Netherland Court Condemns Inaction Of Police But Cannot Convict Anti-Gay Youth Who Forced Gay Couple From Town, Binghamton New York Will Be First To Allow Gay And Lesbian Couples To Marry, Straight Women For Marriage Equality Begin Battle To Overturn Same-Sex Marriage Ban In Oregon, Kellan Lutz Prepares To Skydive, Rafael Nadal Shirtless Sea Sexiness

Radio Netherlands reports that a group of youths who harassed a gay couple until they fled the Leidsche Rijn district in the city of Utrecht will not face prosecution, although accusing the police and council in Utrecht of negligence regarding the complaints of harassment, the Court of Appeal in Arnhem rejected the couple's request that the Public Prosecutor's Office be ordered to bring charges against some of the youths involved. The court ruled that a new investigation would be pointless, partly because the alleged crimes were committed more than a year ago. In 2009 and 2010, the gay couple filed six separate reports of harassment, vandalism and damage to property. One of the reports concerned their car having been rammed deliberately by another vehicle. The men eventually felt forced to leave the district, selling their home far below market value. In its ruling the appeal court condemned the police and Public Prosecutor's Office, saying they failed to investigate properly whether any crimes had been committed. The court said there had been an absence of "adequate and decisive action" and "apparently no, or insufficient, priority was given to the reports. Opportunities to solve the alleged crimes were missed.” The couple say they will now file lawsuits against the state, the police and Utrecht city council.

Gay and lesbian couples seeking to marry in New York State at the first possible moment will have at least one option to do so — but, right now at least, it would require a trip to the state’s Southern Tier, The New York Times’ City Room reporting that the city of Binghamton is planning to open its municipal offices to accept marriage applications on Sunday, July 24, when the same-sex marriage law takes effect, officials there said on Wednesday. “It just seemed like, if that’s the first day that this is allowed, then we should allow people to take advantage of that,” said Sean Massey, a Binghamton city councilman. Massey said that opening the office would allow city officials to avoid a huge rush of applications the following Monday, when the clerk’s office would normally open for the week. Binghamton is only a few minutes from the Pennsylvania line, so city officials expect to receive marriage applications from a number of out-of-state couples, too. Officials at the two state-wide associations for city and town clerks said they had not heard of other municipalities that planned to open on the 24th. But several officials, reached by telephone on Wednesday, said they were amenable to the idea. In Ithaca, the town clerk, Paulette Terwilliger, said she first planned to publish a public service announcement alerting couples to the July 24 date. “If people are interested, I will open,” she said. And in Woodstock, the town clerk, Jacquelyn Earley, said that while she was still waiting for direction from state officials regarding the new law, she would happily accommodate anyone who wanted to apply for a marriage license on the 24th. One couple has already requested that she accept their marriage application as soon as the law allows, she said. But even for those couples who rush to get a license on July 24, the wait to marry could stretch on for one more day: under state law, 24 hours must pass after a couple receives their marriage license before they can formally wed, unless they receive a waiver from a judge. The waivers are granted on a case-by-case basis. But court officials indicated that judges might be available to grant them on the 24th if, for example, the New York City clerk’s office decided to open that Sunday to accept marriage applications. “Right now, there is no formal plan on our end,” said David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the state court system. “However, informally, several judges have expressed an interest in volunteering to perform gay marriages at the stroke of midnight if the city moves forward with an organized plan for midnight marriages.”

According to a report by The Oregonian, seven long years separated Oregon voters' decision to ban same-sex marriage in 2004 and the New York legislature's vote to legalize it late last month, and yet the lesson from both political fights is the same: legalizing same-sex marriage takes a broad-based coalition that includes a healthy number of straight people with nothing to gain but more wedding invitations. And that is where Timi Parker comes in, Parker a part of a new non-profit, Straight Women for Marriage Equality, that is raising money and planning to talk up same-sex marriage in parts of Oregon that have not historically supported progressive causes. "The bottom line for us is the golden rule," said Parker, a retired schoolteacher who lives in Newberg. "We should treat other people the way we want to be treated." The 2012 election is a long way off, but advocates on both sides are preparing for a potential campaign to overturn Measure 36, which defined marriage in Oregon as being between one man and one woman. Basic Rights Oregon, the state's leading gay rights group, has run TV ads promoting same-sex marriage. Volunteers with BRO and the Oregon Bus Project, which works to get young people into politics, knocked on almost 20,000 doors last summer. Straight Women for Marriage Equality stems from research that shows that the single biggest influence on conservative-leaning men when it comes to social issues is the women in their lives. It also confronts the unpleasant reality that a certain percentage of Oregon's population remains too unnerved by the mere concept of homosexuality to listen to a gay or lesbian's arguments for marriage. They may not be swayed by someone talking about how the right to marriage would strengthen non-traditional families, but they might listen to someone like Parker, a devoted grandmother who loves her gay friends and sees same-sex marriage as a broader question of basic fairness. "For me, this conversation needs to be about what kind of a state we want this to be," she said. "I'm 60 years old. I'd like to leave my grandchildren a much more equitable place."

It might look like a still photograph from an ill-conceived bondage film, but it is actually a picture Kellan Lutz posted to Twitter just before skydiving on July 4.

Rafael Nadal frolics in the waters of the Island of Formentera, Spain, wet and wonderful looking, naturally.