Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore Orders Probate Judges Not To Issue Gay Marriage Licenses Monday

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/alabama-chief-justice-roy-moore-orders-probate-judges-not-to-issue-gay-marriage-licenses-monday.html

'Our Bitch Madonna' Performs 'Living For Love' At The Grammys
Madonna performed “Living for Love” — the inaugural single from her forthcoming album, “Rebel Heart” — for the first time at the Grammys on Sunday. Dressed like a matador and surrounded by topless men wearing bull masks, the iconic singer asked the audience to rise to its feet before exiting the stage through the ceiling.

Madonna was introduced by Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus, who chose the wise words “Let’s give it up for our bitch, Madonna! She made me call her that…” to do so.

Prior to taking the stage, the icon mooned the red carpet attendees.

The 56-year-old singer rushed to release “Living for Love,” along with five other tracks from “Rebel Heart,” in an official capacity after unfinished versions of two other tracks leaked in late November. Madonna hadn’t yet announced the album’s title or release plans when the initial leaks occurred, but she’s since set March 10 as the drop date. The song’s video, in which Madonna portrays a matador fighting off an army of men dressed as bulls, premiered last week.

Madonna confirmed via Instagram that she will also perform at the BRIT Awards on Feb. 25, three days after “Living for Love” is slated for release in the U.K.

This marks the second consecutive year Madonna has performed on the Grammy stage. In 2014, she joined Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert to sing “Same Love” while a few dozen weddings took place on the telecast.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/08/madonna-grammys-performance_n_6614938.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Madonna's 'Living for Love' Grammy Performance: WATCH

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/madonnas-living-for-love-grammy-performance-watch.html

Slovakia's Anti-Gay Rights Referendum Flops Due To Low Turnout
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — A nationwide referendum on restricting gay rights in Slovakia has failed to produce a legally binding result after the required number of eligible voters did not turn out.

In Saturday’s vote, Slovaks were asked whether they agree to three points: that marriage can only be called a union between a man and a woman; that same-sex partners must be barred from adopting children; and that it’s up to parents to decide whether their children receive sex education. The vote was forced by the Alliance for Family, a social conservative group that received a massive support from the Catholic Church.

With all the votes tallied early Sunday by the country’s Statistics Office, voters in the predominantly Catholic country overwhelmingly voted “yes” — 95, 92 and 90 percent, respectively — to the three questions.

But turnout reached only 21.4 percent, far less than the 50 percent needed.

“It’s a success of Slovakia’s democracy,” said Silvia Porubanova, an analyst.

A leader of the alliance, Anton Chromik, said he was delighted that a clear majority of the voters who participated in the ballot supported the alliance and called it “a good base” for its further activities.

Romana Schlesinger, a LGBT activist said, she hoped the government will now work to make it possible for same-sex couples to live in registered partnership “because all our partnerships, our families are living without legal recognition or protection.”

Slovakia doesn’t allow same-sex partners to live in registered partnerships and the country’s constitution was amended last year to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The vote in Slovakia — which follows a similar one that succeeded in Croatia in 2013 — points to a cultural divide within the European Union in which more established western members are rapidly granting new rights to gays, while eastern newcomers entrench conservative attitudes toward LGBT people.

___

Associated Press video journalist Philipp-Moritz Jenne in Bratislava, Slovakia contributed.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/08/slovakia-anti-gay-rights-referendum_n_6641666.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Show That #LoveCantWait This Valentine’s Day

HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/show-that-lovecantwait-this-valentines-day?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Suspects Charged in Attack on Brooklyn Trans Woman

Two men have been arrested in the October attack on Kimy Hartman(pictured), which left her with permanent brain injuries.

read more

Mitch Kellaway

www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/02/05/suspects-charged-attack-brooklyn-trans-woman

British Right-Wing UKIP Party Urged To Cut Ties With Christian Group Over Anti-Gay 'Depravity' Comments: VIDEO

Jim Redmond

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/british-right-wing-ukip-party-urged-to-cut-ties-with-christian-group-over-anti-gay-depravity-comment.html

Low Voter Turnout Dooms Antigay Laws in Slovakia

Slovakia’s voters mostly ignored two proposed antigay laws placed on the ballot

read more

Neal Broverman

www.advocate.com/world/2015/02/08/low-voter-turnout-dooms-antigay-laws-slovakia

George Takei Is Heading To Broadway

Is there nothing George Takei can’t do? At 77-year-old, the badass actor/activist is making his Broadway debut this fall in Allegiance.

The musical is about Japanese-Americans living in United States internment camps during World War II and opens at the Shubert Theater in October. It had its premiere in 2012 at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego.

“I consider this my legacy project,” Takei told the New York Times. “This is the first time that this dark chapter of American history will be done on the Broadway stage.”

Takei, who spent about four years of his childhood living inside two different internment camps, is also helping fund the show, having put a substantial amount of his own money into the project.

He describes the show as “very, very personal” and a tribute to his parents, as well as the tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans ancestry locked away in internment camps between 1942 to 1946 under orders from President Roosevelt.

“The show’s backdrop is the imprisonment of innocent Americans simply because we looked like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor, but the story is universal–people falling in love, getting married, having a family,” Takei explains. “The musical will find an audience because whether you are white, black, Latino, young or old, people can identify with the idea of family and the stresses put on a family, which in this case were enormous.”

Looks like we’re gonna have to plan a theater trip to New York.

Related stories:

See George Takei’s Perfect Responses To Idiots Of The Internet

King Of The Internet George Takei Reads From “Fifty Shades Of Grey”

Most Awesomest Guy On The Internet George Takei Does His Happy Dance

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/zAJXS82Rvwk/george-takei-is-heading-to-broadway-20150208

WATCH: Seniors Offer Advice to Today's Gay Youth

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/watch-seniors-offer-advice-to-todays-gay-youth.html