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  Kendall Clawson at the Q Center's ribbon cutting It’s been a week since Governor-elect John Kitzhaber announced the appointment of his closest aids. I would like to join with the rest of the queer community in congratulating Q Center‘s Kendall Clawson‘s hiring as Director of Executive Appointments.
This is a joyous, if slightly bittersweet, occasion, but will ultimately benefit the entire LGBT community. The Q Center might be losing its first permanent Executive Director, and a great one at that, but she will be in a position of power in the Gov’s office, a queer voice in our state politics.
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  E Room/Weird Bar owner Kim Davis. Photo by Jamie Francis / The Oregonian Portland is a very homo-aware town but we are still small, and news travels fast. Here’s some of the things that caused the most uproar.
5 – Duende censorship, and the Pride parade route change
It was much more upsetting to witness the Rose Festival quash a chaste kiss in the Circus Project’s Duende, nearly forcing the performance to be canceled. There was nearly as much kerfuffle internally in the community when the Pride parade route was taken off the traditionally Stark Street triangle (aka Vaseline Alley). Sometimes the struggle comes from without, but the struggle within is just as powerful.
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  "It Gets Better" project founder Dan Savage (R) with husband Terry A roller coaster of emotions swept gay America this year. Here’s a snapshot.
5 – University of Michigan’s Student Body President Stalked and Harassed by State’s Assistant Attorney General
When MI Attorney General Andrew Shirvell began harassing UMich Student Body President Christ Armstrong people started to notice, mostly prominently among them CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who interviewed Shirvell on air.
4 – Constance McMillan is barred from her prom and embraced by the rest of the world
When Constance McMillan planned to take her girlfriend to prom, organizing parents canceled the event and held a gay-free dance elsewhere. But instead of cowering McMilan powered along with an ACLU lawsuit and won the support of celebrities, public figures and the world-at-large. Her Facebook fan page has over 400,00 members and she has a scholarship care of Ellen Degeneres.
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  Congressman Barney Frank may look like a muppet but he's tough as nails and funny as anything Jim Henson ever dreamed up Sorry for the hiatus folks, you have evil domain empire GoDaddy to thank for that. This was originally supposed to be a Christmas Eve news roundup but here we are at Boxing Day, the day to return all the horrendous sweaters we got yesterday. So if you’re still trying to avoid the long arms pf the family here’s a little roundup of good news you have have missed over the last few days of Christmas cheer. (And stay tuned for a New Year’s roundup!)
Obama signs the reapeal of DADT with video below. “That’s done!”
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  Today the Senate passed the standalone bill to repeal the ban on gays in the military. Who knew we had to be alert on a Saturday? Congress has been working overtime. In a bill that seemed close to dead this repeal of the 17-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy” now heads to President Barack Obama‘s desk where he will most certainly sign it into law.
From Politico:
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  Senator Leiberman (L) and Senator Collins Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine introduce a bill to end the ban on gays in the military. From the Advocate:
Two prominent senators introduced a bipartisan bill Friday to end the ban on gay and lesbian troops serving openly in the military.
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  I am extremely disappointed that yet another filibuster has prevented the Senate from moving forward with the National Defense Authorization Act. Despite having the bipartisan support of a clear majority of Senators, a minority of Senators are standing in the way of the funding upon which our troops, veterans and military families depend. This annual bill has been enacted each of the past 48 years, and our armed forces deserve nothing less this year.
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 Arguments for and against the constitutionality of Proposition 8 began today in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal is of an August ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who ruled after a trial that the 2008 ballot measure defining marriage as only between a man and a woman violated the U.S. Constitution.
The San Francisco based court drama is seeing protesters from both […]
  Spotlighting John McCain‘s flip floppy nature of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (as if that’s his only contradictory issue) Jon Stewart gives an update on DADT with his segment “Gaypocalypse Now” which I’ve embedded below. This comes directly after the release of an extensive Pentagon survey that found repealing the policy would have little to no negative effect on our armed forces. There is no “queer and present danger” to speak of but I like that bit of humor.
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  Jenkins (R) and Brown together. Scandalous. Amidst a year of horrific gay teen suicides young queers have yet more to worry about. Yesterday Willamette Week published a heart wrenching story about 19 year old Antjuanece Brown‘s battle against felony charges of sex abuse, creating child pornography and luring a minor.
The crimes that prompted Washington County to press these charges came only from a few suggestive cell phone pictures between Brown and her 16-year-old girlfriend Jolene Jenkins.
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