In Today's News

Guess you guys realize I don't have the time or the energy to keep up with every piece of gay-related news that happens; I'll leave that to the big dogs who are getting paid to blog, or have lots of helpers. But just for the record, here's a few recent news items worth remarking, in case you missed them:

* Iceland now boasts the world's first openly gay head of government - Johanna Sigurdardottir, who will be interim prime minister there until elections are held in May. Please do not book vacation tickets to Iceland, you know how God is about these things. Probably the whole island will sink to the bottom of the ocean, or something like that, now that the dreaded gayz are in charge. Wink.

* Australia, you may be surprised to learn, has had an openly gay High Court Justice (think supreme court over here) since 1996, Michael Kirby, who is now retiring at age 70 after a renowned and outspoken career as a jurist. Hmm. Gee, why is Australia still afloat after all these years? Wink.

* And I was certainly surprised to learn that Texas had an openly gay city court judge, John Paul Barnich, who passed away this week after serving on the bench from 1999 to 2007, when health problems forced him to retire. Apparently he was a good judge but quite a character, too. At his confirmation hearings before the city council, when asked how a gay judge would differ from a heterosexual judge, he responded that he would upgrade the courtroom’s sound system in order to play show tunes. Wink.

* Finally, today it just so happens that three state legislatures are considering important gay rights issues: the New Hampshire Marriage Equality bill, the Hawaii Civil Unions bill and Washington Domestic Partnership Expansion Bill of 2009. Hmm, wonder if the fundies are praying for a hat trick - film at 11. Wink.

* Oh and one more thing. Sadly, the Massachusetts couple whose 2003 court case led to this nation's first legal gay marriages, Julie and Hillary Goodridge, are getting a divorce. Pity.