News: Volcano, Andy Cohen, Generation Gap, Neda, Apple, Bruno

Letter to Obama from People for the American Way calls for him to make major speech on LGBT equality and to move Congress to act.

International Space Station gets lucky shot of erupting volcano.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck sued.

Watch What Happens: Andy Cohen to host weekly live late night talk show.

Boy Culture's visit to Broadway Bares. The event raised over $800K.

Iranians mourn Neda: "To those who knew and loved Agha-Soltan, she was far more than an icon. She was a daughter, sister and friend, a music and travel lover, a beautiful young woman in the prime of her life. 'She was a person full of joy,' said her music teacher and close friend Hamid Panahi, who was among the mourners at her family home Sunday, awaiting word about her burial. 'She was a beam of light. I'm so sorry. I was so hopeful for this woman.'"

It's men's fashion week in Milan.

Barna Study: "People who portray gay adults as godless, hedonistic, Christian bashers are not working with the facts. A substantial majority of gays cite their faith as a central facet of their life, consider themselves to be Christian, and claim to have some type of meaningful personal commitment to Jesus Christ active in their life today." (study)

Anti-gay informercial Speechless: Silencing the Christians, which was stifled in Michigan, resurfaces in California and North Carolina.

NYT goes inside Apple: "Employees working on top-secret projects must pass through a maze of security doors, swiping their badges again and again and finally entering a numeric code to reach their offices, according to one former employee who worked in such areas. Work spaces are typically monitored by security cameras, this employee said. Some Apple workers in the most critical product-testing rooms must cover up devices with black cloaks when they are working on them, and turn on a red warning light when devices are unmasked so that everyone knows to be extra-careful, he said."

New York mag on the gay generation gap.

Austria pissed at Sacha Baron Cohen over Bruno: "So it comes as no surprise that some local media are not happy with seeing Austria become 'the new Kazakhstan', thanks to Herr Bruno. Now these 'fears have become a reality', reads an article in the tabloid newspaper Österreich."

Rapper Eve to appear on Glee in the fall.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have twins through surrogate mother.

60,000 U.S. inmates sexually abused each year: "Inmates who were short, young, gay or female were more likely to be victimized than other inmates."

Manhattan synagogue makes $10K off Westboro Baptist Church protest: "Leaders of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, a West Village synagogue that caters to gays and lesbians, didn't want to ignore a planned visit by members of the rabidly anti-gay and anti-Semitic Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church. Instead, they asked supporters to pledge a dollar or more for every minute that six protesters stood near their synagogue hurling epithets and holding signs that read "God Hates Fags" and "Jews Stole the Land." The final haul after 50 minutes: $10,000."

News: Maine, Gray Hair, Snow Leopard, Lady Gaga, Mercy, Apple

LIARS: Maine anti-gay marriage petitioners using duplicitous tactics.

Lady Gaga has a tit explosion in Toronto.

Sacha Baron Cohen plagiarized his pink nude Berlin bodysuits.

New York Bar Association stands behind marriage equality.

Provincetown film festival kicks off.

Hate crime outside Casey's Bar and Lounge in Portland under investigation: "No arrests have been made, but the case has been sent to a detective with the Biased Crimes Unit, which is examining whether the alleged victim was targeted because she was gay. Customers of the bar said they have experienced homophobic slurs from people in nearby apartments. They said some have tossed water balloons and spit at them."

T.R. Knight to star in Parade at the Mark Taper Forum.

Madonna's Mercy arrives in London.

Recently-out 86-year-old World War II vet served as grand marshal for this weekend's Gay Pride parade in Columbus, Ohio.

NYT: Why the gay rights movement has no national leader.

Apple sells more than a million iPhone 3GS in first three days.

More reason that clowns are evil.

Residents of Napa, California rally for Pride: "About 100 people walked Saturday in downtown Napa for Napa Valley Pride 2009, an event in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people."

AfterElton covers Broadway Bares 19.0.

Mulberry, Florida mayor and drag queen roommate in domestic dust-up.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon now wear matching outfits.

Is gray hair protecting us from cancer?

Gay rights group in Indiana plans July 2 protest in Bloomington against constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Canadian and U.S. researchers' new approach to fighting AIDS: "Treating HIV/AIDS with a combination of antiviral drugs and chemotherapy seems to destroy both the circulating virus and immune cells in which the virus hides, a team of Canadian and U.S. researchers has found. In Sunday's online issue of the journal Nature Medicine, Dr. Rafick-Pierre Sékaly of the University of Montreal and his colleagues report finding cells where HIV hides from existing treatments. Anti-AIDS therapies known as highly active anti-retroviral treatments, or HAART, target the virus's replication process but have been hampered by these reservoirs of immune system cells hiding the virus."

Male model fix: Jamie Dornan.

Cell phone leads police to gay man's killer. Likely an internet hook-up gone wrong: "Officials said they believe the stabbing occurred after Fermaintt visited Pecora's apartment and then hailed a cab to go to the Bronx, according to city police. But once in the cab, police said, Fermaintt explained to the driver that he did not have cash and offered a watch and a cell phone to pay for the ride. When Fermaintt left the cab, he left the phone on the backseat, where the driver later found it and saw a worried text message that was from Pecora's sister." NY1 report.

