Rod 2.0:Beta #gay #news #lgbt #gaynews

Review 2.0

NY Gov. Paterson: State will recognize gay marriages.
Conservatives and religious leaders go on the offense.
Former gay porn star Matt Sanchez attacks Obama.
"Democratic" "compromise" on delegates is undemocratic.
Obama resigns from church after racial, anti-Clinton sermon.
50 Cent stars in campy music video with the "boys."
Hotness: Lance Lozada for Abercrombie.
Jamaican newspapers applaud PM's anti-gay rant.
Hotness: WWE wrestler Maven Huffman returns to tv.
Sean John's Brazilian models are all white.
Restroom cruiser Larry Craig will write memoir.
McCain voted with Bush 100% of time in 2008.
Poll: Majority of Californians back gay marriage.
Lieberman to headline fundraiser with anti-gay Hagee.
Hotness: Millions celebrate gay pride in Sao Paolo.
McCain heckled during speech.
ACLU launches new online resource for LGBTs.

Rod 2.0 in RADAR magazine.

DNC "Compromise": Full MI and FL Delegations with Half-Vote

To widespread jeers and boos that demonstrates the deep divisions within the party, the Democratic National Committee approves a deal that seats the full delegations from the disputed Florida and Michigan primaries with half a vote each.

The hearings were publicized in a contentious meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, but, the deal was reached after the members met for three hours behind closed doors. (Talk Left live blogs hearings here, here and here.) The "compromise" was voted on publicly in a raucous session. The RBC unanimously agreed to seat the Florida delegation based on the outcome of the January primary, "with 105 pledged delegates for Hillary Clinton and 67 for Barack Obama, but with each delegate getting half a vote as a penalty."

The sticking point was Michigan, where Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson removed their names from the ballot. Clinton's camp insisted Obama should not have received any pledged delegates and wanted 73 pledged delegates with 55 uncommitted who were free to vote for Obama. The Obama camp insisted the only "fair" solution was to split the pledged delegates in half between the two campaigns, with 64 apiece.

After the jump, more on the "compromise".

Obama Resigns from Trinity UCC

Barack Obama resigns from Trinity United Church of Christ.

Lynn Sweet at the Chicago Sun Times: "The Obama campaign in not confirming that Obama quit his church—but not saying the reports are wrong. Obama 'will answer questions this evening,' an Obama top adviser just told me."

The resignation comes just days after a visiting pastor and longtime friend of Obama delivered a blistering sermon that demanded reparations for slavery and attacked the "white establishment." Father Michael Pfleger, who is white, ridiculed Sen. Hillary Clinton, accused her of "white entitlement" and was loudly applauded and cheered by the congregation. Pfleger, mocking Clinton's misty-eyed moment in New Hampshire, pretended to speak in her voice, saying, "I'm white, I'm entitled, there's a black man stealing my show!" Watch Pfleger's rant:

"Thank God for the message and thank God for the messenger," said Trinity's new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, after Pfleger's race-baiting.

Pfleger's sermon and longtime association with Barack Obama reignites concerns about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the inflammatory former longtime Trinity pastor and the presidential candidate's longtime spiritual advisor. Obama said in a statement he was "deeply disappointed" with Pfleger, but, did not specifically address Pfleger's personal attack on Clinton. (Pfleger's sermon mirrored Wright's infamous Christmas Day sermon attacking the Clintons, also never addressed by Obama.) On the other hand, Sen. John McCain denounced Pfleger's attack from the pulpit as "unwarranted, uncalled for and disgraceful." This is the third time in recent weeks the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has spoken out.

The Archdiocese of Chicago and Cardinal Francis George have muzzled Pfleger.

