Gay Community

Much has changed in the three decades Lynn Walker has been coming to the annual L.A. Pride Parade. Walker, 83, saw parades when there was no talk of gay marriage, a concept that was an impossible dream. He saw parades at the height of the AIDS epidemic, when it took perseverance to find any cause for celebration. Despite the victories and the disappointments in the gay rights movement, the parade has always been, most of all, "a lot of fun" for Walker, who watched the 42nd annual parade in West Hollywood on Sunday with a smile.

At a gay rights dinner last year in New York City, when President Obama listed gay-friendly policies he had enacted, hecklers shouted, "Marriage!" At a similar event Wednesday night in Beverly Hills, nearly a month after the president embraced gay marriage, there was no heckling. Instead, 600 supporters at the LGBT Leadership Council event rose to their feet as one, chanting, "Four more years!" L.A.'s gay community turned out in force to celebrate the man who has been dubbed the nation's "first gay president.

One night nearly 20 years ago, a political newcomer showed up in Hollywood at California's oldest gay and lesbian Democratic club looking for an endorsement in a state Assembly race. Amid the flurry of questions was one he had never heard before: Do you support gay marriage? Antonio Villaraigosa paused. "I've never thought about that," he said. "But yeah, I'm for it. " His simple gut response stands in contrast with President Obama's painstakingly gradual evolution on the issue, which culminated in the president's announcement last month that he now supports same-sex marriage.

NEW YORK - Dharun Ravi had appeared stoic for three hours, but he broke down in tears as his mother sobbed beside him while pleading with the judge to spare her son from prison. She got what she wanted, up to a point: Judge Glenn Berman on Monday ordered Ravi to spend 30 days in jail for spying with a webcam on his gay Rutgers University roommate, Tyler Clementi, who killed himself days later. Ravi could have received a 10-year term for a crime jurors concluded was motivated by anti-gay bias.

Newsweek, which has recently become a conduit for controversy with its cover art choices, drew more attention with the debut of its latest issue declaring President Obama to be “the first gay president.” The cover, featuring Obama anointed with a rainbow halo above his head, made its arrival on newsstands Monday and comes in the wake of Obama's declaration last week that he is personally in favor of gay marriage. The cover article , by prominent Newsweek political writer and outspoken gay community member Andrew Sullivan, delves into Obama's past and asserts that given his background, his declaration of support for gay marriage should come as no surprise.

Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - In 1988, well-heeled gay activists went to Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign with an offer to raise $1 million for his election effort. The campaign said no, according to the activists. "They turned us down flat because it was gay money," said longtime gay rights advocate David Mixner. Less than a quarter-century later, the gay and lesbian community ranks as one of the most important parts of President Obama's campaign-finance operation.

BEIJING - Orgies and anal sex hardly seem the usual fodder of traditional Chinese folk art, but that is exactly what one Chinese artist is depicting in a series of provocative paper-cuts that are now being exhibited in Los Angeles for the first time. Paper-cuts originated in Eastern Han Dynasty China (AD 25-220) and are hung on windows or doors for good luck. But instead of the usual decorative flowers and birds, Xiyadie, whose pseudonym means "Siberian Butterfly," portrays graphic and daring depictions of homosexual love - long considered taboo in China.

In 1953, Mason Gaffney and Estelle Lau got married. They were young, itinerant professors, he of economics, she of education. Because of Lau's Chinese heritage, and because the U.S. Supreme Court had not yet struck down race-based marriage restrictions, when they moved out of California, their marriage was no longer recognized. "It was unthinkable," said their son, Stuart Gaffney. And then, in 1987, it wasn't - because Stuart Gaffney moved to San Francisco and fell in love with a man named John.

Mitt Romney was reminded Sunday morning on the NBC/Facebook debate stage of a pledge he made in 1984, that he would “be a voice in the Republican Party to foster anti-discimination efforts” in the gay community. Asked how he had fulfilled that pledge, Romney said that as governor of Massachusets, he had a gay cabinet member and appointed judges regardless of their sexual orientation. “From the very beginning, in 1994, I said to the gay community, 'I do not favor same sex marriage,'” Romney said.

Those skeptical of whether Rick Santorum has what it takes to win a general-election contest this fall have focused on, among other things, his drumbeating on social issues in a year when Republican strategists believe hitting President Obama on the economy is the way to win the White House. Santorum's potential vulnerability on that score was on display Thursday night in New Hampshire, where he was challenged on his views on gay marriage. Santorum is an ardent, outspoken opponent of gay marriage, favoring an amendment to the Constitution that would define marriage as solely between a man and a woman.