Things have been getting increasingly ugly at Republican presidential rallies across the nation. And we're not simply talking about Sarah Palin bringing up Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the controversial preacher for Barack Obama's former church.

Three distinct things went down yesterday at separate events across the country. First, there was a John McCain rally in New Mexico, where one over-zealous voter called Obama a "terrorist." McCain said nothing.

Meanwhile, over at a Sarah Palin rally in Clearwater, Florida, another supporter offered this macabre suggestion for how to deal with Obama: "Kill him!" Nice. Perhaps the worst action went down at another Palin event in Florida, this time in Fort Myers:

In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

Excellent! So, the once-suppressed white rage that has festered for so long has finally been released not only on Obama, but on all black people! God bless America and its backward, idiotic denizens.

Some educators in Clovis, New Mexico, seriously lack backbone.

The area's main high school came under fire four months ago after the student-run yearbook, the Plainsman, included pictures of a lesbian duo in a round up of the campus' cutest couple. Buckling under pressure from angry locals - or is it yokels? - the school board has decided to take complete control of the district's student-driven publications:

The board voted 3-2 to pass the new publications code Tuesday. The code also gives school principals authority to review students' work before publication.

Clovis Municipal School District Superintendent Rhonda Seidenwurm said the school district's previous publications code did not allow principals to review student publications.
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Under the code, students can appeal a decision regarding content. The board of education will have the final say in the appeals process.

Oh, that's promising!

And New Mexican congressional hopeful Benny Shendo Jr. sure does know how to gay-bait!

The Democrat raised eyebrows this month when, during a town hall debate, he questioned opponent and party peer Ben Ray Luján's leadership ability - and sexuality:

You say that you stand up for the people of New Mexico and I want to know how you can stand up for the people of New Mexico if you can't stand up to your mom and dad about your lifestyle.

Damn! That's some sass!

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Albuquerque, New Mexico's queer community remains stunned after a senseless murder:

A 33-year old man is charged with murder in the brutal killing of Patrick Murphy regarded by most in Albuquerque's LGBT community as a drag icon.

Police allege that Dana Madsen shot Murphy three times in the head. He was arrested shortly after calling police to report a shooting inside his apartment.
…

Under questioning Madsen admitted shooting Murphy several times in the head - the last time to "put her out of her misery" because she was laying on the ground screaming and shaking. Madsen told police that before he fired the final shot Murphy had called him an "ass."

Yes, it's absolutely terrible that murphy lost his life, but you got to love that he got one final insult in on the way.

Governor Bill Richardson knows he made a bad move at last night's "gay debates," when he intimated that being gay is, in fact, a choice: a tired argument conservatives use against gay rights. If gays "choose" their "lifestyle," then they don't deserve "special" rights. Not the implication you want to make at a forum on gay rights.

Within minutes, the presidential hopeful had his team release a statement clarifying his position.

What a perfect conversation starter for Richardson and our editor, who met up with Richardson this morning. Get the goods on Richardson's poor choice of words, what to do about anti-gay Saudis and who's going to hell, after the jump…

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New Mexican homos may want to consider a trip to Massachusetts. From GLAD (not GLAAD) via gay mama blog Mombian:

Because New Mexico’s laws do not prohibit marriage between parties of the same gender, there is no impediment to New Mexico same-sex couples marrying in Massachusetts.

…The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, via the Department of Public Health and Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, issued a corrective notice to all Massachusetts city and town clerks authorizing them to allow same-sex couples from New Mexico to apply for marriage licenses.

Equality New Mexico celebrates the decision, but reminds readers, "it's not just a political gesture, but rather is about taking on all the responsibilities, legal obligations, joys, and wonder of being married".

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson had some explaining to do this weekend after some dirt digging gay activists resurrected a less-than-gay-friendly moment from last year.

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Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson's turning up the gay-friendly heat. Last week, we heard the news that New Mexico's 59-year old Governor will be appearing at Cedar Rapid, Iowa's gay pride. Now comes Richardson's first sit down with the gay press.

