DC Comics plans to reintroduce a character as gay in a future issue, it has been revealed.

Co-publisher Dan DiDio previously said that the company would not change the sexual orientation of an existing superhero and would bring in a new one altogether.

But at Kapow Comic Convention in London on Sunday, he revealed that an existing character – who was previously assumed to be straight – will become ‘one of our most prominent gay characters’, according to comic blog BleedingCool.com.

CONTINUED at The Daily Mail.

Tommy Starling and Jeff Littlefield say they’ve slowly been changing minds of people in their community when it comes to what a family looks like.

The gay couple from Pawleys Island, South Carolina, traveled to the nation’s capital with their 5-year-old daughter, Carrigan, to share their story and help members of Congress understand the issues they face.

“Everything is a gradual process,” Starling said. “Now that we have Carrigan in our lives, people’s minds are changing. They see her; they see us in the PTA functions; they see us in the community, going to the school, so we have a different group of friends, and everybody’s hearts and minds are opening to seeing that we are a family just like theirs.”

The family joined other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents and their children from across the country to lobby for marriage equality on Capitol Hill on Thursday and to discuss other issues of concern like safe schools, adoption and foster care. The families scheduled meetings at the offices of about 50 representatives and senators from their home states.

CONTINUED at CNN. Video at link.

In a gutsy move, Newsweek has released the cover of their next issue, on the cover of which they depict President Obama with a rainbow halo and the title of ‘The First Gay President’.

The news-magazine, which hits stands today, is using the shock factor of labeling the straight, married, father-of-two President to draw attention to itself.

Tina Brown, who edits the magazine and its sister website The Daily Beast, is known for her love of controversial covers to help boost public interest and sales.

CONTINUED at The Daily Mail.

Since yesterday’s Washington Post profile of a prep school-aged Mitt Romney showing the presumed Republican presidential nominee terrifying a kid everyone thought was gay, conservative outlets have been scrambling for another perspective on young Romney. They’ve found it in a softball piece on Romney from Automobile Magazine, that other great source of American political news.

When Romney was in prep school at the “prestigious Cranbrook School” he reportedly picked on some kid who may have been gay and definitely had bleached blonde hair. Here’s the key part:

“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenage son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled.

A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors

Romney has sort of acknowledged/apologized for any vague “dumb… stupid” things he did in high school. Youthful indiscretions and all that.

The conservative press refuses to let the darn liberal media get away with anything, so right-wing media watchdog at Breitbart’s Big Journalism has found its proof that the Post is full of it inDavid Murray’s Automobile profile of a young Romney that doesn’t make him look like the bad guy from Better Off Dead.

The WaPo article focuses on the alleged John Lauber haircutting incident, including quotes from Romney childhood friend Phillip Maxwell: “‘It was a hack job,’ recalled Maxwell, a childhood friend of Romney who was in the dorm room when the incident occurred. ‘It was vicious.’”

Apparently not so vicious, however, for Maxwell to relate the incident for the Auto Mag article.  Auto Mag does, however, quote Maxwell giving crucial details notably missing from the Post piece: “‘I’m a Democrat, so I won’t vote for him,’ says Maxwell. ‘But he’d probably make a pretty good President. He’s very smart, very principled.’”

The Post neglected to mention these relevant facts, just as it neglected to mention Maxwell’s skepticism about Romney’s religion as reported in the Auto Mag piece: “‘He’s determined to claim the highest office in the land—to be the first Mormon to do it.  He keeps that undercover because he doesn’t want to frighten people.’”

This isn’t a contradiction at all, of course, as you could make a good president and still be kind of a dick to some kids in high school. You can also be a Democrat and be a truthful eyewitness.

Automobile‘s piece doesn’t contradict anything because it doesn’t really say anything. It’s not bad, it’s just about as edgy as a 1998 Ford Taurus. We learn Mitt Romney liked his father, was kind of boring, and people generally got along with him. The only serious claim against him in the magazine is that he’s not really a Detroiter. Not a car guy. But then they give him a break for that.

Mitt Romney may be from the golden age of Detroit and the car industry, but it must be clear by now that he is no longer of that wonderful time and place. Then again, these days, what is?

