EYE CANDY: Jacob Sumana (black and white)

Jacob Sumana has appeared as Eye Candy once before, relatively recently (December 30, 2013). He is a 6-foot-2, 230-pound, 23-year-old fitness model from Denmark! That's a whole lotta man to ogle. Enjoy!

CHESS: Anand Wins Right To Rematch With World Champ Carlsen In 2014

Former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand showed that he is still a force to be reckoned with by easily winning the 2014 FIDE Candidates tournament (with a  round to spare), earning him the right to a rematch for the World Chess Championship with the man who took his title last year, Magnus Carlsen.

Anand drew his 13th round game, and is currently at +3 (3 more wins than losses) for the tournament while his nearest competitors are at +0, which means there is no way they can exceed his point total regardless of the outcome of the 14th round.

44-year-old Anand will play 23-year-old Carlsen for the World Champion title in November 2014.

SATURDAY POLITICS: There are now 5 Openly Gay U.S. Ambassadors

Wally Brewster has been approved (unanimously) by the United States Senate as the new Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (my dream job, LOL). Brewster previously served as a board member of the Human Rights Campaign, which sent out a notice about Brewster's confirmation:

Prior to this year, three openly gay people had served as U.S. Ambassadors (Jim Hormel, Michael Guest and David Huebner).  Just this year, five openly gay people have been confirmed as Ambassadors (Brewster, along with John Berry in Australia, James Costos in Spain, Rufus Gifford in Denmark, and Daniel Baer as ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). It is a testament to President Obama and the U.S. Senate that the sexual orientation of these ambassadors is irrelevant to their qualifications for their posts.  All Americans should be proud to have these fine public servants representing the interests of the United States.

Of course one might notice that all five LGBT individuals are white gay men, which is not indicative of the diversity of the LGBT community, but is representative of the people who get rewarded with ambassadorships through political appointments!

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Senate Confirms Gay Ambassadors to Australia, Spain & Denmark

The U.S. Senate confirmed by voice vote (i.e. unanimously) the presidential nominations of several out gay men to important posts in the Obama administration this week. The most important of these were John Berry as Ambassador to Australia, Rufus Gifford as Ambassador to Denmark and James Costos as Ambassador to Spain. John Baer was also confirmed as Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) and Stuart Delery was approved by Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice to run the Civil Rights Division (the same position Thomas Saenz had before he was nominated to be Secretary of Labor).

This is a pretty historic action by the U.S. Senate. The history of what has happened with openly gay nominations that required Senate confirmation is not pretty. 20 years ago when President Clinton noinated Roberta Achtenberg to be Assistant Secretary for Housing and Urban Development Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), an avowed homophobe and unabashed racist, called her "a damned lesbian" as he spoke in opposition to her nomination. She was eventually approved, but Sen. Helms tied the Senate in knots for days, delaying the vote.

The fact that now multiple openly gay nominations (to arguably more visible and important posts in the Government) are being approved by voice vote is  a testament to how far gay rights have progressed since the Clinton era.

HRC's Chad Griffin agrees:

“It is a testament to President Obama and the U.S. Senate that the sexual orientation of these nominees was irrelevant to their qualifications for their posts, as it should be. All Americans should be proud to have these fine public servants representing the interests of the United States."

Hear, hear!

Hat/tip to Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner.

GRAPHIC: Marriage Equality Throughout Europe

With England's completion of the enactment of same-sex marriage earlier this month, it's instructive to review the geographic distribution of marriage equality throughout the European continent. The above map indicates that Spain, Portugal, France, England, Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Norway are all dark-blue marriage equality states. Additionally, there are many other states in Europe which have other forms of legal recognition for same-sex couples. Of the dark-blue marriage equality states only Iceland and Norway are NOT members of the European Union.

There are ten European countries (in red) which have constitutional bans prohibiting recognition or legalization of same-sex marriage: Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine. Half of these countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) ARE members of the European Union.

It will be interesting to see how the European Union will resolve the question of marriage equality. I would guess that the EU will have uniform laws recognizing same-sex couples well before the United States does.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Obama Names 2 Gay Men As Ambassadors To Spain & Denmark

Rufus Gifford	James Costos

Two important fundraisers to the President's re-election campaign Rufus Gifford and James Costos, were named on Friday by the White House to be Ambassador to Denmark and Spain, respectively.

