Thirteen Health and Human Services employees quit a diversity committee after state officials barred a lesbian speaker from a planned event.

Becky Gillespie had been invited to discuss her experience raising two children with her lover. Unfortunately, officials weren't down with her lesbianic insight. Reacting to the news, Gillespie said,

Because my partner isn't male, my family doesn't count. It isn't a family. [I was going to speak] so they could be a little more aware when they're discussing their own issues with their own children, so we could stop perpetuating bias and prejudice.

An HHS official, meanwhile, say the committee's meant to address "cultural diversity," according to Omaha's KETV: "We followed the federal protected classes. Sexual orientation is not a federally protected class." The official, however, would like to discuss the matter further.

The brouhaha happens to coincide with a Canadian report saying lesbians have no child-rearing disadvantage. In fact, children may benefit from having two mommies:

A few studies suggest that children with two lesbian mothers may have marginally better social competence than children in 'traditional nuclear' families, even fewer studies show the opposite, and most studies fail to find any differences.

Someone send that along to James Dobson...

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!

Two major stories are coming through from this nation's innards, and it's not good news. Following New York's lead, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Nebraska has put a noose around the possibility of gay marriage. The court overturned a previous judge's dismal of the ban, which was ruled to be too broad and in violation of the rights of gays and lesbians. But the Circuit Court judges felt otherwise: they ruled the ban – passed by voters in 2000 and going so far as to remove legal protections like shared health benefits for gay couples – "and other laws limiting the state-recognized institution of marriage to heterosexual couples are rationally related to legitimate state interests and therefore do not violate the Constitution of the United States."

Meanwhile, in Tennessee, a lawsuit filed American Civil Liberties Union – which "that the state failed to meet its own notification requirements for the ballot measure asking voters to ban gay marriage" – was unanimously dismissed by the state's high court. Tennesse already has a gay marriage ban but some lawmakers wanted a – get this – back up gay marriage ban. Based on the court's ruling, this effort will find its way to voters.

Two Victories for Supporters of Gay Marriage Ban [AP]

We are happy the anti-gay-marriage amendment failed in the Senate on Wednesday, but one man who makes us very unhappy is "Democratic" Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

He was the only Democrat to vote for the amendment, thereby putting him at odds with his entire party. Not since former "Democratic" Senator Zell Miller spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2004 have we felt so betrayed and disgusted by a member of the party that is supposed to stand up for progressive values. Even Joe Lieberman voted "no" on the amendment, and we know that must have been difficult for him, but Ben Nelson was the only one assy enough to stand with the President on this divisive issue. Shame on you, Senator Nelson.

Nelson favors ban on same-sex marriage [The Independent]