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This week, Bill Donohue, head of the $3.7 million charity, the Catholic League, went ballistic after hearing that Guinness beer pulled it’s sponsorship of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade because of their anti-gay policies. To retaliate, he launched a boycott of Guinness, and went on conservative radio to announce that he applied to march in NYC’s Gay Pride Parade, sure that he would be rejected.

He told conservative talk show host Steve Malzberg that if his application is approved he will “bring a big wedding cake” to the pride parade, in what he seems to think would be an insult to LGBT people.

Well, it turns out that he wasn’t rejected. In fact, he was immediately welcomed by organizers, and was encouraged to carry a “Straight is Great” banner.

Now, he’s trying to lie his way out of it.

One of his reasons for not participating is because he claims that his group is required to attend a “gay training” session.

“Quite frankly as a straight guy, I don’t go to gay training sessions,” Donohue said. “I’m pretty much of an untrainable guy when it comes these things.”

Actually, it’s a standard events operations training session for the safety of participants.

He has also said, “People have to wear LGBT paraphernalia.” Another lie.

Adding, “I said, look I want to be clear, can I march with my banner ‘Straight is Great?’ My members will wear t-shirts ‘Straight is Great’ – I’m waiting for the final answer.” Yet another lie.

To which, parade organizers responded: Mr. Donohue sought prior approval on his group’s slogan, “Straight is Great.” We acknowledged his message and said the text was fine. At no point have we instructed Mr. Donohue as to what must be printed on his group’s shirts.

As a Catholic, aren’t the 10 Commandments required reading? Especially the one about bearing false witness?

Donohue’s charity, which many believe consist of himself and a few secretaries, used 23.4% of the $3.7 million it took in in 2012 for ‘administrative costs’ and 22% for fundraising. Do the math. Administrative costs for one year: $865.800. Fundraising for one year: $814,000. He uses his time and resources to attack same-sex marriage and it’s supporters, women’s reproductive rights, he protects pedophile priests and attacks any challenge to the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. His yearly salary is $407,000.

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Catholic League President, Bill Donohue, furious about Guinness opting for diversity and fairness and pulling out of the New York City St. Patrick’s day parade, applied to march in this year’s NYC Pride Parade with a banner that says, “Straight Is Great.”

Donohue, who is strongly anti-gay and an opponent of LGBT rights, said on a conservative radio show, “Are they going to let me do it or not? I’m waiting to see what they want to say,” he said, explaining the pride parade organizers require participants to carry LGBT signs. “All right, you can disagree with their rules, but that’s their parade. Why don’t they respect us when it comes to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade?”

“That’s cool,” say parade organizers. Parade Managing Director Chris Frederick said that the Catholic League truly is welcome to march, pointing that it’s “probably not the first time” that a “Straight is Great” sign has been shown in the parade.

In a statement issued this morning, David Studinski, the March Director of NYC Pride, proclaimed, “Mr. Donohue and his group are free to participate in the 2014 March. His group’s presence affirms the need for this year’s Pride theme, ‘We Have Won When We’re One.’ Straight is great – as long as there’s no hate.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, asked Donohue to march with her in the parade.

“As a fellow Irish New Yorker, I’m hoping Bill will march with me at NYC Pride,” Ellis said. “I look forward to the day when I can march openly with Bill in the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and not be turned away because of who I am.”

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Currently under Florida law, a minor is allowed to tie the knot with parental permission and court approval if the couple are expecting or already have a baby. A minor may also get married if both parents are dead or if the minor has previously been married.

In 2013, Florida recorded 110 marriages of children 16 and younger, and 150 such marriages in 2012.

At least one Florida lawmaker, Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami, is alarmed. “Marriage is an adult responsibility,” she says. “We don’t want them to vote, we don’t want them to drink alcohol, they can’t drive a car, and we allow them to marry under 16?”

Stafford introduced a new bill (HB 1279) that would ban nuptials for those under 16. It passed unanimously passed the House Civil Justice Subcommittee on Tuesday without debate.

Motivating Stafford was a 1972 case out of Pinellas County. Sherry Johnson, now of Tallahassee, was raped at 10, pregnant and married by 11. Johnson’s mother gave consent for her daughter “to marry the 20-year-old who raped her,” Stafford said.

More recently in 2012 there was a 13-year-old groom who was married. Said Stafford, “Here we have a 13-year-old still going through puberty, who now is a husband because, apparently, he made a baby. I just don’t think that should be the policy of this state.”

Meanwhile, consenting adults, some who have been together for over 50 years are denied the right to be legally married. All because they are gay – and all to preserve the sanctity of the institution.

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Hundreds of gay-rights supporters gathered at the Capitol building in Boise, Idaho, for an event called “Wrap the Capitol” on Monday to greet state lawmakers was they were leaving the building. Protesters are continuing their efforts to urge them to add the four words, “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Act.

