Two Vancouver Public School Trustees Asked To Apologize For Appearing Anti-Gay Videos Produced By The National Organization For Marriage, Tennessee’s Proposed “Don’t Say Gay” Legislation Liable For Gay Youth Suicides, Is ABC’s Working It Transphobic Or Simply A Terrible Steal Of Bosom Buddies, Plans For Honour Hans Christian Andersen Gay Week Angers Danes Who Argue Author Was Bisexual, Amber Heard On Coming Out, Darren Criss Sings Out, Jake Gyllenhaal

The head of Vancouver British Columbia’s School Board says two trustees should apologize for criticizing the board's anti-homophobia policies in videos produced by an American group opposed to same-sex marriage. The Canadian Press reports that Board chair Patti Bacchus and Councillor Tim Stevenson say two videos have recently surfaced, raising questions about the conduct of trustees Ken Denike and Sophia Woo. In one of the videos, produced by an arm of the National Organization for Marriage, Denike complains that the board's anti-bullying booklet refers to a website that's not appropriate for children and contains homosexual activities. While the board has said the booklet has been changed, Denike says parents are still complaining to him. Denike says he did the interview with a documentary producer who claimed it would be used for American news, and he's contacted a lawyer after seeing it being used as an advertisement against same-sex marriage. Stevenson says even if that is the case he still expects an apology from Denike.

The suicide of a Cheatham County high school senior should show every Tennessee legislator how devastatingly dangerous the “don’t say gay” law would be, according to an opinions piece in The Tennessean. State legislators plan to debate again, come January, the legislation that would forbid teachers and school officials in middle and elementary grades from teaching any lesson involving homosexuality. According to Gail Kerr, “The law would circumvent efforts to teach younger students that families, and people, come in a variety of ways today. Silence grows high school bullies. This unnecessary, homophobic law made national headlines last year. Now, Tennessee is in those headlines again. Only this time, it’s for a tragedy: the December 7 suicide of 18-year-old Jacob Rogers, a senior at Cheatham County Central High School. He was openly gay. Friends of Rogers said he was the target of serial bullies who called him derogatory names for being gay. He was harassed in hallways and, Rogers told friends and family, repeatedly asked school officials for help. Cheatham County High School officials responded that Rogers complained only once, the bullies were warned, and that was it. The school board does have an anti-bullying policy. But Rogers dropped out of school after Thanksgiving because of the abuse, according to his grandmother. The bullying had gone on for years, she said. Rogers’ funeral was held last weekend. More than 100 people gathered on an evening before that for a candlelight vigil in Ashland City to remember him. The Cheatham County school board has received more than 400 emails calling on it to investigate this case and make sure it doesn’t happen again. The equality project issued a set of recommendations to the school board, including requiring staff training to identify anti-gay harassment, and add age-appropriate classroom curricula about respecting people who are different. A friend of Rogers started a petition asking the school board to create a zero-tolerance policy for bullying. Students lined the sidewalks near the state Capitol last year to protest the “don’t say gay” bill, which passed the state Senate and will come back to the House in the coming session. In the name of Jacob Rogers, lawmakers need to listen to all these protesting voices. Pull the plug on a law that would provide even more power to gay-bashing bullies and tie the hands of school officials who try to stop it.”

An ABC comedy Work It doesn't even premiere until January 3 and already it is invoking ire from rights groups. The Wrap reports that the series has sparked anger from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Human Rights Campaign, who argue that the series could prove harmful to transgendered individuals. The series stars Ben Koldyke (How I Met Your Mother) and Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break) as two friends and former coworkers who, unemployed and desperate, take to cross-dressing in order to get hired by a pharmaceutical company that's looking for female sales representatives. The concept spurred an angry message from GLAAD, which argued that, while the show "does not explicitly address transgender people, many home viewers unfamiliar with the realities of being transgender will still make the connection.’Work It' invites the audience to laugh at images of men trying to adopt a feminine appearance, thereby also making it easier to mock people whose gender identity and expression are different than the one they were assigned at birth." GLAAD took particular offense to a print ad for the series, in which the two main characters stand side-by-side at a pair of urinals, while dressed as women. "Not only does it inadvertently further notions that transgender identities are humorous or artificial, but imagery like this are one of the first things anti-LGBT activists resort to when trying to deny transgender people protections against discrimination," GLAAD argues. The organization asks that the network not circulate the urinal ad, and to "consider whether airing this show is worth the damage it has the potential to do." Human Rights Campaign is going one step further, and urging the public to boycott the series. The HRC has set up a write-in campaign which urges supporters to send a message to ABC reading, "It is never appropriate to belittle or mock those who do not adhere to society's gender norms or the struggles they face ... As an ABC viewer, I urge you not to air a show that reinforces negative and damaging stereotypes about transgender people."

Proposals for a gay pride week in honour of Hans Christian Andersen, author of The Emperor’s New Clothes, are causing divisions in Denmark, where he is the most cherished national poet. Trine Bramsen, the Social Democrat MP for Funen, the poet’s birthplace, is promoting the idea as a way to lure high-spending gay couples to the island, according to The Telegraph. "There is so much palaver about Hans Christian Andersen's sexuality, and I think we should use it," she said. "It should be a week where gays from all over the world can come to the island of Funen." She said participants in the festival would be able to marry in Funen’s many historic churches, after new laws come in guaranteeing gays the right to religious church weddings. Finn Wagner, a pensioner on the island, described the proposal as 'distasteful' in comments on the website of Fyens Stiftstidende, the island’s newspaper. "This great Dane has been enjoyed by millions of children and adults worldwide," he wrote. "Denmark has not deserved this. Funen has not deserved this." Merete Riisager, Ms Bramsen's opponent in the Liberal Alliance party, attacked Mrs Bramsen for daring to "come out with such silly suggestions at this time." Vivi Jelstrup, of the Danish Gay and Lesbian association, said that while she supported the idea of a gay week, she wasn’t certain that the great writer had actually been gay. "To my knowledge, Andersen was not homosexual, but bisexual. It appears from his diaries that he alternately fell in love with men and women," she said.

The very lovely Amber Heard talks to AfterEllen.com about her choice to come out.

A bespectacled, oh-so-cute Darren Criss takes centre stage at the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York Saturday at The Sing Out, Raise Hope charity concert for The Trevor Project and The Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation.

Ahead of his 31th birthday Monday, the bushy bearded Jake Gyllenhaal visits a doctor.