More DNC Speeches of Note: Tammy Baldwin, Eva Longoria, John Kerry, Charlie Crist

More speeches of note from last night's DNC:

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) may become the first out gay senator if she wins in November.

"Our president has made historic progress toward equality. He repealed "don't ask, don't tell" so that no American ever again has to lie about who they are in order to serve the country we love. Republicans want to write discrimination into our Constitution. But the Wisconsin I know believes that with each passing year and each generation, our country must become more equal, not less."

Eva Longoria:

"Mitt Romney would raise taxes on middle-class families to cut his own — and mine. And that’s not who we are as a nation, and let me tell you why: because the Eva Longoria who worked at Wendy’s flipping burgers — she needed a tax break. But the Eva Longoria who works on movie sets does not....And just like our president and first lady, I took out loans to pay for school. I changed oil in a mechanic shop, I flipped burgers at Wendy’s, I taught aerobics and I worked on campus to pay them back."

Senator John Kerry:

"...after more than 10 years without justice for thousands of Americans murdered on 9/11, after Mitt Romney said it would be naive to go into Pakistan to pursue the terrorists, it took President Obama, against the advice of many, to give that order and finally rid this earth of Osama bin Laden....Ask Osama bin Laden is he is better off now than he was four years ago."

And former Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist, now an independent, who looks ready to make the switch to Democrat:

"That's the leader Florida needs. That's the leader America needs. And that's the reason I'm here tonight, not as a Republican, not as a Democrat, but as an optimistic American who understands that we must come together behind the one man who can lead the way forward in these challenging times: my president, our president, Barack Obama! And if you see the president before I do, give him a hug for Charlie!"

Eight Added to Speaker Roster at Democratic National Convention

Eight new leaders have been added to the list of those speaking at this year's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, CNN reports:

Added Monday were Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who served as President Barack Obama's chief of staff for the first two years of his presidency; Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who won the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination; Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who acted as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and is running for U.S. Senate.

Also on the list: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

As I noted earlier, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is slated to deliver the keynote address, and former President Bill Clinton is set to enter Obama's name into nomination.

The convention convenes in two weeks.

News: Queen's Speech, Mitt's Apathy, Graddick's Gripe, Sun's Weakness

This makes me feel gross: "Vice President Joe Biden has apologized to President Barack Obama for comments that led the president to speed up his public acknowledgement of his support for gay marriage."

Is the DNC preparing to move their party convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, after voters there approved gay marriage ban?

Some Brits are pissed after Queen Elizabeth II neglected to mention gay marriage in her law-oriented speech yesterday. "Gay rights activists were described as 'bemused' by the decision not to include the issue in the legislative program outlined Wednesday in the annual speech by Queen Elizabeth II."

HBO is building suspense for the forthcoming fifth season of True Blood with some new promo posters.

Milla Jovavich flashes some tush while filming Avon commercial. [NSFW?]

NY Archbishop Timothy Dolan has, not surprisingly, criticized President Obama for endorsing gay marriage. "President Obama’s comments today in support of the redefinition of marriage are deeply saddening," he said, apparently unaware that there are actual sad things happening in the world.

Brad Pitt is for some reason the new face of Chanel No. 5.

Senator John Kerry and 16 of his colleagues have come out to oppose the deportation of the "illegal" half of binational same-sex couples. "In a letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the senators said they were troubled that some immigration field offices 'are apparently following a blanket policy to deny green card applications for all gay spouses.'"

The always awesome (seriously) Amy Davidson on Mitt Romney's alleged bullying: "Does [Romney] count this as high jinks or a prank? It was neither; it is hard to imagine that hurt, rather than being the byproduct, was anything other than the point of the attack on Lauber. In terms of what a gay teen-ager might encounter, and what other boys might go along with at a school like Cranbrook, 1965 was different; but memory and empathy are not qualities that have only been invented since then."

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer on Obama's gay marriage announcement: "We now confront a variation of that miscegenation issue, and that has been what to call the relationship between two people of the same gender. The word ‘marriage’ has held a specific meaning for centuries as the union between a man and a woman. But it has also meant, in a broader sense, a commitment of one person to another, recognized by each of them and by society."

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is "not personally opposed to gay marriage."

