okay to be gay? stay in the relationship, says meren. >> i can still dignify their experience as totally legitimate to them withou giving away what i think, feel, and believe. >> this message is gaing traction witha new generation of believers who want to reach out but remaining true to themselves. they are listening intently as they explained to nurture friendships with gays. meren's work is catching the attention of church leaders. brandon o'ien says they can no longer ignore the issue. >> i think andrew does a great job to make the church understandthere are a lot of people that want to be reached and want people to embrace them and be almosted. >> it may take years to understand his impact on the church and lgbt community. in the meantime he is putting down deeper roots in boy's town, buying a new home and continuing to invest onperson at a time. >> i have a lot of pride in my neighborod and in my city and in the people who are there. they are children of god just the same as i am, and you are. >

i didn't say that mike castle is gay? where might you have heard that mike castle is gay? gay. gay. have you heard that. and it's not just the same tactics being used in many cases, in many cases, it is the same exact people using the exact same tactics. >> when the world looks at america these days, all too often they see a moral swamp, a culture promoting sex and violence. no wonder our enemies think they can defeat us. this has been the equivalent of a cultural oil spill. it's not sea otters and ducks that are washing up on shore, covered with gunk, it is our kids. >> we have to have the courage to tell the truth and we have to have the courage to act on the truth. we are allowing a brutalization and a degradation of children in this country, a destructiveness. >> bureaucrats and politicians in washington think they should decide the what kind of lightbulb we use. what kind of toilets we flush. they'll buy your teenage daughter an abortion, but they won't let her buy a sugary soda in a school's vending machine. a lot of the money that we're spending goes to things that we know wi

it is about the gays. and sometimes that manages to bleed through all the nonsense. >> all of america is watching, and they don't think that the defense authorization bill in times of war would -- is the appropriate thing to do to advance a far left liberal agenda. what is that liberal agenda? the liberal agenda is to have open gays serving in the military. >> i just think that's dangerous to say this is not going to have a corrosive impact on the men and women in the military is a mistake. and it won't be able to be passed next year, maybe after the american people have sent some new senators to this senate. maybe then it won't be so popular. and have so much support. >> senators, your culture war is showing. so what happens next? president obama's on record. he is on tape, promising to end "don't ask, don't tell" this year in 2010. >> this year i will work with congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. >

the ex-gay conservative activist, this guy who says that you too can be an ex-gay through the power ofg with him. >> it's nonsexual. it establishes a parent/child relationship. so he didn't experience this growing up with his dad. >> rob, do you feel a sexual connection right now? >> no, i don't. i feel very safe and very comforted and it just feels wonderful. >> that expert there also said the gay could be cured by beating a pillow with a tennis racket while screaming at your parents. >> i was angry at my mother. >> okay. >> so i started saying, mom, mom, mom, mom, why did you do that to me! >> that lady is like, kay. that master of ungaying the gay is richard cohen. he wrote a book called "coming out straight, understanding and healing homosexuality." he appeared on this show last year you may recall. for the record after seeing him even i'm still -- anyway. the cure the gay movement is not just this one guy. not just richard cohen working on the wild west fringe of american politics. conservative activists for years argued for and advocated for and funded this idea that gayness can

to move to sa francisco. >> it told gays tw things., that not all gays are criminal and second, that in san francisco, they'll pretty much let you be yourself. >> people come and said, this is the first time i saw a phograph of people like me. >> a lotas changed for gays and lesbians i the four decades since the photo was taken. most no longer worry about being blackmailed or touching someone on the shoulde kathy says the fight for recognition and rights has not ended. >> with this ring, i thee wed. >> today it's gay marriage. what's it goingo be tomorrow? >> reporter: carolyn tyler, abc 7 news. >> a follow-up now to an emotional story we brought you earlier this year about a bay area performer batting als. two friends are hoping to turn her legacynto funding for care and research into lou gehrig's disease. here is c 7's carolyn johnson. >> jennifer and alexa mtinez are training for a bike ride that wl take them 100 miles and every push of the pedal is inspired by the memory of a friend. >> superior, amazing woman within the most pain

what's more, the evidence is clear from other countries that have a lot of gays and gay and lesbian citizens who serve openly in their military, san collins spoke about this today. the evidence shows there will not be a problem. ask the israelis, ask the canadians, ask the british. they have all successfully implemented open service. it's not that the military is ready for this change, don't ask, don't tell, it's costly for the military. thousands of capable americans with needed skills have been kicked out of the military because of this foolish poly and this policy alone. these are soldiers, airmen, sailors who we have invested time and training in. we really can't afford to lose dedicated personnel with critical skills when we're engaged in two wars. on top of that, do we really want our military officers spending valuable time and resources, investigating, kicking troops out of the military for being gay? the argument offered by some opponents is that this legislation goes back on the promise to take into account the comprehensive review being conducted by the pentagon, but that's just a