James Costos, Nominee for Ambassador to Spain, Department of State
James Costos is Vice President of Global Licensing and Retail for Home Box Office (HBO).  Before joining HBO in 2006, he was President and CEO of Eight Cylinders, Inc., an entertainment marketing and licensing agency.  Previously, from 2002 to 2004, he was head of Promotions and Consumer Products at Revolution Studios in California.  He began his career in New York as a fashion and retail executive.  From 2001 to 2002, he was Vice President of Retail for Hermes in New York, and from 1991 to 2001, he was Vice President of Retail Operations for Tod’s in New York.  Mr. Costos currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States.  He received a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts.

Rufus Gifford, Nominee for Ambassador to Denmark, Department of State
Rufus Gifford most recently served as Finance Chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.  He served as Finance Director for Obama for America from 2011 to 2012, and as Finance Director for the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.  From 2008 to 2009, he was the California Finance Director for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, after working as a political consultant in California from 2004 to 2008.  From 1998 to 2004, Mr. Gifford was Creative Executive for Davis Entertainment, an independent film company based in Los Angeles.  He is currently a Federal Club Member of the Human Rights Campaign and a Partner in Conservation for the World Wildlife Fund.  He received a B.A. from Brown University.

Both men are openly gay, and the countries to which they are nominated happen to have enacted marriage equality and are considered gay-friendly destinations. Gifford's nomination to Denmark had long been rumored but Costos' nomination was something of a surprise. The two nominations come barely a week after the Obama administration announced it was nominating openly gay Daniel Baer to be Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the fourth out gay person to hold Ambassadorial rank. David Huebner, the current Ambassador to New Zealand is a gay man from Los Angeles.

Former Director of the Office of Personnel Management, John Berry, the former highest ranked openly LGBT member of the Obama administration who was rumored earlier this year to be considered for a Cabinet position, is still expected to be nominated to become Ambassador to Australia, perhaps in the pride month of June!

Hat/tip to TowleRoad

John Berry, Highest Ranked Gay Federal Employee, Resigns

The highest ranked gay appointee of the Obama administration, John Berry, the head of the Office of Personnel Management (formerly known as the U.S. Civil Service Commission) has decided to leave his position, effective this week. Technically, Berry's term as head of the federal government's "human resources department" is four years and he started on April 13, 2009 but if he had wanted to stay another four years the President would have re-appointed him. Berry was head of the agency when the Obama administration announced it was extending some (mostly non-financial) benefits to domestic partners of federal employees.

The White House issued a statement about Berry's departure from OPM:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2013

Statement by the President on John Berry’s Departure

John Berry has served the American people well as Director of the Office of Personnel Management.  He’s streamlined the way federal employees are hired, modernized the workplace, made the federal workforce more diverse, and increased the number of returning servicemembers hired by the government.  John has been a champion for federal workers – men and women who devote their lives to vital tasks like securing our borders, curing disease, and keeping the American people safe.  This country is better off because of John’s talent and dedication, and I’m grateful to him for his service.

###

At OPM, Berry will be temporarily replaced by the openly lesbian General Counsel of the Agency, Elaine Kaplan. Kaplan is on Lias Keen's recently compiled list of the Top 12 LGBT Presidential Appointments by the Obama administration and has also been named to be the Chief Judge of the (obscure but important) U.S. Court of Federal Claims, a federal appellate court. Interestingly, Berry is being rumored to be on the top of the short list to be named Ambassador to Australia. LGBT activists had been pushing for the President to name an openly LGBT cabinet secretary, and it was hoped that Berry would be that name. With Berry's experience of running the National Zoo and the National Wildlife Commission, he was thought to be a serious contender for Secretary of the Interior Department.

Ambassador for Australia would be interesting, because the current Ambassador to New Zealand is an openly gay man, David Heubner. Both Australia and New Zealand are in the middle of national political conversations about enacting marriage equality, with New Zealand making much more progress towards legislative change than Australia. If other rumors are true, Berry and Heubner would not be the Obama administration's only openly gay ambassadors, since the President is also considering his 2012 campaign's openly gay fundraising chairman Rufus Gifford to be named Ambassador to Denmark. I think that's a pretty good reward for being responsible for raising $1 billion for Obama-Biden 2012, don't you?

