Kentucky governor says marriage licenses altered by Kim Davis should be legally valid

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has told a judge that he believes marriage licenses altered by same-sex marriage foe Kim Davis should be legally valid.

Davis is the Rowan County Clerk who made headlines for months after she refused to issue marriage licenses to any couples after the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was now legal in all 50 states.

After serving six days in a Kentucky jail for defying US District Judge David Bunning’s order that she issue the licenses, Davis returned to work and altered the licenses so that her name did not appear on them.

‘While the altered licenses issued by the Rowan County clerk’s office do not fully comply with the statute, such deviation does not necessarily render the licenses ineffective or the marriages solemnized pursuant to said licenses invalid,’ wrote Palmer Vance II, an attorney representing Beshear in a lawsuit filed against Davis by couples seeking marriage licenses.

The couples want Bunning to order Davis to return the marriage licenses issued by her office to their original format because she has  created ‘a two-tier system of marriage licenses.’

Bunning has not yet responded to this latest legal request by the couples but he has yet to rule in Davis’ favor in a series of earlier decisions.

Beshear, who leaves office in December, has said that Davis should do her job  – which includes issuing marriage licenses – or resign.

His successor, Republican Governor-elect Matt Bevin,  has vowed to take the county clerk’s office out of the marriage license business overall and have them handled by a state agency, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The post Kentucky governor says marriage licenses altered by Kim Davis should be legally valid appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/kentucky-governor-says-marriage-licenses-altered-by-kim-davis-should-be-legally-valid/

Walmart Overwhelmed By Demand For Patti LaBelle Pies, Orders 2 Million More Pounds Of Sweet Potatoes To Keep Up

Pie enthusiasts across the country, this writer included, have been scrambling to their local Walmart stores in hopes of getting their hands on one of Patti LaBelle‘s signature Sweet Potato Pies only to find shelves bare.

The mad rush came after a man named James Wright Chanel posted a video of himself to Facebook “singing just like Patti” after taking just one bite. The video quickly went viral, garnering nearly 10 million views in a week and prompting LaBelle herself to issue a response thanking him for the kind review. And, as a result, the pies sold out. Fast.

Related: This Guy’s Stunning Review Of The Patti LaBelle Pie Should Be Required Viewing

In a statement released this week, a spokesperson for Walmart said the pies have been flying off the shelves at “a rate of one per second during the 72 hour period from Thursday through Saturday.”

At just $3.48 a pop, that means the company made almost $1 million off the pies last weekend alone.

The company also said the pie’s page at Walmart.com has become the most visited one on the site, and searches for pie have been second only to searches for turkeys.

Related: Patti LaBelle Thought Neil Patrick Harris As Hedwig Was Just An Ugly Woman

Meanwhile, scalpers have begun selling the pies on Ebay for as much as $40 each, nearly 12 times the original price.

But good news for anyone who doesn’t want to shell out $40 for a pastry valued at under $4. Walmart says it’s doing its best to keep up with the demand, estimating it will need at least two million more pounds of California sweet potatoes to do so. Luckily, the company was able to put a rush order on the potatoes and expects to have more pies on its shelves by the weekend.

Phew!

Related: Aretha Franklin Throws Legendary Shade At Patti Labelle During White House Visit

h/t: USA Today

Graham Gremore

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Wednesday Night News Feed: The Hemsworths, Turing Pharmaceuticals, FOX News Shade, Jake Shears

EYE CANDY. Rest assured, Melissa McCarthy confirms that Chris Hemsworth is pretty much shirtless the entire time in the new Ghostbusters movie.

OTHER BROTHER HEMSWORTH. Liam Hemsworth prefers to sleep almost nude. But not entirely nude? “To be honest, I don’t wear a lot when I go to sleep. I mean, exactly that. Not a lot. Very little. I just like to be free.”

CENTRAL AMERICA. Honduras detains 5 Syrians heading for U.S. with stolen Greek passports: “The group of Syrian men was held late on Tuesday in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on arrival from Costa Rica and they were planning to head to the border with neighboring Guatemala. The passports had been doctored to replace the photographs with those of the Syrians, police said.”

DUGGAR TIME. Adult film star Danica Dillon is suing Josh Duggar for assault and battery: “As a direct result of Defendant’s actions, Plaintiff has suffered serious emotional and physical damages. She is currently being treated by a psychiatrist for severe anxiety, similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”), and has suffered physical injuries as well. Further, Plaintiff has been unable to work in her chosen field as a direct consequence of Defendant’s actions.”

