The 50 Spot: Death of a Gay Bookstore

Another victim of the current economic crisis?  The U.S.'s oldest gay bookstore, the Oscar Wilde Bookshop in Greenwich Village.  We've also got the most cowardly legislator in all of New Mexico, a new program aimed at getting same-sex families to adopt children in California, and stats for the DP registry in Oregon.  To the 50 spot!

New York:  Amidst a crumbling economy, the country's oldest gay bookstore announced that on March 29, it's going to close up shop for good.  Kim Brinster, the owner of the Oscar Wilde Book Store, sent an email to customers saying that the store does "not have the resources to weather the current economic crisis and find it’s time to call it a day."  For those looking to get one last (or one first) item from the book store before it closes, they're still taking orders online for the next month or so.  Sad to see another LGBT book store call it quits.

New Mexico:  Looking for an answer why so few states have laws that recognize domestic partnerships, civil unions or marriage equality?  It's because of weak-kneed lawmakers like State Sen. Bernadette Sanchez in New Mexico.  The New Mexico Senate was debating a domestic partnership bill in its Judiciary Committee, and the vote to push it out of committee tied 5-5.  Sen. Sanchez was the 11th vote, and what did she do?  According to the New Mexico Independent, she walked out of the Senate chambers to avoid making a decision.  That's right, she was in Senate chambers a few minutes before the vote, left the chambers, and came back after the 5-5 vote had been closed.  (A tie vote fails.)  Talk about cowardly and repugnant.  Sen. Sanchez's constituents certainly deserve better.

California:  On the heels of yesterday's news that the California Supreme Court will start hearing arguments over the validity of Proposition 8 on March 5, a new initiative launched that calls on gay and lesbian couples to adopt children.  The state Department of Social Services and LA County's adoption services unit have joined together to launch the program, with the support of the Human Rights Campaign who says that there are nearly 120,00 children in this country waiting to be adopted.  We've said this before, and we'll say it to our graves: gay adoption is good for children.  It's great to see LA County and the California Department of Social Services recognizing that.  Now, only if they can impart their wisdom to the state of Arkansas...

Oregon:  About a year ago, Oregon enacted a statewide domestic partnership law that allows gay and lesbian couples to register with the state.  Word out this week is that after 365 days of life, the DP registry has enrolled some 2,600 same-sex couples.  That's small pickings, with census figures showing that this equals about one-fifth of Oregon's gay and lesbian couple population.  Other interesting points?  The Oregonian did a study that shows that nearly 1,300 of these couples live in Multnomah County (read "Portland"), and that nearly 70 percent of them are women.