News: Day Of Service, Yossi, MJF, 'Stoker'

President Obama kicked off inauguration weekend by rolling up his sleeves for National Day of Service.

Anti-gay danger near UCLA: "Two men stepped out of the vehicle and walked up to the victim. One of the suspects threatened the student with a knife and used anti-gay slurs... During the confrontation, the victim reportedly suffered minor scratches and bruises, but he did not want to be treated."

More on the struggles openly gay military men and women and their spouses face post-DADT.

New Jersey activists will have to win over more than a few GOP lawmakers if they want to pass marriage equality in the Garden State.

New Mexico state Rep. Brian Egolf wants to include marriage equality in the state's constitution. From The Santa Fe New Mexican" "The proposal probably won’t have an easy time in the Legislature. Lawmakers in recent years haven’t even been able to pass legislation calling for state-recognized domestic partnership agreements."

LGBT-supportive Minnesota Viking Chris Kluwe is releasing a collection of essays called Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies.

"Supernatural is the best gay romance on TV that isn't actually gay."

Check out some footage of Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode in Wentworth Miller's Stoker.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and longtime girlfriend Sandra Lee have no plans to marry. Frank Bruni hopes that isn't an issue should Cuomo run for the White House in 2016: "...That would be an affirmation that we, as a voting public, have wised up to the frequent lack of any correlation between a tableau of traditional family life and the values, character and skills it takes to govern effectively. And I'm intrigued by politicians who are writing fresh scripts and handling their personal situations in surprising ways."

Did Lance Armstrong sign an endorsement deal with crocodile tears?

Catching up with Yossi from Yossi & Jagger: "...He has the dulled affect of someone suffering from depression, merely going through the motions of his life. Ten years after Jagger's death Yossi is still in the closet.... In the new film Yossi meets a young, openly gay soldier. The journey that follows seems to mirror that taken by Mr. Fox and many gay men in Israel. Let's just say the movie could have been titled, How Yossi Got His Groove Back."

Volcanoes don't mess around.

Tuxedos abound on Glee set.

Michael Urie previews He's Way More Famous Than You.

Manti Te'o swears he wasn't in on the dead girlfriend hoax.

The faux feud between Taylor Swift and Michael J. Fox has been resolved. Phew!

Forecasting LGBT Progress In Obama's Second Term: VIDEO

Political analysts all have their divining rods honed in on President Obama's second term in hopes of figuring out his post-inauguration agenda, including in terms of LGBT rights. AFTER THE JUMP, Richard Socarides, David Mixner and the National Center for Lesbian Rights' Kate Kendell join Howard Bragman to offer their own insight on where President Obama will focus his energies over the next four years.

One of the things that must be recognized, they all agree, is that that President Obama's first term brought such a tidal wave of progress that the second term will likely be marked by smaller successes.

Check it out AFTER THE JUMP.

NZ MP Laughs At 'Gay Marriage Causes Crime' Argument: 'Manifestly Nonsensical'

Like so many other legislatures in the world, New Zealand's Parliament is currently considering a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. And, as happens the world over, this legislative development has brought out some real anti-gay loons, like Garth McVicar.

McVicar, a lobbyist for the crime victims' rights group Sensible Sentencing, filed a brief with parliament in which he claims marriage equality will lead not to loving relationships, but to rampant crime.

"The marriage amendment bill will not benefit society at all and will ultimately have detremetal (sic) effect on crime at all levels," he wrote.

Kevin Hague, a Green Party MP who sits on the select committee debating whether or not to put the marriage bill to a full vote, laughed at McVicar's dubious rationale.

"Although [McVicar's complaint] echoes a number of submissions that say marriage has been the same way for a long time and that if you tamper with it there will be lots of unforeseen circumstances," he said. "I suspect that underlying this submission is a prejudice against gay people. If you break the argument down, it is manifestly nonsensical." 

Like so many of the other right wing arguments...

'Kill Your Darlings' Starring Daniel Radcliffe As Allen Ginsberg Premieres At Sundance: VIDEO

Kill Your Darlings, the indie flick in which Daniel Radcliffe plays a young Allen Ginsberg exploring his sexuality, premiered at Sundance last night. And, yes, of much of the post-show chatter dealt with Radcliffe's on-screen gay romances.

