Weiner the Weiner Action Doll

By LeAnne Gendreau

NBCNewYork.com

Hours after embarrassing photos surfaced of Rep. Anthony Weiner on Sunday, a Connecticut company known for its edgy action figures came out with two versions of the Anthony Weiner doll.

One is fully covered with “Tweet This” on his shorts. That one goes for $39.95.

The other is only for adults, according to Hero Builders website, and sells for $49.95.

Both versions of the dolls will be available for shipping on June 20.

Action figure Anthony comes out just after Weiner said he would take a leave of absence from Congress to seek professional help amid growing pressure to resign within the Democratic party.

Oxford-based Hero Builders is responsible for creating a slew of action figures, including Jimmy McMillan, whose New York political campaign was centered around "The Rent is too Damn High" platform, Anna Chapman Spy Girl, Sarah Palin dolls and many more
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Activists Struggle For Gay Rights in Singapore

  While Singapore has been praised as a shining example of modernity and progress in Southeast Asia, it remains, in many ways, a very conservative state. Homosexuals and other members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Singapore face oppression, both societal and institutionalized. 

  

(byKatrin Figge)

There are also many groups in Singapore working to raise awareness about LGBT rights, though. One of the most prominent of those groups is Pink Dot Singapore, which was formed in 2008.

On Saturday, the group will hold its third mass public gathering at Hong Lim Park, which was designated the Singapore’s Speaker’s Corner in 2000, making it a safe zone for free speech and demonstrations.

The attendees are expected to wear something pink — not only to show support for the cause, but also for a more practical reason.

“The event will culminate with the formation of a pink dot in the middle of Hong Lim Park, which will be photographed from above,” event representative Paerin Choa said.

Choa added that the annual event had attracted a growing number of visitors since its inception in 2009. He said the organizers were hoping to top the 4,000 people who attended last year’s event.

The event was first run as an alternative to staging a parade through the streets of Singapore.

“Dr. Roy Tan, a medical practitioner with a keen interest in archiving LGBT-related information in Singapore, planned to stage a traditional gay pride parade to create awareness and acceptance for the LGBT community,” Choa said.

However, some members of the group were concerned that instead of encouraging acceptance, a public parade could spark a hostile reaction, further alienating them from society.

“Censorship in the mainstream media and the existence of Section 377A in the Singapore penal code criminalizing gay sex continues to create a social stigma for LGBT people in Singapore,” Choa said.

He added that the group did not wish to add to this stigma with a provocative public display.

Instead, Pink Dot aims to affirm a sense of belonging for the LGBT community in Singaporean society. In lieu of Tan’s planned parade, Pink Dot raises awareness by holding an annual event where people gather in one location to show their support for the LGBT community.

The group’s name refers to Singapore’s moniker as the Little Red Dot, while pink is a color that is often associated with the LGBT community.

“More importantly, pink is the color of our national identity cards, and it is what you get when you mix the colors of our national flag,” Choa said. “We felt it was representative of the inclusivity and ‘Singaporean-ness’ of our national movement.”

With its official tagline, “Supporting the Freedom to Love,” representatives said Pink Dot should not be seen as a form of protest but as an assembly of people who believe that everyone deserves the right to love, regardless of their sexual orientation.

“LGBT issues are often swept under the carpet, and I believe discrimination and abuse against LGBT people happens as a result of ignorance and a fear of the unknown,” Choa said.

“Pink Dot shows that LGBT people aren’t any different. They lead normal lives, have wonderful families and healthy relationships and are not the deviant, hedonistic, pedophilic bogey people many have been misled to believe.”

Pink Dot also works with other LGBT-related groups from Singapore who have been invited to share their ideas and show off the work they have done for the cause so far.

Pink Dot members, supporters and everyone who is interested in this year’s event will gather in Hong Lim Park on Saturday starting at 4:30 p.m. The event will feature performances by local musicians, comedians and a dance troupe.

“This year, for the first time in Pink Dot’s history, Google Singapore, a large and influential corporation, has publicly endorsed Pink Dot and the affirmative values we stand for, pledging their sponsorship for the event,” Choa said.

