Defense of Marriage Act and Immigration

Bi-national same-sex couples are kept from legally living in the United States by DOMA's Section 3, which prevents one spouse from sponsoring the other for a green card. Following some uncertainty after the Obama Administration determined Section 3 to be unconstitutional, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reaffirmed its policy of denying such applications. With respect to obtaining a visitor's visa, Bureau rules treat bi-national same-sex spouses the same as bi-national opposite-sex unmarried partners under the classification "cohabiting partners".
Tim Coco and Genesio J. Oliveira, a same-sex couple married in Massachusetts in 2005, successfully challenged this policy and developed a model since followed by other immigration activists. The U.S. refused to recognize their marriage and in 2007 Oliveira, a Brazilian national, accepted "voluntary departure" and returned to Brazil. They conducted a national press campaign that won the attention of Senator John F. Kerry, who first lobbied Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. without success. He then gained the support of United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano who granted Oliveira humanitarian parole, enabling the couple to reunite in the U.S. in June 2010. Humanitarian parole is granted on a case-by-case basis at the Secretary's discretion.
On September 28, 2011, in Lui v. Holder, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson rejected a challenge against DOMA, citing Adams v. Howerton (1982). The plaintiffs in that case had unsuccessfully challenged the denial of immediate relative status to the same-sex spouse of an American citizen. Early in 2012, two bi-national same-sex couples were granted "deferred action" status, suspending deportation proceedings against the non-U.S. citizen for a year. A similar Texas couple had a deportation case dismissed in March 2012, leaving the non-citizen spouse unable to work legally in the United States and no longer subject to the threat of deportation.
On January 5, 2012, a U.S. District Court in Illinois accepted the suit of a same-sex binational couple, Demos Revelis and Marcel Maas, married in Iowa in 2010, seeking to prevent the USCIS from applying Section 3 of DOMA to Revelis' application for a permanent residence visa for Maas and, in the court's words, "that their petition be reviewed and decided on the same basis as other married couples."[123] The BLAG has argued for the suit to be dismissed, and responses from the plaintiffs' attorneys and the DOJ are due April 9.
On April 2, 2012, five bi-national same-sex couples represented by Immigration Equality and Paul, Weiss filed a lawsuit, Blesch v. Holder, in District Court for the Eastern District of New York, claiming that Section 3 of DOMA violates their equal protection rights by denying the U.S. citizen in the relationship the same rights in the green card application process granted a U.S. citizen who is in a relationship of partners of different sexes


Full faith and credit cases


In August 2007, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Finstuen v. Crutcher ordered Oklahoma to issue a revised birth certificate showing both adoptive parents to a child born in Oklahoma who had been adopted by a same-sex couple married elsewhere. By contrast, Louisiana in Adar v. Smith successfully defended in federal court its refusal to amend the birth certificate of a child born in Louisiana and adopted in New York by a same-sex married couple, who sought to have a new certificate issued with their names as parents as is standard practice for Louisiana-born children adopted by opposite-sex married couples.
On October 2, 2009, a Texas judge granted a divorce to two men married in Massachusetts. On August 31, 2010, the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas reversed the lower court's ruling. On January 7, 2011, the Third Court of Appeals in Austin allowed a divorce granted by a lower court to a lesbian couple married in Massachusetts to stand.


DOMA and state legislation


A majority of the states, including some that have benefits for same-sex relationships, have restricted recognition of marriage to unions of one man and one woman either by statute law or an amendment to their state constitution.[129] Most do not recognize same-sex unions from other jurisdictions, including other jurisdictions of the United States. States that permit same-sex marriages recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. Connecticut,[130] Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow marriages between persons of the same sex. Washington state is scheduled to permit them beginning June 7, 2012, unless sufficient signatures are collected by June 6 to subject the state's same-sex marriage law to a referendum in November. Same-sex marriages become legal in Maryland on January 1, 2013, unless blocked by a referendum.
California, which sanctioned same-sex marriages for several months in 2008 and has a ban (Proposition 8) on same-sex marriage that is the subject of litigation, recognizes same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions as equivalent to marriages in all but name. New Mexico, Other states that recognize same-sex marriages as marriage-like contracts under the name of civil union or domestic partnership include Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island Maine, Wisconsin and Washington.

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Gay Green Lantern may be seen in a different light

