5 LGBT things you need to know today, March 20

1. Catholic League leader Bill Donohue was so incensed by Guinness’ decision to pull its sponsorship of New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade over organizers’ decision to bar gay groups from marching that he applied for his group to march in the city’s gay pride parade behind a banner reading “Straight Is Great.” NYC Pride’s response? See you in June, Bill.

2. “God controls the weather. God is angry. We are provoking him with abortions and same-sex marriage and civil unions.” Susanne Atanus, a congressional candidate in Chicago, has won the GOP nomination and will challenge Democrat Jan Schakowsky this November. Bless her heart.

3. Longtime gay rights advocate Vernita Gray, who became part of the first gay couple to wed in Illinois last November, has died of breast cancer at 65. Gray died in the home in which she and her wife were married.

4. A federal judge ruled Wednesday to extend the stay on his ruling that Kentucky should recognize gay marriages performed in other states. He extended the stay due to a request for appeal from Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear.

5. The new Tea Party, French style? The New Yorker takes a look at the anti-gay marriage group La Manif Pour Tous (The Protest for Everyone). 

(photo via The New Yorker)