Philip Seymour Hoffman Rocks the Boat in Pirate Radio – Flavorwire (blog)

Philip Seymour Hoffman Rocks the Boat in Pirate Radio
Flavorwire (blog)
… Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, and Nick Frost) — and one lesbian cook who adorably finds love in what Curtis called his “favorite shot of the film. …

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Prop 8 repeal initiative filed in CA

Love Honor Cherish, an LA-based marriage rights group, filed language to repeal Prop 8 in 2010.

Prop 8 repeal initiative filed in CA

Love Honor Cherish, an LA-based marriage rights group, filed language to repeal Prop 8 in 2010.

Vanasco: Who’s next on the Supreme Court?

The Daily Beast has the top contenders (though of course, no one actually knows). The Beast names Eric Holder, Diane Wood, Elena Kagan, Cass Sunstein,

I’d love the next choice to be Cass Sunstein (a well-regarded Constitutional law scholar and creative thinker who can explain law to the masses – as …

Vanasco: Ben & Jerry renames flavor “Hubby Hubby”

I love ice cream. Passionately.

Up until a few months ago, I passed a Ben & Jerry’s store every morning on my way to work. It was very, very difficult to pass it by – and I sometimes found myself walking to work with ice cream cone in hand.

So I was …

Vanasco: A question for readers going to the Equality March

So, my partner Jenny and I are definitely going. How interested would you 365ers be in us all meeting up at some point in the day at a restaurant, bar, coffeeshop, etc?

I would love to meet you – whether you comment regularly or not – and it would give you …

Evangelical group faces ’serious’ shortfall

(Denver) A “serious budget shortfall” at Focus on the Family has prompted the conservative Christian group to issue a special fundraising plea, and contributed to a decision to cede control of its contentious “Love Won Out” conferences about homosexuality to another religious organization, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Focus on the …

Human Rights Campaign Calls on the LGBT Community and Allies to Participate in National, Grassroots Push to Lobby Congress Face-to-Face

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today launched a national, grassroots campaign called “No Excuses” to demand action from Congress on key issues of equality. Designed to take advantage of the congressional summer recess, when members are in their local offices and meeting with constituents, “No Excuses” will mobilize HRC’s 750,000 members and their allies to meet directly with lawmakers and push for federal legislative change. Members and supporters can get involved by visiting: http://noexcuses.hrc.org.

“While we salute and acknowledge the heroic members of Congress who have worked tirelessly on our behalf, far too many have dragged their feet on basic matters of fairness and equality that have lingered too long and hurt too many LGBT people and their families,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Yes, there are many challenges facing this Congress and this president. But LGBT people often face additional hardship protecting their families, their loved ones and their jobs, and too few in Congress are willing to champion these issues of basic fairness. Now, more than ever, members of the LGBT community need to make their voices heard face-to-face and in the districts where they live.”

Using innovative online tools, one-on-one trainings and staff and volunteer follow-through, HRC members will press lawmakers to end discrimination in the military, treat all legally married couples equally, pass immigration reform that recognizes and honors LGBT families, outlaw workplace discrimination for LGBT employees, and treat all federal employees’ compensation equally.

The interactive “No Excuses” website allows supporters to download a meeting toolkit, schedule a meeting and report back on how it went. To take action, visit: http://noexcuses.hrc.org.

The in-district meetings will focus on the following key legislative priorities in the 111th Congress:

–Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies legally married lesbian and gay couples more than 1,000 federal protections;

–Prohibit workplace discrimination for the LGBT community by passing an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA);

–Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to ensure that service members who contribute to our nation’s security are no longer summarily discharged for who they are;

–Pass immigration reform that recognizes permanent same-sex couples and ends the painful separation of families;

–And provide health benefits equally to the nearly 3 million federal government employees, including same-sex domestic partners.

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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/human-rights-…

After the break-up, what about the lake house?

IT was a perfect party — vodka lemonade on a dock overlooking a lake, dozens of close friends, a cool misty night in the country a couple of hours north of New York.

Inside, the house spoke of a passionate interest in style, and of a committed relationship. Silhouettes of the couple who owned the house hung on a wall in the master bedroom; the couple’s nickname — Benford — was spelled out in large letters leaning against a wall in the kitchen.

But the couple, Benjamin Dixon, 31, and Bradford Shellhammer, 33, who had planned the evening as a commitment ceremony, had broken up three months earlier. Still, with airplane tickets purchased by some of the guests, a catering deposit paid and a house they haven’t been able to sell, they figured it made sense to go ahead and have a party anyway.

Their tale of lost love has a familiar arc — love sparks, then blooms; lives intertwine; moments are lost and misunderstandings creep in; eventually the two begin to live as strangers — and an epilogue that has become increasingly familiar as well, as unwanted houses become prisons rather than cocoons.

Rather than being a glossy testament to their taste and their partnership, their house in Stanfordville, in Dutchess County, is now a dead weight that entangles them and makes it impossible to move on. Having bought it and an apartment in Manhattan at the height of the real estate boom (and having made an agreement with a third partner in their lake house property not to sell it until December 2009), they are left with joint custody of two large mortgages. They are also left with two carefully decorated homes filled with one-of-a-kind accessories found on eBay and quirky furnishings by high-end designers like the Dutch collective Droog that are reminders of what came before and, Mr. Dixon said, “big reminders of what was supposed to be.”

See After the break-up, what about the lake house?
New York Times

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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/after-break-u…

Will John Travolta Renounce The Church Of Scientology?

There’s a rumor going around that one of Scientology’s most powerful proponents, John Travolta, is looking to leave the draconian religion once and for all. After the year he’s had, it would make sense.

According to the Daily Mail – who rounded up some interesting quotes on the matter – it appears to be a very real possibility. To say Travolta’s had a rough go of it recently would be putting it very, very lightly.

On the business side of things, Travolta’s big role this year performed under studio expectations. An complete aside, when you consider his personal life:

His son Jett – reportedly autistic, a diagnosis the Church of Scientology refuses to dignify – passed away earlier this year. Travolta defied Scientology and acknowledged it. Some sleazy gossip website put together a theory that enlists the idea of Travolta not only having a gay lover, but the gay lover – his son’s nanny – being a primary cause of his son’s death. Which is besides the fact that someone tried to extort him over documents involved in his son’s transportation, and his wife might’ve tried (successfully) to get Roger Friedman fired by going to the top brass at Fox over Friedman’s comments on Scientology.

See Will John Travolta Renounce The Church Of Scientology?

Gawker

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