Christopher Ciccone Still Chewing Out Madonna

Christopher Ciccone presented Zivot s Madonnou, the Czech version of his tell-all Life with My Sister Madonna, at Prague's Luxor Palace bookshop earlier today, by demonstrating how audiences are eating it up.

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Gay Pride Weekend Wrap

Wedded bliss was a special focus of San Francisco’s 38th Annual Pride Parade, the first to be held after the California Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage. The Dykes on Bykes tossed bouquets and San Fran Mayor Gavin Newsom was greeted like a rock star. Gay icons Cyndi Lauper and Margaret Cho were among celebrity attendees. Crowds were said to be "larger-than-usual." Full photo album here.

According to The Canadian Press, members of the Canadian Armed Forces participated in Gay Pride for the first time in Toronto, whose parade featured a grand marshal (Gareth Henry) who fled Jamaica after being persecuted for his sexual orientation.

The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota attracted an estimated 125,000 celebrants, including an exceptionally proud terrier (who I hope was dyed humanely).

Chicago’s Gay Pride Parade went off without a hitch Sunday. Themed "Live, Love, Be Proud," the parade’s grand marshal was ex-marine Eric Alva (pictured), the first American casualty from the Iraq War and an openly gay man.

German Pride celebrated its 30th year by kicking off for the first time from the former East Berlin. One special participant was 95-year-old Rudolf Brazda, a survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp:

"It was a terrible time. I must say that I feel as though I were in paradise in this democratic society."

Other European Pride events held on Saturday included some in countries "seeing gatherings of gays and lesbians for the first time." At the Czech Republic’s first Pride, three people were jailed for throwing fireworks at some of the 500 marchers. Five dozen skinheads were arrested in Bulgaria for attempting to derail that country’s event.

Paris Pride was organized around "homophobia at school" and drew about 700,000. But why talk about it when you can just take a look?

Finally, marchers in Calcutta, New Delhi and Bangalore celebrated Gay Pride, marking the first parades in the latter two Indian cities. "Several hundred" participants were reported at the events, which were staged in advance of arguments before a Delhi High Court to overturn the antiquated law—Section 377—forbidding any sex that is "against the order of nature." Indians are rarely locked up for homosexuality, but the legal punishment is up to 10 years.

Gay-rights activist and New Delhi organizer Lesley Esteves says:

"Discrimination is widespread because there is no protection or law or societal understanding. There's discrimination in the workplace; there's discrimination in the family—it's on every level."

At least some of the onlookers were just there for the music.

As usual, there will likely be a dull roar from some gay quarters that Gay Pride isn’t necessary because being gay is nothing to be "proud" of (overlooking that it’s the suggestion to be ashamed that these events are counteracting) or that it’s counterproductive because all the "freaks" come out. I agree with JoeMyGod’s annual rant: "They wish we were invisible. We’re not. Let’s dance."

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News: Quentin Tarantino, Ugly Dog, Bulgaria, Michelangelo

First-ever "Rainbow Parade" set for Czech Republic: "he National Party (Národní strana) sees the event as a 'pressure on the majority, pressure that is disgusting and awkward, pressure leading to social acceptation of the children being adopted by homosexual couples.' Members of the party are prepared to protest against the march. Police are evaluating potential risks in order to determine what security measures will need to be applied."

Quentin Tarantino accepts Filmmaker on the Edge award from the Provincetown Film Festival. John Waters: "You helped reinvent John Travolta as a man and I reinvented him as a woman."

DAD: Amy Winehouse in first stages of Emphysema.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to officiate today at marriage of American Beauty producer Bruce Cohen to art consultant Gabriel Catone: "After the state Supreme Court struck down a ban on same-sex marriage last month, Villaraigosa promised to preside at as many ceremonies as possible. But when the ruling took effect last week and other political officials were presiding over same-sex weddings, Villaraigosa was in Israel on a city trip."

Nationalists in Bulgaria plan "Week of Intolerance" in response to upcoming gay parade.

Gay health therapist Michael Shernoff has died at the age of 57, of pancreatic cancer.

Book: Michelangelo hid secret messages in Sistine Chapel attacking the Pope.

Jane Fonda on her first screen test, with Warren Beatty: "At the time I suspected that Warren might be gay, because he was so cute and had so many unusual, intellectual friends. Well, how wrong can you be?"

Brooklyn appellate judges to hear arguments on New York Governor David Paterson's directive to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages: "he case being heard today, Godfrey v. Spano, will consider whether recognition of same-sex marriages first requires approval from the Legislature. So far the Legislature hasn't passed any laws relating to gay marriage. Whatever decision the Brooklyn appeals court reaches in the Godfrey case is sure to be quickly appealed to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals."

Gerard Butler is a fashionista.

Dog named world's ugliest.

Salon bookmark: Gore Vidal's Inconvenient Truths.

Australian city council apologizes to gays for incident that happened 20 years ago.

SF Chronicle columnist's brief encounter with David Beckham: "Beckham is, for lack of a better word, man-tastic. He leans on a stool, wearing a crisp white shirt and silver tie, having just taken off his cream suit jacket. His hair is cut short and simple, ceding attention to his long stubble, which covers his face except for two Band-Aid-size vertical stripes shaved clean on either side of his goatee."

They got him!

The NYT takes a closer look at pregnant trans man Thomas Beatie: "Partly a carnival sideshow and partly a glimpse at shifting sexual tectonics, his image and story powered past traditional definitions of gender and exposed a realm that seemed more than passing strange to some observers — and altogether natural to those who inhabit it. 'This is just a neat human-interest story about a particular couple using the reproductive capabilities they have,' said Mara Kiesling, director of the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington. 'There’s really nothing remarkable' about the Beatie pregnancy, she said."

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Jiří Hromada is First Gay Senate Candidate in Czech Republic

On April 19, gay rights activist Jiří Hromada was nominated by the Czech Republic's Green Party as their candidate for the Senate, a nomination which has already sparked plenty of controversy, according to the Prague Post:

"Following reports of his nomination, news servers such as Novinky and Aktuálně.cz had to shut down online discussions because they were full of homophobic and vulgar comments. The right-wing extremist National Party immediately issued a press statement branding Hromada a 'homosexual deviant.' Despite years of hard work by many gay and lesbian activists, it seemed from such reactions that homophobic feelings are still a part of the national culture, and Hromada’s candidacy in the upcoming election could serve as a test of the public’s tolerance and open-mindedness."

Hromada ended his "career" as a gay rights activist, according to the paper, in 2006, when the nation's Gay Initiative rights group felt that it had completed all its goals (imagine that!).

Says Hromada: "Our goal from the start in 1990 was not to be needed. We had achieved what we set out to do and now it was time for the younger generation to take over and fight for their own needs...One of the reasons I accepted the nomination was to prove to others that sexual orientation is not important and that people should judge others by their capabilities."

Thus, his activism continues. And his nomination has prompted the usual backward statements about homosexuality and bestiality, pedophilia, etc.

Says Hromada: "Uninformed stupidity cannot be weeded out. There is no rise in homophobic feelings. That illusion is caused by the tabloidization of the press, which gives unwarranted coverage to extremists. [As well, latent homosexuals] are the most aggressive toward our community, because they envy our freedom."

Elections take place in the fall.

First gay candidate runs for Senate [prague post]

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