military policy against openly gay personnel scores a major victory today. but half a world away, american service members mourn the loss of several u.s. troops in a tragic accident. as a nato helicopter went down in southern afghanistan, making this the deadliest year in almost nine-year war. reporter conor powell has details from from kabul. >> reporter: helicopter crashes are fairly common in afghanistan, most due to mechanical failure and sometimes weather. in the past, taliban hit and brought down u.s. and international helicopters. in this case, the military says there are no reports of enemy fire in the area when the helicopter went down. they're discounting taliban claims they shot down the helicopter. the helicopter went down in an area that was a violent and nasty part of afghanistan where the taliban do roam free and are very, very strong. in addition to the nine u.s. troops killed, three other people including a u.s. civilian were also injured. today's deaths bring the total number of foreign troops killed to 529, a single-year record. the grim m

gay service members would never get in trouble for going to gay bars, marching in gay rights parades as long as they weren't in uniform. that was what they were promised. that's a very different "don't ask, don't tell" than we got. >> couric: we'll have more of my interview with the former president a bit later in the broadcast. right now we turn to the war in afghanistan. 2010 became the deadliest year for coalition forces when a black hawke helicopter went down today in zabul province in the south. nine americans were killed bringing the death toll to at least 530. more now from mandy clark in kabul. >> reporter: the black hawk helicopter was in on a predawn mission just north of kandahar when it crashed. 12 people were on board. sources tell cbs news the chopper may have been carrying members of a special forces team, covert nighttime operations, aimed at high-value targets that are a key part of the war strategy. u.s. forces have been swarming into the outskirts of kandahar in an effort to flush the taliban out of its traditional stronghold. the taliban was quick to announce that

they are giving a gay rights award to two politicians who do not support gay rights.hy are the log cabin republicans doing this? no idea. in what way does this advance the cause of gay rights? hard to say. actually easy to say, it does not at all. that said, on the other hand, this same organization, the log cabin republicans filed the lawsuit that resulted in a strong ruling against the don't ask, don't tell policy in california two weeks ago, and that ruling might offer the obama administration the clearest path forward for getting rid of the military's gay ban. and that definitely would advance gay rights. the obama justice department expected to decide by tomorrow whether or not they will appeal that judge's ruling or whether they won't. which could have the effect of simply killing the don't ask, don't tell policy by means of a legal injunction. joining us now is kerry eleveld. chief washington correspondent for "the advocate" magazine, who's been all over this story. kerry, great to see you. thanks for coming in. >> great to be here. >> what is it exactly that t

if there is a god he huff gays because he made -- he must love gays because he made so many.you disagree you are a cyclophobe. >>> crowder, aren't humans by nature major screw ups? >> i lovey gleys -- enriquey gleys yis. it is usually because they are hard to cut out. he is human. and people should not look to christians or pastors. for example, christianity. >> imogen, did i make sense? >> people who protest too much, you know if they are busy saying, being gay is wrong. you know they are about to come out or be forced out of the closet. every time. larry craig, and the list is endless. >> yes, a list of five people. it is not endless. >> the list is endless, well -- >> google it. >> i will have 15 names on my blog. that is just u.s. politicians. happens all the time. >> the entire uk? >> yes, and as you know i am gay. >> i thought we were just experimenting. >> yeah, well. >> with that jacket, bill, maybe so. are you sad none of the religious figures in your life hit on you? >> yeah, actually that is offensive. i was the only one in catholic school. i will make a quick visu

gay teenagers driven to take their own lives. superbugs on the rise, potenti potentially deadly bacteria that no antibiotic can stop. and it's a special night for fred and wilma ♪ oh, happy anniversary happy anniversary ♪ happy anniversary happy anniversary ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news world headquarters in new york, this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> couric: good evening, everyone. as rainstorms go, this one is huge, and it's heading up the east coast tonight. flood warnings and watches are posted from the carolinas to the canadian border, and the rainfall is setting records. while most places will see between two and six inches, some will get close to a foot. dean reynolds is in carolina beech, north carolina, tonight. dean, this storm is making it dangerous on the roads, and i know there's been one deadly crash already. >> reporter: sadly that's true, katie. the first fatalities from this storm that has been pounding east coast from here to maine. the victim's car ran off rain-slicked highway 6

