California representative Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo) went toe to toe with Stephen Colbert last night in his “Better Know a District” segment where she defended the rights of gays and lesbians to marry, and then enjoyed a bit of skateboarding at the end. Rep. Speier is a staunch advocate for gay rights, supporting UAFA, ENDA and the repeal of DOMA and DADT. While some may wonder whether Rep. Speier was in on the “joke,” I suspect she was simply playing it straight. I’m so glad to have someone like her representing our district. Enjoy.

Dolly Parton appeared on the Joy Behar Show last week where she was asked about marriage equality and megachurch pastor Joel Osteen’s recent comment that gays “weren’t God’s best work.” Watch:

While Dolly Parton’s support of the gay community has hardly been secret, she does join other country music stars Reba McEntire and Martina McBride in supporting same-sex marriage.

Gay actor and singer Chris Salvatore makes a heart-felt plea for us to adopt one of the many gay American heros whose lives have been stolen from us, simply for being who they were. Watch.

Visit the Gay American Heroes Foundation for more info.

Preliminary results from a study commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops were released this week and find that gays priests are neither more or less likely than straight priests to molest and abuse children, which is something of course we knew all along.

“What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse,” said Margaret Smith of John Jay College, in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and the increased likelihood of subsequent abuse from the data that we have right now.”

The question has been raised repeatedly within and outside the church because the overwhelming majority of known victims were boys. As part of the church’s response to the crisis, the Vatican ordered a review of all U.S. seminaries that, among other issues, looked for any “evidence of homosexuality” in the schools.

Yet, many experts on sex offenders reject any link between sexual orientation and committing abuse. Karen Terry, a John Jay researcher, said it was important to distinguish between sexual identity and behavior, and to look at who the offender had access to when seeking victims.

The bishops commissioned the $2 million study as part of widespread reforms they enacted at the height of the abuse crisis. The scandal erupted in 2002 with the case of one predator priest in the Archdiocese of Boston, then spread to every U.S. diocese and beyond.

Almost 14,000 molestation claims have been filed against Catholic clergy since 1950, according to tallies the bishops have released in recent years. Abuse-related costs have reached at least $2.3 billion in the same period.

Hopefully someone from the Catholic church will send a memo to Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, who in the clip below calls priest abuse a “homosexual” problem.