Group Lobbies for Traditional 'Winner's Kiss' in Giro d'Italia European Bike Race to be Given by Gay Men

A tradition in the Giro d'Italia European bike race is to have the winner kissed on both cheeks by two women. Members of Amsterdam's Green Left Party are lobbying for the kiss to be given by two gay men on the Amsterdam leg of the race, the AP reports:

"The idea is winning support in this notably tolerant city, which annually hosts one of the world's most elaborate gay pride parades. But Albert van der Meulen, whose television station is arranging the ceremony, said he'd rather have women on the podium. 'I don't even think the race participants want to be kissed by men,' van der Meulen said. The station has arranged a beauty contest March 5 to select two people to present the flowers to the winner of the Amsterdam leg. Most entrants are young women, but van der Meulen confirmed three are gay men. The municipality of Amsterdam says it will support whoever wins."

A city spokesman and gay groups are supporting the suggestion. The bike race begins May 8.

HIV Travel Ban Lifted; First Traveler to Arrive at JFK Today

As of today, the nation's decades-old HIV Travel and Immigration Ban is no more. Immigration Equality's Steve Ralls reports in the Huffington Post that an HIV-positive gay man arriving today from The Netherlands will be the first to freely and safely enter the U.S.:

"The arrival of Clemens Ruland and Hugo Bausch will also signal the end of a shameful and discriminatory policy that has exacted a heavy price on our country's reputation in the scientific community and kept countless individuals - both straight and gay - separated from their loved ones."

On Top reports: "Ruland, 45, works with young people in the criminal system. He was infected in New York by an ex-lover and diagnosed HIV-positive in 1997. Anti Retroviral Therapy has kept his virus load undetectable. He returned to visit the U.S. once in 2005, but said he feared being detained. Bausch, 50, an illustrator, is HIV-negative. The Dutch AIDS service organization SOAAIDS is behind the visit. Ruland entered a poem into the group's essay contest to win the couple's passage to New York City."

Said Obama on signing the order to lift the ban in October: "Twenty-two years ago, in a decision rooted in fear rather than fact, the United States instituted a travel ban on entry into the country for people living with HIV/AIDS.  Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease -- yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat.  We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic -- yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country. If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it.  And that's why, on Monday my administration will publish a final rule that eliminates the travel ban effective just after the New Year.  Congress and President Bush began this process last year, and they ought to be commended for it.  We are finishing the job.  It's a step that will encourage people to get tested and get treatment, it's a step that will keep families together, and it's a step that will save lives. "

Previously...
Watch: Obama Signs Ryan White Act, Lifts 'Fear'-Based Ban on Travel and Immigration for People with HIV [tr]

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #548

ANNE FRANK: The only known film footage.

AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY: Remember them? Rachel Maddow hammers them out.

GLENN BECK: The "violent far left" is now turning on Obama.

JOY BEHAR: Meghan McCain, Susan Molinari, and Ari Melber discuss political discourse today.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

Mayor of Amsterdam Weds Gay NY - Dutch Couples in Boat on Canal

Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen married several couples including five gay couples, each with a partner from Amsterdam and New York, on a boat in a canal during the city's Gay Pride festival on Saturday.

Reuters reports: "Tens of thousands of spectators cheered as Mayor Job Cohen performed the ceremony on a cruise around the city's canals to celebrate the high point of the city's gay pride festival. Eight years ago Cohen presided over the first legal Dutch gay marriage. All five couples had at least one partner from New York, where a battle over the legalization of gay marriage rages on. 'For me it's a message to New York, the most liberal state, the most hip state, to get with it,' said Ira Siff, an opera professional from New York who was about to marry his partner, opera singer Hans Heijnis. The New York-Amsterdam connection is much in the news this year, with the cities celebrating a 400-year relationship in 2009. Cohen called the couples a 'figurehead' for that bond. 'Your transatlantic love is proof of the lasting connection between old and new Amsterdam,' Cohen said in the service."

This year's Canal Parade attracted a record 560,000 spectators.

Watch a video of Cohen marrying Jorge Vazquez (right) of the U.S.and his dutch partner dutch Stanley Doorn (above), AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Home Depot, Michael Jackson, Guam, X-Men Kiss

Man jailed for explosives hate crime at Copenhagen World Outgames.

Rolling Stone covers the final days of Michael Jackson.

Joe Jackson says Omer Bhatti is MJ's son. Katherine Jackson gets custody of Paris and Prince.

Fort Worth, Texas diversity task force holds meeting one month after raid.

