News: 'Functional Cure,' Odawa, Winston-Salem, Marc

At least 7 Cincinnati City Council members pulled out of city's St. Patrick's Day parade because of the parade's decision to ban the gay education group GLSEN.

South, a 1959 ITV teleplay about a Polish soldier sent to the American south during the Civil War and starring tv star Peter Wyngarde, may be the first television program to feature an open discussion of gay attraction. "[Does he love] the plantation owner's angry niece, Miss Regina, or the tall, blond, rugged officer who arrives suddenly – a handsome man called Eric MacClure."

Awesome: "A church in Winston-Salem has announced it will stop performing all marriages until United Methodist pastors are allowed to officiate at marriages for same-sex couples."

The Odawa Indian tribe in Michigan legalized same-sex marriage and celebrated by uniting two men, Tim LaCroix and Gene Barfield, in marital bliss. The federal government, of course, will not recognize this lovely union or its historic significance.

"At CPAC, gay marriage on back burner"

Kitty knows how to keep warm.

"Faux fur" jackets Marc Jacobs' label sells at Century 21 are actually made of dog fur.

Kathy Bates joins the cast of American Horror Story season 3, which concerns witches and will officially be called American Horror Story: Coven. Expect to see plenty of scenes featuring Bates and Jessica Lange "going at it," says creator Ryan Murphy.

Justin Bieber will do whatever it takes to be butch.

New Games of Thrones season 3 international trailer features some new footage for those of you who need a fresh fix.

A run down of some of the politicians and other notable public figures who have reversed course and come out in favor of marriage equality.

The Boston Phoenix, an alt-weekly paper that has published since 1966, announced that it will close its doors. Susan Orlean, the New Yorker writer who got her start at the Boston Phoenix, told the Boston Globe, "It's like finding out your college has gone bankrupt and is gone. I am a child of the alt-weekly world and I feel like it has played such an important role in journalism as we know it today."

Here's a Facebook page encouraging you to change your Facebook profile picture to show you support marriage equality.

Research into how revive extinct creatures continues. So what will happen to the phrase "go the way of the dodo?"

Is fact action the key to slowing HIV's devastation? "Treating people with HIV rapidly after they have become infected with the virus that causes Aids may be enough to achieve a 'functional cure' in a small proportion of patients diagnosed early, according to research."

Federal Judge Postpones Ruling on Gay Michigan Couple's Challenge to Marriage Ban Till After SCOTUS Rulings

A federal judge expected to deliver a ruling today that could have invalidated Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage has decided to postpone his ruling, the Detroit News reports:

Federal Judge Bernard Friedman stayed his decision in the matter Thursday so he can wait until the U.S. Supreme Court decides two other federal cases, which will likely be in June.

"I'll be watching those case closes," Friedman said. "Hopefully, the Supreme Court will give us some direction."

The case being held in Detroit focuses on April DeBoer, 41, who adopted a girl, and her partner, Jayne Rowse, 48, who adopted two boys. But Michigan law prevents the Hazel Park residents from adopting each other's children.The nurses filed a lawsuit to try to overturn the state's prohibition on adoption by same-sex partners. And Friedman invited them to expand their case and take aim at the gay marriage ban.

"We are hopeful and confident," DeBoer said Thursday. "(The judge) has to hear all the arguments. And hopefully our children will be ours."

It is argued that if Friedman strikes down the gay marriage ban, supporters say gay couples could marry and acquire other rights, including adoption.

Federal Judge Could Overturn Michigan's Ban on Same-Sex Marriage This Thursday: VIDEOS

Back in September I posted about April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, a Detroit couple suing the state of Michigan over its ban on gay adoption, who expanded their lawsuit to take on the state's marriage amendment.

Motions which could be decisive on the matter are scheduled for March 7, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. at Wayne State University Law School, located at 471 W. Palmer Ave, Detroit Michigan, according to the couple's attorney Dana Nessel of Nessel and Kessel Law. Judge Friedman recently ordered a venue change to accommodate the public interest in the outcome.

