Watch: Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado Laid to Rest

Footage from the funeral of gay 19-year-old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado whose  decapitated, dismembered, and partially charred body was found by the side of a road in Puerto Rico two weeks ago. The police investigator suggested that he deserved what he got because of the "type of lifestyle" he was leading.

Certainly, a family who accepts us for who we are is something to be very thankful for. Unfortunately, Jorge wasn't given the chance to be able to enjoy that. Devastating.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Oprah, Popcorn, RuPaul, Jeanne-Claude, Coelacanth

Prop 8 defenders still haven't handed over documents even after third order from judge?

Oprah show finished in 2011.

The abs and poetry of hot NJ Guidos.

NJ Democrats search for spine on marriage equality as state senator says economy takes precedence.

Judge orders OPM to offer health benefits to lesbian employee and family: "It was the second order from a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge in two days rebuking the Office of Personnel Management for denying insurance coverage to the same-sex spouses of court-supervised employees. The agency, whose director was appointed by President Obama, intervened in both cases in February and invoked the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that bars federal marriage benefits to same-sex couples."

Rallies: Activists rallied in front of NYC's Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Office yesterday in response to the horrific murder of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado. They also rallied in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There are more vigils and rallies happening this weekend.

Uganda: Rallies in response to Uganda's proposal to make "aggravated homosexuality" punishable by death took place in New York and D.C. yesterday.

Coelacanth: Baby specimens of living fossil photographed for first time.

Boy George to join Celebrity Big Brother in UK.

Senator Arlen Specter likes Barney Frank's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" suggestion: “I think the better strategy would be the one that Frank suggested. If you have it as a stand-alone bill, it’s going to be filibustered for sure. But if you attach it as an amendment — that’s what was successful with the hate-crimes amendment — I think that’d be best.”

NOM spent $112,736.75 on losing NY candidate Doug Hoffman.

New Yorkers looking for something to do this weekend might want to try Anti-Twink.

90210's Trevor Donovan shows off.

Meet the Season 2 cast of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Wrap-artist Jeanne-Claude dies of complications from brain aneurysm at 74: "Recognizable by her orange-dyed hair, Jeanne-Claude was a fixture of the international art scene and was a highly visible New York personality. Along with Christo, she created 'The Gates,' a 2005 public art project consisting of 7,503 orange rectangular structures draped with fabric and erected throughout Central Park."

Window Media publications South Florida Blade and 411 Magazine will continue to publish, under new owners.

"Ex-gays" setting up shop in Palm Beach this weekend.

Yikes: "A medium-sized popcorn and medium soda at the nation's largest movie chain pack the nutritional equivalent of three Quarter Pounders topped with 12 pats of butter, according to a report released today by the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest."

Playgirl writer: Levi Johnston saved us. "Playgirl pulled out all the stops to make this shoot a media circus -- overexerting itself financially to compensate Levi and bring on board new and old staff members to see the project through (including wunderkind party promoter Nardicio and myself, Playgirl's editor-in-chief from 2006 to 2008); and marketing the hell out of all things Levi (an ironic Levi Johnston line of Playgirl condoms due out in the spring, a Levi Johnston poster complete with signature). The 36-year-old magazine miraculously rose from the ashes of the Phoenix to become in recent months a relevant brand name once again."

Window Closes: Gay Publisher Shuts Down Papers, Websites

Window Media, the former publisher of Genre magazine, which also publishes the Washington Blade, Southern Voice, Houston Voice, South Florida Blade, David Atlanta and The 411 Magazine, reportedly closed up shop over the weekend.

Its parent fund, Avalon Equity, run by David Unger, had been forced into receivership by the federal Small Business Administration in February.

A notice was posted on the company's door over the weekend: "It is with GREAT regret that we must inform you that effective immediately, the operations of Window Media, LLC and Unite Media, LLC have closed down. Please return to this office on WEDNESDAY, November 18th, 2009 at 11:00 AM to collect personal belongings and to receive information on your separation stipulations. Please bring boxes and/or containers that will allow you to collect all your personal belongings at one time."

A message from the editor (to whom the closing came as a complete shock) of the Southern Voice was left on the publication's Facebook page: "With deepest regret, as editor of SoVo, I have to tell you that we arrived at the office to learn that our parent company, Window Media, has shut down. While the 20 years of SoVo have come to an end, our civil rights movement is only beginning. I am personally grateful to all of the staff, and to all of you who have had the courage to share your stories. It has been the honor of my life to help you tell them."

Some of the company's websites are offline. The Washington Blade is still online. This is sad news. The publications will be missed.

News: Donnie McClurkin, Purdue, Guidos, Cheesecake Factory

Longtime HIVAIDS activist Howard Jacobs dies in L.A. at 45.

The surface of Mars as revealed by orbiter.

New MTV reality series to feature Jersey shore house "full of the hottest, tannest, craziest Guidos."

Purdue students protest professor Bert Chapman's blog post arguing the "economic case against homosexuality". Chapman: "As a conservative Christian, I firmly believe the homosexual lifestyle is morally wrong, and my blog posting sought to emphasize there are economic and public policy implications to widespread and open acceptance of this lifestyle."

10-year-old refuses to say Pledge of Allegiance until there is liberty and justice for gays.

Marriage equality in Connecticut one year later: "Fully half of the gay and lesbian couples who wed in Connecticut were from other states or other countries. They came from South Dakota, Mississippi, Russia, Hawaii, Costa Rica and Israel, among other far-flung locales. But above all, they came from New York: 455 Empire State couples traveled to Connecticut to marry."

Balloon boy family to plead GUILTY to hoax.

High school band marches in Palm Springs Gay Pride parade.

