News: Kevin Spacey, Pope AIDS, Tattoo, Baz Luhrmann, Denmark

Tireless self-promoters Ted Haggard and wife Gayle to appear on Divorce Court. Gayle: "This is part of Ted's journey. It's made him a better man. I see what has happened as a divine rescue."

Companion can't pull Kevin Spacey away from  Big Penis Book  in London.

Details on that book here.

ACLU files suit against high school in Corona del Mar, California for cultivating homophobic environment, charging violations of state and federal equal protection laws and citing cancelation of Rent musical as evidence.

Nathaniel Frank's investigation into the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, Unfriendly Fire, reviewed by the NYT.

Furor erupts over seminar on sexuality in Morocco: "Moroccan observers said it was unlikely that Moroccan authorities would allow the association to hold such activities and blamed foreign support. Moroccan sex researcher Hassan Serrat said Moroccan homosexuals are a small group and cannot organize such activities on their own. 'They are definitely getting foreign support especially from British and Spanish gay rights associations,' he told AlArabiya.net."

Anger after UK tattoo parlor advertises numbing cream "exclusively for poofters".

Project Runway contestant arrested for assaulting boyfriend with a laptop (and possibly apples, water, and a cat as well).

Are you jealous of RuPaul's boogie (possibley NSFW)?

Human rights groups demand investigation into murder of Colombian LGBT activist Alvaro Miguel Rivera, who was killed by unknown men in Cali, Colombia on March 6.

More gay book awards announced. Publishing Triangle lists its nominees. Main fiction selections have zero overlap with this year's nominees in the Lambda Literary Awards.

Vatican revises Pope's statement on condoms and AIDS: "According to journalists present, he originally said the AIDS problem 'cannot be overcome with the distribution of condoms which, on the contrary, increase the problem'. But in the Vatican's version, his words became: 'The scourge cannot be resolved with the distribution of prophylactics; on the contrary, the risk is of increasing the problem.'"

Baz Luhrmann struts his beefcake.

Anti-gay hate crime on University of Cincinnati campus: "Cincinnati Police have reported two felonious assaults that occurred on March 6, 2009, at 4:20a.m. in the 2500 block of Clifton Avenue. The victims were walking home when one of the victims stopped to talk to the suspects, who were friends from high school.  Upon hearing that the other victim was a homosexual, the suspects became aggressive and attacked both individuals." Student protest today.

Denmark gives adoption rights to same-sex couples.

Massachusetts anti-gay group brags about halting civil unions in Hawaii.

The latest from Aussiebum.

Jake Gyllenhaal may have put a ring on it.

NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has avoided New York on past St. Patrick's Days because of the parade organizers' discriminatory policies toward gays and lesbians, writes about her holiday this year, at the White House: "I told him and Mrs. Obama that I was the first Irish, first woman, and first openly gay Speaker of the New York City Council. I told the President how grateful the Irish-American Community is for his strong and continued support of the peace in the North of Ireland. I then expressed my desire that he support issues of full LGBT equality, and suggested that a good early action would be to support a recent federal court ruling in San Francisco, requiring benefits to be extended to the same sex partners of court employees."

News: Damien Hirst, Sam Adams, Facebook, Lady Gaga, Ahmadinejad

Hate crime charges filed against Tacoma man for threats against woman in Seattle: "Prosecutors assert that Salway threatened to stab her in the eyes before asking 'did you hear me lesbian?' The woman told him to leave, drawing more threats from Salway. 'I'm going to hurt you lesbian,' Salway said, according to the woman's statements to police. 'Lesbian, I'm going to get you.' Fearing for her life, the woman ran from Salway as he gave chase. She and several other witnesses phoned police, who arrested Salway minutes later."

Damien Hirst paints cover art for new edition of Darwin's On the Origin of Species: "The painting sits firmly in the tradition of 'still life' and is made up of objects I've come to imbue with my own meanings, some of them Darwinian in origin, and that I guess are seen in other areas of my work. The painting has an X-ray-like quality to it, as if it is revealing something about the structure of the objects painted."

THE FAME: Lady Gaga meets Paris Hilton.

Sam Adams confronted during council meeting; absent from Mayors Day at state capitol. NYT: The Great Gay Hope.

