Bowing To Pressure From Catholic League Washington National Portrait Gallery Cowardly Removes David Wojnarowicz Installation Honouring Gay Love

Wednesday is the annual World AIDS Day, and, as if on cue, the Washington Post reports on the cowardly decision by the National Portrait Gallery (and the Smithsonian Institution it is a part of) to remove a work included in its Hide/Seek exhibition, a video by David Wojnarowicz, an openly gay artist who died from an AIDS-related illness in 1992, succumbing to pressure put on by the Catholic League. That video (a four minute excerpt from the original 1987 piece titled A Fire in My Belly, which runs 30 minutes in length) was created to honour Wojnarowicz’s late lover, Peter Hujar, who also died from an AIDS-related disease in 1987, the Catholic League objecting to an eleven second portion that shows ants crawling on a crucifix. The Catholic League complained that the segment was “designed to insult and inflict injury and assault the sensibilities of Christians” and deemed the work “hate speech.” There is, of course, a brutal irony at work: the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, is, according to the Gallery, “the first major museum exhibition to focus on sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture," and the exhibit strives to look at "how art reflected society’s evolving and changing attitudes toward sexuality, desire, and romantic attachment,” and yet the objections to the Wojnarowicz piece is an obvious objection to the “homosexuality” of the work. Blake Gopnik writes that “This fuss is about the larger topic of the show: Gay love, and images of it. The headline that ran over coverage of the matter on the right-wing Web site CNSnews.com mentioned the crucifix - but as only one item in a list of the exhibition's "shockers" that included "naked brothers kissing, genitalia and Ellen DeGeneres grabbing her breasts."(Through a bra, one might note, in an image that's less shocking than many moves by Lady Gaga.) The same site decries "a painting the Smithsonian itself describes in the show's catalogue as 'homoerotic'. The attack is on gayness, and images of it, more than on sacrilege - even though, last I checked, many states are sanctioning gay love in marriage, and none continue to ban homosexuality. And the Portrait Gallery has given into this attack.”

Elton John To Perform At American Foundation For Equal Rights Proposition 8 Benefit, Coming Out Blind Item, Ryan Kwanten Man Of The Year, Josh Thomas And Boyfriend Thomas Jaspers, Joe McElderry

Elton John will perform a private benefit concert at a residence in Beverly Hills, California January 19th to raise funds for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, reports NBC Los Angeles. The foundation is the sole sponsor of the court challenge to constitutional validity of the California gay marriage ban. Chad Griffin, president of the Board, said AFER “deeply honoured to have the support of Sir Elton John. The American Foundation for Equal Rights stands for the enduring principle that all Americans are created equal, and believes that ending state-sanctioned discrimination is a critical step we must take toward ending the hate crimes and suicides that continue to claim the lives of young Americans."

A blind item via Crazy Days and Nights: “I have written about this couple before, but apparently it is getting to the point where some kind of public announcement is coming. I don't remember how I described them in the past, but one is an openly gay male singer and the other is also male and a singer and is in a heterosexual marriage. Apparently, now that our married singer has ended his most recent tour, he is going to file divorce proceedings soon. He and the other singer are tired of living in the shadows and want to bring their relationship out in the open.”

Ryan Kwanten spotted arriving at the Australian GQ Gentleman of the Year Awards Tuesday night, Ryan named Man of the Year.



Also in attendance, openly gay Josh Thomas and boyfriend Thomas Jaspers, Thomas named Comedian of the Year.



The so cute Joe McElderry is seen arriving at the world premiere of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Trader.

President Obama Calls On Congress To End “Discriminatory Policy” Prohibiting Openly Gay Service Personal, Pentagon Report Suggests Opposition To Repeal “Tend To Overstate Negative Consequences And Underestimate U.S. Military Ability To Adapt Diversity Reflective Of American Society At Large,” Anti-Gay Violence Continues To Climb In Senegal

President Obama released a statement Tuesday calling on the Senate to take immediate action to overturn the American military policy prohibiting openly gay service members, the president saying the just released Pentagon study confirms that a majority of those in the military do not have a problem serving alongside openly gay colleagues, the Associated Press reporting that Obama said it is now the moment for Congress to end the “discriminatory policy,” adding that he is “absolutely confident” United States troops would be able to adapt to the change “in a responsible manner that ensures our military strength and national security.”

Earlier, the Pentagon released the long-awaited study, CNN reporting that it states although a repeal of the 17 year old ban known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” would present “some limited and isolated disruption to unit cohesion and retention,” however those effects would not be permanent or pervasive, the report concluding "The general lesson we take from ... transformational experiences in history is that in matters of personnel change within the military, predictions and surveys tend to overestimate negative consequences, and underestimate the U.S. military's ability to adapt and incorporate within it ranks the diversity that is reflective of American society at large."

A new report conducted by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch reveals that violence against gay men in Senegal has dramatically increased in the last two years and is likely to continue to rise in the months prior to a presidential election in 2012, according to Bloomberg. Senegal is one of thirty-eight African countries that criminalize homosexuality. According to the Human Rights Watch “Incidents of mob beatings, arbitrary arrests, police brutality and public discrimination and lynching were reported to the New York-based group and published in a report today released in the Dakar, the Senegalese capital,” Boris Dittrich, the acting director for the Human Rights Watch’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights program, adding that “When elections are coming up and politicians are under scrutiny, all of a sudden there is more focus on homosexuality, because that’s a very easy target.”

Illinois House Passes Historic Same Sex Civil Unions Bill; Senate Bill 1716 Now Advances To Senate

The Illinois House passed legislation to allow same-sex civil union in 2011, the vote 61-52 following intense debate on whether Bill 1716 - the "Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act - was akin to legalising gay marriage. According to the Chicago Tribune, Representative Greg Harris, an openly gay Democrat from Chicago, who sponsored the bill, said prior to the historic vote ““We have a chance today to make Illinois a more fair state, a more just state, and a state which treats all of its citizens equally under the law. We have a chance here, as leaders have had in previous generations, to correct injustice and to move us down the path toward liberty." The measure now goes to the Senate, where earlier today, a similar bill passed in committee by a vote of 6-2 along party lines. There, sponsoring Senator David Koehler, of Peoria, dismissed the criticism that the bill was a thinly disguised attempt to advance gay marriage, saying "Marriage has religious connotations that we are not addressing, we are talking about equality under the law of Illinois...This permits certainty for those that are in committed relationships."

Two Charged In 2009 New York City Horrific Hate Crime Assault Enter Guilty Pleas

Two men have pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery as a hate crime in New York City, the attack occurred in the early hours of October 8th, 2009, 22 year old Daniel Rodriguez Tuesday now facing a 12 years in prison for the anti-gay assault of 50 year old Jack Price. Rodriguez and 27 Daniel Aleman both admit to taunting Price with anti-gay slurs, then beating and kicking him before stealing his wallet. Aleman pleaded guilty last week and face eight years in prison. Price suffered a fractured jaw and ribs, two collapsed ribs, and a lacerated spleen. He spent three weeks in hospital. According to the New York Post, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said that “Today’s guilty plea ensures that the victim of a crime motivated by hate will receive justice. The defendant is expected to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment that will serve as both a punishment for his actions and a deterrent to those who would commit hate crimes, whether they be motivated by gender, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity.”

