French President Sarkozy Says He Is Kicking Out Legislator For Anti-Gay Remarks, Police Allege Hate Crime In Tasmania, ACLU Files Pleading In Court Asking Language On Voter Initiative Challenging Same Sex Marriage Measure In Washington State Be Rewritten To Reflect New Definition Of Marriage, Brett Ratner To Work On Gay Rights PSA’s With GLAAD, Kellan Lutz, Austin Nichols

President Nicolas Sarkozy's party said Wednesday it is kicking out a legislator who said gay people hold too much sway in France and downplayed the persecution of gays during World War II. The comments by lawmaker Christian Vanneste unleashed an outpouring of criticism from left and right, and embarrassed Sarkozy's conservative party just as the unpopular president was expected to announce that he will seek a second term in upcoming elections. Vanneste looks set to lose his spot in the UMP party and his parliament seat over the remarks. According to The Associated Press, in a video broadcast on a French website, Vanneste said gays are "at the heart of power" in France, manipulating the media and making humankind "lose its dignity." He said the media overplays "the famous legend of the deportation of homosexuals" from Nazi-occupied France, saying German gays were sent to concentration camps, but "there was no homosexual deportation in France." Gay rights groups denounced him and UMP members said he had crossed a line. Vanneste, responding Wednesday to the uproar, said he was being unfairly targeted by a "gay lobby." UMP chief Jean-Francois Cope said Wednesday that Vanneste would be expelled because of his "deeply shocking and intolerable comments." The party will finalize the decision at a meeting next week, Cope said. Vanneste could no longer be the UMP's candidate for parliament from his district in northern France in legislative elections in June. Vanneste has made remarks seen as disparaging to gays in the past, but touched a particularly sensitive chord by referring to World War II. It was 1995 before France's then-President Jacques Chirac acknowledged the nation's responsibility for the deportation of Jews during the war. Denying the Holocaust is a crime punishable by prison and fines in France, and some critics accused Vanneste of negationism. Nazi Germany declared homosexuality an aberration that threatened the German race, and thousands of gay men were sent to concentration camps, where few survived. In France the numbers were much lower, according to the author of a book on deportation of French homosexuals. Mickael Bertrand says on his blog that exact figures are hard to pin down, but that his research found 62 French people were deported for being gay. Wednesday's uproar puts Sarkozy's party in a tough spot as he seeks to garner support from the far right to bolster his weak chances for his presidential campaign. Polls put Sarkozy in a distant second behind Socialist candidate Francois Hollande ahead of the April and May elections, with far right candidate Marine Le Pen in a close third. Sarkozy opposes same sex marriage, though recent polls suggest a majority of French voters support it. Vanneste is part of the influential hard-right wing of Sarkozy's party. "He is speaking of homosexuals like they spoke of Jews in the 1930s, speaking of a kind of lobby that infiltrates the media ... that has no place in the UMP, those are not our values," Emmanuel Blanc, the president of GayLib, a gay rights group affiliated with the UMP, said on France-Info radio.

In Tasmania, an Ulverstone man has faced court in Burnie over an assault police allege was motivated by the victim's homosexuality. ABC News reports that 23-year-old Corey James Rowell has pleaded guilty to assaulting 23-year-old Daniel Stanley in West Ulverstone in June, 2011. The prosecutor, Andrew Morgan, told the court Rowell and a friend chased Mr Stanley on foot and later in a car. Morgan said Rowell punched Mr Stanley repeatedly to the face and said: "You're going to cop it for being a poofter." Rowell denies that allegation. The defence lawyer, Stephen Wright, said Rowell was provoked by Mr Stanley spitting on him. Stanley suffered a fractured arm and bruising, and cuts to his face. Rowell will face court again next month.

With the governor's signature Monday, same sex marriage became legal in Washington state — even if couples cannot yet marry here. As a result, the ACLU of Washington and another rights group, Legal Voice, want the language in an initiative filed last month by an attorney and gay marriage opponent to be rewritten to reflect this new state of marriage. Attorney Stephen Pidgeon, a candidate for state attorney general, filed the initiative, I-1192, which seeks to reaffirm the state's marriage statute which defined marriage as between a male and a female. Pidgeon wants the wording changed to what he considers more explicit language — that marriage is between one man and one woman. Legislation the governor signed this week did away with that restriction, allowing same sex couples to marry. The Seattle Times reports that the ACLU and Legal Voice, in a pleading Wednesday in Thurston County Superior Court, are arguing that with the recent passage of same sex marriage legislation, the initiative language is now inaccurate. It fails, the organizations say, to acknowledge that marriage in Washington is no longer restricted to opposite-sex couples. The two rights groups say the initiative needs to make it clear to people when they sit down to vote in November that they are voting not to uphold the now overturned marriage law that restricts marriage to only a man and a woman but rather are voting to approve or reject the new state law that allows gays to marry. Pidgeon's explanation of what he's trying to do seems inconsistent with language in the initiative, which seeks to reaffirm the ban that existed on same sex marriage before the governor signed the new law. Pidgeon now says he's seeking to create new law. "We are asking the voters to define marriage as between one man and one woman," he said in a statement. "It is not dependent on what the Legislature has done." Adding further complications, another group of same sex marriage opponents plans to gather signatures for a referendum aimed at repealing the new law. If those opponents are successful in collecting enough signatures to get Ref. 74 before voters, the ACLU argues, the referendum and initiative together on the November ballot would confuse many voters — forcing someone who supports gay marriage to vote yes on one measure and no on the other. "Opponents of civil marriage for same-sex couples are trying to have two bites of the apple," the ACLU argues. "Their goal is one and the same: to prohibit civil marriage for same-sex couples."

Director Brett Ratner is to team up with gay rights activists to direct a series of new videos promoting tolerance, just three months after he stepped down as the producer of the 2012 Oscars for using a gay slur. Ratner’s resignation in November came four days after he told movie fans that “rehearsal’s for faggots” at a question-and-answer session to promote his then-new movie Tower Heist. The remark led to a weekend of outrage among gay rights groups and prompted the Rush Hour director to apologize for his slip-up. He also met with Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) officials to discuss how he could help them rally support for program. And now, according to The San Francisco Chronicle, it seems he will produce and direct a video campaign for GLAAD. He met with the group’s Board of Directors earlier this week and can’t wait to get started on his new campaign project. A statement from Ratner reads, “Working together with GLAAD has been a very positive and enlightening experience for me, and I could not be more pleased to be developing this crucial campaign to help educate people that we all share the same humanity. I am excited to get to work on this program and hope that minds and hearts are opened by what we create.” The upcoming video series will feature Hollywood celebrities, athletes, musicians and politicians, who will “come out of the closet” as supporters of equality. Participants will share personal stories about why and how they support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and call on all Americans to do the same.

Kellan Lutz lets loose in Las Vegas.

Austin Nichols and Sophia Bush have ended their relationship, Nichols long-rumoured to be a “friend” of Jake Gyllenhaal.