Quest for the snow leopard.

Google Street View provides some useful evidence after a weekend building collapse in Brooklyn in which three were injured.

Youth Radio to cover 40th anniversary of Stonewall.

Major spelling error at Pat Buchanan conference to promote "English-only" initiatives.

Washington Post under fire for publishing 7,000 word piece on the murder of gay D.C. lawyer Robert Wone online only and not in print edition.

Apple Flaunts its App Prowess with Pulsating App Wall

At Apple's WWDC they've apparently installed an App Wall in the lobby of San Francisco's Moscone Center built with the company's cinema display monitors, featuring a single icon for each of the existing iPhone Apps. Everytime someone purchases an App for the iPhone, its icon pulsates on the wall.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

p.s. - are any of you other current iPhone 3G owners as pissed as I am that AT&T's charging a small fortune to upgrade to 3GS?

David Hockney's iPhone Still Lifes Ready for the MOMA

David Hockney has no fear of new technology: "Hockney has had the [iPhone] for only four months, but he has already turned it into a hi-tech canvas. It even fits neatly on a miniature easel in his London studio...'I lie in bed and send illustrated art lectures to friends and also my own iPhone paintings,' said Hockney. 'I like to draw flowers by hand on the iPhone and send them out to friends so they get fresh flowers. And my flowers last!'"

A close-up of the painting on the mini-easel, AFTER THE JUMP...

In related news, a major work by Hockney is on the auction block this week at Christie's: "Leading the selection is one of the most important works to come to the auction market by Hockney, Beverly Hills Housewife, (estimate: $7-10 million), 1966-1967."

News: iPod Shuffle, Nigeria, Ronald George, Green Fashion, Hawaii

Hawaii civil union bill on hold, but perhaps not for long.

Diver defends friend from 12-foot tiger shark near New Orleans.

Yikes: It's not easy being green.

Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin are apparently finished.

Nigerian gay activists speak out about anti-gay human rights abuses, specifically a new bill outlawing same-sex marriage: "The new law would mean prison sentences for gay people who live together, and anyone who 'aids and abets' them. The plea by activists was made to a public committee of the National Assembly which is discussing the bill. It is already illegal to have gay sex in Nigeria but the new law would extend police powers to arrest suspects."

Is Evangelical Christianity on the verge of a major collapse?

Hope brighter for anti-bias bill in Delaware: "House Bill 5, sponsored by Majority Leader Peter Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations and insurance."

Narcissist: Ted Haggard attends performance of The Beautiful City, a "non-fictional docudrama musical about the modern Evangelical Christian movement and its scandalized pastor Ted Haggard."

Openly gay candidate and activist Anthony Niedwiecki wins seat on Oakland Park, Florida City Commission. You may remember Niedwiecki and his partner Waymon Hudson for their battle against Biblical bigotry at the Fort Lauderdale airport and their work to oust anti-gay Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle. The couple also cares for an HIV-positive foster son. Congrats.

Rihanna escapes the clutches of Chris Brown for a night.

Colorado bill "extending health insurance coverage to the partners of gay and lesbian state workers" advances...

Brazilian actor refuses to dub Milk: "Marco Ribeiro, a performer who supplied Mr. Penn’s voice in dubbed versions of the movies 'All the King’s Men' and '21 Grams,' is also a pastor at the Assembly of God church in Rio de Janeiro. 'I did not feel comfortable with the job,' Mr. Ribeiro said, according to Variety."

You may want to ignore the other half of this post.

First-ever New Zealand to Australia gay cruise announced.

Conflict erupts at Haifa Institute of Technology after gay couples are allowed to live in residence hall with straight couples: "...the decision enraged the institute’s rabbi, Eliyahu Rachamim Zini, who is now demanding the removal of mezozot  from the doorposts of rooms set aside for gay and lesbian couples."

Obama "fast-tracking" global warming response?

Apple intros new iPod shuffle that speaks to you, telling you what song is playing and who's performing it.

Man escapes from burning tanning bed.

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George wants more security in courts, was glad Prop 8 was televised: "Televising court hearings on major issues such as gay marriage is a "giant civics lesson," he said. 'It makes people better understand and appreciate the ultimate decision of the court in any area,' he said. 'Whether they agree with it or not, at least they don't just get the bottom line of who won and who lost. They see what goes into the process.' George said the court's decision in the Proposition 8 case could make it tougher for its justices to win retention elections because it will upset people on one side of the gay marriage issue. But he also said he doesn't worry about that sort of thing. 'You've got to hang up your robe if you have to worry about looking over your shoulder,' he added."

A Warning to iPhone 3G Users

Ever since I downloaded the recent 2.2.1 update, every single call I've had has either had major connection issues or been dropped completely. Not sure if any other people are experiencing this, but I'd advise against updating. And no, I'm not switching to a BlackBerry. I had one. Through with that.