News: Lincoln, Joaquin Phoenix, Sundance, Philippines, kd lang

Presbyterian leaders in Kentucky vote to allow gays and lesbians to be ordained as pastors, elders and deacons.

Abraham Lincoln's watchmaker carved a secret inscription to the president on the inside of his pocket watch. The watchmaker's memory of it is nicer than the reality: "The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try."

Stunt? Joaquin Phoenix attacks "bitch" in his audience - VIDEO.

Florida judge orders school board to allow Gay-Straight Alliance to meet at Yullee High School near Jacksonville.

Center Square: San Francisco reading of one-man play about Paul Lynde halted by "cease and desist" letter.

Gay man picked to head Sundance Film Festival: "Actor Robert Redford, who founded the Sundance Institute in 1981, said [John] Cooper 'brings to the position an infectious enthusiasm as well as a deep understanding of the Sundance brand and culture. Forward thinking, he is a natural choice of succession to lead the Festival into the 21st century.' In recent years, Cooper has been involved in distributing short films on platforms such as iTunes, XBox360, and Netflix. He's also recently spearheaded the Art House Project, an initiative of 18 art houses from across the country designed to connect regional audiences to the Sundance's films and filmmakers."

It's probably best not to give a woman-beater a Kids' Choice Award.

Oh, just kiss and get it over with.

Three new biographies explore authors who were gay (or struggled with it).

Trial to begin over anti-gay killing in Brooklyn's Crown Heights. Killer thought victim was flirting with him.

Philippines military opens recruitment to gays. Commanding officer: "I don’t have anything against gay people but I am still in the dark, I cannot imagine how they will perform and discharge their duties once they are accepted in the military"

Boston Gay Men's Chorus to tackle kd lang's "Big Boned Gal" in next concert. Somebody please send a video.

Apparently, Sean Penn's suit from Milk is a Mormon magnet.

Big Gulp: Croc gobbles shark in Australia.

Website scans NYC sandwiches.

Clay Aiken to present GLAAD award to Tyra Banks.

Gambling regulators in Las Vegas recommend $50,000 fine and a 6-month suspension of a slot machine license for city's oldest gay bar Snick's, over public sex complaint.

In praise of Sonny Bill Williams.

Google to increase user surveillance: "Google’s influence over our lives is set to grow further after it anounced today that it will track millions of people as they move through the internet in order work out what their interests are. Using that information, it will then provide targeted advertising to suit users' individual tastes."

About the Banner #35 - #39

Here's some info on the photos in our last five banners, for those of you that take an interest in such things. I reealized I've let this column go since before the holidays.

You may remember this was up just after Thanksgiving. It's actually part of a shot that I took from a helicopter. I was given the very cool gift of a ride around Manhattan from my good friends Alan and Drew on my last birthday. The portion of the photo I used for the banner was just the top of it. It's a view down the East River from upper Manhattan looking south. Click to enlarge.

The next banner was up briefly over Thanksgiving weekend. More on it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Abraham Lincoln at 200: Emancipation Chic?

Kempt does an analysis of a recently-uncovered photo of Lincoln, taken a few months before he died, in which it's been noted that #16 is sporting a "surprisingly contemporary hairstyle." Adds Kempt: "There’s a lot more to like here than just his hair. Check out the peak-but-not-too-peak lapels, the floppy cravat, and the duster-style double-breasted jacket, for starters. And given the proliferation of ironic facial hair, we’re amazed the chinstrap hasn’t had more of a revival."

Today, as you may know, is Lincoln's 200th birthday. It's being celebrated in Washington D.C. as well as the state of Illinois, and this week there are no less than three major documentaries about Lincoln on TV.

Obama paid tribute to Lincoln at an event last night at Ford's Theatre, standing below the flag-draped box where Lincoln was assassinated. Said Obama: We know that Ford’s Theatre will remain a place where Lincoln’s legacy thrives, where his love of the humanities and belief in the power of education have a home, and where his generosity of spirit are reflected in all the work that takes place...The American people needed to be reminded, he believed, that even in a time of war, the work would go on; that even when the nation itself was in doubt, its future was being secured; and that on that distant day, when the guns fell silent, a national capitol would stand, with a statue of freedom at its peak, as a symbol of unity in a land still mending its divisions...It is this sense of unity that is so much a part of Lincoln’s legacy. For, despite all that divided us -- north and south, black and white -- he had an unyielding belief that we were, at heart, one nation, and one people."

In 2004, C.A. Tripp published a controversial book suggesting Lincoln was gay:

According to the NYT review, among Tripp's assertions are that Lincoln had a "youthful affair" of four years with Joshua Speed, had a homosexual relationship with bodyguard David V. Derickson, shared a bed with a man named Billy Greene who told Lincoln's law partner that the president's thighs "were as perfect as a human being Could be," and "wooed" fellow lawyer Henry C. Whitney "to close intimacy and familiarity."

