LGBT News

Israel’s National LGBT Task Force, also known as The Aguda, today filed a same-sex marriage petition with the Supreme Court. The petition, a first for the group, declares that if rabbinical courts continue to refuse to authorize same-sex marriages, the Supreme Court has the authority to order civil courts to do so. The Times Of Israel reports: Israeli marriages are …

In a clip produced by the Human Rights Campaign, actor Matt Bomer identifies himself as a husband, a father, and a Houstonian. The repeal referendum is Tuesday and both sides are blanketing local media with last-minute pleas.

Michigan activists yesterday filed the paperwork to place a broad LGBT anti-discrimination constitutional amendment to a public vote in November 2016. The Detroit Free Press reports: Dana Nessel, the Michigan attorney who took the same-sex marriage case all the way to the Supreme Court, is leader of Fair Michigan, which hopes to begin gathering petition signatures for the ballot proposal early …

After an investigation lasting several weeks, Peruvian police have raided a gay strip club which they claim was operating as a “clandestine brothel” in which the owners took a cut from go-go boys hired for sex by VIP card-holding patrons. Spanish-language news reports say that Club Casanova, located in the Lima suburb of Brena, held 60 customers at the time …

Northern Ireland’s Assembly has rejected same-sex marriage four times since the 2011 election. Sometime in the coming weeks they will vote yet again. Pink News reports: Sinn Féin has uged all SDLP members to support a measure to legalise same-sex marriage. Northern Ireland has been criticised for being the only major territory in the UK not to have equal marriage …

A Missouri state appeals court has ruled that called a gay employee “cocksucker” and asking if he has AIDS does not violate the law because Missouri has no employment protections for LGBT citizens. Courthouse News Service reports: A divided three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that James Pittman cannot hold his former employer, Cook Paper Recycling Corp., liable because state law does …

Earlier this week retired pro boxer and father of ten Yusaf Mack, 35, claimed that he has no memory of performing in a gay porn video and therefore must have been drugged against his will. Today the porn site behind the video is threatening to sue. Pink News reports: In response to the accusastions, the company have rubbished Mack’s “patently …

With four days left before the referendum, Apple has joined dozens of major corporations in backing Houston’s LGBT rights law. Their statement: “Apple is proud to be a part of Houston with four stores that employ over 500 people. Our stores and our company are open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they …

“Here’s the bottom line for us today, I believe as we go forward in what we do next. We need to remember as we are facing the enemy, if you will, that the enemy that we are really up against we can’t see. Those that we can see are caught in the snares of deception and are being used as …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: “It’s a lie. It’s a lie. It’s a lie. It’s a lie.” That was Sally Field on Thursday as she described an ad campaign currently running here in an attempt to repeal the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, known as HERO. Field stood abreast with a group of women political leaders in Texas who encouraged a …

Ireland’s same-sex marriage vote has been signed into law and weddings will commence by mid-November. “The Presidential Commission today signed the ‘Marriage Bill 2015’ into law,” the president’s office said in a statement, paving the way for the first weddings within a month. Ireland voted 62.1 percent in favour of allowing marriage between two people “without distinction as to their …

Hillary Clinton today jumped into the Houston battle today in a tweet that preceded the below White House announcement by two hours. The Human Rights Campaign and Houston Unites are also going all-out in the last few days before the referendum.

With the referendum now five days away, today President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden gave a thumbs-up in the battle to retain Houston’s LGBT rights law. Two recent polls show the “Yes” side leading by a slim margin with a large percentage still undecided.

Former New York Mets center fielder and multiple felon Lenny Dykstra this week told a dumbfounded Fox Sports host that he hired private investigators to dig up dirt on umpires, some of them gay, from whom he then extorted favorable game decisions. CBS Sports reports: “Their blood is just as red as ours. Some of them like women, some of …

Yesterday Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) attempted to introduce the Equality Act as an amendment to an anti-union bill before the House Committee On Education & The Workforce. The amendment was blocked by a voice vote of the panel after Rep. David Roe (R-TN) objected on the grounds that the Equality Act is not germane to the main bill. More from …

A Los Angeles lesbian couple yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against a Honolulu police officer whom they accuse of arresting them for kissing in a grocery store. The couple was on a Hawaii vacation at the time. The Associated Press reports: Courtney Wilson and Taylor Guerrero, who were visiting Hawaii from Los Angeles in March, said in a federal lawsuit …

Yesterday Sally Field declared her support for Houston’s LGBT rights law by reprising the most iconic scene from her 1979 Oscar-winning Norma Rae performance. This morning Field, who has a gay son, will take part in a joint press conference with Houston civic leaders in support of the “Yes” side. The repeal referendum is Tuesday.

It was 25 years ago this week in 1990 that the Pet Shop Boys released Behavior, the album that provided Being Boring, which many consider to be the most heart-wrenching and beautiful song about AIDS, loss, and survivorship. Christian Gerard at Pop Matters looks back: Being Boring sets a bittersweet tone for the album. “All the people I was kissing …

The Washington Post has reluctantly awarded Hillary Clinton its “four Pinocchios” Fact Checker rating for her claims about DOMA. After a lengthy look back into the history of DOMA, they conclude: This is a difficult claim to fact-check, because Clinton essentially explained what she believed her husband was thinking when he supported DOMA. Clearly, The Fact Checker has no insight …

Teofil Brank, who performed in gay porn as Jarec Wentworth, has been sentenced to six years in prison for extorting $500,000 and a luxury sports car out of Florida tech tycoon Donald Burns, who went to the FBI early this year after Brank’s blackmail demands escalated. The Los Angeles Times reports: At trial, Burns testified that he was “scared to …