Best gay blog. Towleroad Wins Award

Oregon Hub



04/19/2007


News: Queen Elizabeth, Daft Punk, Rhode Island, CPAC

1NewsIcon Two Oregon men were attacked by a wrench-wielding man hurling anti-gay epithets as they walked their pink poodle. Police are looking into whether or not the incident can be considered a hate crime.

QueenElizabethA1NewsIcon Queen Elizabeth has been hospitalized with gastroenteritis, an intestinal inflammation typically caused by a virus. Apparently these commoner viruses do not know the 86-year old is royalty!

1NewsIcon Gay and lesbian couples, and the wedding industry, are gearing up for spring and summer ceremonies in Maine.

1NewsIcon Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb sees marriage equality on the horizon. Civil unions, he says, are just the first step.

1NewsIcon Lincoln Chafee, the independent governor of Rhode Island, where same-sex marriage recently passed the state House, makes an economic argument for passage: "Without marriage equality in Rhode Island...very desirable employer(s) will consider the difficulties and costs of hiring in Rhode Island against conditions in other Northeastern states. And the company may simply feel it's wrong to deny its gay and lesbian employees a fundamental freedom: the right to marry the person they love in the state they call home."

1NewsIcon Could docs have a path toward a potential "HIV cure" for newborns? "A baby born with the AIDS virus appears to have been cured, scientists announced Sunday, describing the case of a child from Mississippi who's now 2½ and has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection... A doctor gave this baby faster and stronger treatment than is usual, starting a three-drug infusion within 30 hours of birth... That fast action apparently knocked out HIV in the baby's blood before it could form hideouts in the body."

1NewsIcon Sequestration and HIV.

Nflenda1NewsIcon While litigation can create positive change in some cases, it likely won't work when it comes to breaking down homophobia in the NFL, says NBC Sports' Mike Florio.

1NewsIcon "Palestinians Only" buses coming soon to Israel.

1NewsIcon Gay Orthodox Jewish group preps for their first seder in Jerusalem.

1NewsIcon Obama's second term will continue to see the judiciary undergo long overdue demographic shifts: "Reelected with strong support from women, ethnic minorities and gays, Obama is moving quickly to change the face of the federal judiciary by the end of his second term, setting the stage for another series of drawn-out confrontations with Republicans in Congress."

1NewsIcon James Franco admits he teases people about his sexuality, and that questions about it are now a big part of his public persona. "One of the things that's very much part of my public image is the question of my sexuality. It's not something that bothers me in the slightest. It hasn't gone away and I get asked about it from all sides. It's partly my doing and partly not my doing," he tells Attitude.

Stepford1NewsIcon From a New York Times op-ed called "The Perils of Perfection:" "Barriers and constraints — anything that imposes artificial limits on the human condition — are being destroyed with particular gusto. Superhuman, another mysterious start-up that could enliven any comedy show, promises to offer, as its co-founder recently put it, an unspecified service that 'helps people be superhuman.' Well, at least they had the decency not to call it The Übermensch."

1NewsIcon Right wing magazine the National Review blasts CPAC for banning the gay group GOProud and not inviting Chris Christie: "...As friends of CPAC and fellow conservative advocates, we nevertheless regret that CPAC has excluded the gay conservative group GOProud and declined to invite New Jersey governor Chris Christie."

1NewsIcon Daft Punk teases a new album.

1NewsIcon The best type of reporters are the ravishing kind...

1NewsIcon Jack the Giant Slayer topped the weak weekend box office with a meager $28 million.


5 Charged In Oregon For Beating Man They Lured To Park

6a00d8341c730253ef017d40f41e4c970c-300wiFive Oregon teenagers were arrested early Friday morning after allegedly luring a gay man to a public park and then beating and robbing him.

According to police, a 24-year old man drove to Vance Park in Gresham, Oregon, thinking he was meeting another man, but instead he found five masked and armed teenagers who beat and robbed him.

The teens, four boys aged 16 to 19 and a girl, 14, are being charged with robbery, assault and intimidation, and the victim's recovering from minor injuries.

Describing the attack, the victim told Portland's KGW, "When I saw the gun I thought I was going to be dead and that’' why I did everything that I could to give them what they wanted."

"I hope they learn their lesson," he said. "I feel bad for their parents but they need to learn from their mistakes and take the punishment that they get."

The attacks comes just days after activists in Oregon announced a new push to legalize same-sex marriage there.


