On Tuesday, a house panel considered bills that would decriminalize homosexual sex in Texas. Supporters testified on HB 604 and HB 2156, both of which would remove so-called homosexual conduct from Texas' penal code. Currently, homosexual sex is consider a Class C misdemeanor, though it's not usually prosecuted due to its lack of Constitutional merit. According to the Tribune, Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, and author of HB 2156, said the U.S. Supreme Court had nullified similar state laws because of the equal protection clause in the Constitution. Coleman's bill would also amend part of the Health and Safety Code that says homosexual conduct is not an 'acceptable lifestyle,' in sexual education materials." Coleman reported: “The idea of someone saying something is a lifestyle is offensive to most people because it's an orientation, not a lifestyle,” Coleman said. “If you ask people from the GLBT community, they will tell you it is not a lifestyle, it's who they are.” Congrats to the house for considering basic, consensual sexual privacy as a legal practice, shame on us for still debating whether or not that's ok. more ›

Dallas natives Mark Reed and Dante Walkup applied for a marriage certificate in Washington D.C., where gay marriage is legal, but wanted to exchange their vows in their home state surrounded by friends and family. For the marriage to be recognized, it had to be performed by an official authorized by the district. The couple found Officiant Sheila Reid-Alexander and arranged for her to perform the ceremony via Skype. Reed and Walkup stood in a conference room at the W Hotel in Dallas in front of 80 friends and family members while Reid-Alexander appeared on a big screen from a similar room at a W Hotel in D.C. more ›

There are plenty of stories I don’t like about myself, stupid things I did. Often booze and failed romance anchor these tales. Sometimes the foolish trappings of youth and its attendant lack of wisdom play a starring role. I know, I know—the past is the past, revisions not allowed, live and learn, blah blah blah. Once in awhile though, a buried memory surfaces and I ache at the choices I made, long to travel back and set things right. Such has been the case recently as Election Day approaches and the “issue” of homosexuality, still so polarizing after all these centuries, is trotted out to center stage. One of my ugly truths is this: twenty-four years ago, I outed someone. Allow me to get what will surely sound like defensiveness out of the way here. As I push through the Vaseline smeared thick across history’s lens, trying to recall just what prompted me to do such a thing, I keep reaching a conclusion that feels a bit off. But there it is: I outed a college peer out of what seemed to me then as kindness. I was “just trying to help.” My heart, as they say, was in the right place. This reminds me of a writing exercise I do with my students, which begins with a poem in which the poet recalls pouring ice into the fish tank on a very hot day. The fish, of course, die, despite the good intentions of their keeper. He should have known better, he didn’t, but he learned the fast and hard way. more ›

• UN humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip halted after attacks target U.N. staff and facilities.
• Obama warns of dire economic consequences if the stimulus package doesn't get approved.
• More Dell layoffs.

Warren, my young hot boyfriend and I got married a few months ago. We did this very much on the down low, just the two of us and a county clerk. I wore a lovely dress I picked up on the sale rack at Target for $10 and Warren wore a matching Hawaiian-themed shirt. It was my third time to get hitched and Warren’s first. You might think, with me being old hat at getting married and Warren being the sort to swear he’d never marry, that he would’ve been the one with cold feet. Nah. He practically skipped into the Travis County Marriage License Office to file the paperwork, whereas I was the one shaking. Because after enduring two prior short lived marriages-from-hell and two even more hellish divorces, I finally came to the conclusion that I’d rather be tied to a bed of rusty nails and broken glass and have a diarrhea plagued horse shit in my mouth while my ten worst ex-boyfriends plucked out my toenails then ever go that route again. more ›

: : FRIDAY : : [film] New Movies! @ your local theater [award] The Writers' League of Texas honors Ann Patchett @ Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum [music] Beta Valentine Instore, 7pm @ End of an Ear [film] aGLIFF kick-offf - films, 7pm party, 10pm @ Great Hills Arbor Theater [music] Hurts to Purr, Sarah Glynn, and 54 Seconds, 10pm @ Stubb's [music] Octopus Project, Voxtrot, Prince Klassen and Treewave @ Emo's [music]... more ›

In an incredibly dissapointing vote of 101 to 29, Texas House lawmakers have passed a constitutional ammendment to ban gay marriage. HJR 6, the Defence of Marriage Act, basically states the following: Sec. 32. (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. (b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage. So,... more ›

Apparently many gay Roman Catholics this week were dissapointed with the selection of Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI. A staunch doctrinal conservative, even for a pope, Ratzinger has made it quite clear that homosexuality is a 'tendency ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil." Ouch. Well even if the Church is against them, at least their is still the state. Oh wait, yeah sorry gay commmunity this isn't your week. more ›