Michele Bachmann Won't Address 'Frivolous' Gay Issues

Michele Bachmann has made a habit of avoiding inquiries about marriage equality and her husband's homophobic professional work.

The Republican presidential candidate dismissed one Iowa news station's questions about her husband's ex-gay clinics, later stonewalled a reporter from that same channel and then dodged related questions at the National Press Club.

Now it appears Bachmann has done the same thing to New Hampshire's Concord Monitor, via Politico.

Bachmann cut off an interview last week as she was being asked a question about gay marriage and emphasized that she is focused on rebuilding the economy and repealing federal health care reform.

"I'm not involved in light, frivolous matters," she said. "I'm not involved in fringe or side issues. I'm involved in serious issues."

Alexander Burns seems to think that Bachmann is trying to move away from divisive social issues -- part of the elusive culture war "truce" -- but it seems just as likely she's trying to avoid a Pandora's box of a negative news story about her discriminatory politics.

Speaking of Bachmann, she's all over the cover of Newsweek's latest issue.

News: NPH's New Role, European "Ex-Gays," Verizon

New dad Neil Patrick Harris clearly has an itch for kid-friendly productions: first he appears in Smurfs, and now the actor will played the magic mirror in an upcoming stage production of Disney's Snow White.

Ed Kilgore discusses conservatives and convenient states' rights: "The history of cultural conservatives on [abortion and gay marriage] is very clear: They favor the maximum legal heft the political market can bear in support of their views. From their point of view, a federal constitutional ban is ideal; federal statutes would be less effective but better than state action; and state action (via either state constitutional amendments or statutes) is a useful fallback position if national bans aren’t practical."

David Beckham shows off the new tattoo he got for daughter Harper.

The Glee stars turned out for the premiere of their 3D concert movie.

New York City Council gave The Ali Forney Center, a space for homeless LGBT youth, $620,000 to help the service expand its woe-fully underfunded reach. "We are grateful to have the additional shelter beds. It is a terrible thing to see so many LGBT youth forced to survive out in the streets while they wait for beds. We hope to have the new site opened by October so fewer kids will have to suffer in the cold this winter," said the Center's executive director, Carl Siciliano.

Teens for Testing, an STD and HIV/AIDS awareness group for high school students, could use some support, too.

Members of the Scottish Nationalist Party double-down in effort to "protect" conservatives from gay marriage.

Unhygienic NYC food vendor blames his woes on Jewish people, gay people and anti-Islamic racism.

Scary crusade: "Conversion therapy, as it is called, has been causing controversy for years in the United States, where a so-called "ex-gay movement" continues to thrive. Now there is increasing concern among LGBT rights organizations that these groups are strengthening their foothold in Europe."

Howard Dean blames the Tea Party for the nation's economic turmoil, and wonders what they've been "smoking:" "I think they've been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it."

New ABC drama Pan Am takes place in the 1960s, but network executives put the kibosh on of-the-era smoking in the period series, which stars Christina Ricci.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which owns Fox News and the New York Post, will print a gay wedding magazine. The company's publications and outlets may not support same-sex equality, but they'll happily accept LGBT dough.

45,000 Verizon employees strike over labor contract impasse.

Melting glaciers increase planet's waist size.

London Neighborhood Burned As Vigil Turns To Riot (Video)

Hundreds of protesters gathered in London's Tottenham neighborhood Saturday night to protest the Metropolitan Police's fatal shooting  of a 29-year old father of four named Mark Duggan last week.

But what began as a peaceful vigil for Duggan, whom cops say was killed in an exchange of gun fire, soon devolved into a riot, resulting in 42 arrests, at least 26 police injuries and the torching of two police cars, a double-decker bus and a building. There was also looting of local stores and merchants, according to reports.

Police are calling the incident "distressing" and described the scene as a "war zone," while protesters insist Scotland Yard got what they deserve. "[We're] here to tell the police they can't abuse us, harass us. We won't put up with it, this is just the beginning, this is war, and this is what you get — fire," said one participant during the late night demonstration.

Tottenham is one of London's most economically depressed neighborhoods, and has some wondering whether last night's incident isn't the prologue to more protests ahead of the city's 2012 Olympic Games next summer.

We'll have to wait and see what happens on that front, but in the meantime I've included news footage of last night's incident, AFTER THE JUMP...

2012 Puts Judicial Diversity In Spotlight

As the president and potential rivals bicker about the economy, there's another 2012 debate unfolding just below the national radar: how the next commander-in-chief will handle judicial nominations.

And this question only becomes more important as three Justices draw closer to retirement age and the possibility that California's Proposition 8 heads to the Supreme Court.

