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Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich had an exchange with a gay voter Tuesday in Oskaloosa, Iowa that ended with the former House speaker telling him to vote for President Barack Obama if gay marriage was the most important issue to him.

Scott Arnold, an adjunct professor of writing at William Penn University who is a Democrat, asked how Gingrich plans to engage gay Americans.

(Video above via CBS News.)

"I think for those for whom the only issue that really matters is the definition of marriage I won't get their support, and I accept that that's a reality. On the other hand, for those for whom it's not the central issue in their life–if they care about job creation, if they care about national security, if they care about a better future for the country at large, then I think I'll get their support."

"So what if it is the biggest issue?" asked Arnold.

"Then I won't get their support," he replied.

Arnold continued to press Gingrich. "Well if that's the most important issue for you then you should be for Obama," said Gingrich. "That's perfectly legitimate."

"I am, but thank you," replied Arnold, who proceeded to shake Gingrich's hand.

At another campaign stop in Iowa Tuesday, a voter called Gingrich a "f*ing ahole."

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Stuttgart recently created the "Skin Factory," an advanced piece of lab equipment designed to use foreskin taken from babies to grow patches of human skin that can be used in the place of animals to test products, the German Herald reported.

According to a spokesman for the Institute, the groundbreaking equipment may be able to eliminate animal testing altogether and, if developed on a larger scale, could be useful in developing treatments for cancer, pigmentation diseases, and certain skin allergies.

So how does the miracle machine work? First, it's heated to roughly 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of the human body, according to the German news outlet The Local. Next, robotic hands meticulously extract cells from foreskins donated to the project, all samples of which must come from boys age four-and-under.

"The older skin is, the worse the cells function," Andreas Traube, an engineer at the institute.

Scientists then take the cells extracted from the foreskin (one sample can provide up to 10 million cells) and incubate them inside tubes, where they multiply hundreds of times. The cells are then mixed with collagen and connective tissue to create skin about 5 millimeters thick. All in all, Traube explained, the process takes about six weeks – about the same amount of time it takes skin to grow naturally.

"We can't use the machine to speed up the process; biology needs time to take its course," Traube told the The Local.

At least one organization within Germany has already expressed measured approval for the machine.

"I think the idea is a good one. I believe cells from artificially cultivated skin are indeed comparable with real skin," Rolf Homke, spokesman for the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies, told The Local. "I do think it might take a few years to get up and running though. There are complicated international safety standards, these procedures can't just be changed overnight."

As such, European authorities have yet to authorize the Skin Factory for use in product testing. In the meantime, scientists are continuing to develop the machine and are producing skin at a rate of 5,000 samples per month.

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GENEVA — The United Nations endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people for the first time ever Friday, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the U.S. and other backers and decried by some African and Muslim countries.

The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing "grave concern" about abuses because of sexual orientation and commissioning a global report on discrimination against gays.

But activists called it an important shift on an issue that has divided the global body for decades, and they credited the Obama administration's push for gay rights at home and abroad.

"This represents a historic moment to highlight the human rights abuses and violations that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face around the world based solely on who they are and whom they love," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement.

Following tense negotiations, members of the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council narrowly voted in favor of the declaration put forward by South Africa, with 23 votes in favor and 19 against.

Backers included the U.S., the European Union, Brazil and other Latin American countries. Those against included Russia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Pakistan. China, Burkina Faso and Zambia abstained, Kyrgyzstan didn't vote and Libya was suspended from the rights body earlier.

The resolution expressed "grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity."

More important, activists said, it also established a formal U.N. process to document human rights abuses against gays, including discriminatory laws and acts of violence. According to Amnesty International, consensual same-sex relations are illegal in 76 countries worldwide, while harassment and discrimination are common in many more.

"Today's resolution breaks the silence that has been maintained for far too long," said John Fisher of the gay rights advocacy group ARC International.

The White House in a statement strongly backed the declaration.

"This marks a significant milestone in the long struggle for equality, and the beginning of a universal recognition that (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) persons are endowed with the same inalienable rights – and entitled to the same protections – as all human beings."

The resolution calls for a panel discussion next spring with "constructive, informed and transparent dialogue on the issue of discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against" gays, lesbians and transgender people.

The prospect of having their laws scrutinized in this way went too far for many of the council's 47-member states.

"We are seriously concerned at the attempt to introduce to the United Nations some notions that have no legal foundation," said Zamir Akram, Pakistan's envoy to the U.N. in Geneva, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Nigeria claimed the proposal went against the wishes of most Africans. A diplomat from the northwest African state of Mauritania called the resolution "an attempt to replace the natural rights of a human being with an unnatural right."

Boris Dittrich of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch said it was important for the U.S. and Western Europe to persuade South Africa to take the lead on the resolution so that other non-Western countries would be less able to claim the West was imposing its values.

At the same time, he noted that the U.N. has no enforcement mechanism to back up the resolution. "It's up to civil society to name and shame those governments that continue abuses," Dittrich said.

The Obama administration has been pushing for gay rights both domestically and internationally.