Rights for same-sex couples expand in Colombia: "The high court ordered changes to 42 norms that range from Criminal, Civil and Disciplinary Codes, to the special health plan available to military forces. The Magistrates embraced a position paper submitted by their peer, Rodrigo Escobar Gil. They ruled that the challenged dispositions did not justify the discrimination they instituted, or that the variances with regards to same-sex couples placed these people in a position of vulnerability before the law. And in both cases, the Constitutional Court held that the right to equality was violated."

Terre Haute: Edmund White's play based on imagined conversations between Gore Vidal and terrorist Timothy McVeigh comes to NYC.

Vancouver gay man's killer up for parole: "Cran, now 27, was one of three people convicted in the killing. The attackers used a golf club, pool cues and baseball bats at Second Beach in Stanley Park to kill [Aaron] Webster near the entrance to the park's gay cruising trails. At Cran's trial, witnesses —including two of his accomplices who can't be named because they were under 18 when the incident took place —told BC Supreme Court Justice Mary Humphries the group had gone to the park to beat up 'peeping toms and voyeurs.' Instead, they found Webster, naked except for his shoes. They pursued him through the park to his car, striking him with weapons while they ran."

Jake Gyllenhaal kicks paparazzo outside jury duty.

Pete Wentz misses his old trashy pornstache.

Lutheran minister in Namibia suspended over alleged gay activities: "It is alleged Tjongarero has been involved in a series of intimate homosexual affairs, which go against the provisions of the church at which he is a pastor. The alleged infidelities have been going on in Omaruru for some time, but ELCRN’s head office failed to take action as they had inadequate evidence to prove that Tjongarero is in fact gay. Recently however, a worshipper of his congregation allegedly caught Tjongarero with his pants down, reportedly having sex with a young male member of the church choir."

Virgin America sues blogger over fake ad.

Threatening 'straight power' discussion removed by Facebook: "The Facebook discussion is dated Nov. 13, but it wasn’t brought to Jackie Kittrell’s attention until Jan. 13, when a friend showed it to her son Conrad Honicker, a junior at West High School. The group: W.A.S.P., aka We Are Straight People. The topic: 'gay kids at school.' A typical post from the discussion: 'At west high school the GSA [Gay Straight Alliance] is getting on my nerves, they are banning phrases such as ‘thats so gay.’' The post that really caught Kittrell’s attention: 'f---ing fagots sucking dick and what not. we need assassinate conrad. ... just needs to f---ing choke to death on a ...'"

Advocate: The new wave of 'post-gay' filmmaking.

Timberlake not intimidated by Madonna: "She's short, so I wasn't afraid at all."

Life goes on for months around frozen body in vacant Detroit warehouse.

Obama drafting letter to Iran's Ahmadinejad: "Diplomats said Obama's letter would be a symbolic gesture to mark a change in tone from the hostile one adopted by the Bush administration, which portrayed Iran as part of an 'axis of evil'. It would be intended to allay the ­suspicions of Iran's leaders and pave the way for Obama to engage them directly, a break with past policy. State department officials have composed at least three drafts of the letter, which gives assurances that Washington does not want to overthrow the Islamic regime, but merely seeks a change in its behaviour. The letter would be addressed to the Iranian people and sent directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or released as an open letter."

T.I.'s drawers really droop.

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #330

DENNIS KUCINICH: Thanks to you, impeachment will be heard Friday.

GAVIN NEWSOM: Talking Points Memo interviewed San Francisco's mayor at Netroots Nation.

DESPERATE: John McCain says "it seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign." Smirks. Joe Klein: "I can't remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation."

YIKES: Bullfighting ring collapses in Colombia. Nobody was seriously hurt, except, perhaps those poor bulls later.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

News: Kylie Minogue, Sydney, Spencer Tunick, Nikolai Alexeyev

In the first nationwide law of its kind in Latin America, Colombia grants health benefits to same-sex couples.

