Tegan and Sara Get 'Closer' to Taylor Swift: VIDEO

Lesbian duo Tegan and Sara joined Taylor Swift at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday night for a performance of their hit "Closer".

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Transgender Woman And YouTube Star Found Murdered: VIDEO

Transgender woman and aspiring actress Domonique Newburn was found dead in her apartment in the Fontana area of San Bernadino County. Prior to the incident, Newburn was best known as one of the three main characters in the YouTube docu-reality series Hollywood Houseboys, which chronicled the lives of three queer black men, who each had aspirations to make it in the entertainment industry. 

Newburn's body was found around 4:30 PM Tuesday afternoon, after neighbors had heard indications of some sort of domestic dispute and called the police. When officers finally arrived, Newburn's front door was open and she had already died from her injuries. The San Bernadino County Coroner told CBS 2 that the victim had "sustained trauma and was pronounced dead at 4:38 PM." 

Prior to the incident, neighbors say that Newburn was "quiet" and kept mostly to herself. They were also unaware of her status as a transgender woman. “She was very quiet, very nice and you just would never have thought something like this would happen,” said neighbor Ronald Jackson. Witnesses told authorities that they saw a "bare chested" man leaving the scene of the crime shortly after the alleged incident took place. They then report seeing the suspect steal Newburn's car, a black, four-door 2004 Mercedes C240 sedan with the California license plate 7AAY925. The suspect is being described as a Black man, in his late 20s to early 30s, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with an average build.

Watch CBS 2 report on the incident AFTER THE JUMP...

 

Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI) Admits it Would be a 'Dream Come True' to Impeach Obama: VIDEO

At a town hall meeting Monday, Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI) shared his fantasy scenario of being remembered as the congressman who impeached President Obama. And the only thing stopping his "dream" from becoming a reality sooner? Bentivolio says he has no concrete evidence of Obama's impeachment-worthy schemes...yet.

Mediaite reports:

Answering a question from an attendee about what Congress is doing to stop Obama "from everything he's doing against our Constitution," Bentivolio said, "You know if I could write an [impeachment] bill and submit it, it would be a dream come true...."

"I went to my office and I've had lawyers come in," Bentivolio continued. "These are lawyers, PhDs in history and I said 'tell me how I can impeach the President of the United States.'" But they advised him that he would first need some evidence.

"Until we have evidence," Bentivolio said, "you're going to become a laughing stock if you've submitted the bill to impeach the president because number one, you've got to convince the press. There are some people out there no matter what Obama does, he's still the greatest president that they have ever had. That's what you're fighting."

With delusions like this, Bentivolio seems well on his way to becoming that 'laughing stock' he mentioned...

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

 

New Mexico Attorney General Will Not Challenge Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

After Doña Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins decided to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples earlier today, state Attorney General Gary King told reporters that he does not plan to challenge said marriage licenses, since he believes the state's current ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. In another bit of possibly good news, King also told press that he would not challenge any other county clerk should they make the same decision, although he did warn that the licenses could be ruled invalid if the state Supreme Court deems the decision unlawful. 

King's decision comes after a prior legal challenge to New Mexico's ban on same-sex marriage, another one that he has chosen not to defend. According to the Associated Press, same-sex couples in Las Cruces have already started taking advantage of the decision. "I was in a coffee shop grading dissertations when my partner sent me an email saying, `you want to get married?'" said Char Ullman, 51. "I went home to brush my teeth and headed to the courthouse." 

Meanwhile, the New Mexico Supreme Court has been asked to streamline and expedite all pending challenges to the state's mariage equality ban, partially thanks to Jen Roper and Angelique Neuman. Roper reportedly suffers from terminal brain cancer, and wishes to tie the knot with her partner before she passes. 

At present, New Mexico's Republican Governor Susana Martinez has yet to issue a comment on today's events. You may previously remember her as the politician who was dumped by her gay hairstylist after publicly announcing her opposition to same-sex marriage. 

