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The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will support a congressional effort to repeal a federal law that defines marriage as a legal union between a man and woman. White House spokesman Jay Carney denounced the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), saying the administration will back a bill introduced this year by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to remove the law from the books. Feinstein’s bill, called the Respect for Marriage Act, would “uphold the principle that the federal government should not deny gay and lesbian couples” the same rights as others, according to Carney. The Senate is scheduled to...

12:18 a.m. | Updated Just hours before President Obama planned to sign on Wednesday the repeal of the military’s 17-year ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, Republicans tried one last legislative maneuver to block the change. Republicans in the Senate filed an amendment to a sweeping defense authorization bill that would have required the four military service chiefs to be part of the certification process called for in the bill that repeals the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. That would have put Marine Corps chief General James Amos, a vocal opponent of the repeal, in line to...

People who take polls for a living will tell you that, depending on the methodology, the sample, how a question is asked and the understanding of the ones being polled, the outcome can pretty much be predetermined. If you are dependent on a superior for your job and that superior tells you he wants a certain conclusion reached about a policy he wishes to implement, that, too, can affect the outcome. Such is the case with President Barack Obama, who has told gay rights groups he intends to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and allow homosexuals to serve...

More details are emerging about the case of Wikileaker Pvt. Bradley Manning and they are… Gagalicious. Manning's plan to download and leak thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks hinged on lip-syncing to "Telephone". Manning allegedly leaked the Iraq Apache helicopter video, and it's believed he also downloaded over 150,000 diplomatic cables from the military's SPIR-Net and shared them with Wikileaks. How did he do it without arousing suspicion? According to the New York TimesAccording to the New York Times: "He was able to avoid detection not because he kept a poker face, they said, but apparently because he hummed and...

A U.S. Army intelligence analyst serving in Iraq has been arrested by federal officials for allegedly leaking classified information to the online whistleblower site Wikileaks, according to a Wired blog.Specialist Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Md., is reportedly the source of the controversial video of a 2007 American helicopter strike that claimed the lives of several bystanders. Wikileaks published that video in April. Manning reportedly became a target of the investigation after boasting of leaking more than a quarter of a million classified documents to former hacker Adrian Lamo, who reported him to the Army. Lamo claimed, via his...

June 07, 2010 I SUPPOSE IF I SUGGESTED SUMMARY EXECUTION I WOULD BE CALLED "HARSH"? SNIPPET: "U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe Note that he didn't just lift a video and send it to Wikileaks. He also stole and released 260,000 classified US State Department diplomatic cables."

Not everyone who serves is deserving of respect. Last April, WikiLeak.org and its owner, Julian Assange, edited and published a 2007 footage they entitled "Collateral Murder", which purported to show an American Apache helicopter killing unarmed civilians, including news reporters, in Iraq. While WikiLeak.org is slated to release a new video of an alleged "massacre" by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, a 22 year old Pfc Army intelligence analyst serving in Iraq was detained about a month ago, accused of being the source of the leaked "Collateral Murder" video. Charges have now been brought: BAGHDAD — An American soldier in Iraq...

Bradley Manning, 22, had just gone through a breakup. He had been demoted a rank in the Army after striking a fellow soldier. He felt he had no future, and yet he thought that by sharing classified information about his government's foreign policy, he might "actually change something." A series of instant messages from Manning to a stranger open a window into the anguished state of the former Army intelligence analyst, who was detained late last month for allegedly leaking classified video and documents to Wikileaks.org. The military has not detailed the allegations against Manning, who is being held in...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is promising gay rights activists he'll keep pushing for action on their priorities including benefits for same-sex partners and repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military. At an event in the White House East Room in honor of gay pride month, Obama told activists Tuesday that he's delivered on promises including passage of anti-hate crimes legislation. But, the president said, "We've got a lot of hard work we've still got to do."

The principal and a teacher at Goleta Valley Junior High School in Santa Barbara County, California are apologizing to parents for not following school district policy relating to a pro-homosexual workshop given to 8th grade students in a leadership class at the school. The controversial workshop was presented by “Just Communities Central Coast” in three, 45-minute sessions over three days. It included handouts defining homosexual terminology, including queer and transgender, and listed “heterosexism” as “oppression that ‘pushes down’ people who are LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and questioning) and ‘pushes up’ people who are straight.” The handout defines sexual orientation...

