News: Autumn, Provincetown, Starbucks, Trevor Donovan, Lutherans

Is the Westboro Baptist Church distributing flyers that read "Kill Jews" around Brooklyn? Sounds like it.

Guess what? It's leaf peeping time.

Anderson Cooper, swine flu victim?

Capital Territory tries again for marriage equality, again faces government opposition.

This is it: Michael Jackson media blitz begins.

Elizabeth Taylor wants to be buried next to MJ? "After sitting through Michael's funeral service at the Great Mausoleum, with its magnificent stained-glass windows and replicas of Michelangelo's artworks, she later told friends, 'I felt a sense of peace there that I've never experienced before.'"

Chapel Hill, North Carolina to woo gay travelers: “We are looking at this from a purely economic perspective.”

Michelle Phillips says Mackenzie is lying about the incest.

Disgusting: NOM targets Californians Against Hate activist Fred Karger with subpoena in retaliation for his investigations of their spending toward anti-gay ballot measures.

Provincetown gay basher Eric Patten slapped with civil rights injunction. You may recall that Patten beat up a lesbian on Commercial Street and pushed her through a window after mistaking her for a gay man.

Office of Special Counsel reopens to federal workers who face anti-gay harassment on the job: "The decision effectively puts to an end any confusion caused by a directive instituted under the Bush administration that had restricted the federal agency from representing certain anti-gay discrimination cases sought by employees of the U.S. government. In 2004 then Office of Special Counsel head Scott Bloch declared that federal law did not protect workers who faced on-the-job discrimination based on their sexual orientation or 'status' as gays and lesbians."

Ian McKellen honored at San Sebastian Film Festival.

90210 hunk Trevor Donovan flashes A/X shoppers.

Starbucks app uses iPhone to pay for lattes.

Long tarmac delays to be banned: "The Capitol Hill event drew both supporters and critics of the legislation, which would force airlines to create plans to deplane passengers after three hours and would require them to provide basic services such as food and water while they are waiting on planes."

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America begs its members not to withhold donations over its recent decision to allow gay and lesbian clergy: "Although these actions are promoted as a way to signal opposition to churchwide assembly actions or even to punish the voting members who made them, the result will be wounds that we inflict on ourselves, our shared life, and our mission in Christ."

Australia's first gay retirement home hits roadblocks: "Those interested in buying off the plan will now have to wait until early 2010 for the Ballan-based village. The $26 million Linton Estate project has experienced a series of delays since it was announced in July last year, with the global financial crisis and thrashing out suitable floor plans being blamed."

Closet the Only Option for Many Gay Seniors

 The plight of many gay seniors is highlighted by the Chicago Tribune's profile of 85-year-old Victor Engandela, whose rich, challenging life journey has brought him to a seniors care facility in Evanston, Illinois, where he has been forced back into the closet:

"'I always said when I retired, when it was no longer
dangerous, I was going to come out.' And that's what he did, retiring in the 1970s and telling everyone he knew, including members of the YMCA men's club where he was president, that he was gay. It felt good to finally be fully open, and he savored those years. But now Engandela feels as closeted as he's ever been. He often sits alone in the dining room, and has little to do with the various groups and clubs at his long-term care facility. He has a friend who comes by twice a week. On Saturdays they sit in his room and listen to opera on the radio. Engandela has been to the seniors program at the Center on Halsted a couple of times, but it's hard for him to arrange transportation. Once, another man from the nursing home took him, but when the man realized it was a gay organization he stormed off to the Center's lobby, refusing to dine with Engandela and the other seniors. 'At this point in my life, I can't believe I have to feel this way,' Engandela said. 'I have a lot of memories I'd like to share, a lot I'd like to talk about. But I feel like I can't, and I shudder when I think I have to spend the remaining years of my life in this place.'"

Engandela's story is why groups like S.A.G.E. are so important.

The Tribune also profiles 61-year-old Marvin Levin and the city's Center on Halsted and its seniors program.

Two Elderly Gay Men in Indiana Slain in Potential Hate Crime

Milton Lindgren, 70, and Eric Hendricks, 73, two southwest Indianapolis men, were found dead inside their home Monday, and friends believe that they were slain because they're gay:

"Patrick Beard, a friend of the victims, told 6News' Rick Hightower that he believed the men were targeted. 'I firmly believe it was definitely a hate crime. Milt was 70 and his partner was 73 and to go into someone's home and do something like that, it's just too coincidental,' he said. Police reports show that the men had their phone and cable lines cut twice in the past few months, and that anti-gay statements were posted on their front door. Investigators said that while they do believe the vandalism was related to Lindgren and Hendricks being gay, that they didn't know if their killings were. Beard's son, who also knew the victims, said he believes police will eventually reach the same conclusion he and his father have. 'I'm not a genius, but if someone's being harassed like that and fagot gets stamped on their door on a piece of paper, it's not that hard to connect the dots two months later that these two people are brutally killed in their home,' Lee Beard said."

The cause of death appears to be blunt force trauma. There was blood everywhere in the home.

Hendricks was ill and in a wheelchair. Lindgren was reportedly his caregiver.

How terribly sad.

New Ad Campaign Focuses on LGBT Seniors

Adrants reports on the new campaign: "Under the slogan 'Because there is no expiration date on a full, active life,' Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) ferreted them out for an ad campaign. Warm, approachable images of them -- as actors! families! Dianic priestesses! magicians! -- will be used on subway metro cards, in print ads, in phone kiosks, and on bus shelters."