Herndon Graddick, the kind, happy GLAAD president, takes on CNN for using hideous and sad anti-gay activist Tony Perkins to comment on Obama's gay marriage announcement: "Tony Perkins and others of his ilk cannot be used to exemplify those who simply oppose marriage equality. CNN is more than welcome to interview him on the issue of marriage equality, of course. His is unquestionably one of the loudest voices in the nation speaking about the issue. But when Perkins gets interviewed, a responsible journalist needs to tell the audience exactly who Perkins is speaking for."

Now you too can own Amy Winehouse's DNA. Your mother will be so proud.

Jerame Davis, the executive director for National Stonewall Democrats, had a little face-off on-air with Brian Brown, the leader of the National Organization for Marriage. Sadly, gloves were (mostly) on.

Why I love being a nerd: Ghostbusters tour of New York.

When Arnie met the Predator, a love story.

Get prepared to say goodbye to 30 Rock.

Your sun is weak: "The sun is no cosmic Concorde. Our star is moving through a cloud of interstellar gas too slowly to create a 'sonic boom' that would shield the solar system from some galactic cosmic rays. The finding could help determine whether the sun's previous passage through interstellar clouds could have led to mass extinctions." That could be useful, actually...

Harry Reid says he supports gay marriage, but would prefer if nuptials were of the heterosexual variety: "My personal belief is that marriage is between a man and a woman. But in a civil society, I believe that people should be able to marry whomever they want, and it’s no business of mine if two men or two women want to get married."

Mitt Romney has no idea how evolution works: "Romney did everything he could to keep Massachusetts from becoming the 'Las Vegas of gay marriage,' backing a constitutional ban at the state and federal levels. But he denies any inconsistency, saying when he said he was for equality, he meant in employment and housing — not marriage."

Nobody Noticed When John Kerry Came Out for Marriage Equality, So He's Doing It Again

At least that's what I'm getting from this article at the Boston Globe:

He now supports gay marriage.

Kerry didn’t reveal his change of position during a news conference, like he called last week in Boston to air his views about the federal debt negotiations.

He didn’t do so in a speech on the floor of the US Senate, like he delivered with evident pride last month after Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup.

He came out, if you will, in a more inert fashion last March, when his staff answered a survey from a Globe reporter inquiring about whether members of the state’s congressional delegation favored gay marriage and the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

An aide, relaying answers Kerry gave during a brief phone call from an international trip, said yes to both survey questions.

When a story - about how gay marriage was no longer a political wedge issue - appeared in the newspaper a week later, a condensation mistake resulted in the senator’s job title and first name being left off a sentence reading, “A Globe survey of the Massachusetts congressional delegation shows support for gay marriage and for repealing the Defense of Marriage Act by Kerry and each of the Bay State’s House members, all Democrats.”

Good for him. About time. Though it seems as though Kerry's policy positions must always be fraught with confusion.

John Kerry Defends President's 'Evolving' Gay Politics

LGBT activists and allies have criticized President Obama for saying that he's "evolving" on marriage equality.

Senator John Kerry, however, sees nothing technically wrong with the commander-in-chief's stance, and penned an op-ed in the Boston Globe explaining why:

Pundits ask whether President Obama can afford to “change’’ his position on gay marriage. It’s a phony debate about a real issue.

Marriage is deeply personal - our positions are based on unique combinations of reason, belief, and experience, not polling and politics.

Everyone is entitled to his own view, in his own time, including the president.

While Kerry agrees the president should be able to move at his own pace, the senator also insists, "The America we aspire to doesn't have any second class citizens," and concludes, "Although it sometimes take too long, America always ends up on the right side of history."

Basically, Kerry says Obama is entitled to his position, but would be better off leading the way, rather than being remembered as a stumbling block to progress. Whether the president agrees remains to be seen.

12 Senators Call on DOJ, DHS to Halt Deportations Involving Married Same-Sex Binational Couples

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and eleven other senators — Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — have called on the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to halt deportations involving same-sex binational couples until legal questions regarding DOMA have been resolved.

Says the letter:

[W]e ask the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to hold marriage-based immigration petitions in abeyance pending a legislative repeal or a final determination on DOMA litigation.  In addition, we ask DHS to exercise prosecutorial discretion in commencing and prosecuting removal proceedings against married noncitizens that would be otherwise eligible to adjust their status to lawful permanent resident but for DOMA.  We also call upon the Department of Justice to institute a moratorium on orders of removal issued by the immigration courts to married foreign nationals who would be otherwise eligible to adjust their status to lawful permanent resident but for DOMA.

The letter follows a similar request from Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ).

Read the letter, AFTER THE JUMP...