PHILADELPHIA --Green Lantern, one of DC Comics' oldest and enduring heroes no matter what parallel earth he's on, is serving as a beacon for the publisher again, this time as a proud, mighty and openly gay hero. The change is revealed in the pages of the second issue of "Earth 2" out next week, and comes on the heels of what has been an expansive year for gay and lesbian characters in the pages of comic books from Archie to Marvel and others. But purists and fans note: This Green Lantern is not the emerald galactic space cop who was, and is, part of the Justice League and has had a history rich in triumph and tragedy. Instead, said James Robinson, who writes the new series, Alan Scott is the retooled version of the classic Lantern whose first appearance came in the pages of "All-American Comics" No. 16 in July 1940. And his being gay is not part of some wider story line meant to be exploited or undone down the road, either. "This was my idea," Robinson explained this week, noting that before DC relaunched all its titles last summer, Alan Scott had a son who was gay. The thought had occurred to Robinson after DC's relaunch of its entire superhero line last fall removed Alan Scott's gay son Obsidian from the picture. Robinson made the suggestion about Alan Scott to DC co-publisher Dan DiDio, and "there wasn't a moment's hesitation," the writer says. Batwoman is an openly lesbian superhero in the DC Universe, and twice in the last three years the company has won the "Outstanding Comic" award from GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) for stories featuring the character. But having a gay Green Lantern, one of DC's most visible heroes, is a big step. "What I really want to do with this character is make the fact that he's gay to be a part of who he is and not to be the one identifying aspect of him," Robinson says. "And have his humor and his bravery be as much or more a part of him as his sexuality." The Green Lantern most readers know is Hal Jordan, the man with the green power ring in DC's main Green Lantern series and the hero Ryan Reynolds played in the Green Lantern movie. He and Alan Scott will meet one day, Robinson says, but in the meantime the writer's making sure they're completely different characters, both in personality and powers. "When they're firing their rings at the same time, you'll be able to tell which energy is which," he says. "That's a very important thing so that it sets them apart." Artist Nicola Scott's orders were clear, too: Make Alan Scott a big, strapping, handsome man that everyone would instinctively follow and love. "No short order but right up my alley," she says. "Alan strikes me as an incredibly open, honest and warm man, a natural leader and absolutely the right choice to be guardian of the Earth. His sexuality is incidental. Every time I draw him I love him even more." By the time readers get to know Alan Scott more, he will have already come out as a gay man, but it isn't a huge deal for him. Keeping the world safe is higher on his priority list. "He's someone you would want to watch over your children," Robinson says. "Presenting that kind of a heroic role model hopefully will be a good thing and help to show gays in a positive light for people who might be a little more small-minded." The character's sexuality isn't a major issue for Robinson either. He wrote what he believes was comics' first gay kiss, to in an issue of Starman. The writer understands, though, that in some circles a mainstream gay superhero is not all that welcome. DiDio had made an offhand comment a couple of weeks ago at a London comic-book convention that a DC character would be gay, and last week Marvel Comics announced an upcoming X-Men gay wedding. In response, the group One Million Moms prompted readers on its website to send both companies "an email urging them to change and cancel all plans of homosexual superhero characters immediately" and to "ask them to do the right thing."

Charlize Theron vs. Kristen Stewart

"Snow White and the Huntsman,"starring a fierce Kristen Stewart and an even fiercer Charlize Theron as warring sides of good and evil, is a baroque enchantment filled with dazzling darkness, desultory dwarfs, demonic trolls and beastly fairies. It is an absolute wonder to watch and creates a warrior princess for the ages. But what this revisionist fairy tale does not give us is a passionate love — its kisses are as chaste as the snow is white

Perhaps they are saving the passion for the sequel, for it seems there is surely one to come after director Rupert Sanders' brilliantly inventive debut. The film's Alexander McQueen-esque illusions of grandeur do a very good job of masking its flaws, and for the story, Evan Daugherty has conjured up a serious feminist twist on the ages old fable. It is his first screenplay to be produced, with later assists and shared credit with veterans John Lee Hancock ("The Blind Side," "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil") and Hossein Amini ("Drive," "The Wings of the Dove").

The bones of the tale remain as the Brothers Grimm envisioned it — a villainess queen obsessed with beauty, a truth-telling mirror, a fairer and far younger Snow White, helpful hapless dwarfs, a poison apple and the power of true love's kiss. But it's the way in which the filmmakers have fleshed things out that makes the magic happen. The best addition is a drunken mercenary in the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), who is pressed by the Queen to track down Snow White.

The script might be based on a Grimm fairy tale in which the princess in peril prides herself on her housecleaning skills. But not since Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West duked it out over a pair of red pumps has womankind been given such an expansive big-screen arena to work out generational issues.
It says it all that Stewart's Snow White dons tomboy leggings under her torn royal garb as she hides out in the woods, while Theron's Ravenna cloaks herself in runway-ready villainy chic as she plots her dirty deeds.

Reaction so far suggests that audiences are ready for such a change of pace.
As Sanders notes, "People called us 'the other Snow White film' for a while," referring to Mirror Mirror, a tepidly greeted comical spin on the same fable that won the race to reach theaters this year. But first is not necessarily best, he notes. "We were the most-viewed trailer on iTunes when it came out."
Many male-driven action vehicles feel free to marginalize women — much online chatter has been devoted to the attention paid to the leather-clad behind of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow in The Avengers.
But Chris Hemsworth, a 6-foot-3 monument of manly might, is granted a beefy sidekick role as the grief-stricken huntsman Eric hired by the queen to seize Snow White's still-beating heart. Instead of going through with the heinous act, the hard-drinking widower finds redemption as he teaches the runaway princess to fend for herself — and with hardly a hint of romantic intent, either.

