BOSTON, May 20, 2013: On Monday, June 3, 2013, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender bloggers, their family members, and allies will celebrate the eighth annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day. The event, developed and run by the award-winning LGBT-parenting site Mombian, and sponsored by the Family Equality Council, aims to raise awareness of LGBT families, their diverse natures, and how current prejudices and laws have a negative impact on their lives and children. Hundreds of bloggers have taken part over the past years.

From LBT Women of Erie: We are placing an order for new beanwear t-shirts. Pics of the design are attatched. The new logo on the shirts is "Beans On The Bay" If you would like a shirt, e-mail me at [email protected]. I will give you the address to send a check to, or you can drop off your check or cash. I am placing one order only on June 3rd. Payment for the shirts must reach me by June 3rd. There will be only one order placed, so if you want one, you gotta get on this!!! The shirts will all be shipped to one location and you can pick them up at my home. The shirts should reach me by the 17th of June or shortly there after. They are coming from Vista Print. The shirts are "Gildan" 5000 heavy cotton Tee's. 5.3 0z. 100% preshrunk open ended carded cott

I am a regular reader of your column.  You often mention not to compare ourselves to others, but it seems that most men I've spoken to can have an orgasm with a blow job. It feels OK when someone goes down on me, I get excited and become erect, but the erection doesn't last.  I never feel like I've had an orgasm from a blow job.  I often feel "obligated" to please my partner and don't feel worthy of someone showering me with attention.  I have had orgasms with partners, it just usually involves penetration.  I don't feel that I have to be "versatile" in every sexual act, but I can't help wondering if I'm missing something. 

Washington, DC -- GetEQUAL Co-Director Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, an undocumented gay man, responded today to Senator Chuck Grassley’s Amendment 27 -- the Senator's latest attempt to take away key protections from vulnerable LGBT immigrants:

On Thursday, April 18, NW PA Pride Alliance held a candidate forum at the Avalon Hotel & Conference Center, 16 W 10th St, Erie PA for candidates for Erie County Executive, Erie County Council (Districts 2, 4 and 6), Erie City Mayor and Erie City Council. Candidates from both major party were invited. WICU TV 12 covered the event as part of their broadcast that night. About 70 people attended overall.

Marriage Equality for Pennsylvania in conjunction with numerous groups from across Pennsylvania will converge on the Capitol Building in Harrisburg. We will be gathering at 10 AM on Saturday, June 22 to show our support for a variety of on-going legislative actions taking place in the General Assembly. Among the bills proceeding through the Assembly are Pennsylvania House and Senate Bill 300 which will end discrimination against the LGBT community for employment, housing and public accommodations. Also before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Bill 719 will grant marriage equality to the LGBT community and for all Pennsylvanians. Info: Joshua Szczesny at (814) 923-3149 www.me4pa.org.

On Saturday, May 25, NW PA Pride Alliance and other groups will be participating in the Perry 200 Parade, which is expected to draw up to 100,000 people. If you would like to be on our float or march next to us, please contact Michael Mahler at (814) 456-9833 or [email protected] We encourage groups to bring their banners and marchers can wear shirts with their group names.

ST. PAUL, Minn., May 14 – Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed a law legalizing marriage for same-sex couples today. Dayton signed the bill shortly after its passage by the state legislature. 

New York, May 14– Today Brazil’s National Council of Justice ruled that government offices have no standing to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples, moving the freedom to marry forward for gay and lesbian people nationwide. The ruling follows decisions by 14 of Brazil’s states and the national capital region that same-sex couples could marry without a court petition, as well as lower court rulings in favor of the freedom to marry. While the High Court could modify today’s ruling, that seems unlikely, and Brazil is now likely to become the latest country to embrace the freedom to marry nationwide.

COLUMBIA, S.C. May 14 – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Advocates for Informed Choice (AIC) and pro bono counsel for the private law firms of Janet, Jenner & Suggs and Steptoe & Johnson LLP filed a lawsuit today against the South Carolina Department of Social Services, Greenville Hospital System, Medical University of South Carolina and individual employees for performing an irreversible and medically unnecessary surgery on an infant in the state’s ca

Geneva, 15 May 2013 – The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) has launched its 2013 issue of the state-sponsored homophobia report, a world survey of laws on criminalisation, protection and recognition of same-sex love, from its newly opened office in Geneva.

NEW YORK May 15 – ACLU Action, a new initiative of the American Civil Liberties Union, launched a campaign today urging "Modern Family's" producers to script a wedding episode for popular gay characters Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker. The campaign comes as Americans await the Supreme Court's decisions on two important marriage equality cases, the DOMA and Prop 8 cases – the ACLU is direct counsel in the DOMA case, United States v. Windsor – and as a stream of states pass marriage equality measures. The campaign can be found at ModernFamilyWedding.com.

Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 15, 2013 - Following is a statement regarding amendments to the Title 4 provisions of the immigration bill that will be debated by the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. The statement can be attributed to the National Center for Lesbian Rights, GLAAD, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, United We Dream and Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project, Equality Federation, National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance and GetEQUAL.

May 16, 2013, New York, NY - Today, GLAAD released profiles of and highlighted quotes from three of the most prominent public figures arguing against allowing gay youth and parents to participate in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), exposing the real motivation behind their efforts: anti-gay animus. The profiles will be shared with media covering the BSA vote next week and are included in GLAAD's Commentator Accountability Project (CAP), which documents the vitriolic hate speech of the nation's most vehemently anti-gay activists.

