Yesterday the federal judge in one of the South Carolina marriage equality cases indicated that she may limit her ruling to the recognition of out-of-state marriages. Via the State: In her first ruling since lifting a stay on a case challenging South Carolina’s gay marriage ban, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs signaled she will consider only whether the state …

Via the Wall Street Journal: Republican Dan Sullivan was declared the winner of Alaska’s Senate race early Wednesday morning, a week after voting ended, as the Associated Press said he held an insurmountable lead over one-term Democratic Sen. Mark Begich. Mr. Sullivan’s win brings the Republican majority in the next Senate to 53 seats, with one race, in Louisiana, still …

The election is finally settled, but the bizarre news out of San Diego and the DeMaio campaign continues. Todd Bosnich, who claimed GOP congressional candidate Carl DeMaio sexually harassed him, was arrested Tuesday on charges of assaulting his mother last week, San Diego police said. Around 7 p.m. on Friday, Bosnich got into an argument with his mother in the …

“I think all the polls show if she does run, she’ll win the Democrat nomination. But I don’t think it’s for certain. It’s a very taxing undertaking to go through. It’s a rigorous physical ordeal, I think, to be able to campaign for the presidency.” – Sen Rand Paul, speaking to Politico. Even Fox News has slammed Paul for the …

Via the Washington Post: Clinton called his wife “a doting, giddy” grandmother, and called watching 6-week old Charlotte, the couple’s first grandchild, the daughter of Chelsea Clinton and husband Marc Mezvinsky “a hoot.” Degeneres later tried to pry the will-she-or-won’t-she news out of Clinton by offering one of two baby onesies for him to pick for his granddaughter. One read …

UPDATE: Equality Case Files has the motion.

“If you run a public accommodation and use it to refuse service to a minority, you’re on the wrong side of the law (at least since the Civil Rights Movement). So why am I concerned by the latest case of a lesbian couple suing a family business that refused to rent out their property for a same-sex wedding? Simply because …

(Tipped by JMG reader Jari)

“Some of us in the social conservative movement are used to being called names and having our motives aspersed by gay activists in the so-called blogosphere. Such persons should be shown the same love by Evangelicals as those believers have been shown by their Savior. Yet showing them such love does not mean their public agenda should not be opposed, …

At a hearing to be held tomorrow, DOMA attorney Roberta Kaplan will lead the legal team seeking to overturn Mississippi’s ban on same-sex marriage. Last night Gov. Phil Bryant filed a motion in opposition to Kaplan’s request that marriages commence immediately while the lawsuit proceeds. Via the Associated Press: Bryant and Attorney General Jim Hood responded that the 5th U.S. …

The Mormon Church has finally formally acknowledged that its founder Joseph Smith married as many as 40 women, one of whom was only 14 years old at the time. Elder Steven E. Snow, the church historian and a member of its senior leadership, said in an interview, “There is so much out there on the Internet that we felt we …

Via United Press International: Fox News host Megyn Kelly slipped up in a pretty big way Monday night while introducing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. “Joining me now, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is the host of Fucka– ah, Huckabee right here on the Fox News channel…” Kelly pressed on, getting only a small smile from the governor. But …

Late dance legend Alvin Ailey and Broadway superstar Stephen Sondheim will be among this year’s Presidential Medal Of Freedom honorees. Among the honorees representing the arts world are Stevie Wonder, Stephen Sondheim, Meryl Streep, actress Marlo Thomas, Tom Brokaw, writer and activist Suzan Harjo, and author Isabel Allende. Streep and Sondheim are particularly timely honorees, considering the film adaptation of …

“In the aftermath of the decision in the Sixth Circuit, some have been inhaling the heady fumes arising from Judge Sutton’s dramatic break, and they seem earnestly to be cultivating the hope that Justice Kennedy might indeed be cajoled and persuaded. But we would waste the gift that Judge Sutton gave us if we diverted ourselves at this moment with …

The American Family Association, which claims to want corporations to “remain neutral in the culture wars” has issued its hypocritical 2014 boycott list of the companies who haven’t taken their side in the “War Against Christmas.” Hit the link for the full “Naughty Or Nice” ranking.

Via the Associated Press: The cartons of Marlboros, cans of Skoal and packs of Swisher Sweets are hard to miss stacked near the entrance of Vincent’s Country Store, but maybe not for much longer: All tobacco products could become contraband if local health officials get their way. This sleepy central Massachusetts town of 7,700 has become an improbable battleground in …

GOP Texas state Sen. Donna Campbell has introduced a bill that would legalize anti-gay discrimination on the basis of “sincerely held religious beliefs.” Via Lone Star Q: Campbell introduced a nearly identical measure two years ago, but it died in committee. The 2013 measure was supported by the anti-LGBT group Texas Values and opposed by Equality Texas. Texas already has …

Pedro Zamora, the activist who put a face to AIDS for millions of young Americans via MTV’s The Real World, died 20 years ago today of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, the previously (and once again) rare brain disease that took the lives of so many. Zamora’s commitment ceremony with his boyfriend, Sean Sasser, was the first in television history. The couple …