The Obama Effect & Genocidal Preacher Protested

President Barack Obama's bully pulpit prompts a seismic shift in the marriage equality landscape, as NAACP President Benjamin Jealous announces the venerable civil rights organization's unequivocal commitment to "equal protection under the law," and prominent African Americans like former Secretary of State Colin Powell line up in support.

Demonstrators came from far and wide to repay the viral viciousness of Baptist minister Charles L. Worley with "Love Not Hate."

And in NewsWrap: gay American dad wins landmark Colombian adoption case, Buenos Aires welcomes marriage-minded same-gender couples, another U.S. federal court overrules DOMA, violence cancels Kiev's first Pride effort, San Diego gives street to Harvey Milk, and more news reported by Tanya Kane-Parry and Wenzel Jones (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending May 26, 2012

SUMMARY

Father's Day - Colombia's Constitutional Court approves the adoption of two young brothers by a single openly gay American man in what equality activists describe as a landmark ruling …

Don't Laugh at Us, Argentina - Buenos Aires opens legal Argentinean marriage to gay and lesbian tourists …

Third Strike - yet another U.S. federal appeals court rules the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, unconstitutional …

I've Been to a Marvelous Party - New York City Council President and leading post-Bloomberg mayoral candidate Christine Quinn marries her longtime partner in what reports call "one of the biggest social gatherings of political elites in recent memory" …

Is It Enough? - New Jersey Superior Court judge controversially sentences Dharun Ravi, whose webcam spying drove his gay Rutgers University dorm roommate Tyler Clementi to commit suicide, to 30 days in jail, probation, a fine, and community service …

We'll Be Back - violent assault on one of its organizers follows the announced cancellation of Kiev's first LGBT Pride march due to threats of violent opposition …

Yellow Brick Road - San Diego, California thoroughfare is officially renamed Harvey Milk Street on what would have been the pioneering gay human rights activist's 82nd birthday …

Not With a Bang - multi-award-winning actor Jim Parsons, best known as "Sheldon Cooper" on the CBS-TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory, quietly comes out …

Freedom in Flight - first "out" graduates at any U.S. military college since the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell get their diplomas at the Air Force Academy ….

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Jones Remembers Milk

Cleve Jones, the political activist who bears the mantle of Harvey Milk more than most, tells the real story behind the Oscar-winning movie (in which Sean Penn played Milk and Emile Hirsch played Jones) and mentors modern militants with some lessons learned from the master organizer. Milk would have been 82 years old this week.

And in NewsWrap: Malawi's new president calls for sodomy law repeal, world rises up against homo- and trans-phobia for a day, Indonesia aborts Gaga's "Born This Way" concert, Knesset blocks civil marriage for mixed and matched Israelis, Colorado Republican committee chicanery kills civil unions bill, and more news reported by Christopher Gaal and Miss Barbie-Q (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending May 19, 2012

SUMMARY

Turn Things Around - Malawi's new President Joyce Banda calls for the repeal of "indecency and unnatural acts laws" in her first state of the nation address since taking office, while human rights groups in the southern African country mark the May 17th International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, or IDAHO, with a call to Banda to "pursue a policy of inclusiveness rather than exclusion" …

Conga Out of the Closet - Cuban presidential daughter Mariela Castro leads a conga-line march in Havana to mark the 8th annual observance of IDAHO there, while Chile's main LGBT advocacy group leads an "out of the closet march" in Santiago …

Learning, Lip Locks, Lenses - Puerto Rican activists demonstrate in front of the Education Department in San Juan demanding the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender issues within the country's school system, several couples hold an IDAHO kiss-in in Asuncion, Paraguay, and a photo exhibit tours Rio de Janeiro all month featuring the pictures of 22 mothers of LGBT kids and testimonials about the joys and challenges of being their parents …

Liberation Gets Around - a first-ever Pride march is held on May 17th in the French Caribbean island of Martinique, and rainbow flags fly over some government buildings to mark IDAHO in Serbia …

Even in Iran - a few courageous activists in Tehran hide their faces behind a huge rainbow flag and release multi-colored balloons in Iranian IDAHO solidarity …

