NEWSBYMAIA SPOTTS

Break out the cigars and the blue balloons, Martin Gill is officially a father to two beautiful boys.

Last week, in a family court in Miami, FL, Gill legally adopted the two boys in what certainly should have been a joyous, albeit not unusual, proceeding. Except that Martin Gill is gay. And so is his partner. And gay adoption has been illegal in Florida for 33 years. Well, it had been, at least.

Six years ago, Martin Gill and his partner became foster parents to two boys, brothers, in what was supposed to be a temporary placement. They struggled with illnesses and distrust and socialization, and so many of the things that foster parents must face on a day-to-day basis. Plus the fact that they were parenting in a state that explicitly believed them unfit to do so. So when Martin Gill petitioned as a single man (Florida has no same-sex marriage recognition) to adopt the boys, his petition was denied on the basis of his homosexuality. The only thing standing between those boys and a secure life with adoptive parents was 33 years of bigotry on the books.

For three years and 11 months, Janice Langbehn has been mourning the loss of her partner, Lisa Pond. And for three years and 11 months, she has been tirelessly fighting for equality, demanding that hospital visitation regulations expand beyond the traditional hetero-marriage paradigm. Her argument was simple enough: "no one should have to die alone."

We all owe Janice Langbehn a huge thank you. Earlier this week a new country-wide hospital policy, inspired by Langbehn, articulated by the President, and implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services, now guarantees patients the right to choose who can (and cannot) visit them in a hospital room. There are, of course, a few limitations. Only hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid must comply and those hospitals may still bar visitation, as long as the limitations are clearly posted and equally applied.

I know we all made a silent pact to never again mention Carrie Prejean, Miss California/Traditional Marriage/Sex Tapes/National Organization for Marriage, but I'm going to bring her up one last time as a point of comparison. Two years ago, the Miss America pageant brought us Carrie Prejean and her "no offense to anyone" answer that she believed marriage is only for one man and one woman. This year, this Saturday, Miss America will instead bring us Claire Buffie.

Claire Buffie, reigning Miss New York, is yet another woman who will be smiling, waving, strutting her stuff in a bikini and a ball gown, in the hopes of becoming Miss America 2011. Except there is one thing that separates Buffie from every single contestant to ever compete for the sparkly tiara: she is running on a pro-gay, pro-equality platform.

Ever since being crowned Miss New York, Buffie has been fighting for inclusion and civil rights with her "Straight for Equality: Let's Talk" campaign. She was an honoree at this year's Empire State Pride Agenda. She is an executive board member of the New York City chapter of PFLAG, and an active volunteer in its Safe Schools Program, which helps schools combat bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg this week became yet another elected official to submit an empowering, impassioned video to Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" project. In the short video, the Mayor is his usual get-down-to-business self, with a simple message for LGBT youth: New York City wants you. “We need you. We need your enthusiasm, your ideas, your passion, and your talents.” As far as "It Gets Better" videos go, it was pretty good. Except for one little thing.

Six weeks ago, Mayor Bloomberg's office drastically slashed funding to help house homeless LGBT youth in New York City. The cuts pulled nearly $1 million from the Ali Forney Center, the nation's largest housing project for LGBT youth. And other centers and programs around the city found their funding cut in half, or simply disposed of all together.

So Bloomberg's video left many scratching their heads. At once the Mayor was inviting disowned, kicked-out, in-the-dumps LGBT youth to come to New York City, where they could be "who they are supposed to be" and flourish, while systematically crushing a large part of their support system once they arrived. It seemed, well, totally hypocritical and immensely illogical.

Legal proceedings are not known for their swiftness or ease in resolve. Trials may take years, tangled in procedural red tape, caught up in choked systems. The Prop 8 trial was maybe going to be different, fast-tracked in order to address a pressing social and legal question that has the potential to affect tens of thousands of lives. But things have come to a grinding halt.

A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel has sent a certified question to the California Supreme Court, requesting them to determine whether or not the proponents of an initiative possess a great enough interest in the validity of such an initiative so as to be conferred sufficient legal standing to bring a claim, even when the public officials charged with such a duty refuse to.

Hold on, let me try that again in English.

As you may or may not remember, there were two issues at hand during the last round of this Prop 8 battle. The first was whether or not the Yes on 8 team could appeal Judge Walker's ruling, and the second being whether Judge Walker's ruling is good law or not. Although the court has to answer the first question before they can answer the second, both issues were discussed during last month's oral argument. The marriage equality team hoped that the appeals court would answer both -- the first in the negative and the second in the positive -- and then everything would get shipped off to the Supreme Court to get sorted out.

Who here likes to eat? Can I get a show of hands? I have a dirty little secret: I like to eat every day, often up to four or five times. Crazy, I know. I prefer to eat local, organic, fresh foods and anything containing at least 65% cacao.

