General

Judge upholds Augusta State University’s requirement that a graduate student read material about counseling gays and increase her exposure to that community after she objected to counseling homosexual clients was “academically legitimate,” a federal court judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Randal Hall’s decision enables university officials to expel Jennifer Keeton if she does not follow the remediation plan, which professors designed to “address issues of multicultural competence and develop understanding and empathy.”
Hall said the case is not about “pitting Christianity against homosexuality,” but rather the constitutionality of the school’s requirement.
Professors asked Keeton to complete the remediation plan after she said she opposed homosexuality and would tell gay clients “their behavior is morally wrong and then help the client change that behavior,” according to an affidavit filed in the case.

Read More from The Augusta Chronicle:

From a reader: First off, I’d like to congratulate you for being such a medically correct funny, heartless gay bastard. I like your column so much I went out to buy your queer-ass ebooks. But I digress… I have to sound off! I think gay dating has gone stale for me and I’m in dire need of help. I find myself asking the same boring questions, like, “When did you come out, are you out to your family, what do you do, or secretly, WHEN are you gonna do me?” I desperately need some conversation starters. How can I get to know someone without sounding like a scratched record?

— Hate repeating repeating myself

Dear Repeating Repeating:
The answer is to cut the canned crap and talk about what happened the day of your date—what you saw, experienced or felt. And stick to positive comments. Nobody wants to date cynical, bitter people–that’s what friends are for.

If you’re too nervous to wing it then remember a few fun-to-answer questions. For example: Bring up the X-men movies and ask, “Whose power would you rather have—Storm or Wolverine’s?” It’s just a version of the classic question, “Would you rather be able to fly like Superman or be invisible?”

I always say Superman. Here’s why: [Read more…] about What To Say On A Date.

My friend Patti Ellis reminds me a lot of Sarah Palin. They’re both “Momma Grizzly Bears.” Only Sara would let the predators eat her gay cubs and Patti would go Sigourney Weaver on them and yell, “Back off, bitch!”

Palin claims territorial Momma Grizzlyness, but only if her cubs are straight. If the predators stalked her gay cubs, slobbered over the thought of denying them the right to marry or serve in the military, and pounced on them to make it happen, what would Sara do?

Break out her recipe for bear cub pie.

That’s why you gotta love this video of Patti speaking at a street rally celebrating the overturning of Prop 8. Go Patti Bear!

Imagine the stir if they had to change the name of the show to “The Ellen DeGeneres De Rossi Show”….

Manhunt (“Dick Central”) is letting non-members see your profile and pictures. Does this mean your employer can Google you and see that beaver shot you posed with? Yes, says Queerty, my fave gay website. No, says Manhunt, my fave gay dating site.

Both make excellent points. Decide for yourself here.

Romulo Arantes Neto, born in 1987, is a Brazilian actor and model, best known for playing the role of André on the Brazilian teen soap “Malhação.”

Now about that gay marriage thing….Two words: “I Do!”

The money line: “A government of the people, by the people and for the people cannot discriminate against the people.”

L.A. Times: The California Supreme Court struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage Thursday in a broadly worded decision that would invalidate virtually any law that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.

The 4-3 ruling declared that the state Constitution protects a fundamental “right to marry” that extends equally to same-sex couples. It tossed a highly emotional issue into the election year while opening the way for tens of thousands of gay people to wed in California, starting as early as mid-June.

The majority opinion, by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, declared that any law that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation will from this point on be constitutionally suspect in California in the same way as laws that discriminate by race or gender, making the state’s high court the first in the nation to adopt such a stringent standard.

The decision was a bold surprise from a moderately conservative, Republican-dominated court that legal scholars have long dubbed “cautious,” and experts said it was likely to influence other courts around the country.

But the scope of the court’s decision could be thrown into question by an initiative already heading toward the November ballot. The initiative would amend the state Constitution to prohibit same-sex unions.

The campaign over that measure began within minutes of the decision. The state’s Catholic bishops and other opponents of same-sex marriage denounced the court’s ruling. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who previously has vetoed two bills in favor of gay marriage, issued a statement saying he “respects” the decision and “will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn” it.