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Supporters of the North Carolina ballot measure that plans to bar recognition of same-sex couples were quick to decry a California Democratic Party announcement they would contribute to defeating the measure, but Good As You's Jeremy Hooper was quick to point out the hipocrisy. (Via GoodAsYou.org)

What to watch out for today: The New Hampshire House will vote on a bill that will repeal marriage rights for same-sex couples in that state, according to Towleroad. The law would keep intact the marriages already performed, and reintroduce Civil Unions, but would not allow any additional same-sex marriages. Watch the Blade for updates on the vote.

• U.S. Senator Scott Brown tells everyone to “move on” from debating marriage in Massachusetts, apparently in an attempt to quiet critics of marriage, but don’t think that makes him our friend, says ThinkProgress.
• The UK Daily Mail reports a setback in Europe, where the European Court of Human Rights ruled that same-sex marriage is not a human right.
• JoeMyGod has Dan Savage’s response to hearing that GOP Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum prays for him, and we love it! Spoiler, he works in the quote, “I’ll gay for him.” Love.
• An LGBT rights march in Uganda has grown from a gathering of 4 to a gathering of 30 in just a year, says ThinkProgress. We started just as small here in the U.S., so maybe there is hope in that nation.
• The Gill Action Fund has a new leader at the top, and now Towleroad says they plan a massive summit of the nation’s biggest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender political donors. Here’s hoping they bring those sugar daddies and mommies to D.C!

Finally, The Bay Area Reporter brings us a sad story of a couple of 10 years about to be torn apart by a deportation, even though they are married, because they are gay. To hammer the dire nature of their situation home, though, they’ve made a video begging the President to halt their deportation.

(h/t Towleroad)

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Happy Alka Seltzer Day. Remember when we told you last week about the connections between anti-gay groups and the creators of the “Kony 2012″ video, Invisible Children? They’ve even been connected to the “Kill The Gays” bill in Uganda, according to ThinkProgress. Well, one of the co-founders was arrested for vandalizing cars and masturbating in public this week. Whoops. Here’s the news:

• Bilerico has been following the story about anti-gay state Senators in Indiana succeeding in ending the distribution of a pro-gay license plate in that state, whose sale raised money for a youth group.
• Canada is warning gay couples traveling to St. Petersburg Russia to be cautious after the city passed a “no-gay-propaganda” ordinance, says JoeMyGod.
• AMERICAblog says the New Hampshire house will vote this week on another attempt to undo marriage equality in that state, a topic that has seemed to preoccupy the Republican-helmed legislature there the way that Judge Wapner preoccupied Rain Main.
• Rick Santorum re-ups his pledge to re-implement “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” says JoeMyGod, despite recent polls of military personnel showing support for repeal has skyrocketed.
• ThinkProgress reports North Carolina’s Governor Bev. Perdue has tweeted her opposition to the anti-gay ballot measure, Amendment One, following the President’s own statement against the proposed law that would bar recognition of same-sex couples in the Constitution.

Finally, check out these two guys that interrupted a Rick Santorum rally in North Carolina to make out.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Chely Wright’s LIKEME foundation has opened a community center in the heart of the Midwest, miles from the Kansas town where Wright grew up. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Chely Wright opens Kansas City youth center

KANSAS CITY — Lesbian country music star Chely Wright has worked with her non-profit foundation to open the LIKEME Lighthouse LGBT community center in Missouri’s largest city.

“This just gives so much hope to these outlying areas, that your major metropolitan area has a gay and lesbian center,” Wright told the Washington Post. “That would have meant everything to me had I been a kid growing up in Wellsville, knowing that there is a beautiful facility in our major city, that that was OK.”

Wright married her long-time girlfriend, LGBT activist Lauren Blitzer, in 2011.

State Dept. condemns anti-gay violence in Iraq

WASHINGTON — On the heels of reports that police in Iraq have been turning their back on honor killings targeting gays and those perceived as gay, advocates are applauding the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and State Department for a rapid condemnation of the killings.