With success stories like this under their belt, the members of Pink Dot are positive that the work they have been doing will be even more effective in the future.

Choa acknowledged that prejudice against LGBT individuals still existed in Singapore, even though hate crimes were rarely reported.

“Many people in Singapore’s LGBT community feel they are unable to be open about their sexuality for fear of discrimination, prejudice and a lack of legal protection,” he said.

“We do not expect to change attitudes and mindsets overnight. The simple desire to have the freedom to love and to be comfortable with oneself continues to be a real challenge. There is more work to be done.”

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com

Verdict Expected on Gay UK Policeman Accused of Male Rape

A jury is expected to return a verdict in the case of a policeman and former Mr Gay UK accused of rape and sexual assault.

Mark Carter, 27, of Birkenshaw, was charged with sexually assaulting three men and raping a fourth in December 2009 while on a work night out.

He was suspended by West Yorkshire Police after the allegations were made.

A trial began on June 6th and is expected to end today.

Mr Carter, who won the Mr Gay UK title in 2006, said he met the alleged rape victim in the Loft Bar on December 18th and the pair went back to the Etap hotel.

He is accused of dragging the man by his hair and raping him.

The alleged victim left the room at 4am and told a passerby he had been raped.

According to the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, defence lawyer Andrew Smith said the victim claimed Mr Carter had dragged him into the hotel room. However, CCTV did not show this. He also questioned why there was no photographic evidence of the man’s alleged injuries.

Prosecuting, Sarah Wright said it did not matter what had happened outside the room and said the man fled the room without his socks and his shirt was unbuttoned.

She argued that if he made the allegation because he cheated on his boyfriend, he would not have mentioned some of the “more embarrassing” things which allegedly occurred.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk

Gay Marriage Legislation Faces Last Minute Opposition By "The Church"

Because Governor Cuomo's proposed same sex marriage legislation is a single tantalizing vote away from affording all residents in the Empire State equal protection under the law, opponents of the bill are scrambling to mount a last gasp appeal of what they believe is an affront to the "institution" of marriage. Yesterday saw "nearly a hundred" clergy at "A Rally For Traditional Marriage" in front of City Hall organized by the City Action Coalition. The CAC's leader, Bishop Joseph Mattera, warned SILive of the "large percentage of people in New York City and state who are very uncomfortable with the concept of gay marriage." Most uncomfortable of all may be Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who wrote in his blog that "God, not Albany, has settled the definition of marriage a long time ago." Was that before or after He settled whether the earth revolved around the sun?

Dolan, who has said that abortion, not gay rights, is the "premier civil rights issue of our day," continues sounding like a bigoted Andy Rooney, writing, "Last time I consulted an atlas, it is clear we are living in New York, in the United States of America—not in China, or North Korea." Yeah and in America we publish Gay & Lesbian Atlases, so maybe he should orient himself accordingly. He goes on to say that by denying the definition of marriage as "the union of a man and woman," the lawmakers are "claiming the power to change what is not into what is." Sort of like transubstantiation, but bad.

Washing the bad taste of these opponents away are politicians like state senator Roy McDonald, who changed his "No" vote against similar legislation from two years ago. McDonald tells the Post "As a father, as a grandfather, you try to do the right thing. Now, you may not like that. Fuck it. I don't care what you think. I'm trying to do the right thing."

http://gothamist.com/

Bankruptcy Court Rules Against DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act)

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO  

Gene Balas and Carlos Morales were facing health problems and crushing financial pressures plaguing many U.S. households when they decided to file bankruptcy as a married couple.

The Obama administration said they couldn't, citing the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

On Monday, 20 of 24 judges sitting on the country's largest consumer bankruptcy court sided with the gay couple. In doing so, the court took the extraordinary step of declaring the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.

The ruling is the first such attack of the Defense of Marriage Act in bankruptcy court, and it adds to the building pressure on the Obama administration to make good on a February pledge to stop defending the law in court.

Balas and Morales were among the 18,000 Californian same-sex couples who wed Aug. 30, 2008, during the brief period when gay marriages were legal in the state.

"It is hurtful to hear my own government say that my marriage is not valid for purposes of federal law," Balas said in a court filing.

