LGBT Issues

Carl Paladino And The Speedo Boys

​Dear Carl, Yesterday, I took apart your biblical hate against gay people, spewed in the wake of a horrifying batch of bullying, suicides, and torture that have millions of sensible adults breaking down doors to try and make the world safer for young gays. Your choice--supposedly ordained by ... More >>

Ticked-Off Trannies Open In Theaters

​Israel Luna's Ticked-off Trannies with Knives is the grindhouse homage about a group of transsexual club performers who get hit with acts of psychotic rage and carefully seek their revenge. The film made a huge brouhaha when GLAAD tried to get it pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival even th ... More >>

Study Shows a Growing Support for Same-Sex Marriage

Pew Research Center​It was a disappointing start to National Coming Out Day in New York City when gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino continued to express his blatant misunderstanding of homosexual culture on the Today Show this morning, stating at one point: "They wear speedos and grind agains ... More >>

Carl Paladino: Homosexuality is Not an 'Equal, Valid Option'

​Amid a flurry of nationwide anti-gay attacks and a sudden, subsequent media awareness, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, Carl Paladino, said on Sunday, "I don't want [kids] brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is an equal valid...option," according to local political repor ... More >>

Andrea Peyser's Crocodile Tears for Tyler Clementi

​We know that Andrea Peyser has little to no sense of humor, let alone irony. But we hope that even she can see the irony in this. This week Peyser opened a segment of her New York Post column with the thought "It's gone too far. My heart breaks for Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, victimized ... More >>

If Not At The Stonewall Inn, Where Are New York Gays Safe?

Ben Carver​After holding a vigil Sunday in Washington Square Park last night to commemorate the rash of (known) gay teen suicides caused by bullying, New York's gay community has been in for a harsh week. Two attacks have occurred against gays in a neighborhood thought to be "safe" by some for ... More >>

"Ho-Ho-Homosexual!" The First Gay Pride March, One Year After Stonewall

​Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archives. July 2, 1970, Vol. XV, No. 27 A Happy Birthday For Gay Liberation By Jonathan Black They stretched in a line, from Gimbels to Times Square, thousands and thousands and thousands, chanting, waving, screaming -- the outrageous and the ou ... More >>

'Don't Ask Don't Tell, DREAM Act in the Senate

It's a big day in the U.S. Senate for two issues we watch, but it's kind of a win-win for conservatives on both of them, regardless of how the pending votes on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and the 'Dream Act' go down. The bigger of the day is a cloture vote on the military spending bill, which has a kin ... More >>

'Don't Ask Don't Tell' Ruled Unconstitutional -- the Takeaway

It's been quite a summer for the Federal Courts as they've stepped in yet again on behalf of equal rights for gay Americans. After a Federal District Court in San Francisco ruled Proposition 8 was unconstitutional last month, a Federal District Court in Riverside, CA ruled last night that the U.S. m ... More >>

Ken Mehlman: GOP Biggie Moves From the Dark Side to Chelsea

Ken Mehlman "is the most powerful Republican in history to identify as gay," Marc Ambinder boldly asserts in his lengthy outing of George W. Bush's campaign manager and the onetime head of the Republican National Committee. But will the new convert be welcomed with open arms in the streets of Chels ... More >>

Gay Marriage in California Put on Hold by Appeals Court

Well, that didn't last long. After his strongly worded decision rendering California's Proposition 8 unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker lifted his stay last week, effective this Wednesday. Gay marriages were set to start again at 5 PM PDT tomorrow, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Ap ... More >>

Where Can Gays Marry and Adopt?

​Watchdog reporter Rex Wockner knows, and he's put it all down in one handy list for future husbears and bear-ents: "Same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Mexico City, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts ... More >>

Change-of-Sex Surgeries at Johns Hopkins: About 20 Done So Far

​Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archives. November 6, 1969, Vol. XIV, No. 56 Life's Such a Drag, They'd Rather Switch by Charles W. Slack For the past five years or so, the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has been offering a change-of-sex service to certain carefully scree ... More >>

Stay Lifted on Prop. 8 Decision: Gays in California Can Marry As of August 18

Judge Vaughn Walker will lift his temporary stay on last week's decision declaring Proposition 8 unconstitutional. However, as Joe My God notes, the stay won't expire until August 18. But after then, California will again become one of the few states where gay and lesbian couples can marry, at least ... More >>

Mexico Beating the US in...Gay Marriage?

Imagine if, when Washington, D.C. started licensing gay marriages earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court had told the fifty states they had to recognize them. That's essentially what happened in Mexico yesterday. In December of last year, right around the time the D.C. city council voted to all ... More >>

Prop 8, Michelle Obama, Ground Zero Mosque: Are Conservatives Basically The Honky Party?

