Federal Judge In Alabama Rules In Favor Of Gay Marriage
MONTGOMERY, Ala (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that gays and lesbians have the right to marry in all Alabama counties, but placed her decision on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling on same-sex marriage.

U.S District Judge Callie Granade said Thursday that Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and enjoined probate judges from enforcing it. However, she stayed enforcement of her order citing the expected decision this summer. Granade in January ruled that Alabama’s gay marriage ban was illegal. Gay couples married for three weeks until the state Supreme Court ordered probate judges to stop.

The latest ruling came in a class-action lawsuit by gay couples across the state.

David Dinielli, deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, called the ruling a definitive victory for gay marriage.

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The 18 Worst Ways To Break Up With Someone

They say that breaking up is hard to do, but if the stories below are any indication, it’s clearly a lot harder for some people than others.

Below, 18 breakup stories that make an awkward hug goodbye and the ol’ “it’s not you, it’s me” spiel sound better than ever.

1. “A friend of mine was studying abroad in Spain and her parents paid for her boyfriend to go visit her for a week. He returned to the U.S. and dumped her on Skype three days later because he said he wanted to be ‘free’ his senior year.”

2. “I was once broken up with the day after having sex for the first time and the first time he said ‘I love you.'”

3. “Before a job interview. Super shitty.”

Gif via thegifofthemagi.tumblr.com

4. “The day before they fly you to New York to see them. Also super shitty.”

5. “Breaking up on the dance floor at your friend’s wedding reception.”

6. “Having an S.O. coordinate with their superintendent to stage a building-wide fire drill to prompt you to leave their apartment in a jiffy and having them block your calls and texts immediately thereafter.”

7. “Texting. Really, anything that isn’t in person when it’s possible to do it in person is bad.”

8. “On April Fools’ Day — and then having friends wonder if it was a joke so she has to ask. It wasn’t a joke.”

9. “The worst is being too much of a wimp to break up with someone and then acting horrible for several weeks until they are forced to break up with you.”

Gif via Giphy

10. “A friend who was in a long-distance relationship was broken up with on Skype the night before her birthday. The asshole didn’t even realize the next day was her birthday.”

11. “Taking advantage of vague relationship status — or suddenly claiming it was vague — only to completely disappear without the courtesy of a conversation an actual breakup would require. It’s ghosting, but shittier.”

12. “After you move somewhere to be with them.”

13. “Breaking up with you on the plane ride home from your long-planned Florida trip because, and I quote verbatim, they ‘couldn’t bring themselves to dump you on Disney property.'”

14. “A friend of Puerto Rican descent planned her first trip to Puerto Rico and during the trip her husband asked her for a divorce. Not close to the end of the trip, but close to the beginning of the trip. Their marriage was on the rocks but come on, totally not the right time.”

15. “As they’re dumping you (over Skype, no less), they say that they had been saving for your future engagement ring, as if this breakup (and no ring) is some form of punishment for bad behavior.”

16. “Just weeks after you signed a two-year lease on an apartment together.”

17. “Over email, so the godawful news is sandwiched between spam and weekly deals from Modcloth.”

Gif via Giphy

18. “Suggesting we ‘take a break’ on the day my family and I put our 14-year-old dog to sleep.”

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www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/21/the-absolute-worst-ways-to-breakup-_n_7376170.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Oregon Becomes Fourth Jurisdiction to Protect LGBT Kids from Conversion Therapy

NCLR and HRC applaud Oregon Gov. Kate Brown for signing House Bill 2307 into law, making Oregon the fourth jurisdiction—behind California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia—to protect LGBT youth from the dangers of conversion therapy.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/oregon-becomes-fourth-jurisdiction-to-protect-lgbt-kids-from-conversion-the?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Harry Potter Star’s Very Revealing Pic, Tom Hardy Will Sing As Elton, Streisand’s Tell-All

Barbra Streisand has been regarded as the world’s greatest star for probably longer than you’ve been alive, but the EGOT-winner and committed equality activist will finally write a memoir to set the record straight on all the myths and inaccuracies you’ve read about her during her six decades in the business of show. The book is scheduled to be published in 2017.

A stage musical based on the life of Elton John is now in the works, but you won’t see it before noted non-singer Tom Hardy takes center stage as the master showman in the film bio Rocketman: Fury Road. (Just kidding about the Fury Road part, but Mad Max would make a great costume for Sir Elton.)

Sam Smith is doing his part to make the world safe for gay people. “I like the idea that there may be homophobic guys who listen to my record and they have no clue that I’m gay!’ he told French mag Têtu. “I would like to become a voice for gay youth in difficulty around the world.”

