Hallmark has released a new line of Christmas ornaments for 2013, including one styled like a hideous Christmas sweater. We'd snatch it up in a second except that adorned on the chest is the phrase "Don we now our fun apparel," a bastardization of the classic "Don we now our gay apparel" from "Deck The Halls." A spokeswoman for the greeting-card company claims the lyric change was made to promote clearer understanding of the song: "When the lyrics to 'Deck the Halls' were translated from Gaelic back in the 1800s, the word 'gay' meant festive or merry," Kristi Ernsting told the Huffington Post. "Today it has multiple meanings ... the trend of wearing festively decorated Christmas sweaters to parties is all about fun, and this ornament is intended to play into that, so the planning team decided to say what we meant: 'fun.'" Oh whatever, girl—you're getting coal in your stocking this year!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is expected to bring ENDA, the Employee Nondiscrimination Act which would provide workplace protections to the LGBT community, to the Senate for a vote some time before Thanksgiving. To get a filibuster-proof ENDA passed in the Senate, 60 votes are needed. According to Roll Call, 55 senators currently support the bill. After Cory Booker is sworn in on October 31, that number will rise to 56.

Some 16 years after she came out in a groundbreaking episode of her own series, Ellen DeGeneres is developing a new sitcom with a lesbian main character for NBC. The unnamed show, executive produced by DeGeneres and (2 Broke Girls writer Liz Feldman, will focus on a pregnant lesbian and her straight male best friend, whose plans to raise a child together go awry when he marries the love of his life. An unwed lesbian mother? NOM must be foaming at the mouth.

Harrison Ford was his usual gruff self in a GQ interview about Ender's Game, the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster he co-stars in. Asked if he was "troubled at all by the political beliefs" of Ender's Game author Orson Scott Card, who has claimed homosexuality is caused by child molestation, among other homophobic bile. "The issues that are coming up now are not part of the book, which is twenty-eight years old," Ford responded. "So they don't really concern me. [long pause] 'Concern me' are really not the right words. I think it's better to say that they are simply not issues; his point of view on some of these issues that are getting such attention now is not promoted by or part of the story that we're telling." Oh okay, so long as you can separate it like that, we guess it's alright. Not.

[caption id="attachment_7806" align="alignleft" width="150"] Photo: Philly Pride Presents, Inc.[/caption]

Philadelphia has just become our favorite city,as Mayor Michael Nutter signed legislation into law last week which will mandate gender-neutral bathrooms in all city-owned buildings, provide tax credits to companies that offer LGBT-inclusive employee benefits, adds gender identity to the city's nondiscrimination code, and offers domestic benefits for same-sex couples. "My goal is for Philadelphia to be one of, if not the most, LGBT-friendly cities in the world and a leader on equality issues," Nutter told WCAU. City forms and websites are also being updated to offer options for same-sex couples and transgender people, and extends medical and end-of-life decision-making rights to same-sex partners, WCAU reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is tired of everyone moaning about the plight of his country's LGBT community. Speaking with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach on Russian television yesterday, Putin insisted  gay athletes and spectators will "feel comfortable at the Olympic Games regardless of their ethnicity, race, or sexual orientation." Of course, if you're a Russian citizen it's a whole different story.

[caption id="attachment_130772" align="aligncenter" width="529"] Photo: Scott Wooledge[/caption]

LGBT activists aren't happy with Putin's protestations: More than two dozens members of Queer Nation protested the US Olympic Committee’s Road to Sochi tour, which launched in Times Square today. At noon, the group unfurled banners reading  “Don’t Buy Putin’s Lies!” and “Boycott Homophobia” just steps from the press conference.