Last week Judge Vaughn Walker's decision setting aside Prop 8 in California unleashed plenty of grumbling from rightbloggers. As it involves gay people, this was to be expected. There was also rightblogger outrage, also expected, that Michelle Obama and her daughters had a swell, privately-funded v ... More >>

California's Proposition 8 Ruled Unconstitutional

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled today that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. The long awaited decision was just released from the U.S. District Courthouse for Northern California in San Francisco. The case, Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, was a lawsuit in which two gay couples sued that Propo ... More >>

So Just How Homophobic Is Rap In 2010?

​The familiar conceit of this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine article "Sissy Bounce: New Orleans's Gender-Bending Rap," goes something like this: There are some gay rappers in New Orleans. Rap's usually really homophobic. That's crazy, huh? Contrasting the apparently enlightened attitude ... More >>

Target Says "We Do Not Have a Political Agenda"

​Yesterday we mentioned that Target has found itself in a bit of a conundrum after donating $150,000 to MN Forward, which is running ads supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate (and friend of the Tea Party) Tom Emmer, who just so happens to be anti gay marriage as well as pro Arizona imm ... More >>

Gay-Marriage Rights Are Dealt Setback by Jersey High Court

Marriage-equality advocates have been dealt another blow, and this one came Monday in neighboring New Jersey, where the state's Supreme Court declined to hear an equal-protection case involving six gay couples.

STILL PROUD

Gay rights under discussion

At Gay Pride, Rightbloggers Try to Keep It On The Down-Low, But Some Out Themselves

Pride Week's a fun time to rightblogger-watch, because rightbloggers just don't know what to do about the gays. They must know straight America is losing its antipathy toward gay people -- Hell, even TGI Fridays is down with Pride. And some insist that the gay-hating stuff is behind them, too. Bu ... More >>

Anti-Gay Activists Outed by Supreme Court

Just in time for Pride Weekend, the Supreme Court has booted thousands of anti-gay activists out of the closet yesterday, who were terrified of being outed as bigots. In an unusual, near unanimous 8 to 1 decision, the court ruled that people who signed a petition to repeal Washington State's "everyt ... More >>

Gay Pride's Here! And I'm So Ashamed!

We're asking, so tell us: What about our civil rights?

A Gay Man Considers Joining the GOP

Is it possible that Republicans could prove to be a closer ally?

How the Mormon Church Brought Down the Gays in 8: The Mormon Proposition

Gender-Expression Discrimination Bill Might Actually Pass in State Senate

​The Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act (or the cute "GENDA" for short) is a bill that recently made its way through the state assembly, and is en route to being passed. The bill enhances protections against gender identity discrimination - say, for example, trans-gendered employees - wit ... More >>

Harvey Milk's Birthday: Chatting with Cleve Jones

Tomorrow is Harvey Milk's birthday. It's an official holiday in California for the first time (signed into law last year by the Terminator), and will be marked here in the city by a march beginning at the GLBT Center at noon. Runnin' Scared spoke to the real-life Cleve Jones on the phone (portr ... More >>

Tom Morahan Will Not Seek Re-Election, Giving State Senate Democrats a Seat to Aim For

Morahan​As the country watches Senate primaries in Kentucky, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania today, there is news out of our own dysfunctional State Senate (now a month overdue on a budget) here in New York: Republican Senator Tom Morahan will not seek re-election. Morahan represents parts of Oran ... More >>

Gay Marriage Substitute Soon to be Officially Available in New York, But Still Not Actually Gay Marriage

​No, it's not gay marriage, but New York City will soon be offering ''civil ceremonies" at City Hall to gay couples who want them and become "domestic partners" with a ceremony. One problem, however:

Rentboy-Hiring Minister George Alan Rekers Likes a "Long Stroke"; Even the Family Research Council Thinks He's Gay

Photo by Brandon K. ThorpRekers manhandles the luggage at Miami International while his escort waits patiently.​There are certain truths you can count on in life. What goes up must come down. Drinking copiously and often will age you before your time, but who wants to live that long anyway? An ... More >>

Prop. 8 Case's Closing Arguments Finally Scheduled

The long-awaited closing arguments in the long-delayed federal court case against California's anti-gay-marriage Proposition 8 have finally been scheduled for mid-June. That'll be a relief to foes of Prop. 8, considering the setbacks inflicted on gay marriage in New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere. ... More >>

HEY MISTER

Tranny chasers, this one's for you

Homophobic Polish President Died Alongside Gay Rights Advocate

​While everyone is grieving over the awful plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynki, let's take a moment to tell a rather sad Polish joke: Namely that he happened to be virulently homophobic, and as mayor of Warsaw, he repeatedly forbade gay pride parades from happening because ... More >>

Carl Kruger Supports Gay Rights After Death

​It turns out Carl Kruger, one of the few Democrats in the State Senate to vote against same-sex marriage (and the only one from Brooklyn) is willing to have the state extend the legal rights married couples enjoy to same-sex partnerships after all. Unfortunately, one of the partners has to di ... More >>

