Rachel Maddow interviews Dennis Herrera after today’s hearing to determine the fate of Proposition 8.

Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black on Oprah’s Live Fridays show discusses his Oscar win and his memorable speech.

Ted Behr of Movieguide.org, a Christian movie review site didn’t have much love for the Oscars this year…

The Academy Awards showed its support for sexual perversions last night at its annual Oscar ceremony.

The Oscar audience applauded madly when Penn, who won Best Actor for his portrayal of murdered homosexual activist Harvey Milk in the movie MILK, angrily chastised voters in California, including 70% of black voters, for having the gall in last November’s elections to support the real definition of marriage.

In a mean-spirited curse, Penn said, “I think it’s a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame, and their shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.”

The audience also clapped when the winning screenwriter for MILK, Dustin Lance Black, proclaimed his bigotry when he commented, “If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you, God, for Harvey Milk!”

At the beginning of the show, host Hugh Jackman described the message of MILK as, “It’s okay to be gay.”

Of course, Jesus Christ believes otherwise.

While I am certainly no expert on the New Testament, I have it on good authority that Jesus never brought up man on man action not once in his teachings. Now divorce… that’s a different matter.

And here is a sampling of comments from the fine denizens of Free Republic (courtesy of Joe.My.God) so you don’t have to burn your eyes visiting their site:

• “Seems that the Oscars have gone the way of the Nobel … Commies Queers Globull warming idiots and terrorist lovers need only apply.”
• “Hollywood awards have nothing to do with movies and everything to do with the homosexual agenda. It’s nothing but a bunch of liberal queers giving each other a congratulatory slap on the ass for using movies to promote homosexuality.”
• “Penn, milking the man-milk dispenser, yet again.”
• “He just made a plea for Gay’s to be able to marry…Then he thanks the country for electing Obama. He’s scum.”
• “Here it comes again. When “Brokeback Mountain” didn’t win best picture the fruits were screaming like we put shards of glass in the nation’s KY Jelly supply. We’ll probably get the same with “Milk.””
• “At least Milk has a happy ending!”

And the headline over at World Net Daily reads “Oscars turn into blatant homosex-fest.”

The hate is just palpable isn’t it? As said by Pam at Pam’s House blend… haters just need to own the word bigot. They seem to understand it better than anyone else.

On February 12, 2009 Representative Jerrold Nadler (D, New York, 8th) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) which would eliminate discrimination in immigration laws and allow gay Americans to sponsor their foreign-born partners, providing a legal path to U.S. citizenship.

Representative Nadler…

“In 2009, we should be ready as a society to acknowledge that stable American families come in all varieties. We in fact strengthen our communities – and our nation – by encouraging loving couples and families to stay together and live as cohesive units. Any committed couple deserves the potential to form a life and a family together – this is a basic human right – and whether that couple is gay or straight should be irrelevant. Gay and lesbian Americans in loving, committed relationships deserve the same rights as everyone else.”

Senator Leahy…

“Like many people across the country, there are Vermonters whose partners are foreign nationals and who feel abandoned by our laws in this area: Vermonters like Gordon Stewart who has come to talk to me about the unfairness of our current laws, or a committed, loving couple of 24 years in Brattleboro, Vermont, who travel back and forth between Vermont and England, and who wish nothing more than to be able to be together in the United States. This bill would allow them, and other gay and lesbian Americans throughout our Nation who have felt that our immigration laws are discriminatory, to be a fuller part of our society. The promotion of family unity has long been part of Federal immigration policy, and we should honor that principle by providing all Americans the opportunity to be with their loved ones.

“The idea that immigration benefits should be extended to same-sex couples is not a novel one. Many nations have come to recognize that their respective immigration laws should respect family unity, regardless of a person’s sexual orientation. Indeed, 16 of our closest allies – Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom – recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes.”

The UAFA has now been referred to the judiciary committees in both houses for review, which has been the case for each of the previous versions of the bill introduced since 2000. The difference this time however is that there are no longer Republican majorities in those committees so the bill may have legs to walk out of the judiciary and back into the houses for debate and eventually a vote.

Reaching out to members of the judiciary committees — particularly Democrats, and those on the immigration subcommittees (marked by an “x”) — could make a difference in helping move the legislation forward. If you or someone you know would benefit from the passage of the UAFA, please urge the representatives and senators listed below to take action.

United States House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary

United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary

* – chairman of the immigration subcommittee

While the UAFA may be in the judiciary committees, it’s still important to contact your senator and representative and ask them to be co-sponsors. The more momentum the act can generate, the harder it will be to stop.