Marriage equality took another hit today as the New York State Senate failed to pass a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in their state. From the NYT:

The bill was defeated by a decisive margin of 38 to 24. The Democrats, who have a bare, one-seat majority, did not have enough votes to pass the bill without some Republican support, but not a single Republican senator voted for the measure..

In a debate that in many instances was cast in unusually personal tones, many senators delivered emotional speeches on the floor of the chamber, equating the struggle for gay rights to the civil rights movement or the battle women have waged for equality.

One of the bill’s sponsors, State Senator Thomas K. Duane of Manhattan, who is gay, said the bill would finally give him something that as a New Yorker he has never enjoyed.

“This legislation would merely provide me and tens of thousands of other New Yorkers with equal rights in New York State,” Mr. Duane said. “It would make me equal in every way to everyone else in this chamber.”

Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who represents Manhattan’s Upper East Side and another of the bill’s sponsors, said her grandparents came to the United States to escape persecution against Jews. As a Jew and a woman, Ms. Krueger said her decision to support same-sex marriage was easy to make.

But State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. of the Bronx made an impassioned argument against same-sex marriage, describing his continued opposition as reflecting the broad consensus that marriage should be limited to a union between a man and woman. “Not only the evangelicals, not only the Jews, not only the Muslims, not only the Catholics, but also the people oppose it,” he said.

Yesterday the NY Assembly had passed the same measure by a 88-51 margin. Unfortunately the Senate vote kills any chance for marriage equality in the state of New York for the foreseeable future.

Washington DC residents awoke this morning to the sight of a giant AIDS ribbon hanging from the North Portico of the White House in observance of World AIDS Day. Established in 1988, the event occurs every December 1st to focus attention and raise awareness of the global AIDS epidemic.  While loathe to give the previous administration props for anything, the practice of hanging the ribbon actually began under former President George Bush in 2007.

Last Wednesday the White House issued a presidential Proclamation marking World AIDS Day, and held a press conference yesterday observing the event.

We here at Inside, Looking Out would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving! While it has been a difficult year for many, myself included, the new year is finally around the bend, hopefully bringing better and brighter times for us all.

It will be light posting over the holiday weekend, so I’ll leave you in good “Muppet” hands. The internet sensation guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air, Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, discussed the connection between the Family and Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which prescribes the death penalty for acts of “aggravated homosexuality.”

Mr. SHARLET: Well, the legislator that introduces the bill, a guy named David Bahati, is a member of The Family. He appears to be a core member of The Family. He works, he organizes their Uganda National Prayer Breakfast and oversees a African sort of student leadership program designed to create future leaders for Africa, into which The Family has poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda.

GROSS: So you’re reporting the story for the first time today, and you found this story – this direct connection between The Family and the proposed legislation by following the money?

Mr. SHARLET: Yes, it’s – I always say that the family is secretive, but not secret. You can go and look at 990s, tax forms and follow the money through these organizations that The Family describe as invisible. But you go and you look. You follow that money. You look at their archives. You do interviews where you can. It’s not so invisible anymore. So that’s how working with some research colleagues we discovered that David Bahati, the man behind this legislation, is really deeply, deeply involved in The Family’s work in Uganda, that the ethics minister of Uganda, Museveni’s kind of right hand man, a guy named Nsaba Buturo, is also helping to organize The Family’s National Prayer Breakfast. And here’s a guy who has been the main force for this Anti-Homosexuality Act in Uganda’s executive office and has been very vocal about what he’s doing, and in a rather extreme and hateful way. But these guys are not so much under the influence of The Family. They are, in Uganda, The Family.

You can listen to the interview in its entirety below: