Girl Guides Of Canada Considering Transgender Members, United Kingdom Christian Councillor Found Guilty Of Professional Misconduct After Prescribing Gay Cure Prepares Appeal, Dallas Mayor Explains He Did Not Sign Onto Marriage Equality Campaign Because He Is “Pledge-Phobic,” Kansas Republican Legislator Presents Yet Another Attempt To Prohibit Same Sex Marriages On Military Bases, Anti-Gay Family Research Council Condemns Star Wars’ Gay-Positive Game, Beefy Daniel Garofali, Pumped Zac Efron

The historic Girl Guides of Canada is wrestling with a very modern question: Whether to allow transgender girls — children who were born male but identify as girls — into their troops. “Our board is seeking advice from medical and law professionals, and will deal with requests on a case-by-case basis,” said Deborah Del Duca, CEO of Girl Guides of Canada. “Girl Guides of Canada strives to ensure environments where girls and women from all walks of life, identities and lived experiences feel a sense of belonging and can fully participate.” According to The Toronto Sun, the volunteer service organization was recently asked if they would allow transgender girls into their organization. The Canadian request was made after a Colorado Girl Scouts troop was asked to include a transgender girl into their ranks. The American group eventually agreed to admit the child. “Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members,” the Girl Scouts of Colorado said on its website. “If a child identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.” The move has angered some parents, who have called for a boycott of what they see as an LBGT rights agenda in a children’s organization. The question is a non-issue for Scouts Canada, which ceased being a boys-only group in 1998 when it allowed girls to join. The Girl Guides was founded in 1910 in England by Lady Agnes Baden-Powell, sister of Lt. Gen Robert Baden-Powell, an army officer who wrote the book on scouting and orienteering. Guides and Scouts focused on skills training, wilderness survival, charity and citizenship. Gov. Gen. David Johnston is the Chief Scout of Canada, while the Queen is the Patron of the Guiding Association. Girl Guides of Canada now tackles a wide range of issues, including bullying, climate change and HIV awareness.

An update on a previous post, Lesley Pilkington was effectively barred from her professional register after attempting to convert a homosexual man in a therapy session at her home. Her patient turned out to be a gay rights journalist, who had secretly recorded the sessions and then reported her to her professional body. Mrs Pilkington, a committed Christian, was subsequently found guilty of professional misconduct. The therapy practised by Mrs Pilkington had been described as "absurd" by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and roundly condemned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. But, reports The Telegraph, ahead of her appeal against the BACP ruling, Mrs Pilkington has received backing from the Right Reverend Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. In a letter to her professional body, Lord Carey – along with a number of senior figures – suggests Mrs Pilkington is herself a victim of entrapment whose therapy should be supported. His comments – in a letter co-signed by, among others, the Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester and the Right Rev Wallace Benn, the Bishop of Lewes – will cause controversy in the gay community and beyond. The joint letter states: "Psychological care for those who are distressed by unwanted homosexual attractions has been shown to yield a range of beneficial client outcomes, especially in motivated clients ... Such therapy does not produce harm despite the Royal College of Psychiatrists and others maintaining the contrary." It concludes: "Competent practitioners, including those working with biblical Judeo-Christian values, should be free to assist those seeking help." Lawyers acting for Mrs Pilkington will argue at the appeal hearing on Wednesday that the counsellor did not get a fair hearing. The case against Mrs Pilkington – first reported in The Sunday Telegraph a year ago – was brought by Patrick Strudwick, a journalist, who approached her at a largely Christian conference and asked her to treat him. In May 2009, Mr Strudwick attended a therapy session at Mrs Pilkington's private practice, based at her home in Chorleywood, Herts, and recorded the session on a tape machine strapped to his stomach. On the tape, Mr Strudwick asks Mrs Pilkington if she views homosexuality as "a mental illness, an addiction or an anti religious phenomenon". She replies: "It is all of that." Last year, Strudwick said, "Entering into therapy with somebody who thinks I am sick … is the singularly most chilling experience of my life. If a black person goes to a GP and says I want skin bleaching treatment, that does not put the onus on the practitioner to deliver the demands of the patient. It puts the onus on the health care practitioner to behave responsibly." Mrs Pilkington said her method of therapy – Sexual Orientation Change Efforts – is legitimate and effective. The therapy is practised by a handful of psychotherapists in Britain. The method involves behavioural, psychoanalytical and religious techniques. Homosexual men are sent on weekends away with heterosexual men to "encourage their masculinity" and "in time to develop healthy relationships with women", said Pilkington. Her legal defence is being funded by the Christian Legal Centre, which has instructed Paul Diamond, a leading human rights barrister, to fight the case.

