Marriage Equality Supporters March on Sacramento

The California Highway Patrol estimated that 5,000 people showed up on the steps of the California capitol building on Saturday in the latest major action against Proposition 8, including speakers Gloria Allred (above), Robin Tyler, Diane Olsen, Margaret Cho, Selene Luna, and Equality California's Geoff Kors.

The L.A. Times reports: "Many in the crowd held signs calling for equality and separation of church from state. Several banners targeted the Mormon Church whose members helped defeat the measure. 'If the ban on marriage equality was unconstitutional in May, the ban will also be unconstitutional when the Supreme Court makes its decision in January,' said incoming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. California's highest court agreed this week to hear three legal challenges seeking to nullify the state's new ban on same-sex marriage. All three cases claim the ban abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group. They argue that voters alone did not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change."

The SF Chronicle reports: "Protesters filled much of the lawn beyond the Capitol steps, carrying homemade signs with messages like 'What's so scary about our love?' and 'Give tolerance a chance.' Vendors walked through the crowd, selling gay-rights buttons and rainbow flags. The crowd was much smaller than the 15,000 to 30,000 organizers originally had advertised or even the scaled-back 10,000 they hoped for this week. But while the rally was talked up in the days after the election, the actual organizing was done on the fly. 'There was a lot of buzz about this, but no real information,' said Keegan Killian of California Outreach, one of the organizers. 'Our first planning meeting was little more than a week ago.'"

A couple great videos from the march, AFTER THE JUMP...

The marchers:

Gloria Allred rallies, and Margaret Cho sings a special protest song:

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Charlie Crist to consider openly gay judge on Florida Supreme Court short list.

Star Wars: Clone Wars gay-coded character Ziro the Hutt is asexual. Director: Ziro, Jabba’s uncle, originally spoke in Hutt-ese, like Jabba and then he had a different sluggish voice just like Jabba, and then George one day was watching it and said ‘I want him to sound like Truman Capote.’ He actually said that and we were like ‘Wow!’...He’s of questionable [sexuality] at least as a slug. They tell me that these slugs can be either male or female depending. That’s something I guess that slugs and snails do. I wasn’t aware of that but I have continuity experts that tell me these things and I’m like. I guess Jabba is [his son’s] mother AND father from a certain point of view. It’s interesting.”

Child at center of gay kidnapping returned home: " Glazer said his son yelled, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" when they were reunited and was 'kissing me and everybody.' Glazer's ex-partner, Eric Hyett, was not immediately arrested. Authorities in Israel were still mulling whether to take him into custody and return him to New York to face charges of custodial interference, said Glazer's lawyer, Sam Ferrara."

FIRST LOOK: Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth together again on 90210.

Obama smear book: this is what "fuck you" looks like.

Drugs mimicking effects of GHB outlawed in London.

Singer Jackson Browne sues McCain over use of "Running on Empty" song in Obama attack ad.

Ed Westwick on a man date.

Happy 50th birthday Madonna.

Court reinstates dismissed discrimination case by former employee of Merrill Lynch over supervisor's "stupid fag" slur: "On the hostile workplace claim, the appeals court said Taylor's holding -- that a single comment may be severe enough to create a hostile workplace -- applies regardless of who made the comment. 'The fact that it was made by plaintiff's immediate supervisor should be enough because, as Taylor itself noted, a supervisor is someone who should be protecting the employee from such conduct in the workplace,' they wrote. They noted that even before the 'stupid fag' remark was allegedly made, Wonder had been verbally critical of Kwiatkowski's performance. 'At the very least, plaintiff would have had genuine reason to question Wonder every time she criticized his work and evaluated his performance, and to wonder whether the criticism was valid or instead was generated by her bias against gay men,' they observed."

Former Big Brother star dishes to HX about the behind-the-scenes action in the upcoming Another Gay Sequel.

Last Dance: Hopes for a NYC Roxy revival fading...Documentary to air on LOGO.

Margaret Cho would like to be the center in a Lindsay Lohan-Samantha Ronson sandwich: "I would hope that Samantha Ronson would be this hot, mean, butch top. I don't know about Lindsay, though. I'd have to see. I think the three of us would be great in a daisy chain." And here's a sneak peek at The Cho show. The girl's also rocking some major tattoos.

Karl Rove: Same-sex marriage won't be the issue it was in 2004...

An interview with Project Runway's Keith Bryce.

Robert Downey Jr. the latest star to adopt the pornstache.