Jose Peralta Defeats Hiram Monserrate -- Chaos Ensues

Loser​"This is the final nail in Hiram Monserrate's coffin, and now we have buried him!" declared City Council member Daniel Dromm in East Elmhurst last night, before newly elected State Senator Jose Peralta addressed his supporters and most of the leaders of the city's Democratic establishmen ... More >>

Hiram Monserrate's Support on the Down-Low

​We spent the final weekend before Tuesday's Special Election in the 19th Senate District in Jackson Heights and Corona, Queens. One morning, we woke up to find a Jose Peralta supporter had managed to slip inside of the co-op building to leave pamphlets under every door. The next day, even Rob ... More >>

Reverend Billy Holds an "UnMarriage Until Gay Marriage" Ceremony on Valentine's Day (VIDEO)

​Central Park's Bethesda Angel looked out at scores of brides wreathed in crowns of fake white hydrangea and grooms in thrift-store formalwear. "Enjoy the last two minutes of your marriage," Rev. Billy Talen of the Church of Life After Shopping yelled, as on the most romantic day of the yea ... More >>

Barrett: John Liu Names a Deputy Comptroller, Simcha Felder, Who Has Some Explaining To Do About His Views on Christine Quinn's Lesbianism

Given Simcha Felder's non-votes on Quinn, is he the best choice for deputy comptroller?​John Liu's announcement last week that he was appointing Brooklyn city councilman Simcha Felder to the post of deputy comptroller has stirred no controversy. Yet Felder is so out of step with Liu on gay and ... More >>

Big Day for Gay Marriage from Jersey to D.C. to San Francisco

​It's a big day for gay marriage across the nation. In San Francisco, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has ruled that a potential legal revolution to overturn Prop 8 will not be televised live, though it will be YouTubed. The judge will preside over the federal trial, Perry v. Schwarze ... More >>

Gay Marriage in New Jersey: Still on Hold

Will these morons get gay marriage before we do?​Marriage equality activists in New Jersey are hoping to get hundreds of protesters to rally in Trenton today, even though it is 20 degrees out and the first work day after the holidays. Regardless, their hopes for getting a marriage equality bil ... More >>

D.C. Mayor Signs Gay Marriage Bill; Congress Next

​While our state senators tripped over their own dicks and lost the gay marriage bill, DC has been a churning gay-marriage-sanctifying machine. They got the second read of their marriage equality bill passed, and now Mayor Fenty has signed it at a ceremony in All Souls Unitarian Church. Next s ... More >>

Gay Marriage D.C. a Go; Fenty to Sign, Congress Unlikely to Block

We were told to withhold our applause when the Washington, DC city council voted to recognize gay marriages in the District: the process required another vote. Well, they had it today, and it passed again. The mayor, Adrian Fenty, is eager to sign it. Don't clap yet! D.C. being a federal district a ... More >>

So, Who in Jersey Do We Have to Blow to Get Gay Marriage? Vote Delayed

​It would have been pretty embarrassing if Jersey were to one-up New York on civil rights and pass their marriage equality bill just weeks after the Empire State told its own gay couples to go to hell. Given how many ex-pat New York gays have colonized Jersey from Asbury Park to Montclair, it ... More >>

Gov Says "Roadblocks" Cleared, But Still No Albany Gay Marriage Vote

Though the tone of much coverage has been hopeful ("The Senate appears to be on the brink of a vote on marriage equality... they reconvene at 9 pm," said Towleroad), the state senate hasn't done anything about the gay marriage bill yet. The assembly happily voted, for the second time and with a wide ... More >>

Gay Marriage Debate On Now in Albany! Vote May Actually Be Held! (Update: Valesky Switches to Yes)

Amazingly, the special sessions in Albany have finally yield something of a result: the New York State Senate is at this very moment debating the gay marriage bill. The Marriage Equality Act, bill S4401 ("Relates to individuals ability to marry"), cleared the Senate rules committee late this mor ... More >>

Gay Marriage Bill Wins in D.C. Council; New York Still Lags

​By a vote of 11-2 (with former Mayor Marion Barry among the minority), the Washington, D.C. city council has agreed to recognize gay marriages in the District. This isn't the end of it: procedure requires a second reading within two weeks, and then the Mayor's signature, a Congressional resol ... More >>

Chatting with a signer of the 'Manhattan Declaration'

​This week, 150 Christian religious leaders unveiled the Manhattan Declaration: A Call to Christian Conscience, named after our very own borough. It's a manifesto signed by prominent Christian leaders that calls for staunch opposition to things like abortion, gay marriage, and other satatanic ... More >>

Who Do We Have to Blow to Get Gay Marriage in New York?

The frustrating circle-jerk in Albany.