Defining Marriage - Gay/LGBT News & Chat

It's a Christmas miracle! Defining Marriage is back, baby. And also finished. But James and Matthew aren't leaving you -- this is the start of something new and exciting and hopefully far less inappropriate. Join us for one last bumble, a round of what's-her-name, and a tease for where you can find us in the new year on our new upcoming podcast, Cozy Pants.

Oh my stars and garters, we're back -- improbably enough, by popular demand. After a bit of a hiatus for creative re-tooling, Defining Marriage has been resurrected so you may once again revel in topics such as Jeff Goldblum's feet, a robotic Carol Channing, and a torrid giraffe love triangle. Oh and also some marriage news too.

On this week's episode of the Defining Marriage podcast, we dissect the new Star War, and get blown to Bermuda for some worrisome news about marriage going away. Roy Moore refused to go away, and same-sex couples are happier than heterosexuals -- surprise! All that, plus it becomes clear to James that the furpublic no longer functions.

We're back for more nonsense! This week we're urging you to check out our Dungeons and Drag Queens show at DungeonDrag.com, and also celebrating the misery of Australian homophobes, hooray. James is in Twitch jail for a day, and the Cheeseman can finally wed. All that plus some misinformation about Ren and Stimpy! How timely.

We're back with a rollicking romp of forgotten names and irritating officials! I can't remember the name of another celebrity, and even when I remember I still forget. Vatican officials have some thoughts about Roy Moore, and someone just donated a wig to Alabama. Don't every try to use it at the same time. Also, watch us get even sillier on a livestream on November 4! Details at http://bit.ly/extralifeseattle

This week, we celebrate the arrival of Halloween with inappropriate sound effects and the strange story of where pumpkin goo actually comes from. There's some rotten news from Alabama, where Roy Moore is preparing to make Congress even crazier -- did you know he is the world's worst poet? And also some good news from Germany, land of the free.

On this week's podcast, James and I argue about ownership of a joke that wasn't even funny, sigh about the ridiculous marriage ads in Australia claiming that gay marriage will abolish Christmas, and sing some folk music. We also dive into Scrumpty Western music and plump up some donut holes.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We're back, baby, with a brand new Defining Marriage and some fresh nonsense from James. Australia is launching into the plebiscite, kind of, and it's triggered some truly terrible TV ads. The Drag Queens have journeyed into a Dungeon, Malta gets gay marriage this week, and Bermuda is being menaced by a man named Wayne Furbert.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

A chilly hello from Reykjavik, city of the future! I'm recording from a drizzly city square this week, preparing to reunite with James at the end of my long strange journey through deepest Europe. We have some news about Baldur's Gate and a bald man's pate, as well as the decline of American civilization -- which, let's be honest, was never much of a prize pig. Also in the news is a hasty conclusion (we hope) to the marriage fight in Australia, and Captain Planet's brave stance against the forces of hate.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

What a tangled web of nonsense we weave this week! I'm loitering about London before heading off to Iceland, while James swelters in the Seattle summer. Haiti has banned marriage equality, while a weird official in South Carolina is doing his best to stop queers from having domestic violence protection. Oh brother. And on top of everything, I can't tell the difference between Slash and Dr. Teeth from the Muppets.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We have a special guest this week! Ulli Koppe went to see German Chancellor Angela Merkel speak on a panel a few weeks ago, and on the spur of the moment asked her during the Q&A when he'd be able to marry his boyfriend. To everyone's surprise -- especially Ulli's -- she answered that a vote on marriage equality would happen right away. And then it did. And then marriage was legalized. Just like that, Ulli found himself having changed the lives of millions of queer Germans for the better. We chat about that experience, the moment he realized just what he'd done, and what his plans for marriage are now.

This week on Defining Marriage, we've reached goat marriage at last: I've journeyed to a farm and met some animals and ate their cheese, and if that's not marriage what is? Elizabeth Warren wants to issue a tax refund to all the gay couples who had to pay extra taxes for years, but is this reallllllly a good idea?

On this week's Defining Marriage, we take a stroll through a dinosaur palace, and a trip down memory lane on a scooter from the 1980s that is a bicycle seat with wheels. We have tidbits of marriage from Europe and hot gossip about Kim Davis -- can you believe her name is still coming up?

