If you're a long-time reader of my blog, you might remember when I wrote a posting about Shiloh Pepin, the little girl known on TLC as "the mermaid girl." She had been born with "mermaid syndrome" where her legs were fused together as one. Through appearances on Oprah, TLC and various other shows, Shiloh stole the hearts of millions and educated a lot of people on her condition.

I just found out that on October 24th, Shiloh passed away in Maine Medical Center after two weeks of fighting pneumonia.

Shiloh was a fifth-grader at Kennebunkport Consolidated School. "She was such a shining personality in that building," said Maureen King, chairwoman of the board of the regional school district.

She was such an inspiration to so many people and it's nice to see that despite the doctors predicting a survival of a few days, she spent 10 happy years on Earth.

How would you like to walk into the world of Harry Potter and see the Owlery, Hogwarts and even Hogsmeade Village?

In Spring of 2010, you'll be able to.

Okay, not the REAL set or anything like that. Universal Studios announced their plan for the new attraction at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, FL.

Check out this video ...

New Hampshire will become the sixth state to have marriage equality.

Today, the state Senate and House each voted to pass the new marriage equality bills that were drafted this past weekend. The Governor is expected to sign the bill into law, which could happen as as early as this evening.

The two branches of NH legislature had already passed their own versions of the marriage equality but the governor asked the House to change theirs to include more protection to churches, as the Senate had already done.

Six down ... 44 more to go!


UPDATE: The governor signed the bill into law this afternoon!!

Change is definitely happening in this country.

While there are many bigots out there who want to stop gays from being declared EQUAL through marriage equality and domestic partnership laws, we are still earning more victories.

Recently, the governor of New Hampshire asked the state House to restructure their version of the marriage equity bill that had been sent to the Senate for approval. The Senate had already included what the governor wanted in their version. This past weekend, the two sides found an acceptable compromise that the governor was willing to sign.

The governor was looking to protect the churches in NH from being forced to perform marriage ceremonies that were contradictory to their religious beliefs. This just goes to show that there are still people who think marriage is a religious matter. IT IS NOT. It is only a religious matter within their own religion! Legal marriage is a CIVIL matter. Personally, I have no problem with churches not wanting to perform gay marriage. We don't need them to do it.

Both the Senate and the House will vote this week on the compromised bill.

Also recently, the Nevada legislature voted through a domestic partnership bill. Governor Jim Gibbons vetoed the bill. This weekend, the Assembly voted 28-14 to override the veto and the state Senate voted 14-7 to override the veto. Sorry Gibbons ... JUSTICE won!

It may not be legalizing gay marriage, but it's a big step in the right direction.

I purposely haven't been writing about the whole Miss California fiasco. Why? I didn't want to contribute to her 15 minutes of infamy. After today's and yesterday's news, I feel I should make sure people know how disappointing it all is.

You may remember during the Miss USA pageant, Miss California Carrie Prejean spoke out against marriage equality during the Question & Answer portion of the finals. Since then, she has used her title to speak out against gay marriage. She has even recorded PSAs for several anti-gay groups. Also, racy photos have come to light and she has broken numerous clauses in her contract with the Miss California USA organization.

Yesterday, Donald Trump held a press conference to announce that she would retain her title and that he was proud that she has been speaking her mind.

Anyone else think Trump missed the point completely?

For starters, the main reason the directors of the Miss California USA organization were calling for her removal is that she hasn't been fulfilling her contract with the organization. She has been using the title to further her own discriminatory agenda. She hasn't even been willing to do any of the things she has been scheduled to do by the organization. That in itself is grounds for removal.

Secondly, Trump has proved that like millions of other people, he is ignorant. The fight for gays to have the right to marry isn't just about gays being able to get married. The bigger picture is that WE ARE FIGHTING TO BE EQUAL. No one is asking anyone to agree with us. Gays are NOT asking churches to perform marriage ceremonies that go against their beliefs. Marriage is no longer a religious entity - millions of straight people have already destroyed the sanctity of marriage by making the divorce rate higher than the marriage rate! It is amazing to me how some people want separation of church and state ... but only when it suits their agenda.

