Colombia Sees Gay Wedding Bells

[Image from The Advocate]

From Star Observer, Australia:

Colombia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that lawmakers must extend marriage rights to same-sex couples within two years. According to the ruling, the Colombian Congress must legislate for same-sex marriage by June 20, 2013. If they fail to do same-sex couples will automatically gain the right to go to any judge or notary in the country and marry.

The country already has civil unions which provide almost all the same rights as marriage. The decision came as the result of a case brought by gay rights group Colombia Diversa in partnership with DeJusticia legal aid and other organisations. “This is a historic decision for equality in Colombia,” Colombia Diversa executive director Marcela Sánchez said.

Columbia’s civil unions were the result of another suit by Columbia Diversa in 2007.
The Columbian Congress has previously defeated six bills for marriage equality so it is unlikely that they will legislate before June 2013.

Colombia will join Argentina to become the second South American nation to legalise same-sex marriage if another does not do so before June 2013, and is yet another majority Catholic country to do so.

From Colombia Diversa (in Spanish):

La Corte Constitucional reconoció que en Colombia si es constitucional el derecho al matrimonio civil por parte de las parejas del mismo sexo y que las familias de las parejas del mismo sexo merecen protección constitucional. Sin embargo, considera que es el Congreso el que debe regularlo, para lo cual le da un tiempo al Congreso de dos años.

Quiere decir que si después del 20 de junio de 2013 el Congreso no ha producido una decisión, la sentencia del día de hoy, tendrá vigencia y se podrán realizar matrimonios civiles en cualquier notaría del país sin necesidad de reglamentación adicional, simplemente usando la misma que tienen las parejas heterosexuales.

Este fallo es trascendental porque reconoce a las parejas del mismo sexo como familias y define un estándar mínimo de protección constitucional para ellas, que es el que deberá tener en cuenta el Congreso a la hora de regular el matrimonio igualitario para las parejas del mismo sexo.

Sin embargo, según Marcela Sánchez directora de Colombia Diversa: “dado que el Congreso colombiano, no ha sido, ni será el espacio de garantías de los derechos de la población LGBT, significa que en realidad lo más probable es que sólo se ha aplazado la decisión y las parejas del mismo sexo se podrán casar a partir del 20 de junio de 2013“.

[See more of Colombia Diversa's blog entry here.]

Michele Bachmann's Deep Thoughts on Bullying

Look closely. For a while now you've seen her wildly open eyes, her almost cartoonish expressions of sheer joy, pocketed by moments of complete plasticity where she dodges important questions and stands by the hate of her deep in the closet bitch-man Marcus "ram-me-harder-and-make-me-hate-myself" Bachmann. No emotion. No care whatsoever.

This is the woman who cares nothing for the youth, gay or not, in her own district who are killing themselves due to being perceived as gay. Yes, you got it - it doesn't matter that they may be or not, they are being pushed right over the edge. So obsessed is La Crazy Eyes to eradicate the world from every vestige of faggottry that she will completely turn a blind eye to what is happening to the kids of her own area and proudly brainwash poor, simple-minded folk into thinking they are straight when in fact, they're just misguided and very, very malleable.

Says Bachmann on bullying:

"I think for all us our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies, always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to point of zero tolerance and what does it mean?...What will be our definition of bullying? Will it get to the point where we are completely stifling free speech and expression? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?"

I honestly wonder what kind of a distorted human Michele Bachmann is, underneath all that insane talk of hers. I wonder how would she feel if she were the one under fire for simply being - forget the gender orientation. I wonder how she sleeps at night as the karma she is accruing forms a mountain at her feet - oh, that's right, she's a Christian and Christians don't believe in such a weird word. I think she probably hears voices that propel her to think of herself as a Mother Theresa of sorts, out to save the world, and tell YOU what YOU need to be doing in bed, and it better be with a member of the OPPOSITE gender... or else. She reminds me of the insane Theocratic government system that ruled the people in Margaret Atwood's dystopia "The Handmaid's Tale." Perhaps this is what she wants - to weed out undesirables, and thus restore the nation to a 1950s version of Americana, itself already filled with the seeds of its own demise as seen in the following decade. That way she can probably erase from her own mind any "dark thing" that might be lurking there, incomprehensible even to her. But let me stop here. I don't know the lady nor do I want to.

