Tonight is Manhattanhenge, the twice-a-year alignment of the setting sun with the street grid of Manhattan. On Sunday, May 31, the entire solar sphere will be visible just above the horizon at 8:17 p.m. EDT. The second opportunity comes later in the summer, with another half-sphere sunset on Sunday, July 12, at 8:25 p.m. EDT and a whole-sphere viewing on …

Dr. George Tiller, the nation’s most famous abortionist and the subject of decades of protests and lawsuits, was shot to death today at his Wichita, Kansas church. Tiller, 67, was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. Witnesses and a police source confirmed Tiller was the …

An estimated 3000 activists rallied in California’s heartland yesterday for the Meet In The Middle 4 Equality event, which was preceded by a 14-mile march from the symbolically chosen town of Selma. With lively chants and rainbow flags, several thousand people rallied in Fresno today, aiming to persuade California’s conservative heartland to support same-sex marriage rights. Just days after the …

Yesterday the Nevada Senate overrode Gov. Jim Gibbons’ veto of their domestic partners bill by a 14-7 vote, exactly the number needed for the required two-thirds majority. The bill originally passed 12-9, but two Republicans changed their vote with one citing lobbying from the casino industry as his reason. Go Jan Jones! The bill now goes back to the Assembly …

Susan Boyle, the frumpy Scottish (possibly autistic) woman whose Britain’s Got Talent audition went on to became the most viewed video clip in the history of the world, lost in that show’s finals last night. The winner was hip-hop dance team Diversity.

As a commenter on Vanishing New York puts it, “No one moved to the East Village/Lower East Side to hear birdsong in the mornings and crickets at night,” but the new Thompson LES Hotel’s rooftop pool bar, which is literally inches from the windows of the surrounding apartments, has got the entire neighborhood in an uproar. Here’s a 20-second clip …

Watch the goings-on live as California activists take the fight for equality to the heartland of the state in Fresno.

Pat Robertson famously predicted that hate crime legislation would legalize sex with ducks. Riki “Garfunkel” Lindhome and Kate “Oates” Micucci respond. I predict you’ll be singing this to yourself later today. Very catchy. (Via Louise @ Pam’s House Blend)

The president dropped into a Five Guys burger joint in DC today. I only ever knew about the one in Dupont Circle, which I’ve made a ritual of visiting every time I’m down there – but Dr. Jeff recently clued me in that there’s 400 locations, including three in Manhattan. Field trip this weekend!

This just in: The stage is set for another vote on gay marriage in the New Hampshire Legislature. A little over a week after the House rejected language Gov. John Lynch had demanded, House and Senate negotiators agreed to a compromise Friday that added one sentence and changed one word in the Senate-passed bill. Negotiators planned to sign off on …

The #1 topic on Twitter at the moment is the train wreck that was 10 year-old Hollie Steel on tonight’s semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent. Either one of the most heart-breaking things you’ve seen on live TV or a well-coached play for a sympathy vote. Your call. Meanwhile Susan Boyle has been having serious problems of her own. (Via – …

(Via JMG reader Mike T)

The anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund is seeking to formally oppose the federal marriage equality lawsuit filed by Ted Olson and David Boies. The Alliance Defense Fund filed court papers Thursday asking U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to allow it to defend the constitutionality of Proposition 8. Gay couples prohibited from marrying filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court May …

From the folks who brought you The Defenders, which I posted yesterday. Hi-larry-us.

“I would ask every man and every woman who’s had the blessing of having children, ‘Would you deny your son or your daughter the ecstasy of finding someone to love?’ To love someone takes a lot of courage. So how much more is one challenged when the love is of the same sex and the laws say, ‘I forbid you …

I swear to Black Catholic Priestess Brenda Lee, I am so frickin’ sick of these snafus in our commenting system. As some of you have noticed by now, JS-Kit is having a really bad hair day at the moment. The post counters are totally off, but at least it seems like only a couple of comments have been eaten. BTW, …

Pastor Ron Hamman writes in the Wasilla Frontiersman: Sodomy is the only sin for which God came down from heaven to destroy. Though God dealt with many other sins in various ways, there is no other for which he came down from heaven to verify and destroy. In the New Testament, sodomy is declared to be “against nature.” And of …

Porno Pete LaBarbera is using quotes from me and Michelangelo Signorile to plea for donations to end a “financial crisis” at Americans For Truth About Homosexuality. I am writing to ask your help to lift Americans For Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH) out of a financial crisis, but also to you to do your part to lift America out of her …

Over 200 gay soldiers have been kicked out of the military since Barack Obama took office. And time is running out for Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach. The winner of nine air medals for distinguished service in flight, including one for heroism the night U.S. forces captured Baghdad International Airport in 2003, Fehrenbach is in the process of getting kicked out …

On The View yesterday, David Hyde Pierce talked about his still-legal California marriage and went off on the haters. “It’s like ‘Oh, great, we made the cut.'” The View has disabled comments on YouTube.