Gay Couple Who Were Awarded Damages After Being Refused Admittance To British Hotel Withdraw Appeal Citing “Error Of Judgement,” Anti-Gay New York State Senator Kruger Outed After He And Boyfriend Among Eight Men Indicted In Federal Pay For Play Scheme, Austin Texas Fire Chief Is Outed But Adamant She Is Straight, Andy Murray And Novak Djokovic Shirtless Soccer Stars, Channing Tatum And Jamie Bell

The BBC reports that the Equality and Human Rights Commission has withdrawn an appeal on behalf of a gay couple who were refused a double room at a Cornish hotel. Peter and Hazelmary Bull were ordered to pay Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall, from Bristol, £1,800 each in damages for the incident in September, 2008. The gay couples attorney lodged a cross appeal to clarify the law around how damages are calculated in such cases, but the EHRC said the appeal was "an error of judgement" by its legal team. John Wadham, the commission's legal director, said in a statement that the cross appeal on behalf of Mr Preddy and Mr Hall had been withdrawn on Friday morning. "It was filed initially because of an error of judgment on the part of our legal team," he said. "They submitted the cross appeal in an attempt to clarify the law around how damages are calculated in cases such as this. This resulted in it appearing that Steve Preddy and Martyn Hall were seeking to increase the amount of damages they receive because Mr and Mrs Bull's Christian beliefs had led them to break the law. This was not our intention and it was certainly not the intention of Steve and Martyn. I would like to confirm that public money will not be spent funding a claim for increased damages in this case." In January, a judge ruled that the owners of the Chymorvah Hotel, near Penzance, had acted unlawfully. Mr and Mrs Bull have appealed against the judgement, saying as Christians they did not believe unmarried couples should share a room. A commission spokeswoman added that the organization would still resist Mr and Mrs Bull's appeal. Preddy and Hall added in a statement that "We brought this case to clarify the law, not to make money. We have always believed that the original award was a fair one, and are not seeking any further compensation."

The New York Post reports on closeted state Senator Carl Kruger (Democrat-Brooklyn), among those who cowardly voted against a same sex marriage measure in 2010, was outed Thursday when federal prosecutors revealed a 53-page criminal complaint against the 61 year old and seven others, including Kruger’s longtime, live-in boyfriend. The complaint alleges that Kruger traded political favours for more than $1 million in bribes over the last five years, aided by Manhattan gynaecologist Michael Turano. The charges include allegations that Kruger, Brooklyn Assemblyman William Boyland and previously convicted Queens Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, who died in prison in January, 2010, received bribes and other largesse to help two competing health-care companies buy hospitals, and direct state funds to those firms. Turano, is accused of using bribe money he deposited in two shell companies for Kruger to pay the lease on a Bentley luxury sedan, credit-card bills and the mortgage on the garish, multimillion-dollar Mill Basin home where the two men for years have resided with Turano's mom and brother, authorities and neighbours said. "Sen. Kruger had a close and intimate relationship with the entire Turano family, which includes one of the defendants, Michael Turano, along with his mother and brother," US Attorney Preet Bharara told reporters yesterday

The Austin Statesman Chronicle reports on the outing of the city’s fire chief, Rhoda Kerr, by the head of the Austin chapter of NAACP Nelson Linder, in an effort, according to Linder, to defend Kerr, who remains adamant she is straight. Linder, communicating his concern about recently released e-mails among some city officials that contained unflattering opinions of Kerr, said that a reference to her as “a company man” by Mayor Lee Leffingwell is implicitly a sexual slur because it is “public knowledge” that Kerr is gay. Leffingwell also got an e-mail from Council Member Mike Martinez that said City Manager Marc Ott and a key assistant, both of whom are black, are “jokes,” and Leffingwell wrote that the president of the black firefighters group “had been bought off” for his support of a Kerr proposal.“I just think it’s ugly,” Linder is quoted by the Chronicle, “and those kind of comments in this kind of context, with three folks who are black and one white female who was gay — that was my take on that.” Thursday, Kerr said that “I am not a gay woman. I am totally supportive of all of my LGBT friends and workers and employees. I would just like the record to be straight that I am not a gay woman.” Kerr said the Chronicle did not ask about her sexuality before the article’s publication. Linder said today that in the interview with the Chronicle, he discussed concerns about the climate in the largely white, male-dominated Fire Department and that had gotten calls from others in the community who said Kerr is gay and that they were concerned about the e-mails. He said some of his comments were taken out of context. Chronicle reporter Michael King, who wrote the article, said he quoted Linder accurately.

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic play soccer Wednesday in Indian Wells, California, shirtless, thankfully.

Thursday, Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell spotted signing copies of The Eagle in London, the twosome quite a lovely couple.