Video | Chick-fil-A VP of public relations dies

From WGN Chicago:

Don Perry, the vice president of public relations for Chick-fil-A, has died. Over the last week, he was busy defending the company's president for making a controversial comment about same-sex marriages.

Amid controversy over gay marriage, Chick-fil-A public relations vice president dies suddenly

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA -- The longtime spokesman for fast-food chain Chick-fil-A has died.

The Atlanta-based company said in a prepared statement that vice president for corporate public relations Donald A. Perry died Friday. The cause of death was not released by the company.

Perry worked at Chick-fil-A nearly 29 years.

The privately owned company known for putting faith ahead of profits by closing on Sundays sparked a new skirmish in the culture wars when president Dan Cathy recently took a public position against same-sex marriage. Cathy said the company is "guilty as charged" in support of what he called the biblical definition of the family unit.

Gay rights groups called for a boycott, a Muppets toy was pulled from kids' meals and politicians weighed in.

Christian conservatives, however, threw their support behind the company.

Chick-fil-A sandwiches become a political symbol after president voices objection to gay marriage

BY BILL BARROW, ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA -- All of a sudden, biting into a fried chicken sandwich has become a political statement.

Chick-fil-A, the fast-food chain known for putting faith ahead of profits by closing on Sundays, is standing firm in its opposition to gay marriage after touching off a furor earlier this month.

Gay rights groups have called for a boycott, the Jim Henson Co. pulled its Muppet toys from kids' meals, and politicians in Boston and Chicago told the chain it is not welcome there.

Across the Bible Belt, where most of the 1,600 restaurants are situated, Christian conservatives have thrown their support behind the Atlanta-based company, promising to buy chicken sandwiches and waffle fries next week on "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day."

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Gallery | Creative Male underwear/swimsuit store celebrates second anniversary near Midtown

Creative Male, the gay-owned shop near Midtown that specializes in men's underwear and swimsuits, celebrated its second anniversary on Thursday with a party at 222 NE 25th St., Suite 106 in Miami. Clothing was raffled and models showed off the merchandise.

Click here for a gallery. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.

Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll apologizes for remark that 'black women who look like me' are not lesbians

BY MARY ELLEN KLAS, HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU

TALLAHASSEE -- After an online petition drive garnered hundreds of signatures demanding her apology, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll on Thursday apologized to the head of an advocacy group saying that her anti-gay comment two weeks ago was "wrong and inexcusable."

Equality Florida, a civil rights group that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Floridians, launched the online petition campaign this week after Carroll told a Tampa television station on July 14 that "usually black women that look like me don’t engage in relationships like that."

Carroll was responding to allegations from former aide Carletha Cole, who, in court documents as part of a criminal case, said she caught Carroll and her travel aide in a "compromising position.”

Cole, 51, was charged last October with giving an illegally taped conversation to a newspaper reporter and had been fired her job as a senior program analyst for “conduct unbecoming.”

"It is wrong and inexcusable to make a comment that hurts people, and that was not my intention,’’ Carroll wrote in a letter to Equality Florida director Nadine Smith. "As a Christian, my faith guides me to love and respect all people. The false charges that have been lodged against me are no excuse for what I have said that may have been hurtful to members of your organization and to other Floridians.

"Please know that I am committed to treating every person with the utmost courtesy, respect and dignity and I hope you will accept my heartfelt apology,’’ she wrote.

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Lt. Governor Carroll Apology

Candidate seeks Log Cabin Republicans support, then criticizes opponent for being VP of 'Gay Activist Group'

GOP Congressional candidate Ozzie deFaria (who hopes to challenge Democratic incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz in November) sent a blistering email today critical of his primary opponent, Karen Harrington, who in 2009 became vice president of the conservative gay Sunshine Republicans club.

From the email:

Karen Harrington claims to be a supporter of traditional marriage, but Karen was announced as the Vice President of a Gay Activist Group that supports gay marriage. Debbie Wasserman Schultz supports same-sex marriage. (Source: My So Called Gay Life Blog, 4/5/11)

In January, deFaria courted support at the gay Broward Log Cabin Republicans club. (I covered the event and took photos.)

The national Log Cabin Republicans organization is a longtime leading supporter of marriage equality.

"Although I do not agree with the Log Cabins on every issue, I absolutely want their support," deFaria said on Thursday. "However I need to stay true to my values and I don't support gay marriage."

Harrington doesn't support gay marriage either, according to her campaign website:

Traditional Marriage

I support the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) of 1996,  identifying marriage as being between one man,and one woman. As a member of congress, I pledge to uphold this law, and protect it from any future challenges.

