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A Dallas woman says TSA agents repeatedly asked her to step back into a body scanning machine at DFW International Airport. “I feel like I was totally exposed,” said Ellen Terrell, who is a wife and mother. “They wanted a nice good look.” When Ellen Terrell and her husband, Charlie, flew out of DFW Airport several months ago, Terrell says she was surprised by a question a female TSA agent asked her. “She says to me, ‘Do you play tennis?’ And I said, ‘Why?’ She said, ‘You just have such a cute figure.’” Terrell says she walked into the body...

DENVER — The college student accused of "glitter bombing" Mitt Romney after the Colorado caucuses has been fired from his unpaid internship with state Senate Democrats.

Victoria Jackson doesn't want to meet at her house. "The Nation of Islam wants to kill me," she explains apologetically in her inimitable shrill voice. Instead, she picks up a reporter at a Miami-area strip mall. Her weathered Honda Civic is adorned with "Nobama," Marco Rubio, and Tea Party bumper stickers, and inside, it smells like it's been fumigated with sweet incense. She hurtles through intersections and down side streets, holding a Flip cam to her face with her left hand. Steering with elbows and the occasional pinkie, she opens a Bible inscribed with her name and quotes Scripture. Then...

Victoria Cobb, President Monday, January 30, 2012 Victory Alert: General Assembly Committees Defeat Two Key Measures This afternoon, the Senate General Laws committee defeated legislation that would have elevated sexual orientation to a protected class. The bill, SB 263, was one of Equality Virginia’s highest priorities and had passed the Senate in recent years only to be defeated in the House of Delegates. The committee voted down the measure by a vote of 8-7. Senator Adam Ebbin (D-30, Alexandria) introduced a “substitute” bill at the Committee meeting with language that did not include “sexual orientation” or other behaviors and characteristics....

Please take a minute today to support the more than 100 fellow Equality Virginia supporters at Lobby Day. We know many of you couldn't make it today due to busy schedules, work or the distance to Richmond but you can still make a difference at the General Assembly. Contact your delegate and senator by phone or email today and ask them to look out for members of Equality Virginia. Better yet, voice your support for and against bills concerning Virginia's GLBT community this week. Find out who your representatives are here. Ask your senator to: OPPOSE SB 349 (MCWATERS) This...

Gay marriage, and especially gay parenting, has been in the cross hairs in recent days. On Jan. 6, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told a New Hampshire audience that children are better off with a father in prison than being raised in a home with lesbian parents and no father at all.

~~snip~~ The Girl Scouts have a cross-dresser in the front office. Ten years ago, Girl Scouts media relations officer Joshua Ackley was frontman for the “homopunk” band the Dead Betties. In publicity shots, he’s dressed in women’s clothing, and in music videos, he appears to be naked and feigning masturbation. The video for “Hellevator” portrays a woman being strangled in an elevator shaft while Mr. Ackley flashes a menacing grin. Today he issues press releases, posts news and views on the Girl Scouts’ blog, and tries to mollify moms who are concerned about Girl Scout ties with Planned Parenthood. In...

Newsweek accomplished at least one thing by running a cover story calling the country’s critics of President Obama “dumb” — they awoke the mama grizzly. [SNIP] Directing her message to “@Newsweek,” Palin wrote, “Know what’s truly ‘dumb’? Giving a cover story to the TrigTruther conspiracy kook writer who thinks I didn’t give birth to my son.”

(CNSNews.com) – On Jan. 1, the California Department of Education started implementing a new law that requires all children in the state’s public schools to study the “role and contributions” of “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans” to the “development of California and the United States of America.” This law, according to the pro-family group SaveCalifornia.com, will require the schools to promote “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans as role models” and mandate that “children as young as kindergarten must be taught to admire persons who engage in homosexuality.”

The USA’s first openly gay Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson, has responded to presidential hopeful Rick Perry's anti-gay TV promotion suggesting that "it must break God's heart to see religion used in a political campaign like this." Bishop Robinson of the Episcopal Church showed his distaste in a TV interview with MSNBC and also by writing an opinion piece in the Washington Post newspaper. Perry had stated in his commercial that “You don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t...

