Virginia Lesbian Couple Claims Carilion Clinic Also Discriminated Against Them

News last week that Roanoke Health Club, a private club owned by Virginia's largest health care provider, Carilion Clinic, rejected a couple because they're gay inspired another couple to come out with their own tale of discrimination.

According to Chanda Ingram and Nikki Hyler, another Carilion-owned club, the Botetourt Athletic Club, turned them away after learning they are lesbians.

Local NBC station WSLS reports:

Ingram said she looked at the BAC [Botetourt Athletic Club] with her then 7 year old daughter, Abby.

Ingram claims the BAC representative was just about to grant her the family membership when he asked if her "husband" could come in and sign the paperwork.

When she explained she had no husband, instead she had a partner, Ingram said the BAC employee immediately rescinded the offer for family membership.

"I was truly speechless," Ingram said. "We just walked out at that point."

Carilion, as you can imagine, had no comment.

Once A Conservative Idol, 17-Year Old Now Rejects 'Being An Ideology'

Many of you may remember when, in 2009, a 13-year old named Jonathan Krohn became a right wing sensation after railing against liberalism at the conservative CPAC conference. Times change, though, and the now 17-year old Krohn's largely rejected a lot of that rhetoric.

Patrick Gavin at Politico reports:

"I think it was naive," Krohn now says of the speech. "It’s a 13-year-old kid saying stuff that he had heard for a long time.… I live in Georgia.

"We’re inundated with conservative talk in Georgia.… The speech was something that a 13-year-old does. You haven’t formed all your opinions. You’re really defeating yourself if you think you have all of your ideas in your head when you were 12 or 13. It’s impossible. You haven’t done enough."

Krohn won’t go so far as to say he’s liberal, in part because his move away from conservatism was a move away from ideological boxes in general.

"I want to be Jonathan Krohn," he said, "and I’m tired of being an ideology, and it’s not fun and it gets boring and it’s not who we are as individuals."

Krohn also says that unlike a lot of the conservative who once idolized him, he's in favor of marriage equality.

Microsoft's Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer Both Donate $100K To Washington Marriage Fight

Microsoft executives Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer are using their respective fortunes to help defeat an anti-gay marriage referendum in Washington State.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer are each donating $100,000 to support the campaign to uphold Washington state's new gay marriage law, according to The Associated Press.

That law, which was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire in February, faces a referendum vote in November.

The AP cites Zach Silk, campaign manager for Washington United for Marriage, who says the checks were cut on Friday and are being reported to the state Public Disclosure Commission Monday afternoon.

There's good reason to expect a win for equality in November: 51% of voters told Public Policy Polling they support same-sex marriage. Only 42% said they oppose it.

(h/t JMG)

Towleroad Guide To The Tube #1157

BRAD'S BROTHER: The second most famous Pitt gets an advertising campaign.

VIRTUAL LIVING: Man survives on Craigslist generosity, makes movie about it.

'JUDICIAL ACTIVISM:' Conservatives turn meme into right-wing flick.

'I AM ME:' New video from Willow Smith.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

News: Chris Hughes' Other Investment, Higgs Boson, Scientology, Renewal

Look, it's Mitt Romney on a jet ski, with wife Ann in the driver's seat.

Latest Gallup headline: "Obama Now Leads Romney, 48% to 43%."

Megan Rapinoe, a member of the U.S. women's Olympic soccer team who is a lesbian, discusses homophobia in sports: "I feel like sports in general are still homophobic, in the sense that not a lot of people are out. I feel everyone is really craving [for] people to come out. People want -- they need -- to see that there are people like me playing soccer for the good ol’ U.S. of A."

In addition to donating $100,000 to fight for marriage equality in Maine, newly married Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes last year gave $500,000 to the company NationBuilder, which gives political groups the tools to launch online campaigns. Many progressive groups have worked with NationBuilder. So too has Steve Pidgeon, the Washington State attorney general candidate who fights against marriage equality. This some wonder: should Hughes ask for a NationBuilder refund?

Chick-fil-A donated almost $2 million to anti-gay groups in 2010: "Though Chick-fil-A continues to deny supporting an anti-gay agenda, the company has donated over $3 million to organizations like the Family Research Council and Exodus International between 2003 and 2009. And in 2010 alone, Chick-fil-A donated over $1.9 million to anti-gay causes, more than any other year for which public records are available."

In honor of the film version of Anna Karenina, Banana Republic is creating a clothing line based on the legendary novel.

Is it unpatriotic to prefer Australia's Olympic swim hunks to America's?

HBO has officially renewed True Blood for a sixth season and new drama The Newsroom for a second.

What will happen within evangelical churches as younger Christians, more inclined to support gay rights, take congregations' reins? Will they leave the church, change the church or fall into ideological line?

Scientists at CERN are again teasing that they've discovered the Higgs boson, also known as the God Particle: "We've discovered something which is consistent with being a Higgs."

California's anti-bullying law "Seth's Law," named for Seth Walsh, a 13-year old who killed himself after being relentlessly taunted, is officially in effect statewide.

How many of you owned a Speak and Spell?

Another burning question: what is Beyonce thinking in this picture with Kim Kardashian?

Naomi Watts as Princess Diana.

Katie Holmes reportedly fears Tom Cruise's Scientology buddies are following her.

On a related note, even Rupert Murdoch has misgivings about Scientology.

Katy Perry on her gay marriage evolution: "I came from a different mind-set growing up, and my mind has changed… My viewpoint on all these things [have changed] -- equality for women, the choice to love anyone you want."

New Voters Not So Into President Obama

A poll last week showed a dearth of electoral enthusiasm among voters who helped catapult President Obama to the White House in 2008.

Well, The New York Times took a closer look at one of Obama's formerly loyal bases, younger voters and found that citizens who have come to voting age since then aren't as excited as their forefathers:

In the four years since President Obama swept into office in large part with the support of a vast army of young people, a new corps of men and women have come of voting age with views shaped largely by the recession. And unlike their counterparts in the millennial generation who showed high levels of enthusiasm for Mr. Obama at this point in 2008, the nation’s first-time voters are less enthusiastic about him, are significantly more likely to identify as conservative and cite a growing lack of faith in government in general, according to interviews, experts and recent polls.

Polls show that Americans under 30 are still inclined to support Mr. Obama by a wide margin. But the president may face a particular challenge among voters ages 18 to 24. In that group, his lead over Mitt Romney — 12 points — is about half of what it is among 25- to 29-year-olds, according to an online survey this spring by the Harvard Institute of Politics.  And among whites in the younger group, Mr. Obama’s lead vanishes altogether.