More OBAMA
More JEREMIAH WRIGHT
More POLITICS

Some Background ...
Obama "Outraged" by Wrights' "Ridiculous" "Rants" [R20]
Wright at the National Press Club and Detroit NAACP [R20]
Wright on PBS: Obama "Says What He Has to Say as a Politician" [R20]
NC GOP Targets Dems with Obama/Wright Attack Ad [R20]
Teddy Endorsed Obama to Preserve JFK's Civil Rights "Legacy"? What Legacy? [HuffPo]
Obama's "A More Perfect Union" Speech [R20]
Obama and the Turban Non-Story [R20]
PA Debate: Meltdown and Morning After [R20]
"Bitter" Billionaire Fundraiser" [R20]
Obama Camp Provides Photo of Wright and Clinton [R20]
Obama to Make "Major" Speech on Race [R20]
Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Black LGBTs [R20]
McCain Aide Suspended, Circulating Wright Video [R20]

ACLU Launches Online Resource for LGBT Activists

The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a new online resource for gay and lesbian activists. Get Busy Get Equal was created by the ACLU's LGBT & AIDS Project and offers a comprehensive guide to gay rights legislation in the 50 states, as well as chapters on laws that affect relationships, family law, parenting, discrimination. Get Busy Get Equal offers many of the tools that you can use to reach out to your neighbors, schools, employers and elected officials and get them to pass laws or adopt policies protecting LGBT people and the relationships of LGBT people

The ACLU and Get Busy Get Equal are sponsoring Rod 2.0. If you have a few minutes, please take a few minutes to check it out.

50 Cent "Inspects" the "Boys" in Campy New Music Video

Outgoing editor Tyler Gray at RADAR gives a nice mention to Rod 2.0 while dishing 50 Cent's campy new music video. Thank gawd we all know that Fiddy is very! straight! because in addition the arson fire and baby mama drama making headlines today, "it's just silly to speculate that über hetero 50 Cent could be gay. Not that at least one nagging blogger hasn't tried repeatedly and hilariously to cull together evidence from his movie and book."

In the new music video for "Rider Part 2", the buffed and costumed Fiddy channels his inner Village People to strut his stuff in a Marine dress uniform in a barracks of camouflage-wearing soldiers. Sounds kinda like a plot for a gay porn flick, no? "Check out that ... um, tilted Captain and Tennille-style sailor's cap he's wearing while inspecting some prime soldier specimens, and, so, yeah, he's all tenderoni now, too, apparently, using a vocoder in a chorus that repeats the word "boy" five times. Did he just growl? ..." Yes indeed, 50 Cent growls twice while inspecting the "boys". What does it mean? Don't ask, don't tell. Watch the video here.

In December, RADAR named Rod 2.0 to its year-in-review issue along with Concrete Loop, Nah Right and Hot Ghetto Mess as part of its "Bloggeratti." Actress/comedian Kathy Griffin, gender bender Candis Cayne and director Craig Brewer were among the other honorees.

UPDATE: Rod 2.0 reader Seahwak on the obvious connection to gay icons. "Rather than Village People, my first impression was that he was channeling Marlene Dietrich, strutting around a bunch of soldiers who desire him."

Thanks BRIAN, TYLER, BERNIE and TAYLOR

50 Cent's Homage to Heterosexuality [Radar]
Home at center of 50 Cent lawsuit destroyed by fire [AP]

Some Background ....
Rapper Fat Joe Mocks 50 Cent and G Unit with "Gay Unit" Mixtape [R20]
50 Gave Good Face [R20]
No Homo [R20]
Get (Homo) or Die Tryin' [R20]
What Up S.L.U.T. [R20]
Bitch Better Have My Money And Some Prada [R20]
Gay or Rapper? [R20]

Report: McCain Voted with Bush "100% of the Time" in 2008

Via Think Progress: According to a recent Congressional Quarterly analysis of Senate votes on issues President George W. Bush expressed “an explicit, stated opinion," Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) "voted with President Bush 100 percent of the time in 2008 and 95 percent of the time in 2007."

Despite his almost perfect replication of the Bushy Administration's policies, McCain and his campaign insist his presidency would not be "a third Bush term" and the campaign has sought to distance itself from Bush. This photo from early March is the last time the two were seen together in public.

