Joe.My.God. LGBT News

By a vote of 17-13, yesterday afternoon the Arizona Senate approved a bill that would legalize anti-gay discrimination on the basis of “sincerely held religious beliefs.” The vote along party lines, with Republicans in the majority, came after supporters defeated an attempt to extend existing employment laws that bar discrimination based on religion and race to also include sexual orientation. …

“The Kansas Senate has halted debate on a vitally important piece of legislation — a bill to protect people of faith from having to violate their conscience by being forced to participate in same-sex ‘marriage’ ceremonies. The Kansas House overwhelmingly passed HB 2453, but Senate President Susan Wagel has refused to allow a committee hearing or vote on the legislation. …

The Maine House is currently debating a bill that would legalize anti-gay discrimination on the basis of “sincerely held religious beliefs.” Unbelievable. Maine!  Watch it live. (Via New Civil Rights)

GOProud founder Chris Barron is furious about the deal in which CPAC has invited the group back to attend this year after two years of being banned. Last night he resigned from GOProud’s board of directors. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed: “Last night I resigned from the Board of GOProud, the organization that I co-founded back in April of 2009. …

In 1992 New York state outlawed paid surrogacy after the famed Baby M case in which a gestational mother refused to surrender her baby to the New Jersey couple who had paid her to carry the child. Three years ago openly gay New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman and his now-husband had a baby via surrogacy with a California woman. …

GOProud will return to CPAC next month after two years of being banned. But they won’t be allowed to have a booth or sign on as a sponsor. Via the National Journal: The dispute with GOProud dates back to 2011, when a number of socially conservative groups, including the Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council, objected to the group’s …

Porno Pete LaBarbera and Scott Lively will hold a Washington DC press conference today to announce the formation of a new anti-gay hate group. Because we don’t have enough of those. Via press release from Christian Newswire: The purpose of this press conference is to announce the formation of a new organization, the Coalition for Family Values, whose purpose is …

Annual pet photo roundup. Let’s see ’em.

“I absolutely refuse to be exiled from my own country for the crime of doing journalism, and I’m gonna force the issue just on principle, and I think coming back for a ceremony like the Polk Award or other forms of journalistic awards would be a really good symbolic test to put the government in the position of having to …

Best one of these I’ve ever seen.