(MNW) US Supreme Court Considers Marriage Case This Week!

Marriage finally comes to Illinois, months after the state passed a marriage equality bill. Numerous state schedule marriage case milestones for this summer. The Attorney General of Florida insists that a marriage ban is necessary but can't explain why. And the US Supreme Court will take a look at marriage in Oregon this week.

(MNN) State Officials Take Opposite Sides Over KY Marriage Ban!

Two more polls show public support for marriage equality at a historic high -- and our opponents at a historic low. Marriages are happening early in Illinois, we have new lawsuits in Florida and Wyoming, and Kentucky's Attorney General takes a stand against the state's marriage ban.

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(Marriage News Watch) Marriage is Coming to Illinois, but When?

Marriage equality is law in Illinois, but questions remain over when marriages can actually start. Virginia voters could have a chance to overturn that state's marriage ban, and polling is surprisingly strong. Lawsuits advance this week in Pennsylvania and Tennessee, and there's more bad news for the National Organization for Marriage.

(TIME WARP): AIDS, The plague years-1981-91!

June 1991

If you are of an older generation, and especially a gay man, you probably remember reading or hearing about a July 3, 1981, New York Times article reporting on a strange series of illnesses striking gay men in East Coast and West Coast urban areas. Just 12 years after the Stonewall riots in New York, the decade of love and liberation had come to a crashing end.


There were some signs of distress earlier than 1981. Doctors and nurses, especially those with many gay patients, began to notice obscure illnesses cropping up. Gay health groups did screenings for venereal diseases, which were spreading rapidly.

But it was the summer of 1981 when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report ( MMWR, June 5 and July 3 ) first reported that a new disease might be in our midst. It could have been around for years, but was just at that time starting to exhibit itself.

Check here for FULL Story and Photos!

(POP NEWS) Blame Game; Huge; Moving Inward; Offensive; Milestone; Decline; Accepted; Weed; Payout; Not a Fan; Sour Grapes; Size; Freaky!

• BLAME GAME: Russian Wrestling Coach Claims Masculinity-Hating Gays to Blame for Sport Getting Cut from Olympics!

• HUGE: Marriage Equality Legislation Filed in Texas!

• MOVING INWARD: Illinois Senate Passes Marriage Equality in 34-21 Vote!

• OFFENSIVE: AP Digs in Heels on Discriminatory 'Husband' and 'Wife' Guidance!

• MILESTONE:Gallup Breaks Down Percentage of LGBT People by State in Largest Study of its Kind!

• DECLINED: Gay Missouri Teen Told He Can't Bring Male Date to Prom!

• ACCEPTED: Same-Sex Couple Set for National Cemetery Burial!

(Top VIDEO) Kathy and Anderson; Ke$ha; One Direction; Jesse Tyler; Fancy!

• Kathy Griffin Goes For Anderson Cooper's Euphemism On NYE!

• The Worst New Year's Eve Telecast of All Time?

• Ke$ha: 'I Don't Love Just Men'!

• One Direction Teases Upcoming 'Kiss You' Video!

• Jesse Tyler Ferguson Speaks Out for Marriage Equality in Illinois!

• Flight Suit of Fancy!

SHOWCASE: Steve Starchild Marries the Night!

Chicagoan Steve Starchild and his impressive abs hit the streets of Chicago and wind up in bed with a bottle of Svedka after a committed cover of Gaga's "Marry the Night".

OZ Bound: Blago Seeks Prison Rehab!

Rod Blagojevich is seeking to join a substance abuse program in federal prison, but some suspect the disgraced former Illinois governor is trying to shave time off his sentence rather than deal with a genuine drug or alcohol problem. Under federal guidelines, Blagojevich is likely to serve just under 12 years on his 14-year sentence for corruption.

That could be cut to 11 years if he completes the nine-month substance abuse program. He would also be eligible to spend his last six months in a halfway house. The bar for entry into the program is set pretty low: Prison officials say that somebody who consumed as little as five drinks a week could qualify, the Chicago Tribune finds. "Any defense lawyer in town that’s worth their salt all know about this, and they all try to get their clients in,” says a former aide to George Ryan, Blagojevich's jailed predecessor. "It’s the only game in town. It’s the only way you can get time off." Blagojevich was due to start his sentence in February, but a judge has granted him an extra month of freedom to help his family move from their house. At Blagojevich's request, the judge recommended that he be sent to a low-security prison in Colorado.