Tongues Untied - fifty members of the European Parliament tell LGBT teens that "It Gets Better" with an IDAHO video message in several languages …

Asia/Pacific Heard From - first–ever Pride celebrations are held in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) with performances, speeches and music in a hotel ballroom in Yangon and a few other cities, but Fiji police cancel a planned first-ever Pride march at the last minute on May 17th in the Pacific nation's capital when officials realized the IDAHO event was going to call for LGBT rights …

Right Wherever You Go - fundamentalist religious protesters attack participants at an IDAHO march in Tbilisi, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, while neo-Nazi skinheads assault Russian activists following an IDAHO rally in St. Petersburg …

Citizens of Nowhere - a notoriously-homophobic Lithuanian lawmaker interrupts an IDAHO press conference in the capital of Vilnius to call for gay people to be expelled from his country, while a lawmaker in the U.S. state of Virginia says he led a move to reject an openly gay judicial nominee this week because "sodomy is not a civil right" …

Aborted This Way - Islamic hard-liners force the cancellation of a sold-out June 3rd concert in Jakarta, Indonesia by "youth corrupting" bisexual pop star Lady Gaga …

Fewer the Better - Israel's parliament rejects legislation to create civil marriage in a country that only recognizes the religious ceremonies of heterosexual Jewish couples approved by rabbinical authorities …

Rocky Mountain Machiavelli - political maneuvering by Republican lawmakers in the U.S. state of Colorado doom a civil unions bill in a special session called by the Democratic governor who had wanted to sign it ….

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Obama Comes Out for Equality

President Barack Obama's long "evolution" regarding same-gender marriage finally proves the "survival of the fairest" theory. His historic statement affirming civil marriage equality receives cogent analysis by Evan Wolfson of Freedom To Marry; U.S. Congressman Barney Frank; Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker; and longtime North Carolina lesbian couple Lennie Gerber and Pearl Berlin.

Plus "out" singer/songwriter Sean Chapin's tribute tune, You Say You Want An Evolution.

And in NewsWrap: Tarheels stomp unmarried North Carolinians, new Socialist president pledges French family equality, Colombia's top court passes priest's pension to surviving gay partner, Chile enacts anti-bias law after high-profile bashing murder, fired lesbian den mother questions Scouts' honor, and more news reported by Wenzel Jones and Natalie Peoples (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending May 12, 2012

SUMMARY

Survival of the Fairest - U.S. President Barack Obama "evolves" to support civil marriage equality …

Tarheel Tragedy - North Carolina voters constitutionally ban legal recognition of any relationship that's not heterosexual marriage …

Hand-to-Hand Combat - a civil unions bill in Colorado that appeared to have majority bipartisan support is blocked from consideration by the House's GOP leader as the legislative session ends, but the state's Democratic governor calls for a special session to decide the issue …

Plus Ca Change - it remains to be seen if France's new Socialist President Francois Hollande can deliver on his election campaign support of civil marriage equality and adoption rights …

Requiescat in Pace - Colombia's Constitutional Court rules that the longtime gay partner of a deceased Roman Catholic priest is entitled to his lover's pension …

Purchased Freedom Delivered - spurred by the high profile horrific murder of a young gay man in March, Chile's Congress breaks a seven-year logjam to approve an anti-discrimination bill that includes sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories …

Assassination - Honduran journalist and LGBT rights activist Erick Martinez is found strangled to death two days after being reported missing …

The Power to Name - Argentina lawmakers approve a measure allowing transgender citizens to change the gender on their government documents without first getting reassignment surgery or a judge's approval …

In the Best Interest - well-known actors and the cast of "Glee" join a "Change.org" campaign for the reinstatement of Bridgeport, Ohio Cub Scouts den mother Jennifer Tyrrell, who was fired because she's a lesbian ….

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Romney's Gay Retreat & Estelle Brown

It was a short stay for GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney's gay as "out" national security and foreign policy spokesman Richard Grenell was "out" of a job almost as soon as he arrived. Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart skewers America Family Association mouthpiece Bryan Fischer in its take on the widely reported story.

