News: Stock Plunge, Dinosaurs, Jetpack, New Hampshire, Paul Newman

Bailout REJECTED, stocks plunge!

Project Runway saved? NBC wins first round in 'fierce' court battle.

Man jetpacks across English Channel.

October surprise: a Levi Johnston-Bristol Palin wedding?

Does Sarah Palin believe man and dinosaurs existed at the same time? "After conducting a college band and watching Palin deliver a commencement address to a small group of home-schooled students in June 1997, Wasilla resident Philip Munger said, he asked the young mayor about her religious beliefs. Palin told him that 'dinosaurs and humans walked the Earth at the same time,' Munger said. When he asked her about prehistoric fossils and tracks dating back millions of years, Palin said 'she had seen pictures of human footprints inside the tracks,' recalled Munger, who teaches music at the University of Alaska in Anchorage and has regularly criticized Palin in recent years on his liberal political blog, called Progressive Alaska."

Newsweek's Sam Harris on Palin freaknomenon: "The problem, as far as our political process is concerned, is that half the electorate revels in Palin's lack of intellectual qualifications. When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of mediocrity in this country."

At Sarah Palin's Ground Zero visit, she accepted and carried with her a book about gay celibate priest Mychal Judge, who was the first recorded death on 9/11.

365 days of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The New York Times comes out against Proposition 8. Board of Rabbis of Southern California come out against the measure. AP declares battle the War of the Rings.

Karen Ocamb: Paul Newman taught me how to clean fish.

Brand Beckham smells up New York City.

Canadian talk show host Kevin O'Keefe comes out covering series on gay parents: "I figured it's a series on gay parents, and it's for National Coming Out Day. I can't pretend I don't have a vested interest in this topic, so I felt I had to say 'I am gay'."

NYT on the current state of being gay in Hollywood: "...for most gay actors, Hollywood is not a warm and fuzzy episode of 'Will & Grace.' Today, it is certainly more acceptable to be openly gay. But these actors must still answer wrenching questions: Just how candid do you want to be? Would you be happy appearing only in comedies, or being pigeonholed as a character actor? And what does the line 'You’re just not right for the role' really mean? Jasika Nicole, 28, an F.B.I. agent on 'Fringe,' a new Fox drama, said that as bigger parts became available, her manager, John Essay, sat her down and asked how public she wanted to be about being a lesbian. Some roles could be lost, he told her, as would some fans."

New claim: Britney sex tape for sale.

The worst gay person ever performs a session with BBC2.

Utah gay rights activist Laura Milliken Gray moving out.

GOP candidate with no chance to win quits party in order to dedicate his campaign efforts to passing Proposition 8. Jeff Taylor: "Proposition 8 has always been my main core issue."

Apple to make iTunes and iPod accessible to the blind.

Barbra Streisand: Is this a democracy or a monarchy???

New Hampshire lawmakers to face gay bills upon return to session in January: "Portsmouth Democrat Jim Splaine, who sponsored the state’s winning civil unions law, is now backing a bill to legalize gay marriage. He says winning enough votes will be tough but he thinks the conversation needs to start. Meanwhile, Deputy Republican Leader David Hess is sponsoring a proposed repeal of part of the civil unions law. He wants to strike out the language that recognizes another state’s same sex marriage as a civil union in New Hampshire."

Former Real World cast member Dan Renzi interviews former Project Runway contestand Jack Mackenroth.

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McCain Sings Streisand: A Must for all Log Cabin Republicans

Seriously. As a follow-up to my previous post.

Says McCain: "I've been in politics for over 20 years, and for over 20 years I've had Barbra Streisand trying to do my job. So I've decided to try my hand at her job...A portion of all sales will be used to damage Alaskan Wildlife Preserves."

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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News: Alan Cumming, Taxis, Esquire, Booker Prize, Sarah Palin

While Palin was mayor, Wasilla billed victims for their rape kits.

Taxi service for gays to launch in St. Petersburg, Russia?

Pete Wentz: I once almost put a bullet through my head.

Gay softball team disqualified from world series for having too many straight players: "D2, a team from San Francisco, beat the Atlanta Mudcats in the series to qualify for the A Division championship game against the Los Angeles Vipers. But the Mudcats filed a protest, alleging that six of D2’s players were straight. North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAA) rules state a team in the series may have no more than two straight players on its squad."

