02/21/2008
News: T.R. Knight, Seal, Dame Edna, Portland, Dominic Monaghan
Barack Obama wins 'Democrats Abroad' primary 65.6% to Hillary Clinton's 32.7%. DailyKos: "That's 11 in a row for Obama (including the Virgin Islands)! There are 7 pledged delegate-equivalents to be awarded, in addition to 4 superdelegate-equivalents."
4 am Drunk driver in Portland somehow drives onto underground MAX mass transit system, drives for a mile before being stopped.
UEFA Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo 'dazzled' by laser beam at Lyon's Stade Gerland: "Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed the club has contacted European football's governing body with a view to having the matter looked at more closely in the form of television pictures from the Champions League tie. 'We reported the matter to Uefa before the game,' Ferguson said. 'We noticed it in the warm-up and [Uefa] are aware of it.'
Gay Irish poet Cathal O Searcaigh cut from curriculum over teen sex scandal: "Education Minister Mary Hanafin said yesterday that there were "difficulties" with the inclusion of his poems on the exam curriculum. She said the issue will be examined by the body which decides which poems should be on the curriculum, the National Council on Curriculum Development. Mr O Searcaigh is the subject of a controversial documentary 'Fairytale in Kathmandu', in which the gay writer admits having sex with some of the male teenagers being financially supported by him in Nepal. Yesterday he announced he is to distance himself from any future distribution of charitable funds in Nepal."
If that's T.R. Knights 'dick in a box', I'm impressed!
More on State Representative Jason Bartlett, who came out of the closet and is now the first openly gay African American state legislator: "It does feel kind of weird to be the first African American state legislator in the United States to come out but it is what it is. It's all about being comfortable with yourself. I mean, certainly, I am not the first gay African American legislator but I am the first to come out and say I am gay."
Actress Emily Perry, who played Dame Edna Everage's 'bridesmaid' Madge Allsop for many years, has died at the age of 100: "Perry appeared on Dame Edna's ITV star-studded shows and travelled the world as part of comic Barry Humphries' stage spectaculars. Humphries told the BBC: 'It is a great loss to me, she was a close friend.' The actress appeared in the Dame Edna Experience, a comedy chat show which attracted a whole host of UK and Hollywood names, from 1987 to 1989. As New Zealander Madge Allsop she never uttered a word, and her main function was to affix badges to star guests - and bear the brunt of Dame Edna's savage comments."
San Francisco holds vigil for slain gay junior high student Lawrence King.
Heidi Klum and Seal get catty.
AfterElton talks to gay Survivor: Micronesia contestant Chet Welch, who also happens to be the most successful Miss America pageant coach: "I've always been open in my area. I've always been even though I grew up in a rural farming area of Pennsylvania. Truthfully, I've never had an issue in my life about being gay. If people had an issue, I wasn't really aware of it, or if they did, I figured that was their problem not mine. I do hope in some way I'm able to encourage other people that way, as well as I was hoping to show people that might have homophobia or issues with it in some way that it's not what it's sometimes portrayed to be."
Dominic Monaghan joins Hugh Jackman in X-Men: Wolverine as 'Beak'.
Survey of 100 gay porn actors finds lack of education and information about on-set HIV risk: "Almost 30% of gay adult industry performers in the survey were either HIV positive or didn't know their status. While most were comfortable working with HIV positive performers, many were concerned about the lack of discussion surrounding HIV and STDs on set . Over 80% of performers strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that condom-using studios provided adequate safety measures to protect them from HIV, but little more than half of the respondents felt that the they were being protected adequately from non-HIV risks like hepatitis, HPV or syphilis."
Posted 12:47 PM EST by Andy in Barack Obama, Cristiano Ronaldo, Democratic Party, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, Ireland, Jason Bartlett, Lawrence King, News, Portland, Reality TV, San Francisco, T.R. Knight | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
O'Searcaigh ain't cut quite yet. They're still reviewing the situation. But he probably will.
Oh, and maybe you mentioned it but Ryan Reynolds has also joined the Wolverine cast.
Posted by: EireKev | Feb 21, 2008 1:01:37 PM
Any coincidence that Andy placed he T.R. Knight article next to the Aussie Bum ad?
Posted by: CLIFF | Feb 21, 2008 1:38:20 PM
Cathal O Searcaigh is ethically and morally challenged; he's also pretty frickin' evil since he admits to his guilt. In the U.S. it's illegal to travel overseas to have sex w/ children. I wonder if Ireland or the E.U. have such laws because this dirt-bag needs to spend time in jail.