OBSCENE: Gay Chicago Couple Ejected from CTA Bus Over Kiss!

Christopher Buchanan and his boyfriend Derrell Hughes say they were kicked off a Chicago Transit Authority bus on October 22 for kissing, the Windy City Times reports: "I was holding his hand and kissing and whatnot," Buchanan told Windy City Times.

As the bus approached downtown, he said, a middle-aged White woman approached the bus driver to complain about the two. The driver allegedly got up and told Buchanan and Hughes that someone had complained about them and that they needed to get off his bus.

"He was really in my face," said Buchanan. "He said 'you bitches need to get off the bus…I can't stand fags.'"

NO VACANCY: Bed-and-Breakfasts Refuse to Host Gay Civil Union, Sparking Lawsuit!

Two gay men, Todd and Mark Wathen, wanted to hold their civil union ceremony in a bed-and-breakfast in Illinois. Their wish was denied, twice, because bed-and-breakfasts are pillars of straightness: 

The Beall Mansion in Alton told the Wathens via email that it "will just be doing traditional weddings." The owner of the Timber Creek Bed and Breakfast in Paxton wrote in an email to the couple: "We will never host same-sex civil unions. We will never host same-sex weddings even if they become legal in Illinois. We believe homosexuality is wrong and unnatural based on what the Bible says about it. If that is discrimination, I guess we unfortunately discriminate."
"After all this happened, I just didn't even want to talk about the wedding," said Todd Wathen. "It took an event we had looked forward to for years and ruined it."

After the couple filed a complaint, the state's human rights commission found "substantial evidence" of a civil rights violation. Now the couple is suing.
But attorneys for the establishments say they were exercising freedom of religion. With bed-and-breakfasts becoming culture-war battlegrounds in similar disputes across the country, this case could be major - the Brown v. Board of Education of bed-and-breakfasts.

DON'T TELL: Elmhurst College is First to Ask Prospective Students About Sexual Orientation!

Elmhurst College in suburban Chicago is the first to directly ask prospective students if they are LGBT, the Sun Times reports: At a handful of other universities, there are admissions procedures that might identify LGBT student applicants. At Dartmouth College, for example, students can check boxes of activities that might interest them, including LGBT-centered activities. At the University of Pennsylvania, students who write in their application essay that they are gay can be paired with a mentor.

REJECTED: Blood Bank Denies Man For 'Appearing' Gay!

Most if not all LGBT people have experienced homophobia in their lives. So, too, do straight people.

Just consider Illinois citizen Aaron Pace, an effeminate straight man who was recently rejected from a local blood bank for "appearing" gay.

Via the Chicago Sun-Times: [Pace's] character and behavior prompted a blood donation center to reject him when he tried to donate blood recently and he’s miffed, to say the least.

“I was humiliated and embarrassed,” said Pace, 22. of Gary. “It’s not right that homeless people can give blood but homosexuals can’t. And I’m not even a homosexual.”

...During the interview screening process, Pace said he was told he could not be a blood donor there because he “appears to be a homosexual.”

The FDA, fearful of HIV infections, banned LGBT people from giving blood in 1983, meaning that anyone who is or appears to be homosexual can legally be discriminated against at blood banks from coast-to-coast.

Lifting the restrictions would flood blood banks with an estimated 219,000 pints of viable and much needed plasma. The FDA, however, continues to drag its feet on lifting the outdated and offensive prohibitions.

SOFT: Marilyn Monroe Statue Features Lacy Surprise!

AP) – It's safe to say nobody is having their picture taken as much in Chicago right now as Marilyn Monroe. The scene in a plaza along Michigan Avenue resembles a movie premiere, with dozens of people clicking pictures as fast as they could at a 26-foot-tall sculpture of the Blonde Bombshell that was unveiled Friday morning. Monroe is taking the famous pose from the movie The Seven Year Itch, with her skirt billowing as she enjoys the breeze of a subway grate. 

But that didn't mean people weren't surprised that when they walked around the side and the back of the sculpture, they could see clear as day Monroe's underwear—her lacy underwear. The sculpture is set to remain on the plaza until next spring.

TWA(R)T: Chicago's Colossal Marilyn Monroe 'Seven Year Itch' Sculpture!

LEGAL: Rahm Wants Gay Marriage in Illinois!

