At the very least you should buy this album

​Only hours remain until the Meetup.com group Bay Area Gay Dog Owners disappears forever.

The group's name alone has kept us asking the same question: Are the dogs gay, or just the dog owners? After a cursory investigation, we learned that, in many cases, owners were honestly convinced their canines were barking up the same tree.

How sweet.

But this quirky group of dog lovers has been leaderless for several weeks now, and Meetup.com is warning the group that it could be shut down if no one steps up as organizer. Yesterday, members were alerted by e-mail that they had 24 hours to find a leader or risk losing this social outlet for gay pups.

More >>

​Next Tuesday is a big day for gay and lesbian members of the armed forces. But HBO documentary filmmakers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey want to celebrate a little early -- with the world premiere of their documentary, The Strange History of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, tonight at the Castro Theatre at 7.

The two filmmakers -- who have made almost two dozen other documentaries for HBO -- will be in attendance at tonight's free-but-with-limited-seating event, along with documentary subject Aaron Belkin of SFSU and state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco).

The film will air twice on HBO, with the next showing on Sept. 20 -- the day that the ban on gays serving in the military will be repealed. The repeal was signed into law last December, but hasn't been implemented yet.
More >>

Does it get any gayer than this?

​Remember when The Daily Show made fun of San Francisco for getting, ahem, topped by Minneapolis as the gayest city in the nation? Well, perhaps BART is helping us try to make a comeback, just in time for Gay Pride.

It seems that BART is now hopping aboard the gay train. Aside from adding more cars to accommodate people this year fir the festive June 26 Pride parade, BART has also designed 100 Gay Pride posters that will be plastered on all cars throughout the month of June.

That means the LGBT community will now join African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Pacific Americans in getting their own cultural poster featured for one month on BART.
More >>

Read it and weep

​Following staff backlash, the editor of the Annapolis-based The Capital newspaper reportedly yanked a column apologizing for a Mother's Day article featuring lesbian parents.
More >>

Let's come out and say it: Pat Robertson is not a huge fan of San Francisco. Or California generally, whose affinity for same-sex marriage led the famous televangelist to, in 2008, compare the state to "a city in the ancient days where people were so gross they actually tried to rape angels." (That's pretty gross!) Telling in this regard were the remarks of Robertson's spokesman when we called him last year to ask whether California has a pact with Satan. His response: "I don't know."

We're guessing most San Franciscans aren't huge fans of Robertson either, especially in the wake of his latest comments on The 700 Club, the unceasingly bizarre platform for the genteel 81-year-old preacher to warble his insane opinions into the camera. Robertson apparently believes that married women get abortions to put themselves "on a level playing field" with lesbians. (As Gawker points out, no one seems to have informed Pat that lesbians can give birth, too.)

More >>

Making Milk proud

​Students, please open your textbooks to the chapter on Harvey Milk and cue the PowerPoint on Heklina: A bill by state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) to include gay history in mandatory education requirements passed the state Senate today.

And if the Assembly signs off on the bill, it too could eventually be found in local history books.

Leno's legislation says that schools should no longer skip over pertinent LGBT history. As it stands, California schools are not allowed to discriminate against ethnic and minority groups, but the general curriculum doesn't require gay and lesbian contributions or historical events.

Locally, the San Francisco Unified School District is predictably more inclusive, working LGBT history and antibullying exercises into its curriculum starting in elementary school. Still, as we wrote in our November cover story, "Wounded Pride," an incredibly high percentage of public school students say they hear gay slurs in the classroom.

More >>

Coming after cousin Geri

​This edition of The Week in Gay is a potpourri (either a miscellaneous collection of stories or a mixture of dried flowers and spices) of four categories - plus an extra special bonus!

Included are updates on the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the latest stories from San Francisco, salacious celebrity scandals, and more same-sex marriage news than any reasonable person could keep up with (except for the superhuman Matt Baume. How do you do it?) 

Fasten your seat belts and put your tray tables in their upright positions please, as we prepare to jump....
More >>

Obama speaks from the heart, but what about the gays?

​President Obama has a very special message for LGBT Americans: Sign up for military service.

That is all.

Actually, that message comes with a few asterisks. First, don't go to the recruitment office just yet. Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed by Congress, but the military still enforces it -- with no end in sight. Even then, transgender citizens aren't invited to sign up.

But yes, in 2011 (presumably) gays can join the military. The president thanks us for all the fun we had together in 2010 as we fought to make this happen -- but the party is over.

He won't be blowing hot air up our skirts again until 2012.  

  More >>

Bring In The Gays

​Where did we leave off? 

In December, a (sort of) repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell was passed by the Senate and signed by the President. I predicted a long, slow and agonizing death of the policy while John McCain lamented the end of DADT saying that soldiers will lose their legs if gays aren't kicked out of the military.

Fast forward to the present and now Defense Secretary Robert Gates is eager to get the repeal implemented and Sen. John McCain's (R-Arizona) resistance to faggotry in the military seems to be waning.

Maybe I'm being too negative. If John McCain can smile away the blues then I suppose I can too! I'm turning a new leaf in 2011! Resolutions!! The glass is half full, goddamnit!! Exclamation point!

More >>

​On Saturday, following months of gyrations, the U.S. Senate repealed the military ban on open service by gays and lesbians known as Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Sort of.

This policy has been under heavy scrutiny since the end of President George W. Bush's second term, and promises to repeal DADT were made repeatedly during the 2008 presidential campaign. An entire year of political rancor was required, a survey of 400,000 active duty and reserve troops was conducted, the conditions of repeal were slanted in favor of military control, and, still "...the current law and policy will remain in effect."

It ain't over 'til it's over.
More >>