News: Convergence, Mark Spitz, Gaydar, 90210, Barney Frank

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Mark Spitz says he could take Michael Phelps: "I know everything there is to know about how to beat Michael, and he would know how to beat me. We'd probably tie."

90210's Brenda Walsh: Did you miss her?

Barney Frank to review FDIC policy that excludes same-sex couples: "Frank, one of two openly gay members of Congress, is chair of the influential House Financial Services Committee, which oversees legislation and government regulation of the nation’s banks and other financial institutions. 'He will talk to the FDIC to see if they have the authority to do something about this administratively or whether a legislative remedy is needed,' said Steve Adamske, Frank’s press spokesperson."

One of the first Native American tribes to legalize same-sex marriage has a wedding on the way: "The Coquille Indian Tribe on the southern Oregon coast recently adopted a law recognizing same-sex marriage, despite an amendment that Oregon voters approved to the Oregon constitution in 2004 to prohibit gay marriage. As a federally recognized sovereign nation, the tribe is not bound by the Oregon Constitution."

ENDA co-signs DOMA: "A little-discussed provision of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would allow employers to give health insurance coverage and other benefits to married opposite-sex couples and deny those same benefits to the partners of their gay and lesbian employees who are legally married in Massachusetts and California."

T.R. Knight and Mark Cornelsen offer up some PDA.

Chad Allen joins General Hospital: Night Shift for three episodes Michelle Obama and Colorado first lady Jeanne Ritter use Denver Post editorial to launch 'Delegate Service Day': "With the help of Volunteers of America, Democrats Work and Metro Volunteers, delegates from across the country will volunteer with dozens of community service projects in and around Denver. Volunteers will tackle projects ranging from building houses for veterans, to assembling care packages for troops overseas, to bringing meals to home-bound seniors and cleaning up public parks."

Curious who the new Bachelor is?

Florida town of Ponce de Leon sides with school principal who outed student and went on gay 'witch hunt': "When a high school senior told her principal that students were taunting her for being a lesbian, he told her homosexuality is wrong, outed her to her parents and ordered her to stay away from children. He suspended some of her friends who expressed their outrage by wearing gay pride T-shirts and buttons at Ponce de Leon High School, according to court records. And he asked dozens of students whether they were gay or associated with gay students."

Leaves of grass: Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick have a moment alone.

New Amy Winehouse album influenced by The Wizard of Oz: "And according to a report in the Sun newspaper, the singer has sampled the 'Wicked Witch of the West' in a new track. 'She loves the surreal look, sound and score. One of her new songs heavily samples the theme tune,' a source told the newspaper. 'And the soundtrack and score will be a theme running throughout the record.' The unnamed source described the song as 'really interesting, if a little bizarre,' adding: 'I suppose that’s what you would expect from her at the moment.'"

John Barrowman working on new album called Music Music Music.

Convergence: Intel and Yahoo working to bring the web to television seamlessly with current programming. "TV watchers can access a news story, sports score or weather forecast from the Web by clicking an on-screen icon with the remote control, Intel Senior Vice President Eric Kim said today at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. The software will be given for free to TV-service providers. A drop in the price of computer-processors brought on by increasing competition has sent Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, seeking growth with consumer-electronics devices. For Yahoo, owner of the second most-used Internet search engine, offering content on TV may yield more viewers for its Web ads."

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First Look: Save Me with Chad Allen

Here's a first look at the one-sheets for the upcoming film Save Me, which stars Chad Allen, Robert Gant, Judith Light, and Steven Lang and had its premiere at Sundance. The film tells the story of a young gay addict who is placed into an "ex-gay" Christian retreat to be "cured" of his homosexuality, and the romance that blossoms with a fellow resident.

The film opens on September 5 in New York.

An alternate one-sheet as well as the trailer, AFTER THE JUMP...

And here's the trailer. Love the cast. Judith Light looks amazing.

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Chad Allen in Bed with Rent Boy in Little Dog Laughed

Those of you in Connecticut have a chance to see actor Chad Allen in a production of Douglas Carter Beane’s The Little Dog Laughed set to run from January 25th through March 9th at Theater Works in downtown Hartford. The show also stars Jeremy Jordan (pictured). This, by the way, is not Jeremy Jordan the musician nor Jeremy Jordan the porn actor, but an entirely new Jeremy Jordan who has just emerged from Ithaca College's Performance Studies.

The Little Dog Laughed, which tells the story of a closeted Hollywood actor and his rent boy, made a transition to Broadway in late 2006, but closed shortly thereafter, prompting Variety to wonder if gays had abandoned their love of the theater.

UPDATE: New profile of Allen in the Hartford Courant...

Previously
On Broadway: The Little Dog Laughed [tr]
Broadway's Gay Audience Missing in Action? [tr]

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Chad Allen and David Duchovny Develop Gay Senior Film

Actor Chad Allen says he and actor David Duchovny are developing a film about two men who fall in love at a gay senior citizen home.

Said Allen: "David saw a [newspaper] story about gay senior housing and he was fascinated by it. We have fantastic parts for older guys in the movie. The one trick we found was it's really tough to get an older actor to see themselves as old. That's the challenge — not the gay thing."

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Chad Allen is Albany's Most Famous Gay Dick [tr]

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Chad Allen is Albany's Most Famous Gay Dick

Chad Allen, the former Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman heartthrob, who has admirably found his own path to success after coming out in 2001, talks to New York's Gay City News about the latest installment in his Donald Strachey detective series, Shock to the System, which premieres this week on here!TV and at the Tribeca Film Center.

And while, like any good potboiler, the show has its share of sexy situations (see above — "The [openly gay] director Ron Oliver and I create the concepts together and have a blast. It’s like our big gay set and all the straight guys have to do what we say.") Chad says his favorite part of the series is the strong relationship depicted on the show between Strachey and his partner Tim:

"They’ve been together for a good long time and complement each other in exactly the right way. Strachey would fall apart without him. It’s not perfect by any means—whose is?—but it works. We need to see more examples of healthy gay relationships out there."

And on the currently hot topic of closeted gay actors, he says: "There are still a lot of guys—I know them personally—some very famous who are even known to be gay or play gay characters, and yet they won’t come out. I just don’t get it. I know the journey can be tough. If you’re not in that place of feeling proud about who you are, then fucking stay in the closet!"

Dial M for Maverick [gay city news]

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