Anything But Straight
Wayne Besen

It was business as usual when Tonight Show host Jay Leno asked his guest, Ryan Phillippe, to give his "gayest look" because he once played a gay character on the soap opera "One Life to Live." The mortified reaction of Phillippe, however, combined with the outrage of gay rights groups, hopefully represents the end of a shameful era where it was acceptable to portray homosexuals as punch lines instead of people. While Leno apologized, the industry has a sorry record of thoughtlessly exploiting gays for cheap laughs.

Anything But Straight
Wayne Besen

Gay bashing in Jamaica is so prevalent that in 2006 Time magazine wrote an article about the island headlined, "The Most Homophobic Place On Earth?" The New York Times this week showed that the anti-gay climate has only worsened, with the island caught in a downward spiral of outright psychosis. It is time to hand an ultimatum to Jamaica's public officials: Stop allowing rampant abuse of gay people or your economy will be crippled.

Anything But Straight
Wayne Besen

Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized. - Florida Marriage Protection Amendment.

Are you a heterosexual Floridian who is, as some might describe it, “living in sin”?

Anything But Straight
Wayne Besen

Perhaps, if the largest newspaper in Little Rock were called the Arkansas Republican-Gazette instead of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Mike "Huck-a-Bible" might have bothered to read the news. America was shocked to learn that the rising GOP political star was blissfully unaware of the National Intelligence Estimate that found Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Anything But Straight
Wayne Besen

Now that the Employment Nondiscrimination Act has passed the House of Representatives, the religious right has launched an all-out offensive to ensure people can be fired because of their sexual orientation. The first obvious fib propagated by Focus on the Family and the Christian Business Association is that this bill is bad for business.

Anything But Straight
By Wayne Besen

The Obama campaign hit a sour note when it chose to woo African American voters in South Carolina this weekend with a gospel concert featuring virulently homophobic and "ex-gay" gospel crooner Donnie McClurkin.

It is a shame, and quite ironic, that Barack Obama is in the center of this explosive controversy. The Senator has a solid record on GLBT rights, gay people are active in his campaign and by all accounts he is an ally to our community. Indeed, I personally admire Obama and think he would make a good president.