Unlike some candidates, who let homo-journos chase them down for a paltry sound byte, Richardson approached IN Los Angeles' Karen Ocamb while she interviewed his deputy Governor, Diane Denish.

Richardson's invitation comes as a breath of fresh air for another reason: unlike his primary competitors - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards - Richardson's yet to release a comprehensive statement on LGBT rights. In fact, he has a history of keeping intentionally mum, especially with regard to marriage.

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Regardless of one's sexuality, it's pretty much a given you're not going to have a chat while having a slash. No, that time's meant for silence. Or, at least, it was. New Mexican police have just announced plans to install 500 talking urinal cakes to combat the state's drunk driving epidemic. ABC affiliate KOAT-TV reports:

The state has ordered 500 talking urinal cakes that will deliver a recorded anti-DWI message to bar and restaurant patrons who make one last pit stop before getting behind the wheel.

The top of the devices feature the state DWI slogan — "You drink, you drive, you lose."
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The state spent $21 for each talking urinal cake for the pilot program but will ask bars and restaurants to pay for future orders if the idea catches on.

The cakes have enough battery power to last about three months.

With the men out of the way, coppers are working on developing a special talking tampon for women. It works sort of like a turkey thermometer. Splash guard sold separately.

Three New Mexican lesbian couples have joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union to combat the state's discriminatory retirement practices. It seems that straight couples can continue to extend benefits to their partners after leaving state jobs. Gays and lesbians? Not so much.

New Mexican Governor and potential Presidential candidate Bill Richardson granted same-sex state workers domestic partner benefits back in 2003. While couples can enjoy state provided healthcare, they lose these rewards once the working partner retires. Straight married couples, meanwhile, can use their benefits until the day the die. Naturally this doesn't sit well with ACLU New Mexico's director, Peter Simonson. In the organization's statement on the matter, he said:

Health insurance is an important portion of how employees are compensated. It's not right for the state to take care of straight families, but to force gay and lesbian families to bear the significant expense and suffer the inferior coverage of private health insurance at the point in their lives when they need health care most.

The group's filed a claim against the state, but says they can save millions of dollars be enacting new laws, rather than fighting the lawsuit.

Not to mention all the energy they'll save: have you ever tried to fight a geriatric lesbian? They may look frail, but those bitches can fight!

For this installment of The Power Issue, we'd like to introduce you to Joy Silver. She's the president of a place called Rainbow Vision: a Santa Fe community for older queers.

Basically, the Vision provides about ninety people - many of whom have never lived in queer friendly space - the opportunity to lives out "their last 50 years" in a safe, vibrant and stimulating enviornment.

To be honest, we actually never intended on posting this entire interview. You see, we originally interviewed Silver for an upcoming piece on queer space and power. As we chatted with Silver, however, it dawned on us that she's the kind of lady who deserves an entire feature. She's like the queer activist grandmother we never had: imparting her wisdom and experience with equal dashes of insight and thoughtful meanderings.

Thus, we wanted to share the entire conversation. You know, to give a shout out to a lady that we think is pretty fucking cool.

After the jump, read what Silver has to say about why we need places like Rainbow Vision, why there needs to be intergenerational communication and what we can learn from Alexander the Great. And it doesn't involve dogs…

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Perhaps the biggest moodkiller is a police officer armed with a semi-automatic weapon knocking on the door of your private room. That's what happened to patrons of an Albuquerque, NM bathhouse this week when officers entered with a warrant to search the place for illegal liquor. Why they were wearing bulletproof vests and carrying huge guns, we aren't sure. Also unclear is why they were grabbing 70-year-old naked men and making them lie face-down on the ground while they cuffed them.

The police say it was "for the safety of the officers," but we suspect that humiliation played at least a small role in this incident. The building is now closed due to "numerous firecode violations" that were discovered during the raid.

Police Raid Albuquerque Gay Bathhouse [365 Gay]