In March, the U.S. issued a nonbinding declaration in favor of gay rights that gained the support of more than 80 countries at the U.N. In addition, Congress recently repealed the ban on gays openly serving in the military, and the Obama administration said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the U.S. law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage.

The vote in Geneva came at a momentous time for the gay rights debate in the U.S. Activists across the political spectrum were on edge Friday as New York legislators considered a bill that would make the state the sixth – and by far the biggest – to allow same-sex marriage.

Asked what good the U.N. resolution would do for gays and lesbians in countries that opposed the resolution, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Baer said it was a signal "that there are many people in the international community who stand with them and who support them, and that change will come."

"It's a historic method of tyranny to make you feel that you are alone," he said. "One of the things that this resolution does for people everywhere, particularly LGBT people everywhere, is remind them that they are not alone."


With its team of transgender flight attendants, a new Thai airline is offering a groundbreaking, alternative take on the friendly skies.

As the Daily Mail is reporting, PC Air, a charter airline with routes across Asia, originally set out to hire only male and female flight attendants, but eventually changed its mind after receiving more than 100 job applications from transgender candidates.

A total of four transgender applicants were chosen for the cabin crew, in addition to 19 female and seven male members, according to Reuters. Believed to be the world's first, the transgender flight attendants are 24-year-olds Chayathisa Nakmai, Dissanai Chitpraphachin and Phuntakarn Sringern, and Ms. Nathatai Sukkaset, who is 26.

“I’m a pioneer, and I’m sure there will be [other] organizations following my idea," PC Air president Peter Chan is quoted by Reuters as saying.

Known as in Thailand as "katoeys" or "ladyboys," transgender women have a greater visibility than in many other nations, even though they are not officially recognized as women and their identification cards always read "male."

By Sylvia Wood, msnbc.com

A school district in Utah is defending its decision to “out” a middle-school student as gay to his parents in light of safety and bullying concerns.

“The administrator did exactly the right thing,” said Rhonda Bromley, a spokeswoman for the Alpine School District in Lehi, Utah. “We are not going to back down. We take bullying very, very seriously.”

The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network urged caution in these situations.

“Schools should not out LGBT students without their consent,” said GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard. “Outing a student not only violates their right to privacy, but also could compromise their safety. Parents can be notified of their child being bullied at school, but without disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The situation started last week when the 14-year-old’s class at Willowcreek Middle School was assigned to create an advertisement about themselves to hang on the classroom wall. The boy wrote about being gay, Bromley said.

When the teacher approached him about whether he wanted to share that information publicly, the boy said he did. The teacher decided to involve the assistant school principal, who spoke with the boy and counseled him on talking with his parents.

The student was hesitant to approach his parents, but agreed “reluctantly” to let the administrator to speak with them, Bromley said. At the boy’s request, he was not present when his parents were told.

“The student chose himself to make his sexuality known in a variety of ways,” Bromley said. “And there had already started to be some negative feedback.”

“If there is the potential for a bullying or a harassment situation, it’s the responsibility of the school to step in and to make sure the student is safe,” she said.

School districts across the country are struggling with anti-gay bullying in light of highly publicized cases involving teen suicides. In October 2010, the suicide death of two teen boys prompted U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to issue a call for action.

Their deaths followed at least three other suicides that year linked to “the trauma of being bullied and harassed for their actual or perceived sexual orientation was too much to bear,” Duncan said at the time.

“This is a moment where every one of us – parents, teachers, students, elected officials, and all people of conscience -- needs to stand up and speak out against intolerance in all its forms,” he said.

Byard said it’s important for schools to deal with bullying and notify parents of any instances, without disclosing a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

"Taking away the choice for a LGBT student to come out on their own terms opens the door to significant risks, including harassment at school and family rejection," she said.

Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network, said family rejection is a real risk, and some young gay teens have found themselves homeless as a result.

The school "could very well have worsened that situation considerably," he said.

Bromley said the case at Alpine School District has drawn national attention, in part, because the student’s friends created a Facebook page, which has since turned into a an invitation-only group. The original page, which received more than 400 “likes,” asked students and supporters to write the assistant principal in defense of the student.

Bromley said some of the information on the original page was inaccurate, including the claim that the district suspended the boy. She said his parents chose to keep him home this week.

“We’ve received many phone calls and emails from many people based on inaccurate information,” she said. She said the boy was never in trouble and the goal of the district was to keep him safe.

“The last thing we want is for students to think there would be some sort of consequence for this,” she said.

With increasing lobbying efforts from the entertainment industry against BitTorrent sites and users, we wondered whether these companies hold themselves to the same standards they demand of others. After some initial skimming we’ve discovered BitTorrent pirates at nearly every major entertainment industry company in the US, including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Fox Entertainment and NBC Universal. Busted.

A few days ago we wrote about a new website that exposes what people behind an IP-address have downloaded on BitTorrent. The Russian-based founders of the site developed the service so people can show their friends how public their downloading habits are, and that is exactly what we’re going to do today.

Armed with the IP-ranges of major Hollywood studios we decided to find out what they’ve been downloading. As expected, it didn’t take us long before we found BitTorrent ‘pirates’ at several leading entertainment industry companies. Yes, these are the same companies who want to disconnect people from the Internet after they’ve been caught sharing copyrighted material…...