MUSIC. Elton John releases new music video for his track “Looking Up” off of his forthcoming album “Wonderful Crazy Night.”

KARMA. Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company whose CEO Martin Shkreli hiked the price of a drug used to treat patients with HIV/AIDS by 5000%, lost big last quarter: “Last week, Turning released its financial results for the third quarter. The company lost nearly $15 million across those three months, a total of $14.59 million. ‘We are very excited about the potential for Turing’s pipeline of new drug candidates to help patients in need of better medications,’ Shkreli said.”

WITCHCRAFT. Bette Midler says there will be no Hocus Pocus 2.

POLITICS. President Obama has some fighting words for Republicans opposed to letting in Syrian refugees into the United States: “We are not well served when, in response to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic. We don’t make good decisions if it’s based on hysteria or an exaggeration of risks. When individuals say we should have a religious test, and that only Christians, proven Christians, should be admitted, that’s offensive. I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than some of the rhetoric that’s been coming out of here in the course of this debate. ISIL seeks to exploit the idea that there’s war between Islam and the West, and when you start seeing individuals in positions of responsibility suggesting Christians are more worthy of protection than Muslims who are in a war-torn land, that feeds the ISIL narrative. It’s counterproductive. And it needs to stop.”

MOVIES. Emily Blunt joins Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth in first trailer for The Huntsman: Winter’s War.

WATCH AND LEARN. This is how you throw shade at FOX News.

PINOT NOIR. Tina Fey discusses her gay characters: “I know people like Titus. If a person exists, it’s fair game,” Fey said. “I try to base everything in some kind of truth.” As for the criticism, she added, “I don’t worry about what the Internet says. Getting in trouble with the Internet is not real. The Internet is not a force you have to obey.”

TRANS AWARENESS WEEK. Congressional forum focuses on anti-trans violence: “The two-and-a-half-hour long, two-panel event touched on a range of trans issues, but the murders of at least 21 trans people in 2015 alone was the primary focus of discussion for lawmakers and trans advocates who testified.”

WORLD. Over 30 killed in Nigeria in terror attack orchestrated by Boko Haram: “At least 32 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a blast at a market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Yola, the Red Cross and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said. The explosion occurred at a fruit and vegetable market beside a main road in the Jimeta area of Adamawa’s state capital on Tuesday night. The area, also housing a live stock market, was crowded with shoppers.”

INSTAGRAM. More Hump Day hotness courtesy of Jake Shears.

The post Wednesday Night News Feed: The Hemsworths, Turing Pharmaceuticals, FOX News Shade, Jake Shears appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

Wednesday Night News Feed: The Hemsworths, Turing Pharmaceuticals, FOX News Shade, Jake Shears

Oregon's Governor Kate Brown Welcomes Syrian Refugees

As conservative governors (and presidential hopefuls) around the country sound off about what kind of international refugees they believe the U.S. should accept, the nation’s first openly LGBT governor has a much different tactic.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, who is bisexual, stressed that her state will continue to offer refuge to the world’s tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

“Clearly, Oregon will continue to accept refugees,” the Democrat tweeted Tuesday. “They seek safe haven and we will continue to open the doors of opportunity to them.”

Brown, who assumed office in February after a corruption scandal felled her predecessor, doubled-down on her commitment to housing refugees and respecting the jurisdiction of federal immigration authorities in a letter to a Republican lawmaker in her state on Tuesday. 

“As Oregonians, it is our moral obligation to help them rebuild their lives,” Brown wrote to Rep. Bill Post, according to The Oregonian. “In Oregon we will continue to abide by federal laws regarding resettlement. Oregon does not have a direct role or act independently of the federal government.”

In the wake of Friday’s deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, which claimed 129 lives, Republican governors from 28 states have said they will reject Syrian refugees — although federal law is clear that these state leaders lack the authority to categorically reject resettlement, according to Vox. 

Meanwhile, Republican presidential hopefuls Chris Christie, Ben Carson, and Marco Rubio, have suggested the U.S. should turn away all refugees from Syria — who currently number more than 4 million displaced since the start of the country’s civil war. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee advocated the closing all U.S. borders and placing an “immediate moratorium on admission to those persons from counties where there is a sting presence of ISIS or Al-Queda.” 