Obesity linked to childhood ear infections: "Preliminary results from the University of Florida in Gainesville suggest that severe ear infections damage a nerve that transmits signals from the tongue to the brain, which then changes the patient's perception of tasteso that they prefer fatty foods. A team led by Linda Bartoshuk noticed the link by questioning 1300 subjects – 245 of whom had a history of ear infections – on their medical history, height, weight and taste perception. Of those who had had ear infections, those over 30 had higher body mass indices, with proportionally twice as many obese subjects.

Karl Lagerfeld wants to be a rapper.

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Relax Your Necks

Jay Brannan and Margaret Cho are here with some NSFW advice for your Friday afternoon...

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Is Bush blocking Obama speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate?

Jake gets a mane.

No brainer: Guess what they're working on a sequel for...

Not a surprise: Tanzania to oppose ordination of women and gay bishops in Anglican church.

Same-sex Wisconsin couples who marry in California could face prison if they return to their home state: "When Dick Myers heard that California was going to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, he and his partner of nearly 13 years considered traveling there to get married. That is until Myers and his partner, Steve Brondino, learned of an obscure state law that makes it a crime for Wisconsin residents to enter into marriage in another state if the marriage would be prohibited here. The law imposes a penalty for those who enter into a marriage that's prohibited or declared void in Wisconsin of up to $10,000 and nine months in prison."

Focus on the Family inciting trans panic in Colorado.

Tacoma, Washington's county council refuses to go on record supporting gay pride event, spurs outcry by members: "I’m embarrassed. This is a sad, low day for the County Council, that we wouldn’t give you a chance to celebrate who you are and stand against discrimination of all forms."

25% of the world's corals are facing extinction.

New York Governor Paterson to sign expanded domestic violence law: "The new law would make it possible for people in dating relationships, heterosexual or gay, to seek protection from abusers in family court. As it stands, New York has one of the narrowest domestic violence laws in the country, allowing for civil protection orders only against spouses or former spouses, blood relations or the other parent of an abused person’s child."

Damn Yankees, with Cheyenne Jackson, Jane Krakowski, and Sean Hayes: a review.

From the secret diaries of Mario Testino: "Shooting in LA for an issue of V Man I'm editing. The theme is "extreme". I've tried to do it around the extremes of how a male gets perceived today, in the sense that there is ambiguity: sometimes the butcher a man is, the queenier he can be. And sometimes the most feminine men can be the most masculine. I'm influenced by so many different things, though. That's good if you're in the fashion business. Because things change so much. You can't say "I like colour" because the day after tomorrow black and white is in and you're out. And I don't want to be out. I need to work. It's my livelihood. So I'm adaptable."

He's still a traffic-stopper.

Margaret Cho now performing wedding ceremonies: "Cho actually married two couples during the Bay Area's gay pride festivities, she announced last night at the opening of the Outfest film festival in downtown Los Angeles."

Tom Cruise as the Village People.

Gay Star Trek episode to be screened: "Last March, the team of fans behind Star Trek Phase II began producing 'Blood and Fire' a gay-themed script originally written for The Next Generation in 1988 by 'The Trouble With Tribbles' writer David Gerrold. The story would have included the franchise's first gay couple and dealt with a deadly disease that worked as an analogy to AIDS, but the episode never was filmed."

Ciccone tell-all: "When Sean Penn was married to his sister, he made Christopher cut his thumb and then cut his own and merged them to become blood brothers. Penn approached him years later and asked him if he had AIDS."

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30th Sydney Mardi Gras Draws Crowd of 300,000

The 30th annual Mardi Gras went off over the weekend in Sydney, drawing a crowd of at least 300,000.

AP: "What began in 1978 as a protest march by 1,500 brave homosexual, lesbian and transsexual men and women that was harshly disbursed by police has grown into one of the world's largest and most flamboyant gay pride events. This year's procession of 150 floats was led by the '78ers' — a group of 186 of the original marchers and their partners, who drew rapturous cheers."

Below, coverage from the Australian video featuring Margaret Cho, Kathy Griffin (who arrived there, of course, on the pink flight, and Carson Kressley, whom they identify as Carson Daly:

Craig Gee, who was brutally beaten in an anti-gay attack on Oxford Street three months ago, marched in the parade with his partner Shane Brennen.

Said Gee: "Unfortunately, homophobic violence will only recede when gay people [decide to] stand up and be counted. Shane and I are determined not to feel ashamed of our sexuality, nor to feel scared to walk the streets of Sydney, our home. To lead Mardi Gras will play a huge part in our recovery and we hope that with the support of 10,000 other marchers we will be able to do it."

