Saskatchewan Court Of Appeals Considers Whether Religious Freedom Trumps Equality, Iowa Senator Threatened By Idea Of Gay Couples Camping, Hawaii Governor Processing Whether To Pass Civil Union Law, Joanna Newsom Not A Lady Gaga Fan, The Great Gay Actors Cannot Play Straight Debate Continues, Mister Switzerland Crowned, Male Model Hotness, Chris Salvatore Potty Picture

This Thursday, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeals will consider whether marriage commissioners in Canada are within their rights afforded by the country’s Charter to refuse to conduct ceremonies that contradict their privately held religious beliefs. The case, to be heard in a Regina courtroom, is the result of a decision in 2005 by Orville Nichols, a civil marriage commissioner in that city, to reject an application by a man – identified in court documents as M.J. – who wanted Nichols to marry he and his partner, gay marriage in Canada legal. Nichols refused, citing his Christian beliefs, and M.J. filed a formal complaint with the province’s Human Rights Commission. Nichols was fined $2,500 in 2008, the Commission contending that he violated M.J.’s rights. Nichols appealed, asking the Court of Queen’s Bench to rule, the court ultimately rejecting his appeal. Mr. Nichols, an accredited marriage commissioner for almost thirty years, says he has “nothing against gay people. I have a nephew and niece who are gay. I don’t hate them. I just don’t want to take part in a same-sex service.”

Iowa Republican Senator Merlin Bartz is upset that the Department of Natural Resources has proposed that same sex couples qualify as a family when seeking camping permits at state parks. Bartz, who, in 2009, called for county recorders in Iowa to reject gay couples seeking a marriage license, said that the Department of Natural Resources plan was a part of an “insidious pattern” of state agencies, presumably seeking to redefine both family and marriage, which appears to threaten Bartz.

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle has until July 6th to decide how to deal with an historic civil union measure passed by the House on April 29th, the governor’s office saying it has received over 6,000 calls, e-mail, faxes, and letters on the bill that will afford unmarried couples the same rights and privileges as though extended to heterosexual married couples. The outgoing Republican governor, who has three options – sign the bill into the law, veto the bill, or allow the bill to become law absent her signature – says she intends to make best decision possible, providing herself with points of view from all sides. “I think the consultation mode will last for quite a while,” says Lingle, “the passion is running very high. I want to hear everybody out.”

Joanna Newsom, a patron saint of the hip and the now, is neither a fan of Lady Gaga nor Madonna. “I’m mystified by the laziness of people looking at how she presents herself, and somehow assuming that implies there’s a high level of intelligence in the songwriting,” Newsom says in an interview. “Her approach to image is really interesting, but you listen to the music, and you just hear glow sticks. Smart outlets for musical journalism give her all this credit, like she’s the new Madonna, although I’m coming from a perspective of also thinking Madonna is not great at all. I’m like, fair enough: she is the new Madonna. But Madonna’s a dumb-ass!”

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Slezak deconstructs and counters the ludicrously retrograde homophobic Newsweek article of last week authored by Ramin Setoodeh, which awkwardly argues that openly gay actors – Jonathan Groff, Sean Haynes – cannot successfully commit to portraying straight characters – a point made more grotesque since Setoodeh is openly gay.

Saturday, the 2010 Mister Switzerland was crowned, the winner 23 year old January Buchrain, a man a little beyond beautiful.

An editorial from Vision magazine that could be about almost anything, but is, in fact, mostly about three terrible cute young men in various states of undress.

The dreamy Chris Salvatore is photographed in Jakarta on a toilet, which is surprisingly sexier that it sounds.