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VIDEO, TRANSCRIPT, ORDER: Obama protects LGBT workers.
MUST-WATCH: Michael Sam's emotional speech at the ESPY Awards.
100 PHOTOS: Hairy, sexy men hit Provincetown for Bear Week.
VIDEO: Apocalyptic hail storm caught on camera.
AUSSIE OLYMPIAN IAN THORPE: I'm gay!
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Mysterious white flags appear atop the Brooklyn Bridge; police investigate.
Argentinian LGBT rights group leader Esteban Paulón marries his partner.
VIDEO: 105-year-old woman delivers first pitch at San Diego Padres game, does better than 50 Cent.
Italian Catholic school fires teacher for failing to deny being gay. “Maybe I’m a lesbian, maybe I’m not. But asking me about my sexual orientation as a condition for renewing my contract is unacceptable.”
Chris Colfer is now a NYT best-selling author.
Anaconda on the loose at New Jersey lake: "Gerald Andrejcak told NJ.com that he originally reported the fugitive snake — which has terrorized the community around Lake Hopatcong for most of the summer — as a boa constrictor, but only because he was following orders."
Murray State University designates gender neutral bathrooms: "Last September, the Student Government Association passed a resolution for LGBT equality that called for gender neutral bathrooms and other policy changes. The university updated its policy regarding preferred first-name choices and promotion of diversity and tuition waivers for spouses and partners of university employees shortly after the resolution passed."
Kanye West announces new single "All Day".
Marry me, Rafa.
New NYC health commissioner in charge of the Bureau of H.I.V./AIDS Prevention Demetre Daskalakis to start in September: "At the height of a meningitis outbreak last year among gay and bisexual men in New York City, Demetre Daskalakis, a wiry AIDS doctor and gay health activist, spent late nights and early mornings in the city’s sex clubs and bathhouses. There, he would strip off his leather jacket and, in his muscle T-shirt, talk the men around him into letting him inject them with meningitis vaccines."
San Diego's transgender community celebrates its first Trans Pride in Balboa Park.
Denmark gets first overseas adoption by a gay couple: "Danish couple Rasmus Holm and Thomas Møller Lassen have adopted a nine-month-old South African girl, making them the first same-sex couple in Denmark to legally adopt a child from another country."
Zac Efron spotted leaving Michelle Rodriguez's home...with an overnight bag.
Trans activist and author Janet Mock named contributing editor of Marie Claire magazine.
Matt Bomer and his infinite beauty were honored at the Giffoni Film Festival.
The View's Jenny McCarthy theorizes that Hillary Clinton may be a lesbian.
Han Nefkens: Remembering my friends Joep Lange and Jacqueline van Tongeren, lost on MH17.
Scientists identify world's most harmful animal product: beef. "Beef production uses the most water, land, and nitrogen fertilizer while producing more greenhouse gas when compared to pork, poultry or eggs in a per-calorie comparison. Even dairy was found to be less resource-inefficient when compared with beef."
Posted Jul. 22,2014 at 3:30 PM EST by Andy Towle | Permalink | Comments (1)
In a rather stunning turn of events, CBS has announced that 'Two And a Half Men' stars Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer will get married in the show's final season. Why? So that they can adopt a child together.
According to a piece from The Hollywood Reporter, Kutcher's character, Walden, will have a health scare at the beginning of the season leading to a search for meaning and resulting in a desire to have a child of his own. The problem? It is difficult to adopt as a single, heterosexual man. The solution? To marry the man who already essentially serves as his life partner, Cryer's Alan, and adopt a child together.
CBS Entertainment chairman Nina Tassler reportedly loves the idea:
She called the story a "great ride," and said that she views the storyline as a "very positive statement" about the wave of gay rights that are becoming more commonplace across the country and that she's not worried about any sort of blowback from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
"I think it's a very positive statement that, you know what, I am going to adopt a child as [part of] a gay couple and the reality is, he can do that," she told THR. "And in a universe where at one point you couldn't do that and now you can do that, I think that's a much more positive statement that he's making."
Show creator Chuck Lorre recognized the possibility for offense but said he hopes viewers will not take the show too seriously.
"I hope there's [no backlash]," Lorre told E! News at the CBS TCA party on Thursday. "The show has always caused controversy. We have. There's no intention to insult or diminish anyone. The intention is to create laughter. That's it. Great laughter and if it's got a heartbeat in there that would be nice, too."
GLAAD stated that they hope the show will address the fact that in many states it is still impossible for same-sex couples to adopt children, but they have otherwise remained silent.
What do you think about the heterosexual-same-sex-marriage plot? Offensive or inspired?
Posted Jul. 22,2014 at 3:05 PM EST by Joseph Ehrman-Dupre in Ashton Kutcher, Film and TV, Gay Media, Gay Pride, News | Permalink | Comments (26)
EDM producer Diplo turns in a remix of Lorde's tennis court named for furry tennis legend Andre Agassi.
Find out if it's in your court, AFTER THE JUMP...
Continue reading "Diplo Serves Up a Remix of Lorde's 'Tennis Court': LISTEN"
Posted Jul. 22,2014 at 2:40 PM EST by Andy Towle in Diplo, Lorde, Music, News | Permalink | Comments (1)
Researchers at Temple University have successfully managed to eliminate HIV from infected human cell cultures according to a recently released study. Most current HIV treatments target the various means through which HIV integrates itself into healthy host cells in order replicate itself. The team at Temple, however, employed a form of advanced gene therapy in order to render HIV-infected cells completely HIV-free. From the team’s press release:
When deployed, a combination of a DNA-snipping enzyme called a nuclease and a targeting strand of RNA called a guide RNA (gRNA) hunt down the viral genome and excise the HIV-1 DNA. From there, the cell's gene repair machinery takes over, soldering the loose ends of the genome back together – resulting in virus-free cells.