In the eight years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may not criminalize private homosexual conduct, courts and legislatures across the country have struggled to define gay rights. The debate changed for both sides after a watershed 2003 Supreme Court ruling in a case that originated in Houston. The court voted 6-3 to guarantee privacy rights for gay men and lesbians - reversing a 1986 decision that permitted states to outlaw homosexual acts, even in homes. The Houston man at the center of the groundbreaking decision died last month of a heart condition. John Geddes Lawrence was 68....

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- A Navy tradition has caught up with the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" rule on gays serving openly in the U.S. military. The Navy said two women shared the coveted "first kiss" Wednesday when the USS Oak Hill returned home to its Virginia base. Marissa Gaeta of Pacerville, Calif., descended from the ship and shared a quick kiss with her partner, Citlalic (SEET-lah-leek) Snell of Los Angeles. The crowd screamed and waved Navy flags around them. Both women are fire controlmen in the Navy. They met at training school and have been dating...

LOS ANGELES — Eddie Murphy is dropping out as the host of the Oscars telecast, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the show’s producer Brett Ratner stepped aside amid a storm of criticism over his use of an anti-gay slur over the weekend. . The hasty departures represented an embarrassing collapse of the Academy’s plans for the Oscar presentation and left it with just over three months to fill key roles for one of the most elaborately staged television shows of the year. Mr. Ratner, who was named the Oscar co-producer...

One of the questions surrounding the sex-abuse case against Jerry Sandusky is why a former district attorney chose not to prosecute the then-Penn State assistant coach in 1998 after reports surfaced that he had inappropriate interactions with a boy. The answer is unknowable because of an unsolved mystery: What happened to Ray Gricar, the Centre County, Pa., district attorney? Gricar went missing in April 2005. The murky circumstances surrounding his disappearance — an abandoned car, a laptop recovered months later in a river without a hard drive, his body was never found — have spawned Web sites, television programs and...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Illinois, October 17, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A homosexual activist has claimed responsibility for an attack against a church school on the eve of a banquet where a pro-family activist was set to receive an award. “This is just a sample of what we will do if you don’t shut down Scott Lively and AFTAH,” said a note on two chunks of concrete thrown through the glass windows and doors of the church school. “F—- Scott Lively. Quit the homophobic s—-!” On the concrete chunks were written the words “Shut down Lively.” Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) was...

Zachary Quinto has joined the ranks of celebrities like Ricky Martin, Lance Bass and Ellen DeGeneres by publicly admitting he's gay. In a new interview with New York Magazine, the 34-year-old actor finally reveals the truth about his sexuality. The actor, best known for playing Spock in the Star Trek reboot and Sylar on Heroes, confirms that he's 'a gay man' in the article. 'As a gay man, it made me feel like there's still so much work to be done, and there's still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed,' he said.

Anderson Cooper's three-week-old daytime talk show "Anderson" is already generating buzz - and this week's show snafu is one for the books. A teenager who was meant to appear on the show as part of a segment on the teenage mind is reportedly in a coma after taking a spill on a skateboard - while filming himself for the show. "As part of our routine process, we ask guests for video footage and photos," a rep for the show said in a statement. "[But] we did not provide the family with a camera." The youngster was reportedly encouraged to "film...

*excerpt* ... “We were talking about religions in Germany. I said, ‘I’m a Christian. I think being a homosexual is wrong,’” he said. “It wasn’t directed to anyone except my friend who was sitting behind me. I guess [the teacher] heard me. He started yelling. He told me he was going to write me an infraction and send me to the office.”

Authorities said Tuesday that they are investigating the death of an Arkansas man found in an unfilled hot tub with a sleeping TV meteorologist. Maumelle police were summoned Monday morning to the home where they found Dexter Williams' body in the hot tub. The homeowner told authorities that Williams and the meteorologist, Brett Cummins of Little Rock television station KARK, had been at his home Sunday night. The homeowner said the next morning, he found Cummins asleep in the hot tub and Dexter Williams next to him. Williams' face was discolored and he had with a chain around his neck,...

TMZ has learned ... Chaz Bono will be hitting the hardwood on the new season of "Dancing with the Stars."

