Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin faced off in their first - and only - debate last night in St. Louis. And, considering it's the politicians' only debate, it's pretty impressive that moderator Gwen Ifill injected gay rights into the discussion, asking, whether or not the candidates support granting benefits to same-sex couples.

Biden, a Democrat from Delaware, took the legislative route, saying he "absolutely" believes gay couples believe the same "constitutional" benefits awarded their straight counterparts…

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Oregonian social conservatives hit another road block yesterday. The activists, who are pushing to include two anti-gay initiatives on this November's ballot, claim the state unfairly disqualified many of their petition's 54,900 signatures. A panel of federal judges disagreed:

Austin R. Nimocks, lead lawyer for the group opposing the new law, told a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel that Oregon's system of qualifying initiatives and referendums was unconstitutional because it arbitrarily discounted some valid signatures.

"The obligation of the state is to make sure the verification is accurate," Nimocks said. "That's not what they are doing."

But Judge Stephen Reinhardt challenged Nimocks, noting that the state's system actually seemed to count more invalid signatures than it excluded valid ones.

"The state could make a better system," Reinhardt said. "But this one actually favors you."

Judges Harry Pregerson and Ted Goodwin also challenged Nimocks. But Reinhardt was the chief inquisitor, at one point concluding that Oregon's system of verifying signatures "doesn't seem unconstitutional."

The judges gave no word on when they would rule, but anti-gay activists are hoping the state will review the verification system and give invalid signatories a chance to plead their case. Kaye McDonald, an assistant in the state's Attorney General's office, said that while the state could, in theory, begin reviewing the signatures, it would take months of legal wrangling and public hearings. And no one wants that - except for social conservatives, of course.

Yowzers! Major hats off to Brazilian President Luiz Lula, the first president to personally take on homophobia, which he calls "perverse."

Lula had the First National Conference of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals (GLBT), inaugurated by presidential decree, and called for "a time of reparation" in Brazil.

Accompanied by six ministers, Lula exhorted all those opposed to the gay-rights movement to "open and purify their minds." Lula then announced his complete support for the homosexual movement, saying that he is "going to do all that is possible so that the criminalization of homophobia and the civil union may be approved."

After calling for a universal embrace of the homosexual movement, the president affirmed that "homophobia" is perhaps "the most perverse disease impregnated in the human head."

That's so radical, our heads are about to explode. In a good way.

Presidential candidate John McCain tried his hand at humor on this weekend' Saturday Night Live. In addition to poking fun at his unbelievable old age, the Republican jabbed at gay rights legislation, via pork barrel appropriations:

…$160 million to the Department of Defense for developing a device that can jam gaydar. Now I don't know if this is anti-gay, or pro-gay, or if such a device would even work. but I do know this. Jamming gaydar is not a federal responsibility. That's something that's best left to state and local governments.

Such a position, however satirical, speaks to McCain's backward belief that American voters, many of whom are undereducated, have a better understanding of constitutional rights than judges. The audience may have thought the "gaydar" joke a riot, but we found it nauseating, to say the least.

In the wake of Cuban president Fidel Castro's resignation earlier this year, the balance of power has shifted not only to his brother, Raul, but to another Castro, Mariela, Raul's daughter.

An outspoken gay advocate and head of the National Center for Sex Education, Mariela Castro uses her position to affect positive social change. Now, with her uncle out of power and her father in, Castro's gearing up for a lavender invasion, proposing legislation that will bring bent boys and girls closer to their heterosexual peers.

And she may be making all the right moves.

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The contemporary gay rights movement got off the ground way back in 1969. Despite nearly forty years of struggle, activists still can't overcome one fundamental hurdle: should the gay movement subscribe to separatist isolationism or dedicate itself to more universal human rights?

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Mitt Romney's flip-flopping popped up on Hardball last night.

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Three cheers for the European Union! Well, most of it.

Sure, its employment policies hinder some homo movement, but the international governing group just extended a bit of a queer olive branch:

The European Union has become the first international body to have a treaty containing explicit language prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
…
The Charter brings together into a single document all of the separate EU laws and regulations on human-rights but despite the fanfare it has no legal force. That will only happen when the parliaments of all 27 member states ratify a concord called the Lisbon Treaty that reforms the way the EU operates.

The International Lesbian and Gay Association - Europe hailed the Charter on Wednesday and urged member states to ratify the Lisbon Treaty saying that the document will advance the rights of LGBT people throughout Europe.

Britain and Poland refused to sign the Charter, for which they wanted a referendum. Spoil sports.

Virginia resident John Stec takes issue with The Roanoke Time's consistent support of gay rights and "equality". The engineer apparently doesn't believe gays should have, deserve or need any such things. Nor does he seem to understand the full extent of homosexual inclinations:

A man or boy can love another man or boy without the exchange of bodily fluids. I love my father deeply. Affection is physically given and proven by an appropriate and occasional embrace and a kiss. I love some of my friends deeply. They know it. They know it by my conversation, my commitment to their well-being and by the things we enjoy together. And they know it without having to disrobe to perform sex.
…
If your "equality" means equating the ages-old institution of traditional marriage with two men doing disgusting, highly unsanitary things, then I couldn't disagree with you more. But if you meant giving homosexuals similar employment opportunities as heterosexuals, then that's OK, as long as they keep their physical affectations to themselves, just as heterosexuals must, in the workplace.

At least he's not entirely irrational.

Joe Solmonese won't be shopping at Wal-Mart this season. He and his Human Rights Campaign gave the budget retail giant an abysmal rating on their corporate equality index:

[HRC] is giving Wal-Mart a red "do not buy" rating in its new consumer guide, bestowing a lump of coal on the retail giant just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Citing Wal-Mart's refusal to offer domestic partner benefits to its gay and lesbian workers, the HRC said Tuesday that the USA's biggest private employer has "more work to do in furthering equality." It advised gays and their supporters to shop elsewhere.

Wal-Mart rated a red 40 on a scale of 100, down from a yellow 65 in 2006. It was among 54 companies that scored 45 or lower in HRC's 2008 Corporate Equality index, which assigns ratings to 519 large companies. Also in the red: Toys R Us, RadioShack and AutoZone.

No, not AutoZone! Where are we going to get our lube jobs!?

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No doubt Democrat Hillary Clinton's a happy camper today. The Senator just got another homo-politico vote from Barney Frank, who proudly threw his political weight behind her candidacy yesterday.

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