I do know that those who persecute the most fiercely have a giant, 500 pound gorilla that dare not show its face to the light.

It dare not.

Images of Happines and Love: Gay Couples, NYC

The images alone (particularly the first) are priceless. There are no words. You cannot buy this degree of happiness.

Phyllis Sifel and Connie Kopelov (seated)

Myron Levine (center, L) and Philip Zinderman celebrate after being married outside the Manhattan City Clerk's office July 24, 2011. They have been together for 51 years.

Same-sex couple Daniel Mackey (L) and his partner Dennis Josue

More from NYC

ALBANY

 [Sources AP, CityRoom blogs at New York Times, IBT, timesunion.com]

Tori Spelling: Hoarder [SPOOF]

She's a hoarder of a special kind.

[Thanks David for posting this and making me laugh!]

Hoarders: Untold sTori from Tori Spelling

Amy Winehouse: They Tried to Make Her Go to Rehab, But...

 

It probably won't shock anyone that British pop singer Amy Winehouse of "Rehab" fame and those gravelly, tortured vocals reminiscent of Nina Simone has been found dead in her apartment in her London apartment today according to various news sources. The girl just couldn't get it together and literally lived the song's chorus for which she is known, right down to its bitter end. Too bad. She was quite the performer. May she rest in peace.

She now joins a rather dubious list of performers who have gone at the age of twenty-seven: Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain. All of these had one thing in common - an over-the-top talent that never matured into its full potential, and a brief but intense musical legacy that has influenced other musicians' style.

It's too soon to say whether future pop singers will be emulating Winehouse in performance only, but the fact remains she did create some pretty sharp, torchy songs that reflect the storm she must have been going through in the process of creation. It's just a shame that the 'sex, drugs, and rock n' roll' lifestyle was that blade that cut her too soon out of this world. 

DADT is Dead, Long Live Gays in the Military

[Image from Huffington Post.]

One more victory for the LGBT community and those that have served our country who were unceremoniously discharged just because their gender inclinations didn't follow the "norm." I couldn't be happier. This Nation has done the right thing - and a HUGE step in gay rights.

You see, no one should ever be discharged unfairly based on gender attraction. It is unconstitutional and presents an affront to anyone wanting to be a contributing part of society in the branch that dedicates itself to defend out nation. I can understand that Clinton may have had good intentions in instating DADT - because the policy was, if you don't ask me what sex I go for I won't tell you because it's not your business anyway." However, that very same "it's a private affair" stance became the cornerstone for right-wingers and extremists to keep gays in the perpetual, intolerable back of the bus. Discussions were wild about how effective a gay man could be if he served in the army - could he fight in battle? Could he have the same kind of integrity a straight man possessed without corrupting the others?

The answer is simply, yes.  And then some. Few people like to talk about how gay men fought in ancient times, partners fighting together side by side to the very end. When it comes to protecting a country's interests, everything else falls by the wayside and the goal becomes nothing short of an obsession with striking the enemy dead in its heart. The concept that a man or woman who happened not to be straight could not fulfil this task is ridiculous to the extreme, discriminating to subhuman levels, and after a long battle from formerly discharged soldiers, it has ended.

And that, my friends, is what makes a great nation and an example to others.

We're getting closer. It's not over... but it's close.

From Talk Radio News Service:

The White House announced late Friday afternoon that the repeal of DADT was formally certified by President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen.

“Today, we have taken the final major step toward ending the discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law that undermines our military readiness and violates American principles of fairness and equality,” Obama said in a statement.

The President, as well as the Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, were required by a law passed late last year to officially sign off on the repeal. The certification will be followed by a 60 day waiting period, set to end on September 20th.

During the 2008 campaign, President Obama pledged to end the controversial policy barring gays from serving in the military. The march towards its repeal included a survey issued last year asking servicemembers the best way to wind-down the policy and Congressional authorization last December.

Following the President’s stateemnt, a briefing was held at the Pentagon with the Repeal Implementation Team and the Department’s General Counsel, Jeh Johnson. The following was announced:

-Benefits will largely be untouched by the change, since DOMA and other laws restrict the military from recognizing same sex partners. The Department won’t be giving service pay for those honorably discharged for being gay.

-Sexual orientation will not affect where soldiers are deployed.

-Prior to the certification, the Service Chiefs and Secretaries were consulted. A Defense official says they “unanimously” reported that their services were ready for the repeal.

