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Mo’Nique to Receive "Ally for Equality Award" at Atlanta HRC Gala

Academy Award-winning actress, talk show host and comedienne Mo’Nique will be honored with the "Ally for Equality Award" at the 2011 Human Rights Campaign Atlanta Gala Dinner. Brava.

The Ally for Equality Award recognizes the outstanding efforts of those who dedicate time, energy and a whole-hearted commitment to better the lives of LGBT people. This award is given to allies outside the LGBT community who stand up on behalf of equality for all Americans. Recipients have shown a commitment to making America a place where LGBT people can be open, honest and safe at home, at work, in the community and in the media. The awards presented at the Human Rights Campaign gala dinners are the highest honor the organization bestows in the area of achieving equality for LGBT people.

Bravo's Andy Cohen received the "Visibility Award" in 2010.

Mo'Nique has long been a fierce ally for the Black LGBT community and a high-profile HIV/AIDS advocate. In a 2010 interview in The Advocate, she discussed the hypocrisy of the black church toward its many gay and lesbian members and said, "God don't make no mistakes."

The actress has also used The Mo'Nique Show as a platform for LGBT inclusiveness, such as  a must-see episode where she and veteran R&B singer Miki Howard discussed gays in the black church.

For her dynamic performance in Precious, Mo'Nique became only the fifth Black woman to win an acting Oscar, some 70 years after Hattie McDaniel became the first to do so for Gone with the Wind. 

You May Enjoy:
Mo'Nique on Gays: "God Don't Make Mistakes"
Lee Daniels in "Attitude"
WATCH: Mo'Nique: "Gay and in the Black Church? God Loves You"
Mo'Nique: Take Two
Mo'Nique ♥ Gays

SPORNO: Cam Newton is Nipple- and Ab-Tastic at the NFL Combine

Bulging biceps? Shoulders like boulders? Skin tight and nipple-tastic UnderArmour? Check, check, check!

Heisman Trophy winner and former Auburn University quarterback hotness Cam Newton strikes a flawless pose at the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine last weekend in Indianapolis.

Speaking of being flawless: Cam held a press conference to clarify previous remarks about being an "icon" ...

More muscles, more "iconic" sporno plus watch Cam workout and run the 40 WHEN YOU JUMP ...

Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Wyoming House

Finally. A win for "equality" in the so-called Equality State.

A proposed amendment to the Wyoming Constitution that would ban recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere ... quietly dies in the House.

The Wyoming House adjourned without taking action on a same-sex marriage bill that had already passed the state Senate. Passing the measure would have required a twette, said he didn't want to spend hours of floor time debating a bill that didn't have the votes to pass. The Legiso-thirds vote in both houses. House Majority Floor Leader Rep. Tom Lubnau, R-Gilllature is set to adjourn next week.

Another bill was still pending that would change Wyoming law to specify that the state would only recognize marriages between one man and one woman. Disagreement remained between the House and Senate over whether the state should allow same-sex couples who entered civil unions elsewhere to have access to the state court system to resolve any issues that arise in their relationships.

The entire Democratic Party caucus in the Wyoming legislature opposed the bill. It narrowly passed the Senate earlier this month and the House last month.

GLAAD Files FCC Complaint Against Anti-Gay Spanish Language Show

GLAAD and the National Hispanic Media Coalition have filed a joint complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against Liberman Broadcasting and KRCA. The complaint responds to broadcasts of the popular Spanish-language television talk show José Luis Sin Censura, where offensive language and "verbal and physical attacks against women and LGBT people" are common.

In over twenty episodes that aired between June 18 and December 7, 2010, the program contained images and language of the nature that is never displayed or is bleeped out of pre-taped English-language programs of the same nature, including the words "pinche" ("f*cking" in English) and "culero" ("assf*cker"), anti-gay language, including epithets such as ""maricón," "joto" and "puñal" (or "f*ggot"), and anti-Latino slurs, such as "mojado" ("wetback"). The program frequently featured blatant nudity and female guests have been shown in violent fights. Hypersexualized images of women's breasts and genitals while stripping for male guests and audience members also make up routine offerings. Guests and audience members were often incited to engage in verbal and even physical attacks, especially against people perceived to be LGBT. Many episodes showed the audience standing and shouting anti-gay epithets and profanity at guests.

The groups have  launched an online action with the Women's Media Center, where concerned community members and allies can send e-mails to the FCC supporting the complaint or file their own complaints.

GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios and NHMC President Alex Nogales will discuss the FCC complaint during an online press conference live-streamed today at 1PM EST / 10AM PST.

Watch GLAAD's clip reel (NSFW) WHEN YOU JUMP ...

Concerns Over Passage of Marriage Equality Bill in Maryland House

The Maryland House of Delegates could vote for the marriage equality bill by the end of next week, reports the Washington Post. The bill passed the Maryland Senate by a 25 to 21 vote last week.

Approval in the House is far from assured. The Catholic Church and "Maryland's black churches" are expected to ramp up opposition, the Post reports.

With attention turning to the House, supporters there acknowledged Thursday that same-sex marriage has been a hard sell with African American lawmakers from Prince George's County, as well as conservative Democrats from Southern Maryland and the Baltimore suburbs.