Speaking with E! after the show, Radcliffe said that while on-set gay sex was new for him, director John Krokidas gave him a blow-by-blow about how it all goes down.

"We shot that whole scene in maybe an hour and a half so it was incredibly fast-paced. I didn't really have time to stop to think and worry about it." Radcliffe said about breaking into unfamiliar sexual territory. "John was very helpful in furnishing me with a lot of graphic detail of what I would be experiencing at the various stages."

Though Kill Your Darlings, which also stars Jack Huston as Jack Kerouac, Ben Foster as William Burroughs and Michael C. Hall as David Kammerer, a man whose murder provides the movie's dramatic pivot, has yet to find a distributor, the amount of attention and generally positive reviews - The Hollywood reporter wrote, in part, "there’s a limber, freewheeling aspect to the storytelling that echoes the rule-breaking literary form of the Beat writers" - and Radcliffe's star power should be enough to guarantee at least a small showing around the country.

AFTER THE JUMP, Radcliffe, Krokidas and the rest of the film's core cast talk with THR about making the film and what the gay men they portray mean to American culture.

RI's Episcopal Bishop Cites Empirical Evidence To Support Marriage Equality

Religious figures most often extract from their faith when speaking for or against marriage equality. Their spiritual life either confirms or condemns equality.

Bishop Nick Knisely, the Episcopal Bishop for Rhode Island, bucked that trend by citing both faith and science when he declared his support for marriage equality this weekend. He has weighed the empirical evidence and he has seen the light, he says.

"Part of what informs my opinion is that before I became a priest and then a bishop, I was a scientist. So I know the importance of trusting evidence that we see with our own eyes," he writes in a letter being distributed to parishioners this weekend.

I have seen what St. Paul describes as the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in the married lives of two men and of two women. I have seen relationships that are loving, mutual, and monogamous and that have lasted a lifetime. Jesus tells us that we must test each tree by looking at the goodness of its fruit (Luke 6:43-45). Across our congregations and communities, I can see the goodness of gay and lesbian couples and their families.

Rhode Island's state House will vote on marriage equality next week. Before that, they - and you - should really read Knisely's letter. I've included it AFTER THE JUMP.

You should also check out Bishop Knisely's blog, Entangled States, where he regularly blurs the lines between religion and science.

Statement on Marriage Equality Legislation in Rhode Island
 
As the Episcopal Bishop of Rhode Island, I support the bill before the General Assembly that would allow same-sex couples to marry in our state, not in spite of my Christian faith, but because of it.
 
Episcopalians are not unanimous in our views, but in the Episcopal Church we find our unity in common prayer, not in common opinion. Even so, through many years of prayerful discussion, the majority of Christians in the Episcopal Church have come to believe that it is possible, and even common, for two people of the same-sex to live covenanted, faithful lives together in service to God, just as people in traditional marriages do. We have also learned that it is possible to protect the consciences of those who disagree within our church and still live together in community.
 
Part of what informs my opinion is that before I became a priest and then a bishop, I was a scientist. So I know the importance of trusting evidence that we see with our own eyes. I have seen what St. Paul describes as the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in the married lives of two men and of two women. I have seen relationships that are loving, mutual, and monogamous and that have lasted a lifetime. Jesus tells us that we must test each tree by looking at the goodness of its fruit (Luke 6:43-45). Across our congregations and communities, I can see the goodness of gay and lesbian couples and their families.
 
The Episcopal Church has been blessed for many years by the life and ministry of gay and lesbian couples, both lay and ordained. I have seen how they contribute to the common good of a congregation and a community by creating stable, loving homes. As a new citizen of Rhode Island, I am eager to see our state legislature join many others across the country in passing legislation to ensure civil marriage equality. I believe it is time for the State of Rhode Island to extend marriage equality to all of its citizens. I urge the legislature to pass House Bill 5015.
 
The Rt. Rev. W. Nicholas Knisely
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island

An Interview With The Inauguration's Gay Poet, Richard Blanco: VIDEO

As Washington and the world prepares for President Obama's second inauguration, PBS' Jeffrey Brown invited Richard Blanco, the gay poet reading his work at the event Monday, on to discuss and perform his work.

If you want to get a taste of what we'll hear Monday, while also setting a relaxing yet playful tone for your Saturday, watch Blanco lay down his steady beat AFTER THE JUMP.