The first of the six sessions will take place Thursday, October 23, and the program will continue until Tuesday, December 11. Each session will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Pridelines Youth Services’ drop-in center, 9526 NE 2nd Avenue, Suite 104, Miami Shores. The series is free and open to the public. For more information, visit pridelines.org.

WASHINGTON, DC – On Saturday night, Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker told attendees at the 16th annual Human Rights Campaign (HRC) National Dinner that as Governor of New Jersey, he would sign marriage equality legislation into law.

“I’m going to declare right now that the state of New Jersey—with all of the fiber of my being, with my allies left and right—that we will ensure that marriage equality is signed into law in the state of New Jersey,” said Booker, adding, “And when that bill is signed, I may have a very good seat for it.”

The rising star of the progressive movement reaffirmed remarks he made at this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.—in which he also hinted at a possible gubernatorial run in the Garden State. In February, state lawmakers voted to legalize marriage equality, but the legislation was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican.

“It is the unconquerable spirit that when some of us in our nation were told you aren’t good enough, this spirit stood and said, ‘Yes I am,’” Booker told the 3,000 attendees at the Washington Convention Center.

“The constitution should not be used to oppress people,” Ventura said. “The constitution is used to protect people. Love is by far bigger than government can ever be,” he added. In a video posted last week on YouTube by Minnesotans United for All Families, Ventura and Terry, his wife of 37 years, declared their support for marriage equality, and urged Minnesotans to vote “no” in the November referendum, which poses the question, “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as marriage in Minnesota?”

“Government should not be telling people who to fall in love with,” said Ventura, who served as governor from 1999 to 2003. “We’re supposed to be the home of the brave, land of the free.”

Noting the non-partisan nature of marriage equality, Ventura, 61, said, “This is not a Democrat issue, this is not a Republican issue,” and added, “It affects each and every one of us regardless of whatever our political persuasion is.”

A recent survey by Public Policy Polling shows the referendum to be a statistical dead heat, with 48 percent of Minnesota voters supporting the same-sex marriage ban, and 47 percent opposing it.

Wrote punter Chris Klume to Maryland state delegate Emmett Burns, Jr.: “I find it inconceivable that you are an elected official of Maryland’s state government. Your vitriolic hatred and bigotry make me ashamed and disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at any level.”

Burns earned Klume’s disdain after the lawmaker sent a letter to Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, demanding that he discipline linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo for his comments in support of marriage equality.

Burns, who opposes same-sex marriage, enjoined Bisciotti to “inhibit such expressions from your employee.”

“I can’t even begin to fathom the cognitive dissonance that must be coursing through your rapidly addled mind right now, the mental gymnastics your brain has to tortuously contort itself through to make such a preposterous statement are surely worthy of an Olympic gold medal,” Kluwe wrote to Burns.

“I’ve also been vocal as hell about the issue of gay marriage,” Klume added, “so you can take your ‘I know of no other NFL player who has done what Mr. Ayanbadejo is doing,’ and shove it in your close minded, totally lacking in empathy pie hole, and choke on it.”

“For our brand, this program simply feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time,” said Jeff Simpson, CEO of Bonneville International, which owns the station (and is itself a subsidiary of the church). It is the second time in as many years that station officials have opted-out of a network offering: Last year, KSL dropped NBC’s “The Playboy Club,” a show that was soon cancelled by the network.

Responding to the perceived censorship, “Normal” star Ellen Barkin chastised KSL on Twitter. “Anyone in Utah interested in @ NBCTheNewNormal please clog up @ksl5tv feed 4 their blatantly homophic decision 2 not air the show #KSLBigots,” she wrote. In July, the conservative group One Million Moms called for a boycott of “The New Normal,” which premieres on September 11, and was co-created by “Glee” executive producer Ryan Murphy.

During debate on the legislation, Walsh delivered an impassioned speech about her gay daughter and her hopes to someday throw her a wedding. The video of the speech went viral, and scored millions of hits on YouTube.

Appearing on Fox and Friends, during a discussion about a senior aide to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano facing charges of sexual harassment and anti-male discrimination, the tabloid newscaster posited, “Is this subtext of the Department of Homeland Security scandal—that there is some kind of lesbian cabal, that it’s a same-sex takeover of the big agencies?”

Asked by panelists to answer his own question, Rivera responded, “I don’t know, it seems like everyone is talking around it. Is that really what people are saying? That men are disadvantaged because women, and specifically lesbians, are ruling the roost there?”

“Nobody should be in office for 36 years,” Chris Mancini says, and he has a point. The former Federal prosecutor is speaking of the current Broward County State Attorney, Mike Satz, who Mancini intends to unseat in the upcoming August 14th Democratic Primary. Satz was first elected to the post in 1976, when Gerald Ford was President of the United States, and has held it ever since. “He keeps saying that he’s been re-elected. He submits his name, no one runs against him, and he gets reappointed to the position,” says Mancini.