A long-time educator recently named his district's 'Teacher of the Year' is under fire after he likened same-sex unions to a 'cesspool' on Facebook. Jerry Buell, a teacher at Mount Dora High School, said he 'almost threw up' in a post about the legalisation of same-sex unions in New York. Mr Buell, who teaches social studies, told the Orlando Sentinel: 'It wasn't out of hatred. It was about the way I interpret things.' A teacher for 25 years, Mr Buell has been at Mount Dora High since 2006. He was named 'Teacher of the Year' for 2010. His teacher profile...

The exact same spot where Pawlenty was heckled by a gay man earlier, Michele Bachmann and her husband get hit with heckling and chants of 'shame on you.' Both incidents took place today at the Iowa State Fair. There is a group of hecklers at this Bachmann speech. (video)

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Will the Children’s Television Workshop give way to same-sex puppet love? An online campaign is calling for the producers of TV’s “Sesame Street” to allow characters Bert and Ernie to get married in an attempt to “put an end to the bullying and suicides of LGBT youth”, according to the group’s Facebook page. The petition letter adds that “[w]e are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful by allowing Bert & Ernie to marry”, suggesting that the show “even add a transgender character to the show…in a tasteful way”.

Pastor Nancy Petty, the lesbian spiritual leader at Pullen Memorial Baptist church in Raleigh, N.C., has a message for her state: Legalize same-sex marriage — or else. Until gay unions are legislatively permitted, Petty plans to no longer sign marriage licenses — an action that will potentially have a profound impact on her congregation. In addressing same-sex marriage, Petty said the following to her congregation: “Do we, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, want to continue to participate in offering religious ceremonies that carry with them civil and human rights that are not afforded to all people? Or will it be our...

Gay activists and Democratic leaders from throughout Broward gathered Monday evening to denounce U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation. They were joined by a Miami-Dade County Republican. West was the inspiration for the Coalition for Fairness and Equality, which formed last week in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding an aborted plan for the congressman to speak in Wilton Manors. He’d been invited by the Wilton Manors Business Association, but the group canceled under pressure from gay activists, some of whom threatened to organize a boycott of business association members if the event went on. The gay activists said the appearance...

When idiots of yore tossed slurs and epithets at sporting events, they had the sorry excuse of living in an America where segregation not only was common but also legislated. Impolite folks too ignorant to know better and too lazy to learn routinely wrapped themselves in bigotry, sparing no one, as was discovered by Jewish slugger Hank Greenberg and black pioneer Jackie Robinson. That was the 1930s and '40s and '50s, when many were denied civil rights and voting rights and the system was contaminated with the poisons of prejudice. What's the excuse now that we're supposed to be so...

As George Greanias returns to work today at Metro, it's unclear how well he can overcome public humiliation to regain the respect and authority he had earned in less than a year as the transit agency's leader. Greanias, the Metropolitan Transit Authority president and CEO, resumes his post following a one-week suspension without pay, a punishment imposed by the Metro board July 28 after he got caught surfing sexually explicit websites on Metro's premises using its wireless Internet system. Since the surprising announcement 10 days ago, Greanias has been publicly silent, spending time with family members out of town. The...

A Dothan teacher arrested last week on a sex crime charge involving a student now faces at least one additional charge for allegedly molesting the same 16-year-old male student. Dothan police investigators talked about some of the evidence in their case against 30-year-old Calvin Bell-Tharpe at a bond reduction hearing Monday. Attorney Shaun McGhee, who represents Bell-Tharpe, asked the court to reduce his client’s current $175,000 bond. Dothan police arrested Bell-Tharpe on Friday on a charge based on a recently enacted law of a school employee having sex with a student. District Court Judge Benjamin Lewis denied Bell-Tharpe's bond reduction...

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to certify that gays can serve openly in the armed services

A Sacramento-based advocacy group has filed referendum papers seeking to let voters decide the fate of a new California law requiring public schools to teach about societal contributions made by gay and lesbian people. Capitol Resource Institute, which describes itself as a "watchdog for family values," filed its documents this month with the state Attorney General's Office, which is a prelude to launching a signature-gathering campaign. The group hopes to kill Senate Bill 48, legislation that Gov. Jerry Brown said "represents an important step forward for our state"

Imagine a bargain hunter's shock and dismay when responding to an ad on Craigslist listing a bunch of possessions for sale and then receiving an email announcing that gay people, Muslims, and illegal immigrants aren't allowed to purchase the wares. Read it for yourself. Our tipster, who lives in the D.C. area, responded to an ad on Craigslist, which has been taken down, expressing interest in one of the items for sale. He received this mass email response peppered with casual racism and homophobia. I've highlighted the worst parts, but the whole thing is really amazingly awful. "i have been...

