President Obama, despite wide-ranging criticism that he has not kept his promises to gay Americans, honored Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month Monday with a White House reception where he called for full benefits for same-sex couples. The president told the packed audience at the White House that health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples and their children, bills to strengthen laws against hate crimes and prevent employment discrimination based on sexuality, are essential. Read more.

Gays Set to Protest Preacher at MLK Event
Some gay residents of Atlanta, angry over the choice of the Rev. Rick Warren to speak at the Martin Luther King, Commemorative Service at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, say they will show up in force Monday to protest. Read more here.
King Papers Are Now Available
Scholars and researchers now have access to a treasure trove of civil rights history – thousands of writings and documents of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which have been cataloged and digitized. The papers, which include many of King’s speeches and personal writings accumulated over more than two decades beginning in 1946, are now available at the Robert W. Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University Center. In all, there are about 7,000 pieces of handwritten items, including an early draft of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and nearly 100 sermons, some of which never have been published, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Playing a large role in raising the $32 million for the purchase were Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and former Mayor Andrew Young and civil rights lion. “The religious documents are the ones that have not been available to scholars,” said King scholar Clayborne Carson, the founding director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. Carson, who has spent 20 years trying to make King materials available for future generations, said, “This is a major step forward,” he said. “At the end of this process, it will be a lot easier for researchers to do their work.”

Senegal throws nine gays in jail.A Senegal court has sent nine gay men to jail for “indecent conduct and unnatural acts,” reports the BBC. The judge also ruled the men were a part of a criminal organization and tacked on three more years to the maximum five-year sentence he already handed down. Many of the men were members of a group formed to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS. While homosexual acts are illegal in the west African nation, lawyers for the men argued that the sentence was extreme. “This is the first time that the Senegalese legal system has handed down such a harsh sentence against gays,” said one of the men’s lawyers. He also said he would appeal. A gay rights group was shocked at the outcome. “We’re actually shocked by the ruing of the court. There have been pretty consistent human rights violations in Senegal,” said Cary Alan Johnson of the International and Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. “Many gays are already fleeing to neighboring countries because of our living conditions,” said the leader of a Senegalese gay rights organization anonymously.  

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Will Smith is in Germany promoting, South Africans ring in the New Year, Sudanese protest against Israelis. See pics.