Afternoon Headlines: Gay Gone St8, Island Justice, French Toast

A Change'll Do You Good: Wondering how gay rights leader Michael Glatze got over his "weakness" for ass? Read his firsthand account here and then check out Matt Rettenmund's thoughtful analysis of it all over it here. Apparently intestinal cramps are the first step toward recovery from gayness (huh?) and not feeling any lust for your sexual partner helps too (which shouldn't be a problem for Mr. Glatze next time he "bags a babe," I'm sure).

Island Justice? Michel Steeve “Duracell” Javois., the thug who was convicted of attacking CBS News employees Dick Jefferson and Ryan Smith with a tire wrench while they were vacationing in St. Martin last year, had his six-sentence cut in half by a the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba on Thursday. The reason? New witnesses say he's not the guy with "the pom-pom hairstyle" after all. Another blow to Jefferson, who after launching a campaign to seek justice from lax prosecutors on the island has since been fired by the Tiffany Network and is now suing them for gay-biased discrimination.

French Toast: Marion Bartoli of France, whose two-handed on both wings game is modeled after Monica Seles, shocked  Justine Henin today, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1, to reach her first Grand Slam final. She will face three-time All England queen Venus Williams, who beat French Open runner-up (and total cutie) Ana Ivanovic, 6-2, 6-4. Meanwhile, another French player, Richard Gasquet, knocked out Andy Roddick in five thrilling sets and will now face four-time defending champion Roger Federer in the semis.

Dewey Beach police broke up a melee involving about a dozen patrons at the Big Mike's Frozen Tundra nightclub in Dewey Beach, Delaware, on Tuesday. Several of those who were ejected from the business claim they were kicked out because they are gay men. One of the men who was asked to leave, Silvano Melgar, 21, of Fairfax, Va., explains" "Things were fine until we had eight or nine gay guys join us,. Then someone said, 'You guys need to leave because we don't roll that way.'" Melgar claimed a bouncer allegedly ordered him and his friends to leave. At about the same time, patrons of the bar allegedly used gay epithets to insult the men, at which time a fight broke out. Melgar claimed one of his friends was punched in the face twice and also sustained a sprained or broken finger but has not sought treatment. Melgar says that when the police arrived they backed the attackers and ordered him and his friends to leave. "The guy who punched my friend in the face was allowed to go back into the bar," Melgar said. "I completely understand that people say things they don't mean when they're drunk, but how can they make the gay people leave and let the straight people stay? I'm familiar with prejudice, but this is the first time I've experienced something like this."

Evangelically Yours: Wondering how Ted Haggard's former dealer and hooker Mike Jones is doing? Queerty has the latest.

Vote for Hate: A Miami Beach man who flies a huge banner over his front lawn denouncing gays -- but insists he's "not a homophobe" -- is now running for mayor.

Bad Cop, Bad Judge: A San Francisco police officer who was suspended for producing videos that the mayor and police chief in 2005 as sexist, homophobic and racist has had his suspension overturned in court. The Court of Appeals said that Police Chief Heather Fong had not followed legal procedure when she ordered Andrew Cohen suspended. 

Sphere: Related Content

Splendor in the Grass

Novak Djokovic of Serbia battled Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis for five hours to advance to a semifinal showdown with Rafael Nadal, below, in the fourth longest match in Wimbledon history. The 20-year-old cutie loves to take his shirt off when he wins -- and who's complaining? -- but was too tired to even do so after this epic (so I'll just post a photo of him from yesterday's win over Lleyton Hewitt instead). Roger Federer awaits the winner of Andy Roddick vs. Frenchman Richard Gasquet (who's also been known to go shirtless), which is going on now, in a tournament that's been surprisingly exciting given the state of the game. 

Sphere: Related Content

News: Gender Benders, Pepperoni Pornography, Homos in Outerspace

Dude Lady Looks Like a Lady Dude? Here's Khaduah Farmer, the lesbian who was ejected from a Greenwich Village restaurant because the bouncer thought she was a man using the women's bathroom. Confused in Kansas? Maybe. In the Village -- on Gay Pride Sunday, no less? I don't think so.