“When NGOs here in Iraq first brought this issue to our attention, we immediately expressed our concern to the Government of Iraq, urged immediate measures to combat this violence, and undertook to try to ascertain the details of these attacks,” a representative from the embassy wrote veteran gay blogger Michael Petrelis, after an inquiry. “Along with the Embassy, the U.S. Department of State strongly condemns the recent violence and killings in Iraq by groups who appear to be targeting individuals based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, or personal expression. These acts of intolerance should have no place in any society.”

The New York Times reported this week that death squads in Iraq were targeting not only gays but also those being described as “emos” and “goths.” Reuters confirmed with hospitals the deaths of 14 under such circumstances with rights groups putting the number closer to 40.

North Carolinians oppose anti-gay amendment

RALEIGH, N.C. — A new Elon University poll released this week shows that a 54.2 percent of respondents in North Carolina either oppose or strongly oppose the proposed constitutional amendment that would bar recognition of same-sex couples, LGBT website Pam’s House Blend reported.

On the question of specifically banning civil unions and domestic partnerships, which the amendment would compel the state to do, the number opposed rises to 56.9 percent. The poll found that only 37.8 percent of respondents supported the amendment, indicating support for the ballot measure is still tenuous.

Anti-gay groups behind ‘Kony 2012’ video

LOS ANGELES — Though the video racked up tens of millions of views, and become a subject of concern among socially conscious celebrities, Alternet has reveled that the foundation funding the ‘Kony 2012’ viral video campaign about Ugandan strongman Joseph Kony, is an anti-gay organization with ties to California’s anti-gay amendment, Proposition 8.

The group Invisible Children produced the sleek video about the leader of anti-government guerrilla group Lord’s Resistance Army and its use of rape, murder and forced enlistment of child soldiers in his rebellion against the government of Uganda.

Alternet reveals that the producers of the film are funded by a group called The Caster Family Foundation, one of the biggest financial backers of the efforts to pass Prop 8. Invisible Children is also connected to other anti-gay groups, such as Lou Engle’s ‘The Call,’ Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and others, some specifically tied to what has become known as Uganda’s “kill the gays” bill.

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Mazel tov! Chicago’s U.S. naval base has made history becoming the first in the armed forces to publicly sanction a gay support group for active duty military, according to the Windy City Times. Here is some more news to sip in with your morning java:

• Several news outlets are reporting on the raid of a gathering by a group of Uganda’s LGBT activists by the state Minister for Ethics and Integrity; ThinkProgress has summarized and collected the reporting.
• Oklahoma is celebrating after electing its first openly gay state Senator by choosing State Rep. Al McAffrey in a special election yesterday, according to Victory Fund.
• A school district in Michele Bachmann’s congressional district replaced the ‘gay silence’ policy linked to seven bullying-related student suicides in two years, according to Towleroad.
• According to OutSports.com, two athletes are in trouble for tweeting the same word this week: Vancouver Whitecaps soccer star Lee Nguyen and a prospect for Minnesota Wild hockey playing for their Houston Aeros farm team, Justin Fontaine tweeted the famous anti-gay f-bomb.
• Join the Washington Blade at 6:30 tonight for “Love Letters for Literacy” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

ThinkProgress has video of Chris Christie calling a New Jersey Senate vote on marriage “an act of theater”

What are your thoughts?

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Well, sadly, some follow up: the Uganda “Kill the Gays” bill is back, and Box Turtle Bulletin notes that the media — even the gay media — has some facts incorrect when it comes to whether or not the bill still prescribes the death penalty in some cases (which it does). Here is the rest of what we will be talking about today:

• Pam’s House Blend: Is the Federal Air Marshal Service a homophobic “old boys club?”
• “It Gets Better” founder and columnist Dan Savage was in Alaska to help LGBT advocates there push for an effort to add gender identity and sexual orientation to the non-discrimination statute in Anchorage.
• HuffPo reports on yet another binational same-sex couple that has successfully fought being split up by a deportation.
• Though same-sex marriage has been legal in Iowa for two years, same-sex couples having kids are having a tough time with outdated health department paperwork on birth and death certificates, according to Change.org.
• Many legally married same-sex couples in states that recognize their unions are refusing to lie on tax forms this year, according to HuffPo.

