” a felony that carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $50,000.
LGBT advocates in the state have worked for over 20 years to address the law that grouped gay sex in with “sexual intercourse with an animal” as criminal deviate sexual conduct.
The bill faces one more vote in the House before heading to the Governor’s desk.
(via http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/montana-house-endorses-measure-to-decriminalize-gay-sex/article_79b4d3e9-c54a-5cc5-86cd-695dcf6d5750.html#ixzz2Q4nTIBKi)
The 7th Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant
Via press release:
Four-time Tony Award nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning actress Tovah Feldshuh will return to host the seventh annual The Broadway Beauty Pageant.
Celebrity judges have also been announced. Andrea Martin (Pippin), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), and Michael Urie (Buyer and Cellar) have been tapped to judge the event.
Lisa Lambert, the Tony Award-winning lyricist of The Drowsy Chaperone, will write the opening number.
The popular event is the annual benefit of New York’s Ali Forney Center.
The Broadway Beauty Pageant will feature male cast members representing their respective Broadway shows, competing for the title crown through talent, interview and swimsuit competitions. The contestants will go head to head in front of a panel of celebrity judges, but ultimately, the final vote is in the hands of the audience members.
Monday, May 20th – 8pm
NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
Text of the day
(via Buzzfeed)
France: Marriage for all – Senators say ‘yes’
Sources are reporting that the French Senate has approved the marriage equality bill in France by a vote of 179-157.
This is the Google translation of the first article I could find:
In France today, the Senate approved by 179 votes against 157 the first article of the bill on gay marriage, the most important, who opens the marriage to persons of the same sex.
This article was adopted “in conformity”, that is to say, without modification from the first reading vote in the National Assembly.This vote becomes final unless the entire bill is rejected after consideration by the Senate. It will not be subjected to a second reading in the National Assembly.
“Despite attempts to obstruct the right, the Senate just adopted Article 1 which allows same-sex couples to marry, “said François Rebsamen PS in a statement after the vote.“The adoption of this article by a vote of the entire Senate majority, puts an end to the discrimination that resulted from sexual choices of citizens,” he added. “Given the abuses that took place either by manifestations of violence in the street, either by verbal excesses in the chamber, the vote on this article marks a victory for the fight against homophobia, tolerance and the of democracy,” he concluded.
More from AmericaBlog:
“The French Senate just voted on the most important provision of the proposed gay marriage law, and passed it. That means we’ve basically won. But there are still a few more steps before gay marriage is legal. Apparently, the way it works over there — and I’ve been conversing with a friend in Paris via Facebook for the blow-by-blow — the law is broken up into its component parts. And each part of the law gets voted on individually. In this case, the marriage part just got voted on and passed. The next step is for the other parts of the law to be voted on (it’s almost like voting on amendments, to put it in American parlance). Then, once all the parts are voted on, the Senate will one more time vote on the ENTIRE thing. But since they already voted in favor of the gay marriage portion of the law, passage of the entire pack is all but assured.”
(source: AFP)
Conservative owns his commitment to inequality of others
Big time anti-gay guy Matt Barber tweeted this pic out earlier today as a response to the pink HRC image that was adopted by millions during the SCOTUS Prop8/DOMA arguments.
As you’ll recall from elementary school math, that’s the “greater than” sign.
So while millions post an image of the “equal” sign saying all love is equal, Matt Barber is telling the world that his marriage is “greater than” mine. And notice the use of the phrase “real marriage.”
Nice.
The marriage equality community doesn’t even have to break a sweat at this one as Barber makes transparent the feelings of hate/supremacy his kind has for the LGBT community.
Matt – you make our truth easier to understand with crap like this. Hope you post it everywhere you can.
(via GoodAsYou)
Why an executive order banning LGBT discrimination is a big, $250 billion deal
In lieu of passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which seem out of reach at this time, LGBT advocates have asked President Obama to at the very least issue an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Some states with large federal contracts have protections on a state level already, but check the graphic above – all those orange states offer no protections while taking in billions in federal contracts.
The White House has repeatedly said that a legislative solution that would affect all employers is the best solution for the problem. White House folks say an executive order could be repealed by the next President.
But with the political priorities what they are today, why not issue the executive order?
From Buzzfeed:
Nearly $250 billion in federal contracts given out in the last fiscal year went to contractors operating in states where the companies could fire a worker solely because the person is gay, lesbian or bisexual, a new report has found. A group of organizations that have been urging President Obama to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers will be releasing the new report Tuesday as a step in increasing pressure on the president to act during tax time.
The report, a copy of which was provided to BuzzFeed Monday night, also has found that nearly $300 billion in federal contracts were given out in states that have no specific state-level protections against anti-transgender discrimination.
Although federal government employees are protected from anti-LGBT discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, there is currently no protection for employees of federal contractors against sexual orientation discrimination and protections against gender identity discrimination are unclear. And while most of the top federal contractors have policies against LGBT discrimination, the report aims to draw attention to the limits employees would have in states without legal protections.
As Joe Jervis at JoeMyGod points out, even though an executive order would only affect companies that do business with the federal government, it’s a start. A start with $250B in federal money attached to it.
(via JMG)
Kitten thrown from 3rd floor window survives with minor injuries
The very cute kitten above, named Precious, was apparently thrown out of a 3rd floor window in the middle of a domestic dispute.
The five week, one pound kitten landed on her feet and only sustained an injury to her mouth.
Precious was apparently thrown from the 3rd floor window by the owner’s ex-boy friend. The then man fled, and a warrant has been issued for him, alleging assault and animal abuse.
I mean seriously? You threw a kitten out a window in the middle of a fight or something?
Read more at the AP.