Treatments capable of removing HIV from infected cells have long since been a goal for those within the HIV/AIDS research community. While antiretrovirals are able to suppress the viral loads in HIV positive people, interruptions in treatment give the virus the chance to proliferate, sometimes with dangerous consequences such as cardiomyopathy, kidney disease, and neurocognitive disorders.
"These problems are often exacerbated by the toxic drugs that must be taken to control the virus," explained Dr. Kamel Khalili. "Since HIV-1 is never cleared by the immune system, removal of the virus is required in order to cure the disease."
This development comes just days after a report published at the 20th International AIDS Conference announced that HIV infection rates in general have dropped here in the U.S. The one population observed to have experienced a rise in infection rates were gay and bisexual men.
Controlled tests with the gene therapy method have proven to be successful, but Khalili says that his team still faces a number of significant challenges before the treatment is ready for patient trials. In order to be completely effective the molecular agents responsible for disabling HIV’s replication process would have to be delivered to every cell in an infected individual’s body. Moreover, the strain of HIV that the treatment has proved effective against, HIV-1, is prone to mutation, further complicating the therapy’s effectiveness outside of controlled environments.
"We are working on a number of strategies so we can take the construct into preclinical studies," Khalili said. "We want to eradicate every single copy of HIV-1 from the patient. That will cure AIDS. I think this technology is the way we can do it."
Watch Temple University's video announcing the research breakthrough AFTER THE JUMP...
Continue reading "Researchers Eliminate HIV Virus In Human Cells"
Posted Jul. 22,2014 at 2:15 PM EST by Charles Pulliam-Moore in AIDS/HIV, Health | Permalink | Comments (5)
In 1975, David Kopay became the first NFL player, current or former, to come out publicly in the Washington Star. It was a stunning moment for sports, and he later revealed even more--including a one night stand with former Redskin player Jerry Smith--in his memoir, The David Kopay Story. Now, nearly forty years later, Kopay is one of many who are welcoming Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL, with open (but concerned) arms.
The Hollywood Reporter recently wrote about Kopay's experience:
"I was desperate," he says. "I was totally, 'What am I going to do with my life? Can I make a difference?' " He'd hoped his tale...would encourage other pro athletes to come out. But years turned to decades and few had followed suit. Meeting Sam, the gifted defensive end who shattered the last civil rights hurdle in pro sports when he kissed his boyfriend after being drafted by the St. Louis Rams in May, came as more than just a passing thrill. It was the culmination of a life's work.
One need only consider current attitudes toward gays in sports -- when a celebratory kiss between men can result in an uproar -- to grasp just how shocking Kopay's admission was for the 1970s. And yet somehow his remarkable story has faded over the years. According to columnist Will Leitch, founding editor of Deadspin, that largely is due to Kopay being eons ahead of his time. "I think it was honestly too early," says Leitch. "It was 1975. In four years, Al Pacino would be making Cruising. People were not ready for an NFL player being gay at all."
And neither were Kopay's family and friends. Married at the time, he got divorced and was excommunicated by his Catholic mother; she left him with the kind parting words, "I created you and I can kill you." Kopay moved to San Francisco, rubbing shoulders with Harvey Milk and living with Armistead Maupin, then to Los Angeles where he has lived since.
Kopay swims laps daily at nearby Occidental College, regularly hits the Rose Bowl flea market and enjoys attending NFL alumni games and serving as honorary ambassador to the Gay Games. He lives alone, his garage lined with memory boards filled with photos of debauched days spent in New Orleans. Whenever he speaks of past loves, they are invariably of the unrequited kind.
It is understandable then that Sam's decision to kiss his boyfriend after receiving his draft call would dredge up proud but conflicted emotions for Kopay.
"I was a bit unnerved," Kopay admits of watching Sam plant a passionate smooch on boyfriend Vito Cammisano, the pair later smearing cake on each other's faces. "I'm old school, you know? Certainly I felt he had a right to kiss his boyfriend and I was really glad he did. But I was not so happy with the cake in the face. It was a little bit over the top. I just worried about him like, 'Oh, what's the fuss that this is going to cause?'"
Hopefully relatively little, and Kopay seems to admit that he is of a different era. He also took the first, and perhaps bravest step of all.
"I think it was the first brick removed from the wall of homophobia," says Cyd Zeigler, the co-founder of Outsports.com. "When Kopay came out, the gay community was just beginning to find its identity. For a portion that didn't associate with the stereotypical gay identity, Dave's honesty was life-changing. I'm sure it saved lives."
Check out an interview with Kopay, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted Jul. 22,2014 at 1:50 PM EST by Joseph Ehrman-Dupre in Football, Football (American), Gay Media, Gay Pride, Gay Stories, Michael Sam, News | Permalink | Comments (10)
Adam Lambert gave Jake Shears something he was craving.
Writes Shears on Instagram: "Finally got stuffed by @adamlambert".
Finger lickin' good.
Posted Jul. 22,2014 at 1:25 PM EST by Andy Towle in Adam Lambert, Jake Shears, News | Permalink | Comments (6)
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