Edwin Cameron, openly gay and HIV positive, has been appointed as a judge to the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the highest court in that Nation.   Judge Cameron becomes the first openly gay man or woman ever appointed to any nation's highest court.  The appointment came from South African President Mothlanthe on Wednesday.

A former Rhodes Scholar and human rights lawyer, Judge Cameron is the co-author of several books, including Witness to AIDS, a memoir on his experiences as a person living with AIDS.

Last summer, Judge Cameron addressed the International AIDS Conference in Mexico, arguing that homosexual sexual conduct should be decriminalized throughout the world, as a necessary step in fighting AIDS.  He elaborated the argument in a scholarly paper co-authored withwith Scott Burris.

We're always thrilled here at DaddyHunt when another mature gay man opens a new door for the rest of us.  Let's hope we see more gay men and women leading our world courts (and legistures and countries) soon.

Editor's Note: As we get nearer to Christmas day, we thought we'd look at things to be grateful for this year and say thanks.

It might be his age -- after all the General is getting to be well into his warm daddy-ness -- or it could be his happiness to finally be looking at an administration that understands (finally) that sexual orientation has nothing to do with a person's ability to serve in the armed forces, but Colin Powell has stepped into the spotlight to openly say the the U.S. Congress should re-evaluate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

We need more leadership like this in our Country and so to you, General, we say: "Thank you, Sir!"

That it would happen isn't a real big surprise - this being the age of micro-productions and all.  But that a musical about California's bigoted Proposition 8 should feature not just teddy bear bad-boy Jack Black AND reborn wild and crazy (and damned funny) Neil Patrick Harris (not to mention honorary queer guy Margaret Cho) is nothing short of ... well, WOW!

But that's just what has happened, compliments of Marc Shaiman, who composed such Broadway hits as Hairspray.  Ladies and Gentlemen: Proposition 8 The Musical!

Just goes to show you: never piss off 'the gay' - especially ones who know how to sing, how to dance, and how to put on a kick-ass show!  So enjoy the show and also be sure to go to jointheimpact.com to get involved.

Sir Adrian Fulford, sometimes called The Honorable Mr Justice Fulford, has been an openly gay lawyer in England for 30 years. He's 55 years old, and if I might add, he's a sexy lookin' daddy. He's got that mischievous look in his eyes. Sir Adrian also has quite the impressive resume. He received a knighthood from the Queen in 2002. He has been a judge on the High Court of England and Wales, and currently he is serving as one of eighteen judges on the International Criminal Court.

Pink News UK reported that earlier this month on a speech that he gave at the opening of The Pink Law Legal Advice Centre, in which he made some interesting statements about being an older gay man. Here are some snippets from his speech:

"One of the advantages, and I assure you there aren't many of them, of what sometimes feels like extreme old age, is that you gain a perspective on events that you simply didn't have before. Particularly you get a historical focus through which a bright light shines on events taking place today. For me the past has been crucial in appreciating how vitally important this new venture within the Queen Mary legal advice center is. When I came of age in the law in the mid 1970's, nothing remotely resembled the Pink Law project's existed. Although even then was a time of seismic and exciting change as regards to the provision of free legal advice...

But the area of sexuality even in those times of radical change and progress, was a complete desert. A few enterprising lawyers set up the Gay legal advice on a voluntary basis providing evening telephone advice but it was wholly dependent of volunteers and I can find no trace of its existence now. The legal profession has always been conservative, although less so now than the days gone by. And back then for many who did not conform to the heterosexual standard, particularly if you were not from a privileged background, there was simply nowhere to go for advice and help.

In celebration of the opening of the new movie "MILK", we are excited to share this amazing piece by Steve Beery. Steve was a writer and gay activist who died of AIDS in '93. He met Harvey Milk when he was 25 years old and Harvey was 48. Harvey was a daddy who definitely appreciated younger men. This piece was provided to us by Armistead Maupin (my wonderful husband), who met Steve at Harvey's memorial service and remained his closest friend until his death.

My Month with Harvey

by Steve Beery

I was suffering from a typical San Francisco ailment – costume claustrophobia. My tights were riding up, my fake-satin cape was itchy, and beads of sweat were rolling down behind my eye mask. I was dressed as Robin the Boy Wonder at the 1978 Beaux Arts Ball, and I was being unmistakably cruised by a man I knew but had never met.  The man was Harvey Milk, the first openly gay city supervisor – a man I respected and admired.

We’d smiled and nodded on Castro Street several times that year.  I like Harvey’s wide-open grin, and I’d wondered whether the attraction was mutual.  Now it looked like maybe it was. Nervously I straightened my cape, checked my trunks, adjusted my gloves. The supervisor, at ease in his rumpled grey suit, extended his hand and uttered the corniest pick-up line imaginable. “Hop on my back, Boy Wonder, and I’ll fly you to Gotham City,” he said, almost keeping a straight face.

The line was corny, but effective. Harvey had a gift for persuasion, a way of making you believe he could do anything. We swapped phone numbers and got together the next night.  The thing that impressed me most was his laugh, explosive and uninhibited; that, and the slightly daffy look in his eyes, like an overgrown kid’s. At 48 he was nearly twice my age, but full of boyish mischief.