Pentagon Report On Gays In Military Reveals Little To No Risk In Allowing Gays To Serve Openly

As expected, the officially release of the Pentagon commissioned study on gays in the military and the effects of repealing a policy that prohibits openly gay service personal concludes that repealing the now 17 year old law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” would pose a minimal risk to military readiness, and a majority of those survey – 70-percent – believe that a repeal would present little or no effect on unit cohesion. The Washington Post, which first reported the conclusions of the nine-month study earlier this month, says that “According to a survey sent to 400,000 service members, 69 percent of those responding reported that they had served with someone in their unit who they believed to be gay or lesbian. Of those who did, 92 percent stated that their unit's ability to work together was very good, good, or neither good nor poor, according to the sources. Combat units reported similar responses, with 89 percent of Army combat units and 84 percent of Marine combat units saying they had good or neutral experiences working with gays and lesbians. At the same time, the report found that 30 percent of those surveyed overall -- and between 40 and 60 percent of the Marine Corps -- either expressed concern or predicted a negative reaction if Congress were to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law, which allows gays and lesbians to serve in the military on the condition that they keep their sexuality a secret.” The Defense Department will officially release the report’s finding at 2:00pm EST. The United States Senate is awaiting publication of the study before proceeding with a defense policy bill that includes language designed to end “don’t ask, don’t tell,” with an estimated ten moderate senators on the record saying that they will wait to read the full report before determining how to vote.

Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes Launches Charity Indexing Site Jumo, Johnny Depp Tells Frightened Disney Executive “All Of My Characters Are Gay,” amFAR Ambassador Cheyenne Jackson Rings New York Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook, is launching a new site Tuesday, titled Jumo, it aims, according to the openly gay Hughes, to “do what Yelp did for restaurants” by indexing charities “to help people find and evaluate them.” According to the New York Times “Individual charities, projects like building a school in rural Africa and broad issues like gay rights will all have dedicated pages on Jumo. Relevant news articles, Twitter posts and YouTube videos will be added to the pages, and users can add their own feedback and comments. Users can also find their Facebook friends and follow their adopted projects and issues on the site. The idea is to take the principles that helped Mr. Hughes organize a network of volunteers into a successful political force and apply them to a much broader universe of causes and issues. Mr. Hughes is not the first entrepreneur to venture into this territory. Causes, a Facebook application, and the Web site Global Giving are among the many existing ways to find and support charities online. But Mr. Hughes said Jumo would not be primarily about soliciting donations. Instead, he said, the site would first try to deepen ties between its users and their favourite causes. 'The more connected that individual is to an issue they care about, the higher probability there is they will stay involved over a longer period of time,' Mr. Hughes said."

Johnny Depp, in the January issue of Vanity Fair, interviewed by Patti Smith, says that Disney executives were less than enthusiastic about his now iconic interpretation of the character Capitan Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. “'They couldn’t stand him. They just couldn’t stand him,' Depp says of Disney’s reaction to his controversial interpretation of Sparrow. 'I think it was Michael Eisner, the head of Disney at the time, who was quoted as saying, ‘He’s ruining the movie.’ Depp reveals to Smith, however, that he remained unfazed by the studio’s hysteria. 'Upper-echelon Disney-ites, going, what’s wrong with him? Is he, you know, like some kind of weird simpleton? Is he drunk? By the way, is he gay? And so I actually told this woman who was the Disney-ite… ‘But didn’t you know that all my characters are gay?’ Which really made her nervous.'”

Tuesday morning, a dapper, dashing Cheyenne Jackson rang the bell to open the day’s New York Stock Market Exchange in recognition of December 1st, World AIDS Day. Cheyenne, along with Liza Minnelli, is an amFAR ambassador – amFAR one of the world’s leading AIDS non-profit organisations, founded in 1985, dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment, education, and the advocacy of AIDS-related public policy.

Boston Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders Donate Documents To Yale, Anderson Cooper Says Lady Gaga Got Him Drunk, Lady Gaga Says New Album "Much Deeper Than A Meat Dress, Tom Hardy Sexy Sighting

Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders are donating 30 years worth of documents detailing the fight for expanded rights and full equality to Yale University, the Boston Globe reporting that “The group has pursued gay civil rights throughout New England, and its precedent-setting legal victories include bringing marriage equality to Massachusetts in 2004 and Connecticut in 2008. The group said in a statement Monday that Yale University's library already has one of the country's most important research collections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender legal history.”

Anderson Cooper, interviewed by The Insider, says that during a recent profile of Lady Gaga for 60 Minutes, Gaga got Cooper drunk. "We actually ended up that day in a pub in London drinking Jameson, which I don't really drink," Anderson admitted. "So, she got me to drink like two of them, and by the end I was ready to have the interview be over because I really sort of couldn't ask any more questions." The piece will not air until February 11th, timed to correspond with the release of Gaga’s new album, Born This Way.

Billboard reports Gaga herself promises that the new album will be a far more serious work than The Fame, telling an audience in Poland that Born This Way will be “the greatest album of the decade,” and that "Not for nothing, the album's finished and it's fucking really good” and that it is “"so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or an outfit, or a fucking meat dress...'Born This Way' is about what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid."

The seriously sexy Tom Hardy spotted Sunday in Vancouver, looking, well, sexy.

Three Justices Randomly Chosen To Hear Proposition 8 Appeal Favour Upholding Ruling Finding California Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional, Pew Poll Again Reveals Majority Of Americans Favor Repeal Of Military Policy Prohibting Openly Gay Service Personal, American Civil Liberties Union Sues City Of Miami Beach And Two Police Officers For Falsely Arresting Gay Man, Seattle City Lights Workers Sue City Alleging Anti-Gay Discrimination, Dallas Couple Washington D. C. Marriage Via Skype Ruled Invalid

The Associated Press reports that a liberal jurist is among three justices randomly chosen by the Ninth United States Circuit of Appeals to determine if a lower court ruling in August by Justice Vaughn Walker that struck down California’s gay marriage ban as unconstitutional. Judges Michael Hawkins, Stephen Reinhardt, and N. Randy Smith were randomly selected to the case over the constitutional validity of Proposition 8, legal experts predicting that the panel’s “makeup makes it less likely the court ruling would be reversed. Proposition 8's supporters agree, saying that they "fully expect" that the case would have to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

A new national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released Monday reveals that most Americans, 52-percent, favour repealing the military policy prohibiting openly gay service members, fewer than half those, 27-percent, oppose reversing the measure. According to the Pew Center “These opinions have changed little in recent years. Since 2005 – including three surveys this year – roughly 60% have consistently favoured permitting homosexuals to serve openly in the military. There is greater support for permitting gays to serve openly today than there was in 1994, after President Clinton put in place the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. In July of that year, 52% said they favoured allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military while 45% said they opposed allowing this.”

The American Civil Liberties Union announced that they are suing the city of Miami Beach and two police officers accused of wrongly arresting a gay man, the Miami Herald reporting that the ACLU Florida chapter filed the complaint in federal court Monday. Harold Strickland was arrested by officers Frankly Forte and Elliot Hazzi in March, 2009 after Strickland witnessed them beating a man in Flamingo Park, Strickland having called 911. The two officers yelled anti-gay sluts at Strickland and falsely claimed he was trying to break into parked cars. Prosecutors dropped all charges of loitering and prowling in October, 2009. According to the Herald “The ACLU, which says the city's police department has a history of arresting gay men and retaliating against those who report police misconduct, also said in a press release that the city has failed to punish the accused officers. Police started an internal investigation, notified the state attorney's office and relieved Forte and Hazzi of duty with pay after the department learned of the allegations from the ACLU last February, according to the city.”

Two Seattle City Lights employees are suing the city, alleging that they have passed over for promotion in relation for filing an alleged sexual orientation discrimination complaint in 2007. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that “In a lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court last week, Wanda Davis and Edward Richards said straight, less-qualified people have been promoted over them. They said the actions were a reprisal for suing in 2007 for alleged sexual-orientation discrimination. That case ended last year, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's dismissal."