Human Rights Campaign throws support behind Kirsten Gillibrand: "From her personal lobbying of the New York legislature in support of marriage rights to helping garner support for a Senate hearing on repealing 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,' Gillibrand has time and again stood for fairness for all."

Corpus Christi, the Terrence McNally play featuring a gay Jesus, to be mounted in Orange County, California.

Remember the homoerotic Cheesecake Factory hazings from July 2008? The case has been settled, in the amount of $345,000.

And he only gets better with age.

PREVIEW: Rihanna's Rated R.

Jon Stewart catches Sean Hannity using Glenn Beck's "enhanced crowd" teabagger march footage. Hannity, although it "pained him," admitted Stewart was right.

Kim Kardashian fitted with prosthetic face.

Gore Vidal: a life in pictures.

Reverend Donnie McClurkin goes off on gays: ""God did not call young people to such perversion. Society has failed him, his church has failed him ... I would be homosexual to this day if Jesus hadn't delivered."

Title and summary for Prop 8 repeal ballot language to be released next week: "As soon as the approval is given, the Restore Equality 2010 campaign will have 150 days to collect approximately 700,000 valid pen and ink signatures by voters registered in California. To account for the invalid signatures that are bound to show up on the forms, the Restore Equality 2010 campaign is aiming to collect 1 million signatures within the 150 day timeframe."

News: London Cloud, Rock Hudson, United Airlines, Annise Parker

Signorile on Congress and Obama's LGBT agenda: Why is the "low-hanging fruit" still hanging? And here's the checklist.

Architectural "cloud" proposed in London.

America's Next Top Model's Miss J is the father of a 7-year-old boy: "A French lesbian had asked if we would be sperm donors. "So we thought, 'OK, you want me to do you?' And she was like, 'Ooooh, I'm not that talented.' So I said, 'Okay fine.' So we did a little test tube."

D.C. Council committee advances marriage equality bill: "A DC Council Committee voted 4 to 1 this afternoon to send a bill legalizing same-sex marriage to the full council for debate. Council member Phil Mendelson, chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and Judiciary, said the legislation was 'both simple and monumental.' With the committee vote, the full council will take up the bill in early December. It is expected to easily pass."

Virginia lawmaker to introduce legislation extending protections to state workers who are gay or lesbian.

Celine Dion "no longer pregnant".

Opposition party in Australia drafts bill to keep single mothers and gay couples from accessing surrogacy: "Under the laws...introduced, only married and defacto heterosexual couples who have been together for at least two years would legally be able to have a child by surrogate."

First look at The Addams Family Musical.

American researchers "rebuild" sexual organs on rabbits, believe procedure could work on men: "Male rabbits given the implants attempted to mate within one minute of being introduced to a female partner, and 83 per cent succeeded."

REPORT: Rock Hudson's lover Marc Christian has died.

Goran Visnjic to star as Christopher Plummer's boyfriend in the Mike Mills film Beginners: "It’s a Gay-December romance for the ages!"

Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker gets endorsement from opponent: “One candidate stands out with a 12-year proven track record of public service, particularly in terms of efficient, transparent government, the quality of life in our neighborhoods, and fiscal responsibility, especially important in these difficult economic times."

Ashleigh and Jakob were definitely the best part of So You Think You Can Dance last night.

Lady Gaga gossips about Gossip Girl.

Some photos by Dav.d Daniels from the Mormon testimony at the Salt Lake City LGBT ordinance hearings.

United Airlines pilot arrested for intoxication before boarding a flight full of passengers at Heathrow.

FireDogLake blogger Jane Hamsher talks about the DNC donor boycott: "If you're suppressing your base, and the other side is revving up theirs, and midterm elections are all about turning out the base, I sort of question what their strategy is here."

Ontario gym owner in transgender bathroom legal battle: "A fitness club owner in southwestern Ontario said Tuesday he has wasted tens of thousands of dollars fighting a legal battle with a transgender woman over which washrooms she should use, only to have the case thrown out by the Ontario Human Rights Commission."

Dublin Says Good-bye to Boyzone Star Stephen Gately

Approximately 3,500 people lined the streets outside Dublin's St Laurence O'Toole Memorial Church to say good-bye Saturday to Boyzone star Stephen Gately, who died suddenly last weekend at the age of 33.

Watch a video, AFTER THE JUMP...

The Guardian reports: "After Gately's coffin was carried out of the church, the surviving members of Boyzone stood behind the hearse in a silent group, huddled for a few minutes' reflection while local women and children showered them and the hearse with dozens of white roses. As the funeral cortege made its way up Seville Place, flanked by five garda motorbike outriders, a train on the railway bridge over the street suddenly halted while thousands all around clapped and cheered. Among the celebrities who attended the funeral were the band's founder and X-Factor judge Louis Walsh, David Furnish, Shane Ward, Jason Donovan, Brian McFadden and Vanessa Feltz. Messages of condolence were sent by David and Victoria Beckham and Elton John, among others. When the Gately family, friends and the celebrities he knew and worked with had gone, five photographs of the singer at various stages of his life were left behind inside the church, and one of him together with the rest of Boyzone. Gately was later cremated after a short service at Dublin's Glasnevin cemetery."

An autopsy reported that Gately had died of natural causes. There was widespread criticism this week over a homophobic Daily Mail column by Jan Moir which used rumors surrounding Gately's death to slam the gay "lifestyle" and the "happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships".

Gately married Andy Cowles in March 2006 in one of the first high-profile same-sex civil partnerships after they became legal in the UK.

Today, tabloid News of the World released video of the night Gately died showing the singer and Cowles leaving a nightclub in Majorca. The video appears to contradict reports that Gately had been on a drinking binge.

Watch a report on the funeral, featuring clips of Boyzone singing at the church service and Ronan Keating reading an emotional memorial, AFTER THE JUMP...