NOM's Brian Brown Accepts Dan Savage's Dinner Debate Challenge

Last week, Dan Savage invited NOM's Brian Brown for dinner and a taped debate on marriage and the Bible at his home. Savage laid out some possible conditions, all of which Brown has accepted.

Writes Brown in a blog post:

Dan -- I accept and will look forward to debating you at your dining room table. As I said in my challenge to you, anytime, any place.

While I appreciate the invitation that you have extended to my wife, she will not be able to attend. She is a full-time mom with seven beautiful children and an eighth on the way.

I have no objection to Mark Oppenheimer from the New York Times covering the discussion, nor to you hiring your own video crew to film the event, provided that I am able to hire my own video crew to be sure there is no creative editing of the discussion.

Not that a New York Times reporter would slant the news, mind you!

This will be fun!

Start popping the popcorn.

UPDATE: Savage responds.

So...

It looks like I'm gonna have to clear all the Catholic kitch out of our living room and dining room—my 5' plaster Jesus, our 3' plaster Mary, all my other plaster saints, the dozens of rosaries hanging around their plaster necks, the stack of disintegrating hymnals on the mantle, etc. Wouldn't want Brian to think there's something disrespectful about our collection. Our Catholic kitch is all family heirlooms. My late grandfather's rosaries, most of them prayed to pieces, were headed to the dump when I picked them out them out of the trash. But will knowing that my 5' plaster Jesus has been evacuated to our bedroom be more of a torment for Brian?

Details about the exact date and time of the Savage/Brown debate to come. The debate will be videotaped and released on YouTube. Stay tuned for more info...

Dharun Ravi Apologizes, Says He'll Begin Jail Term Despite Appeal

Dharun Ravi today apologized for his actions in the case surrounding Tyler Clementi's suicide, in a statement released by his attorney.

Said Ravi in the statement:

"Last Monday, I was sentenced to 3 years probation, 300 hours of community service, a fine of more than $10,000.00, and 30 days in jail. Since the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office appealed that sentence, the sentence does not have to start until the appeal is decided. Nevertheless, I decided to accept and hopefully complete the sentence as soon as possible. It's the only way I can go on with my life.

I accept responsibility for and regret my thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices that I made on September 19, 2010 and September 21, 2010. My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice or desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions. I apologize to everyone affected by those choices. I am surrendering myself to the Middlesex County Correctional Facility on Thursday, May 31, 2012, to start my 30-day period of imprisonment."

NBC News adds: "Ravi's lawyers have said they expect to appeal the convictions entirely. They say that he was not hateful and that authorities charged him with such serious crimes because of Clementi's suicide even though he was not charged with the 18-year-old's death."

Wolf Blitzer and Donald Trump Have it Out Over Trump's Birther Theory, Call Each Other 'Ridiculous': VIDEO

In the must-watch clip of the day, Donald Trump and Wolf Blitzer haggle over the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate. Trump, who is hosting a Romney fundraiser tonight in Las Vegas, still refuses to believe that the Hawaii-authorized document is genuine, inspiring Blitzer to call him "ridiculous."

"No, you are. Let me tell you something. I think you sound ridiculous," Trump fires back, later choosing to take a shot at CNN, "You bring it up because you feel it's probably going to get a few people watching your station, which, unfortunately they're not doing."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Kansas Pastor Says the Government Should Kill Gays: AUDIO

More anti-gay 'Christianism', this time from the Heartland, sourced by Jeremy Hooper at Good as You.

Pastor Curtis Knapp of New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kansas thinks gays should be put to death:

"They should be put to death. That's what happened in Israel. That's why homosexuality wouldn't have grown in Israel. It tends to limit conversions. It tends to limit people coming out of the closet. — 'Oh, so you're saying we should go out and start killing them, no?' — I'm saying the government should. They won't but they should. [You say], 'oh, I can't believe you you're horrible. You're a backwards neanderthal of a person.' Is that what you're calling scripture? Is God a neanderthal backwards.. in his morality. Is it his word or not? If it's his word, he commanded it. It's his idea, not mine. And I'm not ashamed of it."

Listen, AFTER THE JUMP...

From a Sermon dated 5/27/2012 called Homosexuality and the Need for National Revival.

L.A. Gay Bar Owner David Cooley Discusses Their New Ban on Bachelorette Parties: VIDEO

David Cooley, the owner of popular L.A. gay bar The Abbey, joined CNN's Brooke Baldwin over the weekend to discuss his decision to ban bachelorette parties, because they are offensive to gay people who can't get married.

Baldwin asks Cooley why that wouldn't be viewed as discrimination.

Said Cooley: "It's great to see my straight women coming in and celebrating with their girlfriends...As I kept seeing this, it was hurtful to me  being gay, as well as my clientele, that we could not have that same type of a celebration."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1134

O NOUVEAU: Canadian queer indie duo's first video "Baby, I'll Give It All" proves that battling over a boy often proves futile in the end.

YALE COLLEGE: It Gets Better.

WHEELS UP: A retired 747 in a boneyard in Mojave, California tries to take off during a windstorm last week. "On May 23rd, 2012 the area experienced extreme winds of 70+ miles per hour due to a low pressure zone...The next day the plane was found to have also rotated about 45 degrees from its original position."

MARRIAGE NEWS WATCH: AFER's Matt Baume on the latest from the NAACP, and the most-recent ruling on DOMA.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.