:: San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman testified at a trial that she didn't realize the four firefighters who had been ordered to march with her in San Diego's biggest parade were upset about the assignment until she went to the staging area before the parade to thank them. "They were grumpy and unhappy," she testified. The four firefighters later asked for a "stress debriefing" and then sued the city, claiming they were sexually harassed at the at San Diego's LGBT Pride parade and mistreated at work after filing complaints. The annual event draws more than 100,000 spectators to Hillcrest, home to a large gay population. The fire department typically sends a fire engine and crew to city parades, but apparently doesn't have enough tolerant firefighters in the department to staff an engine in the gay pride parade.
:: Brazil's president spoke out in favor of same-sex unions Wednesday night, calling politicians "hypocrites" if they oppose same-sex unions but seek the votes of gay men and women during elections. "There are men living with men, women living with women, and many times they live extraordinarily well," said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in an interview on state-run TV. "They build a life together, they work together and I am favorable." A proposal granting gay and lesbian couples the same rights as married heterosexuals has stalled in Brazil's Congress for more than 10 years, prompting some states to take their own action.
-- In an unprecedented decision, Brazil's high court ruled this week that there is no reason why a stable same-sex couple cannot be recognized as a family under the country's laws.
:: San Diego's conservative daily newspaper, the Union Tribune, this week printed a strongly worded editorial opposing Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage amendment, that's been strongly promoted by several San Diego area churches and preachers. "As gay couples have gone to the courthouse and entered into matrimony, usually surrounded by champagne, family and friends, the worst fears of gay marriage opponents suddenly seem greatly inflated," writes the paper's editorial board. "Our guess is that even voters who may have reservations about gay marriage will be reluctant to repeal a right that now exists as a matter of law. To do so would smack of singling out a particular group for discrimination, a move that offends many Californians' sense of fairness.... Gay and lesbian couples deserve the same dignity and respect in marriage that heterosexual couples have long enjoyed. We urge a No vote on Proposition 8." [hattip: SLOG]
:: Like Tango magazine in its post on the subject, we're also going to let the software running this site do some unfortunate "****"ing of Margaret Cho's wonderfully colorful language, but she posts in her blog, "All kinds of Christians are getting mad about my Sarah Palin comments, and it is pissing me off." Oh, and the one-time Sunday school teacher has a flurry of choice words for them: "Don’t ****ing question my Christianity you ****ing idiot ***holes. If you continue to have a problem, then talk to God about it, not me, you ****ing racist homophobic misogynist fake Christian ****heads." Yeah! You go, Margaret.