Day After Being Re-Elected By 24 Votes Houston Independent School Board Member Rodriguez Offers Awkward Apology For Anti-Gay Smear Against Opponent, Anti-Gay Christian New York State Town Clerk Re-Elected, Alan Osmond Believes Homosexuality A “Difficulty” That Can Be Overcome With Help From The Lord, After Three-Year Campaign Basic Rights Oregon Opts Not To Pursue Same Sex Marriage On 2012 Ballot, Brian Grazer Named Academy Awards Producer, Henry Cavill

A day after narrowly winning re-election, Houston school board member Manuel Rodriguez Jr. apologized Wednesday for a campaign ad targeting his rival for being gay. "I am aware that some people have said they were offended by one of my ads, and I apologize to all of those people," Rodriguez said in a statement. The apology, according to The Houston Chronicle, did not satisfy Rodriguez's opponent, Ramiro Fonseca, who lost by only 24 votes, according to the unofficial results. Fonseca said he was waiting for the final vote tally, which would count outstanding mail and provisional ballots, before deciding his next step - including a possible request for a recount. "I think the hurt has been deep in the community," Fonseca said in response to Rodriguez's statement. Rodriguez's campaign flier urged voters to oppose Fonseca, noting that Fonseca has a male partner and no children. The ad said Fonseca had "spent years advocating for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender rights … not kids." Rodriguez had stood by the ad, calling it "the truth," in the days before the election - despite calls for an apology from the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, which advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. Houston Independent School District trustee Juliet Stipeche also publicly criticized the flier, and the Houston Chronicle rescinded its endorsement of Rodriguez. The critics noted that the ad seemed to defy the board's new anti-discrimination policy, which prohibits bullying based on sexual orientation. In his statement, Rodriguez said he supported the policy. "I voted for this policy because it was the right thing to do, and I remain committed to creating a culture in our schools where all people feel welcome and safe," he said. Rodriguez will have to face his critics in person at a board meeting Thursday. Mike Pomeroy, a member of the GLBT caucus, said he thought Rodriguez's statement was insufficient, and he plans to join others - including an HISD student - in addressing Rodriguez during the public comment period. "I don't think he gets it," Pomeroy said. "He was throughout the weekend saying, 'I don't know what's wrong with this. It's the truth.' And he was still handing out the flier at the polls. This is all coming a little bit too late." Fonseca, a Houston Community College administrator who had the support of several established politicians and the teachers' union, won more votes than Rodriguez on Election Day. But Rodriguez had more votes via mail and early voting, which took place before the campaign ad circulated widely. If Fonseca does request a recount, his chances of winning appear slim, observers say. "When you do an electronic recount, it's really hard to turn it around," said Marc Campos, a campaign consultant who advised Fonseca. "It's not like the old days when you can debate a hanging chad."

Ledyard Town Clerk Rose Marie Belforti will serve another two years after winning re-election Tuesday, reports The Auburn Citizen.Belforti, who has been at the center of a controversy since August for refusing to sign same sex marriage licenses, received 305 votes while her write-in challenger Ed Easter received 186 votes. "I appreciate it very much. I’m very thankful. I’m thankful for everybody that came out. They are my boss. They told me I could work some more. It’s the people that vote us in and the people that vote us out," Belforti said, adding, awkwardly, that she was glad the election was done and glad that her opponent did not win. The job is important for her, she said, because of the income. She says her business, Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery, has lost 50 percent of its business because of a boycott as a result of her position on same sex marriage licenses. "On that level, I’m glad I have job. I feel great that people were able to support me even though I wanted to do something different and challenge Governor (Andrew) Cuomo’s law," she said. Easter said he appreciated the support he received, despite not having a ballot line and having to run an "uphill" campaign. "Considering we came into the game so late, I thought we did a really, really good job," he said. "All the volunteers did a good job of getting out and spreading the message." While campaigning, Easter said he and his volunteers tried to make it clear that this was not about gay rights or religious rights, but rather civil rights. He also learned from this experience -- his first try for elected office. "One of the lessons I got out of this was, win or lose, it’s important that you get out and you make an informed statement," he said. "I came into this trying to make sure that people knew there was an option." Belforti, who has served as clerk since 2001, is refusing to sign same sex marriage licenses on religious grounds. Instead, she has assigned the marriage license duties to a deputy clerk -- a decision she believes is legal. "I still think I’m in the right to do that," she said.