“If you analyze Satz’s wins and losses in court for the past three years, he has the highest lost-case rate in the state of Florida. He likes to say that he’s only lost 641 cases. Those are major cases involving murders, robberies, and homicides, in addition to DUI cases, which, to me, are equally as dangerous,” Mancini adds. “If you are on the highway, the most likely way you’re going to get injured is by some drunk driver. Satz has an enormous loss rate in prosecuting these people.”

When approached about his failure in court, Satz points to the plea bargains he negotiates. “Almost 40 percent of his plea bargain cases are drug-residue cases,” Mancini asserts.xxx “Cocaine or marijuana is found on people, or in cars stopped for routine traffic violations. These people aren’t a danger to the public. It’s ridiculous to cite those cases as meaningful. There’s no public protection going on here. There’s no violent crime being stopped or eliminated.”

In the past few years, major crime has risen in Broward County, after having taken a dip in 2009, with crime against gays on the increase. “I don’t believe there has been an openly-gay person hired at the State Attorney’s office in any position of responsibility,” says Mancini. “If the purpose of the State Attorney’s office in a diverse community like Broward County is to represent minority groups, Satz has failed completely by not extending a position to the gay community,” he adds.

“Gays are the target of robbery at nightclubs late at night, as well as being the victims of the actual employees of those clubs. If the State Attorney wanted to do something about this, he could have targeted those individuals who come into this community with the sole purpose of robbing gays,” Mancini notes, pledging to actively pursue such cases.

“[Satz’s] whole system is geared to running large numbers of cases through the system, to give the appearance that he is protecting the public. All the cases that Satz talks about are the ones in which he’s ridden on the coattails of the Feds. After the federal officers have made a case, he tags along and cleans up the leftovers,” says Mancini.

“What I’d like to know,” Mancini asks, “is why he hasn’t filed a single prosecution from the Scott Rothstein ponzi scheme? Yet he took money from Scott Rothstein in 2007 for his campaign. Police officers were providing prostitutes to Rothstein’s clients. That’s a state crime that Satz should be prosecuting. Police officers are dealing drugs. That’s a state crime that Satz should prosecute,” he adds.

The candidate claims that when answers are demanded, the incumbent’s reasoning doesn’t match the reality. “Satz says he doesn’t have enough money, yet he has a staff where six or seven people make $150,000 a year.

These are the same people who show up at the political rallies handing out the literature in the middle of the day: State employees doing private campaigning. And he’s gotten away with it for 36 years.

According to Lopicola’s probable cause affidavit, two teenage boys told authorities that, sometime between August 2010 and January 2011, they had engaged in sexual activity with Lopicola, whom they met through Craigslist ads.

According to reports, one of the boys, who lived in Boca Raton, was 15 years old at the time. The other, from West Palm Beach, was 17 at the time. Investigators say that the first boy, now 16, came forward to report the battery after moving to live with his uncle in Michigan. Arrest documents say that he was initially reluctant to report the sexual activity, but told Michigan authorities that he believes Lopicola would hurt others if he didn’t come forward.

Lopicola was employed at West Palm Beach television station WPBT Channel 5 for eight years. He abruptly resigned from the station in 2006 without explanation. A 2009 Palm Beach Post blog noted about “his mysterious departure” that “there was no cake, no two weeks’ notice.” He moved to Wilton Manors about a year ago, and was a regular sight on Wilton Dr i ve—powe r – walking and doing push-ups on the corner near his house on Northeast 7 Avenue—as well as at his most recent job, working as a dancer “wrangler” at the Boardwalk Bar.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the first teen met Lopicola after placing an ad on Craigslist. In his ad, the boy lied and claimed that he was 18 years old, but he told authorities he later admitted to Lopicola that he was 15. The arrest report alleges that the two had a sexual encounter in Lopicola’s car near the teenager’s home. Documents say that after moving to Michigan, the teen complied with a request by Lopicola to text nude pictures of himself. He told authorities, “Robert probably likes real young boys, and would hurt others if he didn’t’ tell.”

The arrest report—which graphically describes the alleged encounters— says that Lopicola’s other victim was a 17-year-old junior at Palm Beach Lakes High School, who lived in West Palm Beach. Investigators say that when the boy’s mother came home, she found Lopicola hiding in the shower, which prompted her to notify police.

Under Florida Statute 794.05(1), “A person 24 years of age or older who engages in sexual activity with a person 16 or 17 years of age commits a felony of the second degree,” with “sexual activity” defined as “oral, anal, or vaginal penetration by, or union with, the sexual organ of another.”