A CBS4 Investigation into recruiting by the United States Army found recruiters telling potential soldiers that it wasn’t a problem if they were gay.

Read more at The Frontlines.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Cypress House sent me a complimentary copy of Deep South by Jody Dixon.

Thank you!

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Margaret Chambers and Cassandra Ormiston married in Massachusetts and are now filing for divorce in Rhode Island.

They filed for divorce in Rhode Island on Oct. 23, citing irreconcilable differences, Chambers’ attorney, Louis Pulner, said Wednesday. Ormiston declined to comment.

…snip…

“Now the ultimate question is whether the state will recognize or determine whether it has jurisdiction to handle an out-of-state divorce when we don’t have any case law that accepts or rejects same-sex marriage,” Pulner said.

It has only been a couple of months since same-sex couples in Rhode Island were given the right to marry in Massachusetts “because laws in their home state do not expressly prohibit same-sex marriage.”

“Judge clears R.I. gays to marry in Massachusetts” (September 29, 2006):

Wendy Becker and Mary Norton of Providence, R.I., argued that a 1913 law that forbids out-of-state residents from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would not be permitted in their home state did not apply to them because Rhode Island does not specifically ban same-sex marriage.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly agreed.

Challenges from same-sex couples from five other states were unsuccessful.

Eight couples from six nearby states challenged the law. In March the Massachusetts supreme judicial court ruled that Massachusetts could use the 1913 law to bar gay couples from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont from marrying here. But the court said the laws were unclear in New York and Rhode Island and sent that part of the case back to a lower court for clarification.

In July, New York State’s highest court said that its state law limits marriage to between a man and a woman. Connolly cited the New York court’s decision in his ruling, saying that state expressly prohibits same-sex marriage. That left only the Rhode Island couples free to marry in Massachusetts.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

trans//face, “a new exhibition by photographer and activist An Xiao explor[ing] the lives and words of survivors of anti-transgender violence and their allies,” opened yesterday at Bluestockings Bookstore in New York City.

In striking portraits of transgender and queer New Yorkers in their daily environments, Xiao captures this sense of inhumanity and helplessness by blindfolding her subjects, who stare back at the viewer blankly as city life rushes by. Prose and poems written by participants accompany the photos in her installations.

The show ends on December 3rd. See some of the exhibition photos here.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

A plea from Hope for humanity (*snicker*):

So please, why don’t you be “GAY” and let other people live their lives?

Hope thinks the entire queer community co-wrote And Tango Makes Three:

Now they wrote this book about these penguins that raised an egg.

(Hope, trust me, we’re not that cooperative.)

And questions if gay animals can be found in nature:

First this story happened in a zoo; that means in condition of captivity. Could we find the same thing in the nature where the birds a completely free? I am pretty sure that if you put two women or two men in jail for a long period of time I would not be surprised if they had a sexual relationship. Why? Because we are mammals and need “Contacts & Relationships”. So please stop this brainwashing about these two little cute penguins that didn’t have any other choice to get together because:

- human beings destroyed their environment

- human beings forced them to live in captivity and ended up raising an egg because this is their purpose in life: To reproduce to survive.

So, stop putting human feelings behind this kind of behavior. Try to be honest with yourself at least once in your life. Face your responsibilities.

Penguin posts of the past:

“_Tango_ Upsets Parents Again”

“Penguin Book Moved to Nonfiction Section Because of ‘Homosexual Undertones’”

“The Penguin Break Up”

In honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance, Jen is hosting a special edition of the Blawg Review, “the blog carnival for everyone interested in law,” at Transcending Gender.

Read it HERE.

1/1/07: This submissions policy has changed. Please go here for information on the Carnival of Shoes and Bags.

The Carnival of Shoes and Bags is a bi-weekly blog carnival of, you guessed it, shoes and bags. I can’t believe it took me almost a year since starting the Carnival of Bent Attractions to start this carnival!

To submit a post to the Carnival of Shoes and Bags, go HERE and click on “Submit Your Blog Article to This Carnival” (found on the upper right side of the page). Enter the URL of the post you wish to submit along with your name and email. All posts must include an image of the shoes or purse and info on where the shoes or purse can be purchased online (it’s no fun to look at what you can’t impulsively blow your paycheck on). There must be a link to where to shoes or purse can purchased in the post.

Again, there must be an image in each post you submit.

And info on where the shoes or purse can be purchased online.

Burberry Prorsum pumps can be purchased at NET-A-PORTER.COM.

The first edition of the Carnival of Shoes and Bags will be hosted right here at Daily Dose of Queer (submissions of all sexual orientations welcome) on January 1, 2007.

The Carnival of Shoes and Bags will be published on the 1st and 15th of each month. The submissions deadline to have a post appear on the 1st of the month is the 25th of the preceding month. (For example: if you want your post to appear in the 02/01/07 carnival, I must receive it by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on 01/25/07). The submissions deadline to have a post appear on the 15th of the month is the 10th of that month. (For example: if you want your post to appear in the 02/15/07 carnival, I must receive it by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on 02/10/07).

Please submit all posts using the submission form at BlogCarnival.com. I will forward submitted posts to the proper host based on their submission date.

This is a traveling carnival. If you want to host the Carnival of Shoes and Bags, email me and let me know. Please include the date of the carnival edition you wish to host.

The Carnival of Shoes and Bags’ home page is HERE.

—–

ETA: I just found some shoe porn at Jessica Cutler Online. I had to share.

—–

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Mexico’s National Action Party is considering challenging the civil union law approved by Mexico City’s assembly on November 9th that grants gay couples and unmarried straight couples living in Mexico City rights similar to those of married couples.

What legal challenge have they found so far?

Mexico’s Constitution covers the rights of spouses, children and the family, and states that “men and women are equal before the law. This will protect the organization and development of the family.”

[City assemblyman Miguel Angel Errasti of the National Action Party] argues the law is unconstitutional because the article mentions only men and women in relation to marriage.

Yea, their search is going THAT well.

Previous post: “Mexico City Recognizes Civil Unions”

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

Don’t you need it in the bathroom with you, too?

If you need this item, you have a problem. Seek help.

(Via FutureLawyer.com)

Previously:

“Enough with the iPods Already!”

“More iPod Madness”

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.

This time it’s parents in Shiloh, IL. They want And Tango Makes Three banned from a local elementary school or moved to the school’s “mature” section (I wonder if it’s behind a black curtain like the XXX section in the video store across the street) of its library.

AP quotes the parents request as, “Move the book to the library’s regular shelves and restrict it to a section for mature issues, perhaps even requiring parental permission before a child can check it out.”

However, school district Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw has appointed a panel that would decide upon the destiny of the book. The district’s attorney said moving it might be construed as censorship.

Filyaw however said the book is “adorable” and age appropriate, written for children ages 4 to 8.

Filyaw obviously hasn’t seen this:

Previously:

“The Penguin Break Up”

“Penguin Book Moved to Nonfiction Section Because of ‘Homosexual Undertones’”