Pongsapat Pongcharoen wants to become the Governor of Bangkok and he's hoping votes from the increasingly accepted trans community will help him get there. In what is believed to be the first video in the world that openly courts trans voters, Pongcharoen makes his inclusion of kathoeys (Thais who transition from male to female) known to the world. Check it out after the jump. 

Updated 3 p.m. EST

The House of Commons passed marriage equality on Tuesday evening by a large majority! In a vote of 400 to 175 (a majority of 225), MPs have voted for same-sex civil marriage in the United Kingdom. 

Washington United has just given us an update on where the vote for marriage equality in their state stands and it still looks like we will have a sweep in all four of the big gay ballot measures. But no one's ready to call it yet with over a million votes left to count.

Hold tight and stay tuned to Instinct, kiddies!

Great news out of Dallas County, Texas today where the County Commissioners Court has approved health benefits for the domestic partners, gay and straight, of county employees. Details follow. 

Australia's House of Representatives, with help from Prime Minister Julia Gillard, voted to uphold the country's ban on marriage equality by a landslide. Details follow. 

The California State Assembly has followed the State Senate's lead and passed a historic ban on "conversion therapy" for minors. Details follow. 

Sorry, Disneyland (and our rec room after last call): New Zealand is in the running to become the gayest place on earth. With one of three parliamentary votes giving a win to same-sex marriage and the gayest and sassiest billboard from a church we'eve ever seen, NZ is quickly becoming the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Details follow. 

Updated Sunday, 10:30 a.m. PST

Having trouble keeping track of where Mitt Romney and Paul Romney stand on LGBT issues?

Our friends at eQualityGiving.org have put together a few helpful tables and bullet points! (We love tables. And bullet points.)

Links after the jump!

In early May we reported that the Methodist Church had disappointingly voted to uphold its view that homosexuality "is incompatible with Christian teaching." A month later, hundreds of ministers and lay persons within the Church have decided to reject last month's vote and sign on to a pro-LGBT statement. Details follow. 

Delegates representing the eight million members of the Methodist Church voted this week to uphold its condemnation of homosexuality, calling it "incompatible with Christian teachings"

If those opposed to marriage equality allow even for a second their minds to open and the slippery-slope arguments to, well, slip away, it is overwhelmingly likely that they'll come around to the side of love. The evolution of thought, as President Obama would put it, happened to Republican Maryland Delegate Wade Kach, who expereinced a change of heart after meeting with same-sex couples.

By a vote of 41-33, the New Jersey state Assembly has approved marriage equality legislation. Gov. Chris Christie insists on vetoing the measure, which will now head to his desk.