The Post‘s readers may view Romney as a bit of a prick in high school, but those 533,000 “Auto Mag” subscribers will know the truth.

Source: Jalopnik.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

Mitt Fucking Romney. The name is synonymous with dissatisfaction. Well, one would think anyway. The consensus from most conservative people is that they didn’t want this guy to be their candidate. They tried so hard to prop up all the other GOP weaklings but Mr. Romney was just slightly stronger it seems and because of that, is the last man standing for the establishment righties to vote for. I mean, they aren’t going to vote for Ron Paul, that much has been established and since they’re going to vote for “Anyone but Obama” (which doesn’t include Paul), I guess it should be no surprise that Captain Haircut swept three more states on the road to the nomination.

Romney racked up victories in West Virginia, Indiana and North Carolina. North Carolina wasn’t a surprise as the people there also voted to ban gay marriage. Surprisingly though, their intolerant right-wing idiocy didn’t push Santorum to the front of the pack, even though he is completely out of the race. I know that sounds crazy but look at West Virginia. Santorum actually came in second place in that state ahead of Ron Paul! Santorum who isn’t even in the race and who has endorsed Romney beat Ron Paul who is still in this thing! It’s not a showing of how weak Paul may seem to be, it is a showing of how insane the inbred people of West Virginia are. I mean, didn’t those ‘Wrong Turn’ movies take place there? You know what I’m talking about, those cheap ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ knockoffs that saw incest-loving mutant hillbillies hunting and eating tourists who accidentally turned off of the main road and into their neck of the woods. Sounds like Santorum cultists for sure.

With Ron Paul in second albeit last place, Santorum’s performance was pointless and the backwoods beasts who voted for him are retarded for even bothering to show up to their precincts. Maybe all the precincts were barbecue joints and the customers got confused and thought they were filling out comment cards. It really is hard to say when we are dealing with people who have the brains of ravenous rabies-afflicted canines. The people who casted votes for Gingrich might be even slightly more insane. Whatever, I’m tired of bashing these people and frankly, I don’t want them to eat me alive. Luckily, Florida is a long way away and these West Virginia mutants can’t operate a GPS system and would probably just use maps to make clothes.

At least Dr. Paul is racking up a shitload of delegates and even though he won’t be staring down Obama in an upcoming debate, he has still proven to be a force of fucking nature in this race regardless of media blackouts, blatant bias and establishment shenanigans. These fuckers can try and fix an election but they can’t fix the brains of the vigilant self-educated masses who are growing in numbers year after year. As I stated previously, it looks like the Paul campaign’s questionable delegate hunting tactics have worked to some degree, especially now that former Senator Ass Juice and former Speaker of the House Newt Giggles have dropped like flies drunk on Off! Bug Spray.

The clock is counting down and the Republican National Convention is just around the corner. When Tampa comes, shit could get really interesting in this race. Hopefully by then, the Santorum mutants have gone back to eating lost teenagers and the Gingrich supporters have gone back to living in holes. I guess it just bothers me that people are stupid enough to put a check next to a name on a ballot when that candidate is a quitter. Well, losers typically flock to other losers and when your grey matter is made up of the sort of stuff a typical right-wing establishment neo-conservative has between their ears, you are going to make really stupid decisions while contributing to the downfall of this country.

Truth be told, I know this is coming off as somewhat irate and that I am resorting to name-calling but fuck you people. I’m not going to hide behind some political correct bullshit in an effort to save face and have a sane and rational discussion with you people when everything about you is insane and irrational. Stop being such parasites and stop living your fucking fear turtle life in a goddamned shell afraid of every boogeyman your worthless heroes throw at you. It’s time to stop looking at everyone that doesn’t jive with your bullshit philosophy as an enemy. That goes for other nations, the other side of the political coin and other Americans who aren’t privy to your psychotic idiocy. Now you may be thinking that I am being hypocritical in my words and that I am coming at you like you are my enemy or better yet that you are the enemy of anyone who is a libertarian, a constitutionalist or a free-thinker. I’m not, I’m just sick of the games and being labeled crazy when you are the assholes who are stuck in your ways – ways that have been proven to fail again and again. None of you want to try anything new or examine history, you just want to keep your side of the assembly line moving in an effort to beat out the other side. Whether that’s for bragging rights or just because you want to win just for the sake of winning, doesn’t fucking matter to me! Both sides of the assembly line are in a rush and are in turn making really shitty products while pointing fingers back and forth. It’s time to shut this inefficient factory down and move the business elsewhere. Rant over.