Justin Bieber suffers concussion in Paris

Expect more memories to be made and lots of Golden Popcorn statues to be handed out (maybe even to "Bridesmaids") when the 2012 MTV Movie Awards take place this weekend. The show will be hosted by Russell Brand and feature performances by Fun., the Black Keys, Martin Solveig and Wiz Khalifa. It all goes down from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, on Sunday.


Head over to MovieAwards.MTV.com to vote for your favorite flicks now! The 21st annual MTV Movie Awards air live this Sunday, June 3, at 9 p.m. ET.


TMZ posted an audio clip of its conversation with the pop sensation in which he said doctors told him he suffered a concussion and ordered him to relax. The singer quickly posted on Twitter that he was doing well, joking about the incident and saying "gotta laugh at yourself sometimes."


The concussion comes one day after Bieber, on a brief tour of major European cities to promote upcoming album "Believe," was met with a crush of fans before a free concert in Oslo leading to reports of dozens of young girls being injured.


Bieber's record label, Universal Music, said in a statement to celebrity site E! Online on Thursday that it "regrets strongly that some of those who were Justin concert had a bad experience."


A label executive said "fortunately no one was seriously injured," and added that Bieber wanted to return to Norway and perform a future concert there.


Calls and e-mails to Bieber's representatives were not immediately returned.


Bieber performed a free, six-song concert at the Oslo Opera House on Wednesday that is planned to be featured on his upcoming one-hour NBC television special to be aired next month.


The 18-year-old singer was forced to tweet a safety message ahead of the show after police were unable to control the crowds of fans trying to catch a glimpse of the star.


"for the show to happen u must all listen to the police. we are all concerned for your safety and i want what is best for u. please listen," Bieber posted to his 22 million Twitter followers on Wednesday.


TMZ said 49 young girls were injured and 14 taken to hospitals, and police came close to declaring a state of emergency in the capital. Those reports could not be immediately confirmed.


This is not the first time Bieber fever has caused crowd control and safety issues. In November 2009, fans stampeded a shopping mall in Long Island, New York ahead of an appearance by the pop star, forcing organizers to cancel the event.

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Ana Ivanovic falls to Sara Errani

PARIS  — American teen Sloane Stephens and Maria Sharapova advanced on Friday, while Ana Ivanovic lost in the third round of the French Open.

Stephens reached the fourth round by beating Mathilde Johansson of France 6-3, 6-2. Of the eight teenagers in this year's draw, the 19-year-old Stephens was the only one to reach the third round.
The second-seeded Sharapova defeated Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-1, 6-1 in a match postponed a day by the marathon contest between American John Isner and Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Sharapova has won three major titles in her career, but she still needs to win at Roland Garros to complete a career Grand Slam.
Ivanovic fell to Sara Errani of Italy 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.
The 13th-seeded Ivanovic, a former top-ranked player who won the French Open title in 2008, committed 37 of her 40 unforced errors in the final two sets. Errani had only 18.
"In the third set I was creating a lot of opportunities and missing a lot of easy, easy finishing balls," Ivanovic said. "That's something that I'm not really happy about."
Two days after eliminating Venus Williams from the French Open, third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska was routed by 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-2.
She didn't look anything like the player who overwhelmed seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams in straight sets on Wednesday.
Radwanska has been having a stellar year on tour, winning three titles and moving up to a career-high No. 3 ranking last month. But she is the only player in the top 10 that has never reached a Grand Slam semifinal.
Radwanska dropped to 3-10 against the Russian, including her only two losses in tournament finals.
Before Friday's match, Radwanska had been 38-7 in 2012, with six of those losses coming against top-ranked Victoria Azarenka.
Kuznetsova, who also won the U.S. Open in 2004, has struggled since winning the title at Roland Garros three years ago, only reaching one Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Later Friday, top-ranked Novak Djokovic and 2009 champion Roger Federer will play their third-round matches, while second-seeded Maria Sharapova will play in the second round.




Two days after eliminating Venus Williams from the French Open, third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska was routed by 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-2.


She didn't look anything like the player who overwhelmed seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams in straight sets on Wednesday.


Second-seeded Maria Sharapova won easily, beating Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-1, 6-1.


The second-seeded Sharapova won her opening match 6-0, 6-0 on Tuesday.


The Russian has won three major titles in her career, but she still needs to win at Roland Garros to complete a career Grand Slam.


Last year, she lost in the semifinals at the French Open.


Radwanska has been having a stellar year on tour, winning three titles and moving up to a career-high No. 3 ranking last month. But she is the only player in the top 10 that has never reached a Grand Slam semifinal.


Radwanska dropped to 3-10 against the Russian, including her only two losses in tournament finals.


Before Friday's match, Radwanska had been 38-7 in 2012, with six of those losses coming against top-ranked Victoria Azarenka.


Kuznetsova, who also won the U.S. Open in 2004, has struggled since winning the title at Roland Garros three years ago, only reaching one Grand Slam quarterfinal.


Later Friday, top-ranked Novak Djokovic and 2009 champion Roger Federer will play their third-round matches.