The Dallas Voice reports that the Skype wedding of Dante Walkup and Mark Reed-Walkup was ruled invalid by a Washington, D.D. court, Mark Reed-Walkup “said he and his partner of 10 years, Dante Walkup, were “extremely disappointed” to receive a letter Friday from the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. The letter … states that the couple’s marriage couldn’t be certified or registered because all parties weren’t physically present for the ceremony.”He added that “I can only speculate that there was somebody out there motivated by homophobia or politics or both that wanted to see this marriage annulled and prevent other couples from pursuing it,” and that the couple in considering legal action, although he says that “if it’s not a strong case, we’re not going to waste time and resources. We’ll just take a quick trip to D.C., have her [the officiant] marry us in the airport, and go back to Dallas. We will get eventually married one way or the other through Washington, D.C.”

Chicago Mayoral Candidate Chico Promises Gay Issues Will Be Priority, Australian Greens Senator Pushes For Legalisation of Gay Marriage But Has No Plans To Marry Long-Time Partner, Gale Harold Says The Legacy Of Queer As Folk’s Brian Kinney Haunts Him, Michael Buble On Acceptance And Ending Anti-Gay Hate, Neil Patrick Harris Poster Boy For Perfect Husband

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that mayoral candidate Gery Chico Sunday announced his platform regarding issues important to the municipality’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community, first on that list being full support of the passage of Senate Bill 1716 that would enact legislation legalising civil unions for same sex couples in Illinois, that Bill to heard by the General Assembly Tuesday. Chico, who explained that he would spend time Monday to reach out to state legislators and encourage them to support the bill, said “This is a civil rights issue. And it’s just that easy. And it’s not the end of the line but the road to looking at same sex marriage.” He added that his goal as mayor is to “make a commitment of ideas, not platitudes and generalities.”

In Australia, Greens leader Bob Brown told the Sunday Telegraph that although his party is pushing for marriage equality, he is not considering marrying his long-time partner if and when gay marriage becomes legal. Brown said “It hasn’t figured in my thinking. Paul and I registered our partnership in Tasmania surround by a group of friends. It’s not something that I have really considered.” Senator Brown and Paul Thomas have been together for more than ten years.

In an interview with Metro Source, actor Gale Harold says that the legacy of playing Brian Kinney on Showtime’s successful American remake of Queer as Folk frightens him, Harold, who recently returned to television via the CW’s Hellcats, saying “I was terrified of taking on this sort of sexual/political stance. There’s always, in my mind, this hesitancy to speak as Gale Harold about the life of this man, Brian Kinney, that I’m playing and how that relates to society and the gay community at large. It seemed at the time that a lot of people couldn’t differentiate between Brian and Gale. Well this is the thing: When you’re an actor and you get a big break and you’re young — I mean, I had just turned 30 when I started the show...Nobody knew me, which was amazing, in a way, for the show, because you see that person for the first time when they’re playing that character so you believe it more...The legacy of the show was having all these people come up to us over the years and thank us for giving them characters to watch and to relate to. They saw themselves. That’s kind of overwhelming to hear that. It’s very meaningful, and it’s heartbreaking, and it’s inspiring, but...it was a heavy and awesome responsibility and I wanted to get it right.”

35 year old Canadian Michael Buble tells Matthew’s Place – a blog that is an extension of the Matthew Shepard Foundation - that growing up Vancouver meant growing up in a gay supportive community, but that the community was just a bubble. Buble says he is an advocate for equality, and that his advocacy comes naturally, as a result of his upbringing, telling Thomas Howard “ I grew up in a family that was full of love. My uncle Mike has been with my uncle Frank, they’ve been a couple for, 35 years. So when I grew up my mom and dad, in no uncertain terms, said you know Michael, a man can be in love with a man and a woman can be in love with a woman, and there’s no difference between people that are gay or straight. They’re born that way. It’s not something that can be learned or unlearned, or it’s not a phase or anything like that. This is something that you are born with. And so I grew up, never seeing a difference between gay and straight people. Also, I grew up in Vancouver, that has one of the biggest gay communities, so of course, growing up in music and theatre all my friends, or most of my friends were gay or bi. This was something that was just normal for me. The thing is, what really got to me Thomas, was that, I lived in this bubble, where because I came from this city that was completely tolerant and understanding, I thought that’s just how it was." Buble adds that it is the responsibility of gays and straights to end anti-gay hate and that it is the parents who need to educate their children. “The truth is ... Kids don’t grow up with hate,” he says. “They don’t know hate. They’re taught hate and we just need to educate them.”

A smoking sexy Neil Patrick Harris spotted Sunday in Los Angeles first buying a toolbox, then roses at Whole Foods. Is it possible for Neil to be more perfect?

Sarah Palin Defends Daughter’s Use Of “Faggot” By Explaining That Tabloids And Hateful Blogs Report Lies About Family Everyday

Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and failed Republican vice-presidential candidate, defended her daughter’s casual use of the word “faggot.” Two weeks ago, while the TLC reality show Sarah Palin’s Alaska premiered, a young man named Tre posted to his Facebook that “Sarah Palin’s Alaska is failing so hard right now,” prompting 16 year old Willow Palin to post “Haha your (sp) so gay” and “Your (sp) such a faggot.” Willow, through her sister Bristol, offered an awkward apology, however, Sarah Palin, appearing on Fox News, told a completely different and false narrative, Mediaite.com reporting she said to Sean Hannity “People probably think that my greatest frustration is the lies that are told in the tabloids and on hateful blogs full of anonymous sources about my family … and there are constant everyday lies that we have to read that are out there in the public. But my family and I…thick skin…we can take it, you know…we can take what the haters say despite the fact that there’s injustice in the situation. I mean, look at the other day. Willow, finally, my 16 year old, she had had it up to here with somebody saying very, very hateful things about the family and saying mean things about her little brother Trig, and Willow finally responded and she used a bad word when she responded in defense of her family. And her response became national news, even hard news copy it turned into, so that’s ridiculous and I had to explain to her, “Willow, there is no justice here but you have to just zip your lip and let’s move forward.” Unfortunately, Trig was never mentioned in any of the exchanges and while it may appear to be good parenting to point out that “faggot” is a “bad word” it is far, far from the point.

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark First Preview Marred By Malfunctions And Mishaps

The much anticipated, much-delayed Broadway mega-musical Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark, had its first preview performance Sunday night, and, um, things did not go as planned, the rumoured $65 million production suffering series of miscues and mishaps. The show stopped five times, mostly to fix technical difficulties, Act I ended abruptly with Spider-Man stuck 10 feet above audience members, a cable malfunctioning, and the New York Times reports that Act II “was married by a nasty catcall during one of the midperformance pauses.” The Times continues. reporting that “The intermission began at 8:19 p.m.; it was still under way 34 minutes later when some in the audience began to clap in unison, as they passed their two-hour mark inside the theater. Mr. White, the production stage manager, then said over the microphone, “I know, guys, I know, I beg your patience,” and the clapping stopped. Act II began shortly after 9 p.m. and unfolded fairly smoothly until about 50 minutes later, when Mr. White called for a pause. After a few minutes, as some audience members were stretching, a woman in the audience suddenly shouted, “I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I feel like a guinea pig today — I feel like it’s a dress rehearsal.” She was met with a chorus of boos. The performance resumed a moment later; the show ended at 10:09 p.m.”