It seems to me Rufus should get his pick of which country to go (within reason, of course, I'm sure there are sensitive geo-political concerns that have to be balanced). If you could be Ambassador to anywhere, where would you pick? I think I would pick Italy (probably taken), South Africa or the Netherlands. Iceland would be great, as well! Which country would you pick?

GRAPHIC: Countries With Marriage Equality

With the passage of marriage equality in Uruguay, the above graphic is floating around the Interwebs. It is very soon to be out of date, because in addition to the imminent case of France, Great Britain will almost certainly enact marriage equality by the end of the year.

GRAPHIC: Interactive Map Of Global Marriage Equality

France is poised to join the list of countries in which same-sex marriage is legal by 2013, and in light of the debate which is about to start in that country when the marriage bill is introduced in Parliament in October, the news service France24 has published an interactive map demonstrating the countries around the world which allow full marriage equality or civil unions.

hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Denmark Enacts Marriage Equality!

As I had previously blogged about, the Scandinavian country of Denmark has been planning on joining the rest of the region in enacting marriage equality this summer. On Thursday, the Danish Parliament passed a bill to allow marriages by same-sex couples by a vote of 85 to 24 in the 111 member body called the Folketing.

According to Pink News:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, to which 80 percent of the Danish population belongs, will be able to perform marriage ceremonies under the new laws. New rites were written up by ten of the Church’s eleven bishops in a spirit of “good cooperation”, Bishop Kjeld Holm said.

Gay couples will be able to marry in churches of their choice but priests will not be obliged to perform weddings. They would, however, need to help the couple find a priest who would marry them at the church under the new laws.

The bill will go into effect in June 15, 2012. In 1989, Denmark became the first country in the world to offer state recognition of same-sex couples, when their "registered partnerships" law went into effect. By enacting marriage equality, Denmark joins the 10 other countries around the world where the practice is legal: South Africa, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, Iceland and Norway.

Denmark PM Sets Date Marriage Equality Legalized

Excellent news! As I blogged about last October, the Government of Denmark has announced that it will be enacting marriage equality in the near future, and today comes word that the date will be June 15th, 2012.

At her weekly press conference, Tuesday, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said the government is putting the finishing touches to a bill that will come into force on June 15th, allowing homosexuals and lesbians to walk down the aisle in the church of their choice – if they can find a priest who’s willing to conduct the ceremony.

“It will always be up to the individual priest as to whether he or she is prepared to bless gay couples but this legislation provides homosexuals with the same rights as heterosexuals,” said the PM.

Way back in 1989, Denmark was the very first country in the world to have state-sponsored recognition of same-sex couples when they enacted registered partnerships, which was essentially what we would now call civil unions or comprehensive domestic partnerships. Now, there are well over a half-dozen countries which have full marriage equality, led by the Netherlands in 2000 and followed by Canada, Argentina, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden and Norway.

Denmark is a European country of 5.5 million people, about the size of Minnesota or Wisconsin. When Maryland and Washington defend their marriage equality laws at the ballot box later this year, even more people (5.8 million and 6.8 million, respectively) will gain access to marriage equality.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Denmark Set To Legalize Marriage Equality In 2012

Great news from Northern Europe! The Government of Denmark has announced that it intends to legalize marriage equality in the next year or so.

The government is planning to propose legislation at the beginning of the year, the Copenhagen Postreports. Manu Sareen, the coalition government's church minister, said he hopes to see same-sex marriages legalized in the Church of Denmark by Spring 2012.

Currently, gay couples are allowed to join together through "registered partnerships," a civil union, theCopenhagen Post points out. Denmark was the first country to legalize civil unions in 1989, but the couples still cannot marry in the Church of Denmark.

"I look forward to the moment the first homosexual couple steps out of the church. I'll be standing out there throwing rice," Sareen told Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper.

Danish political parties are reportedly "extremely gay friendly," and many officials took part in the discussion to allow same-sex weddings in the church, an August article in the Copenhagen Postexplains. 
Scotland and England are both considering same-sex legislation for next year, but like other countries, officials there have faced opposition, namely from the Catholic Church, ATV Today reports.

A May 2011 article in the Copenhagen Post indicates that about 75 percent of Danes support same-sex marriages through the church. Religious leaders acknowledge the public's support for gay marriage and have expressed that a compromise -- such as a "specific marriage ritual for homosexual couples" -- might be the way to go.

This is very cool but unsurprising news. Then again, the more countries that legalize marriage equality make the progressive change more and more inevitable.