Queerty is reporting (via AfterElton) that Desperate Housewives will be having a gay couple move into the neighborhood this fall.

From Queerty:

The ABC series' gay creator, Marc Cherry, confirms a queer couple will be moving into the struggling soap. While the actors have yet to be named, Cherry says the gays, who are moving into Alfre Woodard's old digs, will butt heads with Teri Hatcher's character, Susan. Cherry said:

We're going to have the first male desperate housewives. They will move into the old Applewhite house and one of the gay men will just have a fractious, hateful relationship with Teri Hatcher.

I just decided to have them move onto the street and have as many issues as any other couple. And Susan wants to be so politically correct and show how open-minded she is and she puts her foot in her mouth instantly and it goes downhill from there. I'm basing it a little bit on my relationship with my neighbors.

Though Cherry's not leaking any of the juicy details, he promises the show's other gay character - Marcia Cross' evil son, Andrew, played by Shawn Pyfrom - will be back to his old tricks this season.

From AfterElton:

Cherry again promised things will be different this season for the reformed troublemaker who may not be so reformed. "We're not doing much with him at the beginning of the year but in the third episode, we have a fun thing that happens," Cherry explained. Andrew will somehow become involved in Lynette's (Felicity Huffman) cancer storyline and revert to his former evil ways.

Cherry said Andrew's sexuality will not be prominently dealt with in early episodes, especially with the new gay neighbors shaking things up.

Hopefully he gay drama can help boost the show, which faced a ratings slump in its third season. And, even more importantly than stupid ratings, hopefully the gay hubbies are as steamy as their female counterparts. And as bitchy.

Labels: entertainment, television

The leaders of the Vermont House and Senate announced Wednesday they have formed a special commission to gauge Vermonters' thoughts on expanding marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples.

Will Vermont be the next state in the Union to grant basic fairness to all families?

Read entire story here.

Labels: legislature, marriage, vermont

So over at World 'Nut' Daily they're reporting about a gay pride organizer from Wisconsin who is now facing a felony charge after police say he sought to meet a 14-year-old boy via the internet for a sexual encounter. Is this ok? Of course not. The folks here at Gay Rights Watch couldn't be more against this type of thing. BUT...

First, why is this a big news story to them? If our blog reported on every single straight man who did this, we wouldn't have time to do anything else but type-type-type. I mean come on now, don't you watch To Catch a Predator? Straight man after straight man who get caught in stings trying to have sex with 12, 13 and 14 year-old girls.

Second, just look at the following list of recent youth pastors (World Net Daily's peeps) who got busted...

Battle Creek, Michigan: Youth pastor arraigned for child solicitation.

Farmington, New Mexico: Youth pastor arrested for alleged rape.

San Diego, California: Youth pastor sentenced to life for molesting four kids.

Spokane, Washington: Youth pastor guilty of eight sex felonies.

Murrells Inlet, South Carolina: Youth pastor gets two life sentences for molesting children.

And in a little good news for youth pastors…

Pocatello, Idaho: Youth pastor charged with lewd conduct and sexually abusing a minor acquitted on all charges. Church officials, quoted by the AP, “say he will now return to his previous duties.”

Video of To Catch a Predator on Dateline NBC is below. So World Net Daily, I'll see you and raise you 20.

Labels: anti gay, religion, video

Labels: 2008 elections, 2008 Presidential Election, debate, democrat, video

Couples lined up this morning to take advantage of Washington state's new Domestic Partnership law which affords roughly twelve benefits to same-sex couples. These rights, benefits and responsibilities include things like: hospital visitation, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations, and the ability to inherit in the absence of a will.

Equal Rights Washington makes no claim that Washington's Domestic Partnerships are just a band-aid and no replacement for the hundreds of rights, responsibilities and protections that come with marriage.

Some 85 couples were registered after the first hour Monday, with another 50 pairs standing in a line that wrapped around the front of the secretary of state's office in downtown Olympia.