Suzanne-Deanna Grover Sentenced To Six Months In Jail For Anti-Gay Motivated Attack On Lindsey C. Harmon; Because Of Time Served In Custody She Will Be Released “Within Days,” Judge In Case Wanted Hate Crime Charge Added

The Buffalo News reports that 22 year old Suzanne-Deanna Grover was sentenced Monday morning to six months in jail in connection to an assault on 30 year old Lindsey C. Harmon, Grover slashing Harmon with a pocket knife in the eye after a confrontation in a parking lot outside the lesbian nightclub Roxie’s early January 1st. State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller, delivering the sentence, told Grover she should thank the stabbing victim her sentence is not longer, stressing that the only reason he accepted Grover’s guilty plea September 3rd to second-degree assault, instead of scheduling a jury trial on the charge, since Harmon herself accepted a probation report recommending a brief jail term accompanied by exhaustive post-jail counselling for Grover. A Grand Jury had been convened, but it rejected hate crime charges, despite Harmon contending she was attacked because of her sexual orientation. Harmon, who now must wear glasses, did not speak during sentencing, and although she abided by the probation report, Senior State Prosecutor Michael J. Flaherty Jr. told Justice Boller that Harmon is “not happy with the brief jailing but accepts the end of the case.” In addition to the six-month sentence, Boller sentenced Grover to 100 hours of community service, pay $375 in court costs, and stay away from Harmon. He warned her that she will face up to seven years in prison for any violation of the five years of probation she will be on after release from a local jail. Since she was held in custody for four months, she is likely to be released within days.

Anne Hathaway And James Franco Announced As Academy Award Hosts

The Academy Awards have announced that Anne Hathaway and James Franco will host the 2011 Oscars, a statement from Oscar television producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer saying that the two “personify the next generation of Hollywood icons – fresh, exciting and multi-talented. We hope to create an Oscar broadcast that will both showcase their incredible talents and entertain the world on February 27. We care completely thrilled that James and Anne will be joining forces with our brilliant creative team to do just that.” Deadline.com first reporting the booking early Monday morning, the website suggesting that the two’s repeated successful appearances on Saturday Night Live convinced Academy Award producers that the twosome could work well in front of a live audience. Each have films currently in release: Franco in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours in a performance many think will garner an Oscar nomination for best actor, while Hathaway’s work in the tepidly reviewed Love and Other Drugs is thought to be a long shot for a best actress nomination.

Anti-Gay Jamaican Artist Capleton Concert Goes On At Sacramento Club Harlow’s

An update on a previous post, a performance by anti-gay Jamaican artist Capleton proceeded as planned despite pleas and protests by the gay community to cancel the concert, Fox 40 reporting that the owners of the Harlow’s, in Sacramento, California, who only last year cancelled a Capleton concert, this year refused, saying “We’ve never censored anyone else; any other artist before. I don’t see a reason to do so now. Never in the history of booking the shows have we censored anyone because of their lyrics and what not. So, we’re sticking to our guns on this,” said one of the managers of the family owned clubs Victor Torza, his words a study in irony. Capleton’s lyrics reference a cleansing of homosexuality by burning, activists rightly arguing that the lyrics articulate a call to violence against homosexuals. An estimated three dozen protestors gathered across the street from Harlow’s Sunday night, yelling “Harlow’s breeds hate,” one of the protestors, Erin Lawrence, saying “There’s a man in there that’s doing comedy against gay people and they think that it is funny and he doesn’t care.” Ken Pierce, of Equality Action NOW, a gay rights advocacy group, said that words are not simply empty words and that their meaning can have catastrophic consequences, saying “We’ve had a lot of suicides; youth suicides because of hate speech that kids are inundate with sometimes.”

Kenyan Gays And Lesbians Panicked After Prime Minister Gives Speech Suggesting Those Caught Engaged In Homosexual Acts Will Be Imprisoned

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Sunday homosexuals caught in the midst of sex acts will be arrested, creating panic among gays and lesbians, the Associated Press reporting that in an audio recording of the prime minister’s speech, Odinga can be heard saying “if a man is caught having sex with the other we jail them, or if a girl is caught with the other ...we will jail them,” using a profanity to describe lesbianism. He added “We want a country that is clean, a clean way of doing things that has clean mannerisms ... we do not want things to do with sodomy.” Currently, Kenyan law prohibits “sex against nature” and that charge is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Nguru Kargugu, of the office of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya, said that the organisation has been inundated with phone calls from the country’s gay and lesbian community, some of whom are HIV-positive and fear they face arrest when they collect life-prolonging medication from government clinics. A spokesperson for the prime minister released a statement late Sunday saying that Odinga was being quoted out of context, Dennis Onyango saying that the prime minister was trying to articulate how opposition groups, against the country’s new constitution adopted in August, were employing fear tactics in an effort to have citizens vote against it, Onyango saying that the prime minister was offering two examples of opposition propaganda that the new constitution would create laws to legalise gay marriage. Awkwardly, attempting to defend Odinga, Onyango said that during the speech, the prime minister “then added a rider that even if the constitution allowed gay marriages, census data showed there were more women than men in Kenya and people would naturally go for marriage with the opposite sex. The highlight on the alleged order for a crackdown completely missed the point.”

Senator John McCain Believes American Policy Prohibiting Openly Gay Service Members Works Well, Senate DADT Showdown, Sacramento Gays Protest Capleton Concert, Westboro Baptist Church Ohio Counter-Protest, Jake Gyllenhaal Penis, Rafael Nadal Ass

Republican Senator John McCain, of Arizona, believes that the American military policy prohibiting openly gay service members is not problematic, and that the efforts to repeal the ban known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” is founded on President Obama’s political pandering, an effort, according to McCain, by the president, an “inexperienced” candidate, to fulfill promises he made, McCain appearing Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. McCain said that “The military is at its highest point in recruitment, in retention, in professionalism, in capability, so to somehow allege that this policy has been damaging the military is simply false.”

Time, meanwhile, on the supposed "showdown in the Senate" over "don't ask, don't tell" this week, bracketed by the release Tuesday of the study commissioned by the Pentagon as well as an appearance Thursday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, before the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which McCain is the ranking Republican, where both intend to state that they are ready to repeal the ban.

Gay activists are planning on protesting a performance by anti-gay Jamaican artist Capleton, scheduled to appear in Sacramento, California Sunday evening at an area club, Harlow’s according to a report from Fox 40. Harlow’s allegedly first agreed to cancel the performance after local advocates pointed out Capleton’s lyrics (including a reference to emolliating) articulate violence against gays and lesbians and that he had signed and subsequently violated the Reggae Compassion Act, however the concert was rescheduled after fans complained about the cancellation.

The Dayton Daily News reports that local gay activists announced that they intend to attend the funeral of Army Specialist Jesse Snow to support his family and to offer opposition to a delegation from the Westboro Baptist Church. Jesse Snow, a 25 year old killed alongside four fellow soldiers November 14th in Afghanistan, is to be buried Tuesday at Mary, Help of Christian Parish, in Fairborn, Ohio. Christopher Perkins, president of the Brite Signal Alliance, a Sinclair Community College support group for gay and transgender students, who organised the counter-protest, said “We are going to be out there to support the family, the military and Jesse as a hero. I live in Fairborn and for them to come to my community and disrespect (Snow) is uncalled for.” He has partnered with a motorcycle group – the Patriot Guard Riders – to shield the family from the anti-gay pronouncements from the WBC while they attend the funeral.

You may have heard that the Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal film Love and Other Drugs features ample gratuitous nudity on the part of Hathaway, but now comes a peak purportedly of Jake’s penis. (NSFW)

A purple Rafael Nadal and his best asset were on display Sunday in London at the ATP World Tour Finals in a match against Roger Federer.

