Spencer Cox, the the New York-based AIDS activist who was featured in the documentary "How to Survive a Plague," died Tuesday of complications related to HIV. He was 44.

Cox, a spokesman for the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) by the age of 20, was the co-founder of TAG (Treatment Action Group), and led research on protease inhibitors which saved millions of lives.

Cox also founded the Medius Institute for Gay Men’s Health, a think tank focusing on gay male emotional health.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court on Thursday said that two leases held by the Boy Scouts of America do not violate the constitutional separation of church and state, despite the Scouts' policies that prohibit atheists, agnostics and homosexuals from becoming members.

In San Diego, an organization chartered by the Boy Scouts leases portions of two popular city parks, and in exchange for spending money developing facilities on the land, the Scouts pay virtually no rent.

(Editor's note: Dan Choi emailed his supporters today to confirm that charges have been dismissed against him for protesting outside the White House. This news was confirmed today by attorney Thomas Hughes, who has closely followed the case, who has contributed columns to SDGLN.)

CHARGES DISMISSED!

After one and a half years of criminal trial looming over my head, a totally unconstitutional "stay away" restraining order from the 1600 Pennsylvania Ave (The White House) and too many friends telling me not to fight back, the Judge dismissed the case. Forever.

WASHINGTON – In an interview with the Huffington Post, former Republican presidential candidate and House Speaker Newt Gingrich made remarks indicating he and other GOP leaders should embrace civil marriage equality – the latest sign of powerful momentum for LGBT equality this year.

Gingrich served as Speaker of the House in 1996, when the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was passed into law.