After refusing to sign a pledge in support of a Constitutional law allowing same-sex marriage, Dallas, Texas Mayor Mike Rawlings met with 25 leaders in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community Saturday to explain why. “I’m a bit pledge-phobic,” Rawlings told reporters after the closed door meeting. “I think America has got too many pledges out there and I think it’s simplistic and not substantive.” The national advocacy group Freedom to Marry asked mayors across the country to sign a pledge supporting gay marriage. More than 100 mayors have signed the pledge, six of whom reside over Texas cities. But no mayor from North Texas has added his or her name to the list. CBS 11 News reports that Rawlings’s refusal to sign the pledge prompted a demonstration in front of Dallas City Hall Friday night. The mayor said he supports the rights of all Dallas residents as well as those in the LGBT community, but he maintained his stance Saturday afternoon. “I’m a mayor that wants to be substantive,” he said. “I do care about the civil rights of all of our citizens.” Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price served as the grand marshal of the Tarrant County Gay Pride Parade in 2011, but also refused to sign the pledge. She said she believes gay marriage is a state issue and not a local one. Meanwhile, gay rights advocates say they will continue to pressure the mayors to sign the pledge.

A congressional lawmaker opposed to homosexuals serving openly in the military is again attempting to pass a measure meant to prevent gay couples from marrying on military bases and ensuring chaplains who oppose homosexuality do not suffer for their views. Military.com reports that Kansas Republican Representative Tim Huelskamp is sponsoring a bill that stipulates the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" cannot be used to force chaplains to do anything against their beliefs, he said in an announcement Friday, including marrying gay partners. "It will also protect the freedom of those in the military to express vocally the tenets of their faiths. And it will make certain that our military facilities are not used in contravention to the federal Defense of Marriage Act," he said. "Military installations exist to carry out the national defense of our nation, not to facilitate a narrow social agenda." Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which fought against the ban on gays serving openly for years, slammed Huelskamp's bill as "another round of resistance tactics that have already been rejected by Congress and the American people."

The Force might soon be with your gay relationship in the massively multiplayer game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, but the Family Research Council is certainly not. According to PC Magazine the Washington D.C.-based non-profit, which bills itself as, "the leading voice for the family in our nation's halls of power," has issued a statement decrying Bioware's about-face about homosexuality in the Star Wars gaming universe. According to Bioware, the ability to have a same sex relationship within The Old Republic (with a NPC character, not a relationship with a real-life player in the game) is on the horizon. "In a galaxy not so far, far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships," says Tony Perkins, FRC president, in a statement, accompanied by a radio ad. "Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren't. On the game's website, there are more than 300 pages of comments--a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It's time to show companies who the Force is really with." adds Perkins. The issue of homosexuality within The Old Republic first came about back in 2009, when users of Bioware's online forums noticed that the words, "gay," "lesbian," and "homosexual" were censored whenever they were posted within a forum thread. Bioware community manager Sean Dahlberg attempted an explanation, saying in an April 2009 post that, "[Gay and lesbian] are terms that do not exist in Star Wars. Thread closed." It's unclear whether Bioware's going to actually use "those words" at a future point within The Old Republic, but the official line from the company is that gamers will eventually be allowed to pursue relationships (or hook-ups, at least) with NPC sidekicks of either gender. And the reason this feature wasn't implemented at the game's December 2011 launch was more an issue of logistics than controversy. "Due to the design constraints of a fully voiced MMO of this scale and size, many choices had to be made as to the launch and post-launch feature set. Same gender romances with companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a post-launch feature," reads a statement on Bioware's forums. "Because The Old Republic is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options."

The beautiful, beefy male model Daniel Garofali in an editorial called Conquest.

Zac Efron packs his guns and heads off the set of The Paperboy.