News: Iran, Lone Gunman, Rhode Island, 'The Gay All Black'

From The Guardian, a first-hand account of growing up gay in Iran: "I struggled. I was sure that I was sick. I thought all these desires were unholy and sinful. I sought a thousand different ways to rid myself of these thoughts, but alas it was not possible. They were the inescapable desires of the body and the soul."

Colton Brugger, the anti-gay activist who does the National Organization for Marriage's web work, designed the new webpage for opponents of equality in France. One can only assume that NOM, well aware they're facing a losing battle here, thinks their hateful ways will play better overseas.

Justin Theroux looks dashing at the Calvin Klein Collection show in Italy.

And here's Glee star Chris Colfer strolling around New York City.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z reportedly spent $200,000 on their daughter's 1st birthday party, setting a very troubling precedent for their accountant.

Destiny's Child will indeed perform during the Super Bowl half-time show.

Sex and the City, drag edition.

An interview with gay actor Andrew Rannells about his roles on HBO's Girls.

The United States is giving France tactical support in the country's battle against militants in Mali, a former French colony.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr is convinced that his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated by more than one person: "The evidence at this point I think is very, very convincing that it was not a lone gunman."

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, University of Auckland Business School professor Dr. Mike Lee opposes the campaign asking a closeted member of the All Blacks rugby team to come out: "If any All Black was to come out as a homosexual, he would probably be known as 'the gay All Black', rather than an exceptional rugby player and individual. And that could create exactly what human rights groups in New Zealand surely don't want - a step backwards to a time when sexual preference was more of a big deal."

From Israel: "An Israeli gay couple married 10 months ago in New York has asked an Israeli family court to validate a spousal support agreement. Elad Aflalo Farber and Roni Farber Aflalo on Sunday asked the Ramat Gan Family Court to recognize their agreement -- the first time a legally married gay couple has done so, according to Haaretz. Previous recognitions of same-sex spousal support agreements involved common-law spouses."

A great read: "The Unbearable Invisibility of White Masculinity: Innocence In the Age of White Male Mass Shootings"

The Rhode Islanders United for Marriage coalition will hit the ground running on Monday as they lobby lawmakers and voters to get behind marriage equality in The Ocean State.

Changing attitudes toward gay people in Singapore: "A nationally representative survey in the Southeast Asian city-state found that in 2005, 68.6 percent of adults had negative attitudes toward gay people, while 22.9 percent had positive views and 8.5 percent were neutral. By 2010, fewer adults in Singapore had negative attitudes toward homosexuals (64.5 percent), while more expressed positive attitudes (25.3 percent) or were neutral (10.2 percent), the survey found."

Conservative Christians in Hong Kong protested new laws that would outlaw anti-gay discrimination there. Like their counterparts here in the States, they claim such legislation would impede their free speech rights.

Senators Not Keen On Hagel For Defense Secretary: VIDEO

Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel cleaned up one political headache, kind of, by apologizing for comments he made in 1998 about Ambassador James Hormel being "aggressively gay."

Hormel has accepted the apology, though does point out it most likely came to clear a path for President Obama to nominate Hagel to be the next Defense Secretary. "While the timing appears self-serving, the words themselves are unequivocal--they are a clear apology," Hormel wrote. 

But there's still the pesky problem of Republicans who oppose Hagel for opposing the surge in Iraq, his votes and comments about Israel and his resistance to sanctions on Iran. If Sen. Lindsey Graham's remarks this morning are any indication, that GOP problem isn't going away anytime soon.

"The Republicans are going to ask him hard questions, and I don’t think he’s going to get many Republican votes," Graham said on Meet the Press. "His positions -- I didn’t really, quite frankly, know all of them -- are really out of the mainstream and well to the left of the president. I think it would be a challenging nomination." Asked if he would support Hagel, Graham said he's going to wait until the nomination hearings. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer was also asked, but said he's standing by until an actual nomination has been put forth.

Meanwhile, independent Sen. Joe Lieberman used similar language on CNN's State of the Union, telling host Candy Crowley, "...If I were in the Senate on the Armed Services Committee and he was nominated, I would have some really serious questions to ask him, not just about Israel, but to me, the most significant foreign policy challenge for President Obama and our country and the world in the next year or two is Iran and it's nuclear weapons program. Chuck Hagel has had some very outlying votes on that."

Watch Graham, Schumer and Lieberman discuss Hagel's odds AFTER THE JUMP.

UN Approves Palestinian Statehood In 138-9 Vote

Palestine now has United Nations statehood. For the first time ever, the international body will recognize Palestine as a "non-member observer state" after 138 members voted for bring the nation into the fold. Nine nations, including the United States, Israel and Canada, voted against the measure. France and Spain voted in favor, while Germany and Great Britain both abstained, according to NPR.

Addressing the UN assembly before the vote, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said, "We did not come here seeking to delegitimize a state established years ago, and that is Israel. Rather we came to affirm the legitimacy of a state that must now achieve its independence and that is Palestine."

"The moment has come for the world to say clearly: enough of aggression, enough with settlements and occupation," he said.

Yasser Arafat Exhumed, Reburied

Former PLO leader Yasser Arafat's body has been exhumed in the West Bank city of Ramallah and reburied in order that it be tested to determine whether he was killed by poisoning.

