In Minnesota, Santorum captured 45 percent of the vote, with Rep. Ron Paul in second at 27 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a distant third with 17 percent. In Missouri, Santorum won 55 percent of the vote to Romney’s 25 percent. In the Colorado caucuses, Santorum beat Romney by five points.

Rick Santorum

In his victory speech in Missouri, Santorum declared, “Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota,” and took a dig at Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney.

“Your votes today were not just heard loud and wide across the state of Missouri and Minnesota, but they were heard loud and louder all across this country, and particularly in a place that I suspect may be in Massachusetts they were heard particularly loud tonight,” Santorum said.

He added that he is not the conservative alternative to Romney, but the “conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”

Jerame Davis, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, said Santorum’s wins are evidence the “non-Romney wing” of the GOP is still the dominant force in the party and “yet more proof that Republicans can’t stand Mitt Romney.”

“Conservative Republicans may love Rick Santorum’s unwavering sanctimony and seething anti-intellectualism, but his narrow, regressive brand of politics will turn off independents and even many moderate Republicans,” Davis said.

R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, dismissed Santorum’s wins because he said the candidate can’t unify the Republican Party.

“As former RNC chairman Gov. Haley Barbour has observed, ‘purity is the enemy of victory,’” Cooper said “The ability to secure the vote of the general electorate is necessary to succeeding as the Republican nominee. The divisive Rick Santorum is not capable of winning a general election and will not be the Republican nominee.”

The wins for Santorum in Minnesota and Missouri are largely symbolic. Missouri isn’t awarding any delegates at the Republican National Convention. Minnesota and Colorado will award their delegates at a later date.

Still, Santorum’s victory is sure to be a thorn in the side of frontrunner Romney, who last week seemed poised to claim the Republican nomination after his victory in the Nevada caucuses. Observers say Tuesday’s results raise questions about whether Romney can close the deal and win the Republican nomination.

Superintendent C.J. Huff of the Joplin Board of Education said that Jim Whitney’s Facebook account "was compromised" and that there were no findings that would indicate Whitney was responsible for posting the remarks.

In the brief Facebook thread on Oct. 19, a comment that originated from Whitney's account said, “Moral of the story: Don’t be gay.”

The comment was in response to a former student who had posted a link to a news article about Jamie Hubley, a 15-year-old gay teen from Ottawa who recently committed suicide.

When another commenter replied, “How many more kids have to kill themselves before everyone realizes that this is an actual issue?" the response from Whitney's account was, "11-13 ought to do it."

In an email statement to the Joplin Globe on Monday, Whitney did not deny posting the comment on Facebook, only that he "regrets the post appeared:"

“I do not condone bullying or harassment of any kind and I am very aware and saddened by the negative impact this type of behavior creates. I regret that the posts appeared on Facebook. They do not reflect my personal views and I apologize for any and all offenses caused by the comment.”

According to Huff, the board of education discussed the matter in a "closed session" on Tuesday night following its investigation into the incident, reported the Globe.

"It's unfortunate when you're dealing with social media and dealing with technology and the potential for people to get on to other people's accounts and say things that shouldn't be said," Huff told KZRG Radio.

The school board did not offer any explanation as to who or how Whitney's account was compromised, nor whether the comments originated from a school computer, of Whitney's personal computer.

Whitney has declined to make himself available to comment, and has not issued a statement since his email to the Globe on Monday.

A spokesperson at Facebook told LGBTQ Nation on Thursday that an account is almost impossible to hack unless the user had direct access to the password, or the computer was left unattended while the account owner was logged in.

Facebook employs additional security measures to validate account ownership to prevent accessing user accounts from unknown locations or devices.

A high school teacher in Joplin, Mo., is the latest teacher under fire for allegedly posting anti-gay remarks on Facebook, which included a suggestion that more gay youth should commit suicide.

Jim Whitney, an instructor at Joplin High School, allegedly posted a comment on the wall of a former student’s Facebook profile on Oct. 19, reported the Joplin Globe.

The former student had posted a link to a news article about Jamie Hubley, a 15-year-old gay teen from Ottawa who committed suicide recently.

In response to the link, Whitney allegedly replied, “Moral of the story: Don’t be gay."

The brief thread included this question from another commenter: “How many more kids have to kill themselves before everyone realizes that this is an actual issue?”

The reply, attributed to Whitney’s Facebook account, was “11-13 ought to do it.”

The former student, Josh Gonzalez, said he later talked to Whitney, who denied writing the anti-gay comments, and said his account had been hacked. But in a email statement issued Monday, Whitney did not specifically deny posting the remarks:

Whitney did not respond to requests for an interview but released a statement via email on Monday afternoon saying he was sorry the incident occurred.