Thousands Celebrate Gay Pride In India, San Francisco Goodwill Location Serves As Training For Transgender Employees, Openly Gay Black College President Welcomed By Small Town Iowa, Dr. Schlessinger Anti-Gay Racism Coming To Sirius Satellite Radio, Tom Hardy Vancouver Tattoo Escapade, Kellan Lutz Tank Top Tease, David Burtka And Neil Patrick Harris See Cinderella

Thousands gathered along the streets of Delhi Saturday in celebration of India’s first formal gay pride parade since homosexuality was decriminalised by a High Court in July, 2009, Reuters reporting that “under a huge rainbow flag, to the sounds of drums, whistles and horns, 2,000 gay activists and supporters clad in feather face masks shouted slogans and waved placards as they marched through the capital of this still conservative country.” In years past, two protests took place against the legislation that criminalised homosexual sex in India; however the Delhi High Court overturned Section 377 of India’s penal code, enacted under colonial rule, after nine years of legal action. Hilloi Dutta, a gay activist, said “Last year it was about protest, but this year it is all about celebration. It has only been a year, but it has been a huge year.”

Lisa Leff of the Associated Press on a Goodwill store in San Francisco specifically designed as an employment program for the transgender. According to Leff, when a prime piece of commercial property came available in the city’s Castro district, a predominantly gay neighbourhood, activists and officials recognised an opportunity to create a safe space to gain critical employment experience, seven of the shop’s nine employee’s transgender, most of them women born men. They were referred to Goodwill by the Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative, a non-profit training and employment service that also works the Bank of America, Macy’s, and Trader Joe’s, among other supportive organisations. Alexie Scanlon, a 38 year old recently promoted to assistant manager at the Castro store, says “I guess it’s fitting that we’re working in a place that’s based on the concept of ‘recycle and reuse.’ If you are born in the wrong body, you learn to make use of what you have.” Ahead of the store’s October opening – it is a pop-up location, operating rent-free until such time as a paying tenant is found by the landlord – an anti-bias training session was held for all area Goodwill staff in an attempt to minimise misunderstandings regarding pronoun and restroom usage. Scanlon, who welcomes her newly found role as ambassador for the transgender community “by being competent,” says that challenges still exist, including tourists who try to her picture, trying to sound professional when she refuses. “I tell them, ‘I’m not a joke. This is my life. Thanks for shopping at Goodwill.’”

The Des Moines Register reports on Grinnell, Iowa and the reaction to Grinnell College’s new president, Raynard Kington, an openly gay black man, who, alongside his partner Peter Daniolos, is raising two adopted children, four year old Emerson and one year old Basil, Jeff Phelps, the owner of Saints Rest coffee shop, echoing the sentiment of most of the small town, saying “This guy is just amazing. One of the things we’ve needed is someone who can help re-establish good relations between the town and college, and he’s really made himself available to the community. He’s a great communicator, and he really, truly seems to enjoy being in a small town.”

From the Hollywood Reporter, news that beginning January 3rd, homophobic, racist Dr. Laura Schlessinger will once again be able to be, well, homophobic and racist, an announcement prematurely published by the Associated Press Friday (then quite quickly, retracted) saying that her nationally syndicated advice program Dr. Laura will end its run on traditional radio December 31st, and her new show will air on Sirius XM Radio days later. “The first and most important thing that appealed to me was the freedom to speak my mind without advertisers and affiliates being attacked by activist groups that just love to censor anything they don’t agree with,” says Schlessinger, adding that her new program will examine situations “that are relevant to the morals, values, principles and ethics that I nag about everyday.”

The Globe and Mail reports mainly on Vancouver’s famed Darkday Tattoo Studio and the artistry of Brian Glatiotis, but mostly about a smoking sexy shirtless Tom Hardy getting a new Union Jack tattoo.

A tank-topped tight bodied Kellan Lutz is spotted shopping Friday in Los Angeles.

New father’s David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris are seen Saturday night in Los Angeles at the opening of a new production of Cinderella at the El Portal Theatre.

Chris Fountain And Steven Webb Naked

British actors Chris Fountain (23 years old) and Steven Webb (26 years old) on among those male celebrities featuring in the upcoming Gay Times Naked Issue, a preview of the two offering evidence that there may well may something more between the blonds, including a revelation that Fountain frequently drops his dick on Webb’s shoulder.

Windsor Retired Teacher On Trial For Sexual Assault Of Two Former Students, Lesbian Cadet Wishes To Return To West Point Post-Repeal Of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Prince Edward Island Urged To Market Itself To Gay And Lesbian Travellers, Kimpton Hotel Chain Named Most Visible Among Gay And Lesbian Travellers, Joe Jonas And His Adorable Bulldog Pup Winston

The Windsor Star reports on the trial of 68 year old John Gibson charged with two counts of sexual assault against two former male students, Gibson a retired geography teacher and the faculty member in charge of student parliament. The assaults are alleged to have taken place from 1984 to 1986. Thursday, a former student, now 43 years old, who cannot be named because of court order protecting his identity, said Gibson assaulted him at least six times, including twice on Gibson’s sailboat, and once in his own parent’s bed. He testified that he never wanted a sexual relationship with the teacher, but that he never stopped the sex acts when they were occurring, telling court “I remember being ashamed of myself ... At this point I was blaming myself for putting myself in that situation.” The man says he went to the Windsor police in 1997, accompanied by a female friend, to report the abuse, however no record of that meeting has yet to be found.

Katherine Miller, the West Point undergraduate whose resignation from the academy in August was an obvious objection to the American military policy prohibiting openly gay service members, tells the Associated Press that she wants to return once that ban is repealed. The 21 year old openly gay Miller says “she started dreaming of going to West Point around the time she turned 16 – more than a year before she came to accept she was gay. Even after that, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was no more than a passing concern. She wanted to be a leader at the academy, someone with honour. She excelled, ranking near the top of her class of more than 1,100 cadets going into her third year. But Miller also was hiding in fear. ‘I realized that I wasn’t becoming the leader of character that I wanted to be,’ she said. Other gay cadets in her small circle of friends tried to persuade her to stick it out. Conforming after all, is a tenet taught in the military. ‘It was definitely an option,’ Miller said. ‘I just chose not to live my life that way. I’m pretty stubborn in my values. I needed to get out and declare who I was.’”

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation vice-president of communications Jeff Guaracino and gay travel expert Ed Salvato, the keynote speakers Friday at the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island, said the province is missing an opportunity to attract gay and lesbian tourists to the island, and that a long-term marketing plan needs to be created, according to the Charlottetown Guardian. Guaracino, who developed the now famous Get Your History Straight for Philadelphia, said that a survey revealed 77-percent of gay and lesbian travellers who visited P.E.I. said they would recommend the province to others, but unfortunately 51-percent reported feeling uncomfortable, a reality likely born out of the recent hate crime that saw a gay couple burned out of their Little Pond home.

Meanwhile, USA Today reports that the Kimpton hotel chain was voted by gay and lesbian travellers the hotel group that does the best job of promoting itself to the gay and lesbian travel market, Community Marketing conducting its 14 annual tourism survey. W placed second, followed by Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriot. David Paisley, of Community Marketing, said that Kimpton “is the most active in the LGBT community. They have a website, they sponsor tons of events and they advertise in the gay and lesbian media. W is very active and well respected, but they did fall behind.”

Who is cuter?

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.

Brendan Burke Legacy

From the CBC’s Fifth Estate, a documentary on Brendan Burke, the young man who came out publically in November, 2009, and whose life was tragically cut short when he and a passenger, Mark Reedy, were killed driving during a snowstorm February 5th, 2010. The at times terribly poignant documentary is of interest not only for the insights into Brendan –an unarguably hero – but for the questions it raises on why to date no professional athlete playing a team sport has come out, despite, as the film underlines, the well-known fact that today on several NHL teams there are gay athletes who are open to the team, but not to the public.

Apple Adds Then Deletes Anti-Gay Marriage Application, British Police Arrest Almost 150 In Anti-Hate Crime Raids, British Nobleman Complains That Gay Public Sex Continues On Property Unabated, Two American Lesbians Clubs Become All-Inclusive, Taylor Lautner Thanksgiving Sighting

Apple added, and then deleted an application from the Manhattan Declaration, a mobile version of the anti-gay marriage manifesto released in 2009 by a coalition of Christians, including Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, recently deemed an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the approval of the application by Apple Inc. first reported by the Huffington Post. The free application included the 4,700 word document that asked users to sign in support, as well as four-question survey, that included the question “Do you support same-sex relationships?” If answered yes, the user was informed that they had replied incorrectly.

