TENNIS TUESDAY: Verdasco Stuns Nadal In Miami; Venus Beats #5 Woz

Verdasco Beats Nadal For 2nd Consecutive Match
Fernando Verdasco is a very popular player (for some obvious reasons!) but he has had a horrible record against his nation's #1 player for a long time. However the last time they met (in Madrid 2012) Verdasco handed Nadal one of his rare defeats on clay (and I was present to see it!!) The two met on hardcourts in Miami yesterday and amazingly Verdasco was able to win again (6-4 2-6 6-3). Sadly, Verdasco then lost his next round, against Juan Monaco.


Venus Shows She Can Compete With The Best
Venus Williams dispatched World #5 Caroline Wozniacki at the Miami Open in straight sets, managing to maintain her perfect head-to-head record of 7-0 against the Danish former World #1.
Unfortunately, Venus then lost her quarterfinal match against Carla Suarez Navarro despite winning the first set 6-0!

Nadal Likely To Fall To #5
Because Nadal reached the final of the Miami Open last year he has a lot of points to defend his loss to Verdasco means it is very likely that he will fall to World #5, surpassed by Kei Nishikori for the first time.

EYE CANDY: Brandon Lewis

Brandon Lewis is a popular model (he is apparently represented by two agencies: Red Models Management and Next Models London). There is information available on the web about his height (6-foot-2) and shoe size (size 12) but not his age or weight, unfortunately.

Regardless, as you can see he is definitely worthy of being today's Eye Candy!

The Walking Dead Season 5 Finale Tonight!

The fifth season of AMC's The Walking Dead comes to an end today at 9pm with a 90-minute finale. The television series about the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse  based on Robert Kirkman's long-running graphic novel series is cable television's highest rated show. I'm still verklempt that they killed off Noah (the young Black guy) who they had barely introduced earlier this season! Combined with the departure of Tyrese and Bob and the mental breakdown of Sasha the zombie apocalypse appears to be rough on Black people. Well at least we still have Michonne. If Michonne goes, I stop watching the show immediately. There are rumors that there will be some castmembers being killed off in the Season 5 finale;  this would not be surprising because the cast of characters has become almost unwieldy in its size.

There are some "show-enders" for me, starting with Michonne. I would probably still watch the show without Carol or Rick. I'm not sure I would watch the show without Darryl or Glenn in it. I hope I don't have to find out!

Here's a sneak peek of tonight's episode:


What do you think will happen?

Lambda Legal's Jenny Pizer Explains Why Indiana's New "Religious Freedom" Law Is So Wrong

This week Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R) signed into law a "license to discriminate" bill (SB 101) that proponents claimed was just aimed at clarifying protections for religious freedoms in Indiana but which LGBT activists and others had warned could open up all sorts of disfavored minorities to discrimination under the guise of protecting religion. Of course, we at MadProfessah.com have been following the recent proliferation of deceptively anti-LGBT legislation in multiple states such as Texas, Arkansas and West Virginia.

Lambda Legal's Jenny Pizer explains why Indiana's "Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)" is so dangerous to the civil rights of LGBT people and others:

The truth is, Indiana’s RFRA is designed to allow and in some respects, invites people to disregard laws that should apply to everyone conducting a business — laws to prevent people from harming each other in the name of religion.At Lambda Legal, our top concern is religiously motivated discrimination against people already vulnerable to exclusion and mistreatment, especially the LGBT community. 

Gov. Pence, in his signing statement, said, "This bill is not about discrimination, and if I thought it legalized discrimination in any way in Indiana, I would have vetoed it. In fact, it does not even apply to disputes between private parties unless government action is involved." 

He’s wrong, or disingenuous, on both points. If this new law does not seek to facilitate discrimination, why did legislators pressing for its passage say it’s “needed” to allow businesses to turn away same-sex couples? And why did a majority of Indiana legislators then reject amendments offered to specify that these enhanced religious rights cannot be used to excuse discrimination?  

