The new governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, a graduate of the Televangelist Pat Robertson's Regent University, sent an executive order to all state agencies and universities removing protection of hiring and firing of gay people. This order contradicted a standing order supported by the previous Democrat Governors. (At Right: The official seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia which Jon Stewart has dubbed the gayest state seal in America.)

This is not so shocking when you remember that Governor McDonnell attended a religious school that teaches that the world is 6,000 years old, that humans did not evolve from animals, that every word of the bible is infallible, and that all Jews and homosexuals are going to hell along with billions of other people who were not born within geographic limits of their faith.

So with the stroke of a pen the governor tried to move Virginia back into medieval thinking. Fortunately, it did not work.

Virginia has some first class colleges, and presidents from places like the University of Virginal, George Mason University, and William and Mary College wrote the governor giving him the one finger wave, saying they had no intentions of changing their policies toward gay people.

Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" and an alumnus of William and Mary spoofed the Virginia governor on national television, and a thousand students in Richmond's Virginia Commonwealth University stormed the state house in protest.

Then came the final blow that reversed the governor's prejudiced religious convictions. It turns out that contracting firm Northrop Grumman, a very gay-friendly company, is in the process of choosing either Virginia or Maryland for its cooperative headquarters. Maryland beefed up its effort to attract Grumman, and Virginia students wrote to tell the company of the Virginia governor's anti gay attitude.

Bottom line: The governor "saw the light" and withdrew his executive order. He replaced it with a "directive" which removes the power of a wrong gay people to sue, but still allows the removal from position anyone who fails to treat gay people equally. It's a sign of the times that we need laws to force us to treat people equally and decently.)

Moral: Gay people can find more support for their rights in colleges and big business than in churchmen and politicians.

Just when people thought it was safe to let their boys join the choir again, more child molestation charges are coming to light in the Roman Catholic Church. Citizens in both The Netherlands and Germany are raising holy smoke about both the sexual abused by priests of their children as well as the church's continued actions in covering up these abuses and protecting the guilty priests. With the Pope's own brother in charge of one of the accused schools, the outcome of this round will not go unnoticed in the news.

Dear Ron: Regarding your article in the March Apollo Newsletter, you are so right about news on TV. I see it as another example of the dumbing down of America. Something else came to mind as I read your article: The people who deliver the news are all young and attractive.

Vatican Choir Boy procures gay sex for High Government Officer

Almost unbelievably, this true story takes place at the Vatican under the noses of hundreds of priests and the pope. A choir boy was procuring for several years gay prostitutes for a man (Balducci) with an important office in the Italian government. This buyer of male sex was also an Usher at the Vatican. An usher is a honorific position (no pay) whose responsibilities it is to to usher important people to see the pope. (At right: Mug Shot of California State Senator caught drunk driving with a young man. See story below.)

A gay kiss is not a kiss when it ends up on the editing room floor. On a recent episode of "Law & Order SUV," comedian Kathy Griffin played a militant lesbian who in one scene with Olivia (Mariska Hargitay, daughter of Jayne Mansfield) planted a hot kiss on the Emmy winning star's lips. For reasons passed understanding, the kiss was cut, but at show's end Kathy also planted a kiss on the male star, Stabler, played by Christopher Meloni. (At right: Meloni, while not gay, is on many gay lists of hot men.)

Having Kathy (herself a very pro gay rights activist) kissing both the male and female stars has a symmetric theme. After Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock's famous public lip lock kiss, the world is used to women kissing.

Gay marriage opponents fought it to the the US Supreme Court, where yesterday conservative Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that the high court would not intervene in local laws. At the same time Roberts pointed out that gay marriage could be legally overturned by a public referendum. (At Right: The Washington Mall, the location where tens of thousands of gay people have demonstrated for gay rights.)

Today gay couples will be lining up for their marriage applications. Due to the required wait period, the first gay marriages services will begin next week.

Washington, DC, joins the ranks of places where gay marriage may be performed in the United States:

Arthur Schopenhauer, 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860. (At right: The young German philosopher who never married. Said he: "Marrying means to halve one's rights and double one's duties")

"Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death."

"Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection."

"Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal."

"Compassion is the basis of morality."

Have you compared what you are paying for your prescription drugs with competing drug stores? Probably not, because almost all pharmacies will not give you the cost "Until I check with your insurance." I asked for and was denied the cost of nasal spray once, and when the order was filled, I was presented with a $36.00 bill for nose spray. I told them they could keep it and bought some off the counter. A gay friend of mine was told after the prescription was filled at WalMart that he had to buy it. Wrong! (At right: a month's supple of PROZAC costs $1.16 at a Costco store but $18.72 at a Detroit WalMart and $46.69 at a CVS!)

To Ron: I did not know that you used to be a minister. I was the organist at my church in Washington,DC, when one Sunday, the leader of the church came up to me and said: "It has come to our attention that you are a homosexual, that is not in keeping with the membership, and we request you withdraw your letter of membership." (At Right: The Presbyterian Church now allows gay people to be ministers if they are celibate, their equivalent of the Catholic priest.)

To Ron: Concerning the present poll on Long Distance Relationships, these relationships usually end up as "fill in the blanks." Each party builds a picture in their mind of the perfect person. This is done because they lack the experience of personal contact. Everything is wonderful on paper or email, but the real test is being together with a person. In most cases each party is rudely awakened. (At Right: The characters in the film, "Brokeback Mountain," dealt with lovers separated by distance.)