Officials in St. Petersburg deemed that Saturday's rally, which took place in a space designated for public demonstrations, violated the law.

The statute prohibits public displays of homosexuality.

About 200 nationalists also gathered at the rally, chanted slogans such as "Sodomy will not pass," and threw eggs and rocks at the gay-rights activists, who numbered about 40.

The state-run Itar-TASS news agency quoted an unnamed police official as saying police arrested dozens of people, including eight nationalists.

Russia's parliament passed a law banning "gay propaganda" earlier this month. St. Petersburg was one of several cities to pass similar laws at local level before that.

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My ill-advised attack on George Stark of the Daily Mail had absolutely nothing to do with issues of anyone's sexual orientation. My anger was directed at Mr. Stark for blatantly lying and disseminating libelous information about my wife and her conduct at our friend's funeral service. As someone who fights against homophobia, I apologize.

I have worked, periodically, with numerous marriage equality organizations, especially over the past couple of years, to achieve the very rights that gay couples are earning by recent court decisions. I would not advocate violence against someone for being gay and I hope that my friends at GLAAD and the gay community understand that my attack on Mr. Stark in no way was the result of homophobia.

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Department director Zach Thompson says the message of the billboard -- part of a broader campaign that also deals with sex education in public schools and driving down infection rates across genders and sexual identities -- is very clear, explaining that "among African American men who have sex with men the rate of HIV new cases is at an epidemic proportion" and that awareness and reducing stigma associated with getting tested is crucial to changing that.

But conservatives are outraged that the billboard makes being gay seem "acceptable."

Councilwoman Vonceil Jones-Hill told Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth that the billboard presents "African American men who are homosexuals as acceptable" and encourages gay people to "feel free to continue what you are doing" -- and she thinks that is a problem.

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Huckabee spoke with Concerned Women for America head Penny Nance about his concerns on the radio on Monday, saying,

The very thing that many people and I know CWA was a part of this, saying, this is why the legalization of same-sex marriage is going to be a much bigger issue than just saying we let people love whoever they want to love, that’s not the issue. Will it force businesses -- of course everyone will say, oh no people still have their rights, but they don’t. And every fear that people had has in fact come true, that this is being forced in textbooks on how marriage is depicted, we’re now even seeing television commercials portraying same-sex couples, that’s something I guess I didn’t expect to see anytime soon.

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When Roy Hibbert of the Indiana Pacers used "no homo" at a press conference while discussing LeBron James, it set off what has become a predictable chain of events. Athlete makes gay slur. Outcry ensues. Athlete apologizes or sort-of apologizes. League punishes athlete or not. Repeat.

Not all apologies are created equal. I thought Hibbert's was a model. It was direct and unequivocal and he said he would accept any fine, which turned out to be $75,000 from the NBA. In addition, after Jason Collins came out in April, Hibbert said some very supportive things.

In looking back at athlete gay slurs since 1999, the apologies come in all flavors, from sincere to "non-apology apologies." Years ago, we used a "Rocker Scale" to categorize anti-gay comments, named in honor of the patron saints of gay slurs, former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker, who made headlines with his 1999 comments about "queers." I am dusting off the scale to rate apologies in looking back at 21 examples of gay slurs and their aftermath.

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Kiadii told CBS New York that he was beaten up by a group of teenagers in Brooklyn's Prospect Park:

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Of the local Scout leaders voting at their annual meeting in Texas, more than 60 percent supported the proposal.

Under the proposal drafted by the Scouts' governing board, gay adults will remain barred from serving as Scout leaders.

The outcome is unlikely to end a bitter debate over the Scouts' membership policy.

Some conservative churches that sponsor Scout units wanted to continue excluding gay youths, in some cases threatening to defect if the ban were lifted. More liberal Scout leaders — while supporting the proposal to accept gay youth — have made clear they want the ban on gay adults lifted as well.

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Affeldt discusses his struggle to overcome his anti-gay bias in a new memoir, "To Stir a Movement," and believes the diversity of his adopted city helped him through that process: "There's a chapter in there of me coming to San Francisco and being hesitant because I had homophobia, and now I don't," he told the Associated Press. "I see more San Francisco as a city of love and a city of passion and compassion. It's unbelievable this city. To see that and to have my heart change as a city I didn't ever want to come to, to a city that I'm so thankful I'm going to be part of for a long time, it talks about that. For me, it was an awesome deal."

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Why? Because, in addition to coupons for Outback Steakhouse and discounts on prescription refills, the retiree organization's website has a page to provide "resources, news, and other topics of interest to older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, their family and friends."

As Zack Ford at ThinkProgress notes, LGBT adults and seniors face unique challenges later in life, like navigating Social Security benefits, estate taxes and other issues; AARP's resource center addresses those needs.

