• The United Nations is fingering the U.S. for not doing enough to protect its gay citizens. The report, released late last month, chides officials for not enacting protection laws for gays in the workplace and on the receiving end of violence. [NYB]

• After 21 years in prison, Robert Rosenkrantz is free. He left a Los Angeles jail on parole after serving a 17-year-to-life sentence for killing his best friend from high school — for telling Rosenkrantz he was gay. Judges had approved Rosenkrantz's parole appeals before but California's State Attorney General's office rebuffed his attempts. [ABC 7]

• As conservatives in Colorado beef up efforts to have the state define marriage as a union between a woman and a man – with a state constituional amendment expected to be submitted today – gay rights advocates are taking a different strategy, putting a bill supporting domestic partnerships on the ballot instead of just asking voters to strike down the other measure. [SF Chronicle]

• Connecticut's Joe Lieberman, fighting to save his U.S. Senate seat from challenger Ned Lamont, today makes a last stab at distancing himself from President Bush by criticizing him on his handling of Iraq and making sure you're aware he doesn't agree with the White House's position on stem cell research or a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. [AP]

• While some military leaders have worked hard to ensure their outfits are at least tolerant of gays, others haven't been so friendly. On the Navy's USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, homophobia runs rampant, with a video about the F-14 Tomcat (shown to reporters) depicting pilots – including the fighter squadron's commander – wearing T-shirts reading "I'm a Tomcat guy and you're a homo." While gay service men and women can be dismissed for publicly announcing their sexual orientation, harassment is supposedly prohibited. [Reuters]

• Montana Democrats aren't so interested in supporting gay marriage this time around, though their just-approved party platform calls for civil union support and "hate crime" status for crimes committed based on sexual orientation. [365 Gay]