And congratulations Mr. Romney. You really took it to those weak contenders.

ABC News has only released one brief clip of Obama’s conversation about gay marriage today, but it seems fairly clear from the network’s coverage that his announcement amounts to much less than meets the eye. He now believes that gay couples should be able to marry. He doesn’t believe they have a right to do so. This is like saying that black children and white children ought to attend the same schools, but if the people of Alabama reject that notion—what are you gonna do?

The key language in the ABC News write-up is this:

The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own.

On this afternoon’s special broadcast, Jake Tapper echoed that point: “The president said he thought this was a state-by-state issue.”

Well, before Roe v. Wade, abortion was a state-by-state issue, too. So was slavery. There are 44 states in which gay men and women are currently barred from marrying one another. Obama’s position is that, while he would have voted the other way, those 44 states are perfectly within their rights to arbitrarily restrict the access of certain individuals to marriage rights based solely on their sexual orientation.

That is a half-assed, cowardly cop-out. There are currently at least three cases winding their way toward federal courts that address the issue of whether (among other things) the equal protection clause of the constitution guarantees gay men and women the same access to marriage rights as heterosexual men and women—the Proposition 8 case, in which David Boies and Ted Olson challenged California’s ban on gay marriage, and several challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars gay men and woman from receiving federal marriage benefits and allows states to refuse to recognize valid gay marriages. Obama’s Justice Department has admirably declined to defend the constitutionality of DOMA. But the position he enunciated today is in opposition to Boies and Olson: Obama is saying that if he were a judge, he would have rejected Boies and Olson’s constitutional arguments and affirmed the right of Californians to enshrine bigotry in their state constitution.

Equality is not a state-by-state issue. There is no reason other than ignorance and hatred that two men can get married in New York and not North Carolina. At a time when vindictive hucksters are rolling out anti-gay marriage amendments across the nation, and when conflicting state and federal laws portend an insoluble morass of divorce, custody, and estate issues, and when gay Americans are turning to the U.S. Constitution and the courts to seek an affirmation of their humanity, “it’s a state-by-state issue” is a shameful dodge.

Is it a politically wise dodge? Maybe. This was obviously a hastily arranged interview—we’re told that ABC News’ Robin Roberts, who is close to Michelle Obama, was only tapped in the last 48 hours by the White House to come down—designed to clean up the mess left by Biden’s pro-gay marriage comments in as advantageous way as possible. And for Obama to declare that he considers North Carolina and other states’ bans on gay marriage to be unconstitutional would probably energize the GOP base. But those bans are unconstitutional. And anyone who supports their legitimacy—as Obama just did, in no uncertain terms—even if they oppose the policy, is adopting the retrograde position in the contemporary gay marriage debate. Obama is moving backward, not forward.

Source: Gawker. Written by John Cook.

Voters in North Carolina on Tuesday approved Amendment One, a fiercely debated and highly restrictive amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as the legal union of a man and a woman.

The amendment not only outlaws same-sex marriage — already illegal in the state — but bans civil unions and domestic partnerships for gay or straight couples. Family law experts say it will threaten domestic partnership health benefits for local government workers and strip unmarried couples, both gay and straight, of their rights to make financial or emergency medical decisions for an incapacitated partner.

With all counties reporting, the amendment was approved, 61% to 39%.

Passage of the measure, called the Defense of Marriage Act by Republican sponsors, makes North Carolina the final state in the South to pass an amendment banning gay marriage, and the 29th state overall, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Ten states have statutes defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Proponents said the amendment was needed to keep “activist judges or politicians” from overturning the state’s 1996 law.

