Sydney rang in 2011 with a massive fireworks display.
Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP…
Happy New Year to all our readers. Thank you for making it a great year for us. We wish you health and happiness, peace, prosperity and equal rights in the coming year.
Neither Australia's NSW government nor its opposition will oppose a court ruling allowing religious organizations to bar gays as foster parents, The Australian reports:
In a decision that will open the way for other religious charities to refuse gay couples access to their services, the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruled that Wesley Mission's foster care arm, Wesley Dalmar Services, had proved an exemption under the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act allowing it to discriminate against homosexual couples, reported The Australian.
Wesley Mission, part of the Uniting Church assembly, argued that providing foster care services to gay couples would put at risk its financial and volunteer assistance from members of the mission who adhered to the doctrine that a monogamous heterosexual partnership was "the norm and ideal of the family".
Though the court said the ruling could deserve the government's attention, it isn't budging:
The Administrative Decisions Tribunal described the ability of a religious group to prove an exemption to the act as "singularly undemanding" and noted that "this may be a matter which calls for the attention of parliament".
However, a spokesman for NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said yesterday that the legislation struck the right balance between protection from discrimination and the right to religious freedom.
"It is not envisaged that there will be changes to the current exemptions in relation to religious institutions," the spokesman said.
NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell also ruled out yesterday any move to push for legislative change on the issue if the Liberals win government next March.
Churches are celebrating: "The ruling, made in the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal, has been hailed by the Catholic Church but has outraged civil libertarians, who are demanding religions no longer be exempt from anti-discrimination laws if they receive public money."
One day Henny Penny was scratching in the farmyard looking for something good to eat when, suddenly, something hit her on the head. “My goodness me!” she said. “The sky must be falling down. I must go and tell the king.”
Above is the opening paragraph to the traditional telling of the children’s story Henny Penny — Henny Penny being a hen who kept repeating the mistruth to all willing to listen that “The sky is falling!” 
She convinced her friends Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey that the sky is falling along her way to the king — the king who never ended up hearing her message of doom — but the sky was never really falling.
As I watched the Family Research Council’s (FRC’s) November 30, 2010 Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) press conference, my mind kept wandering back to the signature line from Henny Penny: The sky is falling! As I’ve listened to the statements of Senator John McCain on DADT — as Senator McCain has rhetorically moved the goal posts on what it would take for him to vote for repeal of DADT — my mind keeps wandering back to the signature line from Henny Penny: The sky is falling!
We know, if only from the examples of other militaries in our allied countries who allow lesbian, gay, and bisexual servicemembers to serve openly, that the sky won’t fall if DADT is repealed. The military will still be able to accomplish its missions if DADT should be repealed.
In fact, other allied countries are now figuring out how to accomplish the accommodation of transgender servicemembers. 
In the Sydney Morning Herald‘s Sex-Change Soldier Forces Army To Scrap Transgender Policy, we learn that Australia is revamping their policy on transsexuals to clearly allow them to transition on active duty. And Pink News reported in their piece Canada’s Military Updates Uniform For Transgender Soldiers that Canada’s military has put together a new policy on how trans service members should be accommodated.
From the Pink News piece:
While debate continues in the US about openly gay troops, the Canadian military has been putting together a new policy on how trans soldiers should be treated, the National Post reports.The policy says they should wear the uniform of their “target” gender but must be given privacy and respect. For example, no reason must be given when a person’s name is changed on military records.
The new policy does not allow military honours to be reassigned to new names, saying “there is no legal authority for rewriting history”.
Canada’s military first paid for gender treatment for a member in 1998 and deals with one or two trans troops every year.
So while the United States can’t seem to get past the stage of discussing whether or not lesbian, gay, and bisexual servicemembers should be allowed to serve openly, some of our allies have moved on to accommodating the transitions of transsexual servicemembers.
I believe what Australia and Canada are at with their policies towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) servicemembers is where the United States should be in its discussions of LGBT servicemembers, but instead we’re still discussing whether or not LGB servicemembers should even be allowed to serve openly in the military services, let alone be accommodated in serving their country while in military uniforms.
The sky isn’t falling. We in the United States can allow lesbian, gay, and bisexual servicemembers to serve openly in the military services, and still be extremely professional, and capable, of meeting mission requirements. The United States could go much further in accommodating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender servicemembers than just a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that would accommodate LGB servicemembers, and still be able to capably and professionally meet the country’s military mission requirements.
That the United States still is functioning with antiquated policy regarding LGBT servicemembers says something about my country, and what it says isn’t particularly good.
Hat Tip to Monica Helms and Robin McGeehee. 
Pam’s House Blend – Front Page
Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart step out to do a Q&A for John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole.
The owner of The Abbey in West Hollywood on what makes his bar a success: "Anyone who walks through my gate is a VIP. Everyone is gonna be treated the same."
New Nielson polls shows strong support for marriage equality in Australia: "The poll, published on Monday in Fairfax newspapers, found nearly 60 per cent of people support same-sex marriage, with 37 per cent against. The same poll also shows the federal coalition leads Labor by 51 points to 49 on a two-party preferred basis."
Disney decides it's done with movies based on classic fairy tales.