Main photos by Morgan Carpetner for Same Same, where you can find many more galleries of the parade and parties.

MArdi Gras photo coverage [same same]
Sydney Celebrates 30th Gay Mardi Gras [ap]
BBC Slide Show [bbc]
30-year Anniversary look-back [news.com]
Video [news.com]

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Margaret Cho Lets Out Silent But Deadly Nude Photo Shoot Secret

Comic Margaret Cho reveals in the Huffington Post that she loves Carson Kressley's reality show How to Look Good Naked and its focus on positive body images. For those of you wanting to explore nude photo shoots of your own, she also has some advice:

"I am completely into the new reality show How to Look Good Naked hosted by Carson Kressley. It is kind of like a traditional makeover show with shopping and finding the right clothes for your body type, hair/makeup, etc except it is more goal oriented because at the end, Carson makes the women feel so confident that they are able to pose naked and have their glorious image blown up and splashed on the side of a building....Since I became a dancer, I have felt much better about myself. I even did a naked photo shoot myself not too long ago, with my favorite photographer Austin Young. My friend Suhaila was there for moral support and she has done a lot of modeling. She gave me some good advice. When you are being shot, try to think of a secret. Something beautiful. Something only you know. A secret. Hold onto that. Let them see the secret in your eyes. Feel it. Austin shot amazing photos of me that day. Afterward, Suhaila asked me, What was your secret?...I said, I farted...I guess it really wasn't a secret because they already knew about it!!"

How to Look Good Naked [huffington post]

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Equality Arizona meets with Scottsdale, Arizona mayor Mary Manross.

The apple of his eye? Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak reportedly dating Kathy Griffin.

Scientists: HIV may stop brain cells from growing. "For some time we've known that HIV can cause a form of dementia, but this had been attributed to the loss of mature brain cells, killed off by an HIV protein called gp120. Now Stuart Lipton and his colleagues at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in San Diego, California, have found that gp120 also slows down the division of adult stem cells called neural progenitor cells (aNPCs), thought to be important for memory and learning. When rat aNPCs were exposed to gp120, 15 per cent of them stopped dividing."

Can he make a career reappear? Britney Spears seen overnighting with magician Criss Angel.

The compact disc is 25 years old.

Provincetown Carnival parade goes through the looking glass, as do the straight tourists: "Honey, we're not in Stockbridge anymore."

New Republic: Don't force Dems to state support of gay marriage publicly. "Perhaps once elected, the next president could take a courageous stand in favor of gay marriage via a televised message to the nation, or he could express support for a gay marriage bill were one to arise in a state legislature or criticize state attempts to ban gay marriage or civil unions. As the leader of his party, a Democratic president who voiced support for gay marriage would immediately render such a position more politically viable for state legislators and rank and file party members. Smith says of the candidates, 'These people are managing a political problem. ...We just need to change the political dynamic.' He's right. Gay marriage advocates need to convince a substantial majority of the country that gay marriage is a moral good before pressuring presidential candidates to take a position on such a highly charged issue."

Amy Winehouse back in rehab, but will she stay? "Amy Winehouse is putting all her touring commitments for this month on hold until further notice in order to address her health issues. Amy will now not be performing at this weekend's V Festival in Chelmsford and Staffordshire. Her family has requested that the media respect Amy's privacy at this time."

Gay singer/songwriter John Wallowitch is dead at 81: "The composer of more than 2,700 songs (by his own count, the majority unpublished), Mr. Wallowitch was a familiar face on New York television, beginning in 1980 with his cable-access show, 'John’s Cabaret,' in which he played piano, sang and joked. With his owlish face, oversize glasses, bow tie and sly Cheshire cat grin, he was the dandified embodiment of a traditional piano man and seemed to know every obscure show tune ever written."

Margaret Cho's film Bam Bam and Celeste gets its San Francisco premiere: "I wrote it because I wanted to do this great fag hag and fag love story, between a girl and her best gay boyfriend. It's the fag hag lament. If you're a fag hag, they always leave with some guy, and you're kind of stuck there, just left behind."

"Fundamentalist fearmongering set" headed to confab in Florida this weekend: "Tampa will host the Family Impact Summit, which will feature Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, failed Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer, the American Family Association's Don Wildmon, the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land, Katherine Harris (just when we thought we'd seen the last of her!), Ohio vote vacuumer Ken Blackwell, Bob Knight of the Media Research Center, as well as "ex-gay" promoters Nancy Heche (actress Anne's mom), and the "ex-gay-for-pay" President of Exodus International, Alan Chambers."

Male Bondage and Barbra Streisand: they go together.

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