Miss California pageant co-director Shana Moakler has resigned in protest of the decision to allow Prejean to continue as Miss California.

While in the past I haven't had much desire to watch her MTV reality show, I have a new respect for Moakler.

Just wanted to congratulate the New York Assembly for passing their marriage equality bill today! Thanks to their 89-52 vote, the bill now goes to the state Senate where it is projected to have a much tougher time getting passed. As far as I can see though, if it passes the Senate, Gov. Patterson will be ready to sign the bill into law!

In another victory for TRUE equality in the USA, the governor of Maine has signed a bill into law making gay marriage legal! That makes Maine the fifth state to legalized same-sex marriage. For more information, check out Joe.my.God's blog here.

Last night around 6pm, Actor/Comedian Dom DeLuise passed away in his sleep. If you haven't seen his work, you really should. Although he hasn't been in the spotlight for a few years, he has contributed immensely to the world of comedy on the big screen as well as on television. He is known best for his work in Fatso, Cannonball Run, Blazing Saddles and as the voice of "Pizza the Hut" in Spaceballs. Here are some clips of his work ...

In what is shaping up to be the "year of the gay" - we may have another milestone for gay people everywhere.

No, Hugh Jackman is NOT coming out of the closet.

It has been announced by The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and numerous law blogs that a lesbian woman is on the list of possible replacements for retiring Justice David Souter. Stanford Law School professor Kathleen Sullivan, widely considered one of America’s top constitutional scholars, is believe to be on the "short list" of possible nominees.

Sullivan is the Founder and Director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center and was Dean of the Law School from 1999 until 2004. It is widely believed that President Obama would like to appoint a woman to the highest court seeing as there is currently only one female Justice.

Would be nice to see her get the spot!

This week just keeps getting better!

This morning, the Maine state senate passed a marriage equality bill giving same-sex couples the same rights afforded to heterosexual couples!

The bill now goes to the state House of Representatives for consideration next week. It is expected to pass the House as well!

Is Rhode Island next??

It just may be so!

Today, the New Hampshire state senate voted 13-11 in favor of marriage equality for same-sex couples! The senate bill protects the religious freedom of clergy and religious organizations while also protecting the rights of same-sex couples. The senate bill, reconciled with the House version that passed 189-176, will be sent to Governor John Lynch for his signature.

Question is, will he sign it?

Those in favor of marriage equality are hoping so. They may not have the votes to overturn a gubernatorial veto.

Who will be next?

Well, it seems the experts are predicting that gas this summer will average only $2.23 per gallon nationally this summer. That's quite a drop considering the national average last summer was $3.81 per gallon.

Will that make you want to road trip this summer?

Previously I had blogged about the murder of a local attorney named Chiquita Tate.

Just a few weeks ago, her estranged husband had been arrested for her murder as he was leaving court after a hearing regarding the traffic violation they were holding him on.

Yesterday, a grand jury indicted Greg Harris for second degree murder.

Let's hope there is justice for Chiquita Tate.

Well, that title will be true if one lawmaker in Louisiana has his way!

Rep. Jerry Gisclair has written a bill to be introduced in the upcoming legislative session that would allow cosmetology businesses to serve a limited amount of alcohol to its clients while still allowing children in their businesses.

Gisclair's bill would allow a cosmetology business to get a liquor license permit allowing distribution of alcohol at no cost. The bill includes strict limits, however, allowing one 12-ounce beer per customer, or two five-ounce glasses of wine or one drink with no more than two ounces of hard liquor.

I find it hilarious that he doesn't think that many businesses will disregard the limitations in the law.

Vermont lawmakers had been told before they initially passed a bill allowing same-sex marriage that Governor Jim Douglas would veto the bill.

That didn't stop them.

They needed 2/3 of each house to vote yes to override the veto. They weren't sure that would happen since the initial bill just barely missed 2/3 of each house.

Today, the Senate voted 23-5 in favor and 100-49 was the vote in the House.

Nine years ago, Vermont was the first state to adopt a civil unions law. Now, they are the 4th state to make gays EQUAL when it comes to marriage.