Finally, a very moving video by friend of the Blade Sean Chapin out of California, compiled from footage and audio from the San Francisco rally following the release of the 9th Circuit Court affirmation of Judge Walker’s 2010 decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown) striking down Prop 8, the voter-approved law that bars same-sex marriage in the Golden State.

What are your reactions to Prop 8 being found unconstitutional?

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While it may seem that there is no news today beside Prop 8 news, that just isn’t true. Here’s your Fast Five Fix:

• Remember gay Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger? He made it onto the California primary ballot, which is big news for his team. He was also let on the ballots in New Hampshire, Michigan, Maryland and North Carolina.
• Speaking of Michigan, the American Independent says that a poll in my home state showing a majority of residents opposed to partner benefits for same-sex couples may have been faulty.
• Why is CBS receiving an award from a conservative group called Accuracy In the Media?
• Speaking of CBS, they’re reporting the Uganda “Kill The Gays” bill has been introduced, even though the Blade was given assurances last month it was dead.
• Rainbow Times reports that federal officials gathered to address trans violence and health care in Puerto Rico.

Finally, Mark S. King of “My Fabulous Disease” takes on HIV criminalization by imagining a conversation between an HIV+ man and a sexual partner he did not disclose his status to:

Powerful stuff.

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This all of the news we will forget about when the Ninth Circuit court of appeals Prop 8 decision comes at around 1:00 p.m. today Eastern:

• St. Petersburg, Russia is preparing to ban for LGBT people what Americans would consider First Amendment rights, according to Towleroad.
• From the Philadelphia Inquirer: CNN correspondent Roland Martin continues to dig himself into a deeper and deeper hole.
• The Smoking Gun has video of a brutal daylight anti-gay beating in an Atlanta neighborhood by alleged gang members. Warning: the video is incredibly disturbing.
• Campus Pride awards LGBT campus activists for making colleges around the country better for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
• Madonna announced her tour dates today, and she’ll be in D.C. on Sep. 23. JoeMyGod has all the dates.

Finally, a report from Uganda television on the start of the new Parliamentary session where the “Kill The Gays” bill will return, despite assurances it was dead, earlier this year.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZa92mVME9k

Learn more about the current incarnation of the “Kill The Gays” bill from our friends at Box Turtle Bulletin.

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While the rest of the world nurses their Super Bowl big pro football game hangovers, CNN contributor Roland Martin will be nursing a badly bruised reputation, after lighting up the Twitterverse with several homophobic tweets last night. He’s got a history. And now several angry petitioners are trying to make him history. Even GLAAD wants to see him fired, and Tracy Morgan can tell you, you don’t want to mess with GLAAD!

• The New Jersey Assembly Judiciary Committee voted 5-2 to advance the same-sex marriage bill to the full Senate on Mon. Feb. 16, according to the Star-Ledger. The Senate takes it up three days earlier on the 13th. Will the Senate give same-sex couples in New Jersey a happy Valentine’s Day?
• Meanwhile, according to Huffington Post, Gov. Christie sends some confusing messages to same-sex marriage advocates in New Jersey, calling his effort to get marriage on the ballot “magnanimous.”
• New Mexico state Rep. David Chavez is trying to get a law passed in the state barring the recognition of same-sex couples. He’s not the best spokesperson for defending marriage, since his wife is divorcing him after accusing him of domestic violence.
• According to Karen Ocamb of Frontiers L.A., one of California’s leading LGBT voices has filed for divorce from her wife of four years. Robin Tyler and Diane Olson were two of the first Californians married under the brief period of time that same-sex marriage was legal in that state, prior to the passage of Prop 8.
• Finally, just when you thought the “Kill the Gays” bill was dead in Uganda, its rearing its ugly head again, according to Box Turtle Bulletin.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, her majesty, Madonna:

Happy Monday!