The measure is more restrictive than all but three of the marriage amendments passed in other states, according to a study published by 11 family law professors at seven North Carolina universities. The measure could even deprive unmarried women of protections against domestic abuse, while restricting child custody and visitation rights for unmarried gay or straight couples, they said.

Only Idaho, Michigan and South Carolina have so strictly defined marriage, and courts in those three states are still struggling to interpret amendments passed in recent years. The North Carolina amendment is likely to face similar court battles.

CONTINUED at LA Times.

President Barack Obama is staying in the gay marriage closet because he doesn’t want to alienate black voters or gay donors.

He’s refusing to confirm or deny that he would use a second term to champion new marriage rules that would allow same-sex couples to get marriage licenses.

“We respect the right of all people to have a personal opinion,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on May 7 — a day after Vice President Joe Biden endorsed marriage for gays and lesbians.

“The president is the right person to describe his personal views. He said his views on this were evolving, and I don’t have an update on that,” Carney added.

Marriage is a tough dilemma for Obama because his base is deeply split: Strong majorities of black Americans oppose changing marriage rules to endorse same-sex couples. Like many other social conservatives, that community sees marriage as an institution to bind parents together and to their children.

That’s a popular position. Voters in more than 30 states — including liberal California — have used state-wide votes to solidify state support for the traditional view of marriage.

But many gays want to see White House endorsement of same-sex marriage because it would provide additional social validation of their relationships.

CONTINUED at The Daily Caller.

After Dharun Ravi was convicted of “bias intimidation” crimes that carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, many people wondered why he had rejected a plea deal that would have kept him out of jail. Ravi’s lawyer explained that the 20-year-old defendant’s parents “didn’t believe their son acted with hate, or bias, and they didn’t want him labeled like that for life.” But it turns out you can be convicted of a hate crime without hating anyone, which only compounds the injustice of laws that punish people for their bigotry.

The jury acquitted Ravi of trying to intimidate his roommate at Rutgers University, Tyler Clementi, on September 19, 2010, when Ravi briefly used a webcam in his dorm room to watch Clementi kiss another man. But the jury nevertheless concluded that Clementi, who killed himself three days later for reasons that remain unclear, felt intimidated and “reasonably believed” he was targeted because he was gay. Under New Jersey law, that was enough.

To convict Ravi of this unintentional, hateless hate crime, the jury had to infer Clementi’s state of mind and conclude that the circumstances justified it. Those elements have reasonable doubt built into them in case like this, where the victim cannot testify and no one else knows what he was thinking. “We’ll never know exactly what he was feeling,” one juror conceded. “I can only assume.” Our system of justice demands more than that.

We do know, based on Clementi’s instant messages and posts, that he initially dismissed what he called Ravi’s “five sec peep” but upon reflection was angry, especially since Ravi had tweeted about it. Two days later, Ravi told his Twitter followers the same man was visiting Clementi again and dared them to watch.

The second viewing never happened, apparently because Clementi unplugged Ravi’s computer. He also applied online for a room change, complained to a resident adviser, and repeatedly checked Ravi’s Twitter feed. Still, the fact that Clementi had sex again in the same room suggests he was not exactly intimidated.

The jury concluded that the aborted second viewing was a deliberate attempt to intimidate Clementi “because of [his] sexual orientation.” Yet the prosecution’s own witnesses testified they had never heard Ravi, who was not shy about expressing his opinions, disparage gay people or Clementi.

CONTINUED at Reason. Written by Jacob Sullum.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

Unlike Rick Santorum, I love gay people. Hell, I have a lot of gay friends. In fact, I get pretty perturbed when someone attacks them just for being themselves. You see, despite all the dramatic and bigoted bullshit, most gay people are very forgiving with the hateful rhetoric, as they can see the forest for the trees and recognize a hate-mongering piece of shit for what it is. They can take the heat and have for decades, if not centuries and I respect that. A punk ass bitch like Santorum, well, he can’t handle any sort of heat because he is a soggy-bottomed thin-skinned piss midget that bitches, whines and cries when things don’t go his way. Well this is one of those times when that shit pigeon is going to have to sniffle like the sensitive little Tina that he is because I’m not going to be all that kind to him or to the fucking morons who casted votes in his favor. I mean seriously people, if you voted for Rick Santorum, I don’t care who you are, you are a goddamned scumbag and lower than a piece of dried up shit smeared across the belly of a cockroach crawling through a grease trap! There is a special place in Hell for all of you but realistically, Hell probably doesn’t exist so you’re going to get a free pass most likely.

