An openly gay man, Jared Polis, won Colorado's 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary race on Tuesday. That's a big reason for GLBT people to celebrate. Because Polis' district happens to be overwhelmingly Democratic, he is a shoo-in to make history on November 4th as the first openly gay man elected to the House.

Polis will join Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank (Democrat) and Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin (Democrat) as the third out representative in Congress. Unlike Polis, who disclosed his sexuality at the start of the race, Frank came out after serving five years in Congress.

If a gay Congressman from Colorado strikes you as odd, it should. It certainly would have been unimaginable 15 years ago when voters in the state passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting laws to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law in 1997.

A nearby state, Utah, is making gay waves itself as a group of gay Mormons spoke to the media on Monday in Salt Lake City – the day they had hoped to be meeting with Mormon officials.

The group Affirmation has been attempting to sit down with Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS or the Mormons) officials since its secret formation at BYU thirty-one years ago. This year, for the first time, after new president Thomas S. Monson replaced Gordon B. Hinkley, the 13-million member church agreed. But, on July 23rd, less than twenty days before the meeting, church officials postponed the sit-down indefinitely.

Instead, Affirmation spoke with reporters and released to the public what they had hoped to have discussed with the church - a request for an affirming statement by the LDS on homosexuality at their next general conference, to have a prominent female leader tell mothers a child's homosexuality is not their fault and does not require curing, a request for a meeting with President Monson, extend an invitation for Monson to speak at the next Affirmation conference, and the possibility of jointly developing gay & lesbian training materials for LDS clergy.

Mormon leadership, however, is most likely not going to be accepting any of those requests anytime soon. In fact, the Mormon Church is working diligently to roll back gay rights in California. The church recently urged its congregation to fight for passage of Proposition 8, which would amend the California Constitution to ban gay marriage.

At the Olympics, gay & lesbian sports fans are anticipating Monday's debut of openly gay Australian diver – and media darling – Matthew Mitcham as he competes in the 3m springboard event. The twenty-year-old is there with his boyfriend, Lachlan.

Mitcham says he “mistakenly” outed himself when The Sydney Morning Herald asked whom he lived with. “I hadn't planned to do it all,” Mitcham told the Advocate. “It was just a question and it went from there.”

You can root for Mitcham by sending him a text message at the Gay Games website.

I'm just throwing in this picture for humorous effect.

And it was our own Gay Entertainment Report which brought me news of other gay athletes. Shirts & Skins is Logo's highly anticipated reality series about a gay basketball team in pursuit of their dream to win the National Gay Basketball Championship in Chicago. “Shirts & Skins is that rare reality series that functions as both entertainment and inspiration. It is sure to score with both jocks and fans,” the story said.

The Gay Slant pops in most Saturdays at On Top Magazine. Walter Weeks is a writer for On Top and can be reached at ww@ontopmag.com.