“I do not condone bullying or harassment of any kind and I am very aware and saddened by the negative impact this type of behavior creates. I regret that the posts appeared on Facebook. They do not reflect my personal views and I apologize for any and all offenses caused by the comment.”

Whitney, however, did not respond to follow-up emails and telephone calls to explain how comments that do not reflect his views came from his Facebook account, nor has he been available for additional questions.

Joplin Globe

The Joplin Board of Education said it is investigating the incident -- Board President Ashley Micklethwaite and Superintendent C.J. Huff told the Globe they had received an unspecified number of complaints.

The advocacy group Missourians for Marriage Equality initially alerted the school to the Facebook post, and posted the tread online, encouraging its follower to contact the school board.

"Can't say we didn't warn them.

"Back in May, as part of our Don't Filter Me project, the ACLU sent a letter to the Camdenton School District informing them that the web filters they use on school computers were unconstitutionally blocking access to hundreds of LGBT websites, including sites that contain anti-bullying information and other resources for student gay-straight alliances. We informed them that if they failed to disable the filter, they would be 'subject to legal liability and the expense of litigation...'

"The school district brushed us off. So today, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of four of the organizations whose sites are being blocked by the district's filter: PFLAG National (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian and Gays), the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Campus Pride and DignityUSA, a Catholic LGBT organization. At the same time, the filter does not block access to comparable anti-gay sites.

via: ACLU

A spokesman for the ACLU noted that the Camdenton school's web filter software was classifying all LGBT topics, grouping them into a "sexuality" category, which are then instantly blocked.

Camdenton school's superintendent, Tim Hadfield, disputed the ACLU's assertion that the filter that his district technology administration's system employs specifically filter sites promoting "alternative" lifestyles. Hadfiled went on to say the district's filters only blocks sites that are inappropriate, and would continue to do so.

The Camdenton school district has more than 4,200 students with nine school facilities on three campuses. There are more than 300 teachers and 600 other employees in the district.

Jody Huckaby, executive director of PFLAG National, said in a statement released Monday:

Our Safe Schools program resources, coming-out guides and other support and education resources that we have been providing to LGBT young people nationwide for nearly 40 years are all blocked. Many LGBT students either don’t have access to the Internet at home or, if they do, they don’t feel safe accessing this information on their home computers.

In order to ensure the physical and mental well-being of LGBT youth — especially given the wide access to negative information on LGBT issues — these resources must be accessible.

A comprehensive 2009 study of over 7,000 middle and high school students reported that nine out of 10 LGBT students say they had experienced harassment at their school in the past year based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and two-thirds said they felt unsafe at school.

Vicky Hartzler

Missouri GOP congresswoman Vicky Hartzler last week told a conference of college students that if same-sex marriages were allowed, it would lead to pedophiles and polygamists being allowed to marry.

In the secretly recorded video posted online by Right Wing Watch, Hartzler (R), uses the same tired arguements against same-sex marriage:

Why not allow an uncle to marry his niece? Why not allow a 50-year-old man to marry a 12-year-old girl if they love each other and they’re committed?

‘So pretty soon if you don’t set parameters, you don’t have any parameters at all. The license means nothing, marriage means nothing.’

Hartzler was speaking at a the Eagle Forum Collegians Summit in Washington. The Eagle Forum is an organization that promotes conservatism on college campuses.

Watch Hartzler's comments here:

Other speakers included Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)

ACLU

Glossip (left) and Engelhard

Earlier this year, we reported the tragic death of Highway Patrol Cpl. Dennis Engelhard, who was killed in a Christmas Day traffic accident in 2009, leaving behind his partner of nearly 15 years, Kelly Glossip.

Spouses of Missouri State Highway Patrol employees are entitled to an annuity of 50 percent of the employee’s average salary if the employee is killed on duty. But following Engelhard’s death, Glossip was denied survivor benefits because the policy excludes committed same-sex partners.

“Dennis and I loved each other and lived in a committed relationship for 15 years," said Glossip. "We depended on each other emotionally and financially in our life together like any other committed couple. We exchanged rings and would have married in Missouri if the state didn’t exclude us from marriage.

“I‘m just seeking the same financial protections the state provides to heterosexual couples. It is hard enough coping with the grief of losing Dennis. It is even more painful to have the state treat Dennis and me as though we were total strangers.”

The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and the ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri, is not challenging the definition of marriage under Missouri law -- which is, one man and one woman -- but is challenging the benefits policy as a violation of his rights under the Missouri Constitution.

The suit argues that even though a 2004 vote prohibits gay marriage, it does not keep the state from offering domestic partner benefits.

The pension system, the suit says, "categorically excludes same-sex domestic partners from valuable benefits provided to similarly situated heterosexual couples," a violation, according to the suit, of the section of the state constitution that provides equal protection under the law.