Sharapova and Morita were supposed to play Thursday night, but their match was postponed because of the marathon contest between American John Isner and Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.


Isner lost in the fifth set, 18-16.

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Germany Likely to Press Russia on Syrian Crisis

President Vladimir Putin's first foreign trip after being sworn in for a third term reflects a policy course driven primarily by Russia's economic interests.


He travels Thursday to Belarus, where Russia has long had designs on economic assets, and from there directly to Germany and France in an attempt to boost ties with the continent's most powerful economies.


In an executive order released as he returned to the presidency this month, Putin named creating conditions for Russia's economic modernization and strengthening its positions in global markets as his No. 1 foreign policy priority.


Belarus has been Russia's closest ally since the 1990s, when the neighboring countries signed a union agreement that envisaged close economic, political and military ties and set the goal of an eventual merger.


Their relations, however, have often plunged into acrimony, with flamboyant Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accusing the Kremlin of trying to wrest control over key sectors of his nation's economy.


The visit came as part of Mr. Putin’s first trip abroad after reclaiming the Russian presidency.


After stops in Belarus and Germany, Mr. Putin planned to travel on to Paris to with France’s newly elected president, François Hollande, later on Friday. The visit to Berlin was not intended as an emergency summit on Syria but escalating violence there has thrust the issue to the top of the agenda.


Mr. Putin has emerged as the fulcrum in efforts by Western nations and Arab foes to force President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to step down. Russia’s government has refused to back any move toward outside intervention in Syria, its longtime partner and last significant foothold in the Middle East.


Russia, along with China, has blocked the United Nations Security Council from taking more vigorous steps, as advocated by Western and most Arab states, to halt the violence in Syria. American officials have stopped just short of calling for military action, opting thus far to focus on humanitarian efforts to supply medical and other emergency supplies.


Germany and France were among the Western nations to coordinate the simultaneous expulsion of Syrian ambassadors on Tuesday as a demonstration of international outrage following the killings of over 100 civilians, including dozens of children, in the Houla area near Homs.


The massacre has thrust the 15-month-old Syrian conflict back into the center of international attention. Activists say pro-government fighters known as shabiha were responsible for the killings, while the Syrian government has blamed its opponents.


The United Nations Security Council, while stopping short of blaming the government, censured it for using heavy artillery against the civilian population in Houla.


United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned on Thursday that the killings in Houla “could plunge Syria into catastrophic civil war — a civil war from which the country would never recover.”


Ms. Merkel on Thursday praised what she called Russia’s “constructive cooperation” over the weekend in the United Nations Security Council. While the chancellor’s relationship with Mr. Putin remains cautious — those close to her say she still associates him with his role as an operative in the former East Germany where she was born — she is fully aware that Russia’s backing is key to achieving any further Security Council action against Syria.


Germany was starkly criticized by Western partners when Berlin refused to support NATO’s air campaign in Libya and abstained from the United Nations Security Council vote to support rebels opposed to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.


Moscow must recognize “that we are not working against Russian strategic interests when we try to end the violence in Syria,” said Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister, in the daily newspaper Die Welt on Friday. But Mr. Westerwelle also said he was opposed to a discussion of armed intervention which could “create the impression that military intervention is the ideal way to a swift solution.”

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Shane McCutcheon

Shane McCutcheon is a fictional character from the American Showtime television drama series The L Word, played by Katherine Moennig.
Katherine Moenning plays role as Shane McCutcheon in the film, The L Word for 6 seasons. Shane was born in Austin, Texas. Her mother, who was a drug addict, put her into foster care when she was nine years old. She never knew her father. Shane has known she was a lesbian from a young age, remarking that her very first crush was when she was eight, on a girl she met on the playground. She dropped out of high school and was once a prostitute on Santa Monica Boulevard. She pretended to be a boy in order to service gay men, but would never go farther than to give handjobs. She quit when one of her johns paid for her to get into hairdressing school. Shane was homeless for at least six months, and slept in her truck. Shane struggled with a drug problem, and also slept with between 1000 and 1200 people.


