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04/19/2007


Anti-Gay Seattle Church Moves into 'Gayborhood', Calls it Blessing to Be Closer to Those 'Infected with AIDS': VIDEO

An anti-gay megachurch's move into Seattle's "gayborhood" has offended many of its residents, and its pastor's remarks have only added fuel to the fire, the NY Daily News reports:

MarshillThe Mars Hill Church Downtown Seattle’s new home is blocks from Capitol Hill, which is known locally as the “gayborhood.” The church plans to use the new location as a base to minister to the city’s business people; the homeless; and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

“Being closer to Capitol Hill is a blessing as we are serving and ministering to those who are infected with AIDS on the hill,” said Tim Gaydos, lead pastor of Mars Hill Church’s Downtown Seattle branch said in a release to KOMO News.

Local LGBT rights organizations are not happy with Gaydos’ statement and its implications. Shaun Knittel, founder and board president of Social Outreach, a LGBT rights coalition, called the comments a “lower form of hate speech -- ignorance speech.”

“What the pastor is saying is that gay neighborhoods equal AIDS neighborhoods, ” Knittel told the Daily News. “That just because you’re gay or lesbian on Capitol Hill, that means you have HIV/AIDS.”

Watch KOMO News' report, AFTER THE JUMP...

Continue reading "Anti-Gay Seattle Church Moves into 'Gayborhood', Calls it Blessing to Be Closer to Those 'Infected with AIDS': VIDEO" »


News: David Davies, Seattle Hate Crime, A Graduate, 'Scary Movie 5'

1NewsIcon British tabloids are salivating over word that Kieran Hayler, boyfriend of celebrity Katie Price, had online sex with another man. "He got his kicks and I got mine," said a 23-year old student who claims to have been on the receiving end of stripper Hayler's virtual love.

EndIsNigh1NewsIcon Here's an article on what happens to doomsayers after the world doesn't end: "Doomsday believers tend to pick up and get on with their lives more successfully if they have strong networks of family and friends, [University of Alabama sociologist Stephen Kent said. The grassroots nature of the Mayan apocalypse predictions is therefore troubling, he said. 'The isolated individuals who encounter these predictions on the Internet may be terribly alone,' he said."

1NewsIcon For your consideration, the biggest box office bombs of 2012.

1NewsIcon This is what Lindsay Lohan has been reduced to: Scary Movie 5.

1NewsIcon David Davies, the conservative MP who said that fellow conservatives' plans for marriage equality in England were "barking mad," now says he's sorry. "I haven't done years of diversity training, so sometimes I say things which are probably tactless, and I don't mean to, to be honest, I don't mean to do that," the former farmer and truck driver said. He added, "This law is going to happen, and the best thing to do is just shut up and accept it, really, which is probably why I shouldn't have accepted this interview. Too late now."

1NewsIcon Congratulations to Boy Meets World actress Danielle Fisher on graduating from college! "After my 27th birthday, I made the decision to stop letting fear be a factor in fulfilling my dreams and living the life I wanted, so with a little encouragement from friends and family, I enrolled," she said of achieving her dream.

Moss1NewsIcon Kate Moss, goddess with nearly naked male models at her beck and call.

1NewsIcon Seattle prosecutors are pursuing hate crime charges against a man who used anti-gay slurs while threatening a gay man. "Oh, I forgot. I am in Washington state. We need to protect the (anti-gay slur)," the man, a recent transplant to the city, reportedly said during his arrest in August."

1NewsIcon Eli Roth's latest cinematic endeavor, Aftershock, provides a new premise for a gruesome exploration of human nature. Emphasis on gruesome.

1NewsIcon Check out this video of the Fire Island Pavilion circa 1999, before the original 1980 structure was torn down, reconstructed and then destroyed in Hurricane Sandy. Why does 1999 look so long ago?

1NewsIcon Via CNN, some gendered spending habits: "The Clarus Research Group poll found the average married man will spend $493 on gifts for his wife this year, while wives will spend less than half of that on their husbands. The average married woman said she would spend $210."

