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If you're confused how a duck hunting entrepreneur's disparaging comments about gay people became the biggest news story of the week, you're not alone. There were plenty of other things to talk about, from Iran and Syria, to Obamacare and the NSA, yet "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson's suspension from A&E commanded by far the most interest, as anyone who monitors traffic for news websites could tell you. The story has stayed atop the news ranking site Memeorandum's leaderboard for the past three days and absolutely dominated Google searches compared to other stories: (INTERACTIVE-GRAPH-AT-LINK)Why? You could blame a slow news...

A&E has distanced itself from Phil Robertson, the patriarch in its enormously popular “Duck Dynasty” series, following his comments about homosexuality. Yet the opinion he expressed, that homosexuality is a sin, is shared by 45 percent of Americans, according to a recent poll. Fully 78 percent of white evangelical Protestants agree with Robertson, according to the data. They are demographic group analyzed in the poll that is presumably most likely to watch “Duck Dynasty.”Scott Collins compares A&E to other networks that have condemned the same traditional world views that make their shows so popular and so lucrative: Once again, TV...

So rednecks need to be politically correct now? Wait, before the National Association of Rednecked Persons attacks me, let me be clear that I don’t mean “redneck” as an insult. Indeed, Redneck Pride has been on the rise ever since Jeff Foxworthy got rich informing people they “might be a redneck.” Redneck reality shows have been all the rage: “Rocket City Rednecks,” ‘‘Hillbilly Handfishin’ ” and, of course, “Swamp People.” But the gold standard is “Duck Dynasty,” which follows the Robertsons, a family that struck it rich selling duck calls. It’s like a real-life version of “The Beverly Hillbillies.” All of...

One of President Barack Obama’s close friends has been arrested in Honolulu on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute. Robert “Bobby” Titcomb was one of four men arrested in an undercover sting operation late Monday and later released on $500 bail, according to Honolulu police. Titcomb, 49, attended Punahou School in Honolulu with Obama in the 1970s. The president graduated in 1979, a year before Titcomb. The two often golf, play basketball, go to the beach and dine together when the president returns home to Hawaii for vacation. Obama’s family has also attended barbeques at Titcomb’s beachside home in Waialua, located...

A&E was hit by a 12-gauge “Duck Dynasty” backlash Thursday as religious and conservative groups denounced the network for suspending the reality show’s gay-bashing star — whose family suggested it could be the end. Supporters of show patriarch Phil Robertson — who in a magazine interview compared homosexuality to bestiality — called for a boycott of the cable network.

The Center for American Progress, the Sellers Dorsey Foundation, and the Federal Agencies Project announce the launch of Out2Enroll, a campaign to inform lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities about new coverage options available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to encourage LGBT individuals to enroll in coverage. The Out2Enroll campaign kicks off on September 12 with a briefing at the White House that will feature remarks from Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and LGBT health and health reform experts from across the country. Out2Enroll will work at...

As you’ve probably heard, Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson has been suspended by A&E over what many are describing as “anti-gay” comments he made to GQ. So what did he say that was so bad? Here’s an excerpt, via E!: “‘Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,’ he tells the magazine. Paraphrasing Corinthians, he says, ‘Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of...

Phil Robertson, patriarch of the “Duck Dynasty” clan, is being slammed for controversial comments he made about homosexuality in an interview in the January issue of GQ. “It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me,” Robertson told the magazine. “I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.” When the reporter asked Robertson what he found sinful, he said “Start with homosexual behavior and just...

MSNBC host Thomas Roberts said Monday that “many people consider President Obama to be the first gay president.” Roberts was speaking to Shawn Gaylord of Human Rights First, a group fighting discrimination against homosexuals and other sexual minorities. The organization is pushing the White House to defy Russia’s harsh anti-gay laws by sending openly gay delegates to next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. “It’s not about asking for special protection,” Roberts claimed. “It’s about asking and seeking equal respect. We do know as we look at the larger picture here, Shawn, that LGBT rights is just one of the...

When Haredim engage in violence, it's always, without exception, unequivocally, for a reason.What happened on Sunday, Dec. 1 that provoked the alleged Haredi outpouring of violence that resulted in serious bodily injury to one Taj Patterson, 22, on a street corner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at 4:00 in the morning? I recall a 1980s quote from an African American lady who said when she hears footsteps coming up behind her in an alley at night, turning back to see a group of Orthodox Jews is a big relief—compared with the alternative in her neighborhood. I’m sure you’ve heard a version of...