Shane is living in a one-bedroom apartment with three lesbians at the beginning of season one. She is working as a hairdresser at Lather, a trendy salon that services many Hollywood personalities. Shane is being stalked by one of her ex-lovers, Lacey (Tammy Lynn Michaels) who is bitter that Shane will not commit to a relationship with her. After several confrontations with Lacey, including the stalker's distributing flyers all over gay bars "exposing" Shane's promiscuity, Shane is able to settle the conflict by talking with Lacey about her fear of abandonment. Ultimately, it is implied that Shane makes a deal with Lacey for her to stop stalking her and posting flyers if she has sex with her one last time.
Shane later runs into Clive, a friend she once turned tricks with. He is in need of a place to stay. Shane reluctantly agrees, but kicks him out when she discovers he has been stealing from her and her roommates. One of Clive's high-profile johns, Harry Samchuck, sends his business partner's wife to Shane's salon as an opportunity for Shane to network with Hollywood clients. Shane begins to make a name for herself as a hairdresser. She meets Cherie Jaffe (Rosanna Arquette), a married woman with whom she begins an affair and eventually develops deeper feelings for. Cherie convinces her husband Steve to invest in Shane's own salon, but this plan falls through when Cherie's daughter Clea falls in love with Shane. Steve, who at first believed Shane is sleeping with his daughter, learns of her affair with Cherie and tells Shane he will have her killed if she ever goes near his family again. Cherie tells Shane that even if she loved her, she can't leave her high-class lifestyle.
Shane moves in with her friend Jenny Schecter (Mia Kirshner). They find a third roommate, Mark Wayland, whom Shane befriends until Jenny discovers he has been secretly taping them for an exploitative documentary on lesbians. Shane gets a job doing hair for Arianna Huffington at a TV studio, where she hooks up with production assistant Carmen de la Pica Morales (Sarah Shahi). She tells Carmen that she's not interested in relationships, though Carmen continues to pursue her, convinced that she can win Shane over. She is hired by Hollywood producer Veronica Bloom, who makes Shane use her empathy to manipulate others, such as convincing a woman to sign away the movie rights to her life. Shane quickly becomes fed up with using people and quits. Meanwhile, Carmen has hooked up with Jenny in a bid to stay close to Shane and make her jealous. Shane claims to be fine with the situation. It soon becomes clear that Shane has deeper feelings for Carmen but is afraid to get close to another person so soon after being dumped by Cherie. In the season finale, Shane tells Carmen she loves her while they are having sex.
Carmen moves in with Shane and introduces Shane to her family as a "friend." They take a liking to Shane and she becomes very attached to them. Shane and Carmen's relationship becomes very close. When Carmen's mother tries to hook Shane up with a family friend, Carmen comes out to her family, causing them to cease contact with her. Shane is hired at Wax, an alternative hair salon in a skateboarding shop. Cherie shows up as one of her appointments. She tells Shane that she's now divorced from her husband, and offers to pick up where they left off. Carmen witnesses this happening and gets upset. Shane later sees Carmen flirting with some Def Jam employees who are investigating her DJing. Shane is hurt and reacts by sleeping with Cherie.
Carmen finds out and confronts her. Shane says that Carmen can't understand that her life has made monogamy difficult for her, but she is willing to try for Carmen. Carmen accuses Shane of avoiding sex to punish her for forcing her into monogamy, and later admits that she cheated on Shane with a woman named Robin in response to Shane's infidelity. After the death of Dana, a grief-stricken Shane asks Carmen to marry her. Carmen does not respond at first but accepts after Dana's memorial. Through an article in a magazine on Wax, Shane meets her father, Gabriel McCutcheon (Eric Roberts). He is married to a woman named Carla, and Shane gets to meet her half-brother, Shay. The season finale takes place on Shane and Carmen's wedding day, which is financed by Helena Peabody and takes place in Whistler, British Columbia, where same-sex marriage is legal. Shane witnesses her father picking up another woman. He tells her "I'm not proud of this, it's just who I am. You know what I'm talking about," which scares Shane into thinking she will ruin Carmen's life by being unfaithful in marriage. She leaves Carmen at the altar.
Severely depressed after her failed wedding, she goes on a drug binge with Cherie. Gabriel dumps Carla, she leaves Shay in Shane's care. Shane first does not want to take responsibility for him, but decides that she does not want to condemn him to a life in foster care like what happened to her. When Shay breaks his arm skateboarding, she takes a job modeling underwear for Hugo Boss AG in order to pay the health bills. She enrolls Shay in school, where he befriends a boy named Jared Sobel. Shane becomes close to Jared's mother, Paige, who is also a lesbian, and they eventually consummate their budding romance with sex. Gabe returns to take Shay back, and though Shane tries to fight it, she realizes she is unlikely to win in court and lets Shay go home. The season ends with Shane proposing the possibility of buying a house with Paige and raising Jared with her. However Paige later walks in on Shane sleeping with their realtor in the apartment they are planning on renting. Paige tells her that she can deal with Shane sleeping around. Shane responds by turning her down and ending their relationship. Later, Wax is set on fire, Paige is blamed but secretly Shane does it.