Further, about disputes between private parties, the law says explicitly, “A person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened, by a violation of this chapter may assert the violation or impending violation as a claim or defense in a judicial or administrative proceeding, regardless of whether the state or any other governmental entity is a party to the proceeding.” This language was included to allow private parties to object to following a law that otherwise would apply to them, and to assert these expanded religious rights in a dispute with another private party. 

A stark problem for LGBT Hoosiers is that unlike in other states, Indiana law does not include sexual orientation and gender identity within the state’s nondiscrimination framework. 

When antigay lawmakers say laws like this are “needed,” and they point to cases from other states where we successfully resisted use of religion to defend discrimination, they don’t acknowledge that a statewide nondiscrimination law was on the books in those places. Currently, less than half the states have such laws.

When asked about these points on national television, Gov. Pence (who previously had been mentioned as another potential Republican candidate for President in 2016) did not acquit himself well. He said that he wanted to work with the Indiana legislature to clarify that SB 101 does not include a license to discriminate but that he did not intend to include sexual orientation or gender identity in statewide nondiscrimination legislation.

Indiana's largest LGBT group, Freedom Indiana immediately took the Governor to task on the lack of a real commitment to protect LGBT people from discrimination in Indiana:

Governor Pence didn't listen last week when he signed this discriminatory law into effect, and he's still not listening to the growing chorus of criticism locally and nationally. While we appreciate his recognition that he's placed our state in peril, he's obviously trying to have it both ways. You can't 'clarify' discrimination. Indiana now has billions of dollars and thousands of jobs on the line, all because the Governor wouldn't stop this dangerous bill. He has a second chance to save our reputation for Hoosier hospitality, but he has to stand up and protect LGBT Hoosiers. Discrimination is not a core Hoosier value, and we can't afford to let our state continue to suffer. 

Thousands of people attended a march protesting SB 101 in Indianapolis yesterday and major corporations are announcing that they are scuttling plans to expand or do more business in Indiana as a result of the controversy.

Already the reaction in Indiana seems to be dissuading other red states like Montana and Georgia from moving so quickly to appear to trample the civil rights of American citizens in the quest to reify religious beliefs.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Serena Williams On Cover Of Vogue

Serena Williams is on the cover of the April 2015 Vogue magazine. Aso appearing in the magazine is one of her best friends, Caroline Wozniacki, who is back up to World #5 in the WTA rankings.

Serena withdrew from her Indian Wells semifinal last Friday with a knee injury but is scheduled to play her first match in Miami today. She has won that tournament a record 7 times.

Victory Fund Names Black Lesbian As Executive Director

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, the national LGBT organization devoted to increasing the number of openly LGBT people as elected and appointed officials nationwide announced today that they were naming Aisha Moodie-Mills as executive director and chief operating officer of the $4-million-dollar organization. This means that Moodie-Mills will become the first Black Lesbian to head the Victory Fund, and one of the very few LGBT people of color ever to head a national LGBT organization.

Moodie-Mills comes to Victory from the Center for American Progress, where she served as a senior fellow and director of the FIRE Initiative that explores the intersections of race, class, and sexuality. She has worked as a political advisor, private-sector liaison, and fundraiser to more than 50 members of Congress, including six senators and the Congressional Black Caucus. Before joining American Progress, she was the president of Synergy Strategy Group, a boutique fundraising and political consulting firm where she raised millions of dollars for candidates and advocacy organizations.Moodie-Mills also made headlines as a key strategist and spokesperson for the campaign to bring marriage equality to the District of Columbia, where she and her wife Danielle were among the first same-sex couples to receive a marriage license.Her work and publications have been featured in a variety of media outlets, including The Atlantic, Black Enterprise, The Washington Post, Essence, Politico, Ebony, The Huffington Post, and Uptown Magazine, and she also appears regularly as a political commentator on MSNBC.

Congratulations! Amazing in 2015 we are still having historic firsts happening, huh?

Doh! HBO Cancels Gay Drama Looking After 2 Seasons

I just watched the finale of Season 2 of Looking with the Other Half last night and both of us were quite impressed. It was probably the best episode of the show in its 18-episode history.