One small positive step forward for society.

Of course you then have the whackos...
Joseph Fuiten, a Bothell pastor who leads the conservative group Positive Christian Agenda, called the partnership registry "social experimentation."

"The state of Washington is signaling to our children that domestic partnerships are nearly as good as marriage," Fuiten said in a statement. "No research was done by the Legislature to prove that no harm will come to society as a result of this action."

To Mr. Fuiten I say this. First, the State of Washington is not in any way indicating that Domestic Partnerships are 'nearly as good as marriage'. As I said above these Domestic Partnerships offer ABOUT A DOZEN vital rights and responsibilities--far from the hundreds afforded to Mr. Fuiten and his wife.

If "social experimentation" as Mr. Fuiten calls it are things like being able to visit your partner in the hospital or the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations then I question his morals as a human being and as a pastor. These socially conservative extremists prove once and again that they do not even realize the worth of their marriage and that is a sad fact.

How about this...
What is Mr. Fuiten's child was in desperate need of an organ transplant, days away from death? Would he then have the same issue with committed gay couples being able to make choices about their partner's organs after death? Think about that Mr. Fuiten.

Labels: domestic partnership, gay rights, legislature, washington

Tammy Faye Messner, March 7, 1942 - July 20, 2007. After a long fought battle with terminal cancer, Tammy Faye has passed away.

From CNN: Tammy Faye Messner, the former televangelist and Christian singer who battled drug addiction and later inoperable cancer, died Friday morning, CNN's Larry King said Saturday night. He said the family had asked him to make the delayed announcement. She was 65.

"She died peacefully," King said.

Messner was a guest on "Larry King Live" on Thursday. She said she couldn't swallow food, and weighed only 65 pounds.

King asked her Thursday if she were "a little scared."

She responded, "A little bit," adding that she mainly worried about her family.

Watching her on CNN's Larry King earlier in the week was very difficult, although her spirit and humor was still shining through as she did her best to make it through the hour interview.

Tammy Faye, you will be missed.

Labels: celebrity, straight allies

Ohio State Representative Tom Brinkman (R-Cincinnati) is being tied to a petition fraud case, petitions that were circulated were to overturn an equal rights ordinance. Petition circulators falsified signatures in order to meet the qualifying number necessary.

From 365gay.com:

A Republican lawmaker behind an unsuccessful bid to repeal Cincinnati's ordinance protecting gays from discrimination has been accused of knowing names to get the issue onto the ballot in 2006 were fraudulent.

"It's terrible," said Judge Robert Ruehlman from the bench. "It takes away the right to democracy. It takes away the right for people to decide issues when you cheat like that."

Brinkman denies any wrongdoing.
"I personally did not touch a single address or date or signature or name or anything," he told the Associated Press.

Mingo and Ward, who worked for an outside firm hired to collect the signatures, were charged following a seven-month investigation.

Equal Rights Not Special Rights had collected thousands of names on petitions to have a repeal measure put to voters last November. But when it emerged that many of the signatures were fake the group voluntarily withdrew the measure.

More than 7,600 signatures that were validated by the Hamilton County Board of Elections but the phony names were discovered during a second check before a challenge from Restore Fairness, a pro-gay rights group, was to begin before the Board of Elections.

Among the phony signatures were "Fidel Castro" and Cincinnati Reds owner "Bob Castellini."

Labels: anti gay, ohio, republican

[UPDATE HERE] Tammy Faye Messner has passed away.

Last night on Larry King Tammy Faye was interviewed. I watched it and honestly it was heartbreaking. Stricken with lung cancer, weighing only 65 pounds--she is not in good shape and obviously does not have a lot of time left on this earth. In the clip below she talks about gays and her son Jay Bakker joins the conversation.

God bless you Tammy Faye.

Labels: religion

An Open Letter To Former Oregon State Senator Marylin Shannon:

For those of you who are unaware of who Marylin Shannon is, she is one of the three ring-leaders who are trying to overturn Oregon's new Domestic Partnership and Anti-Discrimination laws via a referendum.