Some guy relieved himself next to David Beckham and confirmed previous reports from Posh.

Marc Jacobs closes New York show in a skirt.

Barbra Streisand to sing for Obama: "Streisand will perform at a $2,500-per-person reception and concert fund-raiser at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, with upwards of 700 people expected to attend. Among the co-hosts of the event are DreamWorks partners Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, as well as political consultant Andy Spahn. It'€™s being organized with Obama's Southern California finance team."

UK Booker Prize shortlist announced: Aravind Adiga The White Tiger: A Novel, Sebastian Barry The Secret Scripture, Amitav Ghosh Sea of Poppies: A Novel, Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs, Philip Hensher The Northern Clemency, Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole.

Kevin and Scotty pics from the new season of Brothers and Sisters.

"No on 8" office opens in SF's Castro: "Activists have already been working for months to build up a grassroots operation to defeat the anti-gay constitutional amendment, but now they will have a spacious centrally-located office to organize. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Assemblyman Mark Leno, Supervisor Tom Ammiano and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums worked up the crowd with reminders of this historic struggle--and how a defeat by the radical right would be a huge setback for the LGBT community."

Esquire celebrates 75th anniversary with E-ink cover.

Alan Cumming becoming U.S. citizen to vote for Obama.

Living strong: Lance Armstrong to come out of retirement for Tour de France?

UFC fighter Evan Tanner found dead after walk into desert.

WSJ's Kirchik claims GOP is kissing gay-bashing goodbye: "...it was refreshing to see that gays were not part of the agenda this year. Indeed, the only speaker to make mention of them was the former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee, and he did so only tangentially, stating that Mr. McCain "doesn't want to change the very definition of marriage from what it has always meant throughout recorded human history." (The same, of course, could be said of the supposedly gay-friendly Barack Obama, who also opposes marriage equality for gay couples). The absence of antigay rhetoric has much to do with Mr. McCain; he is comfortable around gay people, and his old-fashioned sense of honor proscribes against making them pariahs for political gain."

Katy Perry-hating church hit with 'God loves gays' vandalism.

McGreevey's partner Mark O'Donnell offers to pay for daughter Jacqueline's school: "O'Donnell's offer was disclosed in a letter filed Friday in Union County Family Court by McGreevey lawyer Stephen Haller, who called it 'an incredibly generous gesture.'"

Gay porn killers to be tried together...

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Joan Rivers and Barbra Streisand Once Swapped Spit

Joan Rivers tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that she and Barbra Streisand played lovers in a 1959 theatre production of the off-off Broadway play "Driftwood" because the director couldn't find a leading man:

"We played lesbian lovers. That was the first thing Barbra did; soon after that she really got going. Let me tell you, Barbra is a great kisser, but no tongue....I don't really see her anymore. I got an invitation from Barbra asking me to please come see her show when she was in New York. I thought, 'This is a joke,' but it wasn't. I wrote her back, 'I can't come because I'm working that night,' which was true. Barbra is so involved in her own life. When I do see her, she always asks, 'So, are you still in the business?' And she's not making a joke. She has no clue what anyone else is doing."

Rivers also talked about her experiences with Andy Warhol: "Bad wigs, oily skin. He looked like an albino. Not a pretty man. Andy wanted to do me, but Cher said, 'Don't. He charges $40,000 a portrait, and he'll always tell you the first one isn't good.' I wasn't going to make an $80,000 commitment. I said, 'Andy, if you want to do it for free, great,' but he picked Elizabeth Taylor instead."

And Robert Mapplethorpe: "He wouldn't agree to retouch the photos, so I said no."

Rivers is playing a concert in Pittsburgh over the weekend sponsored by the Lambda Foundation.

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News: Zac Efron, Gay Games, Ft. Lauderdale, Barbra Streisand

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, under fire from gays for his proposed "robotic toilets", attacks gay and lesbian library: "Naugle said Tuesday he's not going to apologize for his comments about gay sex in bathrooms, or gay people being unhappy. But he did say he was 'impressed' with the number of 'happy homosexuals' in his city. 'If I've learned one thing through this,' he said, 'it's that there are a lot of happy homosexuals in Fort Lauderdale.'"

Aaron Eckhart suffers for his craft: "I had to pretend that my nuts hurt, so I put a clothespin on my nuts. Otherwise, you’re just learning your lines and saying them. There’s no art in that. People say, ‘Why do you want to put a clothespin on your nuts?’ You know why? Because that’s what I do for a living."

