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Obama Administration Announces Health Grants To Help Transgender Population

By Kellan Baker on ThinkProgress.org

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced two new grant competitions focusing on connecting HIV-positive transgender women of color with health care services, including primary care and HIV-related care.

The first grant opportunity, which is designed to improve the overall quality of HIV care for transgender women of color, will award each of up to eight grantees $300,000 annually for five years. The demonstration sites will develop, implement, and evaluate innovative programs designed to connect these women with timely and appropriate care. These programs will also help them stay in touch with providers who can provide a range of primary and HIV-related services.

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2 Girls, 1 Podcast ep#11: New local queer publications, glitter-bombing and the best of Craigslist

We talk new publications PQ Monthly and (the return of) Just Out, gay marriage, women’s reproductive rights and politics across the country before delving into some of the best (grossest) of Craigslist. […]


DOMA Ruled Unconstitutional by 2nd Federal Judge

By Bob Egelko on SF Gate.com

The government’s denial of all federal benefits to same-sex married couples is an irrational and unconstitutional act of discrimination, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, a step toward a likely Supreme Court test of the law known as the Defense of Marriage Act.

DOMA is based on unfounded assumptions about marriage and the suitability of gays and lesbians as parents and was enacted in 1996 by a Congress avid to show its disapproval of homosexuality, said U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco.

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New Mexico Governor Loses A Hairstylist Over Gay Marriage Stance

By Sam Stein on The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — The frontiers of the gay marriage debate keep on expanding.

On Tuesday, Governor Susana Martinez (R-N.M.) lost a hairstylist who refused to clip her locks out of disgust with her opposition to marriage equality.

Antonio Darden, who had cut Martinez’s hair on three occasions and runs Antonio’s Hair Studio in Santa Fe, N.M., re-crafted the notion of civil disobedience […]


Gay Artist’s Workshop Doesn’t Match Our Values: Villanova

By Teresa Masterson on NBC Philadelphia

Villanova University has canceled a workshop by an often provocative gay performance artist, saying his shows don’t match up with the school’s Catholic values.

Tim Miller tells The Philadelphia Inquirer he was told about the cancellation of next month’s planned workshop on Sunday, and though he says it didn’t come as a big surprise, he told the Inquirer that, “Times have changed” since the era when Villanova staged Angels in America – the Pulitzer Prize-winning play about AIDS.

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2 Girls, 1 Podcast ep#10: Marriage, music and Valentines edition

Hey folks we’re back. Sorry for being late and sorry for leaving you waiting with baited breath for the second half of the Feminist Agenda podcast. I started my champagne bath and then never wanted to get out. No. Actually, we had some technical issues and lost the whole thing. Very sad, as we had some funny moments with Amber Rowland but that’s ok because this week we have […]


High-Profile Poker Player Comes Out

By Neal Broverman on Advocate.com

Jason Somerville, a professional card player who won the 2011 World Series of Poker, came out on his blog on Valentine’s Day.

The Stony Brook, N.Y.-based player wrote that poker is welcoming to different races and genders, but yet there is not one high-profile gay male player. Somerville decided he would become the first.

“I always knew I wasn’t straight, but I never spoke a word of it for twenty two years, and nobody really ever knew otherwise,” Somerville writes.” I dated women exclusively through my teens and early 20s, doing my best to convince myself that it wasn’t something I had to pursue, that maybe I’d grow out of it, that I’d be happier with women anyway, that I just should focus on other things.

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Gov. Gregoire signs Washington’s gay marriage into law

Washington governor Chris Gregoire, left, and congressman Jamie Pedersen celebrate the bill's passing last week. Elaine Thompson / AP

Today our neighbors to the north made gay marriage officially legal when Governor Christine Gregoire signed the landmark legislation into law amidst the cheers of gay couples and supporters making it the seventh state (as well as the District of Columbia) to allow same-sex marriage.

“My friends, welcome to the other side of the rainbow,” said state Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, before Gregoire signed the bill.

“This is a very proud moment,” Gregoire said, “I’m proud our same-sex couples will no longer be treated as separate but equal.”

However, changes won’t go into effect for 90 days meaning that opponents have until June 6th to gather enough signatures, 120,577, to put it on November’s ballot. If they do not marriages can begin June 7, but if they do they will be put off until the election. 

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Washington state passes House marriage equality bill, queers poised to tie the knot

After Washington state passed a bill through the Senate last week we knew that the road to gay marriage in our neighbor to the north was only a matter of time. Today we are one step closer, that is, pretty much there, with the House passing the HB 2516 by 55-43. All that’s left now is for Gov. Gregoire to sign, seal and deliver it, which she is expected to do.

However, because there is no emergency clause on the bill, the law wouldn’t take effect for 90 days giving opponents time to get a referendum on the ballot. This would effectively stall gay marriages until after the November election meaning none of those troublesome “grandfathered” unions like the couples who married in California before Pop 8 was passed.

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Basic Rights Oregon responds to today’s Prop. 8 decision

Following a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that California’s Prop 8 is unconstitutional, Basic Rights Oregon Executive Director Jeana Frazzini released the following statement today:

“Today’s ruling is a victory for all loving and committed same-sex couples in California and across the nation,” “We applaud the 9th Circuit for standing on the right side of history. Today’s ruling, if upheld will restore the freedom to marry in California and add our nation’s largest state as another engine of progress for the country.”

“Here in Oregon this issue will be decided not in a courtroom by judges, but in the court of public opinion by the voters of our great state. The Court’s decision adds momentum to our effort to win the freedom to marry at the ballot box in Oregon.”

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