The NYT reports:

Mr. Arafat became ill in October 2004 after being confined under an Israeli Army siege and virtual house arrest for more than two years in the compound where he is buried. At the time, the area was seething with the violence of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, and the Israeli clampdown.

He was flown by helicopter out of his headquarters and transferred to a French military hospital, where he died about two weeks later of unannounced causes.

The Guardian adds, of today's exhumation:

Before dawn, Arafat's remains were finally reached. A Palestinian doctor and foreign forensic experts looked at the state of the corpse and decided against attempting to remove the whole thing. The Palestinian doctor instead took only samples, which were moved to a mosque where they were prepared for examination by international teams from France, Russia and Switzerland. This time, the streets and rooftops around the Muqata were abandoned - although that did not mean there was no interest.

Many ordinary Palestinians have long believed Arafat was murdered by Israel, but they are divided over whether that warrants digging him up.

"He should have been left alone," said Munir Jaara at a coffee shop close to the Muqata. "We all know the Israelis killed him so what's it going to prove to disturb his body? It's disrespectful."

Ghada Nayfeh differed. "We need to find the truth. It was very suspicious how he died, just like that, under siege from the Israelis," she said.

There have also been rumors over the years that it was AIDS which killed him.

News: Natural Gas, Exhuming, Another Bush, Manbar

90s stars we still know and love today.

Deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's remains will be exhumed on Tuesday as officials investigate yet another rumor that the Israelis poisoned him. Great, just what the region needs: the ghost of Arafat hanging over a cease-fire.

Celebrities react to Larry Hagman's death.

A Chicago-area Catholic Church has offered to confirm Lennon Cihak, the Minnesota teenager denied confirmation at his own church after he supported marriage equality on Facebook.

Early reviews for Les Misérables are sensational.

Bush: The Next Generation: "George Prescott Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the nephew of former Texas governor and ex-President George W. Bush, has filed preliminary paperwork to run for office in the Lone Star state in 2014. That leaves the new Bush poised to become a key face in the next generation of Republican politicians."

Umm... "Does being fat make you more jolly?"

A natural gas explosion damaged 42 buildings, including a strip club, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Critics are not being kind to Liz & Dick starring Lindsay Lohan. Tim Goodman from The Hollywood Reporter called it "spectacularly bad."

Skip It!

The LA Times profiles Dave Roberts, the first Democrat elected to the San Diego Board of Supervisors in over a decade. "He's also gay and married to a retired Air Force master sergeant. The two are adoptive parents to five former foster children, ages 4 to 17, who call them Daddy Dave and Daddy Wally."

From Monika Johnson's article "Making progressivism last": "Creating progressive infrastructure will ultimately yield decisions that change our economy and society. For example, I was struck recently when a relative turned down a lucrative deal because the organization was enacting anti-gay policies in conducting business. In making this decision, he took a stand for what he believed in and created a ripple effect that will influence that business’s chances of success."

Michael O’Kane, the editor of the Irish Daily Star, has resigned for his role in the publication of the nude Kate Middleton pictures.

A mural of a shirtless Prince Harry has become a huge attraction for London's Manbar.

The New York Times magazine spent some time with Scott Fahlman, inventor of the emoticon. "In 1982, as a young professor at Carnegie Mellon University, he realized the need for a symbol to temper the bickering that plagued online forums. The Internet was just a baby then, and yet already flame wars raged. Fahlman decided that a smiley face could be useful as a 'joke marker' (as he called it) to take the sting out of mocking statements or pranks."

Indiana's Purdue University has big plans for World AIDS Day.

Have Richard III's remains finally been found?

George Prescott Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the nephew of former Texas governor and ex-President George W. Bush, has filed preliminary paperwork to run for office in the Lone Star state in 2014. That leaves the new Bush poised to become a key face in the next generation of Republican politicians.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84166.html#ixzz2DAwg1UUL

Many Injured After Terror Attack Targets Bus in Tel Aviv: VIDEO

At least 21 have been injured in a bus attack in Tel Aviv, the first terror attack there since 2006, according to live reports. The attack has set off another round of Israeli air strikes in Gaza. The Guardian reports that more than 130 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.

The NYT:

The explosion came as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pursued diplomatic efforts to end the fighting. She planned to fly to Cairo Wednesday after talks with Israeli leaders in Jersualem and Palestinian leaders in the West Bank.

On several occasions since the latest conflagration seized Gaza last week, militants have aimed rockets at Tel Aviv but they have either fallen short, landed in the sea or been intercepted. Hundreds of rockets fired by militants in Gaza have struck other targets.

But the bombing seemed to mark the first time in the current fighting that violence had spread directly onto the streets of Tel Aviv.

A video report on the bus, AFTER THE JUMP...

In other news, Gay Star News reports that a gay Palestinian couple have been killed in the conflict:

The two men, one aged 21 the other 31 years-old, were spending time in their apartment on Friday evening (16 November), when a bomb hit the apartment building. The two were killed on the spot.

Amnesty has so far estimated that at least 66 innocent Palestinian civilians killed by the Israel's military operation ‘Pillar of Cloud’ that launched on 14 November, with many more wounded and made homeless.

A Palestinian lesbian activist reported that several of her family members were gravely wounded by the Israeli bombardment on Monday (19 November). They were so badly wounded that they had to be taken to Cairo for medical treatment where they are struggling for their lives.

Several Palestinian gay activists have confirmed the two incidents.

A video report on the bus, AFTER THE JUMP...