Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid: 'My Niece is a Lesbian'

Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) spoke about ENDA with reporters today, backing up his support for the legislation by revealing he has a niece who is gay, the HuffPost reports:

My niece is a lesbian," Reid said during a sit-down with reporters. "She's a school teacher. Her employment shouldn't be affected with that. We should have a law that says that, not just the good graces of wherever you work."

Reid's niece declined to be interviewed or to give her name. But per Reid's spokesman, she was fine with Reid making her sexual orientation public.

What are the bill's chances this year?

Reid said there's "a chance" he'll bring up ENDA for a vote this year, noting that he had a meeting about it just last week. He wondered aloud why it doesn't have broad support to pass.

"It's hard to comprehend that we haven't done a better job," he said.

Harry Reid on Immigration Reform: 'Gay Folks...Should Be Protected' - VIDEO

Steve mentioned this interview in his round-up yesterday but I thought I'd post the clip of Harry Reid telling George Stephanopoulos that same-sex families need to be included in immigration reform.

Via Think Progress:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (HOST): One of the other big issues, the President said he wants gay and lesbians to be able to have a family preference. Senator McCain has said we shouldn’t come up with legislation for what he calls social issues.

REID: If we have gay folks in this country who have children, or they come from some other place they should be protected just like any other child.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s the position the Republicans are saying that’s too heavy to lift.

REID: If they’re looking for an excuse not to support this legislation, this is another one, but the American people are past excuses. They want this legislation passed.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Meanwhile, Senator John McCain is trying to do just that:

But congressional Republicans immediately condemned the idea and warned that the measure imperils broader immigration reform. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of the senators on the eight-member bipartisan working group on immigration, said at a Politico breakfast last week that injecting social issues into the debate over immigration legislation “is the best way to derail it.”

“Which is more important: LGBT or border security?” McCain said, using an abbreviation for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. “I’ll tell you what my priorities are.”

News: Rob Gronkowski, Immigration, NASA, Asylum

Nate Silver makes his prediction for the Super Bowl.

His team may not be competing in the Super Bowl, but Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski found himself partying shirtless in New Orleans.

NASA says an approaching asteroid will be the largest object to ever come this close to Earth, but the mega rock won't zip by until later this month.

Harry Reid says immigration reform should include same-sex families: "If we have gay folks in this country who have children, or they come from some other place they should be protected just like any other child."

Ricky Martin lands in Oz.

Buzzfeed: The Dying Political Tradition Of Avoiding The Gay Question.

Britney Spears will not be playing Vegas.

Louisville, Kentucky, expands anti-discrimination protections for city employees.

Inventor of the Etch A Sketch dead at 86.

Iowa Senator Matt McCoy wants to reduce the penalty for HIV-positive people who don't purposely pass the virus to their sex partners. "...someone convicted of intentional or attempted transmission of the virus could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and face a $750 to $7,500 fine. That would put HIV in the same criminal category as transmitting any other communicable disease, such as Hepatitis C."

Report: Gay UK asylum seekers frequently required to prove sexuality: "(Lecture) will detail the extraordinary methods to which individuals are resorting – including filming themselves having sex – to justify requests for refuge."

News: Boehner's Potty Mouth, Shirtless Jude, Sci-Fi Faith, Shojo

Stacie Laughton, the first transgender person elected to office in New Hampshire, will not run for the seat she resigned after it was revealed she was convicted of conspiracy to commit credit card fraud.

House Speaker John Boehner had some choice words for Sen. Harry Reid during the fiscal cliff negotiations at the White House: "Go f*ck yourself."

Meanwhile, right-wing website Breitbart is starting to beat the "oust Boehner" drum.

Here's a fun interactive graph about where the 50 United States stand on LGBT rights.

Richard Socarides on the push for marriage equality in Illinois: "Illinois, being the President's home state and containing four per cent of the total U.S. population, would be a big win for marriage-equality advocates."

Hillary Clinton has left New York Presbyterian as she continues to recover from a blood clot near her brain.

Natural born smooth talker: "Just hours after they're born, babies seem to be able to tell the difference between sounds in their native tongue and a foreign one, according to a new study that suggests language learning begins in utero."

A shirtless Jude Law looks fit and fine vacationing in Maui.

Anne Hathaway looks lovely on the cover of Harper's Bazaar UK.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie reportedly tied the knot on Christmas.

NYE fireworks in reverse.

Take some time to read my old friend Cord Jefferson's wonderful piece about depression, adventure and finding clarity in life.

Katie Holmes and Jake Gyllenhaal are not a couple.

New track from Azaelia Banks, "Bad Bitches Doin'."

Lindsay Lohan has been evicted from her home in Hollywood. Hopefully this will inspire her to get the help she so desperately needs.

"Whatever happened to comic books?"

