MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Dan Innis' husband persuaded him to run for the U.S. House.

It didn't matter that Innis, a former business school dean, faced an aggressive Democratic incumbent, GOP colleagues who oppose his right to marry, and history — no Republican ever has been openly gay when first elected to Congress.

"He said, 'You've got to do this,'" recalls Innis, running in the 1st Congressional District, which covers most of eastern New Hampshire. "He said, 'You need to take this opportunity and see if you can make a difference.'"

Innis plays down his sexuality as a campaign issue, but acknowledges the historic undertones. He is among three openly gay Republicans nationwide expected to run in this year's midterm elections. None has an easy path to Washington.

Each ultimately must unseat a Democratic incumbent, overcome brushes with hate and confront passionate divisions within the GOP about the way they live their lives. The Republican Party is trying to soften its tone on divisive social issues, but many religious conservatives see homosexuality as immoral.

Innis is married to a man, as is former state Sen. Richard Tisei, R-Mass., who is expected to run again for the northeastern Massachusetts congressional seat he narrowly lost in 2012 to Democratic Rep. John Tierney.

In San Diego, former Republican city councilman Carl DeMaio is challenging first-term Democratic Rep. Scott Peters.

"You can't focus on any of the nasty comments or attacks — not just from far right, also from far left," DeMaio says.

During his unsuccessful 2012 Republican mayoral campaign, DeMaio and his male partner of six years were booed as they walked hand in hand in San Diego's gay pride parade.

"Every once in a while we'll get some hate that is truly over the top — a truly venomous voice mail message. Every time we need a lift-me-up, we play it and chuckle," DeMaio says. "It's just a reminder that what we're fighting for matters."

He is fighting his own party, too.

The GOP's formal platform, as set in its 2012 national convention, declares that "marriage, the union of one man and one woman, must be upheld as the national standard."

Republican opposition to gay marriage has become less visible recently as the GOP works to improve its image and polling suggests that most Americans support same-sex marriage.

Prominent social conservatives such as former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Ralph Reed, former leader of the Christian Coalition, declined to be interviewed for this story.

As a senator in 2003, Santorum, a leading candidate in the 2012 presidential primary, compared homosexual acts to child molestation and bestiality.

Last month, U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., drew national attention for pressuring the House Republican campaign arm not to support openly gay candidates. That led House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to pledge public support for gay Republicans.

Boehner traveled to Massachusetts in 2012 to help raise money for Tisei, who notes that more than 70 members of Congress supported his last campaign.

Still, Tisei says the GOP must do more to change the perception that "we're the party that wants to deny people their rights and interfere with their personal lives."

In particular, he says Republicans need gay members in their ranks to help shift their mindset on key policies. "It would be a lot harder to take positions that discriminate against people when you have (gay) people in the room you work with on a daily basis that you like and know," Tisei says.

Democrats currently have eight openly gay members serving in Congress, including Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who last year became the nation's first openly gay senator.

There have been no openly gay Republicans in Congress since Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona retired in 2006. First elected in 1984, Kolbe didn't disclose his sexual orientation until 1996.

Rep. Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin served more than a decade before a Republican colleague publicly disclosed Gunderson's sexual orientation on the House floor in 1994. Gunderson did not seek re-election in 1996.

In the 2014 election, the number of openly gay House candidates overwhelmingly favors Democrats, according to a list compiled by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to elect gay candidates at all levels. Of 14 openly gay candidates expected to run, 11 are Democrats, including six incumbents and high-profile challenger Sean Eldridge of New York, the husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

Considered top-tier challengers, Tisei and DeMaio recently teamed up to raise money in joint appearances across the country for a newly formed political action committee known as the Equality Leadership Fund. Last month, they traveled to Washington, New York and Florida and expect another tour in the spring.

In New Hampshire, Innis is trying to unseat Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter. But he must first survive a Republican primary contest against Frank Guinta, a former congressman unseated in the last election. With long ties to the business community, Innis is expected to have strong financial backing in an election he says will be decided on fiscal issues.

"The best history we could make would be moving the budget toward balance and getting ourselves to a position where we could invest in our future again," he says.

New Hampshire GOP strategist Jamie Burnett says he doesn't know whether candidates' sexual orientation helps or hurts their electoral prospects.

"Some social conservatives might object, but many Republicans might not care at all and perhaps see it as softening the party's image," he says. "This is unchartered territory in recent New Hampshire Republican politics."

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The Disney Channel introduced its first-ever lesbian couple on the family series "Good Luck Charlie" on Sunday.

In the groundbreaking episode, parents Amy and Bob Duncan set up a playdate for their preschool-age daughter, Charlie, and one of her new friends who, it turns out, has two mothers.

A spokesperson for the network said the episode was “developed to be relevant to kids and families around the world and to reflect themes of diversity and inclusiveness.”

When Miley Cyrus got wind of the news, the former "Hannah Montana" Disney star tweeted: "I commend Disney for making this step into the light of this generation. They control…so much of what kids think! Life isn't bright sets & wardrobe & kids becoming superstars! This is INSPIRING."

But not everyone is happy about the show's new plot line.

Conservative group One Million Moms, which tried to get Ellen DeGeneres fired as JC Penney’s spokeswoman, urged parents to boycott the show because of the content.

The organization posted on its website, “Just because something may be legal or because some are choosing a lifestyle doesn’t make it morally correct. Disney should stick to entertaining instead of pushing an agenda. Disney decided to be politically correct versus providing family-friendly programming.”

“Families tuning in to watch a children’s network may encounter a premature discussion on sexual orientation that is completely uncalled for,” added the group.

Watch the episode intro below:

SEE ALSO: THEN & NOW: The Cast Of 'Mean Girls' 10 Years Later

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The founder and CEO of Hunters, a popular Russian gay hookup and dating app that's similar to Grindr, told Web publication Towleroad that it has been hacked. 

Dmitry T. (his last name is being withheld for security reasons), the founder and CEO of the app, reports that on the morning of February 2, just a few days before the opening of the Olympic Games, "users trying to open this gay app in Sochi were greeted with an alert saying that their profile was blocked for the next 38 days."

