COFFEE HOUR 513 - NY, DADT, More States, Russia... boy there is a lot of news!

FIRST: The New York Times profiled openly gay New York Assemblyman (and Rosie's brother) Danny O'Donnell--right before his Marriage Equality bill passed 89-52!  The excerpts about his strategy on getting the bill passed are amazing!

Nationally:  Outed Ed Koch on Marriage Equality reaching all 50 states.  Seth McFarland--creator of Family Guy, and LGBT ally--gets a little crude in his support for LGBT Equality:  "I like a good @$$ %uc& as much as the next guy!"

White House Watch: The Main-Stream-Media is pushing the White House harder than I am! Lt. Dan Choi smacks down arguments about Dont' Ask Don't Tell. But Obama STILL won't intervene to save his job. Even though Obama can put an end to all of it with one Executive Order. Queerty interviews Lt. Dan Choi about all of the stupid lies that have been put out there. This is a very detailed overview of the solutions to the DADT problems. And if you think the White House should remain silent on DADT, and worry about the "more important" problems the nation is facing, check this out.

State2State: MARYLAND may follow D.C.'s lead and recognize out-of-state Marriage Equality. NEVADA's Judiciary Committee passes Domestic Partnerships. What's holding up NEW HAMPSHIRE?  The Marriage Equality bill has been on John Lynch's desk a full week--or has it?  In WASHINGTON STATE, breaking down the insanity of Referendum 71. Are those against the Referendum making the wrong argument, though? RHODE ISLAND will tomorrow take up two competing bills--one to legalize Marriage Equality, and one to enshrine discrimination in The Constitution. Neither is expected to pass--Religious leaders in Rhode Island are doing all they can to stop it. DULUTH, MINNESOTA has passed a Domestic Partnership bill.  Elsewhere in the Midwest, the former Archbishop of Milwaukee, WISCONSIN, comes out in his memoirs.  He's surprisingly unapologetic and upfront about it.  In CALIFORNIA, gay Iraq Vet Anthony Woods is running for the U.S. Congressional seat in the 10th District--move over Aaron Schock. However, will CALIFORNIA get 'left at the station?' The MICHIGAN Womyn's Festival STILL discriminates! Last week IOWA Senator Tom Harkin changed his mind on Marriage Equality: here's why. Here is the interview. HAWAII backtracks on Equality again.  A new LGBT Health Center has opened in BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS.  The Boston MASSACHUSETTS trolley driver that crashed while texting was FTM and was texting his girlfriend--and the Religious Right can't WAIT to jump all over that.  Nevermind the texting--IT MUST BE BECAUSE HE WAS TRANS!

Around the globe: Russia will push forward with their efforts to have Pride. The Dutch Eurovision Contestant may boycott the Moscow Eurovision Contest (the European Pop Superbowl) in support of Russian gays. Also in Moscow, a lesbian couple was denied marriage licenses. We saw that coming. However, HUNGARIAN gays win Partnership rights! Beirut, Lebanon holds second Gay-Rights rally in four months.

Off the blotter:  Will 'out' media mogul, David Geffen, buy the New York Times?  Charlie Crist tweets his plan to run for Senate. Learn a bit more about crazy Crist.  Joe Solmonese debates Family Research Council on Hardball with Chris Matthews on Marriage Equality.  NPR recently profiled the movie OUTrage--which I've covered here on the blog--but did so in a peculiar way:  without naming any names.  In a movie all about naming names and correcting hypocrisy, you'd think a NEWS organization would be all over that.  They chose, instead to respect the privacy of the individuals covered in the movie.  Yet they publicized it anyway.  Is OUTrage 'outing' or just 'reporting?'  I think that depends on where you stand on 'whistleblowing.'  If you think those Enron workers who helped us understand that those filthy slimeballs were bilking the stockholders and employees were out of line, you might not like this movie.  However, if you think they did the right thing, you might be on Fandango right now getting a ticket.  

What are "the 30 Sexual Orientations?"  This is the new rhetoric that the Religious Right is trying to use to bring down the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Bill--or the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill.  Apparently, 'Congress has not yet defined sexual orientation,' so when deciding if something is a Hate Crime, Law Enforcement will have to defer to the APA, which "lists" more than "30 Sexual Orientations."  Bull Shit.  There are THREE Sexual Orientations--Heterosexual, Bisexual and Homosexual.  The other paraphilias ARE NOT COVERED UNDER THAT DEFINITION.  But this hasn't stopped the wackos on the Right from redubbing the Hate Crimes Prevention bill the "Pedophile Protection Act."  Seriously.  Check out these WorldNutDaily headlines.    Here are the facts:  THE BILL WILL NEVER PROTECT PEDOPHILES--READ A LITTLE, IDIOTS!  No surprise that Exodus International has been facilitating the hysteria.  The Illinois Family Institute (a certified HATE GROUP by the SPLC) later backtracked and apologized... sort of.  They didn't apologize for misleading the public, only for not making a distinction... but didn't retract their misleading inference.  

LAST:  This is a VERY interesting piece about MARRIED SAME SEX COUPLES IN EVERY STATE--that is married couples in which one spouse has transitioned to another gender after the marriage took place.  

TOAST TO DANNY O'DONNELL!