New York (CNN) -- We were at a Manhattan water park when it happened. I was with my then 3-year-old daughter, Luna, playing in a sandpit on a foul, chilly morning beneath clouds that looked like ripped paper. It was no day to be outside, but living in a city of small apartments, it was no day to be inside with a child either. A little girl approached the two of us, clearly interested in playing. But when she arrived, she addressed only Luna. Pointing a finger at me, she asked her, "Is that your baby sitter?" I've been mistaken...

Finally, Sarah Palin and I agree. We both want people to accept and celebrate every child, even those who appear different… and we want them to act right with regard to those children. When she was told by doctors during her pregnancy that her unborn child had Down syndrome, she wrote a letter to her family and friends from God’s perspective. She seems to have seen quite clearly that her son was not broken, he was made this way intentionally, and she clearly expresses the expectation that he will be celebrated for being exactly who he is. I think this...

al-Qaeda fanatics in Britain are being taught to avoid detection – by pretending to be gay. A new terror training manual tells Islamic extremists to lie about their sexuality if a woman approaches them in case she is a “honeytrap” spy sent by security services. The handbook, which was uncovered by a Sunday Mirror ­investigation, says: “Many hotels – especially in busy UK cities – have women hanging around the lobby areas in order to attract men. “A young beautiful woman may come and talk to you. The first thing you do to protect yourself from such a ­situation is...

Rep. Michele Bachmann kicked off her presidential campaign on Monday in Waterloo, Iowa, and in one interview surrounding the official event she promised to mimic the spirit of Waterloo's own John Wayne. The only problem, as one eagle-eyed reader notes: Waterloo's John Wayne was not the beloved movie star, but rather John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer. Mrs. Bachmann grew up in Waterloo, and used the town as the backdrop for her campaign announcement, where she told Fox News: "Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit...

CHICAGO (CBS) — Was the vandalism of 51 floats for the Gay Pride Parade this past weekend a hate crime? Police say they are not investigating it as such. But the parade organizer and the owner of the floats both said they believe it was. The Pride Parade went on as always in the Boystown neighborhood, with appearances by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn, among other dignitaries. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered along Halsted Street, Broadway and Diversey Parkway, high-fiving and embracing strangers and wishing them, “Happy pride!” But the tire-slashing put a damper on the event...

After all, the Good Book was once used to justify slavery. I stopped even peeking at "comments" sections a long time ago, like many writers. However, in the wake of a piece I did on the controversy over homophobia among black comedians, rappers and others, I have been pointed to some comments sections by other people writing on the subject, and have made an exception and taken a look. What I have been struck by is how often perfectly sensible commenters approach this rich and delicate subject by simply stating that the Bible forbids homosexuality. It's clear that a lot...

Colby King of the Washington Post comments on the GOP field.

Older fathers made headlines several years ago when researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine reported that a man over 40 is almost six times as likely as a man under 30 to father an autistic child. Since then, research has shown that a man's chances of fathering offspring with schizophrenia double when he hits 40 and triple at age 50. The incidence of bipolarity, epilepsy, prostate cancer and breast cancer also increases in children born to men approaching 40. Both dwarfism and Marfan syndrome (a disorder of the connective tissue) have been linked to older fathers, and according...

SAN DIEGO -- History will be made at this year's San Diego Pride Parade when active-duty military members will march openly through the heart of Hillcrest. "To my knowledge [it is] the first time in the history of Pride in the United States, ever, that we have said, 'Active duty, you are welcome,'" organizer Sean Sala said. "We want you to be there without fear of repercussions, because we love you." Sala, an active-duty sailor, said he was bothered to see that police and firefighters were represented in the Pride parade, but not the people who serve this country. "I...