The BBC reports that an estimated 147 individuals were arrested in Britain Thursday in dawn hate crime raids, suspects taken in custody for charges ranging from domestic violence, common assault, and breach of court orders. The project was a part of the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Athena and took place on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and although focusing on violence against women, the raids also targeted suspected homophobic, racist, and disability motivated crime, as well as crimes committed against the vulnerable or elderly.

A Conservative nobleman, Sir Beville Stanier has requested that police increase patrol on his 2,00 acre Shotover Estate, near Oxford, claiming he has been plagued by gay men using the land a site for sex, Stanier telling the Oxford Times that he cleared rubbish and undergrowth at his own expense, but that that has yet to discourage ‘cottaging.” He is asking the Oxfordshire County Council to erect “a decent bit of fencing,” and for an increased police presence. A council spokesperson said it is not the responsibility of taxpayers to protect privately owned land. While the men may be guilty of trespassing, there are not laws in England that specifically prohibit public sex.

The story of two former lesbian establishments rebranding and reopening as all inclusive destinations, each saying that the economic realities forced the changes, the Miami Herald reporting on Key West’s Pearl’s Rainbow, recently honoured by Curve magazine as the American guesthouse that has had the greatest impact on lesbian culture over the last 20 years, the lesbian-exclusive resort now “all welcome.” According to Heather Carruthers, the openly gay owner, the decision was based on business, and on changing attitudes of acceptance. “They can hold hands wherever they want to,” she said. “It’s really the world we want to have. We don’t necessarily want to be segregated.” The Oregonian, meanwhile, reports on the Portland, Oregon lesbian club the Egyptian Club, now renamed the Weird Bar, owner Kim Davis saying she chose the name because of the bar’s odd, winding layout, and for herself. She says that when the club opened in 1995, people threw eggs at the building and women bouncers were assaulted, Davis saying “We went through a lot back then, but it is different now. I want to accept everybody.” That welcoming, she says, extends to straight men, who were unwelcomed in the past. “The lesbians really took ownership of it,” she says. “If a straight guy walked in here, they would say, ‘What are you doing here?’ I don’t want the negativity.”

Taylor Lautner and co-star Booboo Stewart spotted Thursday returning to Los Angeles after filming Twilight: Breaking Dawn in New Orleans.

Former Tennessee District Attorney Joe Rehyansky Suggests Gay Men Be Barred From Military Because Their Innate Promiscuity Would Spread Disease But Lesbians Should Be Allowed Because Straight Men Could Convert Them Back “Into The Mainstream”

From the Daily Caller (the Tucker Carson founded website), an opinion supposedly meant to be ironic and Swiftian by retired Tennessee district attorney, Vietnam veteran, and judge Joe Rehyansky on the ramifications of repealing the American military policy that prohibits openly gay service members, Mr. Rehyansky suggesting that lesbians be allowed to serve with straight men because they – the lesbians – would be converted, but that gay men should not. “Men,’ he writes, “by nature are more promiscuous than women,” and that historically “It fell to men to swing through the trees and scour the caves in search of as many women as possible to subdue and impregnate – a tough job but someone had to do it.” Extending the argument that arguing that there exists an innate “promiscuity” among men, he writes “Most men who sexual attracted to other men can and do indulge their promiscuous urges with little or no restraint” and that consequently, “gays spread disease at a rate out of all proportion to their numbers in our population and should be excluded from the military” since “A significant population of gays in the military has the potential for disastrous health consequences.” Finally, in a second to last paragraph that had now been badly edited by the website, Rehyansky, who praises lesbians for their “medical and administrative specialties” suggesting that “My solution would get the distaff part of our homosexual population off our collective ‘Broke Back’, thus giving straight male GIs a fair shot at converting lesbians and bringing them back into the mainstream.”

The Marine Corps Continue To Want To Be Seen As The Few And The Proud But Not The Openly Gay

Tuesday, November 30tth, the Pentagon will release the results of a study it commissioned, surveying 400,000 active-duty and reservists on the effects of repealing the policy that prohibits openly gay service members, and although an estimated 70-percent of those polled hold no perceived objection to reversing the ban, the survey found resistance in one branch of the armed services – the Marines – an attitude that takes its cue from the Marine Corps head, the Associated Press reports. Commandant General James Amos, who said recently in San Diego that “There is nothing more intimate than combat and I want to make that point crystal clear. There is nothing more intimate that young men and young women, and when you’re talking infantry, we’re talking our young men laying out, sleeping alongside of one another, and sharing death and fear and the loss of their brothers. So I don’t know what the effect of that would be on unit cohesion.” 24 year old Sergeant David Trentham echoed his commander’s sentiments, saying that permitting gays to serve openly could create the possibilities of distractions for units, saying “I just think it would complicate things .If you have two homosexuals in a unit., they could have a relationships and if they broke it off, is that going to cause the mission to fail because they are having problems?” Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, however, a Marine corporal, honourably discharged in 2008 under the “don’t ask, don’t tell “policy says that the demanding standards, call to duty, and strong sense of comradeship are what attracted him to enlist. “My calling has always been service, and I wanted to go into the best of the branches, the one that showed the most pride, the most challenge,” he said, adding that if and when the policy is repealed he intends to re-enlist. He also underlined that the Marine officers can lead by example if and when the ban is lifted, saying “There’s so much discipline that is instilled in our Marines that if they see the senior officers saying this is not acceptable then they are going to say this in not unacceptable.” Gary Solis, a Marine veteran who teaches the law of war at Georgetown University law Center, says that the majority of Marines are not bothered by the idea of serving with openly gay men and women, but that others maintain the misconception that openly gay Marines will lack the aggressiveness of their straight comrades, Solis saying “Of course, we know none of that’s true about homosexuals. There have always been homosexuals in the Marine Corps, but when you acknowledge it openly, that’s a different thing. There are many Marines, particularly the older, more senior Marines, who don’t want to see that image diluted.”

19 Year Sentenced To 40 Years For Murder Of Openly Gay DC Principal Brian Betts, Dallas Couple Who Legally Married Via Skype Files Discrimination Complaint Against Dallas Morning News For Not Publishing Wedding Announcement, Has Glee Become Gloomy, Taylor Lautner TSA Clearance, Paul Wesley Elling Opening Night

19 year old Alante Saunders was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in prison for his primary part in the shooting murder of Brian Betts, principal of Shaw Middle School, the Washington Post reports. Saunders pleaded guilty to a felony murder charge in early November. Four individuals were charged, and earlier Tuesday one of those, 19 year old Sharif Lancaster, pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and use of handgun during a crime. He faces 35 years in prison. Plea deals were negotiated for both Saunders and Lancaster. Police and prosecutors said that on the evening of April 14th, Saunders called a gay sex chat line with the intention of planning a robbery, using a phone that belonged to Lancaster’s girlfriend at the time. Saunders exchanged several messages with Betts, pretending to set up a personal meeting, Betts having arranged to leave the door of his house open and to wait along in an upstairs bedroom. Prosecutors say Saunders, Lancaster, and two other defendants – Joel Johnson and Deontra Gray – went to Betts home, Saunders having shot Betts, Saunders says by accident. There was no hate crimes stipulation added, prosecutors arguing all along that robbery was the sole motive.