What the hell, adults have no business having sex with teenager, especially ones who are impoverished and financially dependent on their abusers.
____
Posted by: noah | Feb 21, 2008 1:51:43 PM
The HIV-In-The-Porn-Industry article is pretty laughable, in my opinion. I know and have dated, several mainstream porn stars whose names (or least faces and cocks) you'd recognize from condom-only companies like Falcon, Hot House, Raging Stallion and Jet-Set. Every one of these guys was HIV positive and every one of them practiced bareback sex off the set.
In fact, one of these guys, an actor who became a director/producer, would occasionally ask me to help him shoot still shots of scenes he was filming. On one of these shoots he was filming a couple. They wanted to go bareback even though the scene had to be shot using condoms. On the advice of my friend (the director), the top rolled the condom onto his cock, then cut half of the condom off, leaving the tell-tale 'ring' at the base of his cock with a bit more extending toward the head of his cock before his cock became bare. It gave the illusion they were using a condom when, for all intents and purposes, they were fucking bareback. My friend said at the time that it was a not uncommon way to get around the condom rules on set if the actors wanted to fuck bareback.
Posted by: peterparker | Feb 21, 2008 2:01:02 PM
aw! those catty pictures are so cute. The more I see of Heidi Klum, the more I like her.
Posted by: oakling | Feb 21, 2008 3:56:51 PM
In regards to PeterParkers post, I suppose what is most alarming about all this is the fact that HIV transmission is a reality, even over 20 years since the "big scare" of the 80's. As a young gay man, I use a condom not because I dislike bare-backing (been there, done that), but rather because I dislike that anxiety attack the next morning when I realize I very well could be dying. Sure we've come a long way from AZT and "dead in six months," but living with HIV or AIDS is no more fun than it was. It may sound insensitive, but if positive, I would really miss my cigarettes and other bad habits.
What is most alarming is that in an industry which revolves around sex, so few people take it seriously enough...
Posted by: Anon | Feb 21, 2008 5:20:39 PM
We LGBT are often proud of ourselves. I have known many LGBT at the dating site http://www.bimingle.com , where you can find many open-minded bisexual singles, like-minded bi couples, also hot bi curious too. We often find us brave when coming out to be real ourselves.
Posted by: emilywen | Feb 21, 2008 9:14:18 PM
As surveys go, the one about HIV discussion on porn sites is tragically flawed. From a social science perspective, surveys are only good if they are properly constructed. As a member of a couple of Yahoo groups, I received the URL to the survey. I logged onto the site and found that I could answer the questions. I am not a performer in the adult industry. Therefore, given that this survey was apparently sent to everyone and his brother, there is absolutely no relevance to it. The survey authors can't prove that the survey was only answered by porn actors.
Posted by: alex | Feb 22, 2008 1:32:33 AM
On the O'Searcaigh matter, the reason the Irish Minister for Education wants to have his poetry removed from the curriculum is that part of the examination involved discussion of the poet's own life. As the poet is now embroiled in this controversy, Minister Hanafin felt young people would be troubled by the issue, and that is the rationale for removing his work from the syllabus.
There is some merit in this idea, I'm not entirely sure if it is wise to think young people cannot/ should not be aware of sexual abuse. Children who are in secondary school (High School) should have some knowledge about this controversy. While in my day at school, there was no mention of homosexuality and we studied work by Oscar Wilde without mention of why he ended up in jail, there is a move in contemporary schools to afford support to LGBT teens. This 'ban' does serve to send out a contrary message... the Minister could more simply instruct examiners and teachers that this particular poet will not be on the examination this year (in light of recent news), but not ban his work.
While most people are rightly concerned as to how O'Searcaigh is a completely stupid git, as a gay man, for having any sexual relationships with minors, I am also appalled by how the publicity. Sparking debate about the risk to children from predatory gay men, serves to give support to the opponents of same-sex marriage, who argue 'normal' families for children is solely a mother and father. The right wing group, the Iona Institute, was on a television programme just this week arguing that children need protection within the sanctity of heterosexual marriage.
You may see a link on:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0219/primetime.html
Just click on the video clips about same-sex marriage.
Posted by: SeanR | Feb 22, 2008 9:57:51 AM
House Majority Leader Gordon Fox of Rhode Island self identifies as mixed-race, being the son of an Irish father and Cape Verdean mother; he came out publicly in 2004. Not to detract from Rep. Butler, but I'm just saying, he's not exactly the first.
Posted by: woneffe | Mar 2, 2008 4:04:37 PM