The war is far from won, but there’s no denying that 2013 has been a banner year for LGBT Americans and our many, many allies. In legislatures, city councils, courtrooms, and board rooms, people on both sides of the political divide have acknowledged that LGBT rights are simply human rights: the right to love who we want, the right to equal benefits under the law, the right to walk down our city streets without fear of harassment. [...]

Over the past couple of years, Russia has enacted laws to silence “LGBT propaganda”, and it’s justified such legislation with flawed sociological studies. Unfortunately, these laws are written so vaguely that no one really knows what counts as “propaganda”. President Putin says that there is no discrimination against Russia’s LGBT citizens, but can they hold hands in public? Can they kiss? Can they declare their love in any way, or is that breaking the law? [...]

According to an email from General Motors, “GM will recognize a legal marriage no matter the state of residence. For example, if a GM employee residing in Michigan, where same-sex marriage is not recognized, got married in New York, GM would recognize that marriage.” [...]

Audi and its team of designers supplied an important virtual vehicle for Ender’s Game, despite the fact that Audi is a gay-friendly automaker. From Audi’s glowing, giddy press release: “With its visionary design, the Audi fleet shuttle quattro blends easily into the world of the science fiction feature film and combines futuristic design with groundbreaking technology.” [...]

2013 has been an exciting year for both car fans and the LGBT community. The number of eco-friendly autos has surged, the roster of gay-friendly advertisers is growing, and just last week, the usual mix of tragi-comic news was brightened when the Supreme Court handed LGBT Americans two wins in the space of an hour. And even though the Prop 8 ruling was a bit of a letdown for folks outside California, the Court made it clear that the impact of its decision would be felt immediately and forcefully, no matter how much the asshats at the National Organization for Marriage bellyached. [...]

We’re happy to announce that, once again, Ford Motor Company made YouGov’s top-20 list of LGBT-friendly brands — something it totally deserves, since Ford was one of five automakers to score a perfect 100 on the HRC’s most recent Corporate Equality Index. Though none of the others — Chrysler, General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen — landed in the top 20, we hope they didn’t fall far below it. (YouGov hasn’t released results for all 1,100 of the brands it tracks.) [...]

‘Tis the season in LGBT America: the season of parades and dances and rainbow-colored everything, the time when we look back 44 years to the historic Stonewall Riots and celebrate the progress our community has made toward equality. (We’ve still got a long way to go, but our recent track record is pretty good.) [...]

We’ve got great news to report from Indiana: after a long, complicated process of approval, denial, and appeal, the Indiana Youth Group has been given permission to sell its LGBT license plate! [...]

On Thursday of last week, Bertel Schmitt at The Truth About Cars posted a story with this headline: “Small SUV Crashopalooza: Detroit Loses, Dykes Win”. [...]