Earlier this week, One Million Moms launched a campaign against the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) day at Orlando’s Magic Kingdom®, taking place Saturday, June 1, 2013.   On its website, One Million Moms claims that the intent of the LGBT community is “to expose and desensitize children to this lifestyle by same-sex couples holding hands, hugging and kissing”.  They are urging members to e-mail Disney officials and demand the park ‘no longer go along with Gay Day.’  In response, Darcy Christ, a heterosexual mother who strongly opposes the views of One Million Moms, has created her own Facebook page, Millions of Moms for Love, (https://www.facebook.com/MillionsOfMomsForLove).  Christ is hoping to receive as many “likes” as possible to prove anti-gay beliefs are not shared by most moms in America.

London, UK - According to reports, Turkey’s official television station cancelled the broadcast of a planned episode of Eurovision included a lesbian kiss on Thursday night. Finland’s entry, Krista Siegfrids told Gay Star News she kissed a woman on stage to support marriage equality throughout the world and in Finland.

Buffalo, New York - Gay & Lesbian Youth Services of Western New York (GLYS) is excited to announce a first for Western New York. A prom for area youth ages 14-19 who- if they ask a date ‐ will be free to bring the person of their choice.

New York, NY- Violence erupted during a peaceful celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHoT marchers) in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Friday. Orthodox Priests lead thousands of anti-gay marchers in the clash, injuring at least 28 people. RT News reports 10,000 Orthodox marchers met the peaceful IDAHO demonstrators

Paris, France -  On Saturday, President Hollande signed a bill that gives gays and lesbians the right to marry France.

From Dreams of Hope: What would it be like to enroll in Hope the Department - a fictional academy where agents of change look like your peers, only dressed up in bowties and blazers. The agents are LGBTQ and Allied youth living in and around Pittsburgh. They empower audiences to take action, recruit new agents, and explore ways to improve our world.

New York May 10– Today Freedom to Marry and OutServe-SLDN released the latest in its "Freedom to Serve, Freedom to Marry" video series featuring Major Shannon McLaughlin and her wife, Casey McLaughlin, spotlighting the harms of federal marriage discrimination to their family. Although they are legally married in the State of Massachusetts, the McLaughlins are not treated the same as other military couples because of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies legally married same-sex couples more than 1,100 federal protections automatically granted to opposite-sex couples.

COLUMBUS OH - May 10– Equality Ohio is happy to announce that today Representatives Ross McGregor (R-Springfield) and Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), and Senators Frank LaRose (R-Akron) and Michael Skindell (D-Lakewood) introduced the Equal Housing and Employment Act which will protect Ohioans from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. 

I’m working with the ACLU of Pennsylvania in an effort to gain legal protections for same-sex couples in Pennsylvania.  We know that getting these protections will take real couples who are willing to come forward publicly to share stories about their love and commitment.

We fled Flatonia, Texas, like it could pursue us. We’d be back home in the Pacific Northwest in just a few days and, we hoped, bed-bug-less. Once on the road, my sweetheart read to me about Flatonia, which boasts 8,000 people and a proud melting pot history.  We sped over San Antonio on I-10, a pretty city of light-colored architecture we want to explore some day when we recover from traveling. The more I see of America, the more I want to see.

On the evening of April 12th, 2013 the band KatsüK performed a symbolic same sex marriage at a music venue known as the Grotto in the highly conservative town known as Fort Worth, Texas.  The marriage ceremony was performed by lead singer and ordained minister Daniel Katsük to a room packed with a diverse motley of onlookers and supporters.

HARRISBURG – Today, a bipartisan group of Pennsylvania legislators introduced critical legislation to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination.  The bills would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression statewide in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations.

HARRISBURG, May 7 – State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, co-chairman of the legislature's LGBT Equality Caucus, reacted to today's reintroduction of an anti-gay marriage amendment to the state constitution:

HARRISBURG, May 7 – A record number of state legislators are sponsoring bills that would protect LGBT people from discrimination in Pennsylvania.

DOVER, Del. – Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signed a law legalizing marriage for same-sex couples today. Markell signed the bill shortly after its passage by the state legislature.

The Keystone Alliance/Gaylife Newsletter is pleased to announce Republican PA State Representative Mike Fleck (Hundtingdon) and Democratic PA State Representative Brian Sims (Philadelphia) will be accepting in person the Spirit Award 2013 from the KA/GN on Thursday, June 13th at 4 pm at the Cambria County Library Community Room. Refreshments and food will be provided. This event is free and open to the public.

NW PA Pride Alliance, Inc. will have an LGBT float in the Perry 200 Grand Patriotic (Memorial Day) Parade on Saturday, May 25. We are looking for other groups and individuals to help with building the float and also to be on it. If your group wants to display their banner, that's terrific! This Grand Patriotic Parade is scheduled to take place from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM. The parade route is 1.8 miles long - from W. 12th Street and Liberty to 3rd and State Street. The parade will consist of civic dignitaries - including the Governor of Pennsylvania leading the parade, military and marching bands, veterans, floats of American wars - especially from the War of 1812, Erie history floats, special wave dancers, ethnic groups from the area, Erie organizational floats, large balloons of cartoon characters, clowns, antique cars, and much more! For more info, contact Michael Mahler at (814) 456-9833 or [email protected].

Once again, the Erie Pride Picnic will be held at Presque Isle State Park at the Rotary Pavilion. NW PA Pride Alliance, Inc. has several Pride events scheduled for this year. The 21st Annual Pride Picnic will be held the THIRD Saturday in June (June 15.) We will run from 1 PM to 6 PM.

December 11, 2012: Grindr for Equality is again demonstrating Grindr’s power to mobilize its 4.5 million users to change history for GLBT rights, by leveraging in-app messages and social media to create awareness and drive signatures to a petition to denounce an anti-gay bill up for legislation in Uganda. The bill, known as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill -which discriminates against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - appeared on the Parliamentary Order of Business on November 21 and the Ugandan Parliament could start debating the bill at any time.