My Dearest Schizo Bigot,

I sincerely apologize Mrs. Shannon, but after a long train of thought while taking a pee this morning, I've decided we could never be friends.

Here are my concerns.

1.) You think that gay people are immoral, perverted and destroying the world. That's a pretty big one for me.

2.) On one documented occasion while on the phone with a reporter, you claimed that you could not send a photo of yourself for the paper claiming, "[T]he homosexuals hacked into my computer and now it won't work." Mrs. Shannon, this concerns me.

3.) You were endorsed by Sen. Gordon Smith in your run for Oregon State Senate.

4.) You were on the "US Justice Department's Task Force on Families in Crisis"... yet you lack the basic judgement necessary to see that in Oregon, same-sex couples and their families are indeed in crisis, unable to establish a legal relationship to one another. So what do you recommend when these families, some of them your own neighbors, are in crisis?

5.) You claim that Oregon's new Domestic Partnership law "violates the intent of Oregon voters who in 2004 adopted a constitutional ban on gay marriage."

If this were in fact the case, file a lawsuit. If in fact it did violate Measure 36, you would win. I will give you some credit here though. You know that Domestic Partnerships in no way violate Measure 36--nor the "spirit of Measure 36". Hence why you and your fellow self-righteous bigots have failed to do so.

Oh and! I see that you fail to notice that the proponents of Measure 36 have stepped back and are not participating in the referendum attempt. They even know that Domestic Partnerships are a far cry from marriage.

6.) "The spirit of Measure 36"... what exactly is that? The way I see it the spirit of Measure 36 is damn evil by not only permanently inscribing blatant discrimination in Oregon's most sacred document, but locking Oregon families out of vital rights, protections and responsibilities.

7.) I think families are the backbone of society, whereas you could not be further away from this belief. Selectively shutting out couples, especially with children from protecting one another is just plain wrong. As you said in your voter guide statement: "Speaking of families, raising a successful and loving family in the '90's can be challenging".

Damn right--10 years later it's even harder.

In closing Mrs. Shannon, no "homosexual hacked into your computer". They are not "destroying your life", nor do they interfere with your life. In fact, you interfere with their lives.

You are a coward Mrs. Shannon. Your name will go down in Oregon's history books as a failure, a bigot and a woman who held little regard for the welfare of Oregon families. Shame on you. Shame.

Labels: 2008 elections, anti-discrimination, domestic partnership, oregon, referendum

After a hard fought battle in the legislature, Washington's newly passed Domestic Partnership law will go into effect this Monday. The registry grants some legal standing (less than a dozen rights and responsibilities) for same-sex couples and straight couples where at least one of the persons is 62 years or older. Both critics and supporters of the new law say the issue is far from settled.

Josh Friedes of Equal Rights Washington has said that from day one-even on the day they announced Domestic Partnerships, the first sentence out of their mouth was something to the tune of, "Don't get us wrong, we won't stop until we have full equal marriage."

Couples who register will have some of the same rights and obligations that married couples have. Those rights include hospital visitation rights, participation in medical care decisions, and inheritance rights. But the couples will not be able to file their federal taxes jointly or receive partner benefits from Social Security or other federal rights.

Washington is different as the residents cannot vote for a constitutional amendment as they can here in Oregon and many other states. What does this mean? It means that they will never have a constitutional amendment banning marriage for same-sex couples. The legislature would have vote on that and that will never happen.

Washington should be applauded for this small but necessary win for basic fairness for all Washington families and for keeping up the fight for full marriage equality.

Labels: domestic partnership, washington

This is too good not to post. John Stewart discusses the stupidity that is... Dr. James Holsinger, President Bush's Surgeon General nominee.

Labels: anti gay, bush, federal, video

Today in the Washington Post there is an editorial entitled "Dr. Dodgy" and it rips Dr. Holsinger a new one.