today, hear from gay students who are fighting back. i'm kyra phillips and you are live in the "cnn newsroom." what future terror attacks might look like. they might look like mumbai, india. nearly two years ago. guys with guns and grenades going where or theists and business people are and hunting them down. a different plan of attack than, say, one guy planting a bomb in a suv and taking off. a german man of afghan descent who trained with terrorists is now in u.s. custody. reportedly telling intelligence agents that this is how a terror plot in europe was supposed to pan out. and apparently osama bin laden signed off on it. again, we are talking about europe in this case. our senior international correspondent nic robertson following the story and in our a abu da by bureau. was it foiled and were there any arrests? >> reporter: none that we're aware of, kyra. the reason is the would be attackers never left the tribal border region of pakistan where the plot was being hatched. ahmed asdiki was transferred to u.s. custody. he is talkin

most of them -- >> gay marriage. >> forget gay marriage. >> we're coming back to that. >> most tea partyembers favor medicare and social security benefits, social benefits and want to cut taxes. want a whole bunch of stuff but don't want to pay taxes. >> i think you're wrong about that. that has been the contradiction with voters generally which is why both republicans and democrats haven't been cutting spending. >> that's the problem with the tea party movement. >> ben nelson gets a special deal for nebraska and gets booed in pizza parlors, the first time people want to cut spend. >> larry: is day marriage a democratic/republican issue? >> in the most -- in the most basic political sense absolutely. people on the left tend to favor this. but divide the democratic party into sub groups, african-american people in california, they tend not to support gay marriage issues which i think is very sad. black people just got the vote to vote last week in marriage -- >> gays can vote, marc. >> my point is we just started getting rights recently. we black people really have been voting since 1965

nobody cared that i was gay.attered to them was that they thought that i share the value that the share. what mattered was that i was talking about the things that your representatives have been talking about this evening. about liberty, about the limits of government, about the importance of unlocking potential, of giving everybody a chance. it should be an article for the right of opportunity. if you cannot believe in equality of opportunity and then stand in the way of people whose only crime is that they want to be given the same chance as everybody else. the same chance in sports, the same chance in business, the same chance in public life they do not want people to say that they are gay. they simply want to be who they aren't to succeed. as your previous speakers have said, i believe that there is no incompatibility at all between the bracing -- between embracing equality whether they are black, white, gay or straight. it matters only what they believe. we are focusing on dealing with homophobic bullying in

according to a recent survey on gay bullying, nine out of 10 gay and lesbian student are bullied at school. those statistics, student at harvey milk high school in manhattan know all too well. this is one of the first high schools in the country, open primarily for gay, lesbian, and transgender students. >> i think people get scared and fearful, and not because they were born into that fear but because it was taught by society. >> reporter: tonight, prosecutors say they will investigate whether this was a bias crime. katie. >> couric: byron pitts. byron, thank you very much. we ask for your comment and questions on twitter and facetoday. jan crawford in washington is our chief legal correspondent. jan, what kind of laws against bullying are currently on the books? >> reporter: well, katie, there's no federal law, but 45 states do have laws, the strongest require things like anti-bullying classes in schools, counseling for the victims, and reporting potentially criminal bullying to law enforcement. in the tragic case where's a student is hurt or commit suicide, prosecutors can file criminal

or someone who respects gay rights, which includes a lot of people who aren't gay, and see this guy representing the state of michigan? because he's not a private lawyer. he is up there representing the entire state of michigan. and i think many people in the employer position, in mike cox's position, would say of course he can't represent the state of michigan because people who express those kind of hateful sentiments are not representative of my office or of the state. >> professor turley, what do you make of this? you're a big defender of the first amendment. >> well, first of all, i think that jeff is right about the trend that there certainly is more and more upheld restrictions on the free speech of public employees. on my blog i've actually detailed a lot of these cases involving police officers, teachers, a great variety of public employees. in fairness to mr. cox, there is a legitimate free speech issue here. that trend has been denounced by many people, including myself, that public employees should be allowed in their private time to espouse their views, to have -- there