It didn’t take me long to realize that Harvey was a nut, a screwball, a wild card. He was also a satyr, a gleeful disciple of Eros who’d found a way to marry his essential craziness to a set of well-ordered work habits. He insisted on being on call to his constituents 24 hours a day. No problem – from towed cars and trash pickup to tree pruning – was too small. Despite his hippie, flower-power, Summer of Love experience, there wasn’t an ounce of “California mellow” in Harvey. His native New York aggression, undiluted by the amiability of Castro Street, was always spoiling for a fight.

I was surprised, on our first date, to find out how strong he was.  He didn’t have a gym-toned body; he was built more like a big bull, rangy and muscular.  Within his first two minutes at my apartment he picked me up and dumped me unceremoniously on my bed.  He liked to do things fast, at double speed. He walked fast. He talked fast. He even ate fast.

Well, thanks really shouldn't go out to that Turkish master criminal but rather the Oscar-winning and avowed heterosexual actor who brought him to sinister life in 1995's The Usual Suspects: Kevin Spacey.

So why should we be thanking Mr. Spacey? Because he recently -- and eloquently -- spoke out against California's abhorrent Prop 8 at a fundraiser in New York.  The interview comes courtesy of DoSomething.org's blog Celebs Gone Good.

"Well there’s no doubt that election night was a bittersweet night. But in some ways, these kinds of setbacks allow for a bigger fight, more challenges, and eventually we’re going to get it right. Eventually the American public will figure out that it really isn’t right to deny citizens basic civil human rights. And we can no longer allow that to happen. So the fact that these things were voted in, to me, it’s just an example of the fact that they had more money. How much money did the Mormon church put in? So I hope, like Arnold Schwarzenegger said, 'Don’t give up. Keep protesting.'"

Thanks, Kevin! Now maybe if you came clean about your own sexual identity, your voice would be even more powerful in this fight!

In a word: WOW.  More than 100 retired generals and admirals called Monday for repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays so they can serve openly.

According to a statement obtained by The Associated Press, the generals reportedly said it was time for the United States to join other nations in allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. "Our service members are professionals who are able to work together effectively despite differences in race, gender, religion, and sexuality."

The Obama administration is not about to make the same mistake President Clinton made in 1993 and said that repealing "dont ask, don't tell" is not really on their immediate agenda. Aubrey Sarvis, of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said that Obama sees 2009 as being about "foundation building and reaching consensus."  See more on the Obama team's response here.

Sure Obama's lack of drive to send the dinosaur of "don't ask, don't tell" into extinction might -- on the surface -- be a tad disappointing but remember this: is it better to have a President rush into something, even if it might be the right thing, or approach it with skill and intelligence? "Don't ask, don't tell" is definitely on the way out, it's just Obama's considerable challenge to make its passing smooth and, most of all, lasting.

In the meantime, let's celebrate this VERY impressive list of military leaders who have made it clear that discrimination does not belong in the military.

You can read more on this story here.

My husband and I had the great luck to get tickets to the premiere of the film “MILK” at a packed Castro Theater last month. The film is directed by Gus Van Sant, stars Sean Penn (as Harvey Milk) and was produced by Focus Features (producers of “Brokeback Mountain”) so we went in thinking that it wasn’t going to be a waste of two hours… and we were right.

The film chronicles the story of Harvey Milk who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming the first openly gay man elected to public office in America. Milk was murdered by Dan White in 1978.

The film focuses on the last eight years of Harvey’s life. It opens with with Milk picking up Scott Smith (James Franco), the man who would become his partner. It is the eve of Milk’s 40th birthday and he is living in New York. Shortly thereafter Milk and Smith relocate to San Francisco where Harvey begins his journey as a neighborhood activist and ultimately the first gay politician.

I felt like I went into the film knowing a lot about Harvey Milk. I had seen “The Times of Harvey Milk” and countless other documentaries about the gay movement that included his story, but I’ve never seen a movie with such an intimate and heartfelt look into his life.

Does banning same-sex marriages in California require a Constitutional Amendment or Revision? That arcane distinction may be Prop. 8 opponents' best chance to have the recent voter-approved Amendment thrown out by the courts.

The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear three cases that claim the measure abridges the civil rights of a minority group by relying on a Constitutional Amendment rather than a Constitutional Revision. The California Constitution requires an Amendment to receive a simple majority vote to pass, while a Revision requires a vote of two-thirds of the California Legislature followed by a majority vote of the citizens.

The determination as to whether an Amendment or Revision is required hinges on whether the changes are narrow or broad. Prop. 8 added only 14 words to the Constitution and advocates say it deals only with the narrow issue of defining marriage, therefore requiring only an Amendment. Opponents say is is a Revision because Prop. 8 stripped a fundamental right (marriage) from a suspect minority class (gays and Lesbians). Does your brain hurt yet? Mine does.  If you want it to hurt even more, you can read the brief filed yesterday by several legal groups representing gay couples.

But that procedural distinction in California is what it might all come down to so you can bet lawyers on both sides are going to be parsing the Amendment vs. Revision argument in their briefs.