Archive for June, 2013

The ad promoting tourism to the U.S. seemed innocuous enough, but Family Research Council president Tony Perkins warns that the advertising campaign is being used to “highlight same-sex attractions.” [ Read more → ]

Retailer JC Penney just hasn't gotten the message -- the rabidly anti-gay group One Million Moms "is disturbed" over "another homosexual ad" from JC Penney, this one featuring two real-life gay dads celebrating Father's Day. [ Read more → ]

CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield on Thursday, claimed that, unlike pedophilia and incest, “homosexuality is a lifestyle choice by people. It is voluntary." [ Read more → ]

Pastor Curtis Knapp, of the New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kansas, who said in his Sunday sermon that the government should put gays to death, is not backing away from his comments, and said he was simply preaching what he believes to be “scripture.” [ Read more → ]

BOSTON -- A federal appeals court in Boston on Thursday that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples, a groundbreaking ruling that all but guarantees the issue will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. [ Read more → ]

LONDON -- Jim Paratore, who launched the TMZ website and produced "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "The Rosie O’Donnell Show," died Tuesday after suffering a massive heart-attack while vacationing in France, the BBC has reported. He was 58. [ Read more → ]

GREENSBURG, Ind. -- An Indiana church is on lock down and its pastor has left for an undisclosed location after a video recording surfaced this week of a toddler singing an anti-gay song at the church altar, that included the lyrics, "Ain't no homo going to make it to heaven." [ Read more → ]

Outspoken advocate, author and Eagle Scout, Zach Wahls, today delivered more than 275,000 signatures to the Boy Scouts of America, calling on the group to end its long history of anti-gay discrimination and reinstate Ohio mom Jennifer Tyrrell, who was forcibly removed as den leader of her son’s troop because she’s gay. [ Read more → ]

DALLAS, TX -– ExxonMobil shareholders on Wednesday voted against a resolution that would have prohibited workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. [ Read more → ]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California State Senate today approved a bill designed to limit the ability of mental health providers in California to engage in dangerous sexual orientation change efforts (sometimes referred to as “ex-gay therapy,” “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy”). [ Read more → ]

Two more “men of God” -- Curtis Knapp of the New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kansas, and Dennis Leatherman, pastor at the Mountain Lake Baptist Church in Oakland, Md. -- are on record as advocating for the death of gays and lesbians. [ Read more → ]

Lambda Legal on Wednesday filed a lawsuit on behalf of 16 same-sex couples and their children seeking the freedom to marry in Illinois. [ Read more → ]

TORONTO -- A dispute over the use of the term "gay-straight alliance" in Ontario schools has prompted the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto on Monday to accuse Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's administration of making “religious freedom . . . a second-class right.” [ Read more → ]

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Opponents of a new city ordinance that would prohibit prohibit discrimination against LGBT people in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations, said Tuesday they had collected enough signatures of registered voters to force the city council to either repeal the measure or place it on the November ballot for a city-wide referendum. [ Read more → ]

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Opponents of same-sex marriage in Maryland announced Tuesday they have collected more than twice the number of signatures needed to put the state's new marriage equality law to a public vote on November’s ballot. [ Read more → ]

Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student convicted earlier this year of using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate who later committed suicide, will turn himself in Thursday to begin serving a 30-day prison term. [ Read more → ]

It has come as no surprise that the Religious Right has been up in arms over President Obama's recent announcement in support of marriage equality, but what seems to have really upset them was his citation of the Bible's "do unto others" teaching in explaining his views. [ Read more → ]

President Obama's leadership on marriage equality is proving to have a major impact, form national organizations and local polling. Anti-equality forces set a record, but it's probably not one they wanted. And DOMA is ruled unconstitutional in a fifth federal case. [ Read more → ]

Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Illinois will announce two separate lawsuits Wednesday morning seeking same-sex marriage rights for Illinois gay and lesbian couples. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Tony Perkins, president of the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council, has accepted -- somewhat -- an invitation to dinner in the home of a married, same-sex couple and their family. [ Read more → ]