The Log Cabin Republicans in California have invited Governor Schwarzenegger to headline at the Log Cabin Benefit Dinner tonight. Excuse me? The Governor who vetoed pro-equality legislation after the California Legislature passed AB 809 which would have granted marriage equality for gay and lesbians in California? One signature away and he vetoed it. How the hell can you support him?

OK. So granted California has seen it's share of pro-GLBT bills pass and become law under Governor Schwarzenegger, we have seen a number of bills vetoed or have received a promise of a veto.

Never in this nations history has a state voted, via the legislature, to grant marriage rights to gay and lesbians--that is until California's AB 809. Schwarzenegger completely failed the GLBT community.

From the Log Cabin website:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will headline a dinner to benefit Log Cabin Republicans on Thursday, June 29th in Hollywood, California.You won't want to miss this historic event.

A historic event would have been Gov. Schwarzenegger signing AB 809. The Log Cabin Republicans are grasping for inclusion in the Republican party and well, wake up, you are delusional.

-Gavin

As of today you can download your favorite Logo shows on iTunes! Pretty sweet news. Check it out here. It's a some what limited list of shows, but they will continue to expand Logo programming on iTunes.

From the Logo blog:

Okay, your iPod is probably pretty gay already... I know you've got every Kylie bootleg ever created, Scissor Sisters vs. George Michael mash-ups, the Wicked original cast recording, Morrissey, some mopey Janis Ian, Chic and Donna Summer, and about 1,000 Deborah Cox remixes (Go Thunderpuss!). And yes, I know you're also got Metallica, Fugazi, Tool and Rage Against the Machine on there, too. You're cool and dark and edgy, too.

But as of today, you can make room for Noah's Arc, U.S. of ANT, and the gay stand-up comedy series Wisecrack, fierce Real Momentum documentaries (like the lesbian surfers of Curl Girls, and the Castro-enduring men of The Two Cubas), and The Ride. That's because iTunes is now offering Logo's original series for sale/download! Yep, iTunes is gay! And you can download Logo shows for just pennies a serving (well, $1.99 per episode). Sweet right?

Coming soon down the road, as in later this summer (end of July) iTunes will also offer all the shenanigans and drama of Tyler and the gang on Open Bar for you to relive, and in September, the moving and kickass real-life tales of Coming Out Stories will hit the iTunes shelves.

[...]

Whatever... Adding Spike's aggressive Disorderly Conduct cop series is not gonna butch up your iPod. Once you've got ANT on there, as well as those 14 remixes of "Toxic," your little Apple buddy is irreversibly gay. As it should be!

It's especially great for those of you without Logo - now you can download shows for just $1.99! Click here to check out Logo on iTunes.

Vice President Dick Cheney avoids (ooh surprise!) CNN anchor John King's question on whether the Republican party's opposition to marriage equality is wrong.



-GS

Kevin Aviance - recovering from a vicious gay bashing a week ago - has made a surprise appearance at a West Village demonstration protesting the rise in violence against members of New York City's LGBT community.

In the past year there have been 23 violent homophobic crimes reported in NYC - up from 18 reported a year earlier. But LGBT community leaders say they believe the number is far higher because many gays fear being outed if they report attacks.

Hundreds of people showed up at the rally and march on Saturday.

Aviance's jaw is still wired, the result of a broken jaw he suffered when he was attacked by a four young men as he left the Phoenix bar. His leg is still in a brace and he continues to suffer a considerable amount of pain.

"You can't keep a good queen down," Aviance told the crowd. But he warned against meeting violence with violence.

"We can't fight any of these people with arms and bullets and drama. We have to fight all these people with love, every single day," he said.

"Stop the violence. Stop the hate. Just love, love, love."

The protestors marched from 14th Street and 1st Avenue in the East Village - the scene of the attack on Aviance - across Manhattan to Christopher Park.

Four suspects have been arrested in the Aviance attack.

Akino George, 20, of the Bronx; Jarell Sears, 20, of Newark, N.J.; and Gregory Archie, 18, and Gerard Johnson, 16, both of Manhattan are charged with first-degree gang assault and first-degree assault as a hate crime in the attack on the 38 year old drag performer.

A felony complaint filed by prosecutors says the men followed Aviance along First Avenue, calling him derogatory names. It says they threw two garbage bags and a paint can at the singer before surrounding and attacking him. (story

The defendants repeatedly punched and kicked Aviance in the face and body, the complaint says, causing a broken jaw, bruised knee and other injuries.

Aviance's song ''Alive'' hit the top of the chart in 2002. Other popular songs by the singer have included ''Give It Up,'' released in 2004, and ''Din Da Da,'' which topped the Billboard dance chart in 1997.

via 365gay.com

-GS

An English language Chinese newspaper, the South China Morning Post, reported that the Chinese government has shut down several gay websites.

From 365gay.com

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post says that China's internet domain-name registration company has shut down several popular gay Web sites under what the paper said was pressure from police.

The registration company is controlled by the government.

All of the sites were forums where people could post information. One of the sites, tzgay.ful.cn received 100,000 hits per day. It was frequently used by people to discuss coming out.

Another of the closed sides, chinagay.ful.cn, disseminated information on safe-sex. Since it opened last February it has had about 400,000 the Morning Post said.

Following the crackdown other forums sites have begun purging LGBT content.

China Shuts Down Gay Web Sites [365gay]

Posted by Ace

Anti-gay and delusional Westboro Baptist Church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper provokes a defamatory argument with Fox News anchor Julie Banderas and damn does it get heated. You have to watch this...



Oooh Julie Banderas! Tell it like it is!
-GS

(Canberra) The groundbreaking civil union law passed by the Australian Capital Territory has been nullified by the country's Governor General, Michael Jeffery.

Following a meeting between the G.G. and Prime Minister John Howard the law was declared null and void.

The move was not a surprise, Howard's center-right government had warned for weeks that it considered the legislation tantamount to legalizing gay marriage.

In 2004 his government passed a law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.

"We have no quarrel with the territory's legislating in those areas in which it has responsibility, and we accept the decisions they make supported by their electorate - except when they provocatively and deliberately seek to intrude into areas for which they have no responsibility," said federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.

Last week the ACT government attempted an end run around the federal threat to have the law vetoed by moving up the date under which civil unions would begin.

The civil unions legislation still has a long shot chance - an overriding bill in Parliament.

ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell said his government would push for that. "We won't be backing down on this issue," he said.

The Labor Party has announced it would support a bill to revive the ACT bill, but it is uncertain if there is enough support to pass the measure. 
The ACT law is based on Britain's civil partnerships and offers all of the rights and responsibilities of marriage without using the term.

via 365gay.com

As expected, the Federal Marriage Amendment has failed. The Senate voted 49 to 48 today to defeat the discriminatory Federal Marriage Amendment, an amendment that would have denied marriage to same-sex couples and seriously threatened civil unions and domestic partnerships across the U.S.

For a vote breakdown click here.

Here in Oregon, Sen. Gordon Smith voted for the amendment and Sen. Ron Wyden voted against it.

President Bush gave a speech to a gathered, select audience at the White House today. He expressed his views on same-sex marriage and why he will support the constitutional amendment that will ban them. Below is a video of CNN's coverage of the speech. It speaks for itself.



Transcript at PageOneQ

Posted by Ace