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele recently announced his support for extending county benefits to domestic partners of county employees. Do you think governments should provide domestic partnership benefits? Yes or No

Dogs, straight and gay, will strut their funky stuff at London’s first gay dog show later this month. Battersea Cats and Dogs home has joined forces with Pride London to find the hottest talent in the canine kingdom to compete to be London’s Pride Pooch 2011. Celebrity judge Julian Barnes from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and BBC Three’s Help! My Dog’s as Fat as Me will be presiding over the finalists and picking the winners at Vauxhall's Fire nightclub on June 30. Victorious dogs will then take centre stage on July 2 at the head of this year’s...

Last week, Eli Lake of the Washington Times reported that “[t]he White House is pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly adopt President Obama’s view that Israel’s pre-1967 borders should be the basis for future peace talks.” As Lake explained, “Mr. Obama’s position would effectively reopen border negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that had been mostly settled in the last round of peace talks that ended in 2008.” While the Obama administration has given Israel an ultimatum — negotiate with the Palestinians on the basis of the 1967 borders as a starting point - Andrew Sullivan cites...

A blog purportedly written by a gay woman in Syria, which described life in Damascas amid the current political unrest, has been revealed to be a hoax. A Girl Gay in Damascus gained a worldwide readership and was closely followed by news organisations. But the true author has now come forward - Tom MacMaster, an American man studying in Scotland. Many Syrian activists have reacted angrily, accusing him of trivialising or even harming their cause. "One day if I'm kidnapped by my government, many readers won't care because I could turn out to be another Amina," wrote one Lebanese blogger....

...“Paula Brooks,” editor of Lez Get Real since its founding in 2008, is actually Bill Graber, 58, who said he is a retired Ohio military man and construction worker that had adopted his wife’s identity online... Brooks’s identity came under suspicion after news broke that a woman called Amina Arraf on the blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus” might not really be a Syrian lesbian. Over the weekend, as journalists, bloggers and fans of Amina hunted for clues to the identity behind the blog, Brooks came under review as a possible suspect. Liz Henry, a Web producer at BlogHer.com, questioned...

An organizer behind a growing campaign to outlaw circumcision for infant boys now has created a comic book specifically targeting that Jewish practice, and critics say he's gone too far by using Nazi images and stereotypes. "This comic is modern anti-Semitism at its best. It is one story to fight against circumcision, and another to portray Jews in a false anti-Semitic stereotype. The Jewish depictions look like they came right out of Nazi Germany propaganda in the 1930s and 1940s," wrote Hailey Dilman in a commentary at Digital Journal.

(Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates bluntly told Marines on Sunday that they won't be able to opt out of their enlistment just because they disagree with a government decision to end a ban on gays serving openly in the military. Gates, who is on a tour of Afghanistan to bid farewell to the troops before stepping down at the end of the month, was quizzed by a Marine sergeant about the controversial policy during a question and answer session at a base in southwestern Helmand Province.

A gay softball organization can keep its rule limiting the number of heterosexual players on each team, but allegations by three players who say they were disqualified from a tournament because they weren't gay enough can proceed to trial, a federal judge said. The North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance oversees gay softball leagues in dozens of U.S. cities and runs an annual tournament called the Gay Softball World Series. Three men claim in a lawsuit filed last year that their team's second-place finish in the 2008 tournament in Washington state was nullified because they are bisexual, not gay, and...

A female Florida sheriff's deputy handcuffed naked girls to a desk, spanked them with a leather paddle and sent the seamy homemade videos to a boyfriend she met on a fetish web site, authorities said. Robin Leigh Pagoria, 45, subjected her two victims - described as girls between the ages of 10 and 18 - to multiple torture sessions, authorities said. "There aren't words to describe my anger with her," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told the Orlando Sentinel, adding that the arrest "came out of nowhere." Pagoria, a divorced Marine veteran, shackled the girls' wrists and ankles to a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25% of Americans are gay or lesbian. More specifically, over half of Americans (52%) estimate that at least one in five Americans are gay or lesbian, including 35% who estimate that more than one in four are. Thirty percent put the figure at less than 15%. Just your best guess, what percent of Americans today would you say are gay or lesbian? 2002 and 2011 Trend The findings, from a Gallup poll conducted May 5-8, 2011, mark the second time Gallup has asked Americans to estimate the gay population. In 2002,...