Sadly, today comes word that HBO has cancelled the show and decided that there will be no more episodes of Looking, although there will be a final movie:

Looking was never a strong ratings performer. Last year, HBO executives proceeded with a second season renewal encouraged by the attention the show was getting in the cultural conversation and by its week-to-week ratings growth. Unfortunately, the second season couldn’t build on that, falling from the Season 1 highs and drawing 300,000 viewers for its last episode.

Hat/tip to Joe Jervis

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: "Religiously Unaffiliated" Are A Plurality In 13 States!

The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) has set up an American Values Atlas website which allows you to see the geographic distribution of the various polling data they have collected about Americans.

One result that gladdens my heart is the news that the percentage of what PRRI called "religiously unaffiliated" (and who I would call "godless") is now 22% of Americans overall, and among younger people it is closer to 34%.

In fact, in numerous states (13) a plurality of respondents are godless! Some of those states are Oregon (37 percent), New Hampshire (35 percent), Washington State (33 percent), Vermont (32 percent) and Montana (29 percent).

That's all the geographic-based data on godlessness for today!

2015 INDIAN WELLS: Djokovic and Halep Win 3-Set Thrillers

Simona Halep and Novak Djokovic are the 2015 BNP Paribas Open champions. Djokovic, as I predicted, defeated Roger Federer in an exciting 6-3 6-7(5) 6-2 match (that was much closer than the score indicates). Halep defeated Jelena Jankovic 2-6 7-5 6-4 in a drama and error-filled encounter that featured 18(!) breaks of serve between the two players.

It's Djokovic's 21st ATP Masters Shield title, just 2 behind Federer and 5 behind Nadal on the all-time leaders list and 50th ATP career title overall. He is now 18-20 in his career head-to-head with Federer and ties him with 4 titles at the Indian Wells tennis garden, becoming the first player since Federer did it twice (from 2004-2006) to defend this title.

It was Halep's first Premier Mandatory title, and her 11th career WTA title overall.

Gallup Ranks U.S. Metro Areas By LGBT Population Percentage

There has been a bunch of chatter in the blogosphere recently about the release by the Gallup organization of the top 10 metropolitan regions ranked by LGBT population percentage. Unsurprisingly, San Francisco is ranked #1 and the usual suspects are found in the Top 10 (Austin, Portland, Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles and Denver). The big surprise is that Salt Lake City is at #7.

The Williams Institute looked at the difference in the Top 10 most LGBT metropolitan areas from 1990 to 2014:

Only San Francisco, Austin and Seattle are in the Top 5 on both lists. In 1990 Salt Lake City was at #39. Dr. Gary Gates explains why:

The substantial change in the position of Salt Lake City in the 1990 same-sex couple rankings compared to its position in the recent rankings based on LGBT identity offers evidence of increased LGBT visibility even in conservative states like Utah. This may be a factor in why, in 2015, Utah became the first state in the last seven years to pass a law that prohibits discrimination in the workplace and in public accommodation based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The majority of states still do not have such laws on their books. Substantial increases in LGBT visibility in more socially conservative places like Salt Lake City, Louisville, and Norfolk likely mean that these areas are not as different from cities like San Francisco, Austin, and Seattle (all with long histories of fostering social climates where LGBT people felt more comfortable) in their acceptance of the LGBT community today than they were twenty years ago.

Basically, the entire country is more accepting as a whole so the geographical variation is much smaller (the difference between the #1 area of San Francisco at 6.2% and the median nationwide percentage of 3.6% is not that great) so that even the the area with the lowest LGBT population (unsurprisingly, Birmingham, Alabama) is only one percentage point below this mark.

EYE CANDY: Rodiney Santiago (black/white)

Rodiney Santiago is a handsome male model originally from Brazil. According to his Model Mayhem page, he is 33 years old, 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds. He has his own website, RodineySantiago.com, and is very popular on Instagram and Twitter.

Enjoy!

