This week was a huge win for the gay community, as the District of Columbia started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The District saw its first gay marriages, striking joy in the hearts of many, and anger in the hearts of a few.

But despite all this happiness, I can’t help but wonder: are our priorities in the right place? I asked the TNG staff to respond to the following question:

ENDA, DADT, SSM (same sex marriage), Oh My! With so many things to struggle for, is the queer rights movement focusing on the right things? Or will any success in any arena help further the cause in the long run? What do you think should be the priority for the queer/LGBT rights movement?

Read below to see what they had to say on the topic.

The Friday Staff Survey has been on hiatus for a while, but it’s back with a special DC Gay Marriage Wednesday Edition. This week, we asked TNG contributors the following question:

As federal tacit approval of DC’s marriage equality bill is pending, what’s your opinion on marriage? Hackneyed institution? Civil right? Something else?

Feel free to leave your perspectives in the comments.

Today is transgender day of remembrance. Though The New Gay does not currently have as many trans writers as we would like (and always welcome trans viewpoints from our readers) the topic is an important one to us. Since I do not believe there are as many forums for cisgendered queer people to discuss trans issues, today’s question is as follows:

Usually, when I travel to other U.S. cities or even abroad I consider for a moment whether or not I’d like to live in the particular place I am visiting. In a way, I think this might be a biological process that occurs deep within our minds, perhaps a remnant from when we were hunter/gatherers wandering across the savanna.

With that in mind, I asked the TNG staff the question below. Feel free to leave your own answers in the comments box:

Based on your travels, is there a place (be as specific as possible) you would like to call home more than any other place on Earth? Answer this question with the assumption that money and work were not an issue. (i.e., you had all the money you needed and work came with you.)

It just occurred to me that this survey probably should have had a Halloween theme. Huh.

Anyway, welcome to this week’s Friday Staff Survey. Last week, we had a lot of fun with game I call “Top Three.” Basically, I asked the staff to give me their top three favorite books with a one sentence explanation for each one. And since everyone seemed to enjoy it, I thought why not try it again? So this week we’re moving away from the library and into the cinema. Pray tell TNG staff, what are your top three favorite movies and why? Check out what we all had to say below. And if you’ve got a great movie suggestion and you want to play as well, feel free to do so in the comments. Do it to it!

For your survey this week, riddle me this: In order, what are your top three favorite books and why? But you only get one sentence to explain each one! (Run-ons don’t count, but semi-colons definitely do!)

As many of you know by now, no doubt, tonight is the debut of She.Rex, TNG’s new queer rock n’ roll bar night and dance party at Chaos and Pandemonium. Since tonight’s event is all about rock and features some of the hottest lady bartenders and DJ’s in DC, I (with a tip of the hat to Michael) thought it would fitting to ask the staff this week:

Who is your favorite lady of rock n’ roll and why?

This weekend’s National Equality March in Washington DC has gay equality at the forefront of many people’s minds. So this week’s question to the staff is as follows:

What does the concept of equality mean to you? How will you know when we’ve achieved it?

Gay jokes are like assholes: Everyone has them and most of them stink. Wait, that might not be how the saying goes. Either way I thought today’s staff survey would be a good chance to tell some of our favorite jokes before our obnoxious uncle breaks them out at the Thanksgiving table. So this week’s survey question is as follows:

What is your favorite gay joke?

In honor of Transformer, the queer retro dance party that TNG is throwing at the Black Cat, the survey question is one that I have used to pass many car trips or boring algebra classes:

If you could live in any other historical era, what would it be?