GAYDAR IS REAL: STUDY PROVES IT!

From the Department of DUH! A University of Washington study proves gaydar is real.

In the study, 96 black-and-white photos of gay and straight men and women were shown to 129 students, who were then asked to guess their subject's sexuality.

In two-thirds of cases, they were able to tell if a woman was gay or straight, and they accurately judged 57 per cent of the males they saw.

Even turning the photos upside down did not stop ability of viewers to correctly guess the subject's sexuality.

 So, guys, switch off Grindr, stop woofing on Scruff, and use your eyes and ears (and your psychic kids' sixth sense, if you've got it tuned). What did the cavemen do? Do that, and I don't mean painting antelopes on cave walls.

Catholic Priest Stands Up Against Archbishop in WA Antigay Petition Drive

Via Think Progress:

But at least one Catholic leader — Father Michael Ryan of St. James Cathedral — is resisting the effort and refusing to “circulate petitions inside his parish for the campaign to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage law”:

Dear Friends,
Archbishop Sartain has written a letter in which he has expressed his support for Referendum 74 and for the collecting of signatures in parishes. Media reports regarding this are somewhat misleading. While the Archbishop has given his support to the effort, he has wisely left it up to each pastor to decide whether to allow the collection of signatures in his own parish.
After discussing the matter with the members of the Cathedral’s pastoral ministry team, I have decided that we will not participate in the collecting of signatures in our parish. Doing so would, I believe, prove hurtful and seriously divisive in our community.
Father Ryan

This statement took guts, and he received a standing ovation in his church upon his appearance. Read the details. It looks like people are not just falling in line with bigotry any more.

P.S. Isn't this the Church getting directly involved with politics? How is it not, when it's a directive from the archbishop? Enlighten me.

Cross-posted at Flaneur: "Does The Soul Not Feel Better, When The True Church, Does Something Risky and Truth-Filled"

See also: ARCHBISHOP DOLAN'S ABUSING PRIEST PAY-OFFS

Cory Booker Saves Neighbor From Burning Building

Local hero of the week, Newark's mayor.

Only Kryptonite can stop him.

From the Daily News:

A detective in the mayor’s security detail grabbed Booker by the belt in an effort to keep him from heading into the second-floor blaze in Newark’s South Ward.

But Booker won the forceful debate by turning to Det. Alex Rodriguez and declaring, “If I don’t go in, this lady is going to die.”

Welcome Maryland to Marriage Equality

Maryland has done it, and that's pretty damn good.

Let's add Delaware and dump the NJ Gov., and we're working on a solid Northeast.

Fairly soon we're going to stop calling it "gay marriage" and just call it "marriage." As it should be.

Californians Foolishly Celebrate Victory Over Prop 8

In a haze of folly, California's anti-Prop 8 forces today swooned over a prematurely declared victory over Proposition 8. Alas, this just means the case gets bumped from the 3-judge panel of the circuit court to the entire 11-judge body. Then it will go to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it's anyone's guess whether simple logic can prevail. It hasn't so far (see Citizen's United).

On the bright side, perhaps same-sex corporations will be allowed to marry.

Yes, yes, I know the argument here: more heaps of paper with eloquent reasoning will eventually tip the balance. Maybe, but not usually, and not so far.

Again, always happy to be surprised.

Washington Gay Marriage Rolls Forward

I know it's a good thing, but it looks like the adversaries are not giving up. Opponents are determined to pull ANOTHER REFERENDUM, as they have done in so many other states.

And, as before, the majority will be given the chance to vote on the rights of the minority. That always works out well, huh?

While the odds on the referendum rollback are long, the problem remains that so many other states will have to re-referendum their laws and constitutional amendments, guaranteeing a constant state of this reprehensible type of voting for 20 to 50 years to come.

Unless some bolt from the blue, a federal shade of blue, should strike, prepare for a long slog through swampy voting. That's what the opponents want, since it keeps them funded and in the limelight. No one would give them a moment of their attention otherwise.

