Random Gay News Round-Up

...well, not really. Just a couple things this morning.

Because I'm a righteous and self-important queer blogger, imagine my enthusiasm when I read the piece in the Washington Post about the growing influence of gay bloggers on the political world. It focuses on the ever fabulous Pam's House Blend, but also mentions some other friends of this blog (including Bilerico):

In the past, someone like Spaulding would have been relegated to the sidelines. She doesn't work for national gay rights organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign or the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. She lives with her partner, Kate, an audiologist, in Durham, far from San Francisco, New York or Washington, where gay activism has been historically based. But now she's helping shape the agenda, one voice in a chorus of sometimes dissonant, sometimes harmonious, often in-your-face voices that is pushing established gay groups and redefining the meaning of grass-roots action in this new media age...

"For me, blogging has been about looking outside my own lens. If it wasn't for reading blogs, for example, I wouldn't know as much as I know now about transgender issues," Spaulding says. "At first I thought, 'I'm not transgender. This is not my issue.' But then you read about it, you make the connections and you realize that, yes, I'm a part of that, too."

It's an interesting article that has highlighted a lot of the stuff that has happened over the past few months amongst gay bloggers -- including the Rick Warren debacle and the JoinTheImpact movement. It's well done, over all.

And just a few things on marriage: the New York Times calls for an actual vote (preferably a vote in the affirmative) for equal marriage in Rhode Island. The same could be said for New York State. Illinois has an equal marriage bill introduced. And financial analysts predict that equal marriage in Maine could bring about $60million to the state's economy for same-sex nuptials. I feel like we're in a race for the first legislatively-passed equal marriage law.

Oh, and the Utah State Senator Buttars thing goes on... the ass. Someone is finally pointing out that the man is a distraction and taking away from real work. The same could be said for the entire legislature who, apparently, hates gays just so much.