Idaho’s Republican controlled House and Senate have been resistant to holding hearing for several years, and just last month tried to introduce jaw-dropping legislation that would have permitted discrimination against LGBT people publicly and privately, under the guise of “religious freedom.” The bill was shelved because of the intense opposition and the relentless protests of citizens. When the bill was debated, hundreds of protestors filled all four floors of the Capitol building.

Republican Rep. Lynn Luker of Boise, the lawmaker who introduced the Idaho bill said is is unlikely that his measure will resurface this session, but he has said that his legislation was “misinterpreted” and he reserves the right to reintroduce it later.

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Just double click on the rainbow banner:

Boston’s mayor, Marty Walsh, the son of Irish immigrants and staunch supporter of the LGBT community, boycotted the city’s St. Patricks’s Day Parade today after failing to persuade organizers to allow a group of gay and lesbian veterans to participate.

The sponsor of Boston’s parade, the South Boston Allied War Veterans’ Council, rejected an application by gay rights group Mass Equality to allow 20 LGBT service members to participate in the annual parade.

Other big sponsors, The Boston Beer Company, who brews Sam Adams beer and Heineken also backed out. In a statement the Boston Beer Company said they hoped “both sides of this issue would be able to come to an agreement that would allow everyone, regardless of orientation to participate in the parade. However, given the current status of the negotiations, we realize this may not be possible.”

Said Walsh, “As mayor of the city of Boston, I have to do my best to ensure that all Bostonians are free to participate fully in the civic life of our city. Unfortunately, this year, the parties were not able to come to an understanding that would have made that possible.”

“The St. Patrick’s Day parade was born out of the celebration of Evacuation Day, a day set aside to recognize and honor our military and those brave Americans who have banded together for the sake of freedom,” said the mayor in a statement. “And so much of our Irish history has been shaped by the fight against oppression.”

The Mayor said he was disappointed, adding, “On behalf of my entire staff, we wish the entire city a happy Saint Patrick’s Day.”

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The very idea of filing tax returns can make April 15 a day of dread for millions of American wage earners. Not only are tax forms and their instructions ever-changing, confusing, and sometimes even contradictory, lots of folks also have a fundamental fear of all things related to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

As intimidating as April 15^th – TAX DAY – is to the average American, the day is worse for LGBTQ couples whose marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships are now legal according to the federal government but – unless they live in a marriage equality state or a state that recognizes LGBTQ marriages performed in other states.

Registered domestic partners and same sex married couples can find themselves at a tax crossroads come filing time. The difference between federal and state recognition of same-sex marriage and domestic partnerships can create challenges that married heterosexual couples do not face.

The good news is that more and more states allow married gay and lesbian couples to file joint state income tax returns. Even better, the federal government now allows ALL married LGBTQ couples to file joint federal income tax returns.

Here is an easy guide to help you figure out what you need to do come April 15, regardless of where you live and what your marital status is:

1. Married and living together in a state that recognizes your marriage – You are required to file as married for both federal and state returns.
2. Married and not domiciled in a state that recognizes your marriage – You are required to file as married for federal but must file as single for your state return.
3. Recognized domestic partners in the state – You must file as single for federal returns but must file as married on your state return.
4. Unrecognized domestic partners in the state (in other words, you are not legally married) – You must file as single for both federal and state returns.

Federal laws come into play when filing your state tax returns. Most states base their joint return computations on the figures from your joint federal return. This means that while married couples only have to file two returns – one for federal and one for state – generally, unmarried LGBTQ partners must complete a total of four tax returns.

• First, each partner must complete an individual federal tax return to file with the IRS.
• Second, the couple must create a mock or dummy joint federal return combining income, adjustments, deductions and credits.
• Finally, they use that mock return as the jumping off point to prepare a joint state tax return.

So, what should you do?  Well, if you aren’t allowed to file a joint state return, but are required to file the equivalent of a married-filing-jointly or married-filing-separately return on your federal return, the first step is to be sure you understand the rules in your state. The best thing is to use tax preparation software like TurboTax, which will greatly simplify the process of completing your mock federal return. We know for a fact that TurboTax has special instructions to help LGBTQ partners, whether you are in a civil union, registered or unregistered domestic partnership or legally married.  You can buy TurboTax on Amazon.com and if you click this link to do so, Rainbow Law will get 5% – 7% of the proceeds and it won’t cost you a single penny more.

Fred Phelps, 84, the infamous patriarch of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas (known for their message “God hates fags”) is in hospice, on the “edge of death”, according to a Facebook post by his son.

Nathan Phelps left the group in 1980, and expressed his sadness for the harm his father has caused others. Especially his main targets, gays and lesbians. Their signs – typically saying something along the lines of ‘God Hates Fags’ – blamed society’s acceptance of homosexuality for natural disasters and other terrible events.

They gained national attention when they began protesting the funerals of US military members, holding up signs saying things like “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” and “God Loves IEDs,” among other hateful slogans.

