Defining Marriage - Gay/LGBT News & Chat

Plebiscite Didgeridoodling Swank

Gay marriage is coming to the game Harvest Moon -- eventually, probably -- but is this maybe opening the door to some problematic implementations? James, who knows a thing or two about designing a video game, offers his analysis, and also offers a truly appalling Australian accent. We also summon the spirits of the 90s with Sound Garden, not to be confused with Savage Garden and the Spoonman.

Oh, what now? Roy Moore says he needs a little more time to respond to ethics questions, as if two extra weeks is going to make some kind of difference. In the mean time, real judges like Callie Granade will be issuing rulings like "uh, no, gay marriage is definitely a thing."

Oops, we missed a week! As you NO DOUBT noticed, last week's episode does not exist, in part due to our travels to Chicago. But we're back now from the debauchery of IML, and we're hot on the trail of the latest in gay marriage news. My favorite headline this week is that there's a group trying to get some buzz around Roy Moore for the Supreme Court... and what a coincidence, that group just happens to have been founded by Roy Moore. (But he's not the president! His wife is.) Also this week we reflect on one of the strangest episodes of Murder She Wrote ever committed to film, featuring Gabe Kaplan and a drag show and a gay bar and (in our minds) a disgusting sex act with a fish.

On this week's episode, we're sloppily whispering to each other about how Nebraska still allow two moms to appear on birth certificates -- instead, one of the moms has to be listed as "friend." Unclear what sort of legal obligation "friends" have to babies. Also, James browbeats Australia over some nonsense-talk about whether kids are harmed by same-sex parents. We have some news about Ireland, relating first to marriage and then to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and James tortures me with questions about Braveheart.

You're in for a real fun-fair of nonsense this week, with a haunting melange of bananas and the Alabama Supreme Court. We have more details on what's going to happen to Judge Roy Moore, now that Ambrosia Starling is holding his feet to the fire. And we also have created a musical version of The Crucible called Goody Goody Goody. Meanwhile, Italy is getting civil unions, so that's a good first step; and Australia is plebisciting along despite some religious group afraid that marriage equality means an end to Mother's Day. We're also on the hunt for the recipe for ambrosia salad, and for Barbra Streisand.

Congratulations to Hanscom Smith, a senior US diplomat in Shanghai who just married his husband in a delightful ceremony. And what better wedding gift can they have hoped for than the removal of Judge Roy Moore, the homophobic Supreme Court justice from Georgia who was just suspended from his job for his resistance to marriage equality. Ha. We also discuss the bizarre targeting of Target for their bathroom policy -- where exactly is the Bible passage about keeping restrooms separate? And then there's Australia's plebiscite, a disgusting word that I can barely bring myself to say. Apparently I also cannot bring myself to say our safe word, because it's been so long since we agreed on one that James forgot we even had one.

Congrats to the islands moving towards marriage equality! We have good news this week from the Bahamas, The Faroe Islands, and the seductively-named Isle of Man. And also from Colombia, which is not an island, except that it is ideologically a bit of an island in that it is one of the few South American countries where same-sex couples can now get married. Hooray.

This week's episode concerns in ineffable mysteries of Prince and his opinion on gay marriage. Was he for it or against it or what? Perhaps not even he knew for sure, but we'll do our best ot unravel what clues he left behind. Also, did you hear the one about the guy who wants to marry the computer that got him addicted to pornography? He's a Christian EDM producer, by the way. Oh, musicians, I don't think I'll ever understand you. Nor will I ever fully understand James' grandmother, who seems to have somehow inspired a toothy sight gag on the new season of Kimmy Schmidt.

Hello, Texans! This week's episode is all about you. And also us, in that we are about to visit you -- James and I are coming to HavenCon in Austin to present a panel on Saturday, April 23rd, at noon, called "Queer Gamers Coast to Coast." And what perfect timing, because a Texas court has just ruled that allowing two lovely lesbian women to marry does not constitute, as the state claimed, "legal chaos."

This week on the podcast, James and I talk about the pope's recent declaration that same-sex couples reeeeeeeally shouldn't be allowed to marry. James knows a thing or two about this pope business, and explains exactly how the church justifies some of its wacky rules about who gets special treatment and also the strange terrifying alternate universe where all the unbaptised babies go. We also address a Puerto Rico judge's ruling that the US Constitution doesn't apply to them; and the subsequent appellate ruling that yes of course it does, don't be ridiculous.

Spring has sprung, when a young man's heart turns to fancy. Who's the young man, and what's so fancy about him? These and other mysteries remain unsolved on this week's episode, but we do talk about Florida's achievement of finally legalizing gay marriage, nearly a year after the Supreme Court already did it for them. Also various state governors are signing religious-freedom bills that cloak anti-queer animus, but those vetoes might not save us. And once again, James tortures me with a name I can't remember.

You've no doubt heard about North Carolina's unpleasant dabbling with anti-gay and anti-trans laws. We're talking about the implications today, as well as the traditional method of celebrating Easter: with a delicious Easter sundae. Also, did you know Mississippi has a robot that does the filibustering for you? What marvels we enjoy in this modern world!

We've traveled to San Francisco this week, and our SF friends Andy and Long join us to talk about what Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court would mean for LGBT folks. Is there a chance that Obama's nominee could actually make it onto the court, and what sort of queer cases could he hear? We make some wild guesses, and also talk about a gay pirate broadcaster that we've tastefully decided should be called Butt Pirate Radio. Further digressions involve the time Sandra Day O'Connor played against a boy's volleyball team, and a chicken that would be president. Also, who would be a better president: Donald Trump or PewDiePie?

This week Missouri had a filibuster on an anti-gay law and Australia talked about a gay-marriage plebiscite that could cost half a billion dollars. Also, we discuss mules and witches.