The Daily Beast’s Michelle Goldberg offers a fascinating look into GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann‘s religious beliefs, particularly how they play into her views on homosexuality in general and same-sex marriage in particular. Bachmann has experienced a bump in support in the wake of her participation in this week’s Republican debates, confirming her place as a serious contender for the GOP nomination. While Bachmann has been the focus of a whole mess o’ media attention during her career, much of it has focused on her… unique… take on historical events and her physical attributes rather than on specific policies or beliefs, so it’s worth it to try and understand just where the Congresswoman stands.

If there is one way in which today’s CNN debate differed dramatically from Fox News’ debate several weeks ago, it is that the absence of Gary Johnson and the inclusion of Mitt Romney and Rep. Michele Bachmann made the field far more socially conservative. Case in point: most of the candidates on stage support Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and only one would oppose a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

2012 Republican candidate Rick Santorum‘s biggest hurdle, many argue, in a general election would be his strident social conservatism, including opposition to abortion in any situation and gay marriage. Given his background, a question like the one CNN anchor Don Lemon pitched him last night was inevitable, as was his answer: in response to whether he had gay friends, Santorum responded “yeah! In fact, I’ve had gay people work for me.”

President Obama has some impressive policy accomplishments when it comes to gay rights, but even though he has presided over the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” has consistently supported a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and instructed his Justice Department not to defend the law in court, President Obama still has not said that he believes in the right of gay couples to marry. At Tuesday’s White House briefing, I asked Press Secretary Jay Carney why that is.

Lt. Dan Choi, the LGBT activist and West Point graduate that became a media staple during the battle to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, has been arrested in Moscow for attending a gay pride parade along with more than 30 other domestic and foreign activists. Interestingly enough, Moscow police allowed Lt. Choi to keep his cell phone with him in jail, which has allowed him to use Twitter to narrate the entire legal process.

Bill Clinton has joined the ranks of those publicly supporting the movement to legalize gay marriage. Clinton has released a statement via the Human Rights Campaign, an organization “working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality.” His statement, sent to the group last week and released this morning, describes marriage equality as another step in fulfilling America’s “permanent mission” to “form a ‘more perfect union.’”

While the topic hasn’t been in the news much since the Justice Department’s decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, the battle over same-sex marriage rages on in the states. During a hearing on a proposed constitutional ban on same sex marriage in Minnesota, Democratic state Rep. Steve Simon asked a rhetorical question that elegantly crystallized the issue, and despite the measure’s advancement along party lines, could prove an effective rallying cry for marriage equality.

The problem of stigmatizing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people is a deadly serious issue that I’ve written about repeatedly. While liberals are generally considered to be more LGBT-friendly than conservatives, at least policy-wise, liberals aren’t automatically above an lgbt-phobic insult. Even with that knowledge, I was shocked by the shot that Lawrence O’Donnell took at Glenn Beck and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), during the intro to Tuesday night’s The Last Word, mocking the pair as gay.

The Last Word‘s Lawrence O’Donnell decided to “rewrite” Iowa state rep Rich Anderson‘s views that marriage was created as an institution based on (even accidental) procreation.

O’Donnell countered Anderson’s views with a speech by University of Iowa student Zach Wahls, who recounted how his “infantile cuteness” convinced his own family members to acknowledge his two mothers.

At Monday’s White House briefing, The Blade‘s Chris Johnson asked Gibbs about a 1996 questionnaire that indicated Obama’s support for same-sex marriage, and I followed up by asking if the President was any closer to revealing his “evolved” personal beliefs on the subject. Gibbs pointed to previous remarks by the President, and said it’s an issue that he “thinks a lot about,” but there are no immediate plans for him to address the issue.

At Tuesday’s White House briefing, Robert Gibbs fielded several questions about the status of the repeal of DOMA (The Defense of Marriage Act), which he said, “given the current makeup of the Congress,” would be “inordinately challenging.”

Given President Obama’s recent remarks about his “evolving” opinion on same-sex marriage, and the fact that he used last year’s State of the Union address to promise the repeal of DADT, I asked Gibbs if the President might address the DOMA repeal, and his personal views on gay marriage, at this year’s SOTU.

While some people were considerably bummed about the way Congress’ lame duck session ended, it was all smiles and back patting over at Hardball. However, some interesting things happened when Chris Matthews asked guests David Brock and Richard Socarides why gay rights is still such a partisan issue. Both men are openly gay however Brock also used be a self-proclaimed “right wing hit man” (he’s now CEO of Media Matters) who had an interesting perspective and discussed how the GOP uses “the fear of gay people” to “gin up their base.”