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel hopes that the land of Lincoln will follow New York's lead on gay marriage, reports Politico. “I would hope that the state would move in that direction,” said Emanuel. “Tremendous progress has been made across the country on a value statement. And I think that’s very important.” But Emanuel avoided criticizing President Obama's avoidance of endorsing all-out marriage for gay couples. “Whatever perspective I have, I’ll share with him,” Emanuel said.

Is Blagojevich Heading to 'OZ'?

Turns out Rod Blagejevich was right that President Obama's old Senate seat was worth something: A whole bunch of jail time. A jury today convicted Blago on 17 of 20 charges after deliberating for nine days. Blagojevich showed little emotion after the verdicts were read, notes the Chicago Tribune, but turned simply to his wife and whispered, "I love you." 

The former governor faced up to 350 years behind bars if convicted on all charges; however, sentencing guidelines would result in less time. The jury deadlocked on two charges and acquitted Blagojevich on one, but found him guilty of wire fraud, attempted extortion, bribery, and conspiracy, among others. His legal team will likely appeal.

HATE: Vandals Slash Tires of Thirty Chicago Pride Floats!

The tires of the 30 floats were slashed overnight just before today's Pride parade in Chicago. According to the Windy City Times:

Chuck Huser, owner of long-time Pride float provider Associated Attractions at 4834 S. Halsted on Chicago's South Side, said the floats were fine when he left 8 p.m. Saturday night, but when he returned 5 a.m. Sunday to start preparation for drivers to depart, he found two tires punctured each on more than 30 floats.

"This is catastrophic," he told Windy City Times at 8 a.m. June 26. "This has never happened before, and we have been doing this since 1989."

The attackers broken in but did no other damage to the floats, and they took nothing else, leaving Huser to believe this had to be a hate crime. No notes were left.

Huser has filed a police report, but his main focus the morning of the Pride Parade was finding an open tire shop, where they were running back and forth to repair the tires.

"They didn't want these folks to go out," Huser said. He added that he has no disgruntled employees or customers, and that most of his workers have been with him more than 20 years.

Openly gay Illinois state Representative Kelly Cassidy on if this might be a hate crime: “It’s hard not to think so a couple of days after New York’s huge victory."

Twenty other floats, all stored indoors at a separate location, were not damaged and will participate in today's Pride parade in Chicago. Huser and his team are currently scrambling to find replacement tires for the vandalized floats before the parade began.

OFFICIAL: Awesome Video of the First Civil Union in Illinois!

Here's video of a couple, Lakeesha Harris and Janean Watkins, having their application processed, as well as lots of couples filing out and being congratulated.

VICTORY: Illinois Senate Approves Anti-Westboro Bill!

Westboro Baptist Church could soon find itself foiled in Illinois. The state Senate passed a measure yesterday that broadens the protection granted to funerals, requiring any protesters to remain at least 300 feet away from the site rather than the currently required 200 feet. The original House bill, proposed by a sociology class at Northern Illinois University, required a 1,000-foot limit.


The House must accept or reject the revised Senate version of the bill; if it is accepted, it will go to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk. As lieutenant governor in 2006, Quinn spearheaded an attempt to restrict funeral protests, the Springfield Journal-Register notes. The Illinois branch of the ACLU opposes the measure, with a senior attorney noting that “the First Amendment protects the right to engage in speech in public places that is directed towards whatever audience the speaker chooses,” even if that includes “horrible, offensive messages.”

Citywide LGBT coalition welcomes Rahm Emanuel and new city leadership

The Citywide Coalition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Organizations congratulates Rahm Emanuel on his inauguration as the Mayor of the City of Chicago. The Coalition also congratulates the new and re-elected aldermen of Chicago's 50 Wards, including openly gay Aldermen James Cappleman  and Tom Tunney, reports Chicagopride.com.
In February of this year, over 30 LGBT organizations came together to host the city's first Mayoral Candidate Forum on LGBT Issues. This coalition of organizations has remained intact to ensure that the needs of Chicago's diverse LGBT communities are heard and addressed.

"We are very pleased to welcome Rahm Emanuel as he becomes this great city's next Mayor," said Anthony Martinez, Executive Director of The Civil Rights Agenda. "With that said, to ensure this city stays great we have a lot of work to do. The goal of this coalition is to ensure that the needs of the LGBT community are taken into account on larger issues such as education, and public safety. We want to ensure that the Mayor holds true to the promises he made to the LGBT community, and that the community engages with this new administration around accountability."