News: Pet Shop Boys, Barney Frank, Dustin Lance Black, AARP

Teen victim of anti-gay beating at Ohio high school speaks out.

Pet Shop Boys release cover, tracklist for new album Elysium.

NYT on Romney's disastrous London Olympics trip: "The aftermath was swift and vicious, with the British press devouring Mr. Romney like a pile of mushy peas. His campaign was slow and flat-footed in recognizing it had a problem, and unable to improvise a quick response. Instead, staff members were forced to watch as David Cameron, the British prime minister, offered a tart and public rebuke on Thursday. 'Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere,' Mr. Cameron said, an obvious allusion to the Games Mr. Romney oversaw in Salt Lake City."

World's biggest gay nightclub to open in Las Vegas: "Kelly Murphy, who owns Las Vegas's largest gay club, Krave, as well as the recently-opened drag queen bowling alley, Drink and Drag, announced plans to open the world's largest gay club, called Krave Massive, in downtown Las Vegas in December."

Dustin Lance Black to script Earthquake film for JJ Abrams. "While Universal made the 1974 film that starred Charlton Heston, I’m told that the title and natural disaster subject is all the films share. So it is not a remake."

Dennis Rodman on Ricky Williams: "He's not gay. I'm just saying, he just talks like that."

AARP: The gay man's guide to dating after 50.

Lionel Richie approves of massive tribute to his song "Hello".

Cathy and Catriona, Colorado lesbian couple with three children applies for green card to keep family together: "Cathy is a beautiful, funny, intelligent, hard-working, adventurous woman, and a great mother and life partner.  As her wife, it is heartbreaking for me to watch her worn down and demoralized by the angst and worry that is imposed by the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that cruelly denies the existence of our family, and that so emphatically refuses to recognize her as the spouse and mother of U.S. citizens."

Rick Santorum defends Penn State over sexual abuse charges.

Barney Frank speaks out for marriage equality at hearing on platform contents: "Frank, who sits on the Democratic Party Platform Drafting Committee, expressed the views at the committee hearing in Minneapolis today after Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan and her wife, Karen, asked the Democratic Party to make clear in the platform that the party wants to see the Defense of Marriage Act repealed and same-sex couples given equal marriage rights."

Chalking It Up: VIDEO

A video tribute to Jake Dalton, Jonathan Horton, Danell Leyva, Sam Mikulak, and John Orozco, the 2012 US Olympic Men's Gymnastics Team.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Pope Benedict Names Prop 8 Architect the New Archbishop of San Francisco

Pope Benedict has named Oakland Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, a central strategist in the campaign to pass Proposition 8 in California, the new Archbishop of San Francisco, SDGLN reports:

Cordileone played a central role in founding and executing the Protect Marriage campaign, and under his influence, Catholic organizations in California played a leading role in financing the Prop 8 campaign. His partners included the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and Focus on the Family. In fact, it was Cordileone who personally phoned NOM co-founder Maggie Gallagher and asked her to get NOM involved in the Prop 8 fight.

Now, as Archbishop of San Francisco, Cordileone will oversee more than 400,000 Catholic parishioners across 90 parishes. As a metropolitan archbishop, Cordileone will have bishops in dioceses including Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Honolulu, Sacramento and Reno under his supervision.

“Bishop Cordileone has proven himself to be an anti-gay activist who encourages and promotes discrimination against LGBT people,” said Chad Griffin, HRC president.

Cordileone will be ordained in early October.

Washington Republican Lawmaker Cheryl Pflug: Gay People Deserve Freedom to Marry — VIDEO

Yesterday I posted a great ad running in Maine featuring a 90-year-old World War II veteran and his family, advocating for the freedom to marry there.

Here's a new ad, paid for by Pride Foundation and running in Washington state, which features former GOP State Senator Cheryl Pflug. Pflug was one of four Republican Senators to vote for the marriage bill there earlier this year.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn Asks NYU President to Kick Chick-fil-A Off its Campus

NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is urging New York University, which rents space to the city's only Chick-fil-A restaurant, to kick the franchise off its campus because of its support for anti-gay causes.

Says Quinn, in part, in a letter sent today to NYU President John Sexton:

NYC is a place where we celebrate diversity. We do not believe in denigrating others...As you know from recent press coverage, the President of Chick-fil-A continues to make statements and support causes that are clear messages of extreme intolerance and homophobia and a belief that LGBT Americans are less than others and deserve to be treated as such.

Let me be clear -- I do not want establishments in my city that hold such discriminatory views.

I urge you to sever your relationship with the Chick-fil-A establishment that exists on your campus. This establishment should be replaced with an establishment where the ownership does not denigrate a portion of our population.

Quinn's full letter, AFTER THE JUMP...

Quinn's move comes a day after NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters that it's "not government's job" to block businesses based on their political beliefs.

However, it's unclear how Chick-fil-A's position might fare under the auspices of a university that strives not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

Quinn has also started a petition on Change.org demanding Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy apologize and change his position.

Quinn Letter to Sexton

Idaho Billboard Equates Obama with Colorado Killer James Holmes

An electronic billboard in Caldwell, Idaho is making headlines, the Statesman reports:

An electronic board on Franklin Road in Caldwell juxtaposes photos of James Holmes, accused of killing 12 in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater last week, with President Obama. About Holmes, it says: “Kills 12 in a movie theater with assault rifle, everyone freaks out.” About Obama: “Kills thousands with foreign policy, wins Nobel Peace Prize.”

What’s the point? Obama broke his promise to bring the troops home and many young Americans have died, said Maurice Clements, who is helping keep alive the provocative libertarian tradition of the late Ralph Smeed, whose billboard (now electronic) is a Caldwell landmark. “We’re all outraged over that killing in Aurora, Colo., but we’re not outraged over the boys killed in Afghanistan,” Clements said of public sentiment.

What connects Holmes and Obama? Clements said he’s just comparing the way society reacts. “We’re not saying that Obama is a lunatic,” he said.