Marine spokesman on gay kiss: "It’s your typical homecoming photo." And it was their first kiss.

Great job from the Marine spokesman. Not to mention, this was their first kiss. Their four year friendship had turned into a romance by mail (or email) while the Marine was stationed in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Brandon Morgan returned Wednesday from a six-month deployment to Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.

There to meet him was his friend of four years, Windward Oahu artist Dalan Wells -- a friendship that had turned to a long-distance love during the deployment. This was their first kiss.

"We couldn't talk, I can barely talk now, his hands went numb, my legs were shaking, our first kiss after just knowing how we felt about each other,” Morgan said.

“All my superiors, my staff sergeants, my gunnery sergeants, my lieutenants, my officers, my captains, they're all very ecstatic and very happy that I had somebody to come home to,” Morgan said. “Again, gay or straight, does not matter.”

A spokesperson for Marine Corps Base Hawaii said in a statement: "It's your typical homecoming photo."

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Gay kiss Marine talks to TV

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Interview with Hawaii gay Marine and his partner, from the kiss photo

Steve Rothaus in the Miami Herald:

Marine Sgt. Brandon Morgan returned Feb. 22 from Afghanistan to Hawaii and jumped into partner Dalan Wells' arms. (Morgan is 5-feet 11-inches tall; Wells is 6-foot-6.)

A friend, David Lewis, photographed the family reunion.

"With all that was going on, we didn’t even know he was there taking pictures," Morgan says. "The world went away for a few minutes."

One of the couple's Facebook friends sent at critical message to Morgan's mother, driving her to tears.

One of the couple's Facebook friends sent at critical message to Morgan's mother, driving her to tears.

"What did you do to mess up as a mother to make him do this?" read the comment.

Says Morgan, a Christian who grew up in Oakdale, Calif., near Modesto: "She loves me and my sister, who's a lesbian. She said, if you don't like my children and how I raised them, I don't care. My mother is awesome!"

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South African police reportedly not terribly interested in investigating deaths of gay men

Not a very good message for tourism or business in that country.

Senekal, a manager at the Joburg Theatre, is one of several gay men murdered in their homes in recent months, with gay rights groups already pressuring the police into performing a more in-depth investigation into the crimes.

Gay rights, health and well-being organisation OUT launched its own campaign last month.

OUT director Dawie Nel expressed his concern at the apparent limited success of the police in investigating the murders and said OUT was in discussion with pro bono lawyers in a bid to pressure the authorities to take action.

“There is a perception that there is a lack of interest in the cases, in part due to the sexual orientation of the victims. Added to this, the investigating officers may have limited knowledge or awareness of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community and online dating,” said Nel.

“We fear that someone is preying on gay men, and the authorities appear unwilling to acknowledge this.”

It's so much like parts of eastern Europe, and Russia, and parts of America too. The oppressed overthrow their oppressors, then they start oppressing others they consider beneath them. Read the rest of this post...

Harvard being asked to award posthumous degrees to gay students kicked out in 1920s

Interesting, I hadn't heard of this.  Not surprising what happened, we are talking the 1920s.  Still, it would be good of Harvard to set things right.  If politicians can get honorary degrees, certainly minority students expelled in a witch hunt can as well. Read the rest of this post...

NH on verge of repealing marriage equality, but may not have votes to overturn promised veto

It appears the New Hampshire Republican party is so hateful that they're make bashing gays a bigger priority than focusing on the economy during a Depression. From the NYT:

A repeal bill appears to have a good chance of passing in the State House and Senate, which are both controlled by Republicans. The bigger question is whether they can muster enough votes to overcome a promised veto from Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat.

Based on party lines, House and Senate Republicans both have veto-proof majorities. But this is an issue where party allegiance gets muddy.

A House vote would need to take place by March 29, the deadline for the House to send its legislation to the Senate. Mr. Bates said Monday that he was working on ways to broaden the bill’s support in both chambers, like changing or removing a sentence that states, “Children can only be conceived naturally through copulation by heterosexual couples.”

Live Free or Die, my ass.  And everyone always tries to tell us how NH Republicans are different.  They're sounding like a bunch of Rick Santorums at the moment.

Also, legally, it'd be fascinating to watch that "children can only be conceived naturally" language pass, as it would seem to negate the existence of "children" who were conceived in other ways.  Is NH planning on making any child in the state not born via heterosexual intercourse - e.g., in vitro fertilization - an un-child under the law?  That's certainly one way to can read that legislation.  That would affect inheritance, health insurance, schooling, all sorts of things.

Like I said, Live Free or die, my ass. Read the rest of this post...

US Supreme Court declines to hear the NOM's appeal to keep donors secret

Yesterday, the US Supreme Court rejected the National Organization for Marriage's appeal of a US appeals court decision that upheld Maine's election laws that require organizations to disclose their donors. In 2009 NOM spent $1.8 million dollars to help repeal marriage equality in Maine. From Reuters:

"These provisions neither erect a barrier to political speech nor limit its quantity. Rather, they promote the dissemination of information about those who deliver and finance political speech, thereby encouraging efficient operation of the marketplace of ideas," the appeals court ruled...

...[NOM] filed the lawsuit in 2009 and claimed the laws violated its constitutional free-speech and due process rights.

Maine defended its laws and said they were designed to inform voters about who is spending money to influence their votes. The federal government and most other states have similar requirements, it said.

Based on how hard they've fought against revealing their donors, I'm guessing we'll see a very small set of very big donors. If there is one thing voters in Maine don't like, it's the feeling that a few outside forces are trying to buy their elections. Read the rest of this post...

Pic of gay marine kissing boyfriend goes global

Joe Jervis of JoeMyGod had predicted this photo would go global, and he was right.  A lot of the mainstream media has picked up this story.  It is amazing how a simple photo can encapsulate so much, in terms of their love but also how much things have changed. Read the rest of this post...

Hateful bigoted Tennessee is at it again

Tennessee was a slave state. Big surprise there. I don't why anyone would do business in this state. They go out of their way to bash gays. Again, big surprise that they were a slave state. Like far too many states, they seem to find their bigotry a badge of honor. Especially Tennessee Republicans, who were famous for their racist attacks on the President and First Lady during the 2008 campaign.

Last year Tennessee repealed every municipal civil rights ordinance in the state, and banned new ones (we wouldn't want black people, among others, getting too many rights). This time they're banning the word "gay" in Tennessee schools, likely in the hopes that gay kids will simply kill themselves when they can't get help from their teachers and counselors.  The only slim silver lining is that if they pass this legislation, and some kid does hurt themselves or get hurt, this can be used as proof of animus and hopefully get the kid and his family millions in a lawsuit.

Hateful bigoted place, Tennessee. Remember that the next time you have the option of passing through the state, working there, or otherwise. Spend your money elsewhere. Read the rest of this post...