The following anonymous message was sent to all Hunters users in Russia, including those in Sochi, before they could no longer access their profiles:

You will be arrested and jailed for gay propaganda in Sochi according to Russian Federal Law #135 Sektion 6

Here is an image of that threat coming through on the Hunters app:

Some 72,000 user profiles were deleted throughout Russia in this hacking, which the CEO and founder believes came from the Russian government.

Homosexuality has been a hot-button topic as athletes from all over the world plan to compete in Sochi, a city in Russia where anti-gay laws stand in place, despite protest.

In a statement to Towleroad, Dmitry writes:

Our [Hunters] team was able to restore 24% of the profiles after 12 long hours. All other profiles were unable to be restored. In order to protect our users from future injustice, we have started moving our servers from Russia to Europe and are planning to finish this process within the next 3-5 days. Therefore, Hunters users may face further disruptions in the coming days.

Further, Dmitry is urging that people boycott Russian vodka as well as anything else that is linked to the Olympics.

"This attack should be looked at as an attack on the worldwide gay community," Dmitry stated.

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When high school senior Ryan Eichenauer decided he was ready to come out as a gay man last month, he chose to sit down in front of his computer's camera and speak about the feelings he had been keeping in for so long.

In the video, Eichenauer stated,

At first I wasn't comfortable with the image of myself dating guys. I believed if I ran from it long enough and hid it long enough and refused to acknowledge it long enough, I could force myself to be otherwise.

"This is who I am," he states, "and this was the secret that was holding me down."

With one click, he uploaded the video to Facebook, immediately reaching his network of friends and family, classmates, and yes, in some instances, strangers. 

In the last few months, Facebook has been looked at as a social network that's going out of style for the demographic it had been conceived to benefit: young adults. 

Various reports (the author of this post not excluded) claimed that the notion that anyone could join the social network (parents, for example) was keeping the teenagers at bay. Facebook, in a sense, was a place where kids were all of a sudden being chaperoned, and the younger generations were flocking to buzzier apps like Snapchat and Instagram to avoid the watchful eyes of their elders.

But here's the thing: it's not that teenagers were leaving Facebook in the sense that they were deleting their profiles or kicking the apps off their iPhone's homescreen. Maybe they weren't visiting the site every day to upload photos of themselves at parties or to complain about how their parents were annoying them, but the network remained an integral part of their lives. They could not, and would not, and did not want to sever ties.

As they evolved themselves, Facebook was evolving, too — into a different kind of platform that took on new meaning for this young generation of users.

In the beginning of September 2013, high school student Zach Gibson also made the choice to come out on Facebook, using the status update box to share that he was bisexual.

Gibson, like Eichenauer, knew that the post would reach his entire network, including his mother, who saw the post and responded in kind on the social network.

Gibson's mother wrote this letter to her son and uploaded it to her profile:

The story was picked up on various channels, praising the teenager and his mother for being shining examples of bravery and unconditional love.

Of course, with this new modern practice of so publicly announcing your sexual orientation come the skeptics. There will always be people who believe these types of things should be kept private and off the social networks. There will always be people who will accuse these teenagers (and their well-meaning parents) of attempting to create some sort of viral phenomenon to get attention. 

And there will always be bullies. 

Eichenauer, who shared his coming out video last month, is making headlines now for not only his bravery but for the two death threats he received in response, one of which implored him to kill himself.

Now, multiple investigations have been launched by police in Eichenauer's hometown of Blaine, Minn., to find the author or authors of the typed-up notes.

But interestingly enough, as news outlets reported on this story, the fact that Eichenauer had used a public social network to come out was not used as a defense against the bullying. In fact, both threats were presented in anonymous notes left on his classroom chair — not on Facebook. 

On its 10th birthday, it's clearer than ever that the younger generation looks at Facebook in a different light than Snapchat or Instagram. For them, Facebook is seen as a safe haven, and a way to conveniently reach the "friends" that they chose to trust by pressing a button that includes them in their network. 

The fact that teenagers feel comfortable using the platform to come out to their friends and families says more about what Facebook means and will continue to mean to our culture than simple statistics about how many hours high school students log on the site each day. 

Facebook is the default social network; the default place of social representation. If something big changes in your life, whether it be a new job, getting into a certain college, or yes, even your acknowledgment of your sexual orientation, Facebook is where you go first. What you do on other apps is a reflection of the change you've already publicized on Facebook, even if you spend more time on those apps on a day-to-day basis.

Facebook isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and if it's truly the place where people feel the most comfortable sharing, then it absolutely shouldn't.

SEE ALSO: 10 years ago, this woman used Facebook to find a boyfriend.

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Much controversy has surrounded Russia’s anti-gay stance regarding the Sochi Olympics and, with the Opening Ceremonies ready to kick off the Games this week, the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion has released a hilarious commercial that pushes back.

The ad features two luge sledders as they….well…just watch it. The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” is a nice touch as well.

Well done, Canada. For all your need-to-know Sochi coverage, head here.

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Nearly three-quarters of Russians believe that homosexually is morally unacceptable, more than disapprove of other hot-button issues such as extramarital affairs, gambling and abortion.

The numbers come from newly released data from the Pew Research Center, which surveyed Russians on their moral attitudes in spring 2013. Russian attitudes toward homosexuality have been at the forefront given the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Just eight months before the games, Russia's governmental body, the Duma, passed a law making it illegal to distribute homosexual "propaganda" to minors, which includes staging gay pride events and advocating for gay rights.

The law also bans foreign same-sex couples from adopting Russian children.

On the opening day of the Olympics (Feb. 7), police arrested at least 14 gay rights activists in St. Petersburg and Moscow, according to news reports. It's unclear what charges the activists may face, as Russia also bans unapproved protests. [5 Myths About Gay People Debunked]

History of anti-gay attitudes

Understanding Russia's widespread gay sentiment requires a look back, said Tatiana Mikhailova, a senior instructor of Russian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Russia's October Revolution of 1917 threw Russian society into upheaval, Mikhailova told Live Science. Traditional gender roles fell to revolutionary ideology, and the family structure was seen as outdated, she said.

