Joe.My.God. LGBT News

From the New York Times: The abysmally low turnout in last week’s midterm elections — the lowest in more than seven decades — was bad for Democrats, but it was even worse for democracy. In 43 states, less than half the eligible population bothered to vote, and no state broke 60 percent. In the three largest states — California, Texas …

Over 1.7M views on the first day of the below ad from Britain’s Sainsbury’s supermarket chain. The Guardian rips it to pieces: What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Not only the monstrous anger of the guns nor the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle, but now an epic four-minute, eye-wateringly expensive commercial for a supermarket chain. There is no disputing …

In a 3-1 vote, a committee for the Miami-Dade County Commission yesterday advanced a transgender rights bill over the usual screaming of Christianist activists. Raw emotion and invocations of biblical damnation over a proposed ban on discrimination against transgender people dominated Wednesday what was perhaps the fiercest debate Miami-Dade County Hall has seen this year. Advocates of a more inclusive …

From Visage frontman Steve Strange: Founding fathers of the New Romantics and pioneers of the 80s sound Visage, return with a new album “Orchestral” in Winter 2014. In March 2014 Visage were asked to perform at the closing ceremony of the World Ski Jumping Championships in Prague. Sensing an opportunity for grandeur, Steve Strange – the illustrious leader of Visage …

From the Clarion-Ledger: If U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves doesn’t grant the preliminary injunction sought against Mississippi’s gay marriage ban, it will surprise most of the people in his courtroom on Wednesday. Reeves grilled the state’s defense of its gay marriage ban on almost every issue raised during the roughly five hours of arguments presented in a hearing for …

Politifact has published a “Pants On Fire” response to a story making the rounds in Teabagistan which claims that Obamacare death panels have “executed their first patient.” From the story: According to recent reports, a group of death panels organized under Obamacare ordered their first execution. “Following a hearing by the president’s Patient Resource Efficiency Board (PREB), 86-year-old Dorothy Zborknak …

Brooklyn and Philadelphia both lost iconic neon signs this year and today the same happens in my hometown of Orlando. For decades, the Merita Bread sign acted as a welcoming beacon to downtown Orlando for those traveling eastbound on I-4, just south of downtown. Two years ago, the bread company closed its doors when Hostess, its former parent company, went …

Lyle Denniston writes at SCOTUSblog: The Court has issued a series of orders in same-sex marriage cases over the past eleven months, but the Kansas order marked the first time that members of the Court had recorded dissents. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas noted only that they would have granted the delay sought by the Kansas attorney general. Kansas …

Via the Associated Press: The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request Wednesday from Kansas to prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying while the state fights the issue in court. Schmidt says that decision applies only in Douglas, a northeastern Kansas county, and Sedgwick, in south-central Kansas, where the court clerks are defendants. The American Civil Liberties Union contends the …