...and it was done by an unlikely (to some) photographer.

With its release set for late August, the media frenzy is starting for Meghan McCain's book, Dirty Sexy Politics. Today we got a look at the cover, but we also got some pretty cool news. The image was shot by Instinct's good friend (and 2009 Leading Man) Adam Bouska!

Adam, of course, created the NOH8 Campaign, which Megan and mom Cindy have famously posed for in support of marriage equality. Congrats Adam!

Though the numbers are pretty identical to those released six months before the vote on Prop. 8, a new field poll out in California today shows that a slim majority of California voters approve same-sex marriage. 

The poll's results: 51 percent in favor, 42 percent opposed, 7 percent undecided. However, given the choice between marriage and civil unions, the numbers change to: 44 percent in favor of marriage, 34 percent in favor of civil unions, and 19 percent said they favored no legal recognition for gay couples. (How kind of them.)

The poll also looked at the demographics of the voters. More than two-thirds of voters between the ages of 18-29 approve of same-sex marriage, while a majority of those over 65 oppose it. Voters ...

The antagonists in the Prop 8 saga have a new holy battle to wage, this time in Argentina. As the country's Senate prepares to debate the marriage equality bill approved by the House of Deputies, the Mormon Church has launched a campaign of hate to combat the likely possibility that the bill will become law.

A letter to Mormons in Argentina parrots a 2008 letter sent to the right-wing political orginization's California followers that ultimately helped pass Prop 8, reminding the South American counterparts that "marriage is between one man and woman and is ordained of God."

Luckily for GLBT Argentenians, their leader is braver and more ballsy than Schwarzenegger was during the months leading up to the Prop 8 fiasco. President Cristina Fernandez...

Update:

Maybe it got lost in out junk mail folder (where it belongs), but Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage had this to say on yesterday's ruiling:

"Does this federal judge want to start another culture war? Does he really want another Roe. v. Wade? The simple fact is that the right of the federal government to define marriage for the purposes of its federal law and federal territories has been clear since the late 19th century, when Congress banned polygamy. Only an incompetent defense could have lost this case. We expect to win in a higher court."

Now back to more important things than her thoughts...

Today's catfight is an easy win for the gaydored Shanna Moakler, who decided to play nice and congratule sanctimonious Carrie Prejean with an early opposite-wedding gift.

Shanna, along with co-director of the Miss California USA Pageant, Keith Lewis, reportedly purchased a Waterford Crystal photo frame that Maggie Gallagher's-Ex had listed on her wedding registry, complete with Shanna's photo from Adam Bouska's NOH8 Campaign!

Hearing from the Air Force and Army has become commonplace when it comes to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," but one branch of the military we don't hear from as much is the men at sea (see, we even avoided the cliche joke), the Navy.

Well, 8-year-vet Christopher Landavazo sat down with HLN over the weekend to talk about his service and how he thinks the move to repeal DADT is going:

No amount of live-blogging yesterday could give us a real feel for the emotion and humanity brought forth in the courtroom during the final arguments in the federal Prop 8 trial. Instead, this wrap-up from NCLR's Kate Kendell bottles the mood of the day in an easy to digest video blog. It sounds like it went very well -- very well as in a good day for equality and love to triumph over hate...

(Via JoeMyGod & Towleroad)

NOM's favorite no-shoe-wearing gal took to the organization's website Wednesday night following court with the following statement:

"Chuck Cooper is a heckuva lawyer. At stake in this case is the future of marriage in all 50 states, and he's right that this attempt to shut down the debate by constitutionalizing gay marriage will backfire. Americans have a right to vote for marriage. Ted Olson doesn't seem to understand the argument, and judging from today's exchanges neither does Judge Walker. I expect Judge Walker will overrule Prop 8. But millions of Americans do understand why marriage is the union of husband and wife and I believe the majority of the Supreme Court will as well."

—Maggie Gallagher

Gay Street Beat's Jim Ver Steeg caught up with the man of the moment, Ronnie Kroell, for this week's episode of the popular podcast series. The past Instinct cover-hottie's fully-nude issue of Playgirl hit stands yesterday, just in time for him to dish about the shoot, his decision to pose nude, his activism and more in GSB episode eight!

http://www.thegaystreet.com/Site/Gay_Street_Beat/Entries/2010/6/15_Episode_8_-_Ronnie_Kroell.html

Last week Judge Vaughn Walker issued 39 questions to those involved in the federal Prop 8 trial, and today the Olson/Boies team has responded with the answers it hopes will repeal Prop 8 and let equality reign (until the likely appeals come).

Some excerpts from the plaintiffs' answers include:

“Neither tradition nor moral disapproval is a sufficient basis for a State to impair a person’s constitutionally protected right to marry. “Tradition alone is not enough because the constitutional imperatives of the Equal Protection clause must have priority over the comfortable convenience of the status quo.”

“If a state constitutional provision is inconsistent with the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, it can no longer be ...