Before the revolution, Czarist Russia was hardly friendly to gays. In 1716, homosexuality among military men was made punishable by flogging, rape and forced labor, according to Dan Healy, a professor of Russian history at Oxford University. In 1835, Czar Nicholas I extended the ban on male same-sex relationships to civilians.

The revolutionaries threw out the Czarist legal code and drew up their own, which did not criminalize homosexuality. It's not clear why, Healy said, but it's possible Russia's new leadership was following a tradition set by the French Revolution that dumped religion-based laws. [Dictator Deaths: How 13 Notorious Leaders Died]

This progressive approach to homosexuality did not last long. Joseph Stalin, who consolidated power over the 1920s, and his secret police appointee, Genrikh Yagoda, drafted a new law penalizing homosexuals, whom they portrayed as spies and scoundrels. By 1934, homosexuality was again illegal in Russia, with a minimum sentence of three to five years in prison. Prison often meant the Gulag, where convicts were forced into hard labor, Healy said.

Stalin's anti-sodomy law was repealed in 1993, one of many Stalinist laws removed in the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR.

Modern attitudes

But acceptance has not come easily. One reason, Mikhailova said, is the popular tendency to conflate erroneously homosexuality with pedophilia and rape.

"For a long period of time Russian men and Russian women who were kept in prisons were subjugated and sexually assaulted in order to keep them complacent," she said. Men who were raped were known as "roosters," a term that is still one of the "most painful words" to call a man in Russia, Mikhailova said. [Understanding the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors]

With rape and homosexuality equated, it's easy for leaders to insult gay people unapologetically. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill I, said in July that gay marriage is a "very dangerous apocalyptic symptom." And church leaders regularly link homosexuality with pedophilia.

"Where gays are allowed, pedophilia will soon flourish," says Russian Orthodox priest Sergei Rybko in a new BBC documentary, "Hunted," released this month, that explores violence toward Russian gays.

The Russian Orthodox Church is a major driver of anti-gay public opinion, Mikhailova said, but there is a paradox at play.

In most countries, religiosity is linked to anti-gay attitudes. Among Americans, 74 percent of nonreligious people approve of gay marriage, compared with only 23 percent of white evangelical Protestants, according to a Pew survey. Likewise, the most religious countries tend to be less accepting of gay rights, Pew has found.

Russia (along with China) is an outlier. Few Russians say religion is central to their lives; the country scores on par with many Western European countries in terms of lack of religiosity, but only 9 percent of Russians say homosexuality is acceptable in the new survey. Another 9 percent say homosexuality is not a moral issue, and 72 percent say being gay is unacceptable.

In comparison, 69 percent of Russians say extramarital affairs are unacceptable, 62 percent disapprove of gambling, and 44 percent say abortion is immoral. [6 Things Russians Think Are More Acceptable Than Being Gay]

While the average Russian may not attend church frequently or pray fervently, the Orthodox Church still holds sway over public opinion, Mikhailova said.

"The church is taking a more and more prominent place in Russia, and Putin and his government constantly talk about spiritual values," she said. "Traditional" values are portrayed as what makes Russia strong.

"The rhetoric of sin is an important rhetoric right now for Russians," Mikhailova said.

Homosexuality and the Olympics

The international organization Human Rights Watch warned last week (Feb. 4) that harassment and violence against gays, lesbians and bisexual and transgender people in Russia is widespread and may be on the rise.

An anonymous survey by The Russian LGBT Network in St. Petersburg found that 50 percent of gay and lesbian respondents had been harassed for their sexuality, and 15 percent had been physically attacked. On Feb. 3, a court in eastern Russia sentenced three men to between nine and 12 years in prison each for the beating and stabbing death of a man they believed to be gay, one of several recently reported crimes allegedly motivated by anti-gay sentiment.

Historians warn that despite international outcry, it will take time and "patient engagement" to turn Russia into a more tolerant place. In the U.K., an anti-gay propaganda law nearly passed as recently as 1987, Healy said in a talk given in the U.K. on Saturday (Feb. 8). The national conversation at the time was vicious, but England, Scotland and Wales will celebrate their first same-sex marriage ceremonies this year.

"There was no effective national conversation about the status of LGBT citizens in the new Russia until very recently," Healy said in his speech. "What people knew about homosexuality came from the legacies of the Stalin era and the Gulag camps."

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

• 10 Milestones in Gay Rights History
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SEE ALSO: This Map Shows The Global Divide On Homosexuality

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“I’m here today because I am gay,” the 26-year-old star of “Juno” told the audience. “Maybe I can help others to have an easier time. I am tired of hiding.”

“And because maybe I can make a difference,” she added. “To help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility,” she added.

Also read: Julianne Moore, Zach Galifianakis Join Ellen Page in Gay Rights Drama ‘Freeheld’

The actress delivered an emotional speech at Time to THRIVE, a conference to promote the welfare of LGBT youth held at Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. And I am standing here today with all of you on the other side of that pain,” she said.

The actress, who will play Shadowcat in the upcoming “X-Men: Days of Future Past,”  was just announced as having joined the gay rights drama, “Freeheld.”

HRC tweeted support for Page’s announcement shortly after her speech:

Congratulations, @EllenPage for taking the steps to live openly and come out as lesbian. #comingout#timetoTHRIVEhttp://t.co/PneoSUunRk

— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) February 15, 2014

The Academy Award nominated actress said she hoped to make a difference by coming out, and pointed to other public figures like University of Missouri football star Michael Sam coming out as positive examples for LGBT youth.

“I was tired of lying by omission,” she added.

SEE ALSO: 14 famous couples and their real-life inspirations

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Uganda President Yoweri Museveni will sign into law a controversial bill that will see homosexuals jailed for life despite international pressure, a government spokesman said Monday.

"He will ascend the bill. This bill is very popular both within the parliament and Ugandan society. The president is under strong domestic pressure to sign the bill," Ofwono Opondo said.

The Ugandan anti-gay bill cruised through parliament in December after its architects agreed to drop an extremely controversial death penalty clause, although the bill still held that repeat offenders should be jailed for life.

Museveni, a key regional ally of the United States and the European Union, has already been under fire from key Western donors over alleged rampant corruption, and had been under pressure from diplomats and rights groups to block the legislation.