Alan Osmond, of the Osmond Brothers, has authored a post that argues against homosexuality as a genetic characteristic, a theory that allows the 62-year-old to contend that sexual reparative therapy is a viable course of action for those seeking to change their sexual orientation. Published at The Family, a website operated by his wife Suzanne, that although not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, promotes the beliefs of members of the Mormon Church, Osmond writes that, “it is important to understand that homosexuality is not innate and unchangeable. Research has NOT proved that homosexuality is genetic. Even more important, many researchers whose studies have been used to support a biological model for homosexuality have determined that their work has been MISINTERPRETED. What is clear is that homosexuality results from an interaction of social, biological, and psychological factors. These factors may include temperament, personality traits, sexual abuse, familial factors, and treatment by one’s peers.”

After a three-year campaign to build support for legalizing same-sex marriage, Oregon's largest gay rights group has decided against putting the issue up for a vote in 2012. The Oregonian reports that feedback from an online survey of over 1,000 people, door-to-door canvassing, community meetings and two state-wide television advertising campaigns overwhelmingly say, "we must allow our education work to continue," Basic Rights Oregon announced Wednesday. "As far as we have come, which has been significant, we don't yet have the kind of consensus that would indicate a reasonable expectation of success," said Jeana Frazzini, executive director. Oregonians now appear about evenly divided on a proposed ballot initiative to legalize gay marriage and to overturn the constitutional ban against same-sex marriage approved by voters in 2004, Frazzini said. The weak economy and high rates of unemployment and home foreclosures also create a tough climate for a political campaign over a social issue, she said. Basic Rights members favour waiting at least until the next opportunity for an initiative ballot in 2014 before plunging into a politically difficult campaign that would cost $5 million to $10 million, she said. National polls last spring showed support for same-sex marriage, which has climbed for the last seven years, hit the majority milestone. An ABC News/Washington Post poll in March and a Gallup Poll in May showed 53 percent of Americans in support. A Public Policy Polling survey of Oregon voters in June, however, found that 48 percent of voters support same-sex marriage. Basic Rights members want to see more support before they go to the ballot. "There is just too much at stake here," Frazzini said. "Folks are up for the challenge but want to have a sense that it is winnable." More than 3,000 gay and lesbian couples in Oregon have entered domestic partnerships, which were legalized by the Legislature in 2007. The partnerships give couples most of the benefits of marriage. But couples say they also make them feel like second-class citizens because the civil unions do not convey the same status and respect conferred by marriage.

Brian Grazer is replacing Brett Ratner as Oscar producer after Ratner uttered a gay slur, odd, since, as The Los Angeles Times reports Grazer himself was involved in a controversy involving a gay slur just a year ago. Grazer and his Imagine Entertainment produced The Dilemma, the Vince Vaughn-Kevin James vehicle released in January. The movie caused controversy in October 2010 when a trailer was released that featured Vaughn’s character using the word “gay” as a pejorative. “Electric cars are gay. I mean, not homosexual, but my-parents-are-chaperoning-the-dance gay,” said Vaughn’s character, a fast-talking salesman named Ronny Valentine. The spot prompted protests from gay rights groups, including GLAAD, the same organization that registered objection to Ratner’s “rehearsal is for fags." Universal decided to pull the trailer from theatres. But the film’s director, Grazer’s longtime producing partner Ron Howard, opted to keep the joke in the film. “I believe in sensitivity but not censorship,” Howard said at the time. In many ways, the controversies are similar: Both instances featured the use of a term with unsavoury connotations about gays that was not aimed specifically at the gay community. The distinction, of course, is that in one case the word came from a character in a film and in another it was from a producer directly. It remains to be seen how sharply that distinction will be drawn by gay-rights groups as the Grazer-produced Oscars move forward. And if gay politics weren’t already hovering over these Oscars, there is yet another turn. Grazer is behind J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood’s new movie that deals with the personal and public life of J. Edgar Hoover. The movie, which was written by the openly gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, opens nationally this weekend. According to reviews, it avoids extensive treatment of the FBI chief's sex life; in fact, Leonardo DiCaprio told an audience last week in response to a question about Hoover’s widely rumoured homosexuality that "it's not our business to care about what happened behind closed doors."

Henry Cavill returns to Vancouver. It is more than enough.