Via press release:

The couple, who has been in a committed relationship for over a decade, has three special-needs children. DeBoer, a neo-natal intensive care nurse, and Rowse, an emergency room nurse, became licensed as a couple to be foster parents. Within a year and a half, they welcomed three newborns who had been abandoned or surrendered at birth. The children faced long-term physical and mental impairments due to prematurity, little or no prenatal care, maternal drug use, and other complications.

DeBoer and Rowse's desire to jointly adopt all three children would establish each parent's legal claim and relationship to their children. Currently one has adopted two of the children and the other has adopted one. April and Jayne asserted that the Michigan Adoption Code, which prohibits joint adoption for their kids and thousands of other children in households like theirs across the state, violates their right to Equal Protection under the United States Constitution.

"Jayne and I love our children as deeply as any other parent loves their kids," said DeBoer. "We just want our children to have the same protections all other children have, so that our kids know they can never be taken from either of us."

Attorneys Dana Nessel (Nessel & Kessel Law) and Carole Stanyar (The Law Offices of Carole Stanyar) filed a complaint on behalf of April, Jayne, and their children against the State of Michigan in January of 2012, however, at the behest of Judge Bernard Friedman, the pleadings were amended to challenge the same-sex marriage ban, significantly expanding the scope of the case.

Michigan's Marriage Amendment, approved by voters in 2004, prohibits gays and lesbians from a legal marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships.

"As one of the most draconian bans in the nation, the amendment effectively prohibits any type of legal recognition or benefits for same-sex couples in Michigan," said Nessel. "Ironically, the State of Michigan found these women good enough to put their blood, sweat, and tears into raising these children together as foster parents. To now deny them the opportunity to both become legal parents to the children they love, and who are the only parents they have ever known, is totally irrational, and serves no legitimate purpose."

Watch the press conference held by the couple and their attorneys in September, as well as a news report broadcast a week before they decided to expand their lawsuit, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Gay Judge, Challenger, Subway Pusher, Fox's 'Embarrassment'

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed a bill putting new limits on abortion clinics, including a law requiring that providers ask patients whether they've been coerced into having an abortion.

At least four people are dead after a plane slid off the runway in Moscow. "Emergency officials said in a televised news conference that four people were killed and another four severely injured when the plane rolled off the runway into a snowy field and disintegrated. The plane's cockpit area was sheared off from the fuselage and a large chunk gashed out near the tail."

California Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Judge Kim Colwell to the Alameda County Superior Court, making her the first lesbian to sit on that court.

Matthew McConaughey And Camila Alves welcomed their third child together.

A look ahead at Prince William and Kate Middleton's 2013.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and fiance Justin Mikita go for a stroll on the beach in St. Barts.

Some Pakistanis are upset over a series of paintings that depicts Islamic clerics in homoerotic situations. "Officials at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan, shut down the Journal of Contemporary Art, which published the paintings by artist Muhammad Ali in a summer edition. School officials also removed all issues of the journal from campus bookstores and dissolved the journal's editorial board after the images sparked threats of violence from Islamic extremists..."

Fox News writer thinks that media supporting marriage equality in 2012 was an "embarrassing moment." "Newsies looked like an aging cast of "Glee," with almost every major news organization showing its support for gay marriage. CNN’s Anderson Cooper came out; ABC weather guy Sam Champion even married his boyfriend. But coverage isn’t just about rights, it’s about wrongs – "journalistic" attacks on Chick-fil-A, a shooting against a conservative organization that opposes gay marriage and more."

This rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion was New Scientist's most viewed of the year.

Brad Brenner at Huffington Post has a detailed look at how many gay men are using apps and online resources for their sexual and romantic needs, and how they're using them. A snippet: "More than three out of four men in our survey indicated that they struggle to find guys to connect with. Likewise, over six in 10 men said they fear getting shot down when introducing themselves, and the same number struggle with figuring out how to break the ice to initiate a conversation. Mobile app technology is easing those long-held anxieties, with 78 percent of men saying that apps allowed them to start a conversation with a guy that they otherwise wouldn't have."

