The Mormons have been dominating the Proposition 8 fund raising, but Hollywood's elite are doing their damndest to counter right wing attacks.

Director Steven Spielberg and his actress wife, Kate Capshaw, join Brad Pitt and other A-listers in donating to the fight against Proposition 8, a measure seeking to reverse this year's gay marriage win. Upon making their $100,000 donation public, Spielberg and Capshaw had this to say:

By writing discrimination into our state constitution, Proposition 8 seeks to eliminate the right of each and every citizen in our state to marry regardless of sexual orientation. Such discrimination has NO place in California's constitution, or any other.

You can tell they're serious by the fact that they capitalized "no."

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A group of anti-gay activists in Sacramento, California, lack two things: foresight and logic.

The crowd of about fifteen gathered outside Mayoral candidate Kevin Johnson's church this weekend to protest his support for the state's gay marriage laws. Though he personally defines marriage as one man and one woman, Johnson, a former NBA player, has come out against the prohibitive Proposition 8, which he says would "write discrimination into the constitution."

Obviously this irks the protesters, who wanted to give Johnson a piece of their mind. Unfortunately for them, Johnson was out of town on Sunday and missed the action. They probably should have checked his schedule, huh?

As for the lack of logic - the group refuses to back Johnson's opponent, mayor Heather Fargo, because she also doesn't support Proposition 8.

So, rather than voting for either one of the candidates, this group of fifteen are urging their peers to simply write in any old candidate, which basically guarantees either Fargo or Johnson will win. Idiots.

Malawi's going to get some gay action this weekend!

Despite some public opposition, the Malawi Gay Rights Movement announced they plan to make their official launch. And, in a surprising turn of events, claim President Bingu wa Mutharika gave them the green light:

Magrim interim chairperson, Mc Leod said the launch for the association, which reportedly has 3,890 members, is planned for Saturday 13th September 2008 in Blantyre coming after claims that President Mutharika has given them moral support to exist.

“The leadership of Magrim sought an audience with the President to seek permission to launch the movement. The President has wished us well and promised to grant an audience when he returns from USA where he has gone for a UN summit,” said Magrin spokesman.

Despite the president's support, Malawi's legal code still rails against the gays and prescribes hard labor as punishment. And not the good "hard labor."

Some go-getter guppies launched a war of words this weekend on Manchester Gay Pride, which charges an admission fee for their "gay village." Organizers were none-too-pleased:

A small group of gay youngsters incurred the wrath of Manchester Gay Pride Festival organisers with a number of placards and t-shirts that read Pride Before Profit and Pride Is a Protest.

Minutes before the march moved off from Liverpool Street, Festival director Jackie Crozier went up to David Henry of the Queer Youth Network.

“What is on that,” she asked, pointing to a placard lying face down on the street.

Mr. Henry turned the placard over, revealing the message Pride Before Profit.

“Give me that sign,” she demanded. “We told you that we don’t want that kind of thing here.”

What's that line about the oppressed becoming the oppressors?

California's gay marriage showdown has been getting a lot of press lately, but let's not forget a similar battle's brewing in Florida, where social conservatives introduced Amendment 2 earlier this year. That measure would ban gay marriage in the Sunshine State.

And, financially speaking, things are looking good for the pro-gay parties:

…The money has been streaming in. Lots of it. As of last week, Florida Red & Blue, which is against the amendment, had raised more than $2 million in cash. That's more than four times what the competition, Florida4Marriage, has earned.
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Overall, the majority of Florida Red & Blue's money has come from individuals. Florida4Marriage's funds, on the other hand, are mostly via the Republican Party of Florida, which gave $300,000 of the total $492,969. "There just isn't a lot of support there to pass it," says Derek Newton, campaign manager for Florida Red & Blue.

In a surprising turn of events, one of Florida Red & Blue's biggest contributors is Jon Kislack, a straight Republican who's fighting Amendment 2 for his daughter, who's a lesbian. Said Kislack, "It's just not right that our laws, public policy, and social climate in Florida are so unwelcoming."

California's voting ballots are almost set to go to print - and the Proposition 8 language will stay the same.

Right wing activists have been fighting for weeks to change wording on the measure, which would overturn this year's gay marriage win. Non-profit collective Yes on 8 claim that Attorney General Jerry Brown's harsh working would encourage a "no" vote, thus leaving same-sex nuptials in place.

Two courts have ruled against their argument and now it seems they're taking defeat gracefully. The coalition's spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns remarked, "We intend to leave the final outcome to the voters."

A recent fund raising tally shows that Proposition 8 supporters have raised about $3.7 million, while progressive parties have about $4.1 million. Approximately 51% of voters said they plan to vote against the prohibitive legislation.