Out ‘Fashion Star,’ gay GOP, partnerships bill

By Project Q Atlanta | May 16, 2012 | 12:50 PM

Lesbian Kara Laricks wins “Fashion Star,” Republicans back gay congressional candidate, federal partners bill advances, North Carolina marriage ban protestor arrested, “Bold and the Beautiful” veteran comes out, and more LGBT headlines.

• Republicans embrace gay candidate. Openly gay Massachusetts state Sen. Richard Tisei (top photo) was accepted into the GOP’s “Young Guns” program in his bid for a U.S. House seat. If elected, he’d be the first openly gay Republican in Congress to come out before taking office.

• Federal domestic partnership bill clears Senate hurdle. It’s a long and doubtful way from the president’s desk, but U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman’s measure that would extend most marriage benefits to federal employees was approved by its first committee on Tuesday.

• Lesbian named NBC’s first “Fashion Star.” On Tuesday night’s episode, gay designer Kara Laricks (second photo, left) beat out two other finalists to win a $6 million contract to design a collection for Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and H&M. She has been open about her coming out story on the show.

• Gay son upset with father for killing Colorado civil unions. Republican state Rep. Don Curran could have kept the bill going to the full state House with his deciding committee vote. His gay son says dad “could have and should have” stepped up against his conservative district, but failed to lead.

• Lesbian arrested for protesting North Carolina’s gay marriage ban. Mary Jamis (third photo) and her partner were among nine couples who applied for a marriage license in Winston-Salem. She and a straight friend went to the pokey because they wouldn’t leave the building after the couples were denied.

• California presbytery defies Church, backs gay wedding pastor. Even though lesbian minister Jane Spahr was rebuked twice by national Presbyterian councils for officiating same-sex marriages, her presbytery voted 78-18 to decline the censure.

• “The Bold and the Beautiful” actress comes out as gay. Joanna Johnson (bottom photo) has played twins Caroline and Karen Spencer on the soap for 25 years. Now that a storyline has one of her characters coming out publicly as a lesbian, Johnson decided it was time for her to do so as well.

• Wedding for gay New York City mayoral candidate this weekend. As City Council Speaker Christine Quinn fights the mayor, banks and slumlords in her bid to become the city’s first openly gay mayor, she also has more immediate plans: She marries her partner on Saturday.

Tisei and Jamis photos by AP; Laricks photo via NBC; Johnson photo from CBS

Out ‘Fashion Star,’ gay GOP, partnerships bill

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