News: Meghan McCain, India, Alan Cumming, Joe Solmonese, Boyzone

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese suggests that the time frame in his 2017 letter can be seen as a "narrow window" in the scope of the gay rights movement.

Straight Italian couple sues cruise company after showing up for their vacation to discover they were departing on Italy's first gay cruise: "My clients were also left embarrassed because among the passengers were people they knew and had no idea that were gay, which was uncomfortable for all parties."

Gay Al is feeling tender.

Iowa NAACP President announces support for anti-gay gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats.

Report: Iran hanged a man last week for gay sodomy.

Gay activists plan kiss-in at Fort Worth Stockyards: "The kissing booth will be on Exchange Street, right in the heart of the Stockyards and its bound to stir up controversy. In fact, one old cowboy has been quoted as warning gays that if they are not careful, they might be in for a whuppin'."

Dan Savage has never slept with Janet Napolitano.

A Spice Girls musical?

Gus van Sant and Bret Easton Ellis collaborating on film adaptation of Vanity Fair article "The Golden Suicides".

Gujarat state in India becomes home to the country's first elderly home for gay men: "The brainchild of Manvendra Singh Gohil, popularly known as India's gay prince, the project will be ready to accommodate elderly homosexuals by the end of the year. Manvendra Singh Gohil says, 'We will offer food, drinks and medical facilities for the people staying here, it will be their home.' The Rs 25-crore project will be home to 50 elderly gay men to start with. Requests for accommodation have already started trickling in."

Alan Cumming in new photo shoot from David LaChapelle.

Gecko madness!

Boyzone to hold Stephen Gately vigil on night before the funeral: "Grieving Boyzone bandmates plan to stay in the church with Stephen Gately's body the night before his funeral. Ronan Keating, 32, Mikey Graham, 37, Shane Lynch, 33, and Keith Duffy, 35, have taken the decision because Gately 'would not want to be there on his own', a source close to the group revealed."

No! Mia Michaels quits So You Think You Can Dance.

Passerby mistakenly frees female killer of London gay man: "Police are looking for three young people including two blonde teenagers who were caught on CCTV arguing with Baynham and his 30-year-old companion. The victim's friend grabbed one of the girls, receiving cuts and bruises in the process, but the girl was freed by members of the public who wrongly thought she was being assaulted, said Detective Chief Inspector Clive Heys, who is leading the inquiry."

Britney Spears shoots video for new single "3".

Meghan McCain creates Twitter furor with cleavage photo.

Muslim football team kicked out of league for refusing to play gay team.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler: Repeal DOMA now.

Lesbian says she was the victim of a hate crime at the National Equality March.

Bishop Gene Robinson will be appearing tonight at an event in Portland, Maine: "Join us for an evening of edification and education as we gather to worship God and to hear the words of the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. Sponsored by the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination, the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry in Maine, Rev. Ann Fowler, the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, the Equity Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and Integrity Maine"

News: Will Young, National Equality March, Shot Put, Bernie Madoff

Muslim footballers agree to play Paris gay team: "Bebel director Zahir Belgharbi insisted there had been 'a misunderstanding' and sent out a statement through club lawyer Benedicte Puybasset indicating they were indeed ready "'to play the match'." Background.

Obama swastika carved into Massachusetts golf course. GOP Tweets clip of Hitler praising Pelosi.

Rad: Guess who's returning to Broadway?

Rex Wockner's report on the National Equality March: "The praise for Obama inside HRC's fancy dinner and the denunciations of Obama in the streets of D.C. seemed to unequivocally confirm the split that's emerged in the gay community in the aftermath of the passage of Proposition 8 in California."

Listen: Michael Jackson's new track "This Is It".

Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis attended National Equality March: "The 'Girls Gone Wild' creator told us, 'With the gay movement, it's personal. The same religious-right [bleep]holes who took away my civil rights and put me in jail for a year because they don't like what I do for a living have taken away gay rights. I know firsthand how it feels to have your civil rights stripped from you.' Francis added, 'P.S., lots of lesbians marched, too.'"

Taylor Lautner strips for GQ.

Singer Will Young pregnant in new video.

Gay Navy veteran Joseph Rocha in the Washington Post: "I even saw "don't ask, don't tell" used against heterosexual female service members who had reported being the victims of sexual assault. If my chief acted on their statements, he would be forced to punish a friend of his, so the easiest way to make the problem go away was to scare the women into silence by saying something like: 'You weren't sexually assaulted by a male in my unit. I hear you're a lesbian.' After all, homosexuals have no rights in our military. You can't sexually assault someone who doesn't exist."

Male model fix: Joel West.

100-year-old breaks shot put record in Sydney: "All eyes were on Ruth Frith, from Brisbane, as she arrived for day two of the World Masters Games, hoping to win gold in the shot put and feeling pretty confident as she was the only competitor in the over-100s category. But her 4.07 metre (13 ft 4.2 in) throw on Sunday didn't just win her gold, but also broke a world record."

Justin Timberlake used to get called "sissy" by the football players.

Jesus Luz gets $18K for half hour of DJing in Brazil.

The Obamas and art: demand innovation, not admiration.

Russian singers and writers call for end to discrimination against gays: "They met after a local official tried to close Moscow's longest-running gay club, Dusha i Telo, where many of the artists have performed. Activist Nikolai Alekseyev, who called the meeting, said it was the first time celebrities had come together publicly to denounce homophobia."

AIDS cases trending upward in Montana...