Last month a spokesman for Museveni said the president believed that gays were "sick" and "abnormal", but felt that sending them to prison was not the right solution.

However Opondo said the president had decided to support the bill after seeking advice from a team of scientists who were asked to "study homosexuality and genetics in human beings."

According to the spokesman, the scientists concluded that "there is no definitive gene responsible for homosexuality", meaning that "homosexuality is not a disease but merely an abnormal behaviour which may be learned through experiences in life."

"The scientist team has shown that homosexuality is a learned behaviour, that some people sometimes do for money, and that is what the president wants to prevent," Opondo said, without saying when Museveni, who is a devout evangelical Christian, would sign off on the text.

Homophobia is widespread in Uganda, where American-style evangelical Christianity is on the rise.

Gay men and women in the country face frequent harassment and threats of violence, and rights activists have reported cases of lesbians being subjected to "corrective" rapes.

In 2011, prominent Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato was bludgeoned to death at his home after a newspaper splashed photos, names and addresses of gays in Uganda on its front page along with a yellow banner reading "Hang Them".

AIDS activists say that the bill, which also bans the promotion of homosexuality, will prevent gays from having access to essential public health information, such as how to protect themselves from HIV and how to access life-saving treatment and support services.

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Almost a year after becoming the first openly-gay NBA player, Jason Collins is set to become the first openly gay NBA player to actually play a game. The Brooklyn Nets signed Collins to a 10-day contract on Sunday, and he’s expected to be available to play later in the day when the Nets face the Clippers in Los Angeles. This makes Collins the first active openly-gay athlete in major professional sports history.

When Collins first came out in mid-2013, he became the first major professional athlete in the U.S. to identify publicly as gay. However, he was a free agent at the time, and so while it was still a momentous occasion, Collins hadn’t actually had any playing time as an openly-gay athlete. He made clear that he wanted to do so, yet no team offered to sign him. 

On Sunday, though, the Nets’ attempt to sign another player — Glen “Big Baby” Davis — fell through, and so, as a backup plan, the team signed Collins instead. Collins played with the Nets between 2001 and 2008, before he came out, and his former teammate Jason Kidd (now the team’s coach) has been a vocal proponent of signing him again.

A 10-day contract is sort of like a trial run to help determine whether a player is a good match for a team. Players can be signed to up to two consecutive 10-day contracts; after that, the team has to decide whether to sign them for a full season or release them back into free agency.

Two weeks ago, college football star Michael Sam came out as gay, and if the NFL signs him — which analysts see as likely — there will be two openly-gay players in major professional American sports.

While some will point out Collins was only signed on a temporary basis, and that he wasn’t the Nets’ first choice, that doesn’t diminish the historic nature of what just happened: An NBA team signing an openly-gay athlete for the first time in U.S. history. And that is huge.

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The Confucian desire to be a dutiful son or daughter can lead to horrible therapies.

In 2011 Lin Yan attended the Chuanwei Psychological Counselling Centre in Shenzhen, a southern city. Worried that his parents would not accept his homosexuality, Mr Lin, who was then 24 (and now uses a pseudonym), spent $1,700 on three months of so-called "conversion therapy".

He was shown sexualised images of men and induced to vomit by an injected drug. Other techniques included what he describes as "mental torture". A counsellor would repeat that his family would never forgive him and that being gay was immoral. He endured electric shocks.

 Mr Lin's treatment may be abhorrent but it is far from uncommon in China's big cities. The country declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 2001. Today urban centres harbour vibrant gay scenes and even hold cautious gay-pride festivals. There are over 100 support groups around the country. But the idea that homosexuality is a curable disease prevails in rural areas and among older generations.

Almost all young people come under pressure to provide an heir, a basic tenet, influenced to a certain extent by Confucianism, that leads some young people to feel their homosexuality must be unfilial. Zhang Beichuan of Qingdao University, in east-central China, reckons that four-fifths of young gay men in China end up marrying women. Those in such predicaments are drawn to clinics which offer counselling to gay people and services including what is often touted as a "cure". Enrolling in such schemes can cost $5,000 or more--a fortune for most Chinese.

 Elsewhere in the world, therapies that purport to turn gay, lesbian or bisexual people into heterosexuals have been discredited. The American Psychiatric Association says undergoing such treatment risks depression, anxiety and self-destructive behaviour. The United Kingdom Council for Pyschotherapy calls the practice unethical.

 In China, where conversion clinics have operated for decades, there has been no such outcry from medical or official bodies. In December LGBT Rights Advocacy China, a non-profit organisation in Beijing, staged a small protest outside one clinic. The group's members held signs saying: "homosexuality is not an illness".

They sent 20 letters to the health bureaus of ten cities with details of clinics offering what they say are illegal services. No one has written back. Clinics need special licences to administer physical treatments such as electric shocks, says Mr Zhang. Few of them have the proper paperwork.

 They also lack proper professional standards. A counsellor at the Nanjing Urban Psychological Counselling Centre says he uses hypnosis to uncover the "root cause of the homosexual tendency" in childhood memories. A statement on the clinic's website says that boys born into families with a strong female presence are more likely to be gay. Alternative medicine or electrotherapy is administered to create an aversion. The counsellor claims a 70% success rate.

 Mr Lin counts himself a fortunate failure. He spent all his savings on his treatment and suffered anxiety, insomnia, weight and hair loss. But he remained gay. Seeing no alternative, he came out to his parents. It has taken his mother months to come to terms with his sexuality. Eventually she joked that if her son was to bring a boyfriend home, he should at least be rich and handsome.

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Same-sex marriage was just legalized in the UK, and that means that gay couples in England and Wales will be getting married in spades. And more weddings mean more honeymoons.

We asked travel experts to weigh in on what they think will be the hottest honeymoon destinations for newly married gay couples.

And while honeymooners may want to avoid places like Russia, there are plenty of awesome destinations that are just waiting to welcome gay newlywed couples with open arms.

Puerto Vallarta and Punta Mita, Mexico

Puerto Vallarta is a resort city on the Pacific coast of Mexico with great waves for surfing, an old Spanish feel, and a thriving LGBT scene. The city has several gay hotels, like the Hotel Mercurio.