Activists Protest Bigoted 'Sweet Cakes' Bakery While Business Booms: VIDEO

Sweetckaes

Sweet Cakes, the Oregon bakery which refused to bake a cake after they found out it was for a lesbian's wedding, was the target of a protest on Saturday, KATU reports:

Dozens of people showed up outside Sweet Cakes by Melissa Saturday afternoon to voice their opposition to Aaron Klein’s decision not to make the cake. “That’s wrong. That’s a crime in Oregon,” said protester Rob Cochran. “I need to let people know if you’re going to do that as a business, there are going to be consequences.”

Meanwhile, the business is experiencing the Chick-fil-A effect — its bigoted Christian supporters are coming out in droves to support it.

Oregon Attorney General's civil enforcement officers are looking into whether Klein broke the law by discriminating.

Watch video of the protest and interviews with Klein and customers, AFTER THE JUMP...

Sweetcakesprotest

Continue reading "Activists Protest Bigoted 'Sweet Cakes' Bakery While Business Booms: VIDEO" »


Oregon Activists Launch Drive to Put Marriage Equality on the Ballot in 2014

Looks like marriage equality bill be on the ballot in Oregon in 2014, the Oregonian reports:

OregonThe state’s major gay-rights group, Basic Rights Oregon, made the decision over the weekend to launch a petition drive on Monday to put a measure on the ballot that would allow legal recognition of same-sex marriages. Given the group’s resources and the issue’s high visibility, there is little doubt the group can qualify the measure for the November general election.

 “I think people are really coming to understand that marriage is unique and special and you don’t want to deny that to anybody else,” said Jeana Frazzini, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, after the group’s leaders and advisers met Sunday to finalize their decision to proceed...

...Basic Rights Oregon has been laying the groundwork for a statewide vote on the issue since 2009. In 2011, however, the group decided not to go to the ballot in 2012, with Frazzini saying at the time that there wasn’t enough consensus on the issue to have a “reasonable expectation of success.”

Anti-gay activists say they have been "preparing for months" to oppose just such an initiative.


News: Mike Piazza, Wedding Cake, Hawaii, Boy Scouts

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Polish director Malgoska Szumowska's film, In The Name Oftakes on the Catholic Church.

Long-Shot-Piazza-Mike-97814391502216a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Former NY Mets catcher Mike Piazza addresses gay rumors in newly published memoir: “If I was gay, I’d be gay all the way.”

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Kim and Kanye hit up Rio.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Lesbian couple denied wedding cake by anti-equality cake shop have accepted ”Ace of Cakes” star Duff Goldman's offer to provide them one for free on their big day.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Justin Bieber made his SNL debut last night.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Anti-gay group gets funding by the Canadian government: "...the federal government is providing $544,813 in funding for Crossroads Christian Communications — an Ontario-based evangelical group that produces television programming — to help dig wells, build latrines and promote hygiene awareness in Uganda through 2014."

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Madonna signs up for Instagram.

Satellite-Image-of-the-Hawaiian-Islands-hawaii-23340246-1600-12006a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d HRC call to action on marriage equality in Hawaii: "The momentum for marriage equality in the Aloha State is on our side and the deadline for the legislature to hear the marriage bill is this Tuesday, February 12th. Join us on Monday, February 11th at the Capitol Rotunda in Honolulu with hundreds of supporters making their voices heard by speaking face to face with their legislators."

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Steve Jobs aspired to create an iCar.

6a00d8341c730253ef014e86b06427970d Anti-gay group American Family Association announces a social media campaign to oust AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson from the board of the Boy Scouts of America: "He doesn’t espouse their values; he should move on.”


'Ace of Cakes' Star Offers to Bake Wedding Cake for Lesbian Bride Rejected by Oregon Bakery

Over the weekend Steve posted about Sweet Cakes by Melissa, an Oregon bakery that refused to sell a cake to a lesbian after finding out it would be used for her wedding.

GoldmanNow, Baltimore-based pastry chef and "Ace of Cakes" star Duff Goldman is offering to bake a cake for the lesbian and transport it free of charge, the HuffPost reports:

The executive chef of the Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes told HuffPost Live, "I saw this story and I was like, “Wait -- I can do something, there’s injustice involving a cake!”

Noting that Charm City has been making same-sex wedding cakes for some time, Goldman added, "For a cake decorator to really feel like he really needed to take a stand…it just makes absolutely no sense. It’s petty, it’s small…this man has wrapped up his hatred in the cloak of religion.”

Watch FOX News' report on the bakery, AFTER THE JUMP...

Continue reading "'Ace of Cakes' Star Offers to Bake Wedding Cake for Lesbian Bride Rejected by Oregon Bakery" »





Towleroad - Blogged