to gay marriage. favor medicare,s social security, benefits they want to cut taxes, want a whole bunch of stuff but don't want to pay tax. >> i think you are wrong about that. that has been the the contradiction with voters generally, which is why both republicans -- >> a new movement. the problem with the tea party mom. . >> ben nelson votes for health care, goes back and gets a special deal for nebraska, gets booed in public. the first time people want to cut spending. >> larry: is gay marriage a democratic/republican issue? >> in the most basic political sense, absolutely. people on the left tend to favor this. if you were to divide the democratic party into groups, african-american people, we saw that in california they tend not to support gay marriage issues, which i think is very sad. black people just got the right to vote like last week in america. >> gays can vote, marc. >> my point we started getting rights recently, black people only voting since 1965, voter rights act, so it is very diffic

in september alone, three other teens were mocked for being gay or perceived to being gay took their own lives. 13-year-old seth walsh of california, and 15-year-old biy lucas of indiana both hanged themselves. and 13-year-old asher brown of texas killed himself with a gu >> his life was intended because of intolerance and hate. >> life gets better. >> reporter: relationship columnist dan savage, who's gay, says getting past the hate is hard but not impossible. >> when a gay kid commits suicide, what he's saying he can't picture a future with any joy in it, a fute worth toughing it out for. and i want gay kids to know that they can have a happy, fulfilled life, and experience joy. >> reporter: this week at rutgers, project civility was launched, an effort to improve interpersonal relationships. >> we're trying to create a campus where everywhere is safe. >> reporter: too late for tyler clemente. another precious young life gone. mike taibbi, nbc news, new brunswick, new jersey. >>> when our broadcast continues in a moment, "education nation." you know how teachers have been under att

basically, it's ok to be gay, but the,die gay. >> i will end don't ask don't tell. >> president obama has called for gay people to be allowed to serve openly, but he is opposed by his former electoral rival, who says military leaders do not want to upset the status quo. >> in your written statement, i quote my personal view of the current law. thus, i do not recommend the repealed. >> yays are 56. >> on tuesday, republican senators rejected the plan to ditch the law. for now, the old policy will soldier on. any attempt to change it will have to wait until after november's midterm elections. >> still to come on gmt, could driveoes you wheear to put you in danger on the open road? stay with us to find out. >> the former u.n. secretary general has made comments as world leaders met at the u.n. >> convoys disrupting traffic and police on every corner. the price of new yorkers pay when global leaders are in their city. all of the united nations gave him what still needs to be done to achieve the ambitious targets for overcoming poverty. it is 10 years since these go als were set. the mood

. >>> don't ask, don't tell bans gays from openly serving in the military. and now as andrea tells us, gay rights groups worry they may have missed a crucial opportunity. she is live in the newsroom with more on the vote. andrea. >> that vote was a major defeat for senate democrats and gay rights advocates. many saw this bill as the last chance to overturn the law before the november elections. >> democrats were counting on republican susan collins to break ranks and support the bill. she changed her mind at the last minute. >> i think we should welcome the service of these individuals. but i cannot vote to proceed to this bill under a situation that is going to shut down the debate and preclude republican amendments. >> with the 56 to 43 vote, the democrats fell short of the 60 votes needed for the bill to move forward and ultimately lift the ban on gays serving in the military. >> this year, a year when we have forces engaged in ground combat as we speak, it's not the year for the senate to suddenly say no, we're not going to pass this kind of legislation.

had to sit there and listen to -- >> larry: anti-gay -- >> all this anti-gay stuff. i also believe that people in the room, they weren't really anti-gay, they were pro votes, you know? so it's like, they can't go -- they have to say what the voters out there will accept to get the votes. yeah, think what they want. so you have to say that. >> larry: what do you think goes through kenny mehlman though? what do you think goes through him? >> he probably took so many, like, you know, those showers that, like, rape victims take, at the end of the day in the shower, just scrubbing himself. he probably had a lot of those type of showers. >> larry: how did you come out? >> how did i come out? i did it in vegas. las vegas. yeah. las vegas. >> larry: as an adult -- >> publicly. >> larry: you were on stage? >> it was after one of the -- it was a prop 8 rally. it was the national day after the -- after prop 8 passed. i was in vegas. i was performing at planet hollywood. i said, okay, where's the rally? we're going to go. it's a group of us. and, you know, i had no intentions on

or liking people who are gay. that is true of almost everybody that i know. it's a matter of what is good for the armed forces, good order, discipline, morale, in the military, a unique institution. >> reporter: a judge in los angeles recently declared don't ask don't tell an unconstitutional violation of the due process and free speech rights of gays and lesbians. it's believed more than 13,000 men and women have been kicked out of the military under the law since 1993. >> bob barnard tonight. >>> a virginia chiropractor who treated members of the washington capitals has pleaded guilty to steroid charges down in florida. douglas nagle had an office in the boston common mall where the capitals practice facility is located. three players say they received treatment but denied getting steroids from him. nagle denies giving the drugs to any athletes. he said he tried to obtain steroids for personal use and was sentenced to three years probation. >>> a new york man admitted to breaking into dozens of homes in northern

