Ahead Of First United Kingdom Visit Since The Reformation Pope Reiterates Exaggerated Opposition To Gay Marriage, To Be Openly Gay And A Political Candidate In America, Bob Vander Plaats Petty Puny Plan To Punish Iowa Supreme Court Justices Who Voted In Favour Of Gay Marriage, Trevor Donovan Out With Mystery Male And In Malibu Competing In Triathlon

Bloomberg News reports that ahead of a tour of the United Kingdom, Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage. Before an audience at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, Benedict said the church “cannot approve of legal initiatives that imply a re-evaluation of the life of the couple and the family,” adding that the legalization of gay marriage “contribute to the weakening of the principles of natural law” and to “confusion about society’s values.” The United Kingdom Papal visit begins September 16th and runs through the 19th, the first visit by a pope to the U.K. since the Reformation in the 16th century.

In America, in the early 21st century, a report from the Associated Press that slowly, but surely the sexual orientation of a politician no longer matters much to voters. As evidence, openly gay Providence, Rhode Island Mayor David Cicilline, a Democrat, and a candidate for Congress as well as Democrat Steve Pougnet, the openly gay mayor of Palm Springs, who is running for Congress in California’s 45th District, currently represented by Mary Bono Mack, who has held that seat for the past 12 years. Both candidates , according to the AP, can be considered favourites to win, and if that happens, they join the other three openly gay members of Congress, all of whom are Democrats – Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Jared Polis of Colorado.

Meanwhile, in Iowa, failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats continues to exercise his own particular version of anti-gay hate, the organizer of a targeted campaign to remove three justices in November, in effect to punitively punish them for the role in a state Supreme Court ruling that legalized same sex marriage in Iowa in March, 2009. According to State Bill Colorado “Vander Plaats acknowledges that he is trying to send a message. He believes appointed judges in Iowa and other states have little accountability to the people, giving them broad latitude to make state-wide decisions without concern over what residents prefer. Not only can judges redefine marriage, he says, ‘they can redefine who should pay taxes and how much, who can own and carry a gun and whose private property rights get protected - or do not.’”

Trevor Donovan – who will play gay this season on 90210 – was spotted Friday in Los Angeles with a mystery male who seems particularly close, then Sunday seen in Malibu competing in the 12th annual Nautica Malibu Triathlon, offering a good glimpse of his Armani underwear.