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Uganda’s ambassador to the United States blasted the head of the United Negro College Fund for sending him an “incendiary” letter last week asking him to discuss an anti-homosexuality bill introduced in the Uganda Parliament in his scheduled speech at a Martin Luther King Day event sponsored by the Fund.

Ambassador Perezi K. Kamunanwire responded to that letter by withdrawing as keynote speaker at the King Day event, held Monday morning in Greenbelt, Md. In his own letter, he said United Negro College Fund president and CEO, Michael L. Lomax, “blindsided and startled” him with Lomax’s Jan. 12 letter raising the issue of the anti-homosexuality bill.

In addition, Kamunanwire claims in the letter that the Ugandan Parliament is not planning to reconsider a bill that would impose the death penalty for homosexual acts.

The ambassador, a former college professor who has taught at U.S. universities, said in his letter that he had been invited to speak on education-related issues at the King Day event.

Lomax said in his letter to Kamunanwire that he raised the issue of reports of anti-gay persecution in Uganda after receiving an inquiry from the Washington Blade and others asking why his organization invited a Ugandan official to speak at a King Day commemoration.

“Following a brief telephone conversation with Dr. Lomax in which I expressed concern that changing the topic would distract from our shared commitment to honor Dr. King’s legacy and advance the discussion of education equality, it was clear from his discourteous and insulting tone that I was no longer welcome,” Kamunanwire said in a Jan. 15 letter to William F. Stasior, chairman of the board of directors of the United Negro College Fund.

Kamunanwire sent a copy of his letter to Stasior to the Blade along with an email message expressing concern about the Blade’s story reporting he had withdrawn abruptly as a speaker for the King Day event. The Blade story cited a press release from the United Negro College Fund announcing Kamunanwire’s withdrawal as speaker.

“My staff at the Embassy of the Republic of Uganda, and members of the Ugandan American community, brought your article to my attention,” he said in his email to the Blade. “In an effort to clarify my decision to withdraw as keynote speaker from the UNCF’s 29th Anniversary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast fundraiser, I am sharing a letter which was sent to the chair of the UNCF board,” he said.

“This will be my only statement on the matter, as I withdrew my name so as not to distract from the importance of the King holiday and education equality,” he said. “It is my hope that the Washington Blade will report this matter fairly.”

Lomax and a spokesperson for the United Negro College Fund didn’t immediately respond to calls from the Blade seeking their response to Kamunanwire’s criticism of Lomax.

In his Jan. 12 letter to Kamunanwire, Lomax said, “We are dismayed at present polices in Uganda (and in many other African nations) criminalizing sexual orientation, and we view with alarm the draconian penalties, including the death penalty, that the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill would impose if passed.”

Kamunanwire replied in his letter to UNCF board chair Stasior that Lomax’s assumptions that Uganda’s existing laws and policies result in anti-gay persecution were false.

“It is important to note that Uganda does not have such policies,” he said, adding that the bill in question was introduced by a single member of the Uganda Parliament and was never officially debated or passed.

“[A]nd contrary to popular belief, it is not being reconsidered,” Kamunanwire said in his letter. “This has been explained to the U.S. government, Department of State, and several other concerned parties to their satisfaction,” he said.

The New York Times and international human rights activists reported in October that the Uganda Parliament voted to reopen a debate on the anti-homosexuality bill, which was first introduced in 2009. Some of the activists cited a report by Uganda’s Daily Mail newspaper as saying that Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga confirmed that the bill had been sent to several committees for consideration last October and could be brought to a vote.

A spokesperson for the State Department couldn’t be reached for comment early Monday to verify Kamunanwire’s assertion that U.S. officials were satisfied that the anti-homosexuality bill was not being taken up again. President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton expressed concern last year over reports of anti-gay persecution in Uganda following the murder of a prominent Ugandan gay rights activist in the activist’s home.