Mark Reed-Walkup and Dante Walkup, the Dallas, Texas gay couple legally married in Washington, D.C. via Skype in October, have filed a discrimination complaint against the Dallas Morning News, reports the Dallas Voice, the Morning News having refused to publish their same sex wedding announcement. Reed-Walkup says he had tried for several weeks to get the paper to publish their paid announcement in its “Weddings” section, but the newspaper, citing a policy that says same sex wedding announcements can only appear in a separate section called “Commitments,” has rejected the couple’s request. The paper says the policy was created since gay marriage is not legal in Texas. Reed-Walkup said “Our ultimate goal is for the newspaper to realise that this is discrimination and change the policy. They (the city) may agree with the newspaper that because of the ban on same sex marriage in Texas, they have every justification to not publish it in the “Weddings” section. At least we can say that we tried, and take it from there.”

TV Guide suggests that Glee is in danger of becoming the “St. Kurt Show,” saying “This show used to be about an idealistic teacher trying to help a group of misfits find their voice through show choir. Now it’s all about a kid who is bullied at a school where there are a few less-important misfits in a show choir that never seems to rehearse for the upcoming sectional, and an annoying teacher with the worst boundaries on the planet. The glee has given way to gloom and with Kurt running off to Dalton Academy instead of standing up to his tormentor, it seems the only ones displaying any courage are the viewers who keep coming back in the hopes that it will get better.”

A sleepy, yet sexy Taylor Lautner made his way through Los Angeles International Airport early Thursday morning, and, despite the promise, to the disappoint of several, neither a pat down or full body scan.

Paul Wesley seen attending the opening night of Elling, an adaption for the stage of the 2001 infamous Norwegian film.

Pixar: It Gets Better

Pixar, the animation studio, winner of twenty-four Academy Awards, has released an It Gets Better video that is particularly poignant, encouraging gay youth not to give up, to remain strong, and to remember that it does get better.

Family Research Council Disputes Inclusion On Southern Poverty Law Center List Of 18 Anti-Gay Hate Groups

The Southern Poverty Law Center released a list of 18 organisations it considers hate groups, included among them the anti-gay Family Research Council, and as the Washington Post reports FRC president Tony Perkins, also named in the report, called the hate group designation a political attack waged by “liberal organisation. In a statement, Perkins said that “The left’s smear campaign conservative is ... being driven by the clear evidence that the American public is losing patience with their radical policy agenda as seen in the recent election and in the fact that every state ... that has had the opportunity to defend the natural definition of marriage has done so.” The Family Research Council was among the out-of-state groups that recently supported a successful attempt to remove three state Supreme Court judges in Iowa, and Perkins referenced the supposed victory today, saying “Earlier this month, voters in Iowa sent a powerful message when they removed three Supreme Court justices who imposed same-sex marriage on the state. Would the SPLC also smear the good people of Iowa?” The law center said that it chose to feature the groups on the list “based on their propagation of known falsehood” and “repeated, groundless name-calling,” adding that “Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organisations for listing as hate groups.” The National Organisation for Marriage, also included on the list, objected to their inclusion, Brian Brown the president saying that idea anti-gay groups are akin to racists is wrong. “This is about protecting marriage. This isn’t about being anti-anyone,” said Brown. “The whole idea that somehow those folks who stand up for traditional marriage, like the Family Research Council, are hateful is wrong. The (law center is) trying to marginalise and intimidate folks for standing up for marriage and also trying to equate them somehow to the KKK.”

Trevor Donovan Surfing Deliciousness

It is Thanksgiving eve, and cold, so, what better way to give thanks and warm up that a heaping, hearty serving of the always edible, incredible Trevor Donovan, Mr. Donovan spotted on the shores of Malibu filming an upcoming episode of 90210.

Chicago Archbishop Says Proposed Illinois Civil Unions Will Change “Nature Of Marriage” Missing The Fact Law Is Not About Marriage, Former Catholic Priest Charged With Soliciting Hit Man To Kill Young Boy Who Accused Him Of Sexual Molestation, Orange County Florida Passes Expanded Anti-Discrimination Ordinance, Orange Country Gay Advocates Now Look To Passing Domestic Partnership Benefits Bill, Rex Reed Savages Burlesque, Tim Morehouse Loves Phillip Morris, Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Cardinal Francis George, the head of Chicago’s Roman Catholic archdiocese, said Monday that proposed legislation authorising civil unions between gay and lesbian couples as a measure that would “change the nature of marriage” and he urged lawmakers to reject it, reports the Tribune. In a statement, Cardinal George said “Everyone has a right to marry, but no one has the right to change the nature of marriage. Marriage is what it is and always has been, no matter what a Legislature decides to do; however, the public understanding of marriage will be negatively affected by passage of a bill that ignores the natural fact that sexuality complementarity is at the core of marriage.” The proposal George references, sponsored by Representative Greg Harris, a Democrat from Chicago, and Representative Deb Mell, a Democrat from Chicago, would afford spousal rights to same sex partners in a civil union, granting them surrogate decision-making for medical treatment, survivorship, adoptions and accident and health insurance. Harris, however, said the legislation does nothing to amend the definition of marriage as that existing only between one man and one woman.

A former Roman Catholic priest, John Fiala, was arrested November 18th, at his suburban Dallas home, arrested on charges that he solicited a hit man to murder a teenager who accused him of sexual abuse, according to the Statesmen. In April, a lawsuit was brought against the 52 year old Fiala by the family of teenage boy, accusing him of sexual molestation, including two incidents where the boy was forced to have sex at gunpoint. The abuse allegedly occurred in 2007 and 2008 when Fiala was a priest at the Sacred Heart of Mary Parish in the West Texas community of Rocksprings. The lawsuit also names the Archdiocese of San Antonio and Archbishop Jose Gomez, and it was filed a month prior to Gomez’s introduction as the incoming head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Orange County, Florida approved an expansion of anti-discrimination protections for homosexuals in the private sector, the Orlando Sentinel reporting that the measure passed, without opposition, by a 6-1 vote. According to the report, the historic decision is a part of a broader fight in the gay, lesbian, and transgender community to gain the same rights as those enjoyed by straight couples or individuals. The ordinance expands existing bias-protected classes already contained in state and federal law to include sexual orientation.

Wednesday, Orange County gay advocates said that buoyed by the passage of the expanded anti-discrimination ordinance, they would not concentrate on the passage of legislation afforded domestic partner benefits to Orange County employees, WDBO reporting that Joe Saunders, of Equality Florida, said “It’s the next step in the work that we need to do on the county level. Right now same sex couples that work for the county can’t share their benefits and that’s just wrong.” Mayor-elect Teresa Jacobs said she is willing to discuss the proposal, but is concerned about the additional cost.

What to see Burlesque? Rex Reed suggest otherwise, who, writing in a review for the New York Observer, says the “movie is so bad that it makes you realise how much you miss Showgirls,” adding that while “Cher still looks good in a thong, but (Christina) Aguilera can’t act, and her singing sounds like calling hogs.”

Tim Morehouse, Olympic silver medal-winning United States fencer seen attending the New York City premiere of I Love You Phillip Morris.



Spotted attending the premiere of Faster was one Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

First Ever HIV Study Of Vancouver Gay And Bisexual Men Yields Encouraging Results

ManCount, a new study, the first ever to examine the rate of HIV infection among gay men in Vancouver, British Columbia, finds that a majority of those surveyed are practicing prevention though regular condom use and HIV testing, reports the Province. The study was conducted August, 2008 to February, 2009, researchers asking 3,324 men over the age of 19 to participate, 1,169 completing the survey, 1,139 offered blood samples, the project funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Among the findings, 86-percent of gay and bisexual men had been tested for HIV, 77-percent of those under the age of 30 had been tested. 18-percent of those surveyed tested positive for HIV, and of that number 70-percent were regularly taking medication known as the Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy. 2.5-percent of those who supplied blood samples reported that they were not HIV positive, although blood test determined they were. Wayne Roberts, of the Vancouver-based Health Initiative for Men, who participated in the study, said that the findings regarding regular prevention strategies were encouraging, but that awareness among young men needs to be increased.

