Thanks to the holiday, What's That You Say?, our roundup of the best comments, is a day late. But keep your comments coming, and don't forget to register if you haven't. You may already be a winner of the not-really-prestigious weekly avatar and username contests! Comment of the Week: jen209 on D.C. being named only the 8th gayest city in the country: So maybe we ARE the gayest, it's just that all of our gays......

Good morning, Washington. It's only the end of September, but if drug store candy aisles are any indication, many of you are probably already thinking ahead just a little bit to the holiday season. What will you be for Halloween? Will you stay in town for Thanksgiving? What kind of Christmas bonus will you be getting this year? For some D.C. government employees, the answer to that last question is now up in the air.......

Via Wonkette, some lovely video of everyone's favorite political pundit/dancer with zero shame or credibility, Tucker Carlson. In the wake of the accusations of lewd activity in a men's bathroom against Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), Carlson appeared on MSNBC Live on Tuesday to proclaim Craig as seeming awfully guilty, and later told host Dan Abrams that some twenty years ago he and a friend once beat up a gay man who he says made......

Written by Adam Bailey Hey Washington, it's Pride Weekend! Following the warm up of Memorial Day's Black Pride, LGBT Washington and thousands of visitors will gather this weekend for celebrations like tomorrow's parade (through the Dupont and Logan Circle neighborhoods) and Sunday's street festival (between the Archives and the Capitol). Swing by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's booth while you're down there; they should be jubilant given today's news that Peter "Gays are Immoral" Pace......

Have you ever put off seeing a movie dealing with man’s inhumanity toward man, such as Hotel Rwanda or Life is Beautiful, know it will be shocking and sometimes painful, and will force you to confront the ugly reality that people often do very bad things to other people? That's how one might feel when approaching Mary Coble's new show, Aversion, at Conner Contemporary Art. Coble confronts the horrible effects of electro shock therapy prescribed......

FRIDAY: >> By far one of the most fun bar nights in town is always where ever the Guerrilla Queer Bar Takeover kids end up -- the mingling of gays and straights in D.C. ever a combination as terriffic as chili and cheese. So you can bet we'll be swinging by to celebrate the Third Anniversary of the Guerrilla Queer Bar Takeover at Black Cat tonight. The takeover starts in the Red Room at 9......

Morning Washington. Animals everywhere are breathing sighs of relief this morning after one giant creature makes a recovery and five little creatures get some justice. Ambika, the Asian elephant at the National Zoo was found with a blood clot yesterday, worrying the vets with what could have been a life threatening condition for the 59-year-old female. Luckily, the clot isn't dangerous, and Ambika looks to live will beyond the typical 50-ish year elephant life expectancy......

The Montgomery County School Board unanimously approved a new sex education curriculum for 8th graders and high school sophomores at their board meeting this morning. The district's old curriculum caused an uproar in 2005 as it included a video for 10th graders showing a woman putting a condom on a cucumber, a discussion of homosexuality and bisexuality in 8th grade sex-ed classes, and the singling out of certain religions for being intolerant towards homosexuality. The......

Happy May Monday, D.C.! Oh, sorry, it's actually December. Forgive me for not realizing that, since it's slated to be a ridiculous 66 degrees today. Can anybody enlighten us as to what is going on? Anyone? For now, you can read a post over on CapitalWeather.com that "glaringly exposed the disconnect between television meteorologists and the climate science community," according to the site. Meanwhile, enjoy the weather! Virginia Parishes Break Away: Those Episcopalian churches in......

Morning, D.C. Man, it got cold over the weekend, didn't it? One moment on Friday I'm biking around town in my skirt, next moment I'm huddled on the couch in the fetal position, swathed in comforters. And don't even get me started on the Skins...Anyways, it looks like it'll just be in the high 30s today, so pull those gloves and that scarf on. Episcopal Church Votes on Departure: The Post reports that two......

After a weekend as gorgeous as the one we had, we could only expect that something would come and sully it up -- rain. Our friends at Capital Weather tell us that today might see some humidity and rain, though the rest of the week is set to be beautiful. Virginia Gays Moving Away: Color us shocked. According to the Post, gay Virginians are fleeing the Old Dominion for more liberal states, fearing the effect......

San Francisco is proud host of a new reality show called "How to Get the Guy" that's unfortunately not a descendant of Will and Grace, Queer Eye, The L Word, American Idol etc. Also a biodefence lab is coming to the East Bay and SFist teaches wine pairing. Getting on the wrong train sucks. Getting on the wrong train and becoming the victim of what will later be described as a "stabbing spree" really sucks.......

And we thought calling gay folks "sexual deviants" was so yester-decade in these parts. Apparently not. There is controversy and commotion in Metro's Board of Directors, where Maryland member Robert Smith called gay people "sexual deviants" on a cable access show last week, reports the Washington Blade. Council-member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who is gay and serves on Metro's board, has demanded that Smith resign. After a June 15 meeting where Graham raised the issue......

In a topsy-turvy world where Virginia's Governor is a Democrat and Maryland's Governor is a Republican, two recent moves in curricular politics seem to show that our enfranchised neighbors to the north and south are moving closer to being purple states. We mentioned in passing a couple months ago that in Maryland, Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum and Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays have succeeded in having a restraining order against the Montgomery......

Maryland, the state some DCists call home, may be getting closer to becoming the next state to legalize same-sex marriages. Well, one step closer, anyway. A case filed by nine same-sex couples earlier this month (plaintiffs Jodi Kelber-Kaye and Stacey Kargman-Kaye are pictured above) and aimed at overturning a state law banning same-sex marriage is currently working its way through the courts, with a circuit court in Baltimore set to hear oral arguments on July......

Today might be a slow day at work (no loss -- it may rain, and just in time for what looks to be a great weekend). After all, we here at DCist expect that everyone celebrated the Cinco de Mayo in style. How else could you recognize Mexico's 1862 victory over the hated French than with copious amounts of Mexican-themed drinks? Whether or not you joined DCist at our own Cinco de Mayo happy hour......

It has been a so-so past couple of weeks for gay and lesbian equality in the metropolitan D.C. area, with news both good and bad happening on either side of the District. Virginia veered ever so slightly from the path to becoming the most anti-gay state in the Union, while Maryland managed to defeat two anti-gay bills in committee. February was not a good month for gays and lesbians in Virginia, as the state Assembly......

We did a double take upon hearing that members of the Virginia General Assembly objected to the prayer that opened the session this past Friday. Then we learned about the content of the prayer. We were less surprised. During her invocation, Rev. Deborah Peevey was heard to say, "Holy One, convict those who are using their power not to lead or to guide but to harm the gay and lesbian citizens, a small minority in......

( From DCist contributor Terrance Heath) Living in the relatively "gay friendly" metropolis that is D.C., it's easy to forget the the political leanings of surrounding areas. Case in point, Virginia. The latest comes from Fairfax County, where a school board member sent a letter to school principals urging them to invite "ex-gays" into schools to speak to students. Board member Stephen M. Hunt (his bio can be found here) sent his letter -- written......

Waldo Jaquith, a Virginia Tech student and president of the Virginia Family Values Political Action Committee (they support sexual privacy and contraception) was sick of his legislators passing Puritanical laws restricting and regulating sexual behavior and lobbying for things like "Traditional Marriage" license plates which, he reasoned, was basically a not-so-subtle dig against gays: "Every time they get married, they use up a little bit of our collective ability to get married. When they go......