When I do these weekend trips, I rarely carry more than a backpack and small carry-on, but this time since I was bringing something for Father Tony, I had to use my big suitcase….which Spirit Airlines charged me $20 to check at the ticket counter.  Grrr.  I vaguely recall hearing about this new practice a few months ago, but since …

Speaking before a mostly black audience yesterday, Barack Obama chastised Christians that disrespect gay people.  Via Ben Smith at Politico.com: Obama’s rally in Beaumont today was the highest-energy of this Texas swing, with a crowd that was about three-quarters black cheering at almost every turn. An interesting moment came when he was asked a question about LGBT rights and delivered …

On today’s show, Ellen Degeneres makes a heartfelt commentary on the Lawrence King murder. An excerpt: “Larry was not a second class citizen. I am not a second class citizen. It is okay if you’re gay. I don’t care what people say. I don’t care what people think. And I know there are entire groups of people who face discrimination …

Ah, Fort Lauderdale. This is the view from Father Tony’s 17th-floor pied-a-terre overlooking the ocean and the Intracoastal. I’m posting from Java Boys in Wilton Manor’s all-gay shopping center, where the neighboring tenants are Gay Mart, Tops-N-Bottoms, and half a dozen gay bars. Blogging will be light today, obviously. Later this afternoon, I’ll head down to South Beach for the …

Via Father Tony, outgoing Task Force executive director Matt Foreman speaks a few words of encouragement from the Fort Lauderdale vigil and remembrance of murdered trans teen Simmie Williams.

A federal judged has ruled that the sister of a man who committed suicide after being filmed on NBC’s To Catch As A Predator may sue the network for $100M. Louis Conradt, a 56-year-old assistant district attorney, shot himself in November 2006 after he was confronted at his Terrell, Texas, home by police officers. They were accompanied by an NBC …

Cuz most gay men would surely sue if they discovered their conquest was wearing “Flashback” ass-enhancing undies. From designer Andrew Christian: “Surprisingly, I was actually inspired to create this technology while at the gym and seeing how hard men work on exercising their buttocks. I just knew that there had to be a way to achieve similar results by simply …

Here’s a bizarre one. Twins Keyontyli and Taleon Goffney, who have appeared in a number of gay porn films together as Keyon and Teyon, were arrested in Philadelphia last week after sawing through the roof of a beauty shop and making off with cash, cigarettes and condoms. The twins are the focus of a tristate Rooftop Burglary Task force, led …

According to WingNutDaily, liberals are a clinically insane. Just when liberals thought it was safe to start identifying themselves as such, an acclaimed, veteran psychiatrist is making the case that the ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder. “Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded,” …

Charges were largely dropped this week against former Philadelphia CBS anchor Alycia Lane in her traffic altercation case in which she allegedly called a female NYPD officer a “fucking dyke” and struck her in the face. Lane was fired from her TV job after the incident. The original police complaint against Lane said the female officer suffered lacerations and swelling …

Today Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives will vote whether to move forward a ban on gay marriage. U.S. Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY) notes that such a move may imperil federal funding there. Serrano says that passage of such an amendment would put Puerto Rico among those groups that promote hateful and discriminatory measures which might not be seen in a …

San Francisco Pride has nominated the Human Rights Campaign for their annual Pink Brick award, the first time a LGBT organization has received such a dubious distinction. The Pink Brick is meant to recognize groups or persons on the wrong side of the fight for LGBT equality. While no other LGBT groups have been nominated since the award was created …

Barack Obama’s campaign has bought full-page ads in four Ohio and Texas LGBT newspapers in an attempt to erode Hillary Clinton’s long-standing gay support. According to Eric Stern, a member of the Obama LGBT steering committee, the campaign has just completed an ad buy with queer newspapers in the four largest LGBT markets of those two states — Columbus, Cleveland, …

In a NY Times Op-Ed piece titled I’m Not Running For President, But.., Michael Bloomberg appears to finally end the speculation regarding his possibly joining the race. In the weeks and months ahead, I will continue to work to steer the national conversation away from partisanship and toward unity; away from ideology and toward common sense; away from sound bites …

What’s your relationship status? Single and happy? Single and looking? Domestic partnered? Civil unioned? Married? Coupled? Thrupled?

Butch Samp, owner of Fort Lauderdale’s Floridian Diner, has offered a $5000 reward for information leading to the capture of the person that committed a brutal gay-bashing at his restaurant earlier this week. Police are looking for a 2002 or similar year, sage green, four-door Toyota Tacoma pickup truck with a bed cover and roll bar. A police report of …

Seriously, we’re seeing something really amazing with this David Archuleta kid on American Idol, who last night very riskily took on perhaps the most beloved and sacred song in the history of pop music and knocked it into the bleacher seats. I came this close to actually calling and voting with the rest of America’s 12 year-old girls.

“Clearly, the answer to Jamaica’s love affair with lynching is an aggressive campaign designed to put the clamp on tourism – particularly the cruise industry. The goal should be to strangle Jamaica’s economy and force the island to change or suffer severe consequences. With tourism Jamaica’s second largest source of revenue, such a campaign could have a powerful impact that …

“As a moral leader we know that you do not wish to see Uganda citizens suffer unnecessarily, and we are therefore asking you to call an end to the witch hunt against the most vulnerable in your community. “We are particularly concerned that members of your government have called for criminal action against people solely because of whom they love …

(Via JMG tipper Janice in Las Vegas.)