We're back! On this week's episode of the Defining Marriage podcast, we pick right back up with a rousing game of What's His Name, and I probe the depths of the animal kingdom for Bruce something, you know, the football guy. James has been having cuddle dreams, and Germany has been sobbing quietly and winning the freedom to marry. Plus: the latest from the sewers of Paris, the actual sewers, not the podcast.

This week I'm reporting from Amsterdam ... that Amsterdam is very pretty. We have a salami marriage in Switzerland, James designs video games about Grace Jones, and it's the 50th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia. Congratulations to everyone!

It's an inter-continental edition of the Defining Marriage podcast this week, with James back in Seattle and me sailing off to Europe for the summer. I share a harrowing tale of bicycles and fish, and we take a breath of relief that it's been a slow week for marriage news (aside from that whole thing about the United Kingdom getting a whole new government). Plus: pig scrying.

I'm back from Chicago, and this week's episode is a brief interlude before my rainbow tour to Europe. We talk to riding a train to a pup romp, how I nearly became a go-go dancer without realizing it, and about Chile's gay-marriage train. 

I'm on the road again, recording this week's Defining Marriage podcast with Jim and Michaela in Chicago while I visit for IML. In marriage news, we have a huge victory in Taiwan; and in other news, Michaela was once convinced that The Commish was her father.

On this week's episode of Defining Marriage: we investigate some original sins, from pancakes to grandmas. The Church of Scotland is going to decide whether to honor same-sex marriages, and James makes a heavily-accented guess about how that will go. We have the latest news about Carly Rae Jansport and Australia's impatient patients.

On this week's podcast, there's a plausible size difference (and a few implausible ones), as well as more cake quibbles. A cat and a dog have gotten married for reasons that are not entirely clear, and James has a new drag character based on another drag character that does not actually exist. All that, plus a bearracuda, a giant finger, and that famous aphorism, "when you're on a love boat, anything goes."Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week on the Defining Marriage podcast, we count our hands and feet; Ireland ponders marriage, and we celebrate good times come on in Bermuda. There's a conspiracy afoot involving the equals sign, and pastries running for president of France. All this, plus James going "HA" a lot.

Defining Marriage hits the road this week: I'm down in LA for DragCon while James manages the farm back in Seattle. So my guest is the delightful H. Alan Scott, which whom I discuss NOM's upcoming march for marriage (or more accurately, march to stop marriage). Also on the agenda this week is the $600,000 that Texas will have to pay out for try to stop marriage, and also a critical look at how Bernadette Peters in Gypsy is like Roger Moore in the Bond films.

On this week's episode of the podcast, we're going above, beyond, and beneath various ultra-vixens. North Carolina thinks they can just declare the Supreme Court is "null and void," which is dumb; and the Falklands are holding a Rainbow Fun Day, which is delightful. We also discuss characters that cross over between the story of Easter, Bewitched, and Les Miserables.

On this week's podcast: we play "What's Her Name" with a seagull, and revisit the pizzeria what won't cater a gay wedding. Barry Manilow is gay and married (still), and Quantas wants to put a ring on it.

This week on the podcast: James laments the Widow of the Web, while I have no idea who that is. We get an apology from a British gnome who opposed marriage equality, and hear from some Tennessee Beavers who only believe in "natural marriage." And we also fret a bit about Neil Gorsuch, Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee who spells bad news for equal rights.

On this week's podcast, Ellen's Burstyn out all over as James descends into a sleepy madness. I confess a dream of clowns, and we debate the true meaning of marriage extortion. We conclude with a mystery of faith, and a wedding overseen by a pig.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

On this week's podcast: James marries an elf in the kingdom of Hyrule, a maiden finds herself transformed, and support for marriage is at 83 percent in Germany where they have all the schneckens. We play an extended game of "What's Her Name" with Kirk Cameron, and speculate about Vanna White's ouija potential.

This week, we're never lambing alone with Australia's meaty Mardi Gras. There's been yet another hearing the saga of the bakery that won't make gay wedding cakes, and a gay island declared war on Australia. 