Jury in Princess Diana inquest gets an uncanny look at her final moments, as they too are chased by the paparazzi in Paris: "The coach carrying the Diana inquest jury has reportedly crashed as it traced the Princess's last movements around Paris. In an eerie parallel with the catastrophic accident which killed the Princess, the bus driver was apparently trying to out-manoeuvre paparazzi outside the Ritz. The jury, coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker, and teams of lawyers made British legal history by making a site inspection of the places where the Princess and her lover Dodi Fayed spent their final hours. But within minutes of starting the tour in the Place Vendome, close to the Ritz hotel, their bus knocked a police outrider from his motorcycle. Then seconds later the bus collided with an 18-inch metal bollard."

Britney Spears and sister attacked at sushi restaurant: "Nobody wants you in this neighborhood Britney! MOVE! You are making this neighborhood very unsafe!"

Bush White House has tried to "silence" MSNBC's Chris Matthews, host claims: "They will not silence me!...They’ve finally been caught in their criminality."

Russian gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev gets "solidarity reception" in the Windy City.

Kylie channels Patrick Nagel for new album cover...

Former OUT magazine editor Brendan Lemon and his friend Jerry Wade have started an entertainment-oriented blog called Lemonwade. Lemon has the scoop on Jake Gyllenhaal's rumored trip to the Broadway stage in Farragut North: "Lemonwade has learned that [Mike] Nichols will not be directing the play. For now, the production — with Gyllenhaal or anyone else — is on hold. And with Gyllenhaal’s film schedule filling up (he has just signed on to star in a love-triangle movie called 'Brothers,' with Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman), I don’t see him on Broadway anytime soon."

600 people to pose nude for Spencer Tunick at Sagamore Hotel in Miami Beach: "It's about fantasy and leisure. It's a stereotype, but it's true. You're going to have a good time if you come to Miami Beach. I'm going to have 100 to 200 women in pink rafts. We're going to have people on the balcony posing very much like the Tower of Babel meets Logan's Run. We're going to buy some champagne, 500 bottles, and were going to make a giant explosion for the climax of the installation from the balcony."

Violent anti-gay crimes in Sydney prompt unusual political visit to Oxford Street: "As partygoers looked on, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Police Minister David Campbell, Labor candidate for Wentworth George Newhouse and local drag queen Maxi Shield wandered the clubs and back alleys of Oxford Street to gauge the impact of homophobic violence."

Gay nightlife "targeted" in Birmingham, England.

B'gosh! Gay and lesbian support group forms in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Movie theater lobby contains hidden erotic message.

Colombian Gays Protest Derailment of Same-Sex Union Bill

A small group of gay and lesbian activists and supporters gathered before Bogota's Congress yesterday after an evangelical lawmaker used a procedural vote to derail a proposed civil union bill that last week had been approved by a vote of 62-43.

The wily move was made when many of the bill's supporters were absent, and the bill was defeated by a vote of 34-29. According to the AP, "The call for individual votes was unusual, and some said unprecedented. Parties usually vote as blocs on the final, reconciled versions of bills in Colombia's legislature. Sen. Armando Benedetti, a sponsor of the bill, vowed to restart the legislative process when Congress reconvenes on July 20, and he criticized [President Alvaro] Uribe (who is a supporter of the bill) for not defending the initiative more forcefully."

Even Gwen Stefani showed up to protest. See photo, above right.

Colombia Same-Sex Union Bill Thrown Out in Procedural Vote

A same-sex union bill that was approved by a lower house of Colombia's congress last week was thrown out after a group of senators used a procedural vote to change their votes, according to a wire report:

"The bill, backed by President Alvaro Uribe but opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, would grant gay couples living together for more than two years the same social security and estate inheritance guarantees as heterosexuals in common-law marriages. It would have been the first nationwide law of its kind in Latin America. Supporters say they will reintroduce the bill in the next legislative session."

UPDATE: Here's more on what went down. It was the religious wingnuts, of course:

"Sen. Manuel Virguez Piraquive, from a small party closely linked to an evangelical Colombian church, called for an unusual floor vote on the bill. Other conservative lawmakers then broke ranks with the pro-Uribe faction backing the bill and it was defeated, 34-29, in the 102-member Senate. Many of the bill's supporters were absent. The call for an individual votes was unusual, and some said unprecedented. Parties usually vote as blocs on the final, reconciled versions of bills in Colombia's legislature."