San Jose Police Department Either Very Accepting Or Very Homophobic, Vigil In Mesa Arizona Meant To Draw Attention To Preventing Suicide Among Gay Mormons, German Zookeepers Separate Gay Vultures Hoping To Reorient Birds But Have No Success, Sydney Swans Sexiness, Joe Jonas Loves Him Some Scarves, Justin Bieber Looks Less Like Justin Bieber

The San Jose Mercury News reports that when city Police Sergeant Jim Unland came out in October, he became the firstly openly gay police officer in San Jose’s 1,200-officer department to seemingly little controversy and no repercussion. In fact, two weeks ago, Unland was re-elected as vice-president of the officers union, and he insists that the department he has worked in for more than 20 years is not homophobic, saying “It goes to the culture of San Jose. It’s not just the department. It’s an accepting city, but no an ‘in your face’ city.” However, his announcement appears to be in indication of the reverse, that homophobic in the department is systemic since it seems unlikely that there has only ever been one gay man on the force. Greg Miraglia, a dean at Napa Valley College, a former police officer, and the author of Coming Out From Behind the Badge, says he knows of a small group of gay officers who are afraid to come out, suggesting that the San Jose Police Department may suffer from a culture that encourages false stereotypes, including that gay women are all “physical, strong and trustworthy” and that all gay men are “effeminate and physically weak.” Miraglia adds that “Law enforcement is very much still a straight, white male-dominated profession. There is a stereotypical machismo culture.”There are a number of open lesbians on the force, including Adonna Amorosa, who came out in the early 1990’s and who says that Unland’s coming out is a clear cue that the department is not homophobic, the now retired command officer saying “The fact that Jim felt comfortable about coming out in the paper, I think that’s a major thing. It makes me proud of the department. He felt OK to do that, it was safe.”

In Mesa, Arizona, AZ Central reports that members of the Phoenix Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Coalition held a suicide prevention outreach and candlelight vigil aimed at preventing gay Mormon suicides in the state as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filled the city temple for its annual Christmas Lights ceremony. Kent Flake said “A lot of people within the church feel like being gay is a choice. It’s not. A person doesn’t choose to be gay.” Matt R, Salmon suggested that religious oppression of homosexuals or bisexuals can trigger suicidal feelings in many, saying “Growing up in the (Mormon) church, I faced a lot of oppression. They would tell me to pray to the Lord and I’d be fixed and saved. I realised I needed to respect myself to be happy.”

From the Daily Telegraph, a report on Detief and Guido, the male German griffon vultures, who in March of this year, became a couple at a zoo in the British Army garrison town of Munster, the two showing no interest in females at all, although zoo curator Dirk Wewers suggested it was less about love and more about convenience, saying “They always sat so closely together. They defended their nest from other vultures. A suitable female was missing and in such a case vultures look for companionship from the next best thing, even if it is male. Detief looked for a bird of the opposite sex but settled with Guido.” Last week, sadly, zookeepers removed Guido, Wewers saying that “Detief is reorienting himself now,” deaf to outrage from gay groups at the decision to break up the happy home. A Czech Republic female vulture was brought in last week as Guido’s replacement, but Detief remains uninterested.

Monday, the Sydney Swans football team began training for the 2011 season, on hand were new recruits Jed Lamb and Luke Parker, the Swans suddenly shirtless, but then who is complaining?







Joe Jonas, whose fondness for scarves seems similar to a religion, spotted Friday out and about wearing, what else, a complicated scarf.

Justin Bieber – donning fingerless gloves and headphones, natch – spotted signing copies of his biography in New York City Friday, Bieber looking less and less like Justin.