StudentsFirst's honoree, Tennessee state Rep. John Ragan, is the co-sponsor of the state's shameful (and, thankfully, failed) "Don't Say Gay" legislation, a measure that would have banned teachers from discussing sexuality that is not "related to natural human reproduction" in the classroom. The bill was a barely-concealed attempt to prevent teachers from talking about the existence of gays and lesbians with their students, and would have enshrined anti-gay discrimination in Tennessee law and educational policy. Additional language in Ragan's measure would have compelled educators and school therapists to "out" students they suspected of being gay to parents or guardians.

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Broussard went on to accuse Collins of not being Christian and "walking in open rebellion to God":

Personally, I don’t believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly, like premarital sex between heterosexuals. If you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits. It says that, you know, that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, whatever it maybe, I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. So I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I don’t think the bible would characterize them as a Christian.

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Agema returned to Facebook this weekend to respond to a GOP petition calling for a more inclusive party. According to a release from Grand Traverse County Republican precinct delegate Dennis Lennox, Agema joined the thread and posted: "The real issue is the homosexual community is pushing same-sex marriage which will be taught in schools as an alternative lifestyle."

Another delegate responded: "Our point is that it is one thing to articulate your values but another to be mean about them. Virtuous decorum is symbolic of a principled man of integrity. Let’s keep the smut on the sidelines."

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Kavanagh introduced the measure in reaction to recent anti-discrimination protections passed by the Phoenix City Council, which he apparently did not like:

The city of Phoenix has crafted a bill that allows people to define their sex by what they think in their head. If you’re a male, you don’t go into a female shower or locker room, or vice versa. It also raises the specter of people who want to go into those opposite sex facilities not because they’re transgender, but because they’re weird.

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Earlier this month, an 11-year-old girl testified against  a same-sex marriage bill being debated by the Minnesota House Committee on Civil Law. (The measure has since passed, and now awaits a full legislative vote.)

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"There were a lot of things said over the past year," Braun told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. "I wanted to show that Chick-fil-A doesn't discriminate against anybody. We serve everyone. We're happy to serve the community and this was an opportunity to have this group come in and show them our hospitality regardless of their beliefs, sexual orientation, or whatever. " Adding: "Chick-fil-A has never been about hate."

The Rancho Cucamonga franchise may not be "about hate," but many critics believe comments from Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy are blatantly anti-gay. During a 2012 radio interview, Cathy addressed the issue of marriage equality by saying: "We’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage. And I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude that thinks we have the audacity to redefine what marriage is all about.”

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My parents and all the other gay and lesbian people here want to be happy, just like you. All they want is to be treated fairly. But unlike most of you, they have to come again here year after year and explain over and over why their love is equal to yours. This year, you have the opportunity to change that. I say, choose love. 

Lannon's mother Maryellen Butke says the 12 year old wrote his speech the night before the 12-hour hearing, which lasted until 5 a.m. Friday:

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But what homeowner Aaron Jackson calls a "message of love," Phelps-Roper has (not surprisingly) called a "message of nonsense."

All the same, she told Fox News, she thinks it's great publicity. “I love it," she said. "What [Jackson] does is he keeps the eyes of the whole earth on this message. Now every day all people are thinking about is God will not have same-sex marriage.”

Sure. When people look at a rainbow colored pro-equality house across the street from an infamous hate group that pickets the funerals of murdered children, they're almost definitely going to think: "Man, gay marriage is the real problem here."

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Turns out, real estate was the answer.

After seeing a "For Sale" sign across the street from the anti-gay hate group Westboro Baptist's compound in Topeka, Kansas, Jackson decided to buy the property. Oh, and paint it to look like a rainbow flag.

As Jackson told the Huffington Post:

I didn't know anything about the church or where they were located, but that story kept popping up. And one night I wondered, Where is this church? I got on Google Earth, and I was 'walking down the road,' and I did a 360 view. And I saw a 'For Sale' sign sitting in the front yard of a house. Right away it hit me, Oh my gosh, I could buy a house in front of the WBC! And immediately I thought: And I'm going to paint that thing the color of the pride flag.

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Burnett and Downey approached History and struck a deal, which included a sizable CGI budget to bring state-of-the-art realism to the Great Flood, the parting of the Red Sea, God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and other Bible ­stories. The duo then formed an ­advisory board with some of America's top spiritual leaders.

"We weren't qualified to teach the Bible, but we knew plenty of people who were," says Burnett, whose interfaith panel included pastors Joel Osteen, Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes, Bishop Michael Sheridan, Focus on the Family president Jim Daly and Rev. Samuel Rodriguez.

These advisers were also supposed to appear on screen, since the original plan was to make The Bible a docudrama — reenactments peppered with lots of talking heads. But things went so well during the nearly six-month shoot in Morocco that the miniseries took a different course.