In May, however, the conservative website RedBroward.com posted photos of Harrington toasting the marriage of Ron and Benjamin Bullard, founder and president of Sunshine Republicans:

Chicago alderman to block Chick-fil-A expansion; Rick Santorum kids 'like Chick-fil-A sauce on everything!'

BY DON BABWIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO -- A Chicago alderman, angered by the president of Chick-fil-A's comments that he is against gay marriage, said he will block the company from building a restaurant in his ward.

Alderman Joe Moreno said Wednesday that unless the company comes up with a written anti-discrimination policy, Chick-fil-A will not open its first free-standing restaurant in the city as it plans to do.

"They have nothing on the books that says they do not discriminate and they are open to everyone," said Moreno, whose ward is on the northwest side. "I want to see that policy before they go forward."

Moreno's comments follow an interview that Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy gave to the Baptist Press in which he said he was "guilty as charged" in support of what he called the biblical definition of a family.

Click here to read more.

Also, Rick Santorum posted two tweets Wednesday about how much his family loves Chick-fil-A.

Marco Rubio, other Republicans heckled by International AIDS Conference protesters

BY CURTIS TATE, McClatchy News Service

A group of AIDS activists heckled Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, two Republicans who participated in a panel discussion Wednesday with other lawmakers at the International AIDS Conference in Washington.

Frist, of Tennessee, a physician and the panel's moderator, barely said a few words at the beginning of the hourlong discussion when more than a dozen protesters rose and moved to the front of the room, carrying red umbrellas and shouting "sex workers' rights are human rights."

The activists were protesting the global AIDS initiative started by former President George W. Bush, a program that provides HIV treatment to 4 million people worldwide, but excludes prostitutes, who account for a high percentage of HIV infections.

The group chanted for about five minutes before yielding the floor back to Frist.

"I'm used to this being majority leader," said Frist, who served two terms in the highly decorous Senate and rubbed his temples in frustration as the protesters continued to disrupt the event.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., was interrupted next. Enzi, who has made several trips to African countries affected by HIV, told the protesters that he had voted twice to renew the Ryan White Care Act, a federal law that extends HIV treatment to lower-income Americans and promised to do so again when it expires at the end of the year.

Rubio, a Senate freshman and potential Republican vice presidential candidate, also got shouted down.

Parting ways with many of his tea party supporters who want deep cuts in federal spending, Rubio said zeroing out AIDS funding, or any foreign aid, would do nothing to reduce the deficit, and would be "devastating" for the world. His home state of Florida has one of the highest rates of HIV infection.

"It's in the national interest of the United States to eradicate AIDS," he said.

The protesters went easier on the two Democrats who participated, Rep. Barbara Lee of California and Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware.

San Diego LGBT Pride committee supports uniformed service members who marched in parade

An email from San Diego LGBT Pride, regarding uniformed service members who marched in last weekend's parade:

The promise of America grounded in the Constitution, contained in our Pledge of Allegiance, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty and enunciated by generations of our nation’s leaders is that America stands for liberty, for justice, for equality for all. This has been America’s Pride

To honor all servicemembers without regard to their sexual orientation is commendable, to pursue the United States’ value of equality is honorable, and to support those actions is genuinely American

The mission statement of San Diego LGBT pride is fostering pride in and respect for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, locally, nationally, and globally. It is with great pride and distinction we pursue that mission, and we were honored to do so last Saturday at San Diego's Pride themed America's pride

We fully support, agree with, and respect the decision by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and hope that this is just another step on the road to equality.

In Pride,

Dwayne Crenshaw
Executive Director
San Diego LGBT Pride

To Whom It May Concern

Sally Ride sparks posthumous debate on coming out

BY DAVID CRARY, AP NATIONAL WRITER

NEW YORK -- Pioneering astronaut Sally Ride, who relished privacy as much as she did adventure, chose an appropriately discreet manner of coming out.

At the end of an obituary that she co-wrote with her partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy, they disclosed to the world their relationship of 27 years. That was it.

As details trickled out after Ride's death on Monday, it became clear that a circle of family, friends and co-workers had long known of the same-sex relationship and embraced it. For many millions of others, who admired Ride as the first American woman in space, it was a revelation - and it sparked a spirited discussion about privacy vs. public candor in regard to sexual orientation.

Some commentators, such as prominent gay blogger Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Beast, second-guessed Ride's decision to opt for privacy.

"She had a chance to expand people's horizons and young lesbians' hope and self-esteem, and she chose not to," he wrote. "She was the absent heroine."

Others were supportive of Ride's choices.

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who in 2003 became the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican world, noted that both he and Ride were baby boomers who grew up "in a time when coming out was almost unthinkable."

Click here to read more.