Teen Convicted: A 17-year-old man who brutally beat a transsexual, 39, after discovering during sex that she had a penis was convicted of aggravated battery in Palm Beach County Juvenile Court, but not of a hate crime, the Miami Herald reported. Names of victim and perpetrator are being withheld. A police officer told the court that the teenager beat the transsexual until his hands were sore, took a break, and then returned to the beach where he had left her to punch her some more and slam her head into a lifeguard stand.

Law Firm Confidential: From the earliest stages of Aaron Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell (Charney claims sexual orientation discrimination and retaliation led to his termination from his former law-firm employer), "S&C has shown great concern over public exposure of its inner workings, and its firing of Charney and its countersuit against him were premised largely on the publicity campaign he waged when he filed the lawsuit, particularly his leaking of documents to The Wall Street Journal that were mentioned in an embarrassing article about morale problems at the firm. By getting Charney's agreement to and the judge's approval of the confidentiality stipulation, S&C may succeed in keeping the bloggers and the press from access to the kind of materials that it successfully labored to get removed from Charney's original complaint." (What fun is that?)

Lucky Drawers: Why is Venus Williams wearing boxerbriefs at Wimbledon?

The Italian Job: Who wants porn pizza?

Drama Queen: New York Times columnist Frank Rich discusses his new book, "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" with the gay press.

Diamond Life: A jewelry manufacturer in Queens, N.Y., may appeal to the state's highest court after a judge ordered him to testify whether he thinks gays are "repulsive" and "doomed to eternal damnation."

The Parental Life: A baby for Nicole Richie and Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden?

Breaking the Habit: Women interested in setting up a lesbian-only rest home in Wellington, New Zealand, will hold meetings in the city next month to gauge support.

When Jen met Shiloh: Are Brad and Jen secretly meeting so Jen can "meet" Shiloh? Probably not. But that doesn't stop Star magazine from writing a frontpage article about it. Stay tuned for a Photoshopped pictorial next week.

Divine Intervention: John Travolta wants gay rights activists to know that they needn't boycott "Hairspray" because "there's nothing gay in it." He does know he's in it though, right?

Neverland East: Is Michael Jackson looking for a home on the Chesapeake Bay?

!Escandalo! Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo placed newscaster Mirthala Salinas on paid leave Thursday while it carries out an investigation into whether she breached journalistic ethics by having a relationship with someone she covered: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The BJ That Keeps Giving: Hugh Grant put Divine Brown's kids through college.

Science Fiction: The "Star Trek" episode that dares to go where no other "Star Trek" episode has gone before.

RIP: The last living original member of the Drifters, Bill Pinkney, died Wednesday at 81. May he rest in peace knowing that he and his bandmates' legacy -- classic songs like "Save the Last Dance for Me," "Under the Boardwalk" and "Up On the Roof" -- lives on forever.

Sphere: Related Content

Xanadu: On Broadway (Seriously)

Went to see "Xanadu" last night on Broadway, at the invitation of one of its producers. I don't go to a lot of theater and I'm especially not a fan of musicals per se (so this is not a review), but I have to tell you that I had the funnest time (as did my bf, Michael.) I'm as white with rage as the next guy about film, television and Broadway having no new ideas, but the reason this one works is because it's a Broadway show of a horrible movie that needed improvement -- or at least to not take itself so seriously. (Look at the show's tagline -- they're not taking this seriously.) I couldn't tell you what the 1980 film was "about," but the play "tells the story of one of the nine muses of ancient Greece who comes to earth to inspire the greatest of artistic achievements -- a roller disco. Along the way she falls in love, bumps into an old acquaintance and for the first time, feels the desire to create herself."

