National Gay News Roundup

With all the stuff that's been happening lately, I feel like I've been lax in my news duties. Between Smitherman, rallies/marches, gay marriage, etc. etc. etc... well, everything else got drowned out. I wanted to at least give y'all some links to news stories that have popped up on the web just over the last day to give you a taste of what's going on in the world:

• Out magazine put out its top 50 out media celebrities, and include two non-out individuals -- Barry Diller and Matt Drudge. Drudge is the one who is actively denying it. Ironically enough, Anderson Cooper is saying nothing. Did he come out and I missed it? Many strange and interesting choices on that list, btw. Worth a look.
• 19-year old Spenser Vogt was killed after he went to hook up with a man he met on a chat room. Lee Carl Banks eventually confessed to the murder and told the authories where the body was found. Seriously, guys, this is becoming a problem.
• Rhode Island -- marked as one of the next possible states to pass equal marriage -- will have a loud new anti-marriage voice... its governor who will be coming out against a media campaign targeted equality swing states.
• Maryland's DP law may be expanding to allow exemptions for inheritance taxation.
• Texas Christian University is offering a dorm that focuses exclusively on LGBT and supportive individuals -- entitled "DiversCity Q." Colleges offer dorm environments where individuals can live with people with similar interests. I don't know about you, but a gay dorm would be a lot of problems for me.
• Former UK PM Tony Blair is urging the Catholic Church to rethink their attitudes towards LGBT individuals. Seriously. I like the language he uses.
• Rick Warren -- who apparently did not support Prop 8? what? -- says that stopping gay marriage is not a priority. Instead, he would like to focus on other issues, including genocide and poverty. Didn't I say this a long time ago when the Rick Warren controversy came up during the inauguration? Meh. Old sour grapes. :-)
• Other states, post-Iowa, DC, and Vermont, are starting to assess their own chances at passing equal marriage laws, or defeating current anti laws. Don't believe me? The New York Times thinks so. How long before Ohio, I wonder?
• Columbia, Missouri has passed a domestic partner registry with some actual teeth in it, but not a lot. YEA!

And that's all I got for you this morning. Kisses!