The book argues that it was Lincoln's homosexuality that led to his volatile relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln and describes an account by bodyguard Derickson's commanding officer: "Captain Derickson, in particular, advanced so far in the president's confidence and esteem that, in Mrs. Lincoln's absence, he frequently spent the night at his cottage, sleeping in the same bed with him and — it is said — making use of his Excellency's night-shirts!"

Every known photo of Abraham Lincoln, from 1846 to his death in 1865, AFTER THE JUMP...

Previously on Lincoln...
Obama-Lincoln Gets the Rainbow Treatment in Boston [tr]
Is it Abraham Lincoln? [tr]
Abe Lincoln's Intimate Encounters [tr]

Obama on Tom Daschle Withdrawal: 'I Made a Mistake'

Obama did something yesterday that Bush rarely did over eight years — admitted he "made a mistake" with regard to the Tom Daschle debacle that went down over the past few days.

Said Obama: "Well, I think my mistake is not in selecting Tom originally, because I think nobody was better equipped to deal both with the substance and policy of health care -- he understands it as well as anybody -- but also the politics, which is going to be required to actually get it done. But I think that, look, ultimately, I campaigned on changing Washington and bottom-up politics. And I don't want to send a message to the American people that there are two sets of standards, one for powerful people, and one for ordinary folks who are working every day and paying their taxes."

At the end of the interview, Anderson threw in a few questions with regard to Obama's first days in the White House.

COOPER: What's the latest on the dog search?

OBAMA: We are going to get it in the spring. I think the theory was that the girls might be less inclined to do the walking when it was cold outside.

COOPER: Portuguese Water Dog? You don't know yet?

OBAMA: You know, we're still experimenting.

COOPER: Coolest thing about your new car?

OBAMA: You know, I thought it was the phones until I realized that I didn't know which button to press. That was a little embarrassing.

COOPER: Have you had a cigarette since you've been to the White House?

OBAMA: No, I haven't had one on these grounds. And I -- you know, sometimes it's hard, but, you know, I'm sticking to -- sticking to it.

COOPER: You said, on these grounds. I'll let you pass on that. And final question, you've read a lot about Abraham Lincoln. What is the greatest thing that you've learned from your studies of Lincoln that you're bringing to the office right now?

OBAMA: You know, when I think about Abraham Lincoln, what I'm struck by is the fact that he constantly learned on the job. He got better. You know, he wasn't defensive. He wasn't arrogant about his tasks. He was very systematic in saying, 'I'm going to master the job, and I understand it's going to take some time.' But in his case, obviously, the Civil War was the central issue, and he spent a lot of time learning about military matters, even though that wasn't his area of experience. Right now I'm learning an awful lot about the economy. I'm not a trained economist, but I'm spending a lot of time thinking about that so that I can make the very best decisions possible for the American people."

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Obama-Lincoln Gets the Rainbow Treatment in Boston

A show called "a politic" opened over the holiday weekend at Gallery XIV in Boston. Accompanying it was a legally-posted Warholized billboard installation of Ron English's "Obama-Lincoln" fusion portrait. Given its prismatic tints, it's a shame it wasn't up for gay pride.

UPDATE: The enthusiasm of English fans, who have pasted the image all around the city, has caused a major stink among local businesses and residents.

AnimalNewYork has a slide show of the installation, and you can check out a video
AFTER THE JUMP...

Is it Abraham Lincoln?

Recently-discovered stereoscopic photos reveal a man in a stovepipe hat in the midst of a procession at Gettysburg. Some claim it is Abraham Lincoln on horseback, on his way to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

Others note the presence of many men in stovepipe hats surrounding Lincoln just after his speech.

The two photos together nevertheless provide a fascinating glimpse of that moment in 1863.

Here's how the discovery happened, according to USA Today: "John Richter, 51, of Hanover, Pa., had loved Gettysburg since he was a kid; for 20 years had been collecting stereoviews or stereographs, which use special viewers to turn pairs of images into a 3-D view. A board member of the non-profit Center for Civil War Photography, he had always been interested in the Gettysburg stereoviews, available free for the past several years on the Library of Congress website. When he saw negatives 1159 and 1160, taken seconds apart, he said to himself, 'I think I see something going on.' Like the scientist who discovered Pluto because he knew where to look, Richter knew from historic descriptions of the ceremonies that the 4-by-7-inch plates of the troop procession ought to have Lincoln in there somewhere. 'If I wouldn't have seen Lincoln there, it would have been a surprise,' he said. So he asked the center's president, Bob Zeller, to request much larger, more richly detailed computer files. Richter zoomed in tight and found what he was looking for: Lincoln on horseback — or so he believes."

This is the kind of situation where you believe what you want, and it'll make you much happier.

Related
Abe Lincoln's Intimate Encounters [tr]
Assassinated Presidents [tr]