VictorianLadies1NewsIcon Victorian gay marriage: "During the 19th century, women in what some Victorians referred to as 'female marriages' lived together, owned property in common, called each other 'hubby' or 'wedded wife' and were recognized as a couple, including by the traditionalists among their neighbors and friends."

1NewsIcon Will House Speaker John Boehner eat worms for Christmas?

1NewsIcon From Cincinnati, Ohio: "Singer Jonathan Zeng says that being discriminated against because he is gay was a blessing rather than a curse."

 


Seattle's King County Announces More Than 1,000 Licenses Issued Since Marriage Equality Took Effect December 6

Seattle

A marriage bounty in Washington state.

Via Slog:

King County marked a milestone just after noon today, with the 1,000th and 1,001st marriage licenses issued since a new marriage equality law took effect in Washington State on Dec. 6.

“December is typically our slowest month for marriage licenses, but due to the new marriage equality law, that’s not been the case this month,” said KC Recording Manager Jon Scherer. “Our volume of business this December has been more like a typical July, when we can issue as many as 2,000 marriage licenses.”


Wedding Portrait: Dan Savage and Terry Miller

Miller_savage

From Sunday's kick-off to marriage equality in Washington state.

Nate Gowdy of the Seattle Gay News writes us:

"I had the opportunity to put together a team of four photographers to host a photobooth for just about each of the 138 just-married couples at Seattle City Hall on Sunday, Dec. 9. Here's my shot of Dan Savage and Terry Miller -- If you keep clicking through, there are 75 images in all. While my team took formals I got to roam around inside the lobby after all other media was booted after half an hour, so there are some shots you won't find anywhere else."

Also at the Seattle Gay News Flickr photostream.


Gay Seattle Newlyweds Greeted by Hundreds on City Hall Steps: VIDEO

Seattle

Check out this video sent in by Towleroad reader Perry Sjogren from yesterday's first day of marriage in Washington state, shot as couple after couple emerged from being married at City Hall, walking the long runway of steps while hundreds cheer for them.

This is pure joy.

Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

And if you missed it over the weekend, Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller came down those same steps.

Continue reading "Gay Seattle Newlyweds Greeted by Hundreds on City Hall Steps: VIDEO" »


Washington Governor to Sign Marriage Equality into Law Today as Dan Savage Plans Mass Seattle Wedding Event

Savage

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire plans to sign marriage equality into law there today with gay couples who plan to marry at her side, the AP reports:

C_gregoireGregoire and Secretary of State Sam Reed will certify the election on Wednesday afternoon in Olympia. The law doesn't actually take effect until Thursday, when gay and lesbian couples can start picking up their wedding certificates and licenses at county auditors' offices. King and Thurston Counties will open the earliest of any of the counties, at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that marriage certificates can be signed at a wedding or ceremony, making the marriage valid, is Sunday.

And on Sunday, a major event is going down at City Hall in Seattle, where more than 140 couples will marry in a wedding chapel setting conceived by Dan Savage and executed by set designer Jen Zeyl.

Writes Dan on Slog:

Jen and her team are busily preparing to move in and quickly transform City Hall on Saturday night so that everyone is ready by 10 AM Sunday morning. There are other wedding events in Seattle on December 9, but most seem to be charging the couples who want to marry. This event—thanks to the mayor, his team, the judges, Jen Zeyl and her crew, folks at the Stranger (Carey, Tone, Renee, Tim, Laurie, et al), and everyone who has donated—is the only one I know about that is completely free for the couples getting married. We've almost reached our fundraising goal to help cover expenses. Please consider kicking in a few bucks to help make City Hall—and the day—beautiful for all the lucky couples planning to marry.

Should be quite a celebration.

Watch Dan discuss the plans, AFTER THE JUMP...

Continue reading "Washington Governor to Sign Marriage Equality into Law Today as Dan Savage Plans Mass Seattle Wedding Event" »





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