New 'Survivor' Season Will See the Return of Gay Republican Villain Colton Cumbie: VIDEO

Every season of Survivor brings a new twist, and this fall's (the show's 27th!) is no different. Titled Survivor: Blood vs Water, this season will consist of ten returning players each competing against their very own loved one. Included in this list is the infamous Colton Cumbie, the gay Republican bully of last year's Survivor: One World, now accompanied by his finacé Caleb Bankston.

Check out a video of the couple, AFTER THE JUMP...

Survivor fans will no doubt remember Colton as the racist, elitist contestant whose manipulative antics squandered his all-male tribe's early victories, paving the way for an all-female final five that season.

By the second week, Colton had secured his place as the season's big vilian by convincing his tribe to give up their immunity idol (a no-no in the game of Survivor) so that he could vote out fellow tribemate Bill (pictured left), whom Colton considered "ghetto trash". At that night's tribal council, Colton told the African-American stand-up comic to "get a real job" before listing all the Black people he interacts with in his everyday life (i.e. his housekeeper).

Later in the season, Colton showed his insensitivity to little people by calling Leif an "Oompah-Loompah" to his face and saying "that little Munchkin needs to get knocked back to Oz." In the end, Colton was pulled from the game on the 16th day due to appendicitis, getting the premature and unceremonious exit he deserved. 

Hopefully his fiancé Caleb will be able to keep Colton's aggressive personality in check this season...

Survivor: Blood vs Water premiers Wednesday, September 18th. 

NOM's Maggie Gallagher Doubles Down On Anti-Gay Comments After NJ Conversion Therapy Ban

It was simply a matter of time before Maggie Gallagher, one of NOM's resident anti-gay pundits, issued a reaction condemning Chris Christie's recent decision to sign a law banning ex-gay conversion therapy for minors in the state of New Jersey. However, after being quoted once and denying the initial reports, Gallagher seemed to then confirm the initial statement she had previously denied.

The day after Christie signed the bill, Buzzfeed reported on certain reactionary comments allegedly made by Gallagher: 

“The new law communicates to gays and lesbians seeking to conform their lives to their values that they are second-glass [sic] citizens, without the same right to seek help that other people enjoy. It is a right of self-determination that Gov. Christie has shut down...Governor Christie’s decision today violates the individual drive of men and women who no longer want to be tormented by unwanted homosexual desires. They are adults and should be free to seek out help for themselves with government interference."

Gallagher later denied those statements in her column for National Review Online, calling the report a "staff error". When clarifying her stance on the issue, however, her actual comments did not prove to be drastically different. 

"Governor Chris Christie has just put his name to a bill that uses the power of government to strip both parents and teenagers of the right to seek competent, professional help to live their life in accordance with their own values. The bill does not ban a specific kind of destructive therapy; it is a blanket ban on any licensed counseling professional helping any teenager who does not wish to act on gay (or transgender) desire. Not only efforts to change orientation but efforts to change behavior are forbidden, under penalty of law.

"Governor Christie just endorsed a law that thus excludes many gay teens who wish to live in accordance with Bible-based values from the circle of care; he has outright banned chastity as a goal of counseling. His bill is not only anti-religious, anti-liberty, and anti-family, it is anti-science because it does not permit scientific knowledge to evolve in the hands of competent professionals."

As was noted by ThinkProgress, Gallagher attempts to distinguish between harmful conversion/reparative therapy and the type that actually proves psychologically harmful to its subjects. However, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association (the entity quoted by Governor Christie in his statement on Monday) do not make the same distinction, and argue that all forms for such therapy are potentially harmful. Also, the New Jersey bill makes no mention of chastity.

"Chastity is a religious-cultural concept, not one with any connection to mental health, let alone 'scientific knowledge.' Thus, nobody should have ever had the expectation that it could be 'a goal of counseling.'"

Thus, one has to wonder precisely what Gallagher means with her statement and exactly where she is getting her "facts".