This week on the podcast: a Supreme Court clerk has delivered a deliciously satisfying slapdown to lawyers who were intentionally using the wrong pronouns for a trans teenager who's had to sue so that he can go to school. A whole bunch of countries are legalizing marriage equality in Europe, but I'm distressed because I can't remember Mike Myers' name. And we think back to Connie Chung's career in musical theater.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

On this week's Defining Marriage, we discuss an Australian who says that gay marriage is a Nazi mind-control plot -- because yes, of course, if Nazi were able to control our minds, the very first thing they would do is convince everyone to support gay marriage. We are also visited by Laura Derider, a southern belle with strong thoughts on bakers and florists who refuse to serve gay couples. And James reveals the royal way to eat a tuffet. There may be a butt or two involved.

On this week's podcast: Finland has released its very own Tom of Finland emoji to celebrate marriage equality, as well as some additional emoji for naked saunas, skiing, and a very graphic pastry. There's more fighting over who has to make whose cakes, whether cake fetishists are a legally protected class, and also anxiety about whether marriage equality will spell the end of the human race. (It's won't.) Also, we discuss the cinematic masterpiece that is Ratboy.

This week on the Defining Marriage podcast, a sputter incoherently while James spins a yarn about the pigeon Superbowl. We discuss a marriage-inequality bill that's likely to be vetoed -- by, as James puts it, Danny De-Veto -- and also hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills coming in the next few weeks. We also have lavender marriages, the first major city in Japan to recognize same-sex couples, Cloris Leachman, and a dead rat.

On this week's episode of the Defining Marriage podcast, we are encouraged and befuddled by a Catholic priest who somehow found a way to marry his boyfriend and remain a priest. James gets a spook from a bicycle and a zombie, and we reflect on the proud history of Hee Haw. Also -- some big Supreme Court news is coming this week, so gird your loins.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week on the podcast we discover an adorable gay dating sim -- the first of its kind in China, where LGBT relationships are often suppressed. Over in Taiwan, we untangle the reasons why the country is advancing so quickly towards marriage equality while Australia lags behind. James has some VERY harsh words for remarkably hypocritical Texas Republicans. And someone wants to marry a Ferris Wheel.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ 

I've been swanning around the house with cold and now I find James even more confusing than usual. He's been seasoning the counters and getting caught in zippers. Germany and Austria are creeping up on marriage equality with something called "Plan A," not to be confused with "Planet of the Apes." Or maybe it is to be confused, because James has a monkey-marriage plan.

I had extra coffee for this week's Defining Marriage, and I'm not sure I like what it's done to me. We bounce from Meryl Streep's golden globes to evil furries to Coachella's evil anti-gay-ish owner. We also have some words about the Alpha and Omega, by which I obviously mean two weird-looking toothpaste wolves.

Who'd have guessed that the Flintstones had the year's best take on marriage equality? This week on the Defining Marriage podcast, you'll hear me sputter and stammer like a fish in mayonnaise as I try to recall the name of Joan Collins (not Joan Crawford) because she played Wilma's mother in one of the movies.

This week on the podcast: Roy Moore, removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for telling clerks not to issue marriage licenses, may be headed to the Senate to fill a seat vacated by a Trump appointee. Oh, good.But there's also some good news this week: we discuss Gibraltar's first gay marriage, Neil Gaiman's lost episode of Power Rangers, and stoned dogs.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

On the podcast this week: we differentiate The Rouged One from Rogue One, and delight in the difficulties of Judge Roy Moore. Also, a funny story about George Lucas and a hat, as well as Lord Dimwit Flathead from Zork. As always, I spend a little time (but not too much) trying to remember some names; and James tells the tale of the erotic mayor of Lowell. I summon a fish to a dish, and we probe the possible ways that Donald Trump's swamp monsters could take away marriage equality. These things are all related, I promise.

On this week's episode of the podcast, we contemplate the National Organization for Marriage's strange new shell game, and also Shelley Long, and coconut shells. But it's mostly good news this week: Despite NOM's best efforts, marriage equality is coming to more nations all around the world -- sometimes slowly, but still, progress is progress.

