Maryland Senate Likely To Take Up Same Sex Marriage Measure This Week, Orange County Florida Mayor Jacobs Suddenly Supports Creation Of Domestic Partnership Registry, Minneapolis-Area Lutherans Vote To Oppose Proposed Constitutional Amendment Banning Same Sex Marriage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson And Justin Mikita, Shirtless Scruffy Zac Efron Gets Tattooed, Chace Crawford Doesn’t Wear A Shirt And Appears Not To Wear Underwear

The Maryland Senate is expected to act quickly on a bill that could legalize same sex marriage. According to The Associated Press, the chamber’s Judicial Proceedings Committee is scheduled to send the legislation to the full Senate on Tuesday and a final vote on the bill could come by the end of the week, said committee chairman Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery. Last week the House of Delegates cleared a long-standing hurdle and passed the bill by a slim 72 to 67 margin, earning only one more vote than needed to gain a majority. The Senate passed a similar measure last year 25 to 21, but opponents are still lobbying senators in hopes of killing the bill. Following the bill’s passage in the House, leaders from the Maryland Catholic Conference urged senators to reject the measure, suggesting the House passed the bill with a significant amount of “political pressures and legislative manoeuvres.” That group was scheduled to host its annual lobby night in Annapolis on Monday. Carrie Evans, executive director for the gay rights organization Equality Maryland, said her group is confident they still have the support of the 25 senators who voted in favour the issue last year, but with their focus in on House members in recent weeks, advocates have not courted any new supporters. “Truthfully, we’re just working on preserving the 25 (votes),” Evans said Monday. Senator James Brochin (D-Baltimore County), who sat on the fence last year before ultimately deciding to support the same sex marriage legislation, said his position has not changed and he thinks Republicans won’t drag out the voting process. “I think Republicans have just realized that a lot of attitudes have changed over the last four or five years and it’s not as polarizing as it once was,” Brochin said. Eleven of the 12 Senate Republicans and 10 Democrats voted against same-sex marriage last year. One Republican, Sen. Allan Kittleman (R-Howard), supported the bill and was called upon to encourage House Republicans to support the measure before their vote Friday evening. Frosh said any amendments to the legislation are unlikely to gain traction. Opponents have vowed to take the measure to referendum should it pass the Senate and be signed into law by Governor Martin O’Malley who threw his name behind the legislation this year.

In Florida, Mayor Teresa Jacobs has decided to back the creation of a domestic-partner registry for all Orange County residents. If approved by commissioners, the county would honour the system set up by Orlando leaders, which offers certain end-of-life and visitation rights to gay and other unmarried couples at hospitals, jails and funeral homes. The Orlando Sentinel reports Jacobs' decision comes after weeks of public, often tense wrangling with gay-rights activists over the issue. At various points, advocates feared she would oppose a registry for county residents. Instead, Orange County could join the ranks of Florida's large metro governments that already have one, including Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Jacobs said there are still issues to work through, and she wants to offer residents a parallel option for people who don't live together. But neither her alternative, nor the legal conflicts she has come across, should prevent passage of a domestic-partner-registry ordinance that covers the entire county, she said. "We would be expanding the registry that the city of Orlando already has," Jacobs said. "It would be one registry." Jacobs plans to meet again with gay advocates Monday afternoon to lay out her proposal. On Tuesday, Jacobs will present her plan to commissioners, a majority of whom have expressed support for a system akin to Orlando's new registry. Unless a majority opposes it, Jacobs said she would start drafting a domestic-partner-registry ordinance. Jacobs envisions a system where any county resident could sign up for the existing registry at Orlando City Hall. The county ordinance would give residents the right to sue to enforce the registry. It would also apply to the other cities within the county unless they chose to opt out. Same-sex couples say the registry is needed because they are often barred from seeing their partners during medical emergencies because state law doesn't recognize them as family. Gay people are sometimes unable to make medical or funeral decisions for the same reason. Jacobs declined to pursue a registry last year on the same time frame as Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, citing an overloaded schedule and limited staff time. When Orlando leaders roundly passed its domestic-partner-registry ordinance in December, Jacobs only pledged to hold a hearing on the issue, saying she needed to do research, as with any complex issue. In recent weeks, Jacobs continued to voice legal concerns about Orlando's registry, both publicly and in a meeting with gay-rights advocates, after meetings with school, hospital and funeral officials. Those comments led some activists to believe the Republican first-term mayor was about to oppose a registry. But Jacobs said she was merely doing her due diligence, and it ran into a few logistical issues or conflicts with state law. Among them: Funeral-home officials say they are obligated by state law to consult with next-of-kin relatives in disputes over cremation requests, regardless of a domestic partner's rights. It may take added work to request or require city and state law-enforcement officers to use the registry in cases of notification after emergencies. Forcing private and religious schools to honour a registry may also be problematic. "There are a couple areas we're still struggling with," Jacobs said, but added later, "I don't see any deal killer[s] here." Despite those lingering issues, Jacobs predicted that by late spring or early summer, all Orange residents would be eligible to sign up. Jacobs said expanding the ordinance to include people who don't live together ensures that the ordinance cannot be attacked for violating Florida's law against same sex marriage. Jacobs said the registry debate has been rife with confusion and strong emotions, and it has left her unsure how to handle such controversial issues in the future. "It's been a learning experience for me, and I'm not sure what I've learned," Jacobs said, suggesting that she may keep future deliberations more internal. "Again, that doesn't seem like a particularly good answer. "Maybe there's no right way to deal with issues that are both complicated and emotional," Jacobs said.