Balas said he was laid off from his $200,000-a-year job in the financial industry in March 2009. The couple said they share all income and expenses.

"All the property that either of us owns is community property, and all of our debts are community debts," said Morales, who has spent most of the relationship unemployed. "We have no prenuptial agreement, postnuptial agreement or transmutation agreement."

The ruling written by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Donovan wasn't the first blow to the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court. That came last year when a federal judge in Boston declared the law an unconstitutional violation of equal protection guarantees. Two other bankruptcy courts have also rejected administration attempts to dismiss joint filings made by same-sex couples, but neither of those rulings addressed the constitutionality of the act.

Monday's strongly worded ruling contributes to the legal assault on the Defense of Marriage Act and puts added pressure on the Obama administration to stop defending the law.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in February that the U.S. Department of Justice would "remain parties to the cases and continue to represent the interests of the United States throughout the litigation" despite the administration's view that the law was unconstitutional.

After the administration's announcement, a House of Representatives committee hired former Solicitor General Paul Clement to defend the Defense of Marriage Act against federal court challenges.

In May, U.S. Trustee Peter Anderson, who represents the federal government's bankruptcy interests in Southern California, told the judge the Obama administration opposed the gay couple's petition to give the Congressional committee a chance to join the case in support of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler declined to comment.

The judge noted Monday that the committee didn't respond to requests to join the case.

Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said the committee can't afford to respond to every legal challenge to DOMA.

"Bankruptcy cases are unlikely to provide the path to the Supreme Court, where we imagine the question of constitutionality will ultimately be decided," Buck said. "Obviously we believe the statute is constitutional in all its applications, including bankruptcy, but effectively defending it does not require the House to intervene in every case, especially when doing so would be prohibitively expensive."

Clement and the committee have responded to at least seven separate legal challenges across the country, lawyers said.

Without hearing a detailed defense of the 15-year-old law, Judge Donovan ruled Monday the Defense of Marriage Act violates the couple's equal protection guarantees. He added there is "no valid governmental basis for DOMA."

Nineteen of Donovan's 23 colleagues on the Los Angeles bankruptcy court signed the opinion. The couple's lawyer, Robert Pfister, said that's significant because it shows an overwhelming majority of that court is prepared to rule similarly.

"Litigating constitutional issues takes a lot of time and money," Pfister said. "To have 20 judges sign on sends a strong message that almost the entire bench has decided this important constitutional issue."

http://www.npr.org

Ruthless gay rugby in Minneapolis

They'll smash you into the turf and drink you under the table

By Nick Pinto  

On a blisteringly hot Saturday afternoon in Eagan, a fierce-looking gang of gay men gear up to beat the hell out of some Catholic school boys.

Craig Lassig

In the scrum: The Minneapolis Mayhem go head-to-head with the St. Thomas Blue Ox

Craig Lassig

The Mayhem vie for the ball in a line-out

"Are you ready to kick some ass?" the leader shouts.

"Yeah!" they shout back.

With that, the Minneapolis Mayhem, the state's only gay rugby club, sprint onto the field to do battle with the St. Thomas Blue Ox.

It's a fierce contest from the outset. The Mayhem are bigger and stronger. In the tight, grunting scrums, they're able to out-muscle their opponents, forcing them back off the ball.

But the St. Thomas kids are younger and faster, and several of their players own deadly kicking accuracy.

The Mayhem score a pair of tries—rugby's equivalent of a touchdown—but the Blue Ox's booming punts downfield keep the Mayhem on defense for much of the game.

The Mayhem get a final boost when one of the team's veteran stars, scrum half Brian Cheese, takes the field. Cheese has been out much of the season with an injury, but is making a tentative return to test his legs.

Within a couple of minutes, Cheese has racked up a pair of impressive tackles and sent the ball back into St. Thomas's backfield. But it's not enough. The older Mayhem team is clearly exhausted in the early summer heat, and can't manage to get another try.

This isn't the first loss for the Mayhem this year, nor will it be their last. But Cheese and the team see reason for optimism.

"There were a lot of things that went well today," Cheese says. "We looked good for a lot of it. Our new players looked good. We're going to keep getting better."