The lesbian member of Elvis' legendary back-up group the Sweet Inspirations talks with Steve Pride about her journey from harmony to unity.

And in NewsWrap: Kenyan human rights group seeks sex law reform, Russian "no promo" foes busted in St. Petersburg, Methodists keep United versus "incompatible" homos, hetero kissing banned in Copenhagen gay bar, and more news reported by Michael LeBeau and Sarah Sweeney (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending May 5, 2012

SUMMARY

Barking Watchdog - Kenya's National Human Rights Commission urges the decriminalization of same-gender sex and prostitution …

Let Them Eat Grass - Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh renews his vitriolic condemnation of gay people …

Russian Rainbow Retort - seventeen LGBT activists and their supporters who waved rainbow flags or sported rainbow suspenders or pins are singled out by police and arrested at a May Day march and rally in St. Petersburg organized by Russia's political opposition movement, while prominent activist Nikolai Alekseev is the first person to be convicted of violating that city's recently enacted law banning "gay propaganda" …

Don't Say Vote - the sponsor of Tennessee's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill to ban any discussion of sexual orientation in public schools decides to withdraw his proposal after state education officials assure him that the subject will not be broached, and he recognizes that "some people... didn't want to vote on it" …

He Showed Them - Missouri Republican lawmaker Zach Wyatt comes out as a gay man as he comes out against a "Don't Say Gay" bill recently introduced in his state …

The Biased Life - Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning issues an opinion that local governments can't adopt ordinances to protect LGBT people from discrimination because state law fails to do so …

Madness in Their Methodism - delegates to the quadrennial General Conference of the United Methodist Church soundly reject a proposal to change the denomination's doctrine that same-gender sexual relationships are "incompatible with Christian teaching" …

Sinking to Their Level - there's controversy in Copenhagen over a gay bar owner's decision to ban heterosexuals from kissing in his establishment ….

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Williams Inst. Update & NC Marriage Ads

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, a prominent LGBT think tank, offered an assessment of LGBT political power at its Annual Update Conference. Legal correspondent Abby Dees reports.

TV ads for and against the equality-banning Amendment One are giving North Carolinians an earful on marriage.

And in NewsWrap: U.S. trans workers win rights under sex discrimination rules, DADT-discharged vets drowning in paperwork, civil unions step down the Colorado Senate aisle, marriage equality foes team up for the Maine event, California considers state "cure" ban, Hong Kong pop star Anthony Wong comes out "tongzhi," and more news reported by Vash Boddie and Wenzel Jones (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending April 28, 2012

SUMMARY

Under the Table Bias Relief - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules that gender identity-based workplace bias constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which leaves gays and lesbians without protections and waiting for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, by a more receptive Congress …

Don't Ask Keeps Telling - three U.S. Senators ask Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to expedite the process for veterans kicked out of the service under Don't Ask Don't Tell to delete that specific reason, which virtually "outs" them to prospective employers, from their discharge documents …

Court Martial the Messenger - a military judge advances the court martial of Private First Class Bradley Manning, variously described as gay or "gender confused," for providing Wikileaks with reams of sensitive documents in what's been called the largest leak of government secrets in U.S. history …

Scaling the Rockies - Colorado's Senate provisionally approves a bipartisan civil unions bill that probably faces stiffer opposition in the GOP-controlled House …

The Maine Event - the infamously anti-gay National Organization for Marriage teams up with the Christian Civic League of Maine to fight a marriage equality measure on the November state ballot …

Cure for the "Cure" - a bill introduced in the California Senate would ban so-called "reparative therapy" for anyone under the age of 18 …

In Franklin's Footsteps - Brian Sims is all but on his way to Harrisburg as the first openly gay member of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives …

Tongzhi Power - pop star Anthony Wong comes out as a gay man to thousands of fans during the closing night of a series of concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum …

No Promo Homo Convicto - the movement to prevent minors from being exposed to so-called "gay propaganda" spreads across Russia, while the first man arrested for violating such a law in St. Petersburg is only convicted of refusing to comply with a police order to stop violating the law ….

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