News: Voguing, Alex Pettyfer, Bearforce1, James Jones, Liverpool

NY Senator Savino on marriage equality vote: "I'm hopeful it's Tuesday."

Alex Pettyfer strikes a profile in Vman.

Beaver watersports on The Early Show.

Anti-gay Liverpool attack inspires fast-tracking of hate crimes laws in UK: "A new law imposing two years imprisonment for those who incite violence on the grounds of sexual orientation will come into force by mid-December, several months ahead of schedule. And local police forces nationwide will be encouraged to follow Merseyside in setting up ‘frontline’ action teams to combat such crimes."

Kathy Griffin to play lesbian activist on Law & Order: SVU.

Philippines election committee (COMELEC) rejects gay party on grounds of immorality: "In a ruling dated November 11, the Comelec said that although the party presented proper documents and evidence for their accreditation, their petition is 'dismissable on moral grounds.' Page 5 of the ruling states that Ang Ladlad's definition of the LGBT sector as a marginalized sector who are disadvantaged because of their sexual orientation "makes it crystal clear that the petitioner tolerates immorality which offends religious beliefs."

FOX News goes after gay YouTube newsclipper (who we use constantly here at Towleroad, and provides a great service) with takedown notices but leaves right-wing sites alone.

Mug shot of the week.

Dolce & Gabbana purchase NYC condo: "A source dishes that over the weekend the fashion duo bought a two-floor brand-new apartment on 10th Ave. in Chelsea — in a building where one-floor units start at a whopping $5 million. They celebrated with model Adam Senn (who is starring in the new D&G ads along with Madonna) at Il Bastardo in Chelsea on Tuesday night."

Warhol Brillo box goes for $842,500 at Philips de Pury auction.

Daniel Radcliffe denies smoking weed.

Dutch bear band Bearforce1 breaks up.

India creates third gender for voters: "Indian election authorities have granted what they called an independent identity to gays and transsexuals -- a third gender -- on the country's voter lists. Members of these groups were referred to as male or female on the voter rolls in the past. Now they will have the choice to pick "O" -- for others -- when indicating their gender on voter forms, the Indian election commission said in a statement Thursday."

Tonight: The Ugly Betty episode that AfterElton says you must not miss.

New York is Burning: Voguing ball returns to NYC's Irving Plaza. "This Saturday, the House of Xtravaganza will host their first ball in over five years. I live for balls, and I’ve always lived for the Xtravaganzas; this ball will consist of 26 different competitions."

Author James Jones was forced to remove expletives and homosexual scenes from the 1951 novel From Here to Eternity: "One character, Maggio makes extra bucks by hanging out with older, rich gay men who live in Honolulu, who pay good money for his company. The original manuscript goes into great detail about what kind of sexual favors soldiers like Maggio are willing to provide. The soldiers act as if it’s simply their company that these older men are paying for, but there’s an underlying, secret understanding that many of them will provide sex. Maggio sees nothing wrong with this at all, since it is a means to an end – a way to make quick money so he can go back and hang out with the whores."

News: High Line, Martha's Vineyard, Salt Lake City, MRI, Mexico

New Jersey gears up for marriage battle...

New York's High Line Park features a 20-story peep show.

This is why some people hate pop music.

Why did last week's Mad Men come with a warning label? Was it because of this scene?

Two men charged for throwing eggs and yelling homophobic slurs in Manchester UK's gay village: "Peter James Young (23), of Hardman Street, and Phillip Shepherd (25), of Derby Street, have been charged with a public order offence. Young was further accused of common assault."

Magnetic resonance intercourse.

Obamas set for Martha's Vineyard vacation.

Obama sneakers and basketball for sale.

Chace Crawford to Interview: "I’m the biggest believer in not talking. I don’t Twitter or MySpace or Facebook. I want to keep to myself. I don’t want to be out there. You have to keep some kind of control over who you are."

Male model fix: Santiago Peralta.

Peter Staley on Obama's first step toward a national HIV/AIDS strategy.

WoW's James St. James reports from the Ovahness Vogueing Ball.

Mexico decriminalizes drug possession for small amounts: "The maximum amount of marijuana for 'personal use' under the new law is 5 grams — the equivalent of about four joints. The limit is a half gram for cocaine, the equivalent of about 4 'lines.' For other drugs, the limits are 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams for methamphetamine and 0.015 milligrams for LSD."

And he's not sorry, it's human nature...

Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art accused of censoring gay-themed art exhibit: "The reaction of GoMA and the council is exactly the same that is happening to these individuals, making it hard to talk about coming out, about being gay, about disclosing their HIV status."

Live Nation sponsoring national tour of Jamaican murder music singer Buju Banton.

Salt Lake City to consider anti-discrimination bill: "The current language of the bill would ban discrimination based on race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity (trangender protections) in the areas of employment, public accommodations and housing. Religious organizations and state agencies would be exempt from the law." Provo paper blasts effort...

Wisconsin Couple's Crusade Against Gay Books Leads to Call for Public Book Burning, Tar and Feathering

Jim and Ginny Maziarka, of West Bend, Wisconsin, have been waging a battle against their town's library because there are gay and lesbian-themed books on the shelves:

"With the debate raging, the city council voted in April against renewing the terms of four library board members, in part because council members thought the board was dragging its feet, library director Tyree said. The Maziarkas were still fighting to have books moved, having identified 82 questionable titles -- more than double their original list. Then they stopped targeting a list of books and circulated a petition that asked the board to label and move to the adult section any 'youth-targeted pornographic books' -- including books that describe sex acts in a way unsuitable for minors. The books could still be checked out freely by anyone. 'We're not talking about educational material. We're talking raunchy sex acts,' Maziarka said. One book she objects to is 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower,' in which a fictional teenage boy tells about his freshman year in high school, including rape and homosexual and heterosexual sex between teens."

The Maziarka's battle has spread outside their town, to Milwaukee, where a supporter has called for a public book burning.

Read about the entire, despicable, battle here, and watch two clips — one of Ginny Maziarka speaking at a public hearing, and a Christian talk show segment about the Maziarkas' crusade, AFTER THE JUMP...

Man Protests Own Art Exhibit for Exclusion of Gay-Themed Work

John Paul Blanchette, a Massachusetts artist protested his own art exhibit after a Barnes & Noble in Framingham decided to exclude one of his paintings because it is gay-themed.

Said Blanchette: "It's so ridiculous that when I met with (the manager) it took a minute before I was like, 'Oh, she's actually serious. There are romance book covers in there that are more offensive."

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Unblocks LGBT Websites

Tim Casey, Vice President of Marketing & Operations, International Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, LLC, issued a response today to earlier reports that wi-fi at its businesses were blocking LGBT websites:

Said Casey:

"At approximately 3:00pm on Thursday we were notified by a customer using our complementary wi-fi service that two specific sites catering to the LGBT community were blocked from access. Those sites included Pam’s House Blend and Towleroad. After learning of the issue, our technical team researched the situation and took immediate steps to unblock the sites that were brought to our attention. It is not, and has never been, the policy of the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to block Internet content or websites from our customers or members of the LGBT community. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf subscribes to an OpenDNS platform that incorporates a peer review component which allows users to flag particular sites they deem inappropriate. In this case, a small amount of flags triggered the system and the sites in question were blocked automatically. No web-content filter is perfect, but we are grateful to the customers who quickly brought this to our attention for resolution. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf supports diversity on all levels and values the community members of the areas we operate in. Our goal in offering free wi-fi service is to open communication and exchange of information, not to block information."

We thank Casey for taking prompt action on this.

Coffee Bean Blocks Towleroad, Pam's House Blend for 'Sexuality'

The Advocate (via UniteTheFight reports) on censorship at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, which operates hundreds of locations, mainly on the west coast:

"Phillip Minton of Unite the Fight -- a group trying to overturn California's Proposition 8 -- had booted up his laptop on Thursday at a Coffee Bean location in Los Angeles and was informed he couldn't access sites like Pam's House Blend and Towleroad due to 'sexuality.' According to commenters at Unite the Fight's website, ex-gay sites for groups like Exodus and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays are accessible on Coffee Bean's Wi-Fi service. In his post, Minton wrote, 'Naturally, I wrote a rather angry e-mail [to Coffee Bean's corporate office in Los Angeles] telling them they need to do a better job determining what is porn or 'adult' from what is a news or editorial blog. If I typed in 'heterosexual,' would the sites pulled up be blocked? I doubt it.'"

The Wi-Fi provider, OpenDNS, claimed the block comes from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and not the WiFi provider. Unfortunately, this practice is all too common. Many corporations censor LGBT websites because they are automatically deemed sexual or adult in nature.

Would love to know where else we are blocked. Let us know in the comments.