It's been a bitter battle, but Iowa's legislature has voted to write sexual orienation into the state's non-discrimination laws. The House voted 59-37 for the addition, while the Senate passed it 34 to 16, sending a strong message to Governor Chet Culver that the state believes in equality.

Democrat Kevin McCarthy agrees:

It is a historic vote. I also think it was a mainstream vote. This was not some sort of liberal social agenda. This is just saying that under housing and employment, people should not be discriminated based upon their real or perceived sexual orientation.

Conservatives are singing a different, older tune, saying that by amending their constitution, Iowa lawmakers are creating special privileges for the homos and, to a lesser degree, condoning so-called sinful salaciousness. Iowa Family Policy Center President Chuck Hurley fumed: "We don't think sexually immoral behavior should be made into a protected class. That's not the purpose of the civil rights code."

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The Equality Riders woke up to some naughty obscenities after a group of punk haters went wacko with some lipstick. The gay activists on wheels had just kicked off their second annual tour and stopped by Dordt College in Sioux City, Iowa.

In case you're not up on all the activist gossip, the Soulforce Equality Ride tours the country and goes to universities to discuss "the damaging effects of homophobic doctrine, the false notion that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender identities are sick and sinful". That is, why butt fuckers and carpet muncher won't be rotting in hell. Dordt College students seem to think otherwise, for among the graffiti one can see some scrawling that appears to say, "God doesn't like gay feary [sic] fucks".

They also left images of penises and this image to the right. We think it's supposed to be a vagina, a hypothesis founded on nothing but the fact that it was right next to the aforementioned penis. If it is meant to be a vagina, it's not a very good rendition. Also, why did they put a vagina next to a penis? Shouldn't the vagina go with another vagina?

Oh well, best not to expect too much from such a brood. The haters, however, guaranteed a spot in our annal of queer graffiti: Yeah, Spray It!

Too bad it wasn't under better circumstances, huh?

Iowa State University's gay frat helped spearhead a mini-revolt against the school's blood drive. The school's Greeks typically encourage participation and even organize a Greek Week contest to see which fraternity or sorority can donate the vital fluid.

Delta Lambda Phi, however, raised their voices against the ban on gay blood, insisting the Greeks should not compete in the discriminatory drive. Men who sleep with men have been barred from donating blood since 1977 - because, you know, we're all diseased and shit.

Of the protest, Delta Lambda Phi's faculty director, Warren Blumenfeld, said:

We've been trying to raise this issue for a long time. The Greek Week council has done something remarkable that we in the community have been trying to do - to raise the issue to the highest level of public discourse. They should be applauded for that.

Not everyone's so pleased - a number of students say that by ending the traditional competition, Greek Week officials are depriving Iowa blood banks of approximately 500 bags of precious plasma.

Now, we're not sure where we stand on this matter. Certainly we're against the ban on gay blood: it's truly a ridiculous and anachronistic stipulation stemming from the early days of AIDS. On the other hand, we feel strongly about the necessity of donating blood - people's lives rely on it.

So, we ask you, reader: should Delta Lambda Phi be commended or criticized for their push to remove the bloody competition from Greek Week festivities?

Des Moines, Iowa 19-year olds, Jassimen Dobbins and Angela Wade may be charged with first-degree burglary and third-degree arson after attacking a 16-year old homo acquaintance.

It seems the ladies weren't down with his gay ways and decided to let him know:

According to a Des Moines police report, Dobbins and Wade beat the teenager over the head with a bottle and stabbed him with a fork in the 1900 block of Francis Avenue. They stole $5 in cash, an ATM card and a driver's license before setting fire to the victim's bag.

Damn! First the beat him upside the head with a bottle, then they stabbed him with a fork (a fork!) and, as a little icing, they burned his bag? That's some cold ass shit.

This attack comes just one week after openly gay Senator Matt McCoy celebrated a proposed bill that will help protect kids from bullying - a bill conservatives think will unfairly favor gays.

The girls may be charged with a hate crime, for they admitted to shouting anti-gay epithets during the altercation. Sweet, huh?

Now, for some more uplifting news: Iowa became the 30th state to pass a comprehensive anti-bully bill which asks schools to take a more proactive role in curbing school yard tyranny.