Carrie Prejean confessed that she has a sex tape, but said she regrets it. The former Miss California, who caused controversy during the Miss USA pageant when she said she didn't support same-sex marriage, appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News Channel show Monday night to address the rumor. "It was the biggest mistake of my life," Prejean told Hannity. "I was all by myself. I was sending a boyfriend at the time, who I loved and cared about, a video of me. "I was a teenager at the time," she told Hannity. "Never did I think it would ever come...

Four billboards along Interstate 30 are sparking a debate over whether gays should be welcomed at local churches. A coalition of five churches that are part of a larger congregation of prodominatly gay Christians have put up four billboards on I-30 between Grand Prairie and Fort Worth with messages urging Christians to accept gays. One billboard reads "The early church welcomed a gay man" and another reads, "Would Jesus discriminate." Reverend Colleen Darraugh with the Metropolitan Community Church of Greater Dallas tells CBS-11 exclusively they've been the target of controversy since the billboards went up last week. "There are people...

After complaints from gay political groups, AAA of the South has announced it will treat married gay couples as families when determining rates for memberships in the auto club.

A U.S. Embassy in a Muslim country has sponsored an event to celebrate the homosexual lifestyle. Last night the U.S. Embassy in Iraq held a "Gay Pride Theme Party" at a pub called Baghdaddy's. Embassy employees were encouraged to attend the Baghdad event dressed in drag or as a homosexual icon. Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says homosexual activism at U.S. embassies was prevalent during the Bush administration, but it has gone a step further under the Obama administration.

Link only - Lawmakers: Census Should Include Gay Couples

SAN FRANCISCO — Steve, a health care worker in his 30s, had been told more than once that he had been exposed to a sexually transmitted infection. So when it happened again, he was not upset — even though this time he learned about it through an anonymous online postcard, e-mailed by a man with whom he had had sex. “What was important was that I was being notified that there was a possibility that I may have been exposed to syphilis,” said Steve, who asked that his last name be withheld to protect his privacy. The Internet has made...

On Sunday, November 9, a band of about 30 gays stormed a church in Lansing, Michigan. Some were well dressed and were stationed inside Mount Hope Church; others were outside dressed in pink and black. The group of self-described homosexual anarchists, Bash Back!, claims the evangelical church is guilty of “transphobia and homophobia.” The protesters outside the church were beating on buckets, shouting “Jesus was a homo” on a megaphone and carrying an upside-down pink cross. Fire alarms went off inside the church, protesters stormed the pulpit and a huge rainbow-colored flag was unfurled with the inscription, “IT’S OKAY TO...

San Francisco (AP) -- The words "bride" and "groom" will reappear on all marriage license applications issued in California starting next month, state health officials said. In a notice posted on its Web site, the California Department of Public Health says it is making the change because many couples still wanted the option of identifying themselves in traditional terms. When same-sex marriage became legal in the state on June 16, the health department issued new gender-neutral marriage forms with the words "Party A" and "Party B" where "bride" and "groom" used to be.

Kris Alingod - AHN News Writer Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Speaking during his weekly radio address on Saturday, President George W. Bush thanked lawmakers for passing a landmark AIDs bill and reiterated his administration's broader goal of fighting extremism around the world by combating hunger and disease. The Senate passed by a vote of 80-16 a $48 billion measure called President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) last week to fight AIDS worldwide. The House passed its version of the bill in April. Bush said the legislation is "the largest international health initiative dedicated to fighting a single disease in...

tripling funds for fighting AIDS around the world The Associated Press July 24, 2008 WASHINGTON: The House of Representatives voted Thursday to triple money to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world, giving new life and new punch to a program credited with saving or prolonging millions of lives in Africa alone. The 303-115 vote sends the global AIDS bill to President George W. Bush for his signature. Bush, who floated the idea of a campaign against AIDS in his 2003 State of the Union speech, supports the five-year, $48 billion plan. Passage of the bill culminated a rare...