While working as a hairdresser at the wedding of Jenny's boss' daughter, Shane has sex with the bride's two sisters and her mother. The ensuing jealousy and chaos prompts Shane to declare a moratorium on sex. However, Shane soon returns to her old ways and has a three-way with Shebar nightclub owner Dawn Denbo and her lover Cindi. She later has a tryst with Lover Cindi, without Denbo's knowledge or permission. Denbo crashes the party where Shane and her friends meet their Lez Girls actor counterparts, and vows to ruin the lives of Shane and all her friends. This escalates into a turf war between Denbo and Shane's group of Planet patrons. Meanwhile, Shane deals with a "straight girl crush" from Molly Kroll, daughter of Phyllis Kroll. Shane and Molly eventually have sex, but soon afterwards, Shane overhears Molly and Phyllis talking about her. Molly refers to Shane as "a little bit uneducated", "easy and simple" and "maybe she's not the smartest person in the world". Shane attends the Subaru ride for breast cancer in honor of Dana, where Molly chases after her. Molly declares her love for Shane, but the relationship does not work out after all because Phyllis has a talk with Shane about Molly's future. Shane and Molly end the relationship.
Shane cheats with Niki Stevens, (Kate French), then ex-girlfriend of Jenny at the wrap party for the film. Jenny walks in on this and tells her that she has broken her heart. Jenny then storms off into the night, immediately Nikki and Shane chase after her. Shane and Niki ask Jenny to forgive them, but she does not. Molly comes to see Shane, Jenny agrees to pass on a letter for her, but hides it in her attic. Shane tries to get Jenny to forgive her by doing things around their house. She washes Jenny's car, installs flower boxes on the windows, and even sends over an elaborate breakfast when they run into each other at The Planet, which Jenny throws into the garbage. Finally Shane gives up and comes to collect her things. In the hallway, Jenny admits that it was Shane who had broken her heart, not Niki, because Jenny had fallen in love with Shane.
Jenny forgives Shane and the two become lovers. Alice overhears them the morning after they hook up and texts all of their friends. Although everyone knows, Jenny and Shane try to keep their relationship a secret. However, Jenny begins to behave more erratically and becomes clingy and possessive towards Shane, while alienating their other friends for various reasons. Despite their protests, Shane feels obligated to remain in the relationship due to her loyalty to Jenny and their friendship, and to avoid setting her off. Jenny buys Shane a dark room for her photography, but Shane eventually uses this space to have a brief fling with Niki. Jenny is aware of this and makes Shane feel guilty about it. Eventually though, she claims to accept this nature of Shane's, and offers Shane the chance to pursue Niki. Shane runs into Molly while buying a housewarming present for Bette and Tina, who are moving to New York. Molly tells a stunned Shane about the letter, but Shane does not admit to having not read it. On the night of Bette and Tina's farewell party, Shane searches for the letter and finds it in the attic along with the Lez Girls film negative that had been mysteriously stolen from Tina's studio. Jenny's dead body is discovered in Bette and Tina's pool.

Kylie Minogue

Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE, born 28 May 1968 — often known simply as Kylie — is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, showgirl, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing her career as a recording artist in 1987. Her first single, "Locomotion", spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart and became the highest selling single of the decade. This led to a contract with songwriters and producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Her debut album, Kylie (1988), and the single "I Should Be So Lucky", each reached number one in the United Kingdom, and over the next two years, her first 13 singles reached the British top ten. Her debut film, The Delinquents (1989) was a box-office hit in Australia and the UK, and received generally positive reviews.

Initially presented as a "girl next door", Minogue attempted to convey a more mature style in her music and public image. Her singles were well received, but after four albums her record sales were declining, and she left Stock, Aitken & Waterman in 1992 to establish herself as an independent performer. Her next single, "Confide in Me", reached number one in Australia and was a hit in several European countries in 1994, and a duet with Nick Cave, "Where the Wild Roses Grow", brought Minogue a greater degree of artistic credibility. Drawing inspiration from a range of musical styles and artists, Minogue took creative control over the songwriting for her next album, Impossible Princess (1997). It failed to attract strong reviews or sales in the UK, but was successful in Australia.
Minogue returned to prominence in 2000 with the single "Spinning Around" and the dance-oriented album Light Years, and she performed during the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Her music videos showed a more sexually provocative and flirtatious personality and several hit singles followed. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" reached number one in more than 40 countries, and the album Fever (2001) was a hit in many countries, including the United States, a market in which Minogue had previously received little recognition. Minogue embarked on a concert tour but cancelled it when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005. After surgery and chemotherapy treatment, she resumed her career in 2006 with Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour. Her tenth studio album X was released in 2007 and was followed by the KylieX2008 tour. In 2009, she embarked upon her For You, For Me Tour, her first concert tour of the United States and Canada, and the following year released her eleventh studio album, Aphrodite.
Minogue has achieved worldwide record sales of more than 68 million, and has received notable music awards, including multiple ARIA and Brit Awards and a Grammy Award. She has mounted several successful and critically acclaimed concert world tours and received a Mo Award for "Australian Entertainer of the Year" for her live performances. Bestowed from the Queen of Australia Queen Elizabeth II, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) at Buckingham Palace in 2008 "for services to music". In the same year she was awarded France's highest cultural honour, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government for her contribution to the enrichment of French culture. In 2011, "I Should Be So Lucky" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's Sounds of Australia registry. While also in 2011, Minogue was awarded an honorary Doctor of Health Science (D.H.Sc.) degree by Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom of for her work in raising awareness for breast cancer. On 27 November 2011, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ARIA Music Awards, Kylie Minogue was inducted by the Australian Recording Industry Association into the ARIA Hall of Fame.