Cheese had never played rugby when, in the winter of 2005, he saw a sign in a bar bathroom seeking volunteers for a gay rugby team.

"I signed up," he says. "We had our first meeting in the basement of the Eagle Bar, just sitting around in a circle on bar stools."

Most of the men who'd responded to the ad were in their 30s or even 40s, and few had ever picked up a rugby ball before. Some hadn't played any kind of organized sport since they were kids.

"It just seemed like something different," Cheese says. "No one else was doing it. It seemed really physical and demanding, and that attracted me."

That winter, the recruits started practicing under the Hennepin Avenue bridge. They began with running and conditioning drills—nothing that really resembled rugby. By summer, they were organized enough to start playing other club teams.

It wasn't pretty. Most of the other teams were lifelong athletes with years of rugby under their belts.

"We were awful," Cheese says. "We probably didn't score at all our first few years. Everyone was working really hard, but we kept losing. It was really demoralizing. A lot of people quit."

The team's fortunes began to change one day when Garnet Towne of the Minnesota Valkyries, one of the top female rugby teams in the country, came by to watch the Mayhem practice. She offered some tips and volunteered to coach the team.

"She sort of adopted us," Cheese says. "Things started turning around. Retention was really high. We started to look like rugby players."

Playing both against club teams in the Minnesota Rugby Union and other gay teams across the country through the International Gay Rugby Association and Board, the Mayhem began to rack up victories. At their first gay rugby tournament in New York in 2006, they came in fifth out of ten teams.

The Mayhem had their big breakthrough three years ago in Seattle, at the biannual Bingham Cup, a sort of World Championship for gay rugby teams. The Mayhem took second place, a stunning accomplishment for such a young team. Last year, partly in recognition of their strong showing, the league held the Bingham Cup in Minneapolis.

At the end of the season, many of the older players felt it was a good time to step away from a game that's punishing even for young bodies. At the same time, Towne announced she wouldn't be coaching the team anymore.

For the first time in the club's short history, it looked like the whole enterprise might fall apart. Heavy recruiting pulled in enough new players to field a team, but many of the rookies were brand new to rugby.

"A lot of the new guys are really good," Cheese says. "But this year we've definitely been going back to Rugby 101 again."

After the game against St. Thomas, the Mayhem file past the opposing team to congratulate them, then pack up their gear and make for their cars. Next stop: Merlin's Rest on East Lake Street. An unspoken rule of rugby is that every game is followed by a "third half" of beer and raucousness at a local bar. As home-field hosts, the Mayhem are picking up the tab. But the St. Thomas team hasn't shown yet.

"Are they coming?" Kent Karls asks.

No one seems to know. It looks like the Mayhem are about to get stood up by a bunch of college kids. But an hour late, a handful of the Blue Ox players who are old enough to drink show up.

The Mayhem greet them with cheers. The game is rehashed—who the hell are those kickers?—then, with an undisguised urgency, the conversation turns to recruitment.

"Are you staying around here after college?" team treasurer and forward Jake Sutherland asks the St. Thomas players. "Have you thought about playing with a club team?"

"Who can take a bicycle?" Thompson shouts.Suddenly the hum of conversation is shattered by a bellow from the Mayem's assistant coach, Nathan "Grinder" Thompson.

The ruggers on both teams know what to do. They drop their conversations, and yell back: "Who can take a bicycle?"

"Rip off the seat!" Grinder shouts.

The bar echoes back: "Rip off the seat!"

Grinder finishes out the verse: "Stick your granny on it and push her down a cobbled street!"

When one of the St. Thomas players stands to lead a song that involves dancing in circles with a beer on his head while simulating cunnilingus, the Mayhem gleefully join in but substitute blow job gestures at the appropriate time.

"This is kind of the beauty of rugby," says Assistant Coach Bill "Mother" Meyer. "It doesn't matter who you are, what your orientation is, what you look like. If you're ready to sweat and bleed on the pitch, and drink and sing afterwards, you're welcome in this community. Everywhere you go, all over the world, you'll find rugby players who respect you." 

http://www.citypages.com/