Transgender student in Guam turned away from Prom. School officials refuse to apologize or draft transgender policy: "Back in May, the George Washington High School senior told KUAM News he was turned away from the prom because he was wearing a dress. At the time, he said he felt discriminated against by school officials.  'I said, 'Where does it state in this rule in this paper that there's no cross-dressing, no individualism and no opposite genders?  It doesn't say anything.'  So I have a case right here. And that's wrong,' he stated."

Everyone's gay in Amsterdam: City launches micro travel site.

Boston cop calls Henry Louis Gates "jungle monkey" in email to journalist.

X-Men: Marvel Comics' first gay kiss.

L.A. sperm bank offers celebrity look-alike donors: "'The number one client question we get is: `Who does this donor look like?'' said Scott Brown of California Cryobank. 'We decided this would be a great way to give thorough and consistent answers. Clients love it. Look-a-Likes has only been available for a week and our Web site traffic is up 50 percent.'" 

Chicago Mayor Daley open to set-asides for gay-owned businesses: "I think it's good. It helps businesses grow in the city, and that's what you want."

Photographer Annie Leibowitz's financial problems get worse.

New York City Councilman Bill de Blasio wants health department to create division for LGBT youth: "The division would address suicide, depression, violence and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among gay, lesbian and transgender people up to age 24."

Actor Jonathan Bennett provides some eye candy in L.A.

Wingnuts: Home Depot making kids gay by hosting crafts workshops for them.

Head of Portland Mayor Sam Adams recall effort speaks to City Council.

Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg duke it out.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention receives $45,000 grant from the Johnson Family Foundation "to develop a project aimed at reducing suicidal behavior and suicide risk in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations. The goal of the new Knowledge to Practice Initiative -- which will coincide with AFSP’s ongoing LGBT efforts -- is to lay the foundation for a national LGBT suicide prevention effort by establishing partnerships with leading national and state organizations."

News: Amsterdam, Oraine Barrett, DNC, Ants, Gay Apartheid

Mixner: U.S. in state of Gay Apartheid.

Signorile: Did the DNC LGBT fundraiser really bring in a million dollars?

New York local mag HX sold. Matthew Bank: "We've had an incredible time creating what we feel is the best local gay magazine the world has ever seen, and I am proud that even in this difficult economy we were able to ensure that this magazine that is dear to the hearts of so many readers will be able to continue under capable new ownership."

Paula Abdul and Cindy McCain pill panic?

Propofol, drug used for surgical anesthesia, found in Michael Jackson home. Entertainment Weekly publishes four tribute covers.

Canadian HIV vaccine ready for human trials.

Human Rights Campaign volunteer assaulted at Omaha Gay Pride after tossing stickers into Bible-beaters wagon.

Farrah Fawcett laid to rest.

White House won't appeal $500K ruling in favor of transgender employee of the Library of Congress in discrimination case.

God Says No: James Hannaham, author of new novel about religious repression, life in the closet, and sex in the bathroom, is interviewed by Salon.

Single colony of ants a new world superpower!

Thomas Norman, veteran district attorney who prosecuted Harvey Milk - George Moscone murder case which resulted in a lenient verdict against Supervisor Dan White and the subsequent White Night riots, dies.

Victory Fund endorses 15 new candidates.

The Hitler stealth planes that could have dropped a bomb on NYC: "The 142-foot wingspan bomber was submitted for approval in 1944, and it would have been able to fly from Berlin to NYC and back without refueling, thanks to the same blended wing design and six BMW 003A or eight Junker Jumo 004B turbojets. As the documentary shows, had the Nazis extended the war in 1946 and developed the atomic bomb as planned, the Ho 18 could have been their Enola Gay."

Vibe magazine to close immediately.

Ghosts: Stephen King remembers Michael Jackson. Public viewing scheduled at Neverland.

Oraine Barrett does Brazil's DOM magazine.

Muslim mayor in conservative Amsterdam suburb flies flag for gays: "Ahmed Marcouch, 41, is on a self-appointed mission to end homophobia in Slotervaart, just a stones' throw from the capital but light-years away from its anything-goes mentality. To make his point, Mayor Marcouch recently invited Amsterdam's annual Gay Pride parade to pass through his constituency when it takes place in August. 'It is necessary to confront this issue, to say that homosexuals are normal people like all of us and that we require them to be respected,' Marcouch told AFP."

New Project Runway is 100% heterosexual safe.

Cristiano Ronaldo attacks "fan" over video camera: "Ronaldo reportedly kicked in the window of a car the girl was sat in, sending shards of glass all over her. The teenager was treated for cuts on her arm in hospital and later reported the attack to police, it was claimed...The teenager is said to have told police she was videoing Ronaldo because she was a fan. However, some reports said she was with a freelance paparazzi photographer who had allegedly been following the star."