On Friday, Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell said that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) discriminates against same-sex couples, and unfairly denies the, federal benefits.

“These married couples— our friends and neighbors in Vermont—have every right to fair and equal treatment by the federal government,” said Sorrell. “Instead, they are denied Social Security benefits, tax exemptions, and health and retirement benefits.”

The three states filed their briefs in the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a case brought by a New York woman who was required to pay $350,000 in estate taxes when her partner died. Last year, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department would no longer defend DOMA in court, and several federal judges—including a number appointed by Republican presidents—have ruled the law to be unconstitutional. In June, a federal judge in New York ruled DOMA to be unconstitutional because it intrudes upon the states’ business of regulating domestic relations.

Currently, same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.H.

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK – “Star Trek” actor and LGBT rights activist George Takei—who played Lieutenant Sulu on the iconic 1960s television series— rode in the official Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) car this weekend during New York City’s 43rd Annual LGBT Pride March in New York City, a vehicle driven by Ohio mom and former Boy Scout leader Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted as a Scout leader because she is gay.

“I’m saddened and shocked by the policy the Boy Scouts have,” said Takei, 75, who is openly gay. Tyrrell and Takei, each be accompanied by their respective spouses, donned matching Boy Scout uniforms to protest Tyrrell’s removal as leader for her 7-year-old son’s Boy Scout troop in Bridgeport, Ohio.

In April, Scouting officials asked her to step down as Scout leader, because her sexual orientation “did not meet the high standards” of conduct of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

After being forced to resign, Tyrrell’s son, Cruz, was deactivated from his Scout troop. In true Scout fashion, the mother of four was prepared, and launched a Change.org petition that has netted over 300,000 signatures, as well as the support of A-Listers like actors Julianne Moore, Benecio Del Toro, Josh Hutcherson of “The Hunger Games,” Diana Agron of “Glee,” and singer Ricky Martin.

“She personifies all the best qualities of scouting,” said Takei of Tyrrell.

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK – The death of gay porn star Erik Rhodes on June 14 has mobilized both fans and those critical of the late actor’s openly gay lifestyle to post their commendations—and condemnations—of the late star online. Rhodes—whose real name was James Elliot Naughtin—died of an apparent heart attack in his sleep, in an incident that may have been related to his well known use of steroids.

Rhodes, 30, was well-regarded in the gay community. Falcon Studios CEO Adam Q. Robinson tweeted last week that the actor was “a man of steel on the outside, but all teddy bear on the inside.” Producer and author Jack Shamama relayed his shock. “I still can’t believe @ Erik_Rhodes is no longer with us,” Shamama tweeted.

“He was a gentle giant. Anyone who says otherwise didn’t know him.” Rhodes’ heavy use of club drugs and steroids were well known, as were his battles with depression. While messages of support and condolences filled cyberspace last week, there were also postings from those who took the opportunity to assail Rhodes’ memory.

On Queerty.com, an article about Rhodes’ death prompted this comment from a user named Cynthia, who criticized Rhodes and the LGBT community.

“This story has brought me to tears and is a clear example that the wages of sin is death,” she wrote. “The fact that the gay community loves pornography and celebrates the pornographic industry is a tragedy.”

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK – Taking a cue from comic heroes Northstar and Kyle Jinadu—characters in the fictional Marvel Comics universe who tied the knot this month—two gay men from Ohio took their own leap “in a single bound,” and married in a ceremony at a New York City comic book shop.

Self-described “comic book geeks” Jason Walker and Scott Everhart were married at Midtown Comics, in a ceremony timed to coincide with the release date of the gay wedding issue of Astonishing X-men #51, the superhero group to which Northstar and Janadu are affiliated.

The couple—die-hard comic book fans—opted to form their dynamic duo in the Big Apple, because Ohio prohibits same sex marriage. Among those attending their ceremony was New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

David Blankenhorn, the founder and President of the Institute for American Values, said Friday in an interview on National Public Radio (NPR) that, in spite of his personal misgivings about expanding traditional marriage, “the time for denigrating or stigmatizing same sex relationships is over.”

