August 14, 2010

Men's and women's beach volleyball took place in seven categories at Gay Games Cologne. Forty three teams participated with teams from Canada, USA, Germany and France coming out on top. Beach Volleyball was played near RheinEnergieStadion, site of the Opening Ceremony, in Cologne’s Sportpark Muengersdorf, at the ‘Playa in Cologne.’
For those of you who appreciate beautiful men, you're welcome :-)

Photos at Quebesport.net/photos

http://gaygamesblog.blogspot.com/

Newt Gingrich Joins Tim Pawlenty In Backing Plan To Oust Judges

BY ON TOP MAGAZINE STAFF
PUBLISHED: AUGUST 14, 2010

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has joined Minnesota

Governor Tim Pawlenty in backing gay marriage foes'

campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court judges off

the bench, the Iowa Independent reported.

A low-lying campaign to remove the judges has been

underway since the court's April 2009 unanimous ruling

that brought gay marriage to the Midwest. But the effort has

grown wings since former gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander

Plaats, a Republican, announced he'll work against the judge's

retention. Voters will decide in November whether to keep Chief

Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit.

The remaining judges are not on the ballot this year.

Vander Plaats said a federal judge's ruling that declared California's

gay marriage ban unconstitutional motivated him to act.

“If the judges can do this to marriage, every one of your freedoms

is up for grabs,” he said in announcing his plans.

“Iowans are unique in that they have the ability to send a very clear

and simple message that the court's behavior is unacceptable by just

voting 'no' on the three judges who are up for reappointment,”

Gingrich said in an interview with WHO-AM. “If a majority of Iowans

vote 'no,' that will send a signal to the whole county that there is a

citizens revolt under way.”

“We're going to have to fundamentally revisit how we deal with

judges because the judicial branch has grown much too powerful

and much too dictatorial and now regularly over reaches in telling

us how to live,” he added.

Pawlenty expressed a similar sentiment in an interview Wednesday

with The Associated Press. He said the does not like judges “inserting

their personal views to change” the definition of marriage and added

that he was OK with the campaign to oust the judges.

In May, Pawlenty vetoed a bill that would have allowed gay couples to

control the remains of a loved one. “I oppose efforts to treat domestic relationships as the equivalent of traditional marriage,” he said in

opposing the bill.

Reacting to the California ruling last week, Gingrich renewed a call for

placing a gay marriage ban in the U.S. Constitution.

“Judge Walker's ruling overturning Prop 8 is an outrageous disrespect for our Constitution and for the majority of people of the United States who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife,” Gingrich wrote on his website.

“Congress now has the responsibility to act immediately to reaffirm marriage

as a union of one man and one woman as our national policy.”

Both men are considered potential Republican 2012 presidential candidates.

http://www.ontopmag.com

NOM's Anti-Gay Marriage Tour Ending As Prop 8 Struck Down

BY CARLOS SANTOSCOY
PUBLISHED: AUGUST 14, 2010

The National Organization for Marriage's (NOM) 23-city anti-gay marriage
tour will end on Sunday as gay marriages inch closer to resuming in
California.

While traveling on the bus over the past 30 days campaigning against the legalization of gay marriage, one of the two bans that NOM helped put in
place has come undone.

Out of the gate, the Summer for Marriage Tour 2010 hit a major road block
in Rhode Island, where NOM clashed with counter demonstrators at an event staged on the Statehouse lawn. Advocates for gay marriage attempted to
shout down NOM's speakers by chanting, “Get your hate out of our state.”

But battles became fewer and farther between after the Human Rights
Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest gay rights advocate, said it believed
the tour was designed to incite loud protests, not promote heterosexual marriage.

Fred Sainz, vice president of communications and marketing at HRC, said gay marriage foes were on the hunt for evidence of ill-behaved protesters to
boost its case against proponents of gay marriage. Such evidence could help several ongoing lawsuits that claim opponents of gay marriage face threats of violence and intimidation, and their identities need to be legally shielded.

In Iowa, the only Midwest state where the institution is legal and where the
debate is red hot, activists deliberately staged their counter demonstrations
miles away from NOM events.

A sign calling for violence against gay men and lesbians at an Indianapolis stop brought the tour some negative press.

The sign featured two nooses along with the caption “The Solution To Gay Marriage” in red.

“The Bible says the last days men's minds will get confused,”
Larry Adams, the owner of the sign, said in an interview posted
on the website Bilerico.com. “I'm trying to tell them the right thing
out here because I care for them and I don't want 'em to go to hell.”

