Mourners hold Miami Beach vigil for young lesbian couple shot last week in Texas

A group of mourners held a vigil Friday evening for a young lesbian couple shot last Friday in Texas. From Associated Press:

The shooting at a Portland park last week killed 19-year-old Mollie Olgin and wounded 18-year-old Mary Kristene Chapa. Police in Portland, a town of about 15,000 people about seven miles north of Corpus Christi, have not identified any suspects or announced any arrests.

Enrique Santos: Evolution of Latin shock jock, who came out as 'proud member of LGBT community'

BY JORDAN LEVIN, jlevin @miamiherald.com

When Enrique Santos was attending Jose Marti Middle School in Hialeah, or registering to vote Republican like the rest of his Cuban émigré family, or becoming an exile hero for prank calling Fidel Castro on his hit radio show El Vacilon de la Manana, he never would have imagined he’d end up where he was Tuesday night.

But there he was, onstage at the Fillmore Miami Beach, emceeing a fundraiser for Democratic President Obama, speaking (mostly) seriously about healthcare and immigration policy, and announcing to the world that he was a “proud member of the LGBT community.”

“What happened is I’ve evolved, the same way all of us do,” Santos said Wednesday morning at a Design District café. He was red-eyed after celebrating his debut in the political big-time into the night, then rising to host his 6 a.m. show on Miami station Mix 98.3 FM.

“We live, we learn, we’re not the same person today we were yesterday.”

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Gay GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger ends campaign; posts 'Stop the Hate' video aimed at Mormon Church

Statement by gay GOP Presidential candidate Fred Karger:

LAGUNA BEACH, CA - “After 2 ½ years of campaigning as a candidate for President of the United States I am officially ending my historic campaign today June 29, 2012. It’s been one hell of a ride, and I want to thank the thousands of people across this country who volunteered, contributed, opened their homes, came to our events and cheered me on. Special thanks to the thousands more who shared their stories with me in person, via email, facebook, twitter, etc. Every one of you kept me going.

It’s been the experience of a lifetime. I’ve made many new friends and undoubtedly picked up a few more detractors. I hope and trust that my discussion of the key issues helped to open dialog on fixing the economy, balancing the federal budget, creating jobs, education reform, the environment, immigration reform, ending the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and fighting for full equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. We must move forward on these issues and many more.

A big thank you goes out to our incredible campaign team, most of whom have been around for nearly the entire 2 ½ years. Your dedication, spirit and great ideas made all the difference.

I plan to rest up for awhile and then I will be back at it to help in the fight for LGBT equality. We will let you know as soon as our exact course is determined.

We closed our Utah Primary campaign with a big bang by airing the hard-hitting commercial “STOP THE HATE!!!” aimed at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). It was produced and directed by Melanie Marden of MM Films, LLC.

Contract up? Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes to divorce, People reports

BY MADELEINE MARR, MMARR@MIAMIHERALD.COM

This may not come as much of a shock to Hollywood watchers, but People is reporting that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are getting a divorce.

The power couple was married almost six years.

“This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family,” Holmes’s attorney Jonathan Wolfe told the magazine. “Katie’s primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter’s best interest.” Suri is 6.

The Rock of Ages star, 49, wed the former Dawson’s Creek star, 33, in an Italian castle in November 2006. ...

For years the rumor mill has churned out stories that the marriage was not authentic and that Holmes had signed a “contract” with the superstar to get ahead in her career. How long it was to last is not known. Five years with one child? Ten years with two? Hard to say because no one has ever seen a copy of this thing, if it even exists. ...

Cruise acknowledged to Playboy that stories written about him used to be a bother (oh, you remember the one about him being gay, right?).

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Gay activists in Cuba demand that parliament respect their rights

BY JUAN O. TAMAYO, JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

Cuban gay activists held a kiss-in demonstration and presented a demand for respect to the country’s parliament on Thursday, as they prepared for the upcoming island’s second annual Gay Pride parade.

Fifty people — mostly gay rights activists but also a handful of dissidents such as Guillermo Fariñas and Martha Beatriz Roque — signed a petition calling for civil rights and handed it to the National Assembly of People’s Power, said Ignacio Estrada, a gay activist and dissident.

“Our document calls on the Cuban government to fully comply with international agreements it has signed on human rights, especially those that apply to LGBT rights,” Estrada said after delivering the petition.

The petition also calls on lawmakers to launch an investigation of the Military Units to Aid Production, or UMAPs — hard-labor camps created by Fidel Castro during the 1960s to detain homosexuals and government critics — and requests trials for government officials responsible for the camps.

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