“I opposed gay marriage believing that children have the right, insofar as society makes it possible, to know and to be cared for by the two parents who brought them into this world,” Blankenhorn, 57, wrote in an opinion piece that ran, also Friday, in The New York Times.

In 2007, he authored “The Future of Marriage” in support of the institution’s traditional definition, and was presented as an expert witness in Perry v. Schwarzenegger by the supporters of California’s Proposition 8, the state constitutional amendment that banned marriage for same sex couples.

In the Times piece, Blankenhorn noted, “Whatever one’s definition of marriage, legally recognizing gay and lesbian couples and their children is a victory for basic fairness.”

At the time, then-Archbishop Dolan told a reporter that suggestions a “payoff ” had been made to a notorious pedophile priest to coax him to seek dismissal were “false, preposterous, and unjust.”

That claim contradicts court records from a bankruptcy hearing for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which show that the archdiocese made such payments to several accused pedophile clerics as a means of encouraging them leave the priesthood, a move that would enable the Church to take them off the books. The process, called “laicization,” is a formal procedure requiring Vatican approval.

The first Milwaukee archdiocese payment was made to Franklyn Becker, a former priest accused of abusing at least 10 minors, and who received a psychiatric diagnosis of pedophilia in 1983. The church paid more than $16 million to settle lawsuits involving Becker and another priest.

At the time, then-Archbishop Dolan told a reporter that suggestions a “payoff ” had been made to a notorious pedophile priest to coax him to seek dismissal were “false, preposterous, and unjust.” That claim contradicts court records from a bankruptcy hearing for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which show that the archdiocese made such payments to several accused pedophile clerics as a means of encouraging them leave the priesthood, a move that would enable the Church to take them off the books.

The process, called “laicization,” is a formal procedure requiring Vatican approval. The first Milwaukee archdiocese payment was made to Franklyn Becker, a former priest accused of abusing at least 10 minors, and who received a psychiatric diagnosis of pedophilia in 1983. The church paid more than $16 million to settle lawsuits involving Becker and another priest.

NEW YORK, NY – New York City-based writer/director/producer Adam Goldman has unleashed a new Web-based series that he hopes will do for the Twenty-Tens what “Queer as Folk” did for the first half of the “Aughts.” The six-episode Web series tells the story about a gay man and his circle of friends, as they explore all facets of their lives and relationships, including their jobs, their families, and their sexual experiences.

The comedy uses Goldman’s own familiar Big Apple haunts as a backdrop for the series, which he described to the Huffington Post as “a story about big relationships, the ones that really define people, and what happens when they fall apart, and how that can change someone.” The series is financed through Kickstarter, a crowd-funding Web site for creative projects that has funded a diverse spectrum of media, including indie films, music, comics, journalistic endeavors, video games, and food-related projects.

Goldman, whose production shoots on location in the Five Boroughs, says he wants to tell stories that are relatable to him and his friends. “I wanted a character-driven comedy with heart about gay men,” he told the Huffington Post. “I love [the gay characters] Mitch and Cam on ‘Modern Family,’ but those aren’t my people. I don’t live in California and I don’t have a baby.”

The black-and-white ad premiered last week, and was broadcast during the network’s talk show “The View,” which airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Despite that, ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, refused to all the commercials to run during primetime shows “GCB” and “Scandal.”

The Post quoted a source familiar with the network’s demands. The source reported that for the ad, ABC execs wanted to tone down Madonna’s more provocative body movements, and that they “want her bra digitally made bigger, and to extend higher to cover more of her chest, and her corset longer to cover more of her bottom.”

ABC’s actions mimic those of YouTube officials, who last month blocked underage users from watching the music video for the singer’s “Girl Gone Wild.” That video— also shot in black-and-white—evokes Madonna’s 1990s videos, which included depictions of sado-masochism and hyper-homoerotic imagery.

As in the case of ABC, YouTube content chiefs labeled the video “too raunchy,” “unsuitable,” and appropriate “only [to] be viewed by those 18 or over.” And like the network, the Web content provider required Madonna to make edits and turn down the heat in some places, in particular scenes depicting bare buttocks and gyrating men.