In the U.S., we give a lot of benefits to people based on their marital status, which other posters have mentioned. Legally recognizing same-sex marriage means that gay couples can access those benefits too... but a different question is why we tie those things to marriage in the first place (and what it says about…

Y'all better step off. Rachel is *my* (imaginary) girlfriend. As in, my wife bought me "Drift" for my birthday and understands that if Rachel Maddow wanted to make out with me, I'd totally do it. So get in line.

Right - but that's a useful thing to know. As long as reporters don't dumb the study down to say, simply, that 3.4% of Americans are queer (for precisely the reasons you state), you have some interesting data about how different demographics *identify* their sexual orientation/gender identity. For example, assuming…

Except that your "feeling" is not a fact. Studies funded by the CDC have found that the people with the lowest rates of mortality (death) and morbidity (ill health) are actually in the "overweight" BMI range, 25-30. In other words, they're not only healthier than people with "obese" BMIs, but also healthier than…

Another denomination that's pretty gay-friendly, as these things go, is UCC (United Church of Christ, also sometimes known as Congregationalists). Google "open and affirming" to find gay-friendly congregations. The Unitarians are also pretty great, but that seems to go without saying.

Man, fetuses have it *made.* There are people paying $670 for just 90 minutes of placenta-on-face action, and fetuses get it - free - for nine whole months! No wonder they have such plump, lush-looking skin (except, weirdly, when they're newborns).

Shananigans and Ginger make good points here; one more to consider is that the "black vs. gay" trope is also hugely problematic because it makes gay black people (and their supportive families and friends) invisible.

I'm really proud of Tiggeman's push for clearly written, evenly enforced standards on this sort of thing. Some possible outcomes, if she wins:

Dear Apt. 4 C.K.,

Huh, missed that. That's disappointing.

On the Walking Dead, it actually was RU-486 ("the abortion pill"), because the character in question was already pregnant and was contemplating ending her pregnancy.

While it depends on the school in question, Arctic16, a lot of schools where football teams bring in huge amounts of revenue have been found to actually lose money on their football programs (because of how much they pay coaches, spend on getting new facilities, put up players in hotels the night before home games,…

Not to pick nits, but I have a little bit of a problem with this article's implication (using the word "struggles") that acknowledging one's gayness is always a process full of pain and denial. It's not a *struggle* for all of us, thanks - in large part - to changing societal attitudes, awesome parents, and groups…

Does anyone else find the "joint conservatorship" arrangement between Britney's dad and fiancé kind of creepy? I'm guessing this is related to her past mental health struggles (??)...but it also really reminds me of older social arrangements where women weren't treated as whole people or adults capable of managing…

Meh, we don't *all* die from swooning. Some of us are gay, and if we did have a male celebrity crush, it would be Jake Gyllenhaal. Hypothetically speaking.

Oh my. I just thought he was doing some cute move where he dove in from the side right as the picture was taken... and then your comment made me go back and look again. AWK-WARD.

I beg to differ. I have managed to kill thyme plants on many separate occasions, through different means, on different coasts/climates. It sounds like you've had better luck, but I'd like to note that thyme is not, in fact, unkillable.

My puppy does this (and is very sad that the unseasonably warm weather has melted his snow). We call it "penguining" because it's kind of how penguins look when they slide.

Even though this article was kind of horrible, I'm absolutely *loving* how it's inspired this fat/body acceptance-themed thread that - as Ab of Dab mentioned - gives me a lot of the warm fuzzies that reading Kate Harding's Shapely Prose used to.

I've heard of Dancing with Fat before (I'm on a Fat Studies listserve, where it's been mentioned), but hadn't checked it out yet. Also great: Bevin Branlandingham's Queer Fat Femme blog. I'm not so into femmy fashion stuff, but she's pretty fabulous.