Gay and lesbians rally in the Bronx: “For so long the Bronx has been very quiet about LGBT issues. This particular event sparked the feeling to doing something and how do you do it—you do it in unity.”
Desperate Housewives will go on with one less housewife.
North Korea shows American scientist new secret nuclear facility: "He had been “stunned” by the sophistication of the new plant, where he saw “hundreds and hundreds” of centrifuges that had just been installed, and that were operated from what he called “an ultra-modern control room.”
Cher knows her limits: “Look, I have a very narrow range. I’ve never tried anything more than playing who I am. If you look at my characters, they’re all me.”
Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch to team on an iPad-only newspaper: "There will be no "print edition" or "web edition"; the central innovation, developed with assistance from Apple engineers, will be to dispatch the publication automatically to an iPad or any of the growing number of similar devices."
If you think adult pandas are cute, wait until you see a picture of a newborn panda.
One-time correspondent professor Pontifical Academy of St Thomas Aquinas in the Vatican tells German magazine: “It must be acknowledged that a large number of Catholic clerics and trainee priests in Europe and the United States are homosexually-inclined,”
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I has a big box office weekend.
Paris Hilton fulfills part of her 200 hour community service.
Arrests made at a sit-in on Ottawa in to mark Transgendered Day of Remembrance.
Dylan Lewis of For Your Consideration out of Australia talked with Adam Lambert in this video below about all things music. In it, Lambert reveals a possible November/December release for an acoustic album which would put it head-to-head with Justin Bieber’s recent announcement. I wonder who would rein supreme acoustically as pop music’s current king.
Lambert also discusses his desire to work with Christina Aguilera and plans for his sophomore release sometime next spring or summer. Actually, he’s just theorizing it at this point. Clearly this acoustic thing is just a “project” and not his second album. He says this acoustic album will contain stripped-back renditions of previously released songs.
Joel Burns hit the top of the YouTube charts with his anti-bullying video and it’s having an impact, as we wrote in this week’s Dallas Voice.
On Thursday, the two-week-old “It Gets Better” video hit 2 million views. It continues to receive more than 2,000 views per hour.
For the month it is the most discussed video in News & Politics and received the most votes as favorite video this month as well.
And the video is popular around the world.
It’s the No.1 1 News & Politics video this month in Sweden.
In News & Politics, it’s No. 2 in Canada and the United Kingdom, and in Australia and Ireland, it’s No. 3.
It’s in the top 10 in India, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Although not as popular in Russia, it’s still ranks No. 105 there and it hasn’t been translated into Russian, as far as I know.
In all, the video gets 46 YouTube honors.
According to the YouTube map, it’s been seen in every country in the world except a couple in central Africa.
Through yesterday, the daily number of viewers has continued to steadily grow. The YouTube page has gotten more than 27,000 comments. Of the 2 million views, only 525 clicked dislike before leaving the page.
I have two sons in middle school, so I know for a fact that children call each other names all the time. Some are silly. Like the time the younger son called his older brother a butthead, and the older brother responded with, “Well, you’re a butt-er head.” I don’t think that one came out the way he intended.
But one day, when the younger brother was calling the older one names, the older one responded, “Sticks and stones may break my bones. But words will never hurt me.” Then he hesitated, turned to me and said, “But that’s not really true, is it? Words can hurt a lot.”
Yep, I told him. Words matter very, very much. Below are three examples how they matter:
Australian three-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Stephanie Rice has been dumped by Jaguar after tweeting “Suck on that, faggots!” in reference to a Wallabies rugby match against South Africa.
Jaguar Australia’s marketing and public affairs manager Mark Eedle confirmed that the company’s sponsorship of the swimmer has been terminated. “We made a decision yesterday, and we’ve terminated the agreement with her,” Eedle said. It’s not known whether the Jaguar agreement involved any financial payment, but Rice will be without a car after the company confirmed it will be confiscating the A0,000-plus Jaguar XF that Rice had been in possession of since the sponsorship deal was penned in February. “We will be taking the car that she’s been using back,” said Eedle.
Rice has apologized for the tweet. Openly gay fellow Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham say he forgives Rice, writing yesterday on his Facebook page: “I know a lot of ppl are upset by what Steph Rice said. I agree, it was offensive & very thoughtless, but being friends with her for 2yrs, I know she is not homophobic. She meant no malice, & she has apologized for her careless comment posted in the excitement of the moment. That’s enough for me to forgive a friend.”
Labor and the Greens formed an alliance in Australia that could mean progress for marriage equality, if Labor is able to form a minority government and end the gridlock.
Advocate.com: Daily News
Here’s an example of why heterosexuals make better parents. It comes from the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin (Australia). Just a good example of a father teaching his son to be heterosexual.
A father is on trial for forcing his 14-year old son to have sex with a prostitute because he thought the boy was gay. The father drove the boy to the motel, paid in cash and waited on the balcony til he was done. He walked into the room during sex and told the boy he wanted to see a used condom as proof. At least he insisted on safe sex.
Incredibly, police learned about the boy’s rape when the father called them. He wanted police to investigate the boy, saying he was having sex with his younger brother. The newspaper reports, “The dad allegedly told police he had ‘tried to sort it out himself by taking (his son) to a prostitute.’”
The case will go to court after the New Year. To protect the child, no names have been released in the case.