Rhode Island Governor –Elect Reaffirms Commitment To Equality And Rejects National Organization For Marriage Overture To Place Gay Marriage On Ballot; Anti-Gay NOM Throws Tantrum

Rhode Island Governor-elect Lincoln Chafee has rejected an overture by the National Organization for Marriage to allow a voter amendment be placed on the 2012 ballot affording the electorate the right to decide the issue of same sex marriage, the Province Journal reporting that NOM’s Rhode Island director Christopher Plante received a letter from Michael Trainor, a top aide to the governor, reiterating the position Chafee campaigned on, the letter in part reading “The governor elect feels that the issue should be addressed as soon as possible by the General Assembly, and does not believe that the question should be decoded by a ballot referendum.” The letter underlined Chafee’s belief that “Marriage equality is a basic right that should be extended to all Rhode Islander – a question not only of fairness and justice, but of economic development as well.” Tuesday, Plante said he was “surprised” by the governor’s commitment to equality “because “Mr. Trainor indicated that he thought that Governor-elect Chafee would sit down at the round table with all parties ... I left thinking that maybe we’ll get a roundtable. We’ll get ‘Marriage Equality’ ... We’ll get NOMRI to sit at the table and talk about how we are going to go forward on this ... But what he has done is rejected our position out of hand.” Late Tuesday, tellingly, a public relations firm released a statement from Plante, reading in part “It is clear that Governor-elect Chafee intends to put fringe issues and radical politics over saving Rhode Islander’s jobs and securing a prosperous future for our State (but) we are confident that the majority of Assembly-women and men know there are more important things to deal with and we will support their efforts to push for a referendum.”

Pope Benedict Explicitly States Condom Use Sanctioned For Those Infected With HIV “Whether It’s A Man, Woman Or Transsexual”

Pope Benedict XVI Tuesday clearly articulated that the need to prevent diseases like AIDS could eclipse the Catholic Church’s historic opposition to the use of condoms, the New York Times reporting that the Reverend Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson, said that Pope Benedict believes that use of condoms by those people infected with HIV could provide “the first step of responsibility, of taking into consideration the risk to the life of the person with whom there are relations; whether it’s a man, woman or a transsexual.” That expands and make certain statements made in a book based on interviews given by the pope – Light of the World – released on Tuesday,in which Benedict said that condoms were not “a real or moral solution” but that in certain circumstances, their use could become “a first step in the direction of a moralisation, a first assumption of responsibility,” adding the example of a male prostitute, by extension homosexual sex, since the church opposes the use of prophylactics on the grounds that all sexual acts should be open to procreation. Although the Pope never explicitly contradicts the Catholic teaching against the use of contraception or even endorse the widespread use of condoms, conservative Catholics are angry, while the Reverend Jon Fuller, a Jesuit priest and a physician at the Center for HIV/AIDS Care and Research at Boston Medical Center, said “We’re in a new world” and that the pope is “implicitly” saying “that you cannot anymore raise the objection that any use of the condom is an intrinsic evil.”

Department Of Justice Files Appeal In Margaret Witt Case, Fox News Rejects Palm Center Advertisement Regarding Impact Of Openly Gay Military Personal, Fred Karger Run For Republican Presidential Candidacy, Houston Police Arrest Transgender For “Knowingly Entering A Restroom Of The Opposite Sex”

The Justice Department filed an appeal Tuesday of a federal judge’s order that found Major Margaret Witt’s discharge under the policy that prohibits openly gay service members was unconstitutional because it advanced no legitimate goals, according to an Associated Press report. Attorneys for Witt argue that she is able to re-enlist in the Air Force even as the government appeals the ruling since the department did not seek a stay of the lower court ruling with the appeal continues. Witt, a flight nurse, was suspended in 2004 and honourably discharged after the Air Force determined she was in a long-term relationship with a civilian female.

Fox News has rejected an advertisement created by the Palm Center in which Generals from allied militaries appear and contend that openly gay military personal do not undermine combat effectiveness. Tuesday, Aaron Belkin, the Palm Center Director, said “I am surprised that Fox News would reject an ad featuring allied Generals, given both host Bill O’Reilly and guest contributor Liz Cheney have expressed support for open gay service. This is an important time for input from all sides on this issue, and I hope Fox will reconsider.” The ad was created in May, 2010, and among those allied Generals is Major General Walter Semianiw, Chief of Military Personal in the Canadian Forces, who says “There is no negative impact of having men and women of any sexual orientation fighting together, be it in Afghanistan, be it in Iraq.” Christopher Neff, the Deputy Executive Director of the Palm Center said “We have reached out to other cable news outlets and still fully intend to air this ad.”

Fred Karger is running, unofficially, for president as a Republican in 2012 and the former aide to Ronald Regan, who came out four years ago, intends to campaign on an almost exclusive platform of gay rights, reports the Atlantic, adding that the ad, beginning Tuesday, will air twice a day on Fox News throughout the state of Iowa for one week. Aside from advancing gay marriage and an immediate repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Karger aims to attract more gay GOP politicians.

Houston police last Wednesday arrested Nathanial Tyrone Moore at the municipality’s main library for “knowingly entering a restroom of the opposite sex,” KTRK reports, Moore in the process of transitioning from male to female, court records revealing that she pleaded guilty to the charge and spent two nights in jail, for which she received credit. Houston’s Mayor, Annise Parker, openly gay, earlier this year expanded an anti-discrimination executive order that permits city employees to use restrooms based on their gender identity, but that order has created confusion. Monday, Parker released a statement saying “There appears to be a misunderstanding regarding applicability of my executive order and we need to clarify that. This is a matter of providing practical solutions in a diverse city. It is not about behaviour. Where there is inappropriate behaviour, there will be enforcement.”

New Jersey Attorney General Accuses School Board Of Allowing Anti-Gay Bullying To Occur Unchecked For Six Years

NBC New York reports that for six years, during middle and high school in the Bergen County, New Jersey suburb of Emerson, a young man identified as J.C. was allegedly routinely bullied: beaten, called “faggot” and “homo” and threatened with murder, those details among the many contained in a Finding of Probable Cause brought by the New Jersey Attorney General against the Emerson School District. That action is being based on the findings that there was unsatisfactory effort “to take sufficient steps to stop the harassment and bullying of a male student that went on for six year” The action carries with it the possibility of a $10,000 fine against the Emerson School Board, the potential for compensatory damages, changes in policies and staff. Despite substantive evidence the school was well aware of the daily torment faced by J.C. – including students circulating a drawing of J.C. portraying him performing a sex act on another male – the school board “categorically denies any bullying took place and that all complaints were handled appropriately.” The Attorney General’s office disputes that claim, saying “Despite the ostensible existence of a ‘zero tolerance’ policy regarding such conduct, his fellow students routinely subjected him to the kind of torment no one should have to endure.” In all, at least 17 complaints were filed by J.C.’s parents, yet none of the parents of the allegedly offending students were ever contacted, and “meaningful disciple was rarely imposed.” One of the most troubling details contained in the action is of another student identified as M.F. who, in high school, in May, 2006, told J.C. he intended to bring a gun to school, threatening J.C.’s life. The Emerson police were notified, investigating M.F.’s home, “and a subsequent search of M.F.’s home resulted in the seizure of guns and knives belonging to both M.F. and his father.” M.F. was then placed in a psychiatric facility for evaluation, but later released and returned to school. J.C.’s father was informed that M.F. would not be allowed near his son, but then inexplicably the two were scheduled to be in three classes during that school year. J.C. eventually withdrew and was home schooled.