Freedom To Marry: Same-sex couples stand for marriage rights
· California: And the debate over whether San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's actions helped or hurt the cause, a debate I personally find to be a ridiculous in that it's expertly designed to distract from the real issue. While busy defending whether he did the right thing, one is typically not debating the real issue at all. Making the Valentine's Day activism in Napa, rural Nevada County, Humboldt and Placer Counties, San Diego and all over the state all the more vital (all five links have photos). I particularly applaud Terry McClaren who stood for hours silently on the steps of San Mateo County's Government Center yesterday wearing her wedding dress.
· UK: A new Journal of Epidemiology and Community Heath report in the UK has revealed that same-sex marriage and civil partnerships are good for our health. The report says they reduce the prejudice and social exclusion that same-sex couples feel and should help to cut the high rates of depression and drug-taking, promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases - a suspect list in my book, yet very similar ones are used by the wingnuts as cause to deny such partnerships. Interesting, eh?
· New Jersey: New Jersey could become the second state in the US to legalize gay marriage in a case presented to the State Supreme Court today. "New Jersey is a unique state nationally when it comes to this issue," said Lambda Legal lawyer David Buckel. "That became very clear with a governor's race in which candidates on both sides opposed an amendment to the state constitution that would limit marriage to a man and a woman." I have to say I'm eagerly anticipating the verdict.
Continue reading "Freedom To Marry: Same-sex couples stand for marriage rights" »
An Ingham County judge has ruled that Michigan's ban against gay marriage 
Don't you hate it when you split up with your partner, who is on your health plan, and he tells the company you've been lying. That's 
The Mexican government 
Twenty-two cases of a rare sexually transmitted infection have been diagnosed 
Arizona's proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage has Damien McNeal and Richard McLean preparing for financial trouble. The initiative 
Wisconsin Republican lawmakers have asked the extremely homophobic Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund to actually represent the Legislature in fighting a lawsuit filed by a handful of lesbian state workers seeking benefits for their partners. The Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Legislative Organization 
Wisconsin's battle over same-sex marriage has gotten strange. Assembly Speaker John Gard, pictured, 
Lactobacillus bacteria that appear to target and trap HIV 
Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer, who said he was "shocked and disgusted" by explicit language on 
The Miami Herald reports that actor Colin Farrell, most recently seen in the films "Alexander" and "At Home At The End of the World," spent some time recently in the Florida sunshine. On Monday night though he unknowingly showed up at the ambisexual Back Door Bamby Monday night, only to be chased by a gaggle of gay men including drag queen Shelley Novak. Apparently Farrell fled quicker than you can say open bar. Farrell recently revealed that he breathes in while shooting his movies so he can look slimmer on screen. He confessed he holds in his stomach rather than go to the gym or cut down on partying because, "I get no kicks from going to the gym. It doesn't do it for me. Never has. Some people enjoy working out. But that's never done it for me. "In the past, I'd breathe in heavily between takes. That way it doesn't hurt the beer consumption at all."
As you probably recall, Michigan voters approved a gay marriage ban amendment and on March 16 Michigan's attorney general, Mike Cox, took that one step further, ruling that the passage meant gay and lesbian state workers should be ineligible for health benefits for their partners in future contracts. Kathleen Moltz, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children's Hospital of Michigan, said she and her partner, Dahlia Schwartz, talked it over for quite some time before deciding to sue the governor. "We're not conflict seekers," Schwartz said. "We just want to live our lives quietly." But at stake, they said, are the health benefits Schwartz receives as a domestic partner. "It is not a small issue to us," said Schwartz. "I have a thyroid condition. And a main reason we moved to Michigan was so I would be able to stay at home with the children." 
Two overseas-trained doctors have been prevented from taking positions at Campbelltown and Liverpool hospitals because the immigration department will not issue their same-sex partners with a family visa. Frustrated health officials and Australian Democrats have appealed to the Minister for Immigration, Amanda Vanstone, pictured, saying the decision exacerbated the chronic shortage of psychiatrists in public hospitals. The situation is actually drastic with an enormous backlog of vacancies.
The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center 
Louise Bizzari and her partner of 20 years, Barbara Hackett, are suing New Hartford's Charles T. Sitrin Health Center because they weren't allowed to use the New York facility because they're lesbians - and in Bizzari's case, one with health issues at that. "Most people have no idea what it is like not to walk," Bizzari said. She has a degenerative joint disease and her doctors suggested she take up swimming, only to find she wasn't allowed. Jackie Warmuth, Sitrin’s director of clinical rehabilitation, said to her - "You are faggots."
John Aziga, a man living with HIV, has been 