Getting back to Ricky Baby, I have to mention that the nasty Bible-fucking bastard followed up three big wins on Super Tuesday with some big wins in the Deep South. Truthfully, the people of that region just proved that they are as dumb as the rest of the country thinks that they are. We would all probably benefit from a great flood in that region. I mean, spare the children, the dogs and the house cats but please wipe the rest of these people off of the face of the Earth, especially if they have a Santorum sign in front of their podunk rusty trailer. The planet would be so much better if the rest of the world didn’t have to live their lives affected by the decisions of these moronic rednecks and evangelical fear turtles. Rick Santorum’s success is proof that Americans are a mad breed of people. No, not mad as in angry but mad as in insane and ravenous! Like starving hyenas eating their own faces off because the lions have continually beaten them to the kill. To be fair, not all Americans are insane but a very big portion of them are, simply because of the fact that this guy is riding high in second place in this ridiculous Republican primary.

Now, I’ve written about this closeted cock-smuggler before but I’ve refrained from revealing the real evil stuff. I mean, this pompous pontificating pansy has done some really weird and dark shit and fuck it, I refuse to pull punches at this point because the people deserve to see the layers peeled back on this guy. Sure, the media has mentioned these things before but not at a mainstream level, except where it was to bash one of their own for putting one of these stories out there. The reason why they don’t bring this up is pretty obvious. First, the media lies and only reports on what they feel will help shape their agenda. With that being said, CNN and MSNBC don’t want this stuff out there because they would rather have a weakling cockpuppet like Santorum go against their messiah – Barack Obama in November. Fox News doesn’t want this stuff out there because they believe that Rick Santorum is actually a viable candidate and they have to protect him going into November, that is if you even remotely entertain the idea that this douche can win – unfortunately, this is still possible and nothing would surprise me at this point. Truth is, the man is sick and twisted and so is the mainstream media who have been incredibly irresponsible in not covering these horrific tales.

The first of these insane true stories may make your skin crawl, as it had a very disturbing effect on mine. Now Fox News’ own Alan Colmes reported on this and received a ton of heat from it by his colleagues and then, as quickly as this news surfaced, it was buried and shelved away. What I am referring to is an incident where Rick Santorum’s child died shortly after birth and he and his wife felt it was necessary to bring their corpse of a newborn home to show their living children. On one hand, this sounds insane, on the other hand, many people may be pissed at the mere mention of this, as they probably believe that people should be able to grieve and raise their kids in their own way. I get that argument, I do, but considering that Rick Santorum sees it necessary for the government to be in our bedrooms and in our lives, why should any of us respect his family’s privacy? Sure, this may seem like I am taking the low road but the fact of the matter is that this did indeed happen and it should be known, as this guy is running for the highest office in the land and as bewildering as it is to me, he could magically win the election – and I only say this because somehow he has gotten this far. Now I understand that the loss of a child is horrific and I’m not trying to make fun of the Santorum family or downplay the situation but these actions are strange and a little unsettling, if you can’t see why, you may need a mental examination.

However, it gets even weirder. Karen Santorum came out and talked about this incident and while I feel horrible about their loss, the next reveal really put the cherry on top of this insane sundae. She admitted that after showing the deceased infant to their living children, that she and her husband slept with it! I’m sorry, while the grieving process is hard and the loss of a child is by far one of the hardest things anyone could ever go through, this is just morbid and disturbing on so many levels. The most disturbing thing however, is how this family has often times told the story of their deceased child and their other child who has severe health issues in an effort to drum up sympathy and compassion from the voting public. They certainly don’t parade around the fact that they brought their dead child home, showed it to their children and slept with it but they do pull on the sympathy strings by continually mentioning their dead son and their daughter who nearly died and has continually had life-threatening medical problems.

