News: Michigan, Kris Allen, Boston Gay Bars, Kathy Griffin

3GS: Apple releases follow-up to iPhone. 3G now $99.

GALLUP POLL: 58% of conservatives favor gays in the military.

 Tween Idol.

Kris Allen signs record deal, discusses album.

Pat Steadman, first out gay man in the Colorado senate, sworn in.

Proposition 8 protest in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Faces of Us: "a photo campaign created with the purpose of bringing the fight for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) rights to the National spotlight. The campaign is still small, but growing, and shows the faces and identities of members of the LGBT community and allies who care about these issues."

Gay porn actor Timothy Boham (aka Marcus Allen) murder trial goes to jury: "Twenty-eight-year-old Timothy Boham testified Thursday that Denver businessman John Kelso committed suicide and that they had planned to make it look like a robbery for life-insurance purposes. But prosecutors say Boham shot Kelso during a robbery and a police detective testified this week that Boham confessed to the killing."

Two U.S. journalists sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea.

Is the gay bar scene in Boston finished?

Kathy Griffin's My Life on the D List returning tonight at 10 pm: "Since 'D-List' premiered in 2005, Griffin’s career has moved in a different direction. So she thought her show should, too. 'It’s kind of silly to make the show about what it was four years ago, which was I can’t get a job, I’m going to go do stand-up at gay rodeo,' she said. 'It’s a very different place than I was in four years ago.' So this season, Griffin visits, among others, Lily Tomlin, Paula Deen, T.I., Gloria Estefan and Paris Hilton to get a glimpse into their lives."

Male model fix: Christopher Fawcett.

Signature collectors begin drive to recall Portland Mayor Sam Adams. Organizer Jasun Wurster: "This is a positive, non-partisan and intelligent campaign that is comprised of very talented volunteers who are solely focused on holding Sam Adams accountable for his civic transgressions."

Images from a cocktail party held by the New York Times in honor of same-sex couples that have made their wedding announcements in the paper.

Snow falls in North Dakota in June.

Cristiano Ronaldo exposed?

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway reuniting on screen for Love and Other Drugs.

Michigan shift in public opinion on gays called 'seismic': "In October 2004, a Glengariff poll showed 24% of Michiganders supported marriage rights for same-sex partners, and only 42% supported legal recognition of civil unions. In the new poll, support for same sex marriage was 46.5% and for civil unions 63.7%. Forty-eight percent of state voters said they opposed adding marriage rights, the only one of nine gay rights issues not winning majority support."

UK Catholic mother launches legal battle after son is placed with gay foster parents. Catholic church says adoption rights for gays amount to child abuse.

UK: Catholic Adoption Agencies Breaking Law by Barring Gays

A Charity Tribunal in the UK has ruled that Catholic adoption agencies cannot bar gays from adopting for religious reasons:

"The tribunal ruled that a 'heterosexuals only' policy in the adoption field of the Catholic Church in England and Wales would fall foul of the ban on discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation brought in two years ago. The Tribunal's ruling leaves leading charity Catholic Care (Diocese of Leeds) (pictured) facing a deep religious impasse and creates a fundamental conflict between the tenets of the Catholic Church and the law of the land. If the charity now sticks to Church policy and continues to follow its "heterosexuals only" policy it could lose its charity status and public funding.It might also face discrimination claims by same-sex couples it has turned away in the past"

The charity had been in the process of formally incorporating rules that gays could not adopt based on the tenets of the Church.

News: Florida, Dsquared2, Bluetooth, Robert Smith, Duluth

Florida Supreme Court to hear arguments in gay adoption case tomorrow: "Tomorrow the Florida Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Liberty Counsel v. The Florida Bar. Earlier this year Liberty Counsel filed a petition at the Florida Supreme Court, arguing that the Bar should remain neutral in the state's homosexual adoption controversy."

GaGa: Spot of tea?

If you had a horn growing out of your forehead for 20 years, you'd look this happy too.

Tharon Musser, lighting designer for more than 150 Broadway shows, dies at 84.

Idolator talks to the Pet Shop Boys.

Why hasn't the United States lifted HIV travel restrictions yet? "Following new legislation last year, the HIV entry ban is no longer law, but remains an administrative decision to be ruled on by the Department for Health and Human Services."

Brazilian President Lula writes letter in favor of gay rights.

DSquared2 twins Dan and Dean Caten are getting their own music show on Sirius radio: "The program, called 'Dean and Dan on Air: Style in Stereo,' will spin music from the past and present, including the soundtracks from their runway shows, spanning genres including urban, dance, hip-hop and rock ’n’ roll. The program will also feature interviews with celebrities to discuss the latest in fashion, music, politics and more."

Hugh Jackman says fans rarely recognize him.

Where's the most remote place on Earth?

Bluetooth 3.0 introduced.

