Joe.My.God. LGBT News

Yesterday about 2500 people took part in the annual Polar Bear Plunge during sub-freezing temperatures at Coney Island, where lifeguards warned participants not to proceed deeper than their waist and not to remain in the water for more than one minute.

Via press release from the Liberty Counsel: In a highly anticipated ruling to clarify an August preliminary injunction in the federal case Brenner v. Scott, the district judge agreed with Liberty Counsel that the injunction does not require Florida clerks of court outside Washington County to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on January 6. Indeed, the new order clarifies …

“Judge Hinkle’s ruling is being widely misinterpreted. It clearly says that only the clerk Washington County is required to issue a marriage license and only to the two persons in that case. Judge Hinkle has no jurisdiction outside of the Northern District of Florida to bind any clerk outside of North Florida. Clerks outside of North Florida are required to …

Details. Palin’s Facebook post.

At this writing almost 200,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for a national ban on so-called transgender conversion therapy.  Almost 70,000 have signed a separate petition which calls for Leelah Alcorn’s preferred name to be inscribed in her headstone. Yesterday CNN got a brief quote from Leelah’s mother: When Josh Alcorn voiced a desire to live as a …

Via Luxemburger Wort: Jean Paul Olinger and Henri Lorenzo Huber were the first same-sex couple to tie the knot in Luxembourg, with a new marriage law coming into force on January 1. Olinger and Huber, both in their 60s, are Differdange’s trailblazers, also having been the commune’s first couple to enter a registered partnership, a so-called PACS. Despite the public …

Via the New York Daily News. Ever-eloquent Mario Cuomo, a son of Queens who rode his rhetorical gifts to three terms as New York governor and tantalized Democrats by flirting with a run for President, died Thursday, two sources close to the family said. He was 82. Cuomo passed away six hours after his oldest son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was …

“This office has sought to minimize confusion and uncertainty, and we are glad the Court has provided additional guidance. My office will not stand in the way as clerks of court determine how to proceed.” – Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, is a statement issued tonight in reaction to the ruling issued today by federal Judge Robert Hinkle. Bondi’s statement …

The above tweet is from Orlando’s CBS affiliate and has been confirmed by the Miami Herald. I’ll update this post shortly with more information, but we can presume the ruling is from Judge Robert Hinkle, the thorn in Pam Bondi’s side. UPDATE: From the Miami Herald. U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled New Years Day that all Florida clerks …

Via Right Wing Watch: Congratulations to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has won this year’s Equine Posterior Achievement Award, People For the American Way’s annual prize for the country’s most extreme right-wing politician. Cruz won by a 21-point margin in a poll of PFAW members and Right Wing Watch readers, repeating his 2013 victory, when he beat out the likes …