Yesterday the District of Columbia's City Council voted to legalize gay marriage. That means couples could begin getting married in D.C. as early as March. Congress, which has authority over laws passed in D.C. and the mayor still have to sign the bill, but it is expected that they will.

Earlier this year, the District of Columbia voted to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Now gay and lesbian couples can also get married there.

Washington, D.C. joins Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire in legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States.

_{© Brendan Smialowski/Stringer}

A friend of mine turned me on to this new web series called Any One But Me. Just in time for the second season to begin, I sat and watched the whole first season in one sitting.

Anyone But Me follows Vivian, a teen lesbian who must move from New York City to a rural community and leave her girlfriend behind. It's sexy and current and is mostly devoid of angst-filled coming out scenarios.

I think we'll be seeing more and more shows like this end up on the web, especially ones with gay and lesbian characters as the mainstream media is still shy about showing two girls kissing. I spoke with Anyone But Me Writers Susan Miller (who wrote for The L Word) and Tina Cesa Ward about why they chose the internet to tell their stories, how it differs from The L Word and how creating for the web is so much different than TV.

Annise Parker, an open lesbian, has been elected mayor of Houston in a race that was riddled with anti-gay attacks. Despite conservatives trying to use scare tactics and homophobic claims that she would push a radical gay agenda (whatever that is!) Parker was elected because she is the most qualified candidate for the job. Parker is currently Houston's city controller.

She becomes the first open lesbian of a major US city. Corine Mauch, another lesbian politician, was elected mayor of Zurich earlier this year.

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I don't live in New York City, but I am so happy now to have a correspondent who does. So many arts and entertainment events take place in New York and I miss them all. But thanks to Stephanie Schoeder, who writes entertainment and movie reviews, for Lesbian Life, I feel like I was at the OUT Music Awards earlier this week.

From her report, it sounds like there were some fun moments and a lot of glitches with the show. Stephanie covered the red carpet and highlighted all the lesbian and bi winners.

_{© Photo of Patricia Field by Stephanie Schroeder}

A friend and I were having conversation last night about the situation in Uganda. A new law proposed in Uganda wants to put gay and lesbian people to death, simply for having sex. The proposed anti-homosexuality bill could even send friends and relatives to jail if they fail to turn in people they know to be gay. And even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to gays.

The bill is horrifying and most news media report that they think it will pass. You can get involved by emailing the Ugandan Ambassadors to the US and UN and the US Ambassador.

I was saying to the friend that I am often fearful that legislation like that could be passed in the United States. Especially if it were up to the public to vote. She said she didn't think Americans would pass such a law. Whereas, I don't think Americans would pass a law to put gays to death, I do think that some people would vote to criminalize homosexuality.

Case in point, yesterday when reading an article about Uganda on NPR's website, I found this comment:

We don't need the death sentence here in the U.S. for gay sex, but we do need new laws that will make all sexual sins a crime. The gay lifestyle is not only sinful, but a risky lifestyle that only hurts a Nation that prides itself as a Christian Nation, that has biblical values. A moral Country is a healthy Country.

Four people gave the comment a thumbs-up. And this is on NPR, not a conservative site, like Fox News! We've seen the kind of ignorance and misinformation that is spread about the LGBT community during the battles for gay marriage.

What do you think? Could it happen here?

I'm on the last page of my 2009 calendar, which means it's time to pick out my 2010 calendar. Some years I go with a nature theme. Others I choose a peace and justice calendar. This year, I'm going all lesbian. The only problem is, which lesbian calendar to choose?

It is with sadness that I report that Lambda Rising bookstores in Washington, DC and Rehoboth Beach are closing. This is just the latest in a string of bookstore closings, including Oscar Wilde in New York City and Out Word Bound in Indianapolis.

The dying independent gay and lesbian book store is sad on many levels. Although many gay and lesbian books can now be found online, it is not the same as the experience of going into a store and being able to browse inventory, pick a book off the shelf and leaf through it.

And then there is the author reading. There's nothing I enjoy more than going to a bookstore to hear authors read from their work, to be able to meet them in person and get their signature. You can hear them talk about their writing process, why they chose to tell the story they did and learn a little bit about them. As a friend of mine said, after really cool reading from an anthology, "You can't get this experience on Amazon.com."

It's true. While I love the internet for some things, I don't think it can replace the face to face connections we need in our lives. Which is the other really important aspect of gay and lesbian bookstores: a gathering place for the community. Our local feminist bookstore hosts queer open mic nights, yoga classes, women's writing groups and movie nights. For those who don't like the bar scene or are just coming out, LGBT-friendly gathering places are essential. The loss of our gay and lesbian bookstores gives us one less place to go to be in safe company. I wonder if anything will ever fill that void.

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If you're in New York City next week, you have the opportunity to see a great film, starring Sharon Gless of Cagney & Lacey and Queer as Folk Fame. For all of you who wished all those years that Cagney would just kiss Lacey one time, Hannah Free is your movie.

Hannah Free tells the story of the life-long relationship between two women, one who lives life as a free-spirit lesbian, the other who takes a more traditional path.

Hannah Free is in New York City, December 11-17th, playing at The Quad, 34 West 13th Street. Read our review of Hannah Free and keep your ears open for other show times near where you live.

"Guess who I saw?" my friend exclaimed when we were on the Sweet Cruise. "The mom from Family Ties. Meredith Baxter." I wouldn't recognize her, if I saw her, I said and didn't think much else about it.

But then this morning on The Today Show, Meredith Baxter came out as a lesbian, all because she was spotted on the Sweet Cruise. It didn't really strike me as a big deal, but I guess it still is news when a celebrity comes out.

Meredith Baxter says she came out seven years ago, which would have made her 55 at the time. She joins a growing number of women who are coming out later in life.

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Like I do every year on World AIDS day, I want to take this opportunity to talk about lesbians/bisexual women and HIV/AIDS. Back in the early 90s there used to be a joke in the lesbian community. It went something like this: "If AIDS is God's punishment, then lesbians must be the chosen people." The joke was based on the misconception that lesbians don't get AIDS. Of course lesbians get AIDS. I have met HIV positive lesbians and bisexual women.

Lesbians do get AIDS. But even the way the Center for Disease Control tracks AIDS cases makes it difficult to document female to female transmission. The problem is, lesbians and women who have sex with women seem to be a low priority for studies about HIV. But I did some digging and found the truth about lesbians and HIV/AIDS.

Don't be fooled. Anyone who is sexually active needs to be informed about safer sex. Talk to your partners. Take care of yourself. Take care of the community.

_{© David Dallaqua}