Rick Santorum’s strange kid stories don’t stop there. He served on the board of directors of Universal Health Services, Inc., which is a hospital chain that was plagued with dozens of allegations of abuse during Santorum’s time on the board. These allegations include rape, neglect, patient suicides over bad care as well as murder. While all of those ghastly things are revolting and unacceptable, nothing may be more disturbing than the fact that one of these hospitals performed an exorcism on a boy suffering from autism! Hell, here is what the Huffington Post had to say about it:

Over the years, states have barred children from attending UHS facilities over safety concerns and the feds have put UHS on their radar. Department of Justice lawyers have filed two lawsuits accusing the chain of fraudulent activities. One lawsuit settled for $27.5 million. Another suit still pending in federal court in Virginia centers on a facility called Keystone Marion Youth Center.

The facility, located in Marion, Va., is a residential treatment center for troubled boys with mental-health issues. The majority of patients come from states’ child-welfare and juvenile-justice systems. The center promises stability, schooling, and clinically-approved therapies. It was also approved to accept Medicaid patients.

It did not have approval to perform an “exorcism.”

But that is what appeared to be happening in an empty room at Marion in May 2007, according to a facility teacher who passed by the room, which was occupied by at least one nurse, a supervisor, a janitor and a boy with autism. Several in the room appeared to be hovering over the boy and praying, according to the teacher, who recounted the incident shortly after to Barbara Jones, the center’s director of education at the time.

The severity of the boy’s autism left him hardly able to speak and unable to walk on his own, Jones says.

“‘They were trying to exorcise him. That’s why he had the autism, he had a demon in him,’” Jones recounted what the teacher told her to The Huffington Post. “The cleaning lady was trying to cast out the demons.”

Santorum was one of the overseers of UHS when this happened. In fact, he’d still be there sitting high if he didn’t leave to focus on his campaign. Maybe this is an extreme example but with NDAA passed and the indefinite detention of American citizens now being a reality, who is to say that this self-righteous Jesus freak won’t round up those causing dissent in an attempt to exorcise them of their anti-Santorum “demons”. This article alone might make me a prime candidate for Mr. Santorum’s special brand of theocratic cleansing. The man is mad!

With UHS’s horrific track record, I’m sure that this isn’t just an isolated incident. Considering that children have been barred from their hospitals by those more competent than UHS’s medical staff, one has to wonder if every atrocity has made it to the light of day. I’m sure if one were to dig deeper, they would find much more. Besides, you can’t tell me that Rick Santorum wasn’t aware of all of this? Why hasn’t he come forward and condemned it? Is it because he sees nothing wrong with the actions of this vile institution that he helped manage at the highest level? Is he hoping that this story won’t see the light of day? Well, the conservative media won’t run it and maybe the liberal media is just holding off on pushing this story until the time comes for them to use it more effectively – like if Ricky Baby were to actually win the nomination.

In every sense of the word, the man is sick and if you are in denial about that, you are probably just as big of a wicked bastard. I don’t feel bad about sharing this, as he has no qualms about making our privacy transparent and outlawing certain activities that many of us do in our own homes behind closed doors. When he points the finger at everyone that doesn’t share his arcane beliefs and says that he intends to force us into his box, well it’s only fair for those of us he’s speaking to to point back at him and let him know that he’s a sick fuck in his own way and he is not holier than thou. Besides, he is running for office and under a microscope – that was his choice by choosing to ride this train. Think what you will about any of this. Sure, I interjected my opinion throughout this piece but the fact that many will find it offensive, either because of Santorum’s actions or because of my reveal on things in his personal life, has proven that it is relevant and that it is necessary to see the light of day, even though you can argue against that point until you are blue in the face. The fact is, the American public has a right to know all of this and to think otherwise is ignorant and careless.

The point is, this man must not be allowed to get the Republican nomination and certainly not the chair in the Oval Office. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are both bastards in their own right but Rick Santorum is a Bible-carrying beast that wants to breed a culture of big government religio-fascism the likes of which we’ve never seen before in this country. The blood is on all of our hands if he succeeds.