-1.79 million servicemembers have gone through training in preparation for the repeal. Under the law passed in December, training does not need to be 100 percent complete prior to the repeal.

-Commanders will be prohibited from physically segregating gay servicemembers.

-Those who were discharged solely for being gay can re-enlist on September 20th.

Runaway Baby

[photo from The New York Post]

Only in New York, people: two ladies (and I use that term with a generous dose of mockery sprinkled with a fifth of irony and a quarter of Presidente beer which makes everything look clearer) decided that getting into an argument that quickly escalated into an all-out slugfest was the most appropriate way to enjoy a subway ride on the L train into Manhattan. The perpetrator, a large Hispanic woman, ripped off what seems to be the top part of a black woman's weave, and it seems no one told her that the ONE thing you NEVA do is mess with another woman's hair, even if it is detachable (or in this case, rip-offable).

What none of the offending women realized is that the Hispanic woman - who was also carrying a baby in tow in a red stroller - paid no attention that the stroller sailed past the open subway doors and right onto the platform. I guess all that hair-pulling must have been rather exciting and held some kind of cash prize at the end, because the two "ladies" continued to battle on, screaming expletives at each other. I kept hoping this would turn into a lesbian affair. How many times has that happened? Two women beating the bitch out of each other in public suddenly realize that this is what their life's calling has been... this is the moment of truth, and turn the mess into a real hot, dripping, explosive mess as they scissored themselves into oblivion. Baby? What baby?

That would be some show even a hardcore fagelah like me would attend.

Anyway, no harm came out of it other than bruised egos, ripped hair, and in case of the black woman, the embarrassing moment where she held her own weave in her hand. If I'd been her, I would have just pegged it to her crotch. Considering she was in all white, it would have made quite the statement.

Only in New York, folks. I am weeping for joy that my City still has it.

Beauty is Skin Deep

But it hides a... mutant alien!!!

If I Had a Hammer...

Tyler Hadley, a sweet, innocent, 17 year old kid who wouldn't hurt a fly.

Only in Florida: Tyler Hadley, 17, allegedly his parents, killed Blake and Mary-Jo Hadley on Saturday before locking their bodies in a bedroom and inviting guests round. He has been charged as an adult, but would be ineligible for the death penalty due to his age. A motive for his alleged actions remains unclear. [source: BBC]

I don't know what leads a kid to bludgeon his parents to death and on top of that throw a party like nothing at all happened. I'm going to go out on a limb and theorize it's very possible that the kid needed to make some quick meatloaf and driving through the hell that is Florida traffic some 5 miles to the nearest Walmart just wasn't cutting it. So he took one good look at Mom and Dad, make a quick decision, and decided it would only be apropos to go by the way of the hammer. And he'd be keeping it in the family. Any left overs could be used as mulch or fertilizers. It's all a question of problem solving. Only in Florida, folks. And I love me some sunshine and musclebears from Ft Lauderdale.

The Thick of Night

...this appears.

Powerful Words: Dan Savage on Marcus Bachmann

Dan Savage wrote on his piece on Marcus "Queen for a Day" Bachmann on SLOG:

The man is a homophobe of the highest order; he and his odious wife support discrimination against LGBT people, they're particularly invested in sustaining the religious stigma against queer people, and Marcus Bachmann makes money torturing vulnerable gays and lesbians—not all of them kids—with false promises of cures and false threats of hell. So here's a man who thinks people should be discriminated against for being gay... a man who tells Christian gays that God hates people who are gay... and his manner is so stereotypically gay that he wouldn't look out of place in a gay mens chorus or a sling at Club Z.

Gay people who point out how fruity Bachmann is aren't saying there's something wrong with being fruity, or with being gay, or with guys who look, speak, walk, or dance the way Bachmann does. A lot of us look, speak, walk, and dance that way. And we don't think there's anything wrong with us for looking, speaking, walking, or dancing that way. I've never met a gay man who objected to Modern Family's Cam, who looks, speaks, walks, and dances the Bachmann way. And we certainly don't think there's anything wrong with being gay. But Marcus Bachmann sure does. He thinks there's a whole lot wrong with being gay. And when we point out that this same Marcus Bachmann acts like a huge homo—like a huge, messy, married, dishonest, closeted version Cam—we're not mocking the fruits. We're hoisting that pansy with his own hateful petard.