More POLITICS
More JOHN McCAIN

You May Want to Read ...
McCain (Finally) Rejects Hagee and Parsley [R20]
McCain Silent on Hagee's Homophobic Slurs [R20]
McCain in Selma, Recalls Historic Civil Rights March [R20]
DNC Debuts First Ad Against McCain [R20]
McCain Will "Criticize" Obama's "Elitist" Comments [R20]
McCain in Memphis: "Wrong" to Oppose Holiday [R20]
Republican Senators Block Stimulus Package [R20]
McCain Targets Romney with Anti-Gay Robo-calls [R20]
NH Voters Targeted by Anti-Mormon "Push Polls" [R20]
Romney, McCain Offer More Anti-Gay Rhetoric [R20]
McCain Flip-Flops on Gay Rights [R20]
McCain Promotes Abstinence [R20]
McCain Hires Producer of Racist Ads [R20]
McCain Flip-Flops on Gay Rights [R20]
Yes But No—But Yes [R20]
McCain: Not "Catering" to Far Right [R20]
McCain Promotes Abstinence [R20]
McCain's MLK Day: "Pandering" to Racists [R20]
McCain Wins Republican Nomination [R20]
McCain Camp Enlists Racist Shock Jock [R20]

Opposition Grows to Gay Marriage Recognition in New York State

On Thursday morning, New York Gov. David A. Paterson announced a landmark executive order: All state agencies were required to recognize same sex marriages legally performed in other states and countries. The new directive would "involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses." Now, opposition is growing to the directive and conservatives and religious leaders say it ignores "traditional values" and establishes de facto gay marriages in the state.

The Rev. Duane Motley of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms said the Democrat "slapped the people in the face by circumventing their representatives," while New York's Catholic bishops said "just as the state cannot declare a man to be a 'mother' or a woman to be a 'father,' it can not declare a same-sex union to be a 'marriage."

The state's Republican leadership is also outraged.

State Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who opposes gay marriage, questioned the constitutionality of Paterson's action but said he hadn't yet seen the memo.

Bruno said the state's highest court has found gay marriage isn't legal within the state. The high court hasn't yet taken up the issue of whether gay marriages performed legally out of state are valid in New York.

"You have to understand that the court, the highest court here in New York state, made it very very clear that the only union that is legal in New York state, to perform a marriage ceremony, is between a man and a woman," Bruno said, citing a 2006 Court or Appeals ruling.

Paterson, a Roman Catholic, defends the directive and says failure to issue it would have exposed the state to liability from lawsuits claiming the Empire State deprived gay couples of civil rights enjoyed in other states.

"We have a time-held and time-tested tradition honoring those marital rights," Paterson said. "I am taking the same approach that this state always has with respect to out-of-state or marriages conducted in foreign governments being recognized here in the state of New York. I am following the law as it has always existed."

The California Supreme Court just paved the way for same sex marriage beginning in mid June.

NY Gov Faces Gay Marriage Fight [CBS News]
Opposition Forms Against Gay Marriage Rights [365 Gay]

More DAVID PATERSON
More POLITICS

Some Background ...
Paterson Promises Support for Same Sex Marriage [R20]
Paterson and Wife Admit Extramarital Affairs [R20]
Paterson Sworn In as NYs First Black Governor [R20]
Spitzer Implicated in Prostitution Ring [R20]
Spitzer Keeps Promise: Gay Marriage Bill Introduced [R20]
Spitzer Will Introduce Gay Marriage Bill [R20]
News: Same-Sex Marriage in New York [R20]
Court: No Gay Marriage in New York [R20]
News: Meet New York's Lt. Governor [R20]
Slim Majority in CA Want to Ban Gay Marriage [R20]
CA Supreme Court Overturns Marriage Ban [R20]
Schwarzengger: Gay Marriage Good for Economy [R20]
Clinton, Obama's Bland Statements on CA Marriage [R20]
Pope Reiterates Opposition to Same Sex Marriage [R20]
CA Poll: Majority Back Gay Marriage [R20]

Larry Craig Will (Toe) Tap His Memory for New Memoir

Toe-tapping, serial men's room cruiser Larry Craig returns to the news. The de-closeted, anti-gay "family values" Republican senator from Idaho announces he will write a book on the drama surrounding his arrest last year in an airport sex sting. Sounds like good bathroom reading.