However, Punta Mita, a quiet resort city about an hour drive from Puerto Vallarta, may be a better alternative for honeymooners, according to Ed Salvato, the editor-in-chief of gay travel magazine ManAboutWorld.

"Puerto Vallarta is extremely gay popular, but it may not be conducive to a honeymoon because you don't want your new husband to get picked up at a bar the first night," Salvato said. "Instead, couples might want to stay at a more secluded resort like the Four Seasons Punta Mita, which is right nearby."

Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Located at at the very tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown is a charming resort town that has been drawing in gay travelers for years.

"This is a gay Mecca, which makes it an obvious choice for gay honeymooners," Pauline Frommer, the publisher of Frommers.com, said. "It's famous for drag shows, restaurants, and a vibrant gay community that's been there for decades."

The town is chock-full of quaint guest houses, elegant restaurants, and has access to the incredible beaches of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

"Massachusetts was one of the first states to allow same-sex marriage in the U.S., and right away wedding bells were ringing in Provincetown," Ed Salvato, the editor-in-chief of gay travel magazine ManAboutWorld, said. "It has all the tourism infrastructure and the tolerance—no, the celebration of diversity."

There are dozens of charming gay-friendly guesthouses and inns, but the Crown Point Historic Inn & Spa and Surfside Hotel & Suites offer exclusive romance and honeymoon packages.

Tel Aviv, Israel

Tel Aviv is hands-down the most gay-friendly destination in the Middle East.  With its raging nightlife, gorgeous beaches, and cool, laid-back vibe, it's no surprise that the Israeli city is attracting gay visitors.

"Israel has a very open and large gay community," Pauline Frommer said. "If you've ever wanted to travel to the Middle East, it's a cosmopolitan, fascinating city. It has fascinating museums, extraordinary restaurants, gay clubs and gay bars. It's very warm and welcoming to gay couples."

Frommer added that gay couples may want to take a side trip to Jerusalem, but may have to keep their relationships under wraps there since the ancient city is so religious.

The culture warriors have decided: Disney’s Frozen is queer. Elsa hiding her ice-powers could be read as a metaphor for the closet, the Oscar-winning “Let it Go” plays like a coming-out anthem, and a character in the film evokes the question of whether homosexuality is a choice by inquiring of Elsa’s powers, “born with it or cursed?” Some liberals have praised the film for its subtext; some conservatives have denounced it.

But the most remarkable thing about queer readings of the film may be how unremarkable they really are. Through both its corporate practices and the content of its films, Disney for decades has implemented the so-called "gay agenda"—which is to say, helping make the world a more accepting place.

To start in the most obvious place: As a business, Disney has long held a progressive attitude toward LGBT people. Gay pride events have been hosted at Disney World since 1991, and the company started offered its gay employees health insurance benefits for their partners since 1995, a decision that wasn’t entirely popular back then.

One of the most poignant examples of the company’s tolerant atmosphere is the case of lyricist Howard Ashman, who was openly gay and died of AIDS in 1991. Not only did Ashman write songs for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, he was also closely involved in those films’ productions, casting actors and holding story meetings with animators. At the end of Beauty and the Beast, Disney acknowledged his contributions with this tribute: “To our friend Howard Ashman who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful.”

But Ashman’s story also offers an example of how the substance of Disney’s films reflect an interest in LGBT peoples’ struggles. Ashman worked on Beauty and the Beast while suffering through the worst (and final) phases of his illness, and composer Alan Menken called the film Ashman’s “personal story.” The result is a movie that can be viewed as an allegory: Shunned from society, his body hideously transformed, and his life wilting away like the enchanted rose, the Beast is a figure of degenerative disease. Belle’s love and the ultimate breaking of the curse is the fantasy cure that Ashman was denied.

But even without Ashman’s involvement, queer kids could identify with Disney protagonists, who are usually outcasts set apart from society by some innate desire (usually indicated by an “I want” song that details whatever dream that particular character is pining to attain). Ariel (The Little Mermaid) wanted to be part of another world, the townspeople think Belle (Beauty and the Beast) is “a funny girl … different from the rest of us” and Pocahontas (Pocahontas) does not want to be steady as the beating drum. This marks the Disney protagonist as odd, unusual, queer.

Even classic Disney films featured these archetypes. Initially mocked by his peers, Dumbo (Dumbo) “comes out” and waves his freak flag after hallucinating pink elephants and learning to fly. Pinocchio (Pinocchio) reflects queer anxiety since he doesn’t know how to act like “a real boy,” and he thinks performing masculinity through smoking, cursing, and misbehaving will earn his father’s love.

Then there’s the fact that Disney protagonists often reject traditional marriage partners. Ariel wants to marry a human against her father’s wishes, Belle rejects Gaston’s proposal in front of the whole town, Jasmine refuses to marry the sultan’s suitors, Pocahontas refuses to marry a tribal warrior, and Mulan rejects conventional matchmaking. In this way, even though Disney films usually offer a traditional happy ending with a heterosexual marriage, the journey always involves rejecting parental and societal expectations, and exercising a “freedom to marry whomever you love” spirit that is endemic to gay rights.

Indeed, many Disney romances are examples of “impossible desire,” a trope that is crucial to the queer experience, as gender-studies theorist Heather Love argued in Feeling Backward. It was impossible for Ariel to be with Eric unless she became human, or for Belle to be with the Beast unless he became human, or for Aladdin to be with Jasmine unless he became a prince, or for Pocahontas to be with John Smith unless she left her people.

In the seminal Gender Trouble, Judith Butler pointed out how gender was in part performance-based, a fact that Disney has often depicted with cross-dressing and gender subversion. The company’s animators cite the drag performer Divine as the inspiration for Ursula in The Little Mermaid. Just as Divine was cast in Pink Flamingos because “society saw [drag characters] as perverts so they decided to revel in their status,” so too Ursula is marked a pervert by introducing sex to a children’s animated film. She encourages Ariel to use her body to lure the prince, and her magic not only gives the mermaid legs but also (presumably) a sexual organ, as Ariel emerges from the sea completely naked and must be covered up. 

