By Deb Price

Shortly after voters dealt Republicans another devastating blow in November, Robert Kabel, openly gay chairman of the D.C. Republican Party, received a call from a longtime friend, Michael Steele.

Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland credited with coining the chant "Drill, baby, drill" at the Republican National Convention, told Kabel he intended to run for chairman of the Republican National Committee.

By Jacob Anderson-Minshall

When Maddie Blaustein passed away suddenly this December few of her fans realized she’d gone. Like many voice actresses who disappear behind the scenes while their alter egos garner all the attention; Blaustein faced a certain level of obscurity, despite the fact that the characters she voiced are recognized on sight—especially a little beige cat named Meowth.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle - who leaves office next month because of term limits - remains a hero to some and villain to others, making him a factor in Tuesday’s primary for the next mayor and City Commission.

Naugle is so controversial in the gay community that the Dolphin Democrats gay and lesbian political club is running advertisements targeted to gays and lesbians that carry a warning about which candidates on Tuesday are supported by the outgoing mayor.

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The Florida Bar is coming out in a big way — for gay adoption.

The Bar’s board of governors voted unanimously to file an amicus brief before the 3rd District Court of Appeal supporting a Miami-Dade circuit judge’s ruling that declared unconstitutional the state’s ban on gay adoptions.

“We thought it was appropriate to defend the judge’s decision,” said Nancy Gregoire, a family section member and a partner with Kirschbaum Birnbaum Lippman & Gregoire in Fort Lauderdale. “In my mind, speaking only for myself, it was the right thing to do and well past its time.”

by Norm Kent

You probably do not know Michael Hecht. He just won an election for a judicial seat in the Superior Court of Pierce County, Washington State, just on the southern outskirts of Seattle. Don’t congratulate him yet, though.

It seems that Mr. Hecht is under criminal investigation by the Pierce County, D.A. for soliciting, meeting, and paying male prostitutes for sex. As a result, the small office of the Pierce County D.A. has refused to send lawyers to his courtroom to hear cases. The court has ground to a halt. Prosecutors are refusing to try their cases before him.

ederal Judge Morrison England Jr. ruled this week that it was legal for organizations opposed to Proposition 8 to publicly disclose the identities of approximately 1,600 donors who gave between $100 and $999 to pro-Prop 8 causes since October 18th.

Proposition 8, the statewide ballot initiative which called for a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman, passed by a 5 percent margin in November 2008, and was one of the more polarizing topic this past election season, outside of anything having to do with unlicensed plumbers and lipstick-clad pigs.

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Conservative and progressive media alike are asking what's behind the firing of AIDS Relief Chief Dr. Mark Dybul, an openly gay man.

Dybul headed the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR. He was appointed to the job, which carries the status of ambassador, in 2006 by President George W. Bush, replacing Randall L. Tobias who served since 2003.

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Vandalism at a center that serves gay and lesbian youths in Bay Shore is being investigated as a hate crime, Suffolk police said Monday.

Police were called Monday morning to the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth Center, at 34 Park Ave., after the front door of the center was damaged and the center's 2003 Ford van was vandalized -- its tires slashed and windows broken.

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