Jockeying for right wing support, Mitt Romney this week signaled that he'll toe the ideological line by assembling a group of judicial advisers that includes reliably conservative former judge Robert Bork and George W. Bush's former ambassador to the Vatican, Mary Ann Glendon, a fierce anti-abortion activist.

Most of the other Republican candidates, meanwhile, have made it clear at some point or another that they oppose "activist judges" who could rule in favor of LGBT and other progressive rights. Those candidates, without a shred of irony, also vow to install their own reliably conservative judges.

And President Obama's judicial leanings are also getting attention, especially since he recently nominated his fourth openly gay federal judge.

Though only 97 of the president's nominees have been confirmed -- far less that Bush and Clinton's respective total two-term confirmations,  322 and 372 --  his roster is still the most diverse in terms of race, gender and sexuality. This, of course, sets the stage for right-wing calls of preferential treatment.

"The more you focus on race and gender, the less you’re going to focus on other traditional qualifications — that’s simply the math of it," Curt A. Levey, head of the conservative Committee for Justice, said in today's New York Times.

He went on, echoing 90s-era arguments about affirmative action: "If you believe in proportionalism, as the Obama administration appears to, given the way they tout these numbers, the other races are, to some degree, getting stiffed.”

The White House, however, insists Obama looks for nominees who reflect the nation and know the law.

"The president wants the federal courts to look like America. He wants people who are coming to court to feel like it’s their court as well," said White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, before explaining, "It’s not just about race, it’s not just about gender, it’s not just about experience. We try to look at judges in a much more holistic way.”

As the 2012 race picks up pace, prepare to hear this debate about judicial diversity and alleged activism reach a fever pitch.

More GetEqual Protests And Breaking Fast At Rick Perry's Prayer Event (Video)

The pro-LGBT activists from GetEqual Texas braved the Houston sun yesterday to protest outside Reliant Stadium, where Governor Rick Perry and thousands of Evangelicals were holding an unabashedly political "day of prayer," "The Response."

Yesterday I posted video from GetEqual's faux funeral procession for people who have lost their lives to homo-and-transphobia, but the group posted some more videos of their protest that you might enjoy watching. Think the prayer event's anti-gay organizers, like the American Family Association and Family Research Council, got the message?

Also, on a related note, Joe.My.God shared some video from the local Texas Tribune's report, which includes some interesting information: though event participants were meant to fast, many of them snacked on nachos and hot dogs at the stadium's foot courts.

Oh, and Governor Perry had dinner plans later in the night, but vowed to keep his "fast" through the gathering.

Watch those videos, AFTER THE JUMP...

GetEqual's Protests:

 

Texas Tribune report:

Iowa Paper Cries Foul Over Pawlenty's 'Pantsing' Edit

Tim Pawlenty has found himself in an awkward, though hilarious, feud with influential newspaper the Des Moines Register.

The paper last week published a profile on the Republican presidential candidate, a profile Pawlenty's campaign rapidly sent out to supporters.

Well, not that rapidly, because the former Minnesota governor's team took the time to first completely remove any negative tidbits from the original Register article, including an anecdote in which Pawlenty pulled down a colleague's pants during a softball game.

Offended by the Pawlenty campaign's blatant reedit, the Register late Friday published an editorial rebuke highlighting the Pawlenty camp's willful omissions.

The campaign left out the first two paragraphs of the article, which quoted a friend describing how Pawlenty, then a Minnesota state legislator, sneaked up and yanked down the fellow lawmaker’s pants as he stood at home plate during a baseball game a decade ago.

The campaign also deleted all references to how the former Minnesota governor raised the cigarette tax, allegedly ousted Republicans from the party for overriding one of his vetoes and used his executive powers in a way the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional.

The edited version removed all criticisms from fellow Republicans that raised questions about how he balanced the state’s budget and a classmate’s comment that his fantasy football teams were terrible.

Now, I can understand a candidate wanting to remove the pantsing story -- that makes him seem childish -- and exorcising the specter of unconstitutional governance certainly makes sense, but are fantasy football scores really a make or break election issue? Maybe for some...

Anyway, in the interest of free press, I've included the first two paragraphs of the Register story, the two paragraphs that address what the paper refers to as the "de-pantsing incident," AFTER THE JUMP...

Via the Des Moines Register:

Then-House Speaker Steve Sviggum stood at the plate during Minnesota’s annual House-Senate softball game a decade ago when Tim Pawlenty, then a suburban legislator, sneaked up and yanked down his pants.

“There’s press all around, all these senators are all around, and I’m standing there with my softball pants around my knees,” said Sviggum, a close friend of Pawlenty. “Luckily I was wearing some shorts.”

Hmmm. This makes me wonder, what's the male equivalent of a "nip slip?"