Speakers on the tour spent much of their time trying to flip the script
on gay marriage advocates by attempting to hijack their civil right
argument.

“We've taken great pains to make clear what we are all about,”
NOM President Brian Brown said in St. Paul. “We view ourselves
as a new civil rights movement. … Committed to something that in
the 1960s was key: the right to vote.”

NOM's board chair, Maggie Gallagher, at a stop in Charleston declared:
“Same-sex marriage is not a civil right – it is a civil wrong.”

In the final days of the tour, NOM speakers turned to events
unfolding in California, where a federal judge had struck down
the state's gay marriage ban put in place with the help of NOM
and its supporters.

Gallagher blasted Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling
that declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

“Here we have an openly gay federal judge substituting his views for those
of the American people and of our Founding Fathers who I promise you would
be shocked by courts that imagine they have the right to put gay marriage in
our Constitution,” she said in a television appearance.

“Judge Walker's ruling is more evidence he is not a neutral referee, he's
an activist on this issue,” Brown said on the group's website, referring
to Walker's denial of a permanent stay on his ruling.

The bus docks in Washington D.C. for its final rally on Sunday at the U.S.
Capitol

http://www.ontopmag.com

A Blast from The Blast

August 14, 2010 by Gay Agenda News Team

Unintentional Sexuality: A Blast from the Past

If we could just get back to a simpler time. Baseball and apple pie! You know, When a woman’s place was in the kitchen, Black people in the south had to drink from separate water fountains, and there weren’t any gay people, just like that old “All in the Family” theme song that claims, “when girls were girls and men were men”. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about gay marriage and ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. We could also have ad campaigns that showed naked men together without anyone ever thinking anything sexual. Because we all know that prior to the sexual revolution of the 1960’s, no one ever thought about sexual intercourse and there weren’t any gay people…right?

Well, we don’t know about all that, but we do know that the Huffington Post has a hilarious piece on ads from the past that were, well, rather sexual in nature…maybe innocently…or perhaps those ‘Mad Men’ of advertising just knew the power of subliminal, or perhaps not so subliminal messages, and also knew even if the thought was there, it was way too much of a taboo to be mentioned.

The pic below is one of those ads. CLICK HERE to see the rest. It’s hilarious!

ShareThis

Daniel Radcliffe Speaks OUT About Lady J

August 14, 2010 by Gay Agenda News Team

Radcliffe made British tabloid headlines last year after being spotted around town with American trans singer-songwriter Our Lady J. Instead of firing off a press release rebutting the speculation surrounding their friendly relationship, Radcliffe simply gushed about Our Lady J’s talent and their friendship. “I was on the [Harry Potter] film set when all that tabloid stuff happened with us hanging out last year and none of my friends gave me shit about it,” Radcliffe recently told Our Lady J in Out. “Nobody took the piss.”

Read the interview at: OUT.com!http://www.gayagenda.com

Argentinean Senate Debates Marriage Equality

July 14, 2010 by Gay Agenda News Team

Religious demonstrators that stand against equality lined the streets by the thousands today in Argentina’s capitol of Buenos Aires as the country’s Senate debated a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage.

The measure has already passed through the lower house by a 125 to 109 vote, and if it passes in the Senate, the bill will then be presented to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who supports the legislation, to be signed into law.

Similar to what happens here in the U.S., there have been reports that religious leaders have been lobbying Senators to vote against the bill. One Senator however, Miguel Angel Pichetto, told the Telam news agency that he had not been pressured, stating:

“There is some pressure in some provinces where the church plays a prominent role, but such is democracy.”

Yet the Catholic leaders in the predominately Catholic country have been charging up the rhetoric and Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, Argentina’s highest-ranking Catholic official sent out warnings that the bill is the devil’s work, as he asked priests and their followers to protest.

In a letter, Bergoglio wrote:

“Let’s not be naive, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.”

http://www.gayagenda.com

A Face & Heart No Mother Would Love: She is Still Fighting 'The Gay Agenda'

August 14, 2010 by James Hipps

Brewer Continues Fight Against Gay Agenda

Arizona, under the leadership of it’s anti-gay Governor, Jan Brewer, has announced its intention to appeal a federal judge’s decision that declared the state’s government could not take away health coverage and other benefits from the domestic partners of gay state and university workers.

A press aide to Brewer stated earlier this week:

“We are appealing the preliminary injunction because we disagree with the federal court’s initial injunction ruling. We believe the Legislature has the ultimate authority to make state employee benefit decisions.”