DR. JAMES W. Holsinger Jr. wants to be the next surgeon general of the United States. On paper, he's nearly perfect. His distinguished career spans nearly 40 years in Kentucky and Washington, D.C. If confirmed, Dr. Holsinger said, his three priorities would be combating smoking and childhood obesity and improving how the public health system responds to emergencies -- excellent goals. But his prurient 1991 paper for the Methodist Church on what he imagined to be the sex lives of gay men has gummed up his effort to become the nation's top doc.

The hope was that his confirmation hearing last week would bring some clarity to Dr. Holsinger's views on homosexuality. No such luck. Instead, he expressed his "deep appreciation for the humanity of everyone, regardless of their personal circumstances or their sexual orientation." That's excellent, but it doesn't answer the question.

"Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality" is a six-page romp through sexual practices that would be extreme for anyone regardless of sexual orientation. Yet Dr. Holsinger ascribed these practices to all gay men and decreed that the practices marked all homosexuals as promiscuous and diseased. The idea that two people of the same sex could establish a relationship based on love was never broached. Instead, he concluded his NC-17 report by saying the hardware store popularity of male and female pipe fittings proves the primacy of heterosexuality.

[...]

Dr. Holsinger struck a that-was-then-this-is-now pose. "The paper does not represent where I am today," he said. Fine. But the question remains: Does Dr. Holsinger still believe that homosexuality is unnatural and unhealthy? If the answer is yes, he should not be confirmed.

Read the editorial in it's entirety here.

And here is some more enjoyable reading from some great gay blogs:

Queerty: Ex-Gays Love Ex-Gay Loving Holsinger

Surgeon General Nominee Holsinger Has Broad Anti-Gay Bias

Labels: anti gay, bush, federal, holsinger

Labels: religion, video

A vote in the U.S. Senate on a GLBT inclusive hate crimes bill was put on hold this week after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) abruptly withdrew a the controversial defense authorization bill to which the hate crimes measure was to be considered as an amendment.

From the WA Blade:

Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) filed the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 on the Senate floor on July 11 in the form of an amendment to the defense authorization measure. Gay and transgender activists were hoping the Senate would take a break from its heated debate on the war to vote on the Shepard hate crimes amendment late last week or early this week.

[...]

Supporters believe they have a filibuster-proof majority of more than 60 votes lined up for the hate crimes measure. The White House has said President Bush might veto a freestanding hate crimes bill, but supporters believe he would be much less likely to veto an important defense bill on which the hate crimes measure was attached.

The House passed an identical version of the hate crimes measure as a freestanding bill earlier this year.

Read more about it at HRC's blog as well.

Labels: federal, hate crimes

Went through a little redesign for our blog. We're now 120 pixels wider and we're sporting a new design. We'll continue too improve as time goes on. Any thoughts?

Wasco County, yes Wasco County passed an anti-discrimination ordinance last Wednesday. The Wasco County Court passed it unanimously with little opposition. Wasco County includes The Dalles, Antelope and Dufur and yes, it is very rural. Wasco County becomes the 13th municipality to pass such an ordinance that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas such as employment, housing and public accommodation.

This victory in Oregon goes to show that no matter urban or rural, this is an issue we can all agree on. Congrats Wasco County!

Some of you may ask, "wait, I thought Oregon just passed a statewide anti-discrimination law?" Well yes Oregon did. That law goes into effect on January 1st, 2008 but some right-wing fundies are attempting to get it on the ballot for November 2008 via a referendum.

Labels: anti-discrimination, gay rights, oregon

Oh Hairspray! I cannot wait to see this movie. In fact I already bought my tickets. Not only do you have John Travolta in full body makeup as a woman--but you have the hot as hell Zac Efron playing Link Larkin. Zac is best known for his performance in High School Musicial.

The film features new and original material based on John Waters' 1988 cult classic (turned Broadway show) about star-struck teenagers on a local Baltimore dance show. Here is the trailer...