the bentley-driving mission who led anti-gay protests, accused of luring young men into sex. today, we'll hear from him. >>> and together again. joaquin phoenix returns to "letterman," with an explanation of his wacky behavior and that beard. >>> good morning. and thanks for being with us. today, congress gets a progress check on how safe the nation's transit system is when it comes to terrorism. >> that, of course, is just one front in the war on terror. a war, now, with more and more threats coming from within our borders. >> emily schmidt has the details this morning from washington. good morning, emily. >> reporter: rob and vinita, good morning to you. the u.s. counterterrorism chief says over the past year, we've seen more significant terror developments than any year since 9/11. there are more threats. and they're happening closer to hope home. top intelligence officials say fighting terrorism is getting more complicated because extremists are looking for help from people within u.s. boarders. >> a new and changing facet of the terrorist threat comes from homegrown terr

. >>> a coast to coast march for gay marriage. why their fight may have just gotten tougher. >>> holding out hope for two uc berkley grads in prison in iran. good evening i am ann. as you heard lawrence say, the heat is on. if you thought this weekend was steamy get ready tomorrow could be hotter. hey, lawrence. >> you know i think a lot of folks were looking forward to the heat but now they are like you know what, that cooler wasn't so bad during the summertime. a hot one around the bay area, we are seeing patchy fog off the coastline. here is the latest up towards the beach. see it good there. folks walking toward the beach but just off the coast. patchy fog not likely to pay a visit around the coastline. looks like yeah, high pressure going to squash that marine layer and it will be hot in spots again your average temperature, 87 degrees concord, 79 san jose, 84 santa rosa and 72 scan francisco. look what happens around the bay area. a hot one outside 90s all around tomorrow ann, the possibility of triple digit temperatures jus

>> -- whether someone is gay or not. we do not go out and see if somebody is gay or not.now they don't go out -- they do not. they do not. they do not. you can say that they are. but it's not true. >> that is the case of mike almy, senator. >> bring them to our office. it is not the policy. it is not the policy. >> but it is the case that it's happening, senator. >> it's not the policy. it's not the policy. it's not the policy. it's not the policy. you can say that it is the policy, if you choose to. it's not the policy. i would be glad to get that to you in writing. >> major mike almy, a 13-year veteran of air force service was discharged following the very thing mccain claims to not be happening in the military. here is his testimony in front of the senate armed services committee back in march to senator mccain. >> the commander in iraq, during the height of the insurgency, ordered a search of my personal e-mails solely to determine if i had violated don't ask, don't tell and to gather whatever evidence could be used against me. even as my commander was relieving me of

the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community has a variety of idiosyncrasies, but i'd like to o go back to your first point, too, and say that one reason to have culturally specific treatment is because sometimes people cannot access treatment. stepping stone came into existence 35 years ago because gay men and lesbian women in san diego could not get into those recovery resources that were available then. or if they could, their experience was negative. so a number of people came together and said, well, let's start something for our community, and that was really the beginning of stepping stone, and i think that is true for a lot of these kind of culturally specific treatment programs. idiosyncrasies, sure. life in an alcohol and drug treatment program for the lgbt community is very different in many ways because the issues are very different. for example, when we built the facility 10 years ago, we had this very nice staircase that was going up to the second level. and our then ceo said to the architect, "i want that staircase to look like a woman's high heel shoe." it does,

. >> >> a coast to coast march for gay marriage. why their fight may have just gotten tougher ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, group to consider a total ban on cell phone use for california dr >>> new statistics on cell phones and accidents prompting a safety group to consider total ban on cell phone use for california drivers. the highway safety association is discussing the ban today. new studies show distracted driving fatalities caused by cell phone use and texting increased 28% from 2005 to 2008 california currently bans the use of hand held cell phones and texting while driving. >> think there is a sense out there that this is dangerous, that this should not be done, but yet, folks admit 70% that they have used a cell phone while driving and 24% have admitted they have texted while driving there is a disconnect. >> beginning today triple-a is leading a campaign called heads up driving week, asking all drivers to turn off their cell phones and put them in their trunk so they will not be tempted to make or answer calls or text while driving. >>>