2015 INDIAN WELLS: Blockbuster Final For 2nd Year In A Row (Federer-Djokovic XXXVIII)

For the second year in a row Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are meeting in the final of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Last year's match was won by Djokovic, 6-3 3-6 7-6(3). This is the 38th meeting between these two rivals, with Federer currently leading 20-17, including just a few weeks ago in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Open to win his 84th title. In fact, since losing in the 3rd round of the Australian Open to Andreas Seppi, Federer has won 20 consecutive sets.

Both Federer and Djokovic are playing excellent tennis; Djokovic demolished Andy Murray 6-2 6-3 in the first semifinal, while Federer outplayed Milos Raonic 7-5 6-4 who had a thrilling come-from-behind breakthrough win against Rafael Nadal the round before.

Djokovic is trying to win his 21st Masters series title (Federer has 23, Nadal has 28). 50th career ATP title and become the second person (after Federer) to win 4 Indian Wells trophies.

Although I am a huge Federer fan, I think Djokovic will have the edge in today's match. The Indian Wells court is a medium-slow hard-court with a high-bounce that will move the ball out of Federer's optimal strike zone.

Prediction: Djokovic

2015 INDIAN WELLS: Raonic Knocks Out Nadal; Serena Withdraws With Knee Injury

In one of the biggest upsets of the year to date, World #6 Milos Raonic won his first match in six meeting against World #3 Rafael Nadal 4-6 7-6(10) 7-5, saving three match points in the process, to reach a semifinal against Roger Federer, who dispatched Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-0. Raonic has one match in 9 meetings with Federer. The other men's semifinal will feature Djokovic-Murray XXV.

The women's side of the draw was stunned when Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament prior to her semifinal match with Simona Halep, citing a knee injury. This was somewhat ironic, because it was her sister Venus Williams withdrawal in their scheduled semifinal 14 years ago and the crowd's reaction that led to the absence of the Williams sisters from the Indian Wells tournament since 2001. Serena's return to the tournament is one of the big tennis stories of the year so far and hopefully this knee injury will not dampen her prospects for the rest of the year. Serena was playing in only her second tournament of the year and presumably will now skip the Miami tournament, but she has a week before she would play her first match at the tournament located within a 30 minutes of her main residence.

Halep will face a resurgent Jelena Jankovic who dispatched Sabine Lisicki in the only women's semifinal match. Lisicki had beaten last year's champion Flavia Pennetta in one of the most dramatic matches of the year (6-4 6-7(5) 7-6(4) and was unable to sustain the mental energy for two consecutive nights, losing after being up a set and a break.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Presumed Gay GOP Rep. Aaron Schock Resigns In Scandal

Congressman Aaron Schock raised eyebrows this week (again) when he suddenly announced he was resigning from Congress at the tender age of 33. Schock has made headlines before, but usually it was for his eye-popping attire or for being outed.

Here's how the Economist reported on Schock's political demise:

Mr Schock, who is 33, was for a while the youngest member of Congress and remains the only one to appear semi-shirtless on the cover of Men’s Healthmagazine, revealing what the journal called “ripped” abs. His Instagram account showed him dancing the tango in Buenos Aires and surfing in Hawaii.
This whirl of politics, jet-set travel and donor-stroking (he was one of the top five House Republican fundraisers in 2013) began to unravel in February, after his interior designer gave the Washington Post a chatty tour of Mr Schock’s offices on Capitol Hill, revealing deep-red walls, gilded sconces with black candles and an arrangement of pheasant feathers—all inspired by the TV drama “Downton Abbey”. Reporters began to dig and the Associated Press, ingeniously, matched location data from his Instagram images with flight records and expense claims.Mr Schock soon faced questions about $90,000 in campaign funds spent on private air charters, a taxpayer-funded private flight to a football match and unreported foreign travel. He repaid over $41,000 to the government in office and travel costs. Asked if he had broken the law, he replied: “I certainly hope not.”

The question is, now that he is no longer in  Congress and a political career to defend, will Schock "live his truth'?

MadProfessah in DC!

I'm on a business trip to DC for a few days.