Wanda Sykes on Having a Detachable Vuh-Jay-Jay

This would make quite an erotica story.

Off to Florida...

...where the musclebears reign supreme!

Where the Same-Sex Couples Are (in NYC)

A census-based NYC map shows that all along the west side registers the largest concentration of same-sex couples.

From WNYC:

A total of 32,972 households included same-sex couples, up from 25,906 in 2000. The largest numbers of same-sex couples live in a corridor of sorts, that stretches from Greenwich Village through Chelsea and into Hells Kitchen and Midtown along the west side of Manhattan. Chelsea, long known for its gay singles scene, also registered the highest proportion of same-sex couples, and, in one census tract bounded by Sixth and Eighth Avenues and 18th and 22nd streets, 22 percent of all couples were same-sex couples.

In that same tract, gay male couples outnumbered lesbian couples 226 to 36, pointing to a larger statistic: gay male couples make up 60 percent of the same-sex couples in the city. However, exceptions exist, namely in parts of Park Slope, Brooklyn, where lesbian couples outnumbered gay male couples.

On the Obama Administration's Threat to Reinstate DADT

This is really bothering me. I don't get this president and never, ever will. Talk about teasing the public who voted for him after he promised change and now he threatens to do an about-face even as society and hard-nosed politicians have stepped up and expressed support to the LGBT community.  I recall how gung-ho he was about trumpeting his 'change' policies and the moment he got power - because America decided to vote on color, not on qualifications - all that went out the window. I couldn't believe it when I saw Rachel Maddow's show tonight and I felt sickened at the sight of her having to angrily relay the news that Obama seeks to reinstate DADT. He could not bring himself to even say the fucking M word when all of New York was trying desperately to get marriage equality on the table. I'm convinced he has a deep-seated fear/hatred/ignorance of all things gay and simply cannot or will not accept that we as people have just as many rights as he does. I wonder how he would have felt if the months following the Civil Rights movement, then president Johnson would have decided - after dangling the carrot in front of the donkey - to just pluck it away. I wonder.

The Obama Administration Challenges the End of DADT

Is there any plausible reason that Obama doesn't seem to have a clear hold on his words of 'change'? Everything about him is as bland and flat as soda that's lost its fizz. For a while now. First, his 'struggle' to accept marriage equality - he couldn't even bring himself to say the bloody M word in his visit to New York City earlier this Spring. Now he's challenging the end of DADT? Really? Challenging it?

I don't get it. Then again, I never got him.

Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?

Come on, Obama. Fuckin' EVOLVE ALREADY.



From Newsmax.com:

The Obama Administration asked a federal appeals court to reconsider its order that put an immediate end to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays and lesbians serving in the military.

Lawyers for the Justice Department today asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco to reverse its July 6 decision granting a request by the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that promotes equal rights for gays and lesbians, to block further enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” while it reviews a lower-court ruling declaring the law unconstitutional.

The appeals court issued its order “based in part on an apparent understanding that the government is not defending the constitutionality” of the policy, Henry C. Whitaker, a Justice Department lawyer, wrote in a letter to the court today. “That understanding is incorrect.”

President Barack Obama on Dec. 22 signed into law legislation lifting the 1993 policy. The White House said then that it would take months for new rules to be put in place. On July 6, Marine Colonel Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said in an e-mail that certification of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” -- required for the law to take effect -- was just “weeks away.”

Repeal Under Way

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips in Riverside, California, ruled Sept. 9 that the policy, which prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, violates constitutionally protected due process and free speech rights.

In its July 6 opinion, the three-judge appeals court panel noted that the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is under way, and that the Obama administration no longer opposes court challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages for purposes of taxes, Social Security and other federal programs.

The Justice Department, in today’s request for the order putting the lower-court ruling on hold to be reinstated, said it is asking the court to “permit the orderly process for repealing” the policy to resume.

“It is sad and disappointing that the government continues to try to prevent openly gay and lesbian Americans from serving in our armed forces,” Dan Woods, a lawyer representing the Log Cabin Republicans, said in an e-mailed statement.

“While we expect to win, the government’s goal in its filing today can only be to delay the inevitable day when all Americans will be able to serve our country honorably and patriotically, regardless of their orientation,” Woods said.