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Artist Chris Sprouse has abandoned the digital series, saying the media firestorm over Card had become a distraction, according to a statement released Tuesday.

"It took a lot of thought to come to this conclusion, but I've decided to step back as the artist on this story," Sprouse said. "The media surrounding this story reached the point where it took away from the actual work, and that's something I wasn't comfortable with. My relationship with DC Comics remains as strong as ever and I look forward to my next project with them."

Sprouse's departure has put the project on hold while DC searches for his replacement. As a result, Card's "Superman" will not appear in the first collected issue this May.

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Now, nearly two years later, Javier is suing the university for violating California's Unruh Civil Rights Act and breach of contract.

California Baptist, like many other religiously-affiliated institutions, bans same-sex relationships through a policy on "sexual conduct outside of marriage," but there is no such language prohibiting the enrollment of transgender students. And while Christian universities have successfully defended against anti-gay discrimination suits on religious grounds, it's less likely that they can make the same case for an anti-transgender policy, Suzanne Goldberg, a professor at Columbia Law School who specializes in sexuality and gender law, told the Huffington Post. "While the position against same-sex sexual relations in some religions is widely known, I don't think the same is true for positions regarding gender identity," she said.

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Mathis' passport and state-issued identification recognize her as female. According to her parents, their daughter has been expressing her gender identity as female since she was 18 months old, and living openly as a girl since age four.

But the school doesn't see her that way. W. Kelly Dude, an attorney for the Fountain-Fort Carson School District, said the school's decision "took into account not only Coy but other students in the building, their parents, and the future impact a boy with male genitals using a girls' bathroom would have as Coy grew older." Adding, "However, I'm certain you can appreciate that as Coy grows older and his male genitals develop along with the rest of his body, at least some parents and students are likely to become uncomfortable with his continued use of the girls' restroom."

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I know. I know. I know.

Anyone who has watched "Animal House" (or even casually scanned Katie J.M. Baker's reporting on Greek life over at Jezebel) knows that "trans-inclusive" and "frat culture" aren't concepts generally uttered in the same sentence. And yet, here we are. Or rather, here they are, the brothers of Phi Alpha Tau, working to not only raise money for Visual & Media Arts sophomore Donnie Collins' top surgery, but building a personal, relatable campaign to raise awareness about transgender rights and the many health insurance-induced hurdles to accessing hormone therapy and surgery.

As reported by Out:

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Because of Transportation Security Administration measures like full body scans and gender-matching identification requirements, many transgender and butch people have good reason to fear being publicly outed and potentially subjected to verbal harassment or violence because of their physical presentation. And for far too many, it isn't just a fear of harassment or humiliation -- it's happening.

In the Huffington Post on Tuesday, Tristan Higgins wrote about the experience of flying while gender non-conforming. Higgins is a self-identified butch woman, "big, strong, tough, more macho, less girly," she says, and this isn't the first time her gender presentation has tripped up TSA agents working with scanning machines that have two clear gender directives: A pink button for women, a blue button for men. When it was Higgins' time to go through, the agent balked:

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Petersen, who intends to break with his party and support same-sex marriage in the state, has said that he is more "concerned about doing the right thing” than playing politics and will "let the chips fall where they may” come reelection. But NOM has pledged $500,000 to stack the deck against the senator and any other GOP lawmaker who endorses equal marriage for gay couples.

In a blog post on Monday, NOM wrote (emphasis mine):

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DC Comics has a surprise twist in store for the latest issue of their "Batwoman" comic: A gay marriage proposal.

In addition to a "massive conclusion to the current storyline as Batwoman and Wonder Woman struggle to defeat Medusa and a horde of villains," readers will also see Batwoman pop the question to her longtime secret love, captain Maggie Sawyer. Sawyer once served on the supernatural task force with Superman, but was transfered to Gotham City to head their Major Crimes Unit. Oh, and have a tortured but super hot relationship with Batwoman!

DC Comics has been making a serious -- if imperfect -- effort at diversifying their super squad with reboots of various characters, Batwoman being just one.

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According to a report in the New York Daily News, Frankelly and his partner were on a downtown No. 2 train when a woman took a picture of the couple.

When Frankelly asked her why she was photographing them, the woman allegedly shouted:

“Feed your face, faggot." Another woman also chimed in, apparently asking Frankelly's partner: “Why you with that faggot?” he told the Daily News.

A fight broke out, and the woman and three others -- including one man -- began attacking Frankelly, the report alleges.

His partner tried to break up the fight, but no one other subway riders attempted to help. The group continued to punch Frankelly repeatedly in the face, leaving him with his left eye swollen shut and a deep cut above the socket.

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