In another instance of gender bending, the Genie in Aladdin shapeshifts into many characters, including female ones, and even dons feminine clothes and underwear at different points in the film. Indeed, Aladdin’s romance with Jasmine is much less developed than his friendship with the genie, and his decision to free the genie provides the movie’s poignant climax. Robin Williams's character even acknowledges the queer undercurrent: “I’m getting kinda fond of you kid … not that I want to pick out curtains or anything.”

Another obvious example: Mulan, where the protagonist disguises herself as a male soldier. When the soldiers later dress themselves as courtesans so they can sneak into the palace, the film completes its theme of gender as performance, with women pretending to be men and men pretending to be women. Mulan’s “I Want” song also plays like an anthem for kids born into the wrong gendered body—“When will my reflection show who I am inside?”—and intriguingly, the film insinuates that her male captain fell in love with her while she was masquerading as a man.

More subtly, Disney protagonists often mature in ways that evoke the queer experience. In The Queer Child Kathryn Bond Stockton argues that queerness is not just about homosexuality, but also about growing in abnormal ways that makes the child an outcast. First there is “growing sideways”—children who in physical ways signify that they're different—which Disney has depicted through Pinocchio’s nose, Dumbo’s ears, and Rapunzel’s hair. Secondly there is “delayed growth” as seen in Peter Pan and The Jungle Book where Peter and Mowgli want to remain in Neverland and the jungle respectively so they won’t grow up.

Similarly, the enchanted objects in Beauty and the Beast cannot grow until the spell is broken and they become human again, and Quasimodo and Rapunzel have been locked away in towers all their lives, precluding adult socialization. Thirdly, there is “growth by animals” where pets reflect the inner lives of their queer masters. Certainly this last conceit is all over the Disney canon, where aside from the obvious anthropomorphism of films like Bambi or The Lion King, there are also lots of animal sidekicks reflecting the emotions of their masters in films about human protagonists. Jiminy Cricket represents Pinocchio’s conscience, Ariel’s pet fish reflects her joy or sorrow, and even villains get their own vicarious pets, like Iago parroting Jafar’s evil.

Thus, Disney films have been both traditional and subversive, serving wholesome princess stories to a largely hetero-normative global audience while also subtly appealing to queer children. You don't need to be up on your queer theory or buy into the “It Gets Better” campaign to understand why any of this matters. Through conventional happy endings for outcasts and oddballs, Disney films let every child know that it’s ok to be different.

SEE ALSO: 'Frozen 2' Not In Development At Disney, Studio Focusing On Live Musical Instead

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University of Missouri defensive end and NFL hopeful Michael Sam appeared on Good Morning America Wednesday to discuss his upcoming draft prospects, as well as the honor of being given this year’s Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the ESPY Awards.

The college football player, you’ll recall, made major headlines this year after coming out as an openly gay man. After releasing his touching statement, Sam received nothing but encouragement from his teammates, who he often refers to as his family.

Along with an outpouring of support from fans and teammates, Sam also received messages of gratitude from fellow college players, as well as NFL athletes. Many of those who reached out to Sam expressed that they were closeted homosexuals.

"I’m not the only one. There’s a lot of us. I heard from a good portion of them," Sam said.

Not only has Sam’s classy and heartfelt public persona helped other players open up to him, the young football star hopes to do more.

In his own words, "I just feel like because I came out, I was the first one to do it, I could be a beacon for other athletes who may be gay or maybe not… I think I can be a beacon for those people, a light, like ‘I can be comfortable in my own skin and be like Michael Sam.’"

Taking on homophobia in professional sports is no easy task. We can only hope that there will be more players like Sam who approach the subject with such humanity.

He later commented, “It’s okay if you’re gay. If someone disowns you, hey, you can be a part of my family. I will accept you.”

His skill as player speaks volumes and who he is off the field speaks even higher of his character.

The NFL could really use more men like Sam, as the greatest players are often defined by far more than just how they perform on the field. 

See the interview with fellow Ashe award winner and proudly out anchor Robin Roberts below:

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Yelp users lit their torches and burned the review page of a Texas restaurant when a waitress told two gay men they weren't welcome to dine at the establishment after she saw them "rubbing legs."

Last week, Collin Dewberry and his partner Kelly Williams went for breakfast at Big Earl's Bait and Tackle. As they were leaving, the owner's daughter (and a waitress) "allegedly told the men they would not be allowed back in the restaurant," because they "don't serve fags."

That was enough for Yelp users, who pummeled the restaurant's page with negative reviews when they heard about the story.

They even made a Facebook page for "Big Gay Earl's" and made some, uh, changes to the restaurant's sign:

 According to Eater,

The restaurant only had two real Yelp reviews before the news broke of their ban on the gay couple. Many Yelpers have been exacting their revenge by posting one-star reviews that straight up criticize Big Earl's for its actions while some are scathingly sarcastic.

The reviews (there are currently over 130)

Lots of sarcasm:

Scolding:

More scolding:

And more sarcasm:

Beware, if you visit the Yelp page to read the reviews for yourself there's quite a bit of NSFW content and language. And while, of course, you can't beat hate with more hate, you have to give these Yelp users some credit for taking action in their own trollish way. 

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The claim that homosexual men share a "gay gene" created a furor in the 1990s. But new research two decades on supports this claim – and adds another candidate gene.

To an evolutionary geneticist, the idea that a person's genetic makeup affects their mating preference is unsurprising. We see it in the animal world all the time. There are probably many genes that affect human sexual orientation.

But rather than thinking of them as "gay genes", perhaps we should consider them "male-loving genes". They may be common because these variant genes, in a female, predispose her to mate earlier and more often, and to have more children.

Likewise, it would be surprising if there were not "female-loving genes" in lesbian women that, in a male, predispose him to mate earlier and have more children.

Evidence for 'gay genes'

We can detect genetic variants that produce differences between people by tracking traits in families that display differences.

Patterns of inheritance reveal variants of genes (called "alleles") that affect normal differences such as hair colour, or disease states such as sickle cell anaemia.

Quantitative traits, such as height, are affected by many different genes, as well as environmental factors.

It's hard to use these techniques to detect genetic variants associated with male homosexuality, because many gay men prefer not to be open about their sexuality. It is even harder because twin studies show that shared genes are only part of the story; hormones, birth order and environment play roles too.