And because Zac Efron is something to look at, here he is--DAMN.

Labels: entertainment

I don't personally think he is the worst--just a complete dumb ass.

Labels: anti gay

This morning Basic Rights Oregon announced a victory in a court case-Parman v. Oregon. Here is a story from March of 2006 when the case was filed--below is what happened today at the press conference (the ruling was actually last Friday).

From BRO:
Oregon Court Rules that Oregon Laws Unconstitutionally Discriminate Against Children and Families of Same-Sex Parents

A Multnomah County Circuit Court judge found that two Oregon state laws violate the state's constitution by discriminating against families headed by same-gender couples.

"This decision is a tremendous win for children, for families, and for our shared Oregon value of basic fairness," said John Hummel, Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon. "It validates the need for Oregon's new Domestic Partnership law to be implemented - not unnecessarily delayed or overturned by a referendum vote."

Judge Eric Bloch's decision in Parman v. Oregon et al holds that two Oregon laws (ORS 109.070 and ORS 109.243) granting parental rights to married couples unconstitutionally discriminate against families headed by same-gender couples.

Based on the landmark 1998 Tanner v. OHSU decision, Judge Bloch found that assigning benefits based on marriage, while not permitting same-sex couples access to these benefits, constitutes illegal discrimination against certain families. Plaintiffs in the case include K.D. Parman, 32, partner of nine years Jeana Frazzini, 34, and their two sons Emmett, 4, and Griffin, 1.

"We're thrilled by Judge Bloch's decision. Our family is really no different from any other family. We simply want to be treated fairly under the law, for our kids to have the same opportunities as any other child to succeed and thrive, and to do everything in our power to keep them safe. And that includes legal recognition for our family as a family," said Parman.

The decision brings Oregon's independent judicial branch into agreement with the Governor and Legislature, that that the state does in fact illegally discriminate against the families of same-sex couples, and that the Oregon Constitution requires this discrimination to end.

As a remedy, Judge Bloch found that Oregon's new Domestic Partnership to be one permissible solution to the problem, provided it goes into effect as scheduled on January 1, 2008. However, the future of Oregon's new Domestic Partnership law - and the future of many Oregon families - is still in jeopardy.

A signature-collection effort designed to delay and ultimately overturn Oregon's new Domestic Partnership law is already underway. Should this effort be successful, and Oregon's new Domestic Partnership Law be placed on the ballot, implementation of this law will be unnecessarily delayed until after the November 2008 election, and the law could be overturned altogether.

"We now know that delaying or overturning Oregon's Domestic Partnership law would not only hurt many children and families, it could precipitate a constitutional crisis," said Hummel. "Oregon's Domestic Partnership law must be allowed to go into effect on January 1st, 2008 - without delay... as required by Oregon's constitution, and for the sake of Oregon's children and families."

"From our family to all other Oregon families - we ask you NOT to sign the petitions that are designed to overturn Oregon's new Domestic Partnership law," urged Frazzini. "Please don't shut our family out from the ability to care for those we love."

Labels: basic rights oregon, domestic partnership, lawsuit, oregon, parenting

I'm pretty impressed. The folks at Basic Rights Oregon launched a new campaign today called "50 Voices for Equality". It features 50 straight, yes straight Oregonians who are coming out in support of equality for gay and lesbians. They are also obviously voicing their support for the two recent laws passed in May. One being the Domestic Partnership law and the other being a statewide Anti-Discrimination law.

Sadly, anti-family, anti-fairness groups are currently attempting to do a referendum on these laws. Check out the video below about the new 50 Voices for Equality campaign and visit the site at www.50VoicesForEquality.com.

Labels: anti-discrimination, basic rights oregon, domestic partnership, gay rights, referendum, straight allies

Ann Coulter tells host Glenn Beck that she does not believe the word "faggot" is a slur and says "it's a comedic word, a schoolyard word." Coulter also says the "word means wimp, wuss, pathetic."

Labels: ann coulter, anti gay, bitch