Janet Snyder and Nicholas Picholas aren’t exactly superstars to the bulk of the world. In fact, I’d never heard of them until their morning show which airs in Buffalo, NY on KISS 98.5, took the typically demeaning and irresponsible direction that gets them loads of attention but at a heavy price.

The duo not only belittled the reproductive rights and the right of choice guaranteed by the United States constitution and the historic case Roe v. Wade, but they poked fun of the appearance of a bearded man with a pot belly – and we aren’t talking about Santa Claus or a Nascar fan.

To begin with, let’s take a brief quiz. For each statement listed below, answer which person made the statement

“By increasing the number of married couples who might be interested in adoption and foster care, same-sex marriage might well lead to fewer children growing up in state institutions and more growing up in loving adoptive and foster families.”

Was it:

(A) George W. Bush;
(B) Barack Obama;
(C) David Blackenhorn, President of the Institute for American Values;
(D) Joe Solomenese, President of HRC;
(E) Lady Gaga;
(F) Rachel Maddow?

Yesterday, William Tam, who previously won a jaysays.com Stupid Things People Say About Gays nod, not only won the title again while be questioned by Attorney Boies, but set the bar to a new level. During testimony, Tam advised that he thinks legalizing gay marriage would result in legalizing prostitution.

Boies: You said that you thought Prop. 8 would lead to legalizing prostitution. Why?

Tam: *** I saw some homosexuals hanging around there. [Regarding “Measure K”, which if passed by voters, would have stopped the enforcement of laws against prostitution in California, among other things.]

Police in China shut down the Mr. Gay China Pageant in Beijing an hour before the event was to start. Organizers planned the event to select a contestant for the Worldwide Mr. Gay Pageant to be held in Norway next month. The pageant is said to be the first of its kind in China and was to feature a fashion show, a question and answer session and a host in drag.

Professor Zhang Beichuan of Qingdao University had said, before the show was canceled, that:

“…it reflects a more open and tolerant attitude of the country toward the gay community to host such an event.”

On Day 4 of the Proposition 8 trial, the Defendants (those opposed to same-sex marriage) attempted to make the Plaintiffs’ expert, San Francisco’s Chief Economist, Edwin A Egan, say that allowing gay marriage will increase the costs to the city. The theory of the Defense being that clerks will be required to use their time to issue marriage licenses to more people and print more marriage licenses increasing paper and ink costs.

This argument fails at “common sense” but also fails because there is a fee (as pointed out by Egan) for anyone seeking to obtain a marriage license. That fee covers the costs associated with the clerk’s time, printing and other such expenses that would otherwise be borne by the city.

Like many others, I have been following reports from the courtroom of Judge Walker. I’ve really appreciated the highly detailed reporting at Empty Wheel from Fire Dog Lake.

I could not help but be both bewildered and intrigued by the line of questioning regarding the percentage of straight relationships and gay relationships that are stable, the percentage of couples that want to be monogamous and how long these relationships last. Even more odd, the defense attorney wanted to compare relationships in domestic partnerships compared to marriage. So, the anti-gay marriage crowd wants proof that gay people want to be married, will stay married and will stay monogamous. That’s going to be tricky IF YOU DON’T LET THEM GET MARRIED.

San Francisco Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart took the stage in the Proposition 8 trial this afternoon with a redirect examination of Yale Professor Chauncey. During the examination, Ms. Stewart asked Professor Chauncey to read from a Vatican statement regarding same-sex marriage. These are the words of the Vatican:

“Allowing children being adopted by gay couples would do violence to these children. Their condition of dependency would stunt their full human development.”

As many regular readers know, I’m an atheist; therefore, when I say this, please don’t take it lightly. It was after much contemplation that I decided to go public with this very personal moment in my life. Tonight, I spent many hours in the kitchen working on making some candy. It’s a long process and messy – so the clean up often takes as long as the making. Thereafter, I was a bit tired and stepped outside for some fresh air. I began thinking hard about things in the world – the economy, marriage equality, the criminal trial against the cop that beat Duanna Johnson, and other things relevant.