Who's next?!?

I do believe it is only a matter of time before gays will be able to legally marry in every state. I didn't think that Iowa would be leading the charge.

Today the Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage when it voted unanimously that the state's existing ban on gay marriage was deemed unconstitutional. Iowa joins Massachusetts and Connecticut as the only states that currently allow same-sex marriages.

The county attorney who defended the ban said he would not seek a rehearing meaning that gay and lesbian couples in Iowa can begin seeking marriage licenses starting April 24. The only recourse for opponents of same-sex marriage is to get a constitutional amendment - which would take years to ratify.

Having spent a summer in Iowa, I was surprised that this would be the next state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Anyone up for moving to Iowa?

This is Corey Carrol. Most of y'all probably haven't heard about this story, but yesterday was arrested on 4 counts of "carnal knowledge of a minor" and 4 counts of intentional exposure to AIDS. He is being held on $10,000 bail in the Calcasieu Correctional Center.

Apparently, a 16-year-old Lake Charles (LA) boy told a family member that on four separate occasions he had sex with a Baton Rouge man he met on a chatline. Carrol neglected to tell the boy that he is HIV-positive.

Several things disturb me here.

Firstly, in this day-and-age, anyone who would not practice safe-sex when they know they are positive outrages me. Just put on a condom! Is it really that difficult to get one or to put one on? And why would you put someone at risk by not telling them about your status beforehand?

Secondly, this man took advantage of a minor. The gay community already is struggling to get respect and equality and stories like this just feed the stereotype and the anti-gay movement. Sadly, this kind of story will outweigh hundreds of positive stories in the minds of many and that infuriates me.

Don't get me wrong, I put some of the blame on the minor as well. There is plenty of sexual education in the schools and in the media so he should have known to practice safe-sex himself but I do think the older man definitely took advantage of an impressionable minor. Being in the closet and being a teenage is very difficult. Many times we don't make the best decisions and predators like to use that to their advantage.

I am surprised that this predator did not get charged with statutory rape as well as the other charges. Who knows, maybe that will be added later. Hopefully he will receive jail time and be required to register as a sex offender so that this won't happen to others.

I thought the whole purpose of PETA was to educate and to try to get people to treat animals better. Well, that's how they started off at least. Now it seems more like a bunch of nuts protesting anything they can just for the sake of protesting. Many times, their message isn't delivered in the brightest ways.

In 2003, PETA released an ad campaign that likened animal slaughterhouses to the Holocaust concentration camps. The slogan of the campaign is, "Holocaust on your plate." I don't about y'all, but that's going way too far.

Germany's highest court agrees. The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe on Thursday ruled that the ad campaign was not protected under freedom of speech laws.

PETA claimed that its goal was to compare contemporary animal abuse with the Nazi-run concentration camps. The campaign drew outrage from the Central Council of Jews in Germany as well as many other Jewish organizations.

I would love to know why anyone would think to use one of the biggest tragedies in modern times in an international ad campaign. Morons.

I don't know if many of y'all read the story of the 13-year-old boy, Alfie Patten, whose 15-year-old girlfriend gave birth to their baby a month or so ago. People in the UK were in an uproar that the two had supposedly planned to have a baby.

The story got more complicated when several more boys indicated that they also had slept with the girl. Of course, Alfie had no idea that his girlfriend hadn't been faithful to him. None of the boys had used a condom with her, including Alfie.

Today it was announced that they had done a DNA paternity test and it came back showing that Alfie is indeed NOT the father of the baby. Naturally, he is devastated. Personally, if I thought I was the father of a baby at 12 or 13, I would be relieved to know it wasn't mine!

Is it just me, or are kids getting more and more ignorant despite all the information out there about STDs, AIDS and birth control?

Police in Bridgeport, CT arrest 67-year-old teacher Anne O'Donnell on March 18th. No, she was not having a relationship with a student or anything like that.

Apparently, the week before the boy had tossed his lunch, chicken nuggets and a banana, into the trash in the school cafeteria. The teacher is accused of retreiving the food from the trash and forcing the boy to eat it in front of her.