Brewer became governor last year after Janet Napolitano, the person responsible for expanding the benefits to include LGBT couples, stepped down to take a job in the Obama administration, which paved the way for the Republican-controlled Legislature to take away benefits from the partners of unmarried employees, whether gay or straight.

Lambda Legal filed suit on behalf of gay workers, saying they have no option of getting benefits because the Arizona Constitution forbids them from marrying.

In a ruling last month, a federal judge agreed, stating the change is discriminatory because it makes benefits available “on terms that are a legal impossibility for gay and lesbian couples, and As a result, (the law) denies lesbian and gay state employees in qualifying domestic partnership a valuable form of compensation on the basis of sexual orientation.”

But just as with immigration, Brewer seems to think that a state’s power trumps that of the federal government so she and her staff have prayed on it and under the guide of their religious beliefs, have decided to fight against the gay agenda. I personally can only hope that Arizonans will vote this relic out of office!

http://www.gayagenda.com

Ben Quayle, The Butchest Of All Republican Twink Bait Read more: Click here

I can only assume clipmaster Rob Tisinai's contribution to Ben Quayle's campaign video is just the beginning of meta mashups.

Says Rob: "I've taken this campaign ad from Ben Quayle (yep, Dan's boy) and given it the tiniest tweak. See if you can find it."

Do You Want To Get Cancerous With This Guy?

MORNING GOODS — You're not supposed to think smoking is sexy, because that means you think cancer is sexy, or something. But when Damon Willis does it while wearing this towel, the only thing I can think of that's worse for his health is wearing that awful gold jewelry, oic!

Neil Patrick Harris + David Burtka: Twins Due In October Read more: Click Here

Yep, those reports of Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka entering daddyland are true: "So, get this: David and I are expecting twins this fall," NPH tweets. "We're super excited/nervous/thrilled. Hoping the press can respect our privacy." We can all have hopes, Neil! They're using a surrogate, obvs, and the babies are due in October. Maybe one day Neil and David will tell the kids how they met their father.

http://www.queerty.com

Why Prague's Gay For Pay Porn Market Is Booming: Read More: Click here

Whether it's a starring role in a Bel Ami flick or making cash by the hour on webcam streaming site Streamen, Prague's heterosexual guys are finding a new way to earn a living. Welcome to gay-for-pay's capital.

In a lengthy report, GlobalPost's Iva Skoch delves into the gay porn mecca, where a multitude of factors have made Prague the world's capital in gay smut: plentiful populations of cute, masculine, younger-looking-than-their-years guys; high unemployment rates; relaxed attitudes about sexuality (Czechoslovakia decriminalized homosexuality in the 60s, though Communist police still clamped down on gay activity); a willingness to (and a marketplace that demands you) screw bareback; and the standard hormonal balance of young men, making them willing to screw anything, even if it takes a little blue pill to get in the mood.

In the Czech Republic, some 15 gay studios operate. American porn players enjoy much cheaper production costs. And then there are the homegrown auteurs, amateurs who turn their small flats into flourishing online businesses with Flip cams.

But just like straight porn, or gay porn produced in American meccas like Los Angeles and San Diego, Prague's producers run into the same problems as anyone trafficking in this industry.

[Veteran director William Higgins], an Oklahoma native who went to a Christian school [and now lives in Prague], says he is “very Catholic” about casting men for his films. They can be 18 or 35, as long as they are good. With that said, he rejects about 80 percent of them, typically for “not having the look” — too ugly or misshapen — or, more importantly, not being able to perform under pressure.

And here's one thing we didn't know: Most producers promise performers — who may be local police officers, firemen, nurses, and college students — they won't distribute the videos inside the Czech Republic. Of course, when the videos appear on something called "the Internet," all bets are off.

Don't Let Target Apologize For Its $150K Donation By Giving Money to HRC Read more: Click Here

How is Target hoping to recover from its MN Forward political donation disaster? By considering giving an equal amount of money to the Human Rights Campaign. We shouldn't let them get off so easy.

HRC is in "private talks" with Target's executive suite as they work out a plan that will: 1) Attempt to save Target's reputation among gay consumers (and anyone who cares about equal rights); and 2) Logistically counter the effects of backing the PAC that wants to elect Tom Emmer governor. How to do that? Under consideration, we're told, is a matching donation to HRC.

The Minneapolis-based retailer has been in private talks with the nation's largest gay-rights advocacy group, Human Rights Campaign, about the possibility of giving the HRC a donation, but it's unclear whether the company will take action. The group, based in Washington, D.C., has demanded that both Target and Best Buy make an equal or greater contribution to groups supporting gay-rights candidates in Minnesota.

So for now it's just a possibility. Let this terrible idea never come to fruition.