2010–present: Aphrodite and K25 anniversary

Minogue performing on her Aphrodite Tour, in France, March 2011
Minogue's eleventh studio album, Aphrodite, was released in Japan on 30 June 2010 and worldwide in July 2010. The lead single, "All the Lovers", premiered on radio in May 2010 and was made available for purchase in June 2010. The album debuted at number one in the UK charts, exactly twenty two years after her first UK number one hit. On 3 June 2010, she hosted the inaugural AmfAR "Inspiration Gala" at the New York Public Library honouring Jean Paul Gaultier for his lifelong contribution to men's fashion and the fight against AIDS. Minogue appeared on BBC1's Friday Night With Jonathan Ross on 25 June 2010, during which she confirmed she is a UK resident, and announced that she will tour in 2011.
In July 2010, Minogue filmed a cameo performance as a rock star in the American independent film Jack and Diane. The movie stars Juno Temple, Riley Keough and Jena Malone She also recorded a duet titled "Devotion" with British synthpop duo Hurts for their debut album Happiness, released on 6 September 2010. The second single from Aphrodite, titled "Get Outta My Way" was released on 27 September 2010. In October 2010, Minogue performed in front of the Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt to celebrate the anniversary of "Enigma" magazine, with profits going to the We Owe It To Egypt Foundation. A third single, "Better Than Today", was released on 6 December 2010.
Minogue's singles, "All the Lovers" and "Get Outta My Way", were popular in U.S. clubs, each reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. On 5 March 2011 "Better Than Today" was at number one on the chart, and her collaboration with Taio Cruz, "Higher", was at number three, making her the first artist in the chart's history to have two singles simultaneously in the top three. On 1 December 2010, Minogue and Parlophone records released the EP A Kylie Christmas on iTunes, which included a cover of the 1945 song "Let It Snow" as well as "Santa Baby" which was previously available as a b-side to her 2000 single "Please Stay". Kylie performed the song "Santa Baby" at the 2010 rockefeller tree lighing in New York on 30 November 2010.
In August 2011, "Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)", also reached number one on the Billboard dance chart, where Minogue has now achieved five consecutive number one spots on the chart for her last five releases — including her collaboration with Taio Cruz on the track, "Higher".
In 2011, Minogue embarked on the Aphrodite World Tour, travelling to Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and Africa. A DVD/Blu-ray of the concert, filmed in London, was released at the end of November 2011.Minogue is currently working on a new compilation album featuring re-worked versions of hits that will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of her debut single "Locomotion".
To celebrate her 25 years in the music industry, Minogue began a year-long celebration in 2012. Known as "K25", the singer plans to release a greatest hits collection containing acoustic and orchestral versions of her biggest hits. On her YouTube channel, Minogue has released a video on 25 January and February showcasing two recordings at the historic Abbey Road Studios.In addition, the singer has performed at various music festivals including the Sydney Mardi Gras. On 5 March 2012 Minogue announced the first dates of the K25 Anti Tour. The intimate show will feature b-sides, demos and rarities from her music catalogue. On 20 April 2012, Minogue's film Jack and Diane premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. In May 2012, Minogue premiered in another film, Holy Motors, at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The film received an overwhelmingly positive reception with the audience cheering and loudly applauding.
On May 4, 2012, Billboard announced that Minogue would release a brand new greatest hits album entitled The Best of Kylie Minogue.
Minogue also released a new single, "Timebomb", on May 25, 2012 as part of her K25 celebrations.

Bronze statue of Kylie Minogue at Waterfront City, Melbourne Docklands
Minogue's efforts to be taken seriously as a recording artist were initially hindered by the perception that she had not "paid her dues" and was no more than a manufactured pop star exploiting the image she had created during her stint on Neighbours. Minogue acknowledged this viewpoint, saying, "if you're part of a record company, I think to a degree it's fair to say that you're a manufactured product. You're a product and you're selling a product. It doesn't mean that you're not talented and that you don't make creative and business decisions about what you will and won't do and where you want to go."[89] In 1993, Baz Luhrmann introduced Minogue to the photographer Bert Stern, notable for his work with Marilyn Monroe. Stern photographed her in Los Angeles and, comparing her to Monroe, commented that Minogue had a similar mix of vulnerability and eroticism. During her career Minogue has chosen photographers who attempt to create a new "look" for her, and the resulting photographs have appeared in a variety of magazines, from the cutting edge The Face to the more traditionally sophisticated Vogue and Vanity Fair, making the Minogue face and name known to a broad group of people. Stylist William Baker has suggested that this is part of the reason she has entered in the mainstream pop culture of Europe more successfully than many other pop singers who concentrate solely on selling records.
By 2000, when Minogue returned to prominence, she was considered to be have achieved a degree of musical credibility for having maintained her career longer than her critics had expected. That same year, Birmingham Post noted "[o]nce upon a time, long before anybody had even heard of Britney, Christina, Jessica or Mandy, Australian singer Kylie Minogue ruled the charts as princess of pop. Back in 1988 her first single, I Should Be So Lucky, spent five weeks at number one, making her the most successful female artist in the UK charts with 13 successive Top 10 entries. Her progression from the wholesome "girl next door" to a more sophisticated performer with a flirtatious and playful persona attracted new fans to her. Her "Spinning Around" video led to some media outlets referring to her as "SexKylie", and sex became a stronger element in her subsequent videos. William Baker described her status as a sex symbol as a "double edged sword" observing that "we always attempted to use her sex appeal as an enhancement of her music and to sell a record. But now it has become in danger of eclipsing what she actually is: a pop singer.After 20 years as a performer, Minogue was described as a fashion "trend-setter" and a "style icon who constantly reinvents herself". She has been acknowledged for mounting successful tours, and for worldwide record sales of more than 68 million.