The wonderful Kerry Butler (who played Penny Pingleton in "Hairspray") captures the spirit of Olivia Newton-John with a loving wink on the barbie (her Aussie accent had me in stitches every time she turned it up). And what do you need to know about Cheyenne Jackson -- the strapping "All Shook Up" star who stepped in for the recuperating James Carpinello? He's big, strong and very handsome -- and watching the guy prance around in denim cutoffs straight out of 1980 was hardly anything to complain about. Oh, and he can sing and act,

The show is wisely performed without an intermission (no need to drag things out or lose momentum), and features the songs "I'm Alive," "Magic," "Evil Woman," "Suddenly," "Whenever You're Away From Me," "Dancin'," "Strange Music," "All Over the World," "Don't Walk Away," "Fool," "The Fall," "Suspended in Time," "Have You Never Been Mellow?" and "Xanadu." Truth be told, "Xanadu" is arguably one of the best movie soundtracks to come from a horrendous film, so there's no shortage of fantastic songs here. If there hadn't been so many great singles on this album (four of the 10 songs were Top 20 hits), "Suspended in Time" for ONJ and "Don't Walk Away" for ELO could have been a huge hits too. (These two really jump out at the show.)

"Xanadu" is still in previews and will officially open July 10. The limited audience -- the evil muse in the play summed it up brilliantly when she described the action onstage as "children's theater for 40-year-old gay men" -- has me thinking this one won't be around long. And even though the Helen Hayes Theatre (where Merv Griffin used to tape) is small and intimate, this camp-fest of a show still clearly belongs way off Broadway (they certainly didn't spend much on those sets!).

So, again, this is not a review. But if you're a 40-year-old gay man who's looking for a fun night out, go see "Xanadu" -- and go quickly. (Seriously)

P.S. And in one of those "only in New York" moments, my old downstairs neighbor Marty Thomas came flying out on skates during the last few minutes in a role described as "a Featured Skater." (Who knew?)

Sphere: Related Content

Women on the Verge

WE tv stopped showing "Dharma & Greg" reruns the other night long enough to air "Cruel & Unusual," the groundbreaking and award-winning documentary that chronicles the lives of five transgender women incarcerated in men's prisons across the United States. A moving and frequently horrifying piece of work, the film not only raises awareness about the abuse, isolation and poor medical care faced by transgender prisoners, it puts a face on the problem. (All of the women have been on hormones for many years but are pre-operative. As one official put it, the prison into which a person is placed is based on genitals, not gender identity.)

Orphelia De'Lonta was given a 67-year sentence for a bank robbery she commited at 17 (with an unloaded gun) and has endured years of abuse in prison, yet she always has a warm smile on her face and the disposition of a Southern belle. Orphelia sued the commonwealth of Virginia for not allowing her to continue taking hormones and other treatment for her gender identity disorder while in prison.

Ashley (pictured right) calls herself "a good girl gone bad" who got caught up in making a quick buck (forgery and credit card fraud got her 25 years in Arkansas, with a chance at parole after four years). Ashley tells about what happened to her when the rumor spread around the prison that she had a vagina. Rather than getting her protection, the warden called her into his office and made her strip and put on a display for him. That was just the beginning of her problems.

Anna Connelly was abused for years in a Florida minimum security prison and then was threatened with her life when she finally reported it. We see Anna post-prison as she tries to reconnect with her son, to whom she was very close prior to her incarceration. (Linda Thompson and Yolanda Valentin, pictured below, are also profiled.)

I believe WE was slated to only air this once, so if you missed it be sure to check it out on DVD. Decide for yourself if putting omeone who considers herself to be a woman into a men's prison is indeed cruel and unusual punishment.

Sphere: Related Content

Making Friends With Josh Duhamel

 

Josh Duhamel says he went through rigorous training for his new blockbuster movie, "Transformers." (From the looks of things the training paid off nicely.) Since some real Rangers and SEALs appear in the film as part of Duhamel's unit, Josh says they became fast friends. "I still hang out with those guys quite a bit. They all actually went with me to the MTV Movie Awards. I still talk with all of them. Two of them are on my list for the premiere. They’re just fun dudes. First of all, they don’t take anything too serious because they’ve seen so much."

Lots more of Josh over here.

Sphere: Related Content