Splicing 39 Songs in Three Minutes

Daft Punk and Akufen - move over. There's a new man in town. And I don't know what his name is. Something like Madeon. Only that he can splice the bejesus out of 39 tunes in less than four minutes and make it sound totally unique.

Chesticles, Wings, and a V-Shape

I think I just found my husband. The Dane 250. Sigh.....

'I Am Steve, and I Am an Ex-Mormon'

A video just came out on YouTube on the iamanexmornon channel that caught my attention. Steve, the speaker in the video, is talking about how he became an ex-Mormon, and I can't say I blame him. He belonged to a conversion therapy program called Evergreen that aims to convert gay men (and women? I'm just assuming) into being what they are not, i. e. 'straight'. Now, why an organization bent on putting their lambs to the slaughter named themselves after a Barbra Streisand song is beyond me, but before I began to poke fun at anyone who would even want to join this cult I decided to pay close attention to what Steve was saying.

It seems that their "therapy" consists of treating you as if you were an alcoholic or a sex-addict. You sit around, confess your attraction to your own gender, and they make sure you stop dead in your tracks because as all religions go, sex with your own gender is grade-A bad and a no-no. Of course, the aim is to break you down into a mindless pulp and force you into submission - that is, if you don't shoot yourself first. Thank God Steve stood up for himself because as he himself says, no one should live in fear, and no one should have to go through that - a denial of themselves. And it's interesting for Mormons of all people to be imposing normalcy when they themselves are in highly unusual families - polygamy, anyone?

But of course, like all religions, the intent is to make you a robot - you follow a preconceived pattern of behavior and perform, but you lose your soul. You lose yourself. Religions have been notoriously unsympathetic towards anything they don't agree with - and that of course includes being gay. Which is why priests make up for the most pervs out there, but that's a whole other ball game. Or maybe it isn't. Because I'm sure there's a heck of a lot of abuse going on behind closed doors among Mormon families - it's just not being revealed, because God (they do believe in God am I right?) forbid such secrets would be uttered.

So you know, what, Steve? I don't know you, but you're clearly in the right, you're clearly comfortable in your own skin, you're a handsome guy. So spread the word and go get some hunk to sweep you off your feet. Because that is what you were born to do. And if you already have a man, come to New York. Make it formal.

Monday Morning Coffee

 

Because nothing tastes better on my parched lips than a little mocha with hazelnut half and half...

Casey Anthony: Fuck You, America!

"Thank GOD I won't remember this fucking trial in the morning."

You go, Casey! You go, gurl! You show America you can kill your little brat if it gets in the way of your partying and walk away blank-faced. Just remember, prisons aren't only grey buildings.

Casey Anthony: NOT GUILTY

So I walk into work today and I see some of my co-workers pooled around the flatscreen, expressions of either total horror plastered on their faces or looking like they got the wind knocked out of themselves. Living in post-Osama Bin Laden times and approaching the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks I immediately thought, "Oh, God, what now? What building got bombed? What unknown employee went postal and decided he needed to rid the world of infidels? What feeble-minded idiot went all jihad on their fellow man and pumped bullets into innocent bystanders?"

And then I saw what was on the screen:

NOT GUILTY

That was all I needed. Having worked an over-night shift for nearly a year and watching Nancy Grace trumpeting her own brand of media pornography on the initial disappearance of little Caylee Anthony I had no doubt in my mind Casey Anthony was the authoress and actor in this crime. It wasn't a repeat case of "the dingo ate my baby!" This was undeniable, irrefutable, and it didn't change in the course of three years. If anything, Casey's multiple wardrobe change did not endear her to anyone but intensified the absolute disgust she has sowed on anyone following the trial since its inception. So to hear the verdict that was announced early this afternoon and then to see the laughing reaction (that quickly turned to her more stony poker face), I felt that indeed, justice has not been done to Caylee Anthony. That this woman would be walking free today, and not just that - she could very well turn around and declare, "You know what, America? Fuck you. I did kill my daughter. I got rid of her because she was getting in the way of my being happy." and no one would be able to touch her.

She's a free woman.

She's toasting with the defense team. Champagne, people. Not weeping. Toasting.

So now we can move on. Justice has been served, American-style. A little girl is dead and will only be a vague memory, and a stoic sociopath has been granted the keys for her own freedom.

Or is she really, truly free?

Saturday Morning Visual

Because I felt like it.