Out filmmaker Todd Haynes, who is wowing the Cannes Film Festival with Carol, his lesbian romance starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, will next produce a TV series based on the Source Family, the real-life hippie cult that was the subject of the 2013 documentary of the same name.

The band Indiana Queen will change the way you think about country music. Vocalist Kevin Thornton and his real-life partner star in a steamy video for their song “With You.” You can watch the slightly NSFW video here. The group is scheduled to headline Nashville Pride next month and Thornton told HuffPo, “Gay people out there telling us how much it means to them to see themselves represented in country music.”

Matthew Lewis, who played the interestingly-monikered Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter franchise, leaves very little to the imagination in his photo shoot for Attitude magazine.

The title trumpeter in Allison Lane‘s “The Blowing Boogie Bugle Man from Company G” is so dedicated to the war effort that he puts the boys to sleep with his blowing every night, but be warned: he can’t blow a thing if Judy Garland ain’t playing. Michael Musto, Casper Andreas and Matthew Ludwinski costar in the bawdy parody video.

Speaking of Ms. G., a new book written by her former manager reveals a shattering first-hand account of one of the star’s numerous suicide attempts.

As usual, Ryan Murphy has assembled one of the most interesting casts imaginable for his upcoming series American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson. EW offers a first look at Sarah Paulson (above as Marcia Clark), Cuba Gooding Jr. (OJ Simspon), John Travolta (Robert Shapiro), David Schwimmer (Robert Kardashian), Courtney B. Vance (Johnnie Cochran), and Billy Magnussen (Kato Kaelin). FX hasn’t yet announced an air date for the miniseries.

That old saying “Another week, another Magic Mike XXL poster” holds true.

Jeremy Kinser

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/BCfGpTpa0ss/harry-potter-stars-very-revealing-pic-tom-hardy-will-sing-as-elton-streisands-tell-all-20150521

Voting 'Yes' to Irish Marriage Equality? Enjoy a Free Ride to the Polls

The world’s largest ride-sharing app says it passionately supports equality, and wants to help voters change Ireland.

read more

Thom Senzee

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/05/21/voting-yes-irish-marriage-equality-enjoy-free-ride-polls

Franklin Graham Prays Ruth Bader Ginsburg's 'Eyes Would Be Opened To The Truth Of Scripture' For Same-Sex Marriage Vote
Prominent evangelist Franklin Graham wants Ruth Bader Ginsburg to finally “see the truth of Scripture” and vote against same-sex marriage as the Supreme Court gears up to rule on the matter next month.

Graham, who is the son of famous evangelical leader Billy Graham and president of the Samaritan’s Purse charity, took to Facebook to “pray” for Supreme Court justices as the vote approaches. Though nothing new for the staunchly anti-gay Graham, the evangelist showed particular audacity in his prayer for Ginsburg, which stated:

“Those who support same-sex marriage consider her an ally in their fight to toss God’s Holy Word aside. … let’s pray that Justice Ginsburg’s eyes would be opened to the truth of Scripture and that she would not be deceived by the arguments of those who seek to impose their ‘new morality’ on our nation.”

In addition to challenging the faith of Justice Ginsburg, who is the first Jewish woman to serve on the Supreme Court, Graham called Justice Sonia Sotomayor “misguided” and prayed that Justice Elena Kagan “see the danger of deciding to go against God’s law and standards.”

The evangelist also offered prayers that those justices less likely to support same-sex marriage, like Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, continue to “stand as a voice of truth and wisdom.”

The Supreme Court announced in January that it would take up the issue of gay marriage by addressing two questions: Whether the 14th Amendment requires states to license marriages for same-sex couples and whether it requires states to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex if their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed in another state.

Graham argued the court’s decision will have a “profound impact…on Bible-believing Christians in this country.”

Many commenters on Graham’s Facebook page, which has 1.4 million “Likes,” were quick to point out the separation of church and state in the country’s Constitution, as well as the lack of any statement on same-sex marriage in Christian scripture.

Others commented that the evangelist simply has no right telling Ginsburg — who has served on the court for over two decades and wrote a feminist commentary for the 2015 Jewish Passover festival — how to vote, let alone how to practice her own faith.

Ginsburg, 82, was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1993 and has challenged arguments against same-sex marriage.

“All of the incentives, all of the benefits that marriage affords would still be available,” Ginsburg said during an April hearing on the constitutionality of gay marriage. “So you’re not taking away anything from heterosexual couples. They would have the very same incentive to marry, all the benefits that come with marriage that they do now.”

Ginsburg is also believed to be the first Supreme Court justice to officiate gay weddings, according to NPR, and on Sunday May 17 the justice presided over the marriage of a same-sex couple in Washington DC.

A Gallup poll released these week found support for same-sex marriage nationwide has reached an all-time. According to the new survey, 60 percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage.

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