GLBTQIA: Combined Gay News Headlines (T5T-1)

And the margin is quite large; the old South rises again in Georgia in this runoff for the U.S. Senate race. I guess he got his ~~white peeps~~ side energized. (AP):

With 44 percent of precincts reporting, Chambliss had 61 percent of the vote to Martin's 39 percent. The early returns came mostly from rural counties where Republicans traditionally wield significant sway in a still-overwhelmingly red state. None of the urban Democratic strongholds had yet reported results an hour after the polls closed.
The hotly contested Georgia runoff between the former University of Georgia fraternity brothers will have a significant effect on the balance of power in Washington. Democrats in the U.S. Senate are just two votes shy of the 60 needed to block Republican filibusters - a key bid for power that would be immensely helpful as a Democrat heads to the White House for the first time in a decade.
Georgia is one of the two unresolved Senate races. In Minnesota, a recount is under way in a tight race between Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. The ballots must be tallied by Friday but the contest could stretch beyond that with a five-member board gathering beginning Dec. 16 to rule on ballot challenges.

Someone better head to confessional.

The Times Online is reporting that the Vatican has come out strongly against a United Nations declaration formally condemning anti-LGBT discrimination, saying that the declaration would lead to the decriminalization of same-sex unions. The nonbinding resolution, created by France, condemns "discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity."

Well, the Vatican is having none of it. The Vatican's permanent observer at the UN said that while the Catholic Church forbids "unjust discrimination" against homosexuals, outlawing discrimination by means of a UN declaration would pressure states that did not recognize same-sex unions to do so.

I guess the churches stance is simply "just" discrimination...
According to the Times:

Over 80 countries in the world currently outlaw same-sex relations, with punishments range from short prison sentences to life imprisonment and even death by execution. The UN declaration will not be binding, but gay rights movements hope it will lead to a UN resolution.

So the church would rather stand against same-sex unions and allow death sentences for LGBT people?

Franco Grillini, founder and honorary president of Arcigay, Italy's leading gay rights group, told Rueters that the Vatican's reasoning smacked of "total idiocy and madness."

The French resolution, which is supported by all 27 members of the European Union, has nothing to do with gay marriage. It is about stopping jail and the death penalty for homosexuals.

So the Catholic Church is so afraid of same-sex unions that they are willing to allow the continued abuse and murder of the LGBT community in nations around the world.

Unconscionable.

(h/t Towleroad)

A half-gay wedding, anyway. Impact Florida plans to stage a protest at the Dec. 12 wedding of Republican Gov. Charlie Crist. Crist, a suave, confirmed bachelor as well as a vocal proponent of banning gay marriage and domestic partnerships, has been the subject of gay rumors, but the mainstream media isn't focusing on any of that -- just on the irony of his celebrating marriage in light of denial of that right to Florida's gay citizens. The organizer of the protest says that it will be "peaceful and respectful."

http://impactflorida.ning.com/

http://www.tampabay.com/news/briefs/article921413.ece

The website GaysOfFla.com has more extensive reporting on the planned event. http://www.gaysofla.com/content/view/431/1/

Is this a good idea? I've heard people say that it will give ammunition to the people who say they need to "protect marriage" or that protesting a wedding is just, well, rude. It seems to me that the irony is just too delicious and that as long as the protesters actually are "peaceful and respectful" there is a real opportunity for education of the public.