New CFPB Chief Out of the Gate

Finally, a recess appointment when we need one most. ABC News reports on Cordray's agenda-defining speech:

“Consumers deserve to have someone who will stand on their side, who will protect them against fraud, and who will ensure that they are treated fairly in the financial marketplace,” he said. “The new consumer bureau was created to make sure these things are achieved for all Americans.”

 Let's have some more recess appointments. I think they're spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, and I don't think all of Congress is in session when one chamber (the Senate) has adjourned and left the building.

Iceland's 'Open-source Constitution' Handed In

Islandia map by Abraham Ortelius ca 1590

A committee of 25 put its proposals on-line. They the People responded with comments and suggestions.

The committee waded through the suggestions, responded, and then put forth the results of this unique diaolgue. They've now handed in the final draft to Iceland's parliament, called the Althingi - a name I can't even read without chuckling.

Iceland’s constitution was barely adapted from Denmark’s when the island nation gained independence from the Scandinavian kingdom in 1944.

"Since then, a holistic re-examination of the constitution has always been on the agenda, but always halted because of political infighting in the parliament," committee member Eirikur Bergmann, a political science professor at Iceland’s Bifroest Unioversity who also tweeted his way through the committee’s work, told AFP.

But after Iceland’s economic collapse in 2008, which triggered massive social movements, pressure mounted for a revamp of the constitution and for the process to be led by ordinary citizens, he said.

Now, a few months back, could Congress have taken the same approach to this manufactured debt crisis? Could it do this with other needed programs? Yes. It should be happening now to answer the many real crises we face.

The fact that they're still playing ping pong with the economy lets you know that they don't want anything approaching functionality in legislating. That would not allow for all the behind-the-curtains dirty dealing.

Go Iceland!

Gay Marriage in New York: Dates to Know and Where to Go.

July 5th is the first date that you can obtain a marriage license. The City Clerk's office has the details of what to do to get one. We hear they've been running the presses to get gender-neutral language copies printed, whatever those might look like. I don't think they will be available in colors or anything. Note that the license requires a wait of 24 hours afterward for the actual marriage ceremony, and it is only good for sixty days, unless you are in the military (in which case, DADT has not been implemented, so you can't actually invoke that provision without another kind of headache). Marriage itself becomes legal on July 24th, 2011, 30 days after the signing of the bill by Gov. Cuomo.

That's why, perhaps, you should look into scheduling the actual ceremony to fall within that scope. You can line up for a marriage ceremony at the same office of the City Clerk. No reservations are required or accepted. There are fees that seem to add up to about $60, but please read any details for yourself.

There's also a fun option I heard about. The Pop-up Chapel, which will do weddings for free, with some trimmings, in Central Park. It looks like it's only serving cupcakes during the first weekend after marriage becomes legal. Read up on this option, since I have no idea whether this will be slammed with couples who heard about it on twitter.

Do whatever you like, where gay marriage is concerned, whenever you want to, but do some research first. Rushing into these things is for drunken celebs in Vegas!

NY Airport Geese to Be Cooked and Given Away

Not a bad idea. But isn't this fowl socialism?

UN Human Rights Council Passes GLBT Rights Resolution

UN Human Rights Council passes gay rights resolution. Via CNN:

Suzanne Nossel, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations, told CNN, "It really is a key part in setting a new norm that gay rights are human rights and that that has to be accepted globally."

"It talks about the violence and discrimination that people of LGBT persuasion experience around the world," she said, "and that those issues ... need to be taken seriously. It calls for reporting on what's going on, where people are being discriminated against, the violence that is taking place, and it really puts the issue squarely on the U.N.'s agenda going forward."

Thanks for that, but it took long enough. I don't know if the entire General Assembly would pass something like this, but this at least requires reporting, so it's a step forward. It doesn't immediately change anything but perception, but that's a start.