A coalition of 31 HIV/AIDS organizations is urging the Obama administration to investigate whether some health insurers are trying to discourage HIV-infected patients from enrolling in new policies being sold under the health-care law, a move the groups say could be illegal. The Affordable Care Act prohibits discrimination against people who are sick; insurers can't deny them coverage or charge them more than healthier peers. But in a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius last week, the coalition said it had noticed "a number of disturbing trends" in plans on the insurance exchanges, including plans that...

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the alleged beating of a 22-year-old fashion student at the hands of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish mob. Taj Patterson, 22, was walking home from a party through the predominantly ultra-Orthodox section of South Williamsburg when he says a group of at least twenty Jewish men attacked him. Patterson says that during the beating, the men yelled anti-gay slurs, including, "Stay down, f----t!” "I’m walking down some block by myself and then the next thing I know, I’m surrounded by a group of Hasidic Jewish men and they’re attacking me,” Patterson tells the Daily...

WHAT percent of American men are gay? This question is notoriously difficult to answer. Historical estimates range from about 2 percent to 10 percent. But somewhere in the exabytes of data that human beings create every day are answers to even the most challenging questions. Using surveys, social networks, pornographic searches and dating sites, I recently studied evidence on the number of gay men. The data used in this analysis is available in highly aggregated form only and can be downloaded from publicly accessible sites. While none of these data sources are ideal, they combine to tell a consistent story....

Data released last week found that 62 percent of American men who self-reported being HIV-positive said they had unprotected anal sex with a male partner in the last 12 months. The Centers for Disease Control report, “HIV Testing and Risk Behaviors Among Gay, Bisexual and Other Men who have Sex with Men,” noted that the population of men having sex with men (MSM) is a small proportion of the US population; however, this group represents the majority of people diagnosed with HIV. The researchers found that some men attempt to decrease their HIV risk by only engaging in unprotected sex...

Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee, left, listened during a conference call at the Village in Hollywood, with Christopher Brown, director of health and mental health services at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, in glasses on the right.California's health insurance exchange is targeting uninsured LGBT residents with a new marketing campaign aimed at signing them up for coverage. The billboards, ads in LGBT newspapers and on bus shelters in gay neighborhoods throughout the state began appearing this week. The advertisements from Covered California feature either a male or female same-sex couple with the tagline "Welcome to health insurance...

Three days ago, the claim by a New Jersey waitress who claimed to have been stiffed on a tip because of her sexual orientation began collapsing, but unfortunately for Dayna Morales, that’s not the end of the story. After the original story went viral, the family who supposedly stiffed Morales showed NBC New York their credit-card bill, establishing convincingly that Morales did indeed get a tip — and that someone else must have written the note. Last night, NBC New York dug deeper and found a few more issues in Morales’ background, including a history of fabulism:(VIDEO-AT-LINK) The New Jersey...

Federal health officials are reporting a sharp increase in unprotected sex among gay American men, a development that makes it harder to fight the AIDS epidemic. The same trend has recently been documented among gay men in Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, France and Australia, heightening concerns among public health officials worldwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of men who told federal health investigators that they had had unprotected anal sex in the last year rose nearly 20 percent from 2005 to 2011. In the 2011 survey, unprotected sex was more than twice as common...

<p>NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Yale University professor arrested on charges of fighting police officers investigating a domestic-dispute complaint was taken to a jail and died the next day, authorities said Wednesday.</p> <p>Samuel See was found unresponsive in his cell at the Union Avenue detention facility on Sunday and later was pronounced dead, New Haven police said. The medical examiner's office said the cause of his death was pending further study. Police and court officials are investigating the death.</p>

A gay server at a New Jersey restaurant who made headlines when she claimed a couple did not tip her because of her lesbian lifestyle may have some explaining to do. A couple came forward to say they were the ones who Danya Morales waited on at the Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, and they produced a receipt and credit card statement showing that they in fact did leave a tip – about 20 percent of their bill before taxes, New York’s WNBC-TV reported.

Luiz Mott: Homosexuals Are Eunuchs “If your sexual organ causes you to sin, cut it off.” By Julio Severo “Homosexuals are modern eunuchs,” said Luiz Mott, considered the father of the homosexual movement in Brazil. In what sense exactly are eunuchs and homosexuals equal, according to Mott? Did eunuchs only want men? Luiz Mott and statue of a naked baby Eunuchs were castrated men who worked in the palaces of some countries. Daniel, the prophet in the Bible, had been brought as a young man to the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. There, he was castrated to work as...