Morning Meme: Ben Cohen Strips Down To Fight Homophobia, The CW Is Full of "H8R"s, and Yabba Dabba Don't!

Fran Drescher's new TV Land sitcom Happily Divorced, about her dating life after her husband announced he was gay, has begun filming. In the show, produced by her real life gay ex-husband, her gay ex-husband is played by straight actor John Michael Higgins.

GLAAD, the Courage Campaign, and Equality Matters are asking Orbitz to drop advertising on Fox News due to their anti-gay coverage. I’m of two minds: I do think we should vote with our dollars, and asking Orbitz to live up to their past pledges of support is only right. But part of me worries that the timing to flex our muscle is trading short term gains for longer term losses in court and legislatively.

With the fight for marriage equality heating up in New York, the papers are putting out a lot of content. This NY Times editorial says that by framing marriage as an economic boon, we’re devaluing gay relationships. I call horse pucky. I can take a plane or a train to get to the altar, I really just want to toss the bouquet.

Meanwhile, at the NY Daily News, Prop 8 attorney Ted Olsen makes the argument that civil unions aren’t a fair compromise, and that marriage law is woven so deeply through our civil legal system that nothing short of equality works. I agree with that in the conceptual, but I’m not sure I mind a stepping stone approach.

The San Francisco Giants are set to become the first professional sports team to record an It Gets Better video. This pleases me in many ways, since I have a weird fascination with pitcher Brian Wilson. Will The Machine make an appearance? I’m also tickled because this came up with a petition from the adorable Sean Chapin, who was so nice when I met him.

I’m thinking about taking out a hit on Seth MacFarlane, and wondered if you wanted to contribute? Because the man has to be stopped before he launches a reboot of The Flintstones. We have until 2013 to raise the funds, people.

Dan Savage says that anytime he sees the HRC on cable news, he knows we’ve already lost the fight, so he becomes spokesman by default. I do like Dan most of the time, but I wish he’d remember than he actually is spokesman by default, and he needs to watch the sick jokes on his non-news appearances.

Some people think that the Tennessee ordinance designed to repeal Nashville’s expanded discrimination laws that protect GLBT people isn’t Constitutional. The question is if Nashville will fight it.

Evidently, Gilligan’s Island was the birth of the gay bear scene.

The Washington Post takes a strong stand against deportation of legally partnered same-sex binational couples. Until DOMA dies, I don’t know that any stance is strong enough.

The CW has picked up a reality show called H8R, which will pair celebrities with their biggest critics to let the fur fly. Where do I apply to go head-to-head with Andy Cohen?

Celebrity Apprentice is over for the season, so lacking a reason to promote himself, Donald Trump has dropped out of the presidential race that he never really intended to enter.

Stephen Hawking says that heaven is a fairy tale. Needless to say, some people are upset that they’re having their beliefs bullied by Hawking.

A groundbreaking new study reveals that teens who are bullied in school carry the damage with them long after they leave high school, and the scars run deep.

The U.S. has hit the debt ceiling, and we’re now borrowing money from ourselves to keep from defaulting on our loans. We can make balance transfers until August, but then we’re screwed if the Tea Party still won’t budge on what has been a rubber stamp increase the last 74 times. You want economic disaster? The last two years are nothing compared to the U.S. defaulting on our loans.

Bill Maher does a beautiful job separating Christians from Christ. It’s a marvelous read, and I’m working on memorizing it so I can tear into people with it at will.

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