What do you get when you mix parents that are PFLAG members, their lesbian daughter that used to be in the US Air Force, and another daughter that is a born-again Christian? No this is not a tasteless joke a la Blance Knott; it's the subject of tonight's episode of a new show by blog talk radio host Kevin Lewis.

I haven't checked out any of the other queer programs there but it seem there are new optiosn every day for user-generated queer programs, including one I wrote about a while back ago called qpodder.

Okay, okay we're a little late but hey that doesn't mean you still shouldn't join the party now that we've officially launched the Big Queer Facebook Group.

Let us know what you think.

Last year I pranced over to merry 'ole England for a little R&R and and ended up meeting with the editor of the fantabulous queer literary journal Chroma.

If you're a writer or fancy yourself one, I've got good news for you. I just got word that Chroma has announced their second annual International Queer Writing Competition. The categories include short fiction, poetry and Transfabulous Prize for the best short story by a trans writer or exploring trans themes.

Also Chroma is taking submissions for Issue 9 America, from writers and poets from the Americas or by others about the Americas (North, Central or South) but hurry the deadline is August 15, 2008.

It's Father's Day and that can mean a lot (good, bad, indifferent) to queers as well as the rest of the world so I'm wondering what's on your mind this year.

What's your take on Father's Day and all of our different roles:

queer father, child of a queer father, biological dads, dads of choice (father figures)...

Want to share something about how you feel about Father's Day?

Chime in.

After the California ruling there's been a lot of buzz about marriage equality and queer rights. But we all know for every step forward there seems to be two steps back. June is Pride month so before we get to complacent let's Get Busy & Get Equal .

It's great to celebrate the progress made but we shouldn't rest on our laurels. We need to remember that many states in the US have passed constitutional amendments barring marriage equality thereby legalizing bigotry, that binational couples are only given equal rights in 16 nations, and bullying of queers in schools is still the rule not the exception in far to many communities, and in too many places around the world queers have no rights at all.

Take our US presidential election poll and let us know for whom you would vote if the election were held today.

You go Al!

" I think it's wrong for the government to discriminate against people because of that person's sexual orientation. I think that gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heteroseuxal men and women... to join together in marriage"

"I don't understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage to allow it by gays and lesbians? Shouldn't we be promoting the kind of faithfulness and loyalty to one's partner regardless of sexual orientation?"

View the video above for more of the former Vice-President's comments on same-sex marriage rights.

If only the candidates for US president also believed in freedom and equality for ALL Americans . Oh wait, Dennis Kucinich does.

Jody Foster came out, sort of, kinda, maybe, in a way.

For more details check some other site (apparently every other site).

Openly gay retired general Keith Kerr, a self-proclaimed Log Cabin Republican, has riled up conservatives and right-wind bloggers who are crying foul over his participation in the CNN YouTube debate and accusing him of being a Clinton campaign plant.

The controversy seems to be working to turn the focus away from the issue of gays in the military to a discussion of whether the Clinton Campaign is acting like the Bush Administration by using plants.

It's a sad day for freedom in the Free State. The Maryland Court of Appeals (the state's highest court) handed down a decision that upholds the current state law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman thereby rejecting a lawsuit by 19 queers who were fighting for the right to marry their same-sex partners. As this is the highest court in the state, the Court of Appeals decision is final and can not be appealed since it deals with the Maryland constitution.

The sadness is poignant and resonates with this writer who was born and raised in Maryland and whose great-grandparents settled in the state in pursuit of freedom from the institutionalized persecution they were subjected to in "the old country".

While Alanis Morissette may define irony as rain on your wedding day, I would propose that irony is actually being denied the freedom to marry in a state that's nickname is The Free State.