Hate Crime Charges Filed Connection To Anti-Gay Attack In Oshkosh Wisconsin Christmas Day, Police Officer And Former Mr. Gay UK Mark Carter Returns To Work After Being Cleared Of Rape Charges, Zimbabwean Parliamentarian Held For Seven Days After Accusing Violently Anti-Gay President Mugabe Of Having Same Sex Relationship With Fellow Politician, Texas Governor Perry Unaware Of Landmark Supreme Court Ruling That Struck Down State Sodomy Law, Hundreds Sign Petition Demanding Wisconsin College Rescind Invitation For Homophobic Chicago Cardinal George To Speak At Commencement, Ian Thorpe Shirtless Wet Sexy Beach Outing, Robert Pattinson Bearded, Ryan Gosling Barefoot

Two Oshkosh, Wisconsin men arrested for beating up a man outside a bar on Christmas Day have been charged with a hate crime. Lyall B. Ziebell, 20, and Jake R. Immel-Rhode, 20, were charged in Winnebago County Circuit Court Wednesday with battery causing great bodily harm and burglary, both as a party to the crime. The battery charge also carried a hate crime modifier, which increased the penalties. If convicted, reports The Northwestern, each man faces 23 years, six months imprisonment and $40,000 in fines. According to the criminal complaint, Ziebell and Immel-Rhode were walking past PJ’s Bar, 1601 Oregon St., at 2:15 am on December 25, when a man asked them for a cigarette in exchange for buying them a shot of liquor. The men went into the tavern, drank a shot and then went back outside to smoke a cigarette. Ziebell told police he punched the man in the face after the man started “hitting on me,” causing the victim to fall down onto a car. Immel-Rhode then began to kick the man’s head. Ziebell told police he is "very homophobic," and that he heard Immel-Rhode calling the man a "stupid faggot" while he was kicking him in the head, according to the complaint. The man had a broken jaw and a brain injury that required emergency surgery. The man told police he was attacked, "because I'm gay," the complaint states. Ziebell also told police the men stopped at Nayarit Mexican Market, 258 W. Eighth St., on the way back to Ziebell’s home, and stole cash and pre-paid cell phones. Substitute Court Commissioner Francis Slattery ordered both men each be held at the Winnebago County Jail on $3,000 cash bonds. Ziebell and Immel-Rhode are due back in court January 5 for preliminary hearings.

In Britain, a Huddersfield police officer who was cleared of rape is back on duty, West Yorkshire Police have confirmed that some disciplinary action was taken against Pc Mark Carter but he has been allowed to keep his job. Last June the openly gay Pc was cleared of charges of raping a man and carrying out two sexual assaults. He was also charged with possessing the anabolic steroid stanozolol and had been due to face a trial but the Crown Prosecution Service discontinued that case after deciding he had the drugs for “a medicinal purpose within the terms of the Medicines Act 1968.” At that time the former Mr Gay UK title-holder remained suspended by West Yorkshire Police and was told he could face disciplinary action. According to The Examiner, a West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed yesterday that, “The internal disciplinary investigation has been concluded and dealt with by way of a disciplinary sanction. The officer has now returned to work.”

A Zimbabwean parliamentarian was held in custody for seven days after saying President Robert Mugabe had gay sex with another politician, state media reported Thursday. The state charged Lynette Karenyi, of the Movement for Democratic Change, with saying "Robert Mugabe, president of Zanu-PF, had homosexual relations" with another politician, according to The Herald newspaper. "Karenyi is alleged to have insulted President Mugabe, while addressing an MDC rally held on December 9 at Nhedziwa football grounds in Chimanimani," the paper reported. Mugabe who is known for saying that gays and lesbians are "worse than pigs and dogs" last month labelled British Prime Minister David Cameron "satanic" for saying that countries that want aid from London must accept gay rights. Both Karenyi and her party declined to comment on the matter to AFP but the newspaper said she was "denying the allegations being levelled against her." The politician was released on Thursday after paying $200 bail. The MDC and Mugabe's Zanu-PF are in an uneasy government of national unity following disputed polls in 2008. The MDC has accused the police of arresting their officials and supporters on trumped up charges to settle political scores.

Texas Governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry is unaware of a landmark Supreme Court ruling that overturned Texas sodomy laws, CBS News reports. "I wish I could tell you I knew every Supreme Court case. I don't. I'm not a lawyer," Perry said on Thursday in response to an audience question about Lawrence v. Texas, a critical 2003 Supreme Court case celebrated by gay rights advocates because it struck down sodomy laws in Texas and invalidated them in other states across the country. The case began shortly before Perry became Texas' lieutenant governor and was heard and decided by the Supreme Court after he had become governor. He clarified to a reporter after the event that he didn't know what the case was. "I'm not taking the bar exam," he said. In his book, Fed Up!, Perry slammed the decision, citing it among a handful of big cases in which "Texans have a different view of the world than do the nine oligarchs in robes."

In De Pere, Wisconsin, at least 250 have signed an online petition requesting that St. Norbert College replace Chicago's Cardinal Francis George as its May commencement speaker after he made anti-gay comments last week. George compared gay rights movements to the Ku Klux Klan during an interview with Fox Chicago. "You don't want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism," George said. The St. Norbert College communications office sent a written statement indicating the school doesn't plan to make changes.

The still not out Ian Thorpe spotted along Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia Wednesday, accompanied by two mystery men, Thorpe bearded (natch) and shirtless (thankfully) and soaking wet sans underwear.

Robert Pattinson and a big bushy beard arrive at Los Angeles International Airport.

A barefoot Ryan Gosling spotted leaving a mixed martial arts class in Los Angeles Tuesday, Gosling among several celebrities asking McDonald’s North America to switch to free-range eggs.