The Associated Press reports, "He told KTVB-TV in Boise, Idaho, the book will focus on 'the state of politics' in Washington, but also will review his career, including his arrest by an undercover officer in a men's room at the Minneapolis airport.

" 'There will be a bit of what's happened in the last year and the way it evolved,' Craig said. 'I think that's important for Idaho and those outside Idaho who are interested to know.' "

Not sure is this supposed to be an autobiography or fiction. Unless the book is completely forthcoming about those five gay men who describe having (messy) sex, or, being propositioned by the de-closeted right-wing senator, well, this sounds more like a novel.

Larry Craig to tap memory to write new book [P1Q]

More LARRY CRAIG.
More REPUBLICANS

Some Background ...
A Tale of Two Cities [Advocate]
5 Gay Men Describe Sexual Encounters with Craig [R20]
"Romney Threw Me Under the Bus" [R20]
Craig Inducted into Idaho Hall of Fame [R20]
Senate Republicans Knew About "Closeted" Larry Craig's "Weird Problem" [R20]
Larry Craig Vows to Remain in Office [R20]
Larry Craig Pays a Surprise Visit to Senate [R20]
News: Larry Craig Latest, David Vitter [R20]
Larry Craig Latest: "Not Guilty!" [R20]
Craig Latest: Wasn't Going to Run for Re-Election [R20]
Craig Latest: Maybe I Won't Resign After All [R20]
Craig Resigns Senate Seat [R20]
RNC to Larry Craig: Resign or Else [R20]
NY Post Runs "Are You a Gay Senator?" Quiz [R20]
Idaho's Largest Paper Calls for Craig's Resignation [R20]

Sean John Only Books White Models For Brazilian Ad Campaign

This is very interesting. Remember that spectacular Sean John runway show that featured all black male models? Sean "Diddy" Combs was widely praised for making such an important social and corporate statement on the lack of black faces on the runways and in magazines. Unfortunately there is even less diversity in Brazilian fashion and the new Sean John campaign is no exception. Made in Brazil reports on Sean John's selection of model Miro Moreira as the new face of the Brazilian campaign:

"How odd is it that even a label such as Sean John books a white model for a Brazilian ad campaign? I am not complaining to see Miro but the choice of model does say something about the target customer for the brand in the country, and, about Brazilian media in general."

The "choice" of cover model is quite consistent with the branding of the new Brazilian media campaign. Go to the new website—it's in Portuguese but easy to navigate—and there are absolutely no black or visibly mixed race models. Although the nation is approximately 45% mixed race or black, there are very few black or brown images in the media. "There is a better chance of this getting into a magazine than one using a black model," rationalizes one Brazilian fashionista in the comments at the Brazilian blog. "In advertising, if that same picture was taken with a black model it would immediately be labeled as HIP HOP or URBAN. I don't think this is offensive ."

Actually, that generalization is somewhat offensive, no? One would expect Sean John would export at least some of that social responsibility that earned them such great press during Fashion Week. Or maybe not.

This May Raise Some Controversy [Made In Brazil]

More SEAN COMBS
More FASHION

You May Have Missed ...
Diddy Hires Only Black Models for Sean John [R20]
São Paulo Fashion Week Goes Black& ; [R20]

Lance Lozada for Abercrombie

It's been a few days since beefcake was on the menu at Rod 2.0, so, here is an prime cut of steak to enjoy for lunch. Lance Lozada is one of the new faces and bodies at Abercrombie & Fitch, the mall merchandiser better known for marketing scantily-clad male models and its quarterly quasi porn catalogs. It's good to see the marketing gurus at A&F are following their lawsuit settlement that required public commitment to diversity in models and employees.

Lance is represented by ReQuest Models in New York City. He is featured in the Fall/Winter 2007 and the Spring/Summer 2008 campaigns, which were shot in Bar Harbour, Maine.

Did You Read ... ?
Profits Are Up, Scantily Clad Male Models Pays Off [R20]
T-Shirts in the Spin Cycle [R20]
Abercrombie: The New Black [R20]