TENNIS TUESDAY: #Deliciano Closes In On Top 10; Masha Beats Vika; Serena-Sloane Clash In the Desert

Feliciano Lopez Reaches Career High #12 Ranking
Feliciano Lopez, at age 33, is playing some of the best tennis of his career. He is currently ranked #12 on the ATP Tour, the highest ranking of his career. He has won 4 career titles so far, with two of them coming at the Wimbledon warmup in Eastbourne the last two years.

Sharapova-Azarenka Rivalry Now Even At 7-All
Former Indian Wells champions met in the third round of this year's tournaments and even though the score was 6-4 6-3, it took the Russian #2 six match points to put the 2-time Australian Open champion out of the tournament. The win levels the career head-to-head between Vika and Masha at 7-all.

Serena Returns To Indian Wells, Will Meet Sloane Stephens For QF Spot
The last time fellow Americans Sloane Stephens and Serena Williams met was the 2013 quarterfinals of the Australian Open and it was the announcement of Stephens arrival on the big stage of women's tennis. The last two years have not been good for the younger American, now ranked #42 but she has been playing well this week, dismissing Angelique Kerber and Svetlana Kuznetsova in her last two rounds. I'm sure Serena will be extra-motivated to make a statement in this match. She didn't end her 14-year boycott of this tournament to lose in the round of 16!

Kei Nishikori and Andy Murray Tussle For World #4
Kei Nishikori and Andy Murray have been battling back and forth for the #4 spot on the ATP Tour. Currently, Murray leads by a razor thin 10 points. (By comparison, World #1 Novak Djokovic is literally thousands of points ahead of World #2 Roger Federer). It will be interesting to see if Kei can permanently disrupt the Big Four hold on the top of Men's Tennis.

EYE CANDY: Kieran Jones (3rd time!)

Kieran Jones has appeared as Eye Candy here twice before (April 15, 2013 and June 24, 2013). He is a young British fitness model who also goes by the name of Kieran Congdon. Enjoy!

Happy Π Day

It's an epic Pi Day today: 3/14/15, which are the first 5 digits of Π, 3.14159.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Openly Gay Jim Parson, Star of The Big Bang Theory Gets Star On Hollywood Walk Of Fame

Jim Parson is the star of CBS's comedy hit, The Big Bang Theory, for which he has won the Best Male Actor in a Comedy Series four times (and been nominated 3 other times). Parsons is openly gay and is often seen at events with his boyfriend, Todd Spiewak.

This week Parsons got his star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame!

WATCH: Trailer 2 of Game of Thrones Season 5 is Out!

When HBO announced HBO Now (it's new cable-free streaming service billed at $14.99 per month), it also premiered the second trailer for Season 5 of Game of Thrones, which will be available everywhere starting April 12, 2015. HBO will apparently air the show live worldwide keyed to the 9pm EDT time. However, this will not be the case in the United Kingdom, whose residents will also not get access to HBO Now for some reason. It's unclear whether we in California will be able to see the show at 6pm PDT or have to wait until 9pm PDT (that has currently been the practice).


Hat/tip to Winter Is Coming

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons and activist atheist, is dead

If you are a fan of The Simpsons like I am you will recognize the name Sam Simon as one of the co-creators and executive producers of the long-running animated sitcom. Simon was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2012 and given 3-6 months to live. He died at the age of 59 this week but used that time to give away his millions to causes he believed in, like American Atheists.

“I’m an atheist, but there’s a thing called tithing that a lot of religions do. Ten percent was the minimum you were supposed to give to charity every year. And I always outdid that,” Sam explains.…
“People say I’m trying to buy my way into heaven, which I don’t believe in. So that can’t be true,” Sam says. He paid for those atheist billboards that make news from time to time. Like the one by the Lincoln Tunnel, in New York, that read, IT’S A MYTH, on a picture of the stars over Bethlehem.

Yet another reason to like The Simpsons! And another example that one can be godless and still do good in the world.