Zac Efron to star in remake of Footloose.

J.P. Morgan analyst retracts "iPhone Nano" report.

Breaking tradition, Chicago declares 2006 Gay Games a financial success: "In 2003 when we launched the bid to host the 2006 Gay Games, we promised our local LGBT community, the City of Chicago, and the worldwide LGBT sports movement that the 2006 Gay Games would break even financially. We also made the commitment to leave a lasting and positive legacy for future Gay Games hosts - a sound business model upon which future Gay Games could be built. We are proud today to have fulfilled those promises.

"Landro" said to be "just friends"?

Bryan Singer's close collaborator, screenwriter Michael Dougherty (X2: XMen United, Superman returns), talks movies: "Watching a lot of movies as a kid, watching a lot of t.v. I grew up on the 80s when cable had just come onto the scene, so you know, they were digging deep into the libraries and digging out all these old movies and t.v. shows. So every day I was watching Twilight Zone episodes, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, old B&W monster movies, just constantly being barraged by so many different genres of film -especially horror films. It seemed like cable was really big on putting horror films in there. So in a very short time period I was being exposed to the very same horror films and shows that my Dad grew up with. Oh, and old horror comics. Like 'Creepy' and 'Eerie' were huge for me."

New Florida group raises $1 million to fight proposed amendment banning gay marriage: "By focusing on the ban's potential repercussions for live-in partners -- instead of on the polarizing question of gay marriage -- opponents are trying to duplicate their success last year in Arizona, the first state to reject a same-sex marriage ban."

Live from Manchester, Barbra Streisand's diva demands: "Waiting for her backstage were five fabric-upholstered furniture suites, 60 tables and 120 bath-sized towels. Even the security staff were immaculate in the 'dark jackets, blazers or sweaters with no T-shirts' that she requested."

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News: Barack Obama, Manatees, Ryan Gosling, Provincetown

Barack Obama receives Secret Service protection, earliest ever in an election cycle: "Two sources said that security concerns, including large crowds and unspecified threats against the candidate, were the reasons for the security detail. But a Department of Homeland Security official said there is no known viable threat against the senator "at this time." The FBI confirmed that there was no specific threat against Obama. According to the DHS, the candidate's campaign requested the security detail, an advisory committee approved that request and the Secret Service initiated the protective detail."

Bruce Willis goes deep sea fishing while Demi Moore enjoys some chicken of the sea.

Beau Clarke, New York philanthropist and partner to DJ Tony Moran has died at age 61: "Clarke was well known on the party circuit as the partner to superstar DJ Tony Moran. The two met in 2000. They shared a large apartment in Soho, a residence in the South Beach section of Miami and a bayfront home in Fire Island Pines that hosted several benefits, including Dancing on the Bay (for the LGBT Center in Greenwich Village), the Zenith Party (to benefit the new Pines community house) and the Fire Island Dance Festival (to benefit Dancers Responding to AIDS). Clarke also gave significantly to GLAAD and Care Resource, Miami’s principal AIDS service organization, among other charities. He served on the board of several organizations. He was one of the earliest and biggest backers of the bid by out-gay attorney Sean Maloney to become Democratic candidate for New York State Attorney General last year."

Report: Kelly Clarkson's new album scrapped at last minute after savage reviews from Clive Davis.

Google Earth photos of Manatees reveal that the 'sea cow' now relies on heat from power plants for warmth rather than migrating to warmer waters.

Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal to reprise their roles in Rent on Broadway this summer. Rapp: "Yep, it's true. I've always said it would take some extraordinary circumstances to bring me back to the show, (because many people over the years have asked me if I would go back), and I consider the opportunity to be on stage with Adam again to be a big time extraordinary circumstance. In all my years of being in this business, (and we're talking over 25 years now), I've rarely felt the kind of connection on stage that I do with Adam. We just click, and I think it will be amazing to get to work with him in that environment again. The dates we'll be back are July 30th until September 10th. So book your tickets..."

Massachusetts gay rights advocates are seeking help on a national level to defeat the proposed amendment that would ban gay marriage there.

Barbra Streisand UK concert tickets, some going for $1,000, sell out in minutes.

Make way for Goslings!

iTunes exclusive track cracks Billboard Top 10 for first time: "The track was "I'll Stand By You" performed by Carrie Underwood during last week's American Idol "Idol Gives Back" charity episode. Macworld reports that the song has been purchased over 100,000 times in less than a week."