Lauding the bill, openly gay Senator Matt McCoy said:

We know that more than 45 to 50 percent of those kids that are perceived gay or are actually gay are being harassed verbally and physically... If you happen to be one in 10 -- one in 10 that was born gay -- your world is a completely different world and the things that you experience and the feelings that you go through on a daily basis are different than anyone else's.

Gay or not, a fist hurts like hell.

Not all the lawmakers were so supportive, Republican Senator Nancy Boettger thinks that a bill protecting kids from discrimination based on sexual orientation, race and gender gives some kids an upper hand, so to speak: "We are not protecting all kids equally because we are giving special protection to those." We've never really understood arguments like Boettger's. It's not as if there's suddenly going to be some pro-gay task force out there, ensuring these kids are protected while other kids get hacked to bits or anything. What kind of monster would let one kid get beat down while helping another? If someone like that does exist, we imagine they'd let the fag get hurt and help the hetero. But, we could be wrong...

Yesterday we newly issued Williams Institute a newly issued report that says the number of gay couples in America has escalated about 30% over the past five years, a statistic conservatives will no doubt use as part of their anti-homo campaign.

Well, today the report has been dissected a little more to show that in that period, the amount of gay couples in Iowa have sky-rocketed by a whopping 58%. This rise in homo-lovin' makes Iowa the state with the fourth largest increase, falling behind Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska, which have a 70% surge.

Wow. We had no idea so many homos lived in the Midwest. No wonder we can't get a date. (Cue mawkish music and Jesse Trautmann essay.)

Earlier: Homos, Homos Everywhere!

• Lezzie Jailbait Face More Abuse in Prison. Nothing funny about this. [365 Gay]

• Gay Cheerleader Beaten. Ra-Ra-AHHH! [Town Online]

• Did you miss the Scissor Sisters on Logo? Well, catch up, buddy! [New Now Next]

• Iowa lawmakers back bully protection. Fags rejoice, bullies promptly pummel. [The Advocate]

• Rocky Horror follow-up, Shock Treatment to be released on DVD. About bloody time. [The New York Blade]

• We hate giving him publicity, but someone may care: Aaron Carter calls off engagement. [Star Magazine]

Britney Spears entered Iowa state politics the other day when Gov. Tom Vilsack used her as an example in the gay marriage debate. Just in case Brits is reading this, Iowa is a state in the center of our country.

Gov. Tom Vilsack, expressing support for civil unions for committed gay couples, drew a pointed contrast Tuesday with the quickie marriage of pop star Britney Spears two years ago. "I do think that we as a state ought to honor commitments, and we ought to reflect that in policies that we have," Vilsack said. "I personally don't think that it is fair . . . for Britney Spears, who was married for 51 hours to some guy in Las Vegas (for) that guy (to have) more rights than someone who's been committed to another person for 25 years."

While Vilsac doesn’t support full equality yet, we have to take issue with his assertion that Britney doesn’t believe in long-term commitment. Look at her relationship with K-Fed. That’s gonna’ last forever.

Vilsack cites pop star’s haste in backing of gay unions [Des Moines Register]

The KKK will soon rally against same-sex marriage in Iowa. They sure do love their rallies.

Klan member Douglas Sadler and Hawkeye State resident has come out to explain the reason for the march, saying he doesn’t “believe God’s law should be perverted any more than it already has been.” Yes, he means us queers.

So how does one get closer to God? Well, first you start with an old-fashioned cross burning.

We take green lumber that won’t burn. We wrap it in burlap, soak it in kerosene and light it. It’s a religious ceremony, a cleansing of souls, a repenting of sins,” said Sadler.

Call us crazy, but we think there might be a far less dramatic way to repent your sins.

North Iowa Klansman focuses his ire on gays [Globe Gazette]

• Queers in Iowa are suing for the right to get married. If movies starring gay cowboys aren't making homeboy John Wayne roll in his grave like conservatives are claiming, this'll certainly do it. [Chicago Tribune]

• A judge's ruling could also give South Korea gay marriage, furthing pissing off their conservative neighbor to the North. [GCN]

• Usher pretty much guarentees us he will not make 2006's Straights: So Gay! category. [Groove Volt]

• Just when you thought fraternities couldn't get any gayer than they already are, they do. [Columbia Daily Tribune]

• Watch video of John Stewart reporting two weeks worth of gay news in just three minutes with The Daily Show's Gaywatch segment. All we want to know is how one goes about subscribing to Scrotum Lovers Quarterly. [Crooks & Liars]