In 1993, American geneticist Dean Hamer found families with several gay males on the mother's side, suggesting a gene on the X chromosome. He showed that pairs of brothers who were openly gay shared a small region at the tip of the X, and proposed that it contained a gene that predisposes a male to homosexuality.

Hamer's conclusions were extremely controversial. He was challenged at every turn by people unwilling to accept that homosexuality is at least partly genetic, rather than a "lifestyle choice".

Gay men were divided: it vindicated the oft-repeated claims that "I was born this way" but also opened frightening new possibilities for detection and discrimination.

Similar studies gave contradictory results. A later search found associations with genes on three other chromosomes.

This year, a larger study of gay brothers, using the many genetic markers now available through the Human Genome Project, confirmed the original finding, and also detected another "gay gene" on chromosome 8. This has unleashed a new flurry of comment.

But why such a furore when we know of gay gene variants in species from flies to mammals? Homosexuality is quite common throughout the animal kingdom. For instance, there are variants that influence mating preference in mice and a mutation in the fruit fly makes males court other males instead of females.

Is the 'gay gene' really a 'male-loving allele'?

The puzzle is not whether "gay genes" exist in humans, but why they are so common (estimates from 5-15%). We know that gay men have fewer children on average, so shouldn't these gene variants disappear?

There are several theories that account for the high frequency of homosexuality. A decade ago I wondered if gay gene variants have another effect that boosts the chances of leaving offspring ("evolutionary fitness"), and passing the gay allele on.

This is a well-known situation (called "balanced polymorphism") in which an allele is advantageous in one situation and not in another. The classic case is the blood disease sickle cell anaemia, which leads to disease and death if you have two alleles, but to malaria resistance if you have only one, making it common in malarial regions.

A special category is "sexually antagonistic genes" that increase genetic fitness in one sex, but not in the other; some are even lethal. We have many examples across many species. Maybe the gay allele is just another of these.

Perhaps "male-loving" alleles in a female predispose her to mate earlier and have more children. If their sisters, mother and aunts have more kids who share some of their genes, it would make up for the fewer children of gay males.

And they do. Lots more children. An Italian group showed that the female relatives of gay men have 1.3 times as many children as the female relatives of straight men. This is a huge selective advantage that a male-loving allele confers on women, and offsets the selective disadvantage that it confers on men.

I am surprised that this work is not better known, and its explanatory power is neglected in the whole debate about the "normality" of homosexual behaviour.

How 'normal' are gay alleles?

We have no idea whether these genetic studies identified "gay alleles" of the same or different genes.

It is interesting that Hamer detected the original "gay gene" on the X, because this chromosome has more than its fair share of genes that affect reproduction, but I would expect that there are genes all over the genome that contribute to mate choice in humans (female-loving as well as male-loving).

If there are male-loving and female-loving alleles of tens or hundreds of genes battling it out in the population, everyone will inherit a mixture of different variants. Combined with environmental influences, it will be hard to detect individual genes.

It's a bit like height, which is influenced by variants in thousands of genes, as well as the environment, and produces a "continuous distribution" of people of different heights. At the two extremes are the very tall and the very short.

In the same way, at each end of a continuous distribution of human mating preference, we would expect the "very male-loving" and the "very female-loving" in both sexes.

Gay men and lesbian women may simply be the two ends of the same distribution.

Jenny Graves has received funding from the ARC and NHMRC. She is not associated with any organisation that would benefit from this article.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

SEE ALSO: How Healthy People Who Should Be Sick Could Revolutionize Medicine

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In the spirit of Gay Pride Month, media organization Vocativ has released its first-ever "Queer Index," which uses a number of lifestyle factors to determine the most gay-friendly cities in the United States.

The index looks at variables that influence where LGBT Americans live and work, including the number of "out" singles, hate-crime rates, and ease of casual hookups, using Vocativ's technology to search the "Deep Web" —the 80% of the Internet that search engines can't reach.

The Queer Index unearthed some interesting facts about major U.S. cities and their relationships with the LGBT community. For example:

• The Washington, D.C. metro area has the highest percentage of openly gay adults. At the same time, the nation’s capital has the highest number of anti-LGBT hate groups.

• Memphis, Tenn. has the highest percentage of single lesbians.

• Atlanta has the highest number of LGBT-friendly businesses in the country at 685—over three times more than the next highest city.

• Of the top 100 largest U.S. cities, Boston had the highest number of sexual-orientation hate crimes last year: 63.

• Four of the top ten U.S. cities by population did not make the list: Houston (#4 in population), Phoenix (#6), San Antonio (#7) and Dallas (#9).

These are the most gay-friendly U.S., according to the Queer Index:

1. Los Angeles, Calif.

2. New York, N.Y.

3. San Francisco, Calif.

4. Des Moines, Iowa

5. Chicago, Ill.

6. Seattle, Wash.

7. Albany, N.Y.

8. Rochester, N.Y.

9. Denver, Colo.

10. Madison, Wis.

11. Harrisburg, Pa.

12. Hartford, Conn.

13. Providence, R.I.

14. San Diego, Calif.

15. Washington, D.C.

16. Portland, Ore.

17. San Jose, Calif.

18. Boston, Mass.

19. Sacramento, Calif.

20. Minneapolis, Minn.

21. Chattanooga, Tenn.

22. Milwaukee, Wis.

23. Honolulu, Hawaii

24. Riverside, Calif.

25. Las Vegas, Nev.

26. Worcester, Mass.

27. Fresno, Calif.

28. Philadelphia, Pa.

29. Stockton, Calif.

30. Atlanta, Ga.

31. New Haven, Conn.

32. Syracuse, N.Y.

33. Bakersfield, Calif.

34. Buffalo, N.Y.

35. Oxnard, Calif.

See Vocativ's complete "Queer Index" here.

SEE ALSO: The 12 Best Honeymoon Destinations For Gay Couples

SEE ALSO: Business Insider is on Twitter!

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Wrestling legend Pat Patterson, 73, came out during an emotional scene on the finale of the reality show "Legends' House" after hiding his sexuality for over 50 years.

