WASHINGTON (CNN) — A Kansas church notorious for its angry, anti-gay protests at military funerals will continue the controversial practice despite new restrictions in a bill passed by Congress that awaits President Barack Obama’s signature. “That’s really not going to change our plans at all,” Westboro Baptist Church spokesman Steve Drain told CNN on Friday….
Iran has recalled its ambassador to Azerbaijan after accusing the country of planning a “gay parade” for this coming Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest. The Telegraph reports that Azerbaijan’s hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest – a flamboyant annual pageant of pop music from around Europe – has been condemned by some Iranian clerics who have…
LGBT-rights activist and gay marriage advocate Patricia Baker lost her battle with lung cancer Sunday at age 55. The Rhode Island native was a local champion for the gay community, working tirelessly to achieve federal recognition of same-sex marriage throughout the country. According to the Providence Journal, Baker fought diligently to achieve marriage equality despite…
One week before the St. Petersburg Gay Pride parade, scheduled this year for June 25, Russian anti-gay organizers staged a rally in St. Petersburg petitioning city hall to ban LGBT groups from city-sanctioned activity. The violently anti-gay rally, which involved participants draping a coffin in a rainbow flag and then destroying and discarding it in…
What began as an isolated attack on Newt Gingrich’s anti-gay politics has become a vigilante movement in defense of LGBT and reproductive rights – this time in pink. Nancy Mancias and Chelsea Byers, members of the anti-war activist group CODEPINK, took a page out of activist Nick Espinosa’s playbook yesterday when they showered Republican presidential…
After a three-week campaign by prominent LGBT organizations urging Orbitz to examine several cases of anti-gay bigotry aired on Fox News, the online travel agency has decided to review its advertising policy with the news media corporation. According to a statement released today by Orbitz: “Orbitz has heard from the LGBT community about its concerns…
Recent pressure to remove a controversial art work from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery exhibition “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” has sparked a debate concerning the over-arching issues of free expression and artistic censorship in the nation’s capitol. After a video component of the exhibit depicting ants crawling on a crucifix drew complaints…
Scott LoBaido, a New York artists and self-proclaimed “surrealist and patriot,” has decided to give the Westboro Baptist Church a taste of its own medicine. In a passive counter-attack against the church’s recent anti-gay demonstrations at military funerals, LoBaido set up shop across the street from the organization’s headquarters in Topeka, Kansas and displayed a…
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has announced its intention to stand with GLAAD and promote anti-bullying messages. The partnership comes after wrestler John Cena made a number of televised comments that many viewers considered anti-gay. Cena’s comments, made in the context of the program WWE Raw, included negative implications of homosexuality in reference to Dwayne “The…
Recent controversy over a so-called “gay cure” app from Exodus International has sparked a response from the University of Minnesota pediatrics professor whose research was used in developing the app. According to PCMag.com, the scientist in question, Dr. Gary Ramafedi, has contacted Apple and demanded that they remove the application from the App Store. Ramafedi…