“As is the case with several members of the British Commonwealth, the outdated anti-sodomy laws in the Ugandan penal code were inherited from our British colonizers,” Kamunanwire said in his letter, in referring to existing law in Uganda.

“Quite similarly, there are dormant anti-sodomy laws on the books in fourteen U.S. states, including Virginia where the UNCF makes its home,” he said.

Kamunanwire was referring to a decision by legislatures in some states to leave their sodomy laws on the books following the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence vs. Texas, which overturned state sodomy laws that criminalized sodomy between consenting adults in private. Legal experts have said the state sodomy laws remaining on the books cannot be enforced under the Supreme Court ruling.

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Uganda’s ambassador to the United States abruptly withdrew on Friday as the keynote speaker for a Jan. 16 Martin Luther King Day event sponsored by the United Negro College Fund in Greenbelt, Md.

The withdrawal by Ambassador Perezi K. Kamunanwire came one day after United Negro College Fund President and CEO Michael L. Lomax sent him a letter saying UNCF supporters had expressed concern over an anti-homosexuality bill recently introduced in the Uganda Parliament. The letter was triggered by an inquiry from the Blade.

“Yesterday I was asked for comment by the Washington Blade, the oldest and second-largest circulation LGBT newspaper in the country,” Lomax told Kamunanwire in his letter.

“UNCF’s history and mission make us especially alert to violations of human rights, wherever they occur,” Lomax said in his letter. “So while we recognize that these issues are matters of internal Ugandan policy, we are dismayed at present polices in Uganda (and in many other African countries) criminalizing sexual orientation, and we view with alarm the draconian penalties, including the death penalty that the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill would impose if passed.”

Lomax added, “Given the interest expressed in the Washington community, I hope that you will address this issue when you speak at the King Day and take questions at the conclusion of your remarks.”

The Blade contacted the United Negro College Fund after a black LGBT resident of the D.C. area sent an email to the Blade expressing “shock, sadness and disappointment” that UNCF would invite a Ugandan official to speak at its King Day celebration given Uganda’s widely known record of anti-gay persecution.

“With the pending legislation there in Uganda, the death penalty for those found ‘guilty’ of being LGBTQ, I don’t think Ambassador Kamunanwire is the most appropriate speaker for Dr. King’s birthday,” said the LGBT resident, who asked not to be identified.

Prior to Kamunanwire’s decision to withdraw as a speaker at the King Day event, UNCF spokesperson Joye Griffin told the Blade UNCF invited the ambassador to speak “based on his career as an educator and scholar,” including his role as a professor at U.S. colleges.

“As one supporter put it, he has impressive credentials and his record indicates that he has spent a lifetime of engaging intellectually in the exploration of freedom struggles both here and abroad,” Griffin said.

In his Jan. 12 letter to Kamunawire, which he released to the Blade, Lomax said he would be appearing at a separate United Negro College Fund event in Minneapolis to commemorate Martin Luther King Day in which the daughter of human rights advocate Bishop Desmond Tutu would appear.

“As I am sure you know, UNCF was founded 68 years ago in response to the pervasive denial of educational opportunities to African Americans,” Lomax said in his letter. “Non-discrimination is at the heart of what UNCF has always stood for. Our policy prohibits discrimination based on race, color, creed, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status and disability.”

Lomax told Kamunawire in his letter that UNCF is “partnering with the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans, on an initiative that has formed a working group to take stock of LGBT issues affecting students and faculty on our campuses and to establish a mission, goals and objectives to address those issues.”

In a press release issued on Friday, UNCF announced that Lomax apparently cancelled his appearance at the Minneapolis event and would replace Kamunanwire at the King Day celebration in Greenbelt.

The release says Lomax “will speak on human rights and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He will be substituting for the scheduled speaker, the Ugandan ambassador to the United States, Perezi K. Kamunawire, who withdrew after Dr. Lomax requested that he address the anti-homosexuality bill now pending in the Ugandan parliament.”

Kamunawire and a spokesperson for the Embassy of Uganda in Washington couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.