Bernie Madoff in prison brawl.

Toys"R"Us reprimanded by sixth grade class for gender discrimination: "According to the youngsters, the Toys"R"Us Christmas catalogue featured 'outdated gender roles because boys and girls were shown playing with different types of toys, whereby the boys were portrayed as active and the girls as passive', according to a statement from Ro."

Muslim Team Refuses Football Match with Gay Paris Team

Paris Foot Gay, a Paris-based football club composed of gay men and  "heterosexuals, blacks, whites, north Africans, and several different religions" according to its co-founder and current president Pascal Brethes, was refused a match by Bebel, a mostly-Muslim team, because of its gay players, Agence France Presse reports:

"PFG said they received an e-mail from Bebel which said they could not honour the match because it was 'against their principles'. ... 'Sorry, but because of the name of your team and in keeping with the principles of the team, which is a team of practising Muslims, we cannot play against you,' said the e-mail, according to Brethes. It added: 'Our convictions are stronger than a game of football. Sorry to have informed you so late.' PFG believe the decision was 'homophobic', and have threatened to press charges 'if Bebel continue to carry on like this', according to Brethes. He said his team was a haven for all kinds of races and also welcomed non-gay players, and he believes Bebel's decision contravenes laws governing racism and homophobia."

News: Neil Patrick Harris, 2010 Census, True Blood, Stolen Warhols

Washington state to appeal judge's ruling keeping names of donors to R-71 private.

Neil Patrick Harris touches up New York magazine.

Ed Westwick wants Zac Efron's body.

Eye-popping: Hundreds of thousands expected to report they are same-sex spouses in 2010 Census.

NYT: Pass ENDA. "People who believe in workplace fairness should lobby senators to get on board. It is unacceptable that in a nation committed to equality people can still be fired in more than half the states for being gay."

Taylor Swift speaks out about Kanye West incident: "Well, I was standing on stage because I was really excited because I had just won the award. And then I was really excited because Kanye West was on stage. And then I wasn’t so excited anymore after that...”

Egale Canada, a gay rights group, writes to Jason Kenney, minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, asking that eight homophobic dancehall singers be barred entry to Canada.

Madonna and Janet Jackson pay tribute to MJ at the VMAs.

$1 million offered for trove of stolen Warhol works in L.A.

UK footballer Trevor Morley says gay rumors nearly ruined his career: "The rumours about me being gay killed me for a while. I’ve got nothing against gays – I now have friends who are gay – but it’s not nice to be called a homosexual when you aren’t one. How many times does Robbie Williams have to come out and tell the world he isn’t gay. The more you say it, the more people start to believe it’s true… It ruined my football for a while. I’d go out onto the field and hide. I didn’t want to be there."

Values to guide Republican Bob Vander Plaats Iowa gubernatorial campaign: “Marriage is one man, one woman, period.”

Charles Darwin film can't find U.S. distributor.

David Beckham adjusts himself.

True Blood: What's coming next season - spoilers...

Matt Damon was responsible for the Venice Film Festival gay stripper-gram George Clooney received, and Clooney says he's out for revenge.

Inside New York's new Boom Boom Room.

Big spending predicted in Michigan by bigots hoping to block Kalamazoo's anti-discrimination ordinance: "Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, says Hoadley is a hired political gun who has the ability to raise a quarter-million dollars and deliver a cadre of national volunteers..."

Oscar buzz for...Mariah Carey movie?

Bud Light Lime is like anal sex, apparently.

Iran to allow transsexual marriage? "The woman, named only as Shaghayegh, told Tehran's family court she wanted to marry a school friend who had recently had a sex-change operation to become a man, but was unable to obtain her father's blessing, as legally required. Her father was summoned to court and agreed to the union on condition that the male partner, Ardashir, who was previously a woman called Negar, underwent a medical examination to prove it would be a proper male-female relationship."

Belgian Football Player Suffers Horrific Leg Break During Match

Marcin Waselewski, a defender for the Belgian football club Anderlecht, had his leg broken (and that may be an understatement) by Axel Witsel during a match against Belgian club Standard Liège on Sunday.

This is certainly one of the worst sports injuries I've ever seen (not for the squeamish). He'll be out for a year (at least).

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Italian National Football Coach Lippi: I'd Never Allow a Gay Player

 

Italian national football team coach Marcello Lippi is under fire for remarks that he'd never allow an openly gay players on Italy's team, USA Today reports:

"Lippi was quoted on an Internet television program as saying a gay couple on the field would create 'conflict' in football-mad Italy, where games and the lives of its top players are dissected in detail in national sports dailies and television talk shows. 'We're not talking about a cultural question, but of a mechanism of interests for whom a relation of this type would enter into conflict,' Lippi told the KlausCondicio program. 'Even if from a cultural perspective people would approve and be able to understand and accept such a situation, it would nevertheless be exploited so much that it would end up negatively.'"

Gay rights group Arcigay responded: "We are tired of hearing politicians, singers and coaches who fuel... a climate that is by now poisoned by fear and suspicion. We don't want to be afraid any more, and we hope that people in the public eye will have the courage to affirm the dignity of everyone to live their own lives, their relations and loves in broad daylight."

Lippi's remarks are similar to those made last year by former managing director of Italian football club Juventus Luciano Moggi, who said that football is no place for gays and he feared for players in the locker room.

Of course greasing up your teammate's pecs in the locker room for a Dolce & Gabbana underwear shoot is totally acceptable.