You may have heard that Florida Governor Jeb Bush's halted lethal injections after it took two injections and 34 minutes for convicted killer Angel Diaz to bite the big one.

Well, we were just watching a little Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on which Senior Legal Correspondent Jeffrey Toobin (pictured) discussed finding efficient way to execute inmates. He mused that the Diaz case proves: "It's hard to kill someone in a humane way."

That's even better than the fundamentalist rainbow.

As for Jeb Bush - what a guy...

As you may or may not know, New Jersey lawmakers voted yesterday to allow civil unions. While not equal to the coveted institution of marriage, the new laws will expand certain rights, such as inheritance and adoption rights. The law will go into effect 60 days after it's signed by Governor Jon Corzine, which is expected this week.

Undeniably a landmark move for The Garden State, the reaction's been mixed. One of the biggest complaints is that the legislature rushed through the bill too quickly. Ruling that gays have the same constitutional rights as straights, the state's Supreme Court gave the legislature 180 days to compose the new laws. The Los Angeles Times reports:

The bill was hurried through the process in 10 days, giving marriage advocates little ability to argue their case, said Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund attorney David Buckel, who represented seven couples who sued the state for the right to marry.

"The irony is that the court referred this matter to the Legislature because it did not want to short-circuit the democratic process," he said. "The Legislature is doing just that."

Others saw Thursday's vote as a victory for gay rights. By guaranteeing same-sex couples rights equivalent to marriage, lawmakers "have told the world that marriage no longer matters," said Robert Knight of the Media Research Center, who opposes gay marriage. "This is a social wrecking ball."

New Jersey joins Vermont and Connecticut on the civil union train. Whether that train's heading for higher ground or off a cliff remains to be seen and, of course, on your opinion.

Also, if you guys want a handy state-by-state rundown of marriage/civil union laws, head on over to CBS affiliate WCBS.

This just in: Texas police officer Dean Gutierrez has been found guilty of violating transsexual Gabriel Bernal's civil rights through aggravated sexual assault.

During what would have otherwise been a routine traffic stop, Gutierrez drove Bernal (who prefeers to be called 'Starlight,' thank you) to an isolated place of hard-loving and raped her, thus violating her civil rights.

We didn't go to law school, but if rape is legally an issue of civil rights, why aren't all rape trials billed as such? Does Starlight's case differ from every other rape just because she was born a man? We'd like to hear what you have to say about this, so pipe in!

Texas police officer convicted of sexually assaulting transsexual [The Advocate]

We always wanted to marry a prince, but we'll settle for adoption. Disowned Prince Manvendra Singh Hohli of Rajpipla's apparently in the market. [All Headline News]

The controversial - and DOA - Bill 208 fizzles in Calgary. [The Calgary Sun]

New evidence supports theory that some people may be immune to HIV. [Medical News Today]

Sunsilk may employ gay-face to sell product, but it comes with a warning. [After Elton]

The New York State Supreme Court delivers some trannie justice! [The New York Blade]

Lest you think it's all for one, one for all in the gay community's push for legalized marriage, let it be known that no, not all advocates were celebrating when Massachusetts adopted same-sex marriage. Some gay advocates – while still pushing for civil rights – are at the same time critics of the drive for equivalent marriage terms between gays and straights. Wasn't this whole gay rights movement, they argue, spurned by a want to live an alternative lifestyle?

To these activists, the fight for gay marriage is the mirror image of the right-wing conservative Christian lobby for family values and feeds into the same drive for a homogeneous, orthodox American culture. The Stonewall confrontation and early gay rights movement, after all, was about the right to live an unconventional life, and to Mr. Dobbs and others like him, marriage is the epitome of convention. He said that he does, however, support civil unions for all as a replacement for civil marriage.

���For those of us who are single, there is this constant drumbeat,��� said Mr. Dobbs, who went to college during the last years of the Vietnam War and became a crusader for gay and antiwar causes. ���You must be coupled to be really fulfilled, for us to treat you as a full person.”

For better or for worse, to be unattached and gay is not what it used to be. Gone are the guilt-free days of free love in the clubs, of hooking up at bathhouses and reveling in promiscuity, which Mr. Dobbs prefers to call ���sexual generosity.” In are elaborate weddings, shared property, pets and children.

Actually, we'll argue, it's both. Promiscuous sex in the gay community is as prevalent as always. But only now are we at a point where gay men and women can enjoy "elaborate weddings, shared property, pets and children." It's impressive not because gays can now do like the straights, but because gays can now do, period.

For Some Gays, a Right They Can Forsake [NYT]

Do we take it for granted that we're able to see through President Bush's anti-gay marriage agenda as a means to motivate his conservative voting block? Perhaps. But what's not so errily clear, at least until you look into the matter, is that the White House's efforts to boost sagging approval ratings – especially religious conservatives, where approval of the president "has plunged twenty-two percent among white evangelicals" – and gear up for mid-term elections is an old political trick, circa the Civil Rights Movement.

When it comes to the politics of distraction, Bush's decision to stoke fears among religious conservatives about gay sex is part of a historical pattern among Republicans. In fact, the last time the party fought a battle over ''traditional'' marriage -- attempting to uphold state bans on interracial marriage during the 1960s -- the political landscape was eerily similar. Sixteen states had laws on the books outlawing marriage between whites and blacks, and seventy percent of Americans opposed interracial marriage. Those are almost precisely the numbers that Bush marshaled to justify his call to ban gay marriage. ''Nineteen states have held referendums to amend their state constitutions to protect the traditional definition of marriage,'' the president observed. ''In every case, the amendments were approved by decisive majorities, with an average of seventy-one percent.'' The president also flashed the same kind of scorn that was heaped on the Supreme Court when it struck down bans on interracial marriage in 1967: ''Unfortunately, this consensus is being undermined by activist judges and local officials who have made an aggressive attempt to redefine marriage.''

As San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom so eloquently puts it: "Nothing has changed. It is the same playbook, and it is as shameful today as it was then."

The Politics of Fear [Rolling Stone]

And so it is — and just in time for Pride!

Wednesday's 49-48 vote fell 11 short of the 60 required to send the matter for an up-or-down tally. The 2004 vote was 50-48.

A majority of Americans define marriage as a union of a man and a woman, as the proposed amendment does, according to a poll out this week by ABC News. But an equal majority opposes amending the Constitution on this issue, the poll found.

Gay Marriage Ban Fails in Senate Vote [AP]

Laurel Hester, a New Jersey woman with terminal cancer, has worked for the Ocean County prosecutor’s office for 23 years. She will not be allowed to give her pension to her lesbian partner once she dies. Elected officials are denying her request.

Michael Jensen, editor at Big Gay Picture, begins a three-part interview with the dying woman today. Apart from a brief interview with the New York Times, this is Hester's first really in-depth interview. Check it out.

Gay Officer, Dying, Is Pulled Into Rights Issue [New York Times]
It's Laurel Hester's Wonderful Life, Part One [Big Gay Picture]