Westboro bigots outside the Lady Gaga concert in St. Louis

Homophobic hate-monger Fred Phelps' gang of Westboro Baptist Bigots has taken a break from picketing military funerals with its "God hates fags" message to picket the Lady Gaga concert in St. Louis on Saturday night.

"Now what type of wicked hypocrites would we be if we did not warn this little false prophetess and all of her over-indulged sycophants that they are each one, individually heading straight to hell in a gender-confused, self-loathing, tone-deaf hand basket," said Westboro, via their website.

In response, about an hour prior to her concert, Gaga posted this message to fans, via Facebook:

"At the risk of drawing attention to a hateful organization, I would like to make my little monster fan aware of a protest being held outside the Monsterball in St.Louis tonight. Although we have had protesters before, as well as fundamentalists at the show this group of protesters are hate criminals and preach using lude and violent language and imagery that I wish I protect you all from.

Their message is of hatred and divisiveness, but inside at the Monsterball we preach love and unity.

My request to all little monsters and public authority is to pay these hate criminals no mind. Do not interact with them, or try to fight. Do not respond to any of their provocation. Don't waste your words, or feelings, no matter what you hear or see.

You are more fortunate and blessed than they are, and in your heart just pray for them. Although I respect and do not judge anyone for their personal views on any politics or religion, this group in particular to me, is violent and dangerous. I wanted to make my fans aware of my views on how to approach, or rather not approach, these kinds of hate activists.

Be inspired to ignore their ignorant message, and feel gratitude in your heart that you are not burdened or addicted to hate, as they are. X"

And post-concert, via Twitter:

@ladygaga: Tonight love and hate met in St. Louis. And love outnumbered the hate, in poetic thousands. Hate left. But love stayed. + Together, we sang.

Westboro is a small church in Topeka, KS, and is not affiliated with the Baptist denomination or any other Baptist church. According to news reports, almost all of its members -- fewer than 100 -- are related to founder Fred Phelps either by blood or marriage.

Kelly Glossip (seated) and Trooper Dennis Engelhard

From stltoday.com:

When Highway Patrol Cpl. Dennis Engelhard was killed in a Christmas Day traffic accident near Eureka, the agency described him as single with no children.

Gov. Jay Nixon called on Missourians to pray for Engelhard's family, who "lost a beloved son and brother."

Neither statement tells the whole story.

Engelhard, hit by a car that lost control in the snow, was gay. He left behind a partner of nearly 15 years who was not mentioned in his obituary or official information released by the Highway Patrol, although members of the agency knew about his sexual orientation.

If Engelhard had been married, his spouse -- Kelly Glossip -- would be entitled to lifetime survivor's benefits from the state pension system, more than $28,000 a year.

Glossip, 43, said he and Engelhard were together for nearly 15 years, and has been ignored when it comes to the agencies that normally reach out to the families of fallen law enforcement officers.

"He was my true love and he always referred to me as his one and only true love and the man of his dreams," Glossip said. "We were hopelessly in love with each other."

The Justice Department might pay a large benefit to Engelhard's partner, in this case around $300,000- in the case of . Unlike other benefits available through state and local groups, the Justice Department benefits when state troopers who die in the line of duty are available to anyone who is married to or can prove that they were the long time partner for the deceased.

But Glossip won't receive similar payments from Missouri.

Under the rules of the state pension system that covers the Missouri Highway Patrol and Department of Transportation workers, if a trooper dies in the line of duty, his or her spouse is eligible for lifetime survivor benefits.

Missouri pension law is clear about defining a spouse, recognizing only a marriage between a man and a woman.

Officials say they've never paid benefits to long-term partners of heterosexual troopers either.

Jacob Piwowarczyk says, "I have a soft tissue bruise on my elbow. I have six stitches in my eye and I have a mild concussion."

These are the physical reminders, of a night Piwowarczyk won't soon forget. He and two friends were leaving the Complex Nightclub when it happened.

Piwowarczyk says, "They came up out of the car and they start calling us faggots."

He says there were four of them, men who had just left another bar that shares the parking lot.

He says, "We kept telling them please leave us alone, we're fine. From there, the one kid didn't like what we told them and decided to punch me in the eye and I fell to the ground. And at that time my friend was laying on the ground and they started kicking him in the face."

Piwowarczyk agrees. And he says that healing process has already begun.

He says, "Healthwise we're all fine. We're just lucky to be alive. Could have turned out worse."

The other victims suffered a broken nose and fractured cheekbone, respectively.

More from KSDK-TV.

After 10 years together, Mike and Chuck Hewitt finally got to exchange wedding vows. Iowa is currently the only state in the Midwest to allow same-sex marriages. But when they attempted to announce their nuptuals in the local newspapers, the Kansas City Star and the Independence Examiner, both papers said no!