National Gay And Lesbian Task Force Annual Meeting Starts Wednesday In Minneapolis, Fired Homophobic Navy Capitan Owen Honours Says Superiors Encouraged Production And Airing Of Anti-Gay Videos, Jane Lynch Memoir To Be Published In September, Rough Trade Ryan Phillippe, Tom Hardy, Justin Timberlake Shirtless And Soaking Wet

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports on the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force annual conference scheduled to start Wednesday, thousands of gay activists expected to assemble in Minneapolis to discuss issues ranging from fighting transgender discrimination, attempts to make churches more inclusive, and assessing the potential for Minnesota and other states to impose same sex marriage bans. Rea Carey, the Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said “We will be celebrating (our) successes, and we will also be looking at our challenges. There is not one issue: there are many issues that affect our lives and our families. The conference is expected to be largest since the Task Force began holding annual meetings throughout the United States in 1988. In 1990, the last time it was held in Minneapolis, an estimated six hundred attended. Carey said that “One of the reasons we love Minneapolis is because it is such a vibrant community, and Minneapolis was the first in the country to pass a non-discrimination law covering sexual orientation, in 1974.” The conference, called “Creating Change,” will feature guest lectures by Brian Bond, the deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, and United States Representative Keith Ellison. State Senator Warren Limmer (Republican-Maple Grove) has said that odds are “50-50” he will introduce a bill aimed at placing an amendment on the 2012 ballot defining marriage as that existing between a man and a woman, “adding that it will “get our whole state community discussing who would be the participants in a marriage definition. State Senator Scott Dibble (Democratic-Farmer-Labour-Minneapolis), who intends to meet with some of the attendees of the conference, said that talk of the amendment is a “mean-spirited” distraction and that “If it goes on the ballot, we will have very vigorous campaign to engage Minnesotans and talk about what families mean.”

Navy Times reports that it has obtained the statement made by former commandant of the United States Carrier Capitan Owen Honors to investigators in which he says several of his superior officers were aware of, and in some cases, encouraged the homophobic, sexist shipboard videos that got his fired him in January. The 15-page declaration is signed and dated January 12th (eight days after Admiral John Harvey, head of the Fleet Forces Command, fired Honors for showing “exceptionally poor judgement” by producing and airing the videos during 2006 and 2007 during his tour as the executive officer aboard the Enterprise. Navy Times also obtained Honors’ fitness report from that time, and both officers who commanded the carrier during Honors’ tour as XO awarded him perfect scores, and one referred to Honors as a “future flag officer.”

The New York Times reports that Jane Lynch has written a memoir, called Happy Days, which will be published in September. The book will recount her comedy career at Second City, and her work in films like Best in Show and The 40-Year Old Virgin, while addressing how she learned to embrace her homosexuality and overcame alcoholism, as well as illustrating how Jane and her Glee character – Sue Sylvester – are more alike that it seems. “Sue Sylvester didn’t come out of a vacuum,” said Lynch. “She’s someone that lives very deeply in me. I kind of liked that shaming, vengeful energy during different periods of my life. I was in therapy and I was complaining about somebody not following the rules, and my therapist basically started laughing at me and said, ‘You must write a monologue about this, because it’s hilarious stuff.’ ” The 48 year old says the book grew out a question she frequently entertains: what would she go back and go tell her 18 year old self? Says Lynch ““There’s just so much I think I could encapsulate in one phrase: don’t suffer. You’re going to be unsure, you’re not going to have confidence, you’re going to feel like the parade is passing you by. And you can feel all of that, but the mental component of suffering doesn’t have to be there. And if I could go back in time, that’s what I would love to tell myself. You don’t have to sweat it.”

Ryan Phillippe, looking very rough trade, spotted Saturday in a rainy Los Angeles getting take-out from Mel’s Diner.

Sunday, an equally rough trade-looking Tom Hardy seen arriving at Los Angeles International Airport, donning a Batman tee shirt.

Also Sunday, a nearly naked Justin Timberlake spotted swimming off the shores of Malibu for his new film Now.