The Washington Blade has a thorough report on Friday's House Judiciary Committee hearings. There are also concerns over its passage and the curious defection of a key sponsor.

"There’s an effort to derail this bill like none I’ve seen before," said gay State Sen. Richard Madaleno (D-Montgomery County), the author and one of the lead sponsors of the marriage equality bill in the Senate. In a telephone news briefing on Friday, Madaleno said the mainstream media have repeatedly reported an earlier assumption that support for the bill was greater in the House than in the Senate, and approval of the measure in the Senate guaranteed its passage in the House.

The pressure could be working:

A warning signal that support in the House could diminish surfaced earlier in the week when Del. Melvin Stukes (D-Baltimore City), a co-sponsor of the marriage bill for the past four years, withdrew his sponsorship. Stukes told the Baltimore Sun he thought the bill would have given same-sex couples the right to obtain civil unions rather than marriage. Once he realized the measure would allow gays to marry he determined he made a mistake, he told the Sun. "I’m very sorry that I got on the bill," he said.

Activists said privately that they were baffled over Stukes’ change of heart on the bill because he represents a progressive-leaning district in Baltimore where the majority of residents would not object to his support for allowing gays to marry.

Stukes' about-face is troubling, notes Joe Sudbay at AMERICABlog. "Stukes represents the gayest areas of Baltimore. He's been a sponsor of the marriage bill for FOUR years. Now, he's pretending that he didn't know it was about marriage?"

If you live in Maryland, please call your legislators and ask them to support the marriage equality bill. Please.

PHOTO: Chris Brown Goes Blond

Chris Brown channels his inner Madonna (or is it Sisqo?) and tweets his new close-cropped blond ambition. The Twitpic was accompanied by the status update "Look at me now"—which is the title of the next single on his upcoming album F.A.M.E.. Viral marketing with a platinum 2.0 twist.

WATCH: Candles in Voodoo Sex Ritual Caused Fatal Brooklyn Fire

An elderly woman is dead, 30+ people are injured and at least 100 are homeless after candles used in a voodoo sex ceremony sparked a fatal five-alarm fire in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

The inferno started when a woman "paid $300 to a voodoo priest for a ceremony to bring her good luck," reports NBC New York.

A city official says the man was known in the neighborhood as a priest and the two were having sex when the fire started. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Candles on the floor around a bed where the ceremony took place ignited bed linens and clothes on the floor, fire officials said. Instead of calling 911, the man began retrieving water from a bathroom sink in a futile effort to put it out, but the flames only grew. According to Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano, the occupant then opened the door to the hallway, which "allowed fire to spread into the hallway."

Opening the door "allowed wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour to shoot 'the flames back inside, creating a blowtorch effect', reports the New York Times.

Money quote from the New York Post: "She told [fire marshals] that while she was having sex, she was getting aroused, she was getting into it and she didn't realize that their activity had knocked over some of the candles around the bed," [a] source said."

Watch FOX New York's report WHEN YOU JUMP ...

WATCH: MSNBC's Thomas Roberts on the Big Week for LGBT Rights

The past week saw significant advances on LGBT rights in Hawaii, Maryland, Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. MSNBC anchor and Baltimore native Thomas Roberts—who recently told Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown that he  would like to take advantage of marriage equality in his home state some day—wrapped  the events.

Via JoeMyGod, watch AFTER THE JUMP ...

WATCH: Eddie Long Begins "Late Night Men's Prayer Meetings"

The Atlanta-based anti-gay mega-church pastor accused of luring at least four young men into sexual relationships and "spiritual covenants" has announced a series of "late night prayer meetings" and revivals for men only.

Bishop Eddie Long says that men do not have to be members of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, but they must be prepared to stay after midnight and "bring an offering worthy of the Lord."

And how many inches—err, "men"—are you seeking, bishop?

Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...

WATCH: Out Maryland Legislator Mary Washington Asks Colleagues to End Marriage Discrimination

The Maryland House of Delegates wrappped up its first day of hearings on HB 175, one day after the Senate approved its version of the marriage equality bill by a 25 to 21 vote. "More than 100 people signed up to testify in a House Judiciary Committee hearing that spanned the entire afternoon and sprawled into an overflow room," reports The Baltimore Sun.

Among the first panelists to testify for the bill were the five lesbian members and one gay male member of the House of Delegates, who offered personal and emotional stories "of how they and their partners are considered 'strangers' under the current Maryland law," adds the Washington Blade.

Baltimore Del. Mary Washington, only the second openly lesbian African-American to be elected to a state legislature, offered powerful testimony.

I also stand before you today with a particular perspective on equality. As an African-American, same gender loving woman, I live within a myraid of historical and present day systems of inequality. And yet I prefer to consider my particular viewpoint as an opportunity. To see how people like me are disadvantaged by these systems and fight against them. And also see how people like me fight hard to create communities of love and support in spite of those systems.

The 48-year-old Washington, an environmentalist, community activist and Ph.D., was elected in 2010. She testified alongside out Dels. Maggie McIntosh, Anne Kaiser, Heather Mizeur, Bonnie Cullison, and Luke Clippinger .

Lou Chibbaro Jr at the Blade has a thorough report.

Watch Del. Mary Washington's testimony AFTER THE JUMP ...