And top-polling GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump not only called for the Obama administration to refuse to accept Syrian refugees, but also suggested that any Syrians already in the U.S. be deported at a rally on Monday. Texas senator, presidential hopeful, and The Advocate‘s Phobie of the Year in 2014, Ted Cruz, offered another proposal in the form of a bill he plans to introduce in Congress: Bar all Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. — unless they’re Christian.

House Speaker Paul Ryan called for a “pause” in President Obama’s program that would allow 10,000 Syrian refugees to settle in the U.S., according to Media Matters. He also plans to introduce a bill to halt the current administration’s program for accepting refugees. 

Anti-immigrant sentiment, especially in regard to refugees from predominantly Muslim nations in the war-torn Middle East, has reached a fever pitch in the wake of Friday’s terrorist attack in Paris, responsibility for which was claimed by the so-called Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Although French authorities initially reported finding a Syrian passport allegedly belonging to one of the attackers, that passport is now believed to be fake, and all terrorists directly involved in the Paris attacks have been European nationals, ThinkProgress notes. 

The Oregonian reports that there is just one Syrian refugee currently living in Oregon. 

www.advocate.com/politics/2015/11/18/oregons-governor-kate-brown-welcomes-syrian-refugees

Utah Elected Its First Gay Mayor? Don't Be So Surprised
On Tuesday, election officials in Utah verified that Salt Lake City had elected its first openly gay mayor, Jackie Biskupski. Biskupski had garnered the most votes on election day two weeks ago, but the race was close enough to require mail-in ballots to be counted. Those ballots have now been counted. Biskupski captured 51.55 percent of the vote.

A gay woman becoming mayor of the largest city in Utah will likely surprise most observers. One of the deepest red states in the nation and headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Utah’s conservative reputation is well-earned, so Biskupski’s victory seems especially unlikely. As Biskupski’s own spokesperson said election night, “If Utah can do it, anybody can do it.”

But Utah didn’t elect Biskupski; Salt Lake City did. And that’s the important difference here.

Salt Lake City has long been a blue island in a deeply red sea. And the city has become an especially welcome home to the LGBT community, even as Utah remains a stronghold of social and religious conservatism.

Since 1985, Democrats have controlled the mayor’s office. One of those mayors, Rocky Anderson, attracted national controversy when he sponsored protest rallies every time George W. Bush came to town.

To win her election, Biskupski, a Democrat, had to defeat the sitting Democratic mayor, Ralph Becker, to claim the spot. (The city’s mayor election is officially non-partisan, and Biskupski and Becker emerged as the two top vote-getters in an August primary.)

Thanks to that Democratic strength in the capital city, Obama had strong showings in Salt Lake County in both his elections. In 2008, Obama narrowly won the county. And in 2012, Mitt Romney, a Mormon, could only capture 58 percent support, whereas many other Utah counties gave him around 90 percent.

But not only is Salt Lake City a safely-reliable Democratic city, it also has a reputation as an especially gay-friendly town. A 2006 survey estimated 7.6 percent of the city’s residents were gay. (New York City came in at only 4.5 percent). Home to the University of Utah and several major corporations, Salt Lake City has attracted a diverse and tolerant population that has benefitted gay life. More than 35,000 people recently attended the city’s gay pride parade. In 2012, the Advocate, a leading gay magazine, named Salt Lake City the “gayest city in the U.S.“

That warm climate has translated into important political gains for the city’s gay citizens. A 2009 city ordinance guaranteed housing and employment protections to gays and lesbians. Gay and lesbian residents have fared well in seeking public office. Jim Dabakis, an openly-gay Democrat, represents the city in the state senate. Several gay men and women have served in city government. And one more – Derek Kitchen – was elected to the city council on the same night of Biskupski’s victory.

All of this set the stage for Biskupski’s rather unsurprising victory after a campaign run where her sexuality had not even come up as an issue.

As an openly-gay mayor of a major city, Biskupski has joined a small but growing circle of gay and lesbian women leading America’s largest metropolises, including Houston’s Annise Parker and Seattle’s Ed Murray.

Like Parker in Houston, Biskupski’s election demonstrates that a gay woman can win in a very conservative state, despite the odds. But for years now, Salt Lake City has been showing that those odds were increasingly favorable for any gay person seeking its highest office.

That result may not be big news in Salt Lake City, but her election is not inconsequential, especially considering the LDS Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage and its conservative stance on homosexuality. Just days after the election, LDS officials unveiled a new church policy that declares Mormons in same-sex marriages as apostates of the church and bars children of same-sex couples from baptism and membership.

