Last night Little David and I attended Defying Equality, Broadways huge marriage equality fundraiser. I’ll post more about the show once the Broadway sites get their coverage up, but a highlight for us was Matt Alber’s fantastic performance of his single End Of The World. Alber plays an “impromptu” acoustic set tonight at the Ritz Lounge in Times Square. Highly …

Thousands of red-shirted anti-gay Christian activists jammed Hawaii’s capitol building in Honolulu yesterday to protest a proposed bill legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples. In a turnout that surprised even event organizers, more than 2,000 people representing dozens of local churches, temples, synagogues and mosques descended on the state Capitol yesterday to protest a bill that would establish civil unions …

Gainesville, the bustling Central Florida town that is home to the massive University Of Florida campus, will next month vote on a repeal of that city’s LGBT rights ordinances. Christianist activists there have placed an amendment on the ballot that will make it legal to fire, not hire, and deny housing to LGBT people. Charter Amendment One, if approved, would …

Openly gay California state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-SF) has introduced a bill which would make California the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. The proposal would regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21 years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess cannabis – all of which is barred by federal law. Ammiano, a Democrat in …

Here’s the first single from the upcoming Pet Shop Boys album, Yes. There are several remixes of Love Etc available as well as a “digital bundle” containing a non-album track. The last PSB full-length release of new tracks was 2006’s Fundamental.

The Phelps must be spreading themselves thin to be both at the Oscars and yesterday’s funerals in Buffalo. But no matter, Westboro came through for us and camera crews from media outlets around the world once again noted the persecution of homosexuals by the religious right in America and the need for LGBT equality. And I’m sure after Sean Penn …

Here’s a lovely sampling of Freeper reactions to Sean Penn’s win at last night’s Academy Awards. – “Seems that the Oscars have gone the way of the Nobel … Commies Queers Globull warming idiots and terrorist lovers need only apply.”– “Hollywood awards have nothing to do with movies and everything to do with the homosexual agenda. It’s nothing but a …

Even though NYC’s MTA is facing service cutbacks due to a $1.2B budget shortfall, ridership in 2008 exceeded levels not seen since 1950. Ridership on New York City’s subways was the most in almost six decades in 2008, even as growth began to slow because of the economic slump, according to statistics released today. Bus and subway ridership combined increased …

Last night on the Larry King Show, Dolly Parton denied that she is gay for the umpteenth time in her career. Her mysterious husband of 42 years is discussed, but Dolly says she doesn’t really care what people think and that’s “it’s for God to judge, not people.” (Via – Towleroad)

A committee of the Idaho state senate refused to consider a bill that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. About 50 supporters of the proposed change to the Idaho Human Rights Act filed quietly out of the room, some in tears, after the Senate State Affairs Committee voice vote. Similar bills have been rejected in …

Curious development down in Jamaica: Jamaican regulators say they are forbidding all explicit references to sex and violence over the airwaves. The new rules from the island’s broadcast commission ban any song or music video that depicts sexual acts or glorifies gun violence, murder, rape or arson. The Saturday announcement follows a Feb. 6 ban that specifically targeted dancehall tunes …

The next time Hasbro lays somebody off, they should probably change the password for the guy who edits the “Scrabble Word Of The Day.”(Via – Boing Boing)

“To us old-timers the argument for Proposition 8 was a blast from the past, a throwback to the evil theocratic Save-the-Children bullshit that Anita Bryant was spewing over thirty years ago. Why, then, was our response so maddeningly weak-kneed and closeted? Why didn’t you see images of gay people in any of our ads — or even the word ‘gay,’ …

Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out was in Charlotte, NC this weekend to counter the lies of the “ex-gay” movement and Focus On The Family. In this interview with local television, Besen charges the “ex-gay” movement with “consumer fraud” for promising conversion from homosexuality. I also see my pal Matt Comer seated at the table behind Besen. (Via – Good …

A just-released study predicts that same-sex marriage would bolster Maine’s economy by $60M over its first three years. Supporters of a bill to allow gay marriage in the state released the study this week from the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. Opponents say the study has come out at a time when people …

Gotham’s blogs were buzzing this weekend over the rumor that Wal-Mart is looking into leasing the giant Union Square building soon to be vacated by Circuit City and Virgin Megastore. New York Magazine reports that Wal-Mart reps have issued a “non-denial denial” of the story, saying that the discounter has no “announced” plans for a NYC presence. I can only …

Lead by the local gay activism group OUTSpoken For Equality, hundreds of Buffalo’s citizens blocked Westboro Baptist Church picketers from the view of mourners attending the funerals of residents killed in last week’s horrific plane crash. Westboro’s “Planes Crash, God Laughs” signs were blocked by the now-traditional angel wings invented by Romaine Patterson at Matthew Shepard’s funeral.

According to a new Harris Poll (PDF), Barack Obama is now the person most admired by Americans, pushing Jesus Christ into an inglorious second place. Respondents were allow to provide up to three names and those polled supplied their answers spontaneously; they were not given a list of names to choose from. Somehow Dubya, at #5, beat out God at …

The father of Brandon McInerney, the California student who murdered gay teen Lawrence King, has been arrested on two felony counts of making criminal threats and dissuading a witness from reporting a crime. William Frederick McInerney, 46, had his first court appearance Friday since being arrested Wednesday. He pleaded not guilty, court records show. Judge Colleen Toy White set bail …