..for the complete story hXXp://torrentfreak.com/busted-bittorrent-pirates-at-sony-universal-and-fox-111213/

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NEW YORK – The U.S. government has dropped its New York deportation case against an Argentine lesbian who married a U.S. citizen, marking an improvement in the treatment of cases of same-sex couples involving a legal alien and a U.S. citizen, a lawyer for the woman said Tuesday.

The Argentinean, Monica Alcota, was supposed to be in U.S. Immigration Court in Manhattan Tuesday, but her lawyers were notified Monday that Immigration Judge Terry Bain signed an order Nov. 30 dismissing the case because "good cause has been established," said Alcota's Los Angeles attorney, Lavi Soloway.

Soloway based the request to dismiss the case on Alcota's marriage to her U.S. citizen spouse, Cristina Ojeda, her deep ties to her community, the absence of any adverse factors and her activism against the Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law in 1996.

Since the law specified marriage as being between a man and a woman, U.S. immigration authorities routinely denied green cards for same-sex couples, advocates for the couples have said, citing the dilemma that the government's position left for an estimated 26,000 bi-national same-sex couples in the United States where one partner is a U.S. citizen.

The government's position softened earlier this year when Attorney General Eric Holder said the executive branch would no longer defend the Act as constitutional, Soloway said. In 2010, a federal judge in Boston struck down the law, saying it forces the state to discriminate against its own citizens to qualify for federal funding and violates the Constitution's equal protection clause.

The couples were helped more on Nov. 17 when an inter-agency prosecutorial discretion working group began working with a goal of finding and closing all "low-priority" deportation cases, the lawyer said.

Soloway said he was pleased with the actions by Bain and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is responsible for pursuing deportations.

"After a courageous battle, Monica and Cristina have arrived at the end of a long journey that began when Monica was pulled off a Greyhound bus in July 2009 and held in an ICE detention facility for three months while we fought for her release," Soloway said. "That nightmare ends today. Monica and Cristina can now turn to the business of building a future together without living in constant fear of deportation."

Alcota was taken into custody after a random inspection by a border agent of the bus as the couple finished moving some items from Buffalo to New York City after Ojeda finished school, Soloway said.

Dismissal of the case marked the first time a case involving a lesbian married couple had been dismissed since the federal government relaxed its pursuit of the cases, Soloway said. He added that gay couples in Newark, N.J., and San Francisco had previously obtained dismissals.

Just weeks after the planned separation of two Toronto-based "gay" penguins for mating purposes sparked a global outcry, another same-sex avian couple is in the news – ironically for chick-rearing reasons once again.

As Metro is reporting, two "gay" penguins at Harbin Polar Land in northern China have been given a baby chick to care for, in an effort to help a struggling penguin mother who recently hatched twins.

Despite being "gay," the penguin couple -- whose union was even celebrated in a 2009 "wedding" -- will be naturally suited for raising chicks. Male penguins share the duty of incubating unhatched eggs with females in the wild, and this pair has become notorious for trying to steal eggs during the hatching season.

Undoubtedly, the Chinese penguins' case is similar to that of Roy and Silo, the two "gay" penguins at New York's Central Park Zoo who were eventually given a rejected egg after attempting to hatch a rock. Their story was also the basis for the controversial children's book "And Tango Makes Three."

Perhaps Buddy and Pedro, the Canadian male penguin couple, could learn a thing or two from their Chinese and American counterparts when they reunite after mating season.

View a slideshow of "gay" animal couples below:

hXXp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/06/gay-penguins-china-chick-_n_1131865.html?ref=gay-voices

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is announcing a wide-ranging effort to use U.S. foreign aid to promote rights for gays and lesbians abroad, including combating attempts by foreign governments to criminalize homosexuality.

In a memorandum issued Tuesday, President Barack Obama directed U.S. agencies working abroad, including the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, to use foreign aid to assist gays and lesbians who are facing human rights violations. And he ordered U.S. agencies to protect vulnerable gay and lesbian refugees and asylum seekers.

"The struggle to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons is a global challenge, and one that is central to the United States' commitment to promoting human rights," Obama said in a statement.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is also expected to speak about the announcements in Geneva later Tuesday.

The White House said Tuesday's announcement marked the first U.S. government strategy to combat human rights abuses against gays and lesbians abroad.

The order also directs U.S. government agencies to use foreign assistance to protect human rights and advance non-discrimination, and work with international organizations to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Obama's announcement is part of the White House's outreach to gays and lesbians, a core Democratic constituency. Since taking office, Obama has advocated for the repeal of the military's ban on openly gay service members and ordered the administration to stop enforcing a law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

However, Obama has stopped short of backing gay marriage, saying only that his personal views on the matter are evolving.

Gay rights groups praised the order as a significant step for ensuring that gays and lesbians are treated equally around the world.

"Today's actions by President Obama make clear that the United States will not turn a blind eye when governments commit or allow abuses to the human rights of LGBT people," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy organization.

The presidential directive applies to all U.S. agencies involved in foreign aid, assistance and development, including the Departments of States, the Treasury, Defense and Homeland Security.