Colorado legislature passes bill prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Now, the bill is off to Governor Bill Ritter.

Can culture dictate the way we see the world? "Researchers found that the brains of older East Asian people respond less strongly to changes in the foreground of images than those of their Western counterparts. They suggest this difference is due to an increased emphasis on the background, or context, of images in some Asian cultures. But other experts think the study does not firmly establish culture as the cause for this divergence."

"Living intestine" found off coast of Florida.

Signs of summer: tea dance begins at the Boatslip in Provincetown.

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News: Tobey Maguire, Darth Vader, Cayman Islands, Jamaica

Extremely disturbing images of another brutal anti-gay mob attack in Jamaica. Sick.

Tobey Maguire's mom on her son's friendship with Leonardo DiCaprio: "I figured this subject would come up sooner or later . . . Those two are just free-spirited guys. Most of the friends they hang around with are gay. They're comfortable with that. But I think Leo and Tobey are the crossover between men and women. They have feminine traits they are willing to accept. They aren't ashamed to have any sort of title, even if that means someone calling them gay."

Jason West, who performed public ceremonies for two dozen same-sex marriages in 2004, lost his re-election bid yesterday: "Mr. West was defeated by a village trustee, Terry Dungan, in a 514-to-379 vote, according to unofficial results announced shortly after the polls closed. Mr. West had been charged with 24 misdemeanor counts of violating the state’s domestic relations law when he performed public marriage ceremonies for two dozen gay and lesbian couples in February 2004. The Ulster County district attorney later dropped the charges, saying that a trial would be needless and divisive."

Barbra Streisand to charge $1,000 per ticket in UK show.

Bush warns that Democrats could turn Iraq into terrorist breeding ground.

Philippe Starck lays his hands on a New York luxury condominium: Gramercy by Starck. "As we gazed at Philippe Starck's head emerging from the top of the building on a plasma screen, we wondered if the people who desire to buy into Starck's rich boy minimalism really want to live on a nothing-special stretch of East 23rd Street?"

The incredible, edible....anus?

Lifted by the Force of nature: Darth Vader hot air balloon.

Micron Technology Inc., whom I posted about last week, has added sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policies: "The move comes after The Advocate revealed last week that the Boise, Idaho, company’s board of directors had ignored an unprecedented 55 percent shareholder vote in favor of adding both sexual orientation and gender identity to its nondiscrimination policies."

The Netherlands' recent court order that its territory Aruba recognize same-sex marriages has rekindled a gay rights debate in the Cayman Islands: "'We either fight the FCO, UK for self-determination on this issue of homosexual marriage or in short order we will face the same situation here in the Cayman Islands,' the People for Referendum said in a press release. 'Either we exercise our UN mandated inalienable self-determination rights to ensure the Constitution does not allow homosexual marriage or acknowledge and let our people know the fact that it’s not a matter of if homosexual marriage will become legal in our Cayman Islands by the UK’s Order in Council.'"

Ricky Martin shows footage of himself nude at concert.

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News: Barbra Streisand, Baldness Cure, Tony Kushner, Gay L.A.

Frank Kameny, who helped organize the first gay rights protest in front of the White House in 1965, has donated more than 70,000 artifacts and papers related to the gay rights movement to the Library of Congress. Kameny: "Nearly fifty years ago, the United States Government banned me from employment in public service because I am a homosexual. This archive is not simply my story; it also shows how gay and lesbian Americans have joined the American mainstream story of expanded civil liberties in the 20th century. Today, by accepting these papers, the nation preserves not only our history but marks how far gay and lesbian Americans have traveled on the road to civil equality."

Perry Taylor, world's most famous manny, spotted at Knott's Berry Farm!

When concertgoer heckles her for mocking George Bush, Barbra Streisand snarles back: "Why don't you shut the f- - - up. If you can't take a joke, why don't you leave and get your money back." And apologies to audience: "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lost it."

Neck cell transplant could end baldness.

Angels in America scribe Tony Kushner at work on a new big, gay play: "It’s been a long time since I’ve written about gay issues. I guess I feel that corners have been turned for me personally and also for the [gay] community and we’re in a different, though unfortunately, not improved era."

225 historic gay sites of Los Angeles assembled for the city's 225th anniversary: Part One and Part Two.

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