New York City’s most disgusting holiday tradition took place at Coney Island yesterday where “competitive eater” Joey Chestnut won for the eighth consecutive year by downing 61 Nathan’s hot dogs in ten minutes.

Via the National Post: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was greeted by about a dozen shirtless protesters as he entered a Toronto radio station for an interview Friday morning. The protest was an act of defiance inspired by a Toronto teacher’s anti-Ford rant after encountering the mayor at a parade while the teacher was out for a shirtless jog. The protestors, …

Via ABC News Australia: Children of same-sex parents enjoy better levels of health and wellbeing than their peers from traditional family units, new Australian research suggests. In what they described as the largest study of its type in the world, University of Melbourne researchers surveyed 315 same-sex parents and 500 children about their physical health and social wellbeing. Lead researcher …

From the editorial board of the Tampa Bay Times: Attorneys general throughout the country are wrestling with whether to defend state bans on same-sex marriage, according to the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School. Some, like Bondi, say defending state law is their job regardless of personal beliefs. In Arkansas, for example, the attorney general will defend …

Via the Houston Chronicle: Opponents of Houston’s new non-discrimination ordinance turned in well more than the minimum number of signatures needed to trigger a November vote on whether to repeal the measure. A group of conservative political and faith leaders on Thursday claimed to have gathered more than 50,000 signatures within the 30-day window after the ordinance’s passage, about 30,000 …

Normally moody and introspective scruffy Welsh cutie Rod Thomas is back with an uncharacteristic EDM stomper. The single and a great 12″ remix are up on iTunes today. Thomas is currently on tour opening for Elton John and his new album, Life Is Easy, debuts on Tuesday. Man, I love this track. Play it loud, you’re at home today.

Via the Guardian: Exorcists now have an extra weapon in their fight against evil – the official backing of the Catholic church. The Vatican has formally recognised the International Association of Exorcists, a group of 250 priests in 30 countries who liberate the faithful from demons. The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported this week that the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy …

Via the Advocate: In a brief video reportedly shot earlier this week in New York, 81-year-old Joan Rivers calls First Lady Michelle Obama “a transgender,” joking that this makes Barack Obama the first gay president. After being asked about the U.S.’s likelihood of having either a woman or a gay president in the near future , Rivers replied, “We already …

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon yesterday announced that UN employees who have legally married will have those unions recognized even if their home countries don’t. Under the new policy staff who have married a same-sex spouse in a jurisdiction will receive the same benefits and recognition as those in heterosexual marriages regardless of whether same-sex marriage is legal in their …

Move over Rebecca Black. Sample review: It’s annoyingly catchy. I almost hate myself for watching it. Just wait: After you hear the chorus a mere one time, you’ll be singing “love the Fourth of July, love the Fourth of July” over and over again until you want to blow your brains out with some Fourth of July fireworks. Rosa G …

“This new development at [JP Morgan] Chase of actively inquiring of every employee whether they support the LGBT community is an egregious invasion of privacy, one that has the potential to be used to punish and intimidate those who refuse to answer the question in the politically-approved way. Will the responses be covered in employee performance interviews? Will they be …

It took NOM more than two days to publicly react to the Kentucky ruling. From their blog: Stunningly, a single judge has decided that his opinion can override the votes of 75 percent of Kentuckians, who approved a constitutional amendment protecting marriage in 2004. According to Heyburn, there is an “utter lack of logical relation between the exclusion of same-sex …

Equality Florida has posted a video interview with Eladio Jose Armesto, the chairman of Florida Democratic League, which is a group of extremist Hispanic “Democrats” that have been denounced by the actual state party. Here’s what Armesto has to say about the judge that heard yesterday’s marriage case in Miami: No one can rule against the constitution. She would be …

Filmmaker Tyler Perry has won the battle over the trademark of the phrase “What Would Jesus Do?” Via the Hollywood Reporter: The other contestant in this bout was Kimberly Kearney, who was once known as “Poprah” on the VH1 series, I Want to Work for Diddy. In May 2008, Perry registered the mark in the category of entertainment services, mentioning …

29 celebrity impressions and 2.8 million views.

“Hobby Lobby dramatically escalates the harm that will be caused if President Obama succumbs to growing pressure from religious and anti-gay forces and (with implicit or explicit approval from HRC) puts an ENDA-like religious exemption in the promised Executive Order (EO) to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination by federal contractors. While largely under the radar, this is, in fact, a crisis situation. …

(Via Accidental Bear)

Todd Starnes writes at Fox News: The folks in Montpelier, Vermont will have to find someone else to pick up trash after their Fourth of July Parade. It seems the Boy Scouts won’t be volunteering this year. And they won’t be selling bottled water either. The Boy Scouts bowed out after city council members criticized the group’s ban on gay …

Left-hand column. (Tipped by JMG reader Bill)