Short Takes: Ted Olson, Scott Brown, Maureen Dowd, The Smithsonian Institution, Nina Totenberg and the bartender of your dream

Sen. Scott Brown/Boston Herald

Oral arguments in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal challenge to Proposition 8, will be held today, December 6 at noon CST, 10 am, PST before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Towleroad hosts a live chat and special coverage during and immediately following the hearing, featuring Richard Socarides, Attorney and White House adviser under President Bill Clinton and bloggers Andy Towle and Corey Johnson. Watch on TV: C-SPAN and The California Channel and San Francisco outlets: KGO-TV, KRON-TV, KTVU – Channel 2, ABC News (links from towleroad.com)

Massachusetts' Senator Scott Brown's about-face on DADT.

A 26-year-old Jamaican gay activist has been found stabbed to death in St. Andrew.

Nina Totenberg, the Goddess of Supreme Court reportage at NPR, profiles Ted Olson, who will be in federal court today representing those seeking to overturn California's ban on gay marriage, known as Proposition 8. The hearing could be the last stop before the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Maureen Dowd
Fred R. Conrad, The New York Times

Wired: Pssst Senators... Straight sailors already drink at gay bars.

Speaking of drinking, the bartender of your dream works here.

Maureen Dowd on DADT: "Tale of two Republicans: In his own fuzzy way, the Massachusetts newcomer was eloquent and inclusive. And in his own grumpy way, the Arizona old-timer was erratic and intolerant."

"Smithsonian Institution Fails To Stand Up To Anti-gay Bullies" accuses Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times Art Critic, in a sharply-word article about the cancellation of a privately funded gay themed exhibit, "A Fire in My Belly," noting that "no complaints — none — were received" until Nov. 29, when Penny Starr wrote an online hit piece for the right-wing Cyber News Service, founded by L. Brent Bozell III, who complained last summer that on Glee, "the only characters disapproving of homosexuality are vicious school bullies."

Gay teens get punished more: A Yale University study finds substantial disparities between gay and straight teens in school expulsions, arrests, convictions and police stops. The harsher approach is not explained by differences in misconduct.

31 naked male celebrities will be featured in Gay Times, the big daddy of British gay magazines, which is going all out to get attention with its new issue. The January 2011 Biggest Naked Issue Ever edition of Gay Times features boybanders, soap stars, Big Brother alumnis, X-Factor contestants, and even an ex-Neighbours actor.