I live in New York City, so it's fairly easy to maintain this demanding lifestyle. Ethnic restaurants, gourmet grocery stores, a pretzel stand every 27 feet, and the option of having essentially anything I want delivered within 45 minutes means I can feed myself and my family easy-peasy. But tomorrow, December 15, I am searching out all culinary needs at one place, and one place only: Whole Foods.

Tomorrow, at all New York City locations, Whole Foods will donate 5% of all after-tax proceeds to Housing Works, an awesome local organization that houses, feeds, employs and advocates for those living with HIV/AIDS. Housing Works not only works hard here in New York, but the company's efforts in Haiti are beyond honorable and need to continue.

As if that wasn't a sweet enough deal, the first 200 customers at each Whole Foods location will receive a free reusable grocery bag. Save the world, all before breakfast.

If the Prop 8 trial were a George Lucas saga, this next installation would likely be titled: Episode IV, The Empire Sits in Legal Limbo. Not super sexy, but even Legal Limbo sees its fair share of light saber action. Today's appellate hearing means that for 2 hours and 15 minutes, the great battle between good and anti-marriage equality surges on.

Here's how it'll break down:

The first hour, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. west coast time, is dedicated to the issue of standing. Now standing is one of those Law 101 issues -- it gets you an extra point or two on the Criminal Procedure exam -- that determines if a party can bring a lawsuit. Here's the deal: in order to appeal a lower court decision, the plaintiffs have to show that they will suffer an "actual" injury if the lower court ruling is affirmed. They can't just not like it; it has to tangibly affect their lives in the negative. This is usually why the state is involved -- it's why Schwarzenegger was one of the original parties -- because the state has standing to sue on this kind of matter. But the state is not part of this appeal (Schwarzenegger and outgoing Attorney General/incoming Governor-Elect Jerry Brown refused to support the appeal), so the remaining plaintiffs are just anti-marriage equality folks who don't like Judge Walker's ruling.

The question is: do they have standing to bring this appeal? According to Lisa Keen's fantastic report on the topic, the proponents will argue that since they were allowed to be a part of the lawsuit in the first place, they have standing. Courts often err on the side of allowing the lawsuit, but this is a major hurdle to get over before getting to the meat of the case. Especially since one of their original arguments, namely that gay marriage negatively affects their lives, was summarily dismissed in Judge Walker's opinion.

What happens if they lose on standing? Welcome to Legal Limbo...

Have you ever heard of that story of the couple, looking for shelter on a cold winter night, only to be turned away at every corner, forced to seek refuge in a cold, damp, dilapidated shed? Looks like this will be the reality for too many LGBT youth in New York this year. Only their story won't end with magi and myrrh and the baby Jesus.

Last week, the day after thousands of homeless youth around the city relied on drop-in centers and community outreach for a Thanksgiving meal, the New York Department of Housing announced that it would immediately begin slashing funding for youth homeless shelters, and continue to further slash funding for the next two fiscal years. And disproportionately affected by these cuts, which include eliminating street outreach all together in 2011, are LGBT youth.

In fact, the Ali Forney Center, the city's biggest provider of shelter (both long-term and drop-in) for LGBT youth, is going to see nearly $200,000 in cuts this year alone. And the Bronx Community Pride Center is losing a whopping 50% of its funding.

Now that the Thanksgiving leftovers are running out, and you smartly avoided the Black Friday melee, you may be thinking about what to get the special folks in your life this holiday season. But, buyers beware! As Target taught us, scratching that consumer itch can sometimes have some pretty nasty consequences. Let your purchases count toward more than airline miles with this handy dandy super gay-friendly shopping guide. This is the year of supporting LGBT business owners. Because if you have to get that perfect tea set for Aunt Susan, or a great book for your nephew, or the coziest T-shirt for your best friend, why not have that money go into the hands of an LGBT business owner?

Your best bet for all things local and gay owned is The Pink Pages. Just click on your city and voila! Find a local gay florist for that perfect holiday wreath. Or a used book store for one-of-a-kind treasures. How about a gift certificate to that great gay-owned restaurant in town? You can also check out gayfriendlybiz.com for more local gay-owned businesses. If you need a little nudge in the idea department, try these on for size:

Sean Simonson had something to say about anti-gay sentiment in his home state of Minnesota. So he wrote a heartfelt, sincere, brave call-t0-arms editorial entitled "Life as a Gay Teen." Said editorial was published. And then said editorial was pulled. Why? Because Sean is a senior at Benilde-St. Margaret's Catholic High School.

You may be thinking, well, that's really horrible Sean, but you're just a high school student, and we are talking about a high school paper, the First Amendment doesn't really apply to you. And you would be right. And you may be thinking, Sean, you go to a Catholic High School, did you really think you would get away with an editorial entitled "Life as a Gay Teen?" And you'd be right again, mostly. I mean, Catholic high schools aren't exactly paving the way for the next generation of strong, proud gay men and women. Except that in this case, Sean had the blessings of his school administration, and the support of his editorial team, and his piece was initially published. Until it started a dialogue that the school didn't like. And then they balked.