News: Mary Cheney, Lutherans, DOMA, Mariah Carey, Detroit

Federal judge rules that gay couple denied benefits should receive compensation: "U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt deemed the denial of healthcare and other benefits to the spouse of federal public defender Brad Levenson to be a violation of the Constitution's guarantee of due process and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which is prohibited by California state law."

Mary Cheney and Heather Poe welcome new baby: "Sarah Lynne Cheney was born Wednesday morning at Sibley Hospital in Washington, weighing 6 pounds and 14 ounces. She is the seventh grandchild of the former vice president and his wife, Lynne."

Mariah Carey demands 20 fluffy white kittens, 100 doves, 80 security guards and more so she can turn on the Christmas lights at a London mall.

South African runner Caster Semenya keeps title after gender dispute.

Robert Pattinson can play things other than vampires.

Incoming gay Detroit City Council member Charles Pugh talks of AIDS crisis in city: “There needs to be more money targets at the crisis areas."

David Vitter won't comment on the Louisiana justice who refused to marry an interracial couple because he isn't familiar with Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court case which lifted the ban on interracial marriages.

Demi Moore has lost a chunk of her thigh!

WATCH: Band uses naked men as furniture in new video.

Levi Johnston never intended to go full-frontal in Playgirl.

Neil Patrick Harris has a signature pose.

Probably one of the skankiest beards in Hollywood.

Anti-gay evangelicals met with protest at Syracuse University: "Pesto, a junior from Westchester County, said he saw the Deferios’ signs earlier in the day. It made him uncomfortable, he said, so he made his own sign. 'Corduroy skirts are a sin,' it said, referring to what Michelle Deferio was wearing. 'I was just making a gay joke,' he said. But friends saw him and joined in, standing with him and making signs of their own. Other students came and, by 6:30, there were about 70 people at the scene, holding signs, cheering and challenging the Deferios."

If you were called "Mary" for 55 years would you really want your name changed to "Terry"?

Adam Lambert is starting to resemble a member of the Queen's Guard.

Gay vs Gay? Queer/trans anarchist group Bash Back protests Join the Impact demonstration in Minneapolis.

A guide to D.C. marriage equality discrimination.

Mall Santas and doctors neckties are to be avoided if you want to escape the flu.

Gay couples blast DOMA in new court filing: "DOMA marks a stark, and unique, departure from the respect and recognition the federal government has long afforded to State marital status determinations."

Via Boy Culture, Susan Boyle sings Madonna's "You'll See".

UK pit bull owner hunted after allowing his dog to attack blind woman's seeing-eye dog.

Get hubbied.

Lutherans upset over gay clergy split to form new denomination: "Leaders of Lutheran CORE said Wednesday that a working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution and taking other steps to form the denomination, with hopes to have it off the ground by next August. 'There are many people within the ELCA who are very unhappy with what has happened,' said the Rev. Paull Spring, chairman of Lutheran CORE and a retired ELCA bishop from State College, Pa."

Mary Cheney Gives Cash to Anti-Gay Candidate for Congress

Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of former VP Dick Cheney, has thrown $1,000 behind Rob Portman, a Congressional candidate from Ohio who believes she should not be able to adopt children or marry her partner:

Raw Story:  "Cheney, 40, has a two-year old son with her partner of 17 years, Heather Poe. The donation to former Rep. Rob Portman (R-OH) was made in May. Portman is seeking the Senate seat that will be vacated by Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) when he retires in 2011....As an Ohio congressman, Portman voted yes on banning gay adoptions in the District of Columbia in 1999. He also voted in favor of a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage in 2004. Portman’s opposition to same-sex marriage is particularly salient, because both of his potential Democratic challengers favor its legalization. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner reaffirmed her backing for gay marriage in a posting at The Huffington Post in June, and a spokesman for Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher announced that he’d reversed his opposition the same month. Robert Paduchik, Portman’s campaign manager, told the Columbus Dispatch in June that the erstwhile congressman still opposes same-sex marriage. 'Rob Portman has always believed that marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman,' Paduchik said."

Priorities, priorities...

(via good as you)

Book: Mary Cheney Demanded New Car, Canned Secret Service Agent

Mary Cheney wanted a new car to be driven around in while her father was Vice President and got one, a new book claims. Cheney denies it, according to Page Six:

 "According to 'In the President's Secret Service' by Ronald Kessler, when Mary demanded the Service shuttle her friends out to restaurants, the agent in charge objected and she had him removed from her detail. The former veep's daughter also allegedly complained about the Secret Service vehicle assigned to her. 'She saw that her sister [Elizabeth] had a brand-new Suburban,' an agent who was on her detail tells the author. 'Mary had an older vehicle. She was like, why can't I have one? Next thing you know, within a day or two, she has a brand-new Suburban from the Secret Service sitting out there in front of her house.' But Mary told Kessler, 'These stories are simply not true, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for the men and women of the Secret Service.'"

Dick Cheney: 'I Don't Have Any Problem with [Same-Sex Marriage]'

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was asked about same-sex marriage at the National Press Club today. In his answer, Cheney mentioned his lesbian daughter and said that he has no problem with same-sex marriage at the state level. My transcript below.

Said Cheney: "Freedom means freedom for everyone. Many of you know one of my daughters is gay - something we've lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there should be a federal statue that governs this, I don't support. I do believe that historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. This has always been a state issue. And I think that's the way it ought to be handled today, on a state-by-state basis. Different states that make different decisions. I don't have any problem with that. I think people ought to get a shot at that, and they do at present."

On another note, is this the first time that Cheney has discussed his daughter's sexuality voluntarily? Historically he's been surly and offended when the subject has been brought up. You may remember a January 2007 interview in which Wolf Blitzer asked Cheney about his daughter's child, and Cheney replied, "frankly, you're out of line with that question."

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Lynne Cheney Won't Say if She Wants Mary Cheney to Marry

Lynne Cheney offers CBS' Harry Smith a circumspect answer to his question, "Marriage is legal for gays in California now. Would you wish that for your daughter?"

Says Cheney: "Well, I would wish my daughter to have happiness and the freedom to make her own choices. The Vice President said in the debate with Joe Lieberman, ever so long ago in 2000, that freedom in this country ought to mean freedom for everyone."

Well, at least she didn't bite his head off.

Watch the clip AFTER THE JUMP (excuse me while I go curl up with a copy of Sisters)

The Evolution of Lynne Cheney

Second lady Lynne Cheney has a new book coming out and she spoke with CBS about it as well as about how she has "evolved" on racism and homophobia:

In Blue Skies, No Fences: A Memoir of Childhood and Family, "Cheney acknowledges that her world of prom dates and being homecoming queen was not open to everyone - African Americans, for example. And she writes that the times 'were hard on kids who were gay.' It's an issue that Cheney is sensitive to as the mother of a gay daughter. 'I think the society has evolved,' she said. 'I've evolved in my way of thinking, but I think the whole society has evolved. You know, my mother had a rule which was people are just people.'"

Well, last time I checked, society hadn't evolved much.

And according to Dick, Lynne is way out of line for discussing Mary. Because in the "evolved" world of the Cheneys, you can neither talk about your gay kids, nor offer them equal rights. Unless, of course, you have a book to sell.