Minogue is regarded as a gay icon, which she encourages with comments such as "I am not a traditional gay icon. There's been no tragedy in my life, only tragic outfits ..." and "My gay audience has been with me from the beginning ... they kind of adopted me."[89] Minogue has explained that she first became aware of her gay audience in 1988, when several drag queens performed to her music at a Sydney pub and she later saw a similar show in Melbourne. She said that she felt "very touched" to have such an "appreciative crowd" and this had encouraged her to perform at gay venues throughout the world, as well as headlining the 1994 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
"Madonna subverts everything for her own gain. I went to see her London show and it was all so dour and humourless. She surpasses even Joan Crawford in terms of megalomania. Which in itself makes her a kind of dark, gay icon ... I love Kylie, she's the anti-Madonna. Self-knowledge is a truly beautiful thing and Kylie knows herself inside out. She is what she is and there is no attempt to make quasi-intellectual statements to substantiate it. She is the gay shorthand for joy."
Rufus Wainwright,
Observer Music Monthly, 2006
Minogue has been inspired by and compared to Madonna throughout her career.[10] Her producer, Pete Waterman recalled Minogue during the early years of her success, with the observation, "She was setting her sights on becoming the new Prince or Madonna ... What I found amazing was that she was outselling Madonna four to one, but still wanted to be her. Minogue received negative comments that her Rhythm of Love tour in 1991 was too similar visually to Madonna's Blond Ambition World Tour of the previous year for which the critics labelled her a Madonna wannabe. Kathy McCabe for The Telegraph notes that Minogue and Madonna follow similar styles in music and fashion,[167] and concludes, "Where they truly diverge on the pop-culture scale is in shock value. Minogue's clips might draw a gasp from some but Madonna's ignite religious and political debate unlike any other artist on the planet ... Simply, Madonna is the dark force; Kylie is the light force."Rolling Stone comments that, with the exception of the U.S., Minogue is regarded throughout the world as "an icon to rival Madonna", and says, "Like Madonna, Minogue was not a virtuosic singer but a canny trend spotter." Minogue has said of Madonna, "Her huge influence on the world, in pop and fashion, meant that I wasn't immune to the trends she created. I admire Madonna greatly but in the beginning she made it difficult for artists like me, she had done everything there was to be done ...", and "Madonna's the Queen of Pop, I'm the princess. I'm quite happy with that.
In January 2007 Madame Tussauds in London unveiled its fourth waxwork of Minogue; only Queen Elizabeth II has had more models created. During the same week a bronze cast of her hands was added to Wembley Arena's "Square of Fame". On 23 November 2007, a bronze statue of Minogue was unveiled at Melbourne Docklands for permanent display.
In March 2010, Minogue was declared by researchers as the "most powerful celebrity in Britain". The study examined how marketers identify celebrity and brand partnerships. Mark Husak, head of Millward Brown's UK media practice, said: "Kylie is widely accepted as an adopted Brit. People know her, like her and she is surrounded by positive buzz". She was named one of the "100 Hottest Women of All-Time" by Men's Health.

Personal life
Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36 on 17 May 2005,leading to the postponement of the remainder of her Showgirl — The Greatest Hits Tour and her withdrawal from the Glastonbury Festival. Her hospitalisation and treatment in Melbourne resulted in a brief but intense period of media coverage, particularly in Australia, where Prime Minister John Howard issued a statement supporting Minogue. As media and fans began to congregate outside the Minogue residence in Melbourne, the Victorian Premier Steve Bracks warned the international media that any disruption of the Minogue family's rights under Australian privacy laws would not be tolerated. His comments became part of a wider criticism of the media's overall reaction, with particular criticism directed towards paparazzi. Minogue underwent surgery on 21 May 2005 at Cabrini Hospital in Malvern, and commenced chemotherapy treatment soon after.
On 8 July 2005, she made her first public appearance after surgery, when she visited a children's cancer ward at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital. She returned to France where she completed her chemotherapy treatment at the Institut Gustave-Roussy in Villejuif, near Paris. In December 2005, Minogue released a digital-only single, "Over the Rainbow", a live recording from her Showgirl tour. Her children's book, The Showgirl Princess, written during her period of convalescence, was published in October 2006, and her perfume, "Darling", was launched in November. This range was later augmented by eau de toilettes such as Pink Sparkle, Couture and Inverse. On her return to Australia for her concert tour, she discussed her illness, and said that her chemotherapy treatment had been like "experiencing a nuclear bomb".While appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2008, Minogue said that her cancer had originally been misdiagnosed. She commented, "Because someone is in a white coat and using big medical instruments doesn't necessarily mean they're right", but later spoke of her respect for the medical profession.