Gay News Magazine Headlines (T24T-2)

A la Mode: Dark, dour and marked by a steady drone, 'Sounds of the Universe' is the best Depeche Mode album since 'Violator'

Music: Has Depeche Mode, pioneers of dark electronica, seen the light? ''Just look at me,'' lead singer Dave Gahan sings on ''Peace,'' from the band's new album, Sounds of the Universe. ''Giving all the positivity that I possess, I'm going to light up the world.'' His voice soars skyward, giddily, on that last word, and you know it just has to be a cheeky joke. This is Depeche Mode, after all. The band, together now for almost 30 years, has given very little positivity or light. It's dark and it's dour.
And it often drones. There's a steady hum to much of Depeche Mode's strongest output -- think of that featured on 1990's Violator. The music churns in a compressed register -- and Gahan keeps his singularly strained, wounded voice in check. The band's excitement and especially anger may be electronically embellished, but the overriding sensibility is generally measured, restrained, resigned.

Depeche Mode
(Photo by Anton Corbijn)
It can turn dull, or get stuck in a despairing funk. Take the band's middling output since keyboardist and production wiz Alan Wilder left in 1995. The 95. The most recent release, 2005's Playing the Angel, featured several great, ravishing songs -- ''Precious,'' for example, is one of the band's very best. But overall, it was depressed, and depressing, and it ended on a creepy note -- a place where angels fear to tread, clearly. Chances are you didn't tread there much, either. ...more

New Hampshire marriage bill narrowly fails in House

By JOSHUA LYNSEN and CHRIS JOHNSON

After winning support from New Hampshire's governor and Senate, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the Granite State has stumbled near the finish line. 

House lawmakers voted 188-186 on Wednesday to reject a revised marriage bill. The measure had been reworked at the governor's request to more explicitly exempt the state's religious institutions and workers. Senators voted 14-10 earlier in the day Wednesday to approve the changes.

Marty Rouse, the Human Rights Campaign's national field director, noted the bill remained viable. House members voted down an effort to kill the measure, 202-173.

"While the House vote ...

Blade web site targeted in 'brute force attack'

By JOSHUA LYNSEN, Washington Blade
An attack last week on the Washington Blade's web site could spur a federal investigation.

The web site was offline for about 12 hours last week after it was bombarded with attacks that apparently originated within the U.S. Kevin Smith, online operations director for Window Media, the Blade's parent company, said the problems b egan May 14.

"It was Thursday evening around 6 p.m. that we discovered that our web sites had been infiltrated with malicious code," he said. "It was a brute force attack to the point where we had to take down the sites for protection and security until Friday morning."

Smith declined to specify the ...

Black Pride sees last-minute venue change

By AMY CAVANAUGH, Washington Blade
Sunday's Pure Love Unity Festival, originally slated to be held at the D.C. Armory, underwent a last-minute venue change due to a "financial decision" and now will be held at Love Nightclub, 1350 Okie St., N.E.

Khalid Parker, president of D.C. Black Pride, said the event will take place inside Love, but food vendors and health screenings with mobile units will be set up in designated areas outside the venue.

Love has a total capacity for 1,230 people, and Parker said attendance will likely be down from last year.

"As numbers are down because of the economic status of the country, I do think ...

Choi to help lead Pride Parade

U.S. Army Lieutenant Dan Choi, who is being discharged under the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, will be a celebrity grand marshal in the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade Sunday, June 28. Brendan Behan, deputy executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, confirmed to the Bay Area Reporter that Choi will [...]

Milk Day bill clears Senate

Just a few days shy of what would have been Harvey Milk’s 79th birthday, the state Senate on Thursday, May 14 passed legislation that creates Harvey Milk Day in California in honor of the state’s first openly gay elected official. SB 572, authored by state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), cleared the Senate with a 24-14 [...]

Party to support North Beach eatery

Everyone’s invited tnvited to gather for lunch at Caffe Macaroni - Sciue Sciue, 124 Columbus Avenue in San Francisco from 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 7. After an incident last month involving restaurant’s owner, in which prize-winning gay author Mark Doty claimed he was called “faggot,” angry bloggers announced they would never eat at either of [...]

Sixth-Grader's Milk Project Blocked

A Ramona, Calif., sixth-grader was forbidden to give a presentation on Harvey Milk to her class after adminis trators required her classmates to get signed parental permission to listen to it.

Judy Shepard Meets With Obama

As David Mixner was calling for a national March on Washington on Wednesday to spur the president into action on gay and lesbian civil rights, Barack Obama was meeting with Judy Shepard to discuss the Matthew Shepard Act.

N.H. Stuck on Pro-Clergy Marriage Law

New Hampshire lawmakers have narrowly rejected a bill that would have legalized marriage equality while shielding religious organizations from having to acknowledge or accommodate married gay couples.

NH Legislature Fails To Pass Gay Marriage Bill

The New Hampshire Legislature has failed to pass an amended gay marriage bill, but efforts to kill the bill also failed

Clinton To Grant Equal Benefits To Gay Diplomats

Berman: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has agreed to correct inequalities for gay and lesbian diplomats at the State Department

Groups Urge Obama To Spurn Gay Marriage Ban Defense

A coalition of gay and lesbian rights groups are urging President Obama to turn down defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

Ellen DeGeneres: Common Cementâ€" er, Commencement Speech at Tulane University

Brilliant, hilarious, deeply touching… Pure Ellen:

Craig Frank (R-Mormon): “Aw, don’t listen to li’l ol’ me about convertin’ them Chinese!”

No, Frank, it’s your dumbosity that’s HUGH. I’m SERIES!!11!!1!!!!1 If you haven’t heard this one yet, it’s funny stuff — and it’s not (wait ’til you see the racist screencap after the jump). From the Mormon Lawmakers Say the Darnedest Things Dept: First, Craig Frank gets all excited because Barack (or “Barak,” as Craig and every other [...]

Because We Haven’t Succumbed to a Big Ol’ Sleazy Tabloid Story About Carrie Prejean’s Allegedly Big Ol’ Lesbian Mom in, Like, a Week

But who can resist The Star, especially when it names Miss Opposite Marriage California’s mother’s alleged (gasp!) lesbian lover? (One Valerie Vetrano, in case you’re wondering.) We can’t. And we make no apologies for enjoying this spectacle to the fullest. It’s almost as good as Wayne Besen catching Porno Pete on video in flagrante with Charlie [...]