Stephen Hawking to pull through: "He is comfortable and his family is looking forward to him making a full recovery."

WTF would Jesus do?

Vander Plaats plots Iowa gubernatorial campaign: "Vander Plaats recently placed an ad on Republican-leaning news site, the Drudge Report, to show the nation that most Iowans are against gay marriage..."The definition of marriage is also going to be an issue in the campaign, and in particular where the incumbent governor and the Democrat-controlled legislature is saying, 'We don't even want to hear from the people on this issue. The courts have said it so therefore we're going to back away and wash our hands of it.' I think that's going to be a major in the 2010 campaign."

Robert Smith of The Cure is 50 years old today!

Gertrude Stein Democratic Club blasts D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty for firing gay Parks & Recreation director Clark Ray, demands meeting: "Today's firing of Clark Ray as Director of Parks and Recreation is a slap in the face to the GLBT community...In a city with a huge GLBT population, which supported you in large numbers, that is unacceptable...It is clear to most that Mr. Ray performed his duties in a way that was a credit to the administration," it stated.

Good Charlotte's Joel Madden takes a turn for the blond.

Councilman to introduce domestic partner registry in Duluth, Minnesota.

Screw Miss USA, here's the Mr. Broadway Beauty Pageant.

Gay British Columbia New Democratic Party candidate Ray Lam steps down over Facebook photos showing him feeling woman's breast, pulling down underwear: "Mr. Lam has been involved for several years with the Pride Society, a Vancouver-based advocacy group for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. According to a Pride Society web site, Mr. Lam has been involved in several community organizations and was chair of Youthquest, Lesbian & Gay Youth Society of British Columbia."

Rev. Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition warns federal hate crimes bill will legalize numerous types of sexual crimes because the American Psychiatric Association lists certain sexual fetishes under a long list of "sexual orientations".

Activists Demand Gay Adoption, End to Discrimination in Florida

Hundreds of people (though less than the thousand hoped for) descended upon Tallahassee, Florida yesterday to lobby legislators for repeal of the state's gay adoption ban and passage of anti-discrimination laws inclusive of sexual orientation.

Tallahassee.com reports: "Despite the 62 percent public vote for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, several legislators told the demonstrators they should be optimistic about their long-term political prospects. Sens. Nan Rich, D-Weston; Elenaore Sobel, D-Hallendale Beach; and Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, told the mostly young crowd of about 250 marchers that trends of history are on their side. Stuart Milk, the nephew of slain San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk, urged the demonstrators to go into the Capitol and lobby legislators for bills to combat 'hate crimes,' repeal the ban on gay adoption and forbid discrimination in housing or employment on the basis of sexual orientation. Frank 'Martin' Gill, the plaintiff in a pending lawsuit aimed at repealing the adoption ban, said he and his partner have been foster parents for 10 children but when a South Florida circuit judge granted their request to adopt two boys, the state immediately appealed under the law forbidding adoption by gays."

Watch a video of the demonstration, AFTER THE JUMP...

Florida Lawmaker Files Bill to Repeal State's Gay Adoption Ban

Recent court decisions on Florida's gay adoption ban and their appeals may be moot if a Florida lawmaker's bill gets passed, the Bradenton Herald reports:

"State Sen. Nan Rich, a Weston Democrat who is co-chair of the Senate Children & Families Committee, has filed a bill to repeal the 1977 Florida law that prohibits gay men and lesbians from adopting children. A second bill would specify that judges would determine adoptions based solely on ''the best interests'' of children. 'Someone who is a good parent -- whether they are heterosexual or homosexual -- that's what we should be basing decisions on, not sexual orientation,' Rich said. 'We need to be looking at what's in the best interests of children.'"

Two judges, one in Miami, and another in Monroe County, have recently declared the ban unconstitutional. Anti-gay groups (which I propose we begin dubbing 'anti-child' groups, because it's true) are battling those decisions.

Israel Grants Gay Couple Adoption of Foster Son After 14 Years

After 14 years of lobbying, the Ramat Gan Family Court granted adoption of their foster son Yossi to Professor Uzi Even and Dr. Amit Kama:

Ynet reports: "Prof. Uzi Even and Dr. Amit Kama have been serving as foster parents to Yossi Even-Kama, 30, since 1995. 'The court finds that all of the stipulations noted in the adoption laws and pertaining to the foster child in question have been duly met,' Justice Alisa Miller noted in her ruling. 'I hereby grant the adoption decree and state that Yossi Even-Kama is now Uzi Even and Amit Kama's son.' Yossi first arrived at the Even-Kama home in 1995, after being disowned by his family for being a homosexual. Even and Kama soon petitioned the Israeli Social Services to become his foster parents, and when their request was granted they also became Israel's first-ever gay couple to be recognized as a foster family. In 2004, Even and Kama were married in Toronto, Canada."

(via transracial)