The awesome Jane Lynch filled in for the equally awesome Rachel Maddow for the "Best New Thing In The World" segment of The Rachel Maddow Show.

And shockingly (read: not shockingly), she did a damn good job.

Check out Jane Lynch's take on the leaked Republican pro-gay rights memo after the jump.

President Obama has threatened to veto two bills currently making their way through the House of Representatives that include anti-gay provisions.

More after the jump.

In a vote that fell squarely along party lines, Virginia's House of Delegates voted today to deny a judicial nomination to Tracy Thorne-Begland, who would have become the state's first openly gay judge.

Thorne-Begland’s vote resulted in 33 “yes” votes to 31 “nay” votes. All 31 nay votes came from Republican delegates, who argued that his “lifestyle” and support for LGBT causes would make it impossible for him to be an impartial judge. Thorne-Begland required a 51-vote majority amongst House delegates to be approved.

More after the jump.

Bristol Palin has now tasted what some of the countless LGBT she denigrated last week suffer through their whole lives after criticizing Obama's support of legal recognition for gay-couple-helmed families. Though it's always a head scratcher when a bully throw a tantrum after being criticized for their bullying ways, a few of the comments posted to Bristol's blog entry do take it way too far. 

Jan van Lohuizen, the pollster for George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, sent out a memo to Republican operatives encouraging a change in the GOP stance towards same-sex marriage.

That memo has leaked.

The general gist? That public support of same-sex marriage and equal rights for LGBT Americans is growing at a continually accelerating rate, and the GOP needs to get on board before they're effectively left in the dust.

Mr. van Lohuizen gives some nifty tips on how to do it too. You know, so it's convincing!

Check out the memo after the jump!

Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee are doing their best to ensure that gay servicemembers continue to feel like second class citizens.

The Armed Services Committee approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would ban military bases from hosting marriages or "marriage-like ceremonies" between same-sex couples.

More after the jump.

Gay Republican Sheriff Paul Babeu has decided to end his Congressional campaign in Arizona

More after the jump.

Mama Cher's acrylic nails take no prisoners when they're left to wreak havoc on Twitter. Mitt Romney and a few of Cher's followers who rushed to defend him found themselves in the line of the diva's fire yesterday (and we found ourselves microwaving some Orville Redenbacher and sitting back to enjoy the show!)

So, what does Cher think about Mittens?

Where would we be without Jon Stewart's take on the Richard Grenell debacle?

Check him out as he goes after Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, for his apparent glee over Grenell's swift retreat from his high profile appointment as Mitt Romney's national security and foreign policy spokeman.

Oh, and Fischer's rundown on the sex lives of gay men makes Rick Santorum look positively indifferent to what we're up to in the bedroom.

Clip after the jump!

Log Cabin Republicans are in "ongoing" discussions with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, as they work to decide whether they'll endorse him for President.

More after the jump.

On Wednesday, Missouri Rep. Zachary Wyatt became the only gay Republican state level lawmaker currently serving (according to The Victory Fund) when he came out of the closet to fight the state's despicable "Don't Say Gay" bill. While the intense limelight has understandably made Rep. Wyatt's already busy schedule even more frenetic, he took a little time to chat quickly with Instinct about coming out to fight anti-gay bigotry in Missouri. 

Republican House Leadership have once again chosen to intervene in a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and related laws brought by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SDLN) on behalf of gay and lesbian service members, veterans, and their spouses.

More after the jump.