Washington Pride Foundation announces via press release: Rev. Gib Rossing and his wife, Beth, married for 52 years and the parents of four children talk about the importance of marriage for all their children, including their gay son and his partner, in a new TV ad by the Pride Foundation. This is the second statewide ad released by the nonprofit, …

Michael Lavers reports at the Washington Blade: The D.C. Office of Human Rights has created the country’s first government-funded campaign to combat anti-transgender discrimination, the Washington Blade has learned. Two trans women and men and a self-identified “genderqueer” person will each appear in one of the five separate ads that the agency will place throughout the city in the fall. …

Pink News reports that the French Catholic Church has revived a 17th century tradition of issuing prayers for the national government. Their first target: gay adoption. Celebrating the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the Church prays for those whose decisions affect the economy in a time of hardship. It then asks God that those who have been elected to govern …

“Some are saying we lost the battle with Chick-fil-A, even calling it a dismal failure. I don’t believe any effort to point to homophobia is ever in vain, so I wouldn’t go that far. When you’re fighting bigotry, it’s always an uphill battle. That said, there were problems with the strategy — or rather, lack of strategy — in taking …

Asshat homophobe for the massive fail. Wanna bet this bit of douchebaggery doesn’t appear on any of the Christian sites still bleating about Manny Castro?(Via Good As You)

This may be a little too “inside NYC,” but locals will love this mock trailer for a horror movie about the city’s famed-for-his-flyer-ubiquity guitar teacher.(Tipped by JMG reader Jeff)

Curiosity already has 600K Twitter followers.

Politico has the details: The HRC funds, which are being unveiled Monday, are $250,000 apiece for Maine, Washington, Maryland and Minnesota, all of which have ballot measures in November on gay marriage. Officials said there will be more spending coming, and that it makes the total spent by HRC in 2011 and 2012 on marriage-related efforts to $4.8 million. “These …

CBS News reports that the Wisconsin shooter has been identified. No photo has yet been released [SEE UPDATE BELOW] and web detectives are already scouring social media sites for his profiles. The suspect in a shooting that left six people dead at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee on Sunday has been identified as Wade Michael Page, who served in …

Today at 2:30pm I’ll be on Michelangelo Signorile’s SiriusXM show to talk about some of the latest LGBT-related news items. The gays are on channel 108 and you can listen live online if you sign up for a freebie account. What are your top five gay news items of the last week?

Most Americans may not know the name of Chavela Vargas, but foreign film buffs will recognize her distinctive voice from the soundtracks of Pedro Almodavar’s movies. Vargas died yesterday at the age of 93. Vargas rose to fame flouting the Roman Catholic country’s preconceptions of what it meant to be a female singer: singing lusty “ranchera” songs while wearing men’s …

Canada’s Chick-Felays, which has four locations in Ontario, is getting complaints from customers who mistake it for Chick-Fil-A, which currently only has outlets in the United States. “It shocks me that people would ask ‘How can you discriminate?’ How could you think that? We’re brown people,” chuckled [CEO Nabeel] Khan, who has found humour in the angry customers’ outbursts. Now, …

Mars Rover Landing Mission Director Bobak Ferdowsi became an instant internet star overnight. Below the crew at Mission Control reacts in jubilation to the successful touchdown of Curiosity.(Via Buzzfeed)

After speculations about a suicide attempt and Republican demands that he explain his long absence from Congress, yesterday the wife of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) lifted her family’s “news blackout” on his condition. Jackson’s whereabouts had been undisclosed for almost two months and only last week was it revealed that he is at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic. In an exclusive …

Attendance was estimated to be 500,000.

As of midnight last night, NYC time.

Rep. Michele Bachmann has joined the board of directors of the virulently anti-gay Thomas More Law Center, which has litigated against numerous LGBT rights ordinances. Here’s their crowing press release: “We are honored to have the counsel of a tough, tested, true American patriot; a person who puts her country above politics, party and political correctness. She understands and shares …

At this weekend’s Lollapalooza concert in Chicago’s Grant Park, newly out R&B star Frank Ocean generated cheers when he launched into his latest hit, Bad Religion, by saying, “This next song is pretty important for me, because of some of the things I’ve said in the last month. I’m taking some freedom for myself, you know?” Unfortunately the clip below …