The new season of Arrested Development will debut in its entirety on May 4.

Kanye West wore a crystal-studded mask during a concert in Atlantic City last night, because, you know, why not?

Despite growing criticism, New York's Journal News will publish more names and addresses of gun owners.

Police have nabbed the woman accused of pushing a man onto the subway track and to his death.

Sexy sweaters.

News: Hillary Clinton, Francois Hollande, Connecticut, Australia

Hoorah! The Michigan legislature put the kibosh on a plan that would have allowed adoption agencies and health officials to forbid same-sex couples from adopting.

Matt Damon explains why he never denied rumors about him and Ben Affleck being an item. "I never denied those rumors because I was offended and didn’t want to offend my friends who were gay, as if being gay were some kind of f--king disease. It put me in a weird position in that sense," he told the New York Daily News.

James Badge Dale covers Glow.

Dido and Kendrick Lamar make beautiful music, "Let Us Move On."

Neil Patrick Harris steps out to step into Barney's.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is recovering at home after fainting and suffering a concussion early last week. "At their recommendation, she will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with Department and other officials. She is looking forward to being back in the office soon," said Deputy Secretary of State Philippe Reines The Secretary of State, who also said she will miss a Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony next week.

Another fun reason to visit New York City: the just-opened National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath).

Actress Amanda Seyfried is moving to New York with a gay pal Alex Nesbitt and they plan on opening an antiques shop. "We're planning on opening an antiques and curiosities home store, which we want to call Mr. and Mrs. Nesbitt," said the Les Misérables star. "I'm worried that I'll lose my career one day, and I'll need something I can contribute to creatively."

Reed Gusciora, a freshly elected gay New Jersey Assemblyman, talks to Michelangelo Signorile about bringing marriage equality to the Garden State, where he says activists and allies need a fresh approach. "The Human Rights [Campaign], the national groups, they need to talk to other gays in the state instead of one person, who everyone seems to talk about [Steven Goldstein, at Garden State Equality]. They're not even talking to legislators. It's short-sighted not to talk to openly gay legislators in the state," he said.

Heroes large and small of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Local sources say that the Connecticut shooter, Adam Lanza, tried to buy a rifle mere days before the shooting but said he didn't want to wait two-weeks for a background check.

His motive is still unknown.

Remember those once-ubiquitous AOL CD-ROMs?

Anglican leaders in England are threatening to derail marriage equality legislation there.

And religious and conservatives leaders are still protesting French President Francois Hollande's plans to legalize same-sex nuptials.

Inspired by the American Tea Party, which is never a good thing, a group of Australian lawmakers recently formed an organization called CANdo, which among other things is warning that gay marriage down under will lead to Muslim polygamy. "All he was saying was that if you open up marriage to a wider group, then there will be calls for more... Muslim people are allowed polygamous marriage, but there will no doubt be calls for recognition, such as through the welfare system," said one of CANdo's founders, David Flint, the former Australian Broadcasting Authority chair.

Michigan Teacher Suspended for Playing Macklemore's Equality Anthem is Back in Class, Her Pay Restored

Susan Johnson, who received a two-day unpaid suspension for allowing a student to play Macklemore's equality anthem "Same Love" in class, has returned to school, and officials are speaking out after public outrage over the punishment, the Detroit News reports:

"I am willing to not uphold the suspension, but the violation of the district practice regarding web-based clips and our expectations for instructions previewing materials under this will remain in writing," he said in a statement.

The president of the South Lyon Education Association, which represents the district's teachers, said he supports members' efforts to foster tolerance and understanding "without equivocation"

"We also know that teachers need to follow administrative policies and, yet, we feel the district's initial response, a two-day unpaid suspension, to one of our members showing a video clip without submitting the required form, was excessive," said Jim Brennan. "After voicing our concerns, we are pleased that the district reconsidered, and chose to rescind the two-day unpaid suspension. We look forward to meeting with the district to come up with a final resolution."

Johnson received a statement of support from Macklemore following the incident.