TENNIS TUESDAY: UK Beats US, Serena Loses Sacha To Vika, Mayer Wins Marathon

Mayer The Marathon Man
Leonardo Mayer of Argentina needed 11 match points and 6 hours and 42 minutes to defeat Joao Souza of Brazil in the longest Davis Cup match of all time, breaking the longtime record held by John McEnroe's win over Mats Wilander in 1982. The win leveled the tie between Argentina and Brazil at 2-all and then Federico Delbonis beat Thomas Bellucci to advance Argentina to the quarterfinals of this year's Davis Cup.

Muzza Muzzles Americans With An Assist From Ward
World #3 Andy Murray powered Great Britain to a win over a favored United States team by defeating Donald Young and John Isner while somehow James Ward was able to play well above his ranking of #111 to beat Isner in five sets to and dash the Americans hopes of getting past the Brits for the second consecutive year.

Mauresmo Gets Into The Hall Of Fame
Murray's coach, 2-time major champion Amelie Mauresmo was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame this week.

Kei Wins Battle With Raonic, Loses War As Canada Advances
World #5 Kei Nishikori beat World #6 Milos Raonic in their Davis Cup match 6-4 in the fifth set but Canada was able to eliminate Japan in Davis Cup for the year when the Canucks won the doubles point with Vasek Pospisil and Daniel Nestor and Go Soeda was unable to win either of his singles matches.

Serena Returning To Indian Wells This Week, Loses Sascha To Vika
World #1 Serena Williams is playing her first match at Indian Wells tournament since she beat Kim Clijsters to win the title in 2001. Serena announced her return soon after her Australian Open win in January. I said then it was likely that would make me go to the tournament but it looks like that may not happen this year due to some work commitments. Serena will be playing her first tournament in many years without her hitting partner Sascha Baijin, who announced that he was joining Vika Azarenka's camp. The two sides played nice, however:

That's all for this week's Tennis Tuesday!

WATCH: "Why Is Daylight Saving Time Still A Thing" from John Oliver's HBO Show

EYE CANDY: Pierre Abena (reprise)

Pierre Abena first appeared as Eye Candy just a few months ago (January 26, 2015) and today the multiracial muscular model makes his second appearance at MadProfessah.com.

Enjoy!

Where in the world is MadProfessah

Can you tell where I am from this view? One hint. There is car named after the name of this city.

QUEER QUOTE: Federal Government Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down All State Bans On Marriage Equality

The federal government headed by President Barack Obama and represented in court by the Justice Department headed by Attorney General Eric Holder has filed a brief with the United States Supreme Court urging an end to all state bans on marriage equality throughout the nation. This following excerpt is today's Queer Quote:

“The marriage bans challenged in these cases impermissibly exclude lesbian and gay couples from the rights, responsibilities, and status of civil marriage. These facially discriminatory laws impose concrete harms on same-sex couples and send the inescapable message that same-sex couples and their children are second-class families, unworthy of the recognition and benefits that opposite-sex couples take for granted. The bans cannot be reconciled with the fundamental constitutional guarantee of ‘equal protection of the laws.’”

This is a significant development because it was not that long ago the federal government was defending it's own federal ban on the recognition of marriage equality in court, a position the government abandoned almost exactly four years ago, and a few years later the Supreme Court struck down the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.

It is expected that the federal government may ask for time to argue it's position in the recently announced oral arguments in the marriage equality cases to be heard by the court on April 28.

SCOTUS Says Oral Argument Date For April 28 In Marriage Equality Cases

The United States Supreme Court has set the date for oral arguments in the four marriage equality cases from the 6th U.S. Circuit that it earlier agreed to hear appeals of: Tuesday April 28.

On January 16, the United States Supreme Court announced that this year, they will hear arguments in a case on the question of whether same-sex couples should have the freedom to marry and if anti-marriage laws nationwide should be struck down as unconstitutional. The Court granted review of an out-of-step ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which ruled in November against the freedom to marry in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. In each of these cases, federal judges had ruled in favor of the freedom to marry for all, and the 6th Circuit reversed each decision. 