Biskupski indicated one of her first orders as mayor will be to meet with LDS Church leaders to discuss the new policy. While Biskupski may not change anyone’s mind in Temple Square, her presence could have a tempering effect on LDS Church culture and policies regarding homosexuality in the years to come. If so, that would have repercussions far beyond the progressive precinct of Salt Lake City where Biskupski now serves as mayor.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Zayn Malik: There are no secret gay relationships among One Direction

Zayn Malik knows about all the rumors and about all that fan fiction.

But the former member of One Direction is setting the record straight: ‘There’s no secret relationships going on with any of the band members.’

Malik, 22, discusses with Fader Magazine short fiction fan phenomenon of ‘shipping’ – short for relationshipping – which imagines celebrities in relationships with each other. GIFs and videos are typically used to create a different context that usually involves members of the band involved on some kind of relationship.

‘It’s not funny, and it still continues to be quite hard for them,’ says Malik who left the group last March to resume a solo career.

He says the shipping has made his former bandmates self conscious.

‘They won’t naturally go put their arm around each other because they’re conscious of this thing that’s going on, which is not even true,’ Malik says. ;They won’t do that natural behavior.

‘But it’s just the way the fans are. They’re so passionate, and once they get their head around an idea, that’s the way it is regardless of anything. If it wasn’t for that passionate, like, almost obsession, then we wouldn’t have the success that we had.’

The post Zayn Malik: There are no secret gay relationships among One Direction appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/zayn-malik-there-are-no-secret-gay-relationships-among-one-direction/

Pharma-Bro Learns The Cost Of His Douchbaggery, Company Loses $14.6 Million Last Quarter

More bad news for pharma-bro Martin Shkreli. His company lost almost $15 million last quarter as a result of his crappy attitude and behavior.

Shkreli’s company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, just reported a net loss of $14.6 million in their third-quarter of this year. The quarter stretched from July through September, during which Shkreli became Public Enemy #1 when he raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used by some HIV patients, by more than 5,000 percent overnight, going from $13.50 to $750 per tablet.

Related: Five Fun Facts About Martin Shkreli And The Daraprim Drama

At the time, 32-year-old Shkreli responded to criticism over the price increase not by apologizing but rather by launching into an unapologetic Twitter rampage, where he seemed to delight in being labeled a “super villain.” After being called a “spoiled brat” by Donald Trump and having his campaign donation rejected by Bernie Sanders, Shkreli eventually told NBC News he would be lowering the price of Daraprim. That was in September, however, and he’s yet to actually make good on the promise.

We’re sure Shkreli pooped his pants over this latest news, but he’s still trying to display an I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude on Twitter because, well, that’s what he does. Yesterday, he tweeted:

I’ve heard disturbing rumors of capitalists infiltrating the pharmaceutical industry.

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) November 17, 2015

We’ve heard disturbing rumors that karma’s a bitch.

Related: Who Is The Biggest Douche Of The Year? You Decide!

Graham Gremore

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The Moment Stan Lee Learned That His Character Iceman Is Gay: LISTEN

In April we told you about Iceman, one of the original X-Men, coming out as gay. Apparently, though, Iceman’s creator, comics legend Stan Lee, didn’t get the memo about the superhero’s sexuality.

The Evening Standard reports:

When [Lee] was informed of his character’s sexuality on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he replied: “I wasn’t involved in that, that may have been after I stopped writing the books. I didn’t really have any gay characters. If they were gay I didn’t play up to the fact that they were. I wasn’t aware of my characters sexual proclivities.”

He admitted: “In fact your telling me that is the first time I’d heard. Is Iceman really gay?

“Wow! I never knew that. I don’t care what happens as long as they tell good stories.”

RELATED: The Iceman Cometh Out: Marvel’s Smart Take On Accepting Sexual Identity

Iceman, aka Bobby Drake, was first introduced in 1963.

In the April issue of the All New X-Men, Jean Grey helped Bobby understand that he is gay even though his future self isn’t.

Listen to Stan Lee learn that his character Iceman is gay, below:

Hear what happened when we outed Marvel superhero Iceman to his creator, Stan Lee.
t.co/cRikrvwgva

— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) November 18, 2015

The post The Moment Stan Lee Learned That His Character Iceman Is Gay: LISTEN appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

The Moment Stan Lee Learned That His Character Iceman Is Gay: LISTEN