The problem with giving HRC as much money as the "business-oriented" PAC? Because when Target donated $100,000 in cash and $50,000 in services to MN Forward, it was providing financial sustenance to a group that arguably knows what it's doing in Minnesota politics and will smartly use its cash on hand to convince the state's voters they want to put in office somebody who supports marriage discrimination. So what happens if Target hands a check for $150,000 to HRC? They'll be doing the reverse, providing funds to a Gay Inc. group that's proven time and again it is useless, unorganized, and ineffective. And there's no guarantee even a penny would find its way to Minnesota or gay activists there, let alone pro-gay candidates.

HRC might be a not-for-profit, but it stands to walk away the profitable victor in this deal. And once HRC gets its money, you can be sure it'll e-blast members and issue a statement to the media that Target has done the right thing and we should all forgive them now. Just like Target bought PFLAG's integrity, such a donation would have Target buying HRC's seal of approval.

No Target money should go to HRC. If even one penny does, then not one statement from Joe Solmonese & Co. carries any legitimacy, because they are running their mouths for cash. Make no mistake: Solmonese runs a fundraising organization that happens to be tacitly involved in pressuring lawmakers.

And we shouldn't accept any half-baked compromises either. The Gays forgiving Target should come with a promise from the company to ignore the Citizens United case and get out of funding politics entirely. If HRC doesn't secure that, it'll be another example of the group's innate weaknesses, or at least the inability of anyone to get a mega-corporation like Target to let democracy be — but it'll certainly end up as an example why HRC doesn't need more of your money.

Also problematic: The company's executives' history of donating to anti-gay candidates and causes; that needs to be addressed.

(Moreover, does it make sense to give money to HRC when the organization is dedicated to federal issues, not state and local races like the one Tom Emmer is involved in?)

If HRC is truly dedicated to helping Target right its wrong, it'll ensure any matching donation finds its way not to its own bank account, but to a candidate who supports full equality. I'd even be fine with HRC helping choose who that person is.

http://www.queerty.com

How Target Fails the Vomit Test

Last week's un-apology by Target CEO Gregg Steinhafelfor the company's $150,000 donation in support of an anti-gay candidate in Minnesota -- which amounted to basically saying, "Sorry some folks are upset, but we’re still sticking with what we did," -- might have left another, and no less acidic, taste in your mouth.

Positive social change, or more aptly the recognition and application of what is right, often comes at the cognition of something that sickens one’s conscience, and catalyzed by a community at large feeling those same pangs. By now, it should be known that one thing sure to cause mass unease is money made dirty -- case in point, Target's $150,000 donation. But what makes Target's donation a truly a retching experience is that their money was made dirty by its advancement for the causes of hate and oppression.

Good leadership of any organization that represents the rights and interests of people (power hungry millionaires included) would be wise to apply a simple, yet effective test when it comes to supporting the causes of other groups or persons. This test does not require a degree, nor does it require a sacrifice that is not worth taking, for when applied it not only gives fair representation for those that you represent, but it also promotes the sense of a just conscience.

In her book “Fundraising for Social Change”, author and expert consultant for grassroots organizations Kim Klein, discusses how donated money can prove disastrous for a group if connected to another group that acts in a detestable way. In her text, Klein discusses her experiences with a nonprofit women’s justice organization trying to deal with a donation by a company that clearly seemed at odds with its mission, even though that group could help it meet some of its needs. What they decided upon was the application of a particular test for that and any future donations; if it makes you sick, don’t do it, even if the benefit might help you with another goal.

Here is a summarized version of Klein’s ‘Vomit Test’ for universal application:

Step 1. Understanding

As Klein states, “[m]oney is a tool. Similarly, a hammer is a tool. A hammer can be used to help build a house or it can he used to bludgeon someone to death”

Step 2. Recognize the signs

Does the group offering to help you (or in Target's case, the person you're looking to help) represent ideals that are antithetical toward the rights or interests of those you represent?

Simple enough? You either pass ‘Step 2’, or you FAIL.

And that's where we come in. Picture us like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), at least when it comes to holding companies and organizations accountable for dirty, “vomit”-inducing behavior. When a company does something that fails the “vomit test,” it’s our job to make sure the company corrects its behavior, and gets back in line. But it’s also our job to make sure the bad behaviors of some corporations and organizations don’t become contagious, and spill over to other entities.

One remedy that may prove powerful enough to do in Target’s case is to join the thousands of folks intent on stirring up some tonic with a planned boycott of Target stores across the country.

Photo credit: dno1967
http://gayrights.change.org