On this week's episode of Defining Marriage: James is a man with a plan to push back against the awful people in the Donald administration. It might not be a good plan, but it's not like anyone else is stepping up. Also, Prop 8 might be coming back. But hey there are some really great documentaries about dogs on Netflix!

On this week's episode, we lament the Three Jerks of the Apocalypse: a trio of Trump appointees who will almost certainly work to undermine marriage equality without ever needing to bother with the Supreme Court. From the departments of eduction, justice, and health/human services, you can expect these people to make life miserable for LGBT people. Get used to hearing the names Betsy DeVos, Jeff Sessions, and Bill Price, and to saying them very sadly whenever they come up in conversation. Also there was just a cute gay couple that got engaged while cosplaying as Power Rangers, so that's fun.

This week on the podcast: oh lord, won't somebody please give us some good news? We talk about some of the grim news coming out of Washington DC, and also that possible Supreme Court nominee who may or may not have posed nude. Also did you know there are two Fergies and they're not even from the same country?

I don't know what to say about this week's episode, or really about anything, ever. We're dealing with the meaning of last week's election, and also exploring opportunities to take action now that the world is ... different. And I have some good news: in light of these weird times, I've made the ebook version of Defining Marriage free for this week only! Head over to Amazon and pick up a copy that you can read on any device. Also, we had a bit of a whoops with the audio in this episode -- there's a little snap and crackle in this episode. I'd reduced it as much as possible so hopefully it does not cause you distress.

This week on the Defining Marriage podcast we are joined by Irish Rotunda, James' questionable drag character with a curious beauty treatment. An Irish commission has ruled that a bakery was wrong to refuse a Bert & Ernie gay-marriage cake. We also discuss the finer points of Hamilton and Miss Saigon, and a real stupid attempt to stop marriage equality by top officials in Texas. And we're doing a 24-hour game marathon livestream this weekend -- get the details and join us at http://bit.ly/extralifeseattle

On this episode of the podcast, we talk about a pup/furry party that Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert may or may not have been at. Louie recently suggested that gay marriage in Talmud-times caused Noah's flood -- sure, why the hell not. Also, an Ernie/Bert gay marriage cake has caused quite a stir in Ireland, and Judge Roy Moore is refusing to remove his annoying grandfather clock from the office he's been ordered to vacate. And we argue about erotic clowns.

On this week's Defining Marriage, we are treated to an extended cut of me trying to remember the name of ... oh dear, I've forgotten her name again. Also, let's talk about that rumor that Hillary secretly opposes gay marriage (spoiler: she does not). And Roy Moore, please turn in your keys, thank you.

On this week's episode: Ben Carson threatened further mass killings if gay marriage is allowed to continue, and we are menaced by ghost pumpkins. We also discuss our family crests, camel noses, and Cher. (She's very worried about this election, but also might want to watch out for ghosts. But not pumpkin ghosts. Those are different.)

On this week's episode, we celebrate the legalization of same-sex-cow marriage (or something like that) in the British isles. There's been a lot of nonsense about marriage this week, and this time it's not all coming from me and James: the Archbishop of Mexico says Christians are being persecuted; a judge in Kentucky says gays stole the rainbow from his tiny dog; and an Australian man does not believe in anal sex. Well, believe it or not, it's happening.Music:In Your Arms Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

On this week's Defining Marriage podcast: The Grande Reveal! I have received a mysterious series of packages and a strange object du art. What could it possibly mean? And is it related to my dream of appearing in Hamilton, the Broadway show about the life of Margaret Hamilton? On the marriage front, The Catholic Church has laughed derisively at the idea that they might change their minds about anything at all. Donald Trump has hinted that he might do something unreasonable (can you imagine). Australia is "free to tell porkies" about homosexuals. And we discuss the proper wording of wedding vows: "you may attach the ring" is not a romantic turn of phrase.

On this week's episode, we shout nonsense at each other from across a continent: I am in Connecticut while James is in Seattle, which means I can regale him from a distance with takes of NOM's ridiculous fundraising scheme, mysterious packages, and werewolves. Then he threatens to drive a bus with his butt and it's like we're in the same room.