The Gayest Things You'll See This Week

It's still my birthday and I'll blog what want to, blog what I want to, blog what I want to... (not that my birthday has anything to do with it - I always blog what I want to...).

Today the Senate approved the first openly gay man as a Federal judge for teh Southern District of New York. J. Paul Oetken served as a lawyer for the Clinton administration; is Senior V.P. and Associate Counsel for Cablevision and served as law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackman.

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had this to say on the Senate floor:

“As the first openly gay man to be confirmed as a federal    judge and to serve on the federal bench, he will be a symbol of how much we have achieved as a country in just the last few decades. And importantly, he will give hope to many talented young lawyers who, until now, thought their paths might be limited because of their sexual orientation. When Paul becomes Judge Oetken, he will be living proof to all those young lawyers that it really does get better” (via).

Oetken joins Judge Deborah Batts as the second openly gay U.S. District Judge in New York. New York just continues to lead the way in Equality, following the recent legalization of same-gender civil marriage earlier this month.

And speaking of same-gender marriage, also via Towleroad comes news that Niagara Falls will be displaying a rainbow light show in honor of the state's first legal gay marriage at midnight on July 24th, when the law takes effect and the state's first same-sex couple is married at the iconic honeymoon resort. 

In Entertainment News, The Advocate (along with several other sites) has a bunch of photos from the set of James Franco's Sal, a biography of the late Sal Mineo starring Sal Lauren as the Rebel Without a Cause actor who was stabbed to death by a pizza delivery boy in 1976. Franco (who played Rebel star James Dean in a TV bio) continues to push buttons and beg the question "Is he or isn't he?" I'm guessing that the sexually ambiguous star of 127 Hours will keep us all guessing for a long time to come.

Finally (and I have no idea why Blogger is freaking out and not allowing me to format the way I want), if like Uncle P you're a fan of the Edgar Rice Burroughs "Barsoom" novels, Disney has released the  trailer for the first in what may be the next big Sci-Fi franchise, John Carter starring Taylor Kitsch; Mark Strong; Dominic West; Thomas Hayden Church and Samantha Morton. and directed by Pixar's Andrew Stanton. The movie is scheduled for a March, 2012 release.

More, anon.
Prospero