It's not often that you see Republicans using gay rights as the positive foundation for a campaign commercial, but Oregonian Senator Gordon Smith is not your regular Republican.

The politico this weekend released an advert highlighting his support for gay-inclusive federal hate crime laws, measures Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy also supported.

Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was murdered a decade ago, an event Smith's commercial invokes, praised the ad, saying: "I support Gordon. He’s been with us on everything except the gay marriage vote. He has shown tremendous leadership and compassion for all of our legislation. To lose that would be terrible."

Gay group Basic Rights Oregon, which has previously endorsed Smith, came out against the ad, and specifically took on the Senator's opposition to gay marriage. "…Gordon Smith was a poster child for 2004’s Measure 36, a (state) constitutional amendment that made gay Oregonians second-class citizens under the law by denying committed couples the security and dignity of marriage," said Basic Rights' executive director, Jeana Frazzini.

The Log Cabin Republicans are backing Smith's reelection.

Denver resembled a love-in last night as the Democrats officially kicked off their national convention. Hoping to quell some lingering tensions within the party, Ted Kennedy - the longterm Senator who's currently battling brain cancer - had the party on its feet as he spoke of a "season of hope."

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Gear up, readers, because it's time for the Senatorial ENDA fight.

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We gay folk came up twice during the Kennedy clan's massive Barack Obama endorsement. While some homos are cheering on the black senator, David over at Gay Conservative Liberal ain't feeling the love: "Barack is simply not prepared to take on the threats posed to this country by the Middle East and our woeful energy policy."

Uh-oh! Caroline, Teddy and Patrick Kennedy have been getting loads of press for their Barack Obama endorsement. Karen Ocamb reminds us, however, that RFK's daughters, Kathleen and Kerry Kennedy Townsend, as well as RFK Jr. have endorsed Hillary Clinton. Could a dynastic election war bring down the last shards of Camelot? Probably not, but we love all this family drama!

Senator Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy and Congressman Patrick Kennedy all endorsed Barack Obama today. Amidst this swirl of Dynastic political war, we gay folk popped up twice: once in Teddy's speech and again during Obama's "thank you". The wing buts are right: we are infiltrating American culture. And it's fabulous!

The United States government announced earlier this month that it would be to lift restrictions on HIV positive travelers. While that would appear to be good news, Washington insiders balk that the move actually hinders people's movements.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., said Tuesday that the proposal "offers little of value to HIV-positive applicants."

"It imposes strict requirements that unfairly limit travel to the United States," Kennedy said after chairing a Senate health committee hearing on the Bush administration's international AIDS efforts. "It is mired in the past, a past where people feared HIV as a contagious disease that could not be controlled or effectively managed."
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The rule proposed by the Department of Homeland Security would allow short-term visas to be granted to HIV-positive people by U.S. consulates in their home countries, cutting out the involvement of DHS headquarters and thus speeding up the process. However, applicants would have to agree to certain conditions, including giving up the right to apply for a longer stay or permanent residency in the U.S.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, more than two dozen Democratic House members objected that the changes don't lessen the burden on HIV-positive people, instead shifting authority to "local consular officers who may lack the appropriate medical expertise."

Homeland Security says they'll "review" the rants.

Now that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has passed through the House's halls, it's up to Ted Kennedy and his Senatorial pals to deal with the non-inclusive legislation.

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Mitt Romney may have met his match yesterday.

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• Brooklyn lesbians calendar proves that New York's the most attractive city in America.

• Chicago's Fire Department calendar proves that New York's the most attractive city in America.

• Episcopal Church votes to "restrain" gay officiation, no official same-sex blessing.

• Senator Ted Kennedy comes out for ENDA hate crime legislation. Senate to vote Thursday.

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With the Judge Janet Neff scandal behind him, Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback's apparently spending his grumbles on another nemesis, fellow GOP hopeful Mitt Romney.

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Senator Ted Kennedy dug into Surgeon General Dr. James Holsinger during today's Senate hearing. The senator from Massachusetts eschewed questions on obesity and tobacco, two of Holsinger's medical missions, and instead asked the Kentucky based doctor about that now infamous anti-gay, United Methodist Church-backed paper, "Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality":

This grave misuse of science gravely concerns me, and I need to hear from Dr. Holsinger himself that he will not similarly misuse his position to push his personal ideological beliefs over scientific research.

Not surprisingly Holsinger denied being a homophobic fundamentalist.

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The Senatorial Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (aka S. 1105) may get a vote as early as today after Senators Ted Kennedy and Gordon Smith filed the act as an amendment to the Department of defense reauthorization bill.

The move comes just hours after those Gravel-dissers HRC released a letter signed by 1300 religious leaders urging the Senate to follow in the House of Representatives' footsteps.

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