By now, you've probably wrapped up most of your Father's Day celebrations. Some of you took your dad out to lunch; some of you were taken out to dinner by your kids. Some of you were blessed with both scenarios. And some of you have no relationship with your father (or children?) whatsoever, for any number of reasons.

Which category do you fall in? And how did you spend the day with dad, or being one?

Yesterday we introduced you to gay Senatorial candidate Jim Neal, pictured above with one of his two sons.

The conversation continues today with our editor getting into the nitty-gritty of Neal's current campaign.

Andrew Belonsky: What made you stop volunteering for or fundraising for campaigns, as you did for Kerry, and actually launch your own?

Jim Neal: Well, I've always wanted to do it. I was a little kid and wanted to be president. I don't want to be president right now, but I have always contemplated running for federal office. I think there were two things that prevented me from moving on it. One was that when I did come out in my early-30's, I thought, "Okay, that's it. A gay person can't run for public office. It's off the table". The times changed and that was no longer necessarily the prevailing wisdom, but I had custody of my two children. I was a single parent raising two young children and they came first. Their needs came first. That was the most difficult job I've ever had in my life, but it was also extraordinarily rewarding. Raising two kids with two parents is a challenge, much less one, because you have to be both dad and mom. You've got to have the maternal side and the more stereotypical father role. I think I yielded more to the maternal because I felt like my kids needed that, because they didn't have it. Even before I declared my candidacy, I spoke with both my children - my boys, they're not children anymore - and told them what it would entail, made it clear that I was the one running for office, they could be as involved or not be as involved as they wanted to be. They both said, "Go for it," but my older son threw in the caveat, "Dad, please don't ever forget the little guy."

AB: Your sexuality is not the cornerstone of your campaign, but I want to talk a little about Chuck Schumer and how things went down with your campaign announcement and what could be perceived as the cold shoulder from your Democratic peers. Do you think that reaction tacitly stressed your sexuality?

JN: Not necessarily. There was a good deal of concern - not necessarily expressed, but certainly there were folks who were part of the status quo political system that found my candidacy threatening. They felt that a gay person on the ballot would draw out social conservatives to vote against me and therefore to vote for the other candidate on the ballot. My view of that - I didn't foresee that. It didn't even cross my mind. Chalk it up to political naivete, but it didn't cross my mind because I think it's silly. It's analogous to the so-called conventional wisdom that said a black person could never be elected or a woman, much less a Roman Catholic to the White House. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.

Family Pride's proud to announce the proud winners of the Family Drawing Contest. No, this isn't the winners' piece. This here creation comes from 3rd place "winner", 6-year old Rosie of Pennsylvania.

In case you're unfamiliar with the primitive language known as child, young Rosie's message reads thus: "[I love my family because] they always help me and they are always really nice." What more can you ask for? Well, maybe an explanation.

What's going on in that picture? Rosie either has three fathers or two daddies and a very butch mommy. Unless, of course, one of the three daddies didn't mind being a complete biological anomaly with a worn-out, torn-up penis. Regardless, congratulations on your win, Rosie. And to your family. They must be so proud.

For the other winners, including grand prize winner, 9-year old Jordan's precious picture, click here.

In another blow to folks like the American Family Assocation and anyone who's attempted to enter our bedrooms from the bench, the Arkansas Supreme Court came down on the state's Child Welfare Agency Review Board, which has explicitly prohibited gay couples from being foster parents since 1999.

Arkansas cannot ban homosexuals from becoming foster parents because there is no link between their sexual orientation and a child's well-being, the state's high court ruled Thursday.

The court agreed with a lower-court judge that the state's child welfare board had improperly tried to regulate public morality. The ban also violated the separation-of-powers doctrine, the justices said.

The board instituted the ban in 1999, saying children should be in traditional two-parent heterosexual homes because they would be more likely to thrive.

In its ruling, Arkansas' high court stated specifically the board's attempt to determine "public morality" was unacceptable and testimony from a Review Board member showed its decision was "based upon the board's views of morality and its bias against homosexuals" and not the welfare of children.

Court rejects ban on gay foster parents [AP]

Not that the gay community needs much more convincing that homosexuality is tied to biology, but new research finds a correlation between men being gay and their having older brothers. From exploring the lifestyles and biology of of nearly 1,000 Canadian men, the "fraternal birth order effect" study author Anthony Bogaert concludes there's a link between the sexuality of a man and whether he's got older brothers — even if he wasn't raised with them.

Researchers have known for years that a man's likelihood of being gay rises with the number of older biological brothers. But the new study found that the so-called "fraternal birth order effect" persists even if gay men were raised away from their biological families. [...]

Bogaert and a colleague first reported the older-brother effect a decade ago. According to Bogaert, men with no older brothers have about a 2 percent to 3 percent chance of being gay. If they have three or four older brothers, the rate goes up to about 5 percent. [...]

To find the answer, Bogaert examined surveys of 944 Canadian men, both gay and straight, about their sexuality and their families.

The older-brother effect was constant regardless of whether the men were raised with natural, adopted or stepbrothers. It also didn't matter if they weren't raised with their biological mothers.

Homosexuality Again Linked to Biological Factors [Health Day News]

• China debuts its first telephone hotline for lesbians looking for support — an especially grand move in a country that classified homosexuality as a "mental disorder" until 2001. [Reuters]

• When 2.5 million people show up for Brazil's gay pride in Sao Paulo, you know there;s going to be plenty of Lycra-clad muscle. [Made In Brazil]

• RuPaul's new album Reworked hit music stores this week, but we haven't even gotten to the music yet; the cover art's distracting us. [RuPaul]

• Footballin' hottie Cristiano Ronaldo makes his World Cup debut — and his teammates aren't the only ones celebrating. [Towleroad]

• Celebrating Father's Day isn't just for heterosexual couples. [Miami Herald]

Most press releases end up in our trash bin, but when we were sent a note about 50 Fabulous Gay-friendly Places to Live, we took notice. Sure, the book came out last year, but it's now being promoted as "the perfect gift" for gay college grads and dads. And it is, actually, a nice gesture to offer the homo son looking to escape the conservative Midwest and the fag father hoping to ditch his wife and kids to find romance in the Northeast. We're just upset nobody gave this book to Vito on The Sopranos.

The full release, after the jump.

CONTINUED »