Friday, Minneapolis-area Lutherans went on record against changing the state Constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Their vote made them one of the largest faith groups yet to formally oppose the amendment that will go before voters November 6, which would ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota. Close to 700 Lutherans, representing congregations in the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, voted on a resolution opposing the amendment at the group's annual assembly at a Prior Lake church. According to The Star Tribune, when the vote was called, those in favour of the resolution flashed green cards with the word "yes,” while those against it waved red cards that said "no." The greens overwhelmed the reds, and no formal tally was called for by synod leaders. "What we've heard today is the Lutheran Church is about welcome, and we proved that with the statement we made," said Lauren Morse-Wendt, a mission developer with Edina Community Lutheran Church and one of the resolution's authors. "I believe the people of Minnesota need to know that people of faith stand up for all families. This marriage amendment to define marriage between a man and a woman is a discriminatory amendment which would deliberately deny justice to a portion of the population of Minnesota." The synod does not plan to give money to help defeat the amendment, but hopes congregations will study the resolution and "consider how they will respond," said Sara Masters, a synod spokeswoman. State law already defines marriage as the union of a man and woman. Supporters of the proposed amendment argue that it is needed to enshrine that belief in the constitution so that neither judges nor a future Legislature could overturn it. Faith groups and institutions are divided over the amendment. With nearly 800,000 members and Minnesota's second-largest religious denomination, the ELCA is the latest to weigh in on the measure; the Minneapolis synod is the first major Lutheran body to oppose it. Catholic bishops representing Minnesota's largest single denomination, with close to 1.1 million members, have come out in favour of the amendment, bringing some objections from lay Catholics. The Minneapolis synod's resolution states that the amendment "would prevent one group of committed couples and their families from pursuing ordinary legislative or legal means to gain the support and protections afforded to all others." During a discussion at the assembly, at least a dozen people spoke for or against the measure. Those against the resolution questioned whether it was appropriate for the synod to take a stand on the marriage amendment. Clifton Hanson, a pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Isanti, spoke against the synod's resolution. "This is a really complex political issue, and I think it is important Christians are involved in the political realm on the individual level," Hanson said. "I think for us to come together as a group and say the church thinks [that the marriage amendment is wrong] is inappropriate. One of the things Christians have felt for a long time, and Lutherans especially, is that political issues of basically every kind are things about which Christians can legitimately disagree. I think to vote on something like this ... is not really our place, especially considering the fact that by doing that we're telling Christians within our denomination you cannot legitimately disagree on this matter." The St. Paul Area Synod will consider a similar resolution opposing the amendment at its annual assembly in May. Minnesota's remaining four ELCA synods have not brought up resolutions addressing the marriage amendment. The Minneapolis synod is the nation's largest ELCA synod, with approximately 188,710 baptized members. In 2004, its assembly opposed "any effort to amend the United States federal or Minnesota state Constitution to forbid the creation of legally recognized relationships between persons of the same sex." The ELCA nationwide also changed its policy in 2009 to allow for openly gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships. Minnesota for Marriage, a coalition of groups including the state's Roman Catholic bishops, was formed in an effort to get the marriage amendment approved.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his dreamy boyfriend Justin Mikita spotted arriving for Ferguson’s appearance on Monday’s Late Show with David Letterman.

The incredible, edible Zac Efron gets a new tattoo, shirtless, his Ellen underwear band exposed, Efron a furry sexy surprise!

Chace Crawford wanders around Cabo San Lucas shirtless.