The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Obama Global Love Fest by Martin Musatov

Interview with Lawrence Lessig by Wendy Cohen

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Nicole Hughes:

Top 10 Ways to Green Your Move

Climate Change Activist Superglues Himself to UK Prime Minister

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Andy Kondrat:

Can Junk Mail Be Green?

Google Maps Adds Walking Directions

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Jon Popham:

Recycling Building Materials Greens Up Home Improvement

CA Hotel Owner’s Anti Same-Sex Marriage Donation Brings Boycott Calls

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Gina Telaroli:

Naming a Generation

Ebert and Roeper Exit: Time to Give a Lady the Thumbs UP

Hotelier Doug Manchester’s donation of $125,000 to overturn California’s same-sex marriage court ruling has stirred calls for a boycott of his two hotels.  The owner of the Whitetail Club and Resort, in McCall, Idaho and the Manchester Grand Hyatt and Grand del Mar Resort, both in San Diego, California, contributed the money to collect signatures for placing Proposition 8, a referendum on whether to make same-sex marriage unconstitutional in the Golden State, on the November ballot.

Mr. Manchester addressed the controversy yesterday, saying, “This really is a free-speech, First Amendment issue. While I respect everyone’s choice of partner, my Catholic faith and longtime affiliation with the Catholic Church leads me to believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman.”  

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Portia de Rossi and Ellen Degeneris came out of the closet with their wedding plans! Thanks to the California State Supreme Court’s Decision overturning the ban on gay marriage (as unconstitutional) Ellen and Portia can finally say “I do. This, of course, is one small step towards equality for humankind. And one gigantic leap towards a wedding registry this couple. Yesterday, on her show, an emotional Ellen announced:

This is very exciting, I have to say. Yesterday, the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage. So I would like to say right now, for the first time, I am announcing that I am getting married. [...] I’m so excited. It’s something that we’ve, of course, wanted to do, and we’ve wanted to be legal, and we’re very very excited.

The lucky gal, of course, is Ellen’s girlfriend Portia de Rossi. Check out the video below

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

“The First Time I Every Saw Your Face” May Be the First Time You Hear About Ewan MacColl

California’s Gay Marriage Ban Overturned & 5 Ways To Take Action

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Nicole Hughes:

“Bottlemania” Book Takes Bottled Water Industry To Task

Arnold Tells Automakers To “Stop Whining” About Tougher California Emissions Standards

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Andy Kondrat:

Department of Energy Forecasts Large Increase In Wind Power Usage

Edward Norton & Gavin Newsom Speak To Congress About Environmental Building Practices

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Jon Popham:

Spencer Tunick Strips Hundreds Naked

Lichtenstein Sculptures At Fairchild Garden In Miami

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Giulia Rozzi:

Does Being Ethical Pay?

Is the Anti-Female Genial Mutilation Campaign Offensive?

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Gina Telaroli:

A Global Look At Media On Pangea Day

Everything Cinema: Brody Takes On the Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard

California’s Gay Marriage Ban was banned today by the California Supreme court! In the 4-3 decision, the court ruled that Proposition 22, a ban on gay marriage, is unconstitutional. This is great news for people who, you know, like, care about equal rights or whatever! Here’s why the court deemed it unconstitutional to tell people who they can and can’t marry:

In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual’s sexual orientation — like a person’s race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.

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Robin Wright Penn and Sean Penn have called off their divorce (Now what are they going to do with all those invitations and registries?) That’s, of course, very exciting great news. But more exciting is the fact that Sean Penn will be playing slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official, a San Francisco supervisor, who was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by San Francisco Supervisor Dan White. The film, entitled Milk, which is in post-production, is directed by Gus Van Sant and stars Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin and Diego Luna. Of course, this is not the first film Penn has starred in which explores a serious and important issue. Penn’s other socially conscious films include The Assassination of Richard Nixon, The Thin Red Line, Dead Man Walking, Casualties of War, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High (just kidding.) And Penn has directed political films as well including 11′09”01 - September 11 and Into the Wild. Penn also uses his celebrity to highlight the causes he believes in and has criticized the War in Iraq, toured Iraq to observe the war there and helped rescue workers with door-to-door searches for survivors after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans.

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Alternet reports that in a segment that aired Friday, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres spoke about the horrific murder of 15-year-old Lawrence King, who was killed by classmate Brandon McInerney for being gay. Students apparently often taunted King who didn’t even have a safe home to return to after school: he was living in a shelter for abused and troubled children.

Ellen said:

“A boy has been killed and a number of lives have been ruined. And, somewhere along the line the killer, Brandon, got the message that it’s so threatening, so awful, and so horrific that Larry would want to be his Valentine — that killing Larry seemed to be the right thing to do. And when the message out there is so horrible that to be gay, you can get killed for it, we need to change the message. Larry was not a second-class citizen. I am not a second-class citizen. It’s ok if you’re gay.”

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For me, clothing is another way to express myself so I especially love finding fashion that makes a clear, strong, social statement.

So I was thrilled to find the site www.bodyasbillboard.com. Founded and run by Periel Aschenbrand, this native New Yorker has found the formula to use apparel as advertising for women’s issues.

Aschenbrand infamous first design was a tee she simply made for herself sporting the slogan “The Only Bush I Trust Is My Own”. That shirt was noticed by a trendy LA shop owner who requested that Achenbrand make more and sell those shirts in her shop. Soon feminist icons such as Gloria Steinem, Susan Sarandon, and Betsey Johnson began sporting her thought-provoking tops.

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By Giulia Rozzi

Looks like the higher-ups at Palm Beach Community College believe that pets deserve more benefits that domestic partners.

According to PBCC the reason that employees pets rather than thier domestic partners have health insurance is due to fear of increased costs of future benefits (I don’t get it either) and not because of any homosexual discrimination. None the less many are outraged by this logic and are calling upon college officials to reconsider this decision.