As you all (hopefully) make your way to the polling booth today, you may find yourself disappointed with the crop of American politicians in front of you. However, to let you know that it could be worse (or at the very least, there’s jerks on every shore), let us present to you the following quote from Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The 74-year-old has gotten in trouble recently after allegedly paying a 17-year-old girl €7,000 after she attended parties at his house. Responding to calls for his resignation, Berlusconi pointed out with a shrug, well, at least he’s not gay. Touche, sir. Touche.

When East Texas NBC affiliate KETK says their slogan is “News You Won’t See Anywhere Else,” they mean it. Take, for instance, a bizarre turn this morning, when they checked in with KTBB radio host Garth Maier to talk about the ‘Topic of the Day.’ Eschewing traffic or weather, Maier instead had something else on his mind: “Will the acceptance of gays destroy America?”

John Amaechi, the only openly-gay man to have ever played in the NBA, sat down with The Big Think to discuss his experiences while playing in the league, and what it was like for him to come out.

This is truly disgusting. A Ugandan newspaper called Rolling Stone (obviously no relation to the American version) recently published a front page story entitled 100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak with a bright yellow banner instructing readers to “Hang Them.” Inside, the paper published pictures, names, and addresses of the men. Since it was published on October 9th, “at least four gay Ugandans on the list have been attacked and many others are in hiding.”

Bill Maher‘s war on religion continued yesterday as he took up the Supreme Court fight over the Westboro Baptist Church, yet for what is arguably the most offensive religious group this side of Al-Qaeda, Maher went easy on them. He chastised them for calling him a “Catholic” but commended their honesty, especially compared to people like South Carolina GOP Senator Jim DeMint, who opposes LGBT individuals having the right to teach in schools.

Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle seems unable to make any political statement without making some jaws drop– a quality she has attributed to the fact that the press is not her “friend.” But even without the press around, as demonstrated in a questionnaire she answered for a conservative PAC, her policies are controversial: she says she supports legislation to ban adoptions by gay couples, allow clergy to endorse candidates, and restrict the sale of pornography. The PAC endorsed her.

The New York Daily News is reporting that Rush Limbaugh, who is getting married for the fourth time today, has enlisted the music services of Sir Elton John for the festivities, and John agreed. Has no one told Limbaugh about Elton John’s, um, that he’s, you know?

In an open letter yesterday Glee creator Ryan Murphy slammed the magazine for this recent article that suggested gay actors should not try to play straight because they are not convincing. The author of the Newsweek article used openly gay actors who are playing straight characters in both Glee and the current Broadway show Promises, Promises, to make his point. People were not amused.

Is this Mike Huckabee attempting to position himself as the voice of GOP reason heading in to 2012, or merely have his political cake and eat it too? Huckabee appeared on Rosie O’Donnell’s Sirius-XM radio show over the weekend and perhaps not surprisingly talk turned to gay marriage and same sex adoption…sounds a bit like Huckabee is weighing his 2012 chances as a GOP contender that does not socially polarize.

The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer wrote on the association’s blog that the decision to rescind Rev. Franklin Graham‘s invitation to speak at the National Day of Prayer was proof that the fundamentalist Muslims and gay rights groups had successfully conspired to take over the US military. Who would have thought those two groups could get along well enough to infiltrate and control the most powerful military in the world?

Earlier today, Lt. Dan Choi and 5 fellow gay servicemembers handcuffed themselves to the fence on the north side of the White House to protest the slow pace of the “Don’t ask/Don’t tell” repeal. This is the second time that Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo have used the cuff protest, the first time for the others. The protest follows President Obama‘s engagement of LGBT rights protesters at a fundraiser last night.

In a disturbing wrinkle, the police closed off the scene to the press for a time, and Mediaite has confirmed that this included White House reporters.

President Barack Obama signed a memorandum this evening to expand visitation rights for relatives of those ailing, a move that the LGBT community is praising for explicitly referring to the rights of gays and lesbians to visit and make decisions for sick partners. “Hospitals,” it reads, “may not deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.”

Mike Huckabee has declared war on a little-known college magazine. Having visited The College of New Jersey recently for a talk and appearance, Huckabee gave Perspective, the college’s progressive publication, an interview he is now claiming “sensationalized” and “grossly distorted” his views on gay rights.