The arguments are in the cases Obergefell v. Hodges from Ohio, Tanco v. Haslam from Tennessee, DeBoer v. Snyder from Michigan, and Bourke v. Beshear from Kentucky. The states' response briefs are due March 17, and final reply briefs are due April 17.

A final ruling deciding the fundamental question about whether same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry (or that denying this right to same-sex couples unconstitutionally discriminates against them) will be issued by July 2015.

Texas Legislators Introduce Bill To Void Local LGBT Rights Ordinances

Here we go! Just as I predicted when I blogged about the Arkansas and West Virginia bills that are the new face of anti-LGBT animus in state legislatures, I said that many other red states would soon follow their homophobic lead. Today comes word that the biggest red state of them all, Texas, is planning on joining the rush to deny equal rights to LGBT citizens:

A Fort Bend County Republican has introduced a bill that would bar cities from adopting or enforcing non-discrimination ordinances that include protected classes not contained in state law. Texas law doesn’t include sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. 

As a result, state Rep. Rick Miller’s House Bill 1556 would undo LGBT protections passed by numerous cities, including Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston and Plano. Altogether more than 7.5 million Texas are covered by such ordinances.

Will state legislators really override the local anti-discrimination ordinances that protect 7.5 million residents? We shall see....

MadProfessah Endorsements For March 3, 2015 Los Angeles Municipal Election

Finally, the moment you have been waiting for!  Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I will be voting in the March 3 2015 Los Angeles Municipal Primary Election, compared with endorsements from other organizations like the Los Angeles Times,  California Democratic Party, East Area Progressive Democrats and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. For more information about judicial candidates, check out the LA County Bar Association.

The Ballot is quite short. Here are my endorsements (how I am voting) along with information about how others are encouraging you to vote.

L.A. City Council        MadProf   LA TIMES LA CO DEMS

District 14              MOLINA    Molina      Yes

Citywide Measures        MadProf   LA TIMES LA CO DEMS
Charter Amendment 1       NO        Yes        Yes
Charter Amendment 2       NO        Yes        Yes

Countywide Races          MadProf  LA TIMES  CA DEMS

Comm. Coll. Board, #1     VEGA     Hoffman   ---

Comm. Coll. Board, #3     KAMLAGER Kamlager  Kamlager

Comm. Coll. Board, #5     SVONKIN* Svonkin   Svonkin

Comm. Coll. Board, #7     FONG     Fong      Fong

Tune in later this week for the results... 

QUEER QUOTE: CA Proposed Ballot Measure Would Authorize Death Penalty For "Sodomites"

Wow. Now this is some pretty crazy stuff, even for heterosexual supremacists. A religious zealot has filed a proposed ballot measure called the "Sodomite Suppression Act" with the Attorney General of California that says "any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purpose of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head or any other convenient method."

Matt McLaughlin filed the measure and paid the $200 fee required to get the ballot measure in the system. He then has to collect the signatures of 5% of the votes cast for Governor in November 2014. Because turnout was so low, the magic number is a mere 366,000 valid signatures to qualify an initiative statute for the statewide general ballot. I suspect we will see quite a lot of crackpot ballot measures filed seeking to make the November 2016 ballot.

Hat/tip to Joe Jervis

EYE CANDY: Stefan Williams

Stefan Williams is an attractive fitness model. He is active on Instagram and has been featured at Essence magazine, ManCrush blog and Morning Wood. Now he has been featured as Eye Candy!

2015 DUBAI: Federer Beats Djokovic For 84th Career Title

Roger Federer beat World #1 Novak Djokovic 6-3 7-5 to win his seventh(!) Dubai Duty Free Open title and 84th ATP career title overall. Federer improved to 20-17 in his head-to-head against Djokovic, and is now 84-42 in career tournament finals. Federer has now won three titles 7 times: Halle, Wimbledon and Dubai.

The match was a high quality affair with Djokovic earning 7 breakpoints but failing to convert any of them while Federer converted both of the only to breakpoints he had, one in each set. He also served incredibly well, hitting 13 aces, raising his career total over the 9,000 mark.