The Phelps’ also protested other things, like the funerals of victims of a bridge collapse in Minnesota.  They also protested Steve Jobs’ funeral because he donated to the effort to stop the Mormon-funded Proposition 8 effort in California. And they were the group the Angels were blocking with their huge wings at Matt Shepards Funeral in Laramie, Wyoming.

Nathan, also expressed his anger with his family members for blocking anyone who is no longer with the church from seeing his father including Fred’s other sons, daughters, nieces, and nephews.

Most of the Phelps family are members of the WBC and it was reported in 2011 that the church had about 40 members. Here they are in their full splendor and glory in 2013:

Tennessee, the home of the Grand Ole Opry, Elvis, Jack Daniels, Beale Street blues, and the most hateful anti-gay state legislature in America, was ordered by a federal judge to recognize the legal same-sex marriages of three couples who were married in other states — despite the state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and woman.

Their marriages must be recognized temporarily while they pursue a lawsuit seeking to overturn Tennessee’s state DOMA. For now, Friday’s U.S. District Court ruling applies only to these three couples.

The couples, two female University of Tennessee professors who were married in New York; a fine arts graduate student from Memphis and his husband, a first sergeant in the U.S. Army; and a male couple from San Francisco who moved to Tennessee for work in 2012, filed their lawsuit in October.

Federal Judge Aleta A. Trauger noted that although her preliminary injunction against the state was limited only to the three couples named in the suit, before long, the ban would probably be upended for all same-sex couples in Tennessee.

At some point in the future, probably with the aid of further rulings, “in the eyes of the United States Constitution, the plaintiffs’ marriages will be placed on equal footing with those of heterosexual couples and … proscriptions against same-sex marriage will soon become a footnote in the annals of American history,” Trauger wrote.

Nashville lawyer Abby Rubenfeld, who represents the couples, cheered the legal win and said it was a good first step toward total equality for all same-sex married couples in Tennessee.

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Give Rainbow Law’s legal document preparation service a risk-free try by ordering state-specific advance directives (living wills, medical & financial powers of attorney with hospital visitation & more). Payment can be made via a small donation or you can get them for free in exchange for a Tweet or Facebook post! Just double click on the rainbow banner:

The animated film, Frozen, which recently passed the $1 billion mark at the box office, and won two Oscars, one for Best Animated Feature and one for Best Original Song, has come under attack by two wacko Christian radio talk show hosts who are saying the movie is pushing a “homosexual agenda” and pro-bestiality message.

The film is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, The Snow Queen. It is a story about Queen Elsa, who tries to rescue the kingdom and her younger sister Anna from a terrible freeze that strangles their home.

Pastor and Colorado-based Generations Radio host Kevin Swanston and co-host Steve Vaughn shared some theories about the film’s “progressive” agenda on their radio show, even though neither has actually seen the film.

They claim the film’s Oscar winning song, “Let it Go” is a coming out song, and that the lead character, Elsa, who never considers a male suitor is probably a lesbian. They also say that Jonathan Groff’s character has an “unnatural relationship” with his reindeer, Sven. Therefore they say it opens children up to homosexuality and bestiality.

Then they refer to the abominable “transvestite” snowman, Marshmallow, who put on Elsa’s tiara. Swanston said the movie was “evil, just evil”.

“Parents don’t want to turn [their children] into Sodomites,” Swanston said on air. “…I couldn’t believe Disney was that progressive, but it turns out that Disney is leading the charge.”

When asked, Frozen director Jennifer Lee only said: “We know what we made. But at the same time I feel like once we hand the film over, it belongs to the world, so I don’t like to say anything, and let the fans talk. I think it’s up to them.”

A Missouri House Committee has heard the first debate today on legislation that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s Human Rights Statute’s definition of “discrimination.”

The bill, HB 1930, sponsored by Republican Rep Kevin Engler (Farmington), drew support from Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Currently, under Missouri law, an employer can refuse to hire someone, a landlord can refuse to rent an apartment to, or a business can refuse to serve someone because that person is gay or lesbian.

Engler, who opposes same-sex marriage, said that “My idea is to bring these pro-business bills up on the floor, amend it and have debate,” and “If it gets to the floor, it has the votes to pass.”

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Industries of Missouri oppose the bill because they are concerned about creating a new statutory protected class and the line of lawsuits that could come with it. Chamber General Counsel Jay Atkins told the committed that it could create an “entire new cause of action that exposes all Missouri employers to further liability under employment law.”

Associated Industries of Missouri President Ray McCarty echoed the concerns Atkins outlined about creating a new statutory protected class and the line of lawsuits that could come with it.

Committee chairman Rep. Bill Lant, R-Pineville, said he was not yet sure if the committee would vote on the bill. He said discrimination against LGBT individuals was an issue that needed to be addressed but care needed to be taken in adding another protected class.

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Give Rainbow Law’s legal document preparation service a risk-free try by ordering state-specific advance directives (living wills, medical & financial powers of attorney with hospital visitation & more). Payment can be made via a small donation or you can get them for free in exchange for a Tweet or Facebook post! Just double click on the rainbow banner: