Federal governments in the UK and US are marking Pride this month with parties and policy promises, but there's only silence from Canada's Conservative government.

The White House is planning a reception next week to mark Pride, the Advocate reports. US President Barack Obama recently declared June to be "LGBT Pride Month" for the second year in a row.

Is it all just tokenism? Efforts to achieve legal equality have been slow under Obama's administration, but Obama at least deserves some props. When was the last time you heard Stephen Harper even say the word "gay" in public? 

US President Barack Obama, Canadian PM Stephen Harper, UK Deputy PM Nick Clegg and UK PM David Cameron 

Across the Atlantic, the UK's new Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition hosted a pre-Pride party today. The UK government also just launched a queer issues policy plan, which includes:

• allowing gay people to have religious civil partnerships;
• lobbying other countries to repeal homophobic laws and recognize UK civil partnerships;
• removing historical convictions for consensual gay sex from criminal records;
• tackling homophobic bullying;
• better recording of hate crimes;
• ending deportation of LGBT asylum seekers fleeing homophobic countries.

Here in Canada, the Tories won't be hosting a Pride reception, and Stephen Harper won't be making any Pride proclamations.

And why would he? The Harper government's record on queer issues is shameful, most recently including:

• erasing queer rights from the Canadian citizenship guide;
• dragging its heels on the trans rights bill;
• changing federal cultural funding rules to deny queers.
  

Just something to think about this Pride season.

Read more:

• New book examines Canada's social conservatives in the age of rights
• The rising clout of Christian nationalism in Canada 

   

They say truth is stranger than fiction and some days, the newspaper is sillier than any comedian.  Pick your favourite line from the last day's top stories:

-- Former Playgirl editor Jessanne Collins on the magazine's attempt at a comeback:

"I don't know about you, but I'm tired of having Levi Johnston's penis thrust into my consciousness every time I read the news."

-- NY gossip columnist Michael Musto recapping Sir Ian McKellen's hosting of a children's charity fundraiser:

"Sir Ian went on to blow a ping-pong ball out of his mouth..."

-- Tampa, Florida police quoting US marine Jasen Bruce, who claims he chased and beat a Greek Orthodox priest with a tire iron because the priest grabbed at Bruce's crotch and said, "Allahu Akbar:"

"That's what they tell you right before they blow you up."

-- Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Laura McElroy on the surveillance footage of the very, very not-gay marine defending himself:

"You see a very short, small man running, and an enormous, large muscular man chasing after him."

-- Queen's University politics professor Jonathan Rose on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's four-week stint of tours throughout Asia starting today:

"They provide evidence of a leader knowledgeable of and in touch with the concerns of new voters from these countries. We also shouldn't downplay the pageantry and staged choreography."

-- the most ludicrous opening line of any US political story I've seen this year (and that's saying something!):

"A man claiming to have been Barack Obama’s homosexual lover and another claiming to have Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate say Laguna Niguel attorney Orly Taitz asked them to lie in federal court."

-- and finally, the surprising but welcome resignation of conservative CNN anchorman and Mexican border fence enthusiast Lou Dobbs, who's leaving his home network of 19 years to consider "a number of opportunities and directions" -- all of them, we're guessing, at FOX News.  I'm hoping the Dobbs-less 10pm show tonight features this new theme song:

 

Some days, there's just not much more I can add. For example...

-- "opposite marriage" spokesbimbo Carrie Prejean, beacon of Christian morality, getting caught out with making a sex tape.  THAT makes me believe in God.

-- the amazing US activist Pam Spaulding's video wrap-up of more testimony from the marriage equality hearings in Washington (the ones that produced this disco ditty).  I'm gonna have nightmares this weekend about the anus lady.

-- in the aftermath of gay rights voted down in Maine, we get an amusing rant from the Justice of the Peace Office, a typically solid defense from Dan Savage and this flashback from the mid-90s "Dana Carvey Show" in which he's joined by Stephen Colbert in a skit that now seems a bit too real:

-- this lengthy commercial for laundry soap in Denmark is meant as the ultimate eye candy for the ladies -- but we like it too!

-- and finally, the creators of the wondrous Planet Unicorn (heyyy!) are back with....well...you'll just have to see it for yourself:

What can I say to that other than have a great weekend?  We'll see you Monday!

Wow, has it been an entire year since marriage equality was voted down in California, leading to massive protests across the US?

Well, let's do the Time Warp again, as voters in Maine last night "vetoed" same-sex marriage legislation that their elected officials had already passed.  One step forward, two steps back.  And to think this happened just a day after the TV soap opera "One Life to Live" had their big gay wedding episode:

Don't people obey television anymore?  The problem, of course, was the massive turnout by older, conservative voters -- there's less of them overall but they get out to vote more than us liberal youngsters.  Apathy kills!

As Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura repeated on CNN last night:

"You can't put a civil rights issue on the ballot and let the people decide. You have to have elected officials to who have courage to make the right decision. If you left it up to the people, we'd have slavery, depending on how you worded it."

We'll be seeing more protests in the days to come but the first, silliest and most delightful tactic against this awful setback comes from Bridgette P. LaVictoire at Lez Get Real, who insists the world should now boycott Maine lobster.  It is, after all, an abomination -- isn't that right, Bible fans?

Oh, there I go, making it religious again but hey, they started it ("God has given us this victory") and if you can stomach reading exactly why they did, this screed from the odious antigay activist Matt Barber will make fascinating reading to future historians who will wonder why the idea of two men or two women getting married was ever an issue in the first place.

Until then, as always, I take solace in the little things, like brilliant SCTVer and Canadian national treasure Andrea Martin shocking a roomful of Broadway people or this video from the BBC's "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" -- easily the funniest thing you'll see today:

  

Halloween's tomorrow and you haven't got a costume yet?  Me neither!  Sure, we could just go as ourselves -- since gay people are apparently scarier than Paranormal Activity -- but if you want something a bit flashier, here's some last-minute ideas:

Scary Costume:  Joe Jackson

Michael's father is a bigger monster than Frankenstein!

Superhero Costume:  Elton John 

I hope I can pull off such acrobatic moves when I'm 80!

Political Costume:  An egg

A Colorado initiative insists that ovum should have the legal rights of a person.  In 2012, Sarah Palin will become president thanks to the new voters in the produce aisle:

Sexy Costume:  The Chinese Fruit Bat

An environmental blog writes, "Prepare to enter the fascinating world of fruit bat fellatio." Oh scientists, you had me at hello!

Party Costume:  Yet Another South Carolina Family Values Republican

Damn, these right-wingers know how to party -- in a cemetary, no less: 

Drag Costume:  Matthew Shepard as Dolly Parton

Judy reveals that she knew her son was gay after young Matt went out as the Backwoods Barbie three years in a row.  That is both the cutest and most bittersweet thing I've heard all week.

Movie Costume:  Brokeback Mountain 2 

Jake's appearing on Sesame Street and the jokes just write themselves, don't they?

However you decide to dress this Halloween, have a safe and happy weekend!