While seated at a table with fellow WWE stars "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, and Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart, Patterson revealed:

"From where I come from, I had nothing, no family, no money, and I ended up [working] with Vince [McMahon] ... to me, that was the biggest achievement of my life. But there's more to that. Sitting here tonight, I'm going to say something I would never want to say. For once in my life I'm going to be me. I survived all this being gay."

An emotional Patterson then said he has had a secret partner for 40 years, who recently died after a heart attack.

"I survived the business. I did, I'm so proud of me. It's tough guys, it was tough," he said. "I gave my life to the business and I don't regret nothing. For the rest of my life I want to be happy."

Patterson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996 and was the first Intercontinental Champion, according to E! Online. He went on to help create the Royal Rumble event and currently serves as a WWE executive.

Watch the emotional clip below:

SEE ALSO: There's A Secret Coming Out Scene In 'How To Train Your Dragon 2'

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This past weekend, cities around the world celebrated LGBT pride with parades, festivals, and demonstrations.

Barcelona, Lima, Mexico City, Paris, Toronto, Chicago, and San Francisco all raised the rainbow flag. But few cities could compete with the jubilant atmosphere and sheer size of New York City's annual Pride March.

The first March was held in 1970 to commemorate the riots at Stonewall Inn. The year before, police raided the Greenwich Village watering hole, which had become a central location of NYC's underground gay community. Fed up with the ongoing attacks, patrons fought back, stirring a riot and launching the modern day LGBT rights movement.

The March has since expanded to include recognition of the battle against AIDS and to celebrate the progress that has been made.

This year's NYC Gay Pride Parade commemorated the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots, which are credited with launching the modern gay rights movement in 1969.

The parade route began at 36th Street, blazed down Fifth Avenue, and ended in the West Village, outside the Stonewall Inn.

An hour before the parade started, street vendors parked on almost every corner to sell rainbow flags, bandanas, leis, and other colorful memorabilia.

William Palumbo, the head of "Blog" at the New York Young Republican Club, was dismayed when a friend sent him a photo of rainbow gay pride flags hanging from the U.S. Embassy in London last month.

He responded by writing a post on the club's website where he wondered, among other things, whether someone should be impeached for flying the rainbow flag and whether the nation is becoming "The United States Of Gaymeria."

"Can I pose a serious question?  At what point does replacing the American flag with the rainbow flag, a symbol of gay/LGBTQ(RSTUVWXYZ) pride from embassies abroad become an impeachable offense in itself?" Palumbo asked, adding, "Last time I checked, the official flag of the country was the Stars and Stripes, not the same rainbow that is found on the doors of gay bars downtown."

Palumbo argued the flag should not have been on the embassy because it represents a "stateless movement."

"Flags represent allegiance," Palumbo explained. "Apparently the United States Department of State intends to tell the world, 'We are the international gay movement.'  Not allied with, but are."

Flying the rainbow flag isn't the only inappropriate thing Palumbo believes the Obama administration has done to support the "gay movement." He included some links to illustrate some of his points. Business Insider has preserved those here. 

"Now, to say a few things that some people will find unpleasant, but need to be said. This administration has a record of placing gay ambassadors in countries where they are not welcome. The Dominican Republic last November, for example, was pretty well outraged," said Palumbo, adding, "As anyone who knows about the Foreign Service will tell you, it has always been somewhat of a refuge for homosexuals. Ditto the CIA, whose ranks were and are filled by people of alternative lifestyles – including gays, nudists, those who believe in mind control, etc."

Palumbo went on to refer to the questionable rumor former Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, who was killed in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, was gay. He also presented similar rumors about 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and suggested President Barack Obama has a "strange relationship" of his own.

"If you want to go deeper down the rabbit hole, consider that Mohamed Atta, a 9/11 hijacker from Egypt, was also gay, and this is not so uncommon among jihadis. Then consider Obama’s strange relationship with the Emir of Qatar," Palumbo said.

Palumbo was evidently aware his post could be controversial. He concluded with a "note" telling readers not to "write letters of complaint" about the post to the New York Young Republicans. 

"If you are offended by this post, then you can write an article explaining why the rainbow flag, which is as random as the flag of any other stateless movement, should be adorning American embassies abroad," said Palumbo.

Both Palumbo and New York Young Republican Club President Brian Morgenstern have not responded to requests for comment from Business Insider. 

Update (7/14 5:13 p.m.):Palumbo has resigned and Morgenstern has said the views expressed in the post do not reflect the views of his club.

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16-year-old Nash Grier is what you'd call a "Vine Celebrity," with over 8 million followers on the video-sharing platform, more than any other user on Vine.

But the teenager found himself in hot water after a video he published in April 2013, insisting "HIV is a gay thing," went viral this week. The video ends with the teen smirking and shouting "fag" into the camera.

YouTube celebrity Tyler Oakley shared Grier's video before Grier finally took it down following backlash.

Warning: NSFW (the video is loud and it's hard to miss the scream of "fag.")

Promoting a false stereotype that HIV only affects gays to his millions of teen fans is extremely dangerous. https://t.co/W6X9MUrgUK

— Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley) July 6, 2014

Pretty horrific. Because this is 2014 and nothing makes any sense, this Snapchat, allegedly taken for a post from another viral Vine star Jerome Barr, has been making the rounds this week as well.

The photo is of a bizarre, staged kiss between himself and a gay fan of Grier's, which was then posted to Tumblr and has gone viral in retaliation to the backlash from the Vine post.

The caption reads: “To all the people complaining about Nash being a homophobic who’s against gays; He willingly kissed a boy just for a snapchat story on top of apologizing twice.”

It is unclear whether the Snapchat was taken because of the Vine or if it was taken before and is purposefully being resurfaced by apologists who want to counteract Grier's homophobia.

Some fans of Grier disagree:

PinkNews reports:

With 8.7 million followers, Grier has more than celebrities such as Ariana Grande (2.4 million), Ellen DeGeneres (2 million) and Wiz Khalifa (1.7 million) as well as the official Vine account (1.4 million). The second most followed account, KingBach, only has 7.3 million followers. The video comes only weeks after a US survey found that gay, bisexual and transgender men in America are at greater risk of HIV infection due to misconceptions and a lack of information about their health risk.

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