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 New Jersey, a former high school student got the OK from an appeals court – even though he missed the filing deadline – to sue the school district on charges his then-band teacher infected him with HIV during their sexual relationship. [AP]

• Though the military's discharging of 726 service members under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy last year represents a 10 percent increase over 2004, there's no evidence to show there's been an increased effort to force out members. [NYT]

• In Australia, the federal government is expected to move for a ban on gay couples from abroad being allowed to adopt children from the county. Such policies are usually left up to states – where some allow gay citizens to adopt, others not – but P.M. John Howard is likely to assert federal power over the matter. [Pink News]

• Big Pharma companies Gilead and Merck announced they'll be providing once-daily HIV pill Atripla to developing nations around the world. No word yet on which countries will receive the drug, and at what cost. [Advocate]

• In New York City, City Council speaker Christine Quinn – almost always an ally in gay rights – is at the center of criticism over a push to have the city's nightclubs install security cameras at entrances and exist. Critics say it's a privacy violation, especially for gay men and women not open about their sexuality. [NYT]

• In Britain, Price Harry cops a feel. [The Sun]

A new battle is waging on gay turf, and perhaps it's one you didn't expect to hear much about, given how much attention is already bestowed upon gay marriage and non-discrimination laws. This feud is between gay activists – who, let's admit it, are always deemed to be "in the right" by friends of the queer community – and "mixed" couples. That's "mixed" as in one person is straight and the other is gay — and they're living happily ever after, raising children and enjoying suburbia.

Before you get ahead of yourself, these arrangements have nothing to do with husbands living on the downlow, secretly cheating on their wives. Couples like Ben and Jessie Christensen (Ben is gay, while Jessie is straight) knew about each other's orientation before they tied the knot. So why get married? Because, they argue, as Mormons getting married is what God wants them to do, gay or straight.

But this straight-gay marriage (the Christensens have two children together) is bound for doom if you look at statistics. And gay support advocates, especially among the gay Mormon community, claim this type of relationship is wrong in so many ways: It doesn't allow a gay man to truly identify as homosexual; it traps women in unhealthy relationships; it creates an atmosphere of confusion for their children.

But the Christensens and other couples soldier on, struggling with intimacy and using writing as their outlet. They've joined others in similar situations online, blogging about their experience, though Ben and Jessie may be the most explicit and identifiable among the group; for obvious reasons, many blog anonymously. Though the man upstairs is always watching — but isn't that why they got married in the first place?

Gay, Mormon, married [Salt Lake Tribune]

We've seen it happen in Chelsea. In San Francisco. In Ft. Lauderdale. The gays move in, revitalize a downtrodden neighborhood, bring in the Design Within Reaches and Pottery Barns, and after just a couple decades manage to raise property values so quickly, the locals are priced out of their own neighborhood. Just kidding. Sort of. Actually, the typical scenario is the straight families move in and the gays find a new 'hood to care for. From St. Petersburg, Florida, comes news of one phase of the scenario: gays and locals (wait, aren't they the same?) are clashing. While the entire community basks in higher property values, better schools, falling crime rates, and more window treatment options, not everyone wants the gay community's reach to extend, you know, into the community.

But in St. Petersburg, a city that historically likes the thought of being a small town, the increasing presence of the gay community has produced awkward interactions:

* A lesbian running for the City Council was publicly criticized at a candidate forum last year for being gay.
* Popular two-term mayor Rick Baker has refused to sign a proclamation recognizing the city’s June gay pride parade. He will not attend the event.
* Local elected leaders, told that marketing the area as “gay-friendly” could be a financial winner, instead worried that the idea could turn off families.

Is St. Petersburg intolerant? Are the city’s elected leaders out of touch with the community, or at least unwilling to accept a part of it? Will gay men and women already here respond, or leave?

Perhaps the answer can be found in Virgina, where intolerance is leading some gay men and women to disembark. Real estate agents there are pointing to recent homophobic legislation to explain the depature of portions of the gay community. And if St. Petersburg politicos and community leaders don't take note of the contributions its gay citizens make, locals might see their once vibrant areas return to the boarded up shacks they're so pleased to see gone.

How a city grows gay-friendly [St. Petersburg Times]
Some gays leave Virginia feeling unwelcome [AP]

• Fine, we get it: The Boy Scouts don't want homos running their programs. But that doesn't mean a newspaper needs to agree with them — and go so far as to call sexual orientation discrimination a "non-issue." [Northeast Times, via]

• A brilliant answer to a needless problem: On the heels of Archbishop George Niederauer forbidding San Francisco's Catholic Charities from placing foster children with gay couples, the non-profit org is teaming up with California Kids Connection to act as a middleman — and thus bypass SFCC's anti-gay mandate. [ABC San Francisco]

• Don't think Jake and Heath are the only homos on the big screen. Robin Williams plays a gay man in The Night Listener,while Little Miss Sunshine has Steve Carell and The Groomsmen features John Leguiizamo going gay. Meanwhile, Quinceanera and Shock to the System: A Donald Strachey Mystery both feature members of the family. [LA Daily News]

• U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris (R-Fl.) is facing even more controversy, with her fourth campaign manager tied to an org that's accused of using fraudlent practices to collect signatures on anti-gay rights petitions. [Raw Story]

Though we could only thing "Al Reynolds! Al Reynolds!" the entire time reading today's Thursday Styles item "When the Beard Is Too Painful to Remove," there came a point where we felt like we were reading the storyboard of an Oprah show. Diving right into the topic of gay men who are married, Jane Gross finds some not-so-reliable stats when it comes to this demographic (though the data suggests less than two percent of married men identified as gay) and a recurring phenomenon: closed-loop relationships, where gay married men maintain two monogamous relationships, one with his wife and one with another man, also usually married. (Quite the HIV deterrant!)

Meanwhile, many of these fellas who seek out psychological support find themselves in acceptance limbo, with many "gay dad" support groups shunning the still-married for using their nuptials as a means to remain in denial. And through all of this are repeat examples of married men who identify as gay but simply want to hang on to their suburban lifestyle and the financial and social status that comes with it.

Surprisingly for a New York Times Styles piece, "When the Beard" is quite a well-rounded article on the topic. We're going to blame space restrictions for why Gross never got around to discussing the ramifications all this has on children.

When the Beard Is Too Painful to Remove [NYT]

They were the poster couple for the Massachusetts gay marriage movement. But after a 21 year relationship, Julie and Hillary Goodridge have confirmed they're splitting after much speculation among the GLBT chattering classes. Their biggest concern right now, however, is not whether their split might impact the gay marriage effort, but in how to care for their 10-year-old daughter Annie — who sparked their drive to legalize gay marriage.

[Spokeswoman Mary] Breslauer dismissed any suggestion that Hillary and Julie Goodridge had an obligation to stay together for the sake of the marriage rights movement. “Julie and Hillary, like all the other plaintiff couples in this case, have done heroic work for gays and lesbians who wish to take on the responsibilities and joys of marriage with the person they love. This does not diminish that contribution in any way,” Breslauer said. “I think to anyone who would say that this says something about same-sex marriage, I would say it’s nonsense. It doesn’t say anything at all. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that our families, like any families, face tough times. Many make it through those times, but some don’t. This is part of the maturation of living with marriage as a community.”

Just like straight couples, gay couples can fall out of love too.

Julie and Hillary Goodridge, lead plaintiffs in Mass. marriage lawsuit, have separated [Bay Windows]

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.

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