Tonight, make your way down to the WolfeVideo.com Final Four Party (as seen on the L Word) at The Industry! This is THE biggest women’s party during the Final Four – so you can’t miss out!

Special guest Pam Grier – “Kit” from the L Word - will be there dancing right along with you to the sounds of the 70′s, 80′s, and 90′s (and a little bit o’ country mixed in)!

Gift bags for the first 100 guests (valued at $100/piece)…and more give-aways all night long!

Doors open at 7 pm and the party lasts till 2 am.  Tickets are $10 if you buy them online or $15 at the door.  If you are really feelin’ sassy and want to go VIP style, that will cost you$35 and are for advanced sell online only.

The Winter Olympics kicked off today, so let’s check out 4 openly gay women who are competing in the 2010 games:

Ireen Wüst – Speed Skating:

A 2006 Olympic gold medal winner (at the age of 19) from the Netherlands, Ireen is competing on Sunday, February 14th in the 3000 meter race, February 19th in the 1000 meter race, and February 21st in the 1500 meter race.  She came out in November 2009 in TVM Helden magazine where she mentioed that she has a girlfriend and is very happy.

Sarah Vaillancourt – Hockey:

A foward for the fierce Canadian women’s hockey team, Sarah and her team are expected to be one of the top contender’s for the gold medal this year.  Sarah has been out about her sexuality since she was a Freshman at Harvard University.

Erika Holst - Hockey:

Erika and the rest of her Swedish teammates took home the bronze medal in the 2002 Olympics.  In 2006, they won silver.  I see a pattern here…next step, gold?  Erika has been out since 2006.

Vibeke Skofterud – Cross-Country Skiing:

The Norweigan skiier has been out since 2008 when she told See and Hear magazine: “I have gone many rounds with myself, and it has taken a lot of time to figure out. I was not always honest with my own feelings.”

Ted Olson and David Boies, two high-profile lawyers (who worked the Bush v. Gore 2000 opposing one another) representing two same-sex couples who were denied the right to marry, are challenging Proposition 8′s federal constitutionality and believe that it should be repealed.

“This unequal treatment of gays and lesbians denies them the basic liberties and equal protection under the law that are guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” their suit states.

According to the suit, Proposition 8:

• Violates the Due Process Clause by impinging on fundamental liberties
• Violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
• Singles out gays and lesbians for a disfavored legal status, thereby creating a category of “second-class citizens.”
• Discriminates on the basis of gender.
• Discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.

The trial is supposed to be made available for viewing tonight on YouTube, so if you are interested in watching the hearing minute by minute be looking out for that! 

You can also show your support without even leaving your chair by “attending” on the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=210238489967&ref=ts

Parker celebrates with her partner Photo: AP

History has been made…deep in the heart of Texas.  Where the doctrine of the conservative right usually reigns, a mold has been broken.  Houston, TX is the largest city in the United States to elect an openly gay mayor.  Annise Parker has done it – and she has not only proven herself worthy of the job, but has also proven that when it comes down to it, even a city in the conservative south is growing less and less concerned with a candidate’s gender and sexual orientation and more concerned with the issues.

The LGBT community is celebrating Parker’s win as hope for a more promising future.

“The fact that an openly gay candidate wins for mayor in the nation’s fourth largest city, in the South, in Texas, shows that when Americans get to know gay people as people, not as stereotypes, their resistance to treating gay people equally reduces,” Evan Wolfson, director of Freedom to Marry, a gay-marriage advocacy group, told USA Today.

All of those anti-gay campaign efforts in Houston led anti-gay activists and conservative religious groups failed to sway the opinion of the majority.  What is that old saying…oh yes, stick and stones may break my bones but…Annise Parker has won anyway!

With this great news also comes some concerning news.  The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington last month threatened to cut their social service programs if the bill passed.  Now that that has happened, the Archdiocese is determined to stand strong on keeping its promise.  The Archbishop would cut homeless shelters, food programs for needy families, and health services rather than provide equal benefits for employees in same-sex marriages. 

Does that make any sense at all?  It doesn’t seem like the way of Jesus to use the needy and homeless as anti-gay pawns.  We will have to just wait and see if they actually follow through with this horrible threat.

We also have to wait a little bit longer to see if the bill actually becomes law.  The bill now goes to the Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has promised to sign it. The U.S. Congress then has 30 days to review the legislation. After that window passes, the bill becomes law!  We will definitely keep you updated on this situation, but all we can do for now is stay hopeful.

Both Democratic candidates, it appears to be tough fight between the two — a neck and neck race to the finish pulling out all the stops.  Parker has been endorsed by the HRC and the Houston Chronicle, while Locke has been endorsed by the Houston Police Department.   

Parker’s run doesn’t come without controversy of course.  Keep in mind, this race is in Houston — not in Austin, our lovely open-minded bubble we are proud to call home.  Unfortunately, there are bigots out there like David Wilson who are pitted against Parker and using dirty tactics to make sure she does not win the majority vote.  For those unfamiliar, he is the man (and I use that word lightly) who crusaded to refuse benefits to partners of City of Houston LGBT employees.  The Houston Chronicle reported that Wilson sent out nearly 35,000 fliers to Houston residents depicting Parker and her partner alongside the message, “Is this the image Houston wants to portray?” The Chronicle also reported him as saying that “he is concerned that Parker, if elected, would become a gay and lesbian cultural icon and an inspiration to others to enter politics.”  Oh. My. Gosh.  God FORBID young gays and lesbians have dreams!  

Anyway, I’m not going to let a sorry-excuse-for-a-human-being like David Wilson have the last word in this article –so I will say to David:

Damn straight Parker is and will be an inspiration for LGBT people young and old, near and far.  And you know why?  Because she’s got class (something which you apparently lack), she’s got heart, and she’s not afraid to be who she is.  Here’s MY official endorsement for Annise Parker – a woman who is all of these things: A board member of the Holocaust Museum and Girls Inc., an advisory board member of the Houston Zoo, the Montrose Counseling Center and Trees for Houston.  And last but not certainly least, we can look up to Parker because she has been with her partner, Kathy Hubbard for nearly 20 years, and together they have adopted two children.  She is a family woman and she is a lesbian — Wow. I bet you thought you never hear those two classifications in the same sentence — did you, David?     

Despite Paterson’s efforts to fight for the right’s of homosexuals to marry, the same-sex marriage bill was voted down in New York on Wednesday.  Supporters of the bill predicted a close vote going into Wednesday’s Senate debate, but unfortunately the margin was a bit wider then expected.  By the unanimous voices of the Republicans and 8 of Paterson’s fellow Democrats, the bill was voted down 38 – 24.

Only one senator actually spoke in opposition to the bill during the debate.  Senator Ruben Diaz, a Democrat and Pentecostal minister, claimed “If we take it to the people, the people oppose it.” 

Sen. Ruben Diaz opposes same-sex marriage

Senator Eric Adams, a Brooklyn Democrat, fired back that most of the 31 states Diaz cited as voting against legalizing same-sex marriage “at one time or another sold blacks into slavery.  Because the majority is in one place does not mean they’re in the right place.  We’re in a position now where we have to lead the country to the right place.”

Sen. Eric Adams rallys for Human Rights

 New York would have been the 6^th state to legalize same-sex marriage, but now joins the others in denying same-sex couples the right to marry.  Despite this hiccup in the campaign for equal rights, we must recognize that each year the margin narrows more and more in the votes.  So yes, it may be dark now but we can definitely see the sun rising in the distance.

Check it out here: http://www.absolut.com/nolabel/press

Will this make the LGBT community more brand loyal to Absolut?  Thoughts?