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After filing the request on Monday, gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev announced a plan to hold the march for Vladislav Tornovoi, “whether authorities grant permission or not."

City officials denied the request, saying there is "no need for such events in the city," as the Moscow Times reports:

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The victim's battered body was found in an apartment building Friday morning, with signs of having been burned and sexually assaulted.

Natalia Kunitskaya, a spokeswoman for the Volgograd branch of the Investigative Committee, told Agence France Presse that her agency believed the crime was motivated by the victim's sexuality. A 22-year-old and 27-year-old were detained in connection with the brutal assault.

As reported by AFP:

The Investigative Committee's tersely-worded statement said investigators had opened a murder probe, without commenting on possible motives for the killing.

The attack comes at a time when rights groups are already worried about growing discrimination against homosexuals as President Vladimir Putin seeks to play up traditional values in a bid to rally support during his third term in office...

Russian parliament is considering passing a controversial national law banning "homosexual propaganda" among minors. Critics say the bill's wording is so vague that it could be used to justify any kind of repression against gays.

The law is already in place in several regions including Saint Petersburg.

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In case you missed these viral videos, a recap: On Tuesday's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," the host challenged "The Office's" Krasinski to a lip-sync off. They went back and forth, taking turns performing songs of their choice -- notably, songs by high-pitched women for maximum laugh factor -- and ended with the grand finale of Krasinski pretending to sing "I'll Make Love to You" by Boyz II Men and waving Fallon onto the stage for an intimate embrace. This morning, several publications ran coverage of the skit with the apparently hilarious screenshot of the two faux-crooning with their faces inches apart. (For the record, Salon posted the video, but ran with a different still.)

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Why? Because in addition to being one of the most critically acclaimed writers of science fiction, Card, or OSC, as he's dubbed in sci-fi circles, is also one of the most openly bigoted. Card is the great-great-grandson of Mormon icon Brigham Young, and his politics are deeply linked to his lifelong Mormonism. Card has been openly railing against what he calls "the homosexual agenda" for decades.

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Speaking to a group of 500 financial advisers and investors on Thursday, Ferguson explained that the problem with Keynes' famous worldview, "In the long run we are all dead," is that we are survived by future generations who must deal with the consequences of our actions. In an off-the-cuff remark, Ferguson added that Keynes adopted this philosophy because he was a homosexual who could not reproduce.

From Financial Advisor's Tim Kostigen:

Ferguson asked the audience how many children Keynes had. He explained that Keynes had none because he was a homosexual and was married to a ballerina, with whom he likely talked of "poetry" rather than procreated.

Kostigen wrote, "The audience went quiet at the remark. Some attendees later said they found the remarks offensive."

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Along with the bullets, the Sigolsheim mayor was sent a copy of the interview scrawled over with homophobic slurs. He called the threat "odious."

As reported by English-language French news site the Local, Speitel is not the only French politician to receive death threats as the opposition to marriage equality in France becomes increasingly vocal -- and threatening:

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The offending tweet? (Get ready to be scandalized): "Congrats to Jason Collins."

Butler says he was contacted by a member of the church and told that he was in violation of his contract's "moral clause," and was no longer welcome to speak at the church. But, Butler went on to say, the member told him he would be welcomed back to speak if he would delete his pro-Collins tweet and "ask God for forgiveness." An offer that Butler, thankfully, declined.

More here:

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h/t Raw Story

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This theory holds that closeted young men in bigoted environments often respond by overachieving in certain areas, like sports or academics -- the idea being that it's an adaptive means of finding a sense of self-worth where they can. It can also serve to distract from their sexuality: As Andrew Tobias wrote in his 1976 memoir, "The Best Little Boy in the World," a key "line of defense" was his endless list of activities. "No one could expect me to be out dating ... when I had a list of 17 urgent projects to complete," he wrote.

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On Friday, the French Senate voted to approve same-sex marriage and adoption, a move that could bring about full change in the country as early as this summer (civil unions have been legal since 1999). France's justice minister Christiane Taubira, a vocal supporter of the measure, said Friday that the move would strengthen society "by granting the simple recognition of full citizenship to homosexual couples" and  "move our institutions towards ever more freedom, equality and personal respect." Yet conservatives in the French government vowed to continue to fight against the bill, declaring that "nothing is definitive and the debate continues."

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During a post-CPAC media victory lap, the Hopkins neurosurgeon told Fox News that "no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality" can change the definition of so-called traditional marriage, which he said is a "fundamental pillar of society."

Carson was rebuked by students, faculty and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Dean Paul B. Rothman over his statement last week, and he sent Rothman a letter stepping down as commencement speaker on Wednesday.

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