A completely sci-fi prediction about religion in 2060 from homophobic hate leader David Barton: "Conservative Christians will be treated as second class citizens, much like African Americans were prior to civil rights legislation in the 1960s. Family as we know it will be drastically changed with the state taking charge of the children beginning at birth. Marriage will include two, three, four or any number of participants. Marriage will not be important, with individuals moving in and out of a 'family' group at will. Church buildings will be little used, with many sold to secular buyers and the money received going to the government. Churches will not be allowed to discuss any political issues, even if it affects the church directly." Yeah, right.

A look at the wild popularity of shojo manga, a genre that focuses on teen boys' gay love, among straight women in Japan: "The genre of boys' love, in other words, allows [authors and] readers to place themselves in a position of power and aggrandizement that is rare for women—as the distanced, masterful position, letting his (or her) eyes roam across variegated objects of desire."

"The Private War That Killed Spencer Cox."

If you can, pick up this week's edition of The New Yorker to read Daniel Mendelsohn's incredible piece about how historical novelist Mary Renault's work helped him come to terms with his own sexuality. The magazine's abstract elaborates: "Reading her books, the writer felt a shock of recognition... After reading Renault’s The Charioteer, which is set during the Second World War and wrestles with the issue of 'Greek love,' the writer wrote in his diary, 'I know what I am. Now I must think what to do with it.'"

From "The Catholic Church’s new gay insult:" "It would be unrealistic to expect the Catholic Church to make a sudden about-face on the issue of equality. It’s been doing the 'Homosexuality is an offense to God' shtick a really long time and that’s a hard habit to break. But the religion whose pope declared in 1866 that slavery wasn’t necessarily against 'natural' law does have a track record of sometimes evolving in light of compelling social change."

News: Chuck Bass, Taiwan, Authors, Male Escort, 'Dictatorship'

Rather than discussing US-Taiwan relations with King Pu-tsung, their representative to the US, Taiwanese lawmakers were more interested in asking him questions about rumors that he's gay and having an affair with President Ma Ying-jeou: "King said it was 'unfair' that people have claimed that his political progress has been spurred along through sexual relationships, adding that the insinuation was also insulting to homosexuals."

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid is blaming GOP House Speaker John Boehner of running the House like a "dictatorship" and intentionally obstructing fiscal cliff negotiations. "Everyone knows that if they had brought up the Senate-passed bill, it would pass overwhelmingly. But the speaker says, no we can't do that," Reid said today. "It's [the House] being operated by a dictatorship of the speaker."

Lindsay Lohan got a bit of a break on the tax lien on her home.

Johnny Depp's 2012, a photo essay.

"How An Author Should Be." (Good at building anticipation.)

Presenting "The Fabulous Fags of the Steambath."

Don't you wish you would find British Olympic diver Tom Daley under your mistletoe?

Puppies in the snow.

A look back at 2012 in celebrity fashion.

Nick and Nate Montana show off their football bodies on the beach.

Following in Richard Hanna and Ileana Ros-Lehtinan, a third GOP congressman has come out against the anti-gay DOMA: "U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass, R-Peterborough, took a symbolic step this week by being the first Republican member of Congress from New England to sign on to an effort that would allow the federal government to recognize same-sex marriage."

"A Gay Male Escort Recalls His Craziest Client Request."

Anti-gay conservative MP Tim Loughton: "[Marriage is] a gift of God in creation through which husband and wife may know the grace of God."

Men said to be Romanian Orthodox priests posed suggestively for a calendar being described as "homoerotic."

The Journal-News, a newspaper for New York's Westchester and Rockland Counties, is at the center of a privacy debate after publishing the names and addresses of gun-owning residents. "Turns out the stunt was so unpopular — with gun owners and privacy advocates alike — that a blogger named Christopher Fountain took it upon himself to dig up and organize the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the Journal-News staff, starting with editor Cyndee Royle."

Brian Schatz has been sworn in to replace late Hawaiian Sen. Daniel Inouye. "I am honored to serve in this capacity, and I can assure you that if given the opportunity, I will make Hawaii proud," he said. "I'm going to work very hard, and I understand the road ahead is going to be challenging for all of us, but it also is potentially a hopeful time to rebuild as a united congressional delegation."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Hospitalized After Car Accident

(image twitter blasky)

Senator Harry Reid was transported to the hospital after his caravan was involved in a six-car crash, the AP reports:

Nevada Highway Patrol Office spokesman Jeremie Elliott says he doesn’t know Reid’s condition after the crash, which happened about 1:10 p.m. Friday on Interstate 15.

The freeway runs parallel to the Las Vegas Strip.

Elliott says six vehicles were involved in the apparent chain-reaction crash, including two Las Vegas police vehicles, two civilian vehicle and two Capitol Police vehicles.

CNN adds:

Reid's caravan of four vehicles was traveling northbound on Interstate 15 when it was invovled in a crash with another civilian vehicle, according to the highway patrol's public information officer Loy Hixson.

Reid was transferred to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas by one of his caravan vehicles. The injuries did not appear to be life threatening, according to Hixson. Nobody else involved in the incident was transferred to the hospital.

One more shot of the accident here.