A PDF with more of the ads can be found here.

Visit SAGE here.

News: Jim Neal, Ronaldo, Gay Sauna, Smiley Face, Charlie Crist

AFA asks followers to bombard Procter & Gamble with complaints over Luke and Noah's kiss.

Brazilian footballer Ronaldo caught up in tranny hooker extortion plot: "He told police he knew they were hookers, but didn't know they were dudes. He took the three trannies to a motel where he discovered the truth. He offered them around $600 each to leave. Two of the trannies accepted, but the other tranny, Andre Luis Ribeiro Albertino (above), demanded $30,000 or else."

Out has an exclusive excerpt from John Barrowman's new autobiography, Anything Goes.

Hillary Clinton supporter set up Reverend Jeremiah Wright appearance at National Press Club.

HRC refusing to support gay candidate Jim Neal in North Carolina...

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter appoints liaison to LGBT community. Mayor: "For the first time, the LGBT liaison will actually be operating out of the mayor's office, working across city government to advocate for the needs of Philadelphia's LGBT community."

Australian forum hears calls for gay-friendlier nursing homes.

Male autograph seekers mob Lance Bass outside Villa nightclub.

Police raid gay sauna in Israel: "The association's chairman, Mike Hammel, said that 'the sauna is a meeting place for men looking to meet men.' Hammel received many complaints from the sauna's visitors accusing him of slander. The sauna is viewed as a recreational place for gays around the world. In Tel-Aviv, for instance, there are three running saunas. A. established the sauna in Haifa a few months ago, investing large sums of money, and has run it ever since. This is the only place in the north serving as a meeting place for the gay community. 'Saying that this place provides prostitution services, is simply ignorance and stupidity', he said to Ynet. 'Only in Haifa can they come to a place for gays, remove people as if they were a herd of animals, and simply place them under investigation for prostitution.'"

Smiley Face: Investigators discover common link between 40 murder cases of young men across the country. "Gannon and Duarte have done something that no other law enforcement agency has ever done in this case -- they looked at the big picture and visited each site where the young men disappeared. While most local investigations focused on where a body was recovered, Gannon and Duarte tried to figure out where the body went into the river. City after city, when they'd find the spot where the body went in, they would find something else: The symbol of a smiley face."

Cher reminisces about affair with Tom Cruise: "It could have been a great big romance because I was crazy for him."

Lipstick Jungle's Robert Buckley doing what he does best.

Military responds to disgusting video of conditions at Fort Bragg: " Frawley's 10-minute video shows still photos from throughout the building, which appears to be falling apart and filled with mold and rust. Paint -- which Frawley said is lead-based -- is chipping. Ceiling tiles are missing. A broken drain pipe allows sewer gas into the building, while another one has tissues stuffed into it in an apparent effort to stop the gas from coming in. Photos from the communal bathroom show some of the most disgusting images. In one, a soldier stands in a sink to avoid what Frawley describes as 3 inches of sewage water that filled the floor when toilets overflowed."

Letter from Bible beater to underwear company condemns "evil, immoral clothing that will keep souls out of the holy, heavenly kingdom."

Who knew? Florida Governor Charlie Crist has a wife (or at least some want him to be seen that way).

News: Glaciers, Jared Leto, Gay Nursing Home, Kevin Rudd

NYT: Civil unions not enough. "Though such arrangements were created, often under court mandate, with a promise of treating same-sex couples the same as opposite-sex couples, many gays and lesbians say they have not delivered and can never do so because separate institutions are inherently unequal. Many also resent being denied use of the word marriage, which they say carries intangible benefits, prestige and status."

Becks and teammate clutch the family jewels.

First stills of Britney Spears guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother.

Glaciers melting faster than at any time since records began: "The details are revealed in the latest report from the World Glacier Monitoring Service and will add to growing alarm about the rise in sea levels and increased instances of flooding, avalanches and drought. Based on historical records and other evidence, the rate at which the glaciers are melting is also thought to be faster that at any time in the past 5,000 years, said Professor Wilfried Haeberli, director of the monitoring service. 'There's no absolute proof, but nevertheless the evidence is strong: this is really extraordinary.'"

Inside Berlin's Asta Nielsen Haus, the first nursing home in Europe to cater specifically to gays and lesbians: "We just want people to be able to speak freely of their pasts. They shouldn't have to worry about reactions or prejudices. It's simple really: no one should be shocked to go into a man's room and see a picture of another man. No one should have to explain themselves to others at this stage of life."

Halloween in San Francisco's Castro District canceled forever.

Wentworth Miller goes to Jerusalem.

Nun urges Vatican to drop prejudice against gays and lesbians.

Gay Republican runs for seat on Plano, Texas City Council: "Justin Nichols is charting new territory in more ways than one. Nichols, 23, is already the youngest candidate ever to run for Plano City Council. If Nichols wins his race for the Place 1 seat on May 10, he’ll also become the first openly gay member of the body. 'I don’t know that one is harder than the other,' Nichols told Dallas Voice this week. 'I think that each is solved by letting people get to know you.' Nichols also faces a third challenge when it comes to gaining the support of Plano’s small but growing LGBT community: He’s a Republican."

Obama responds to controversial comments of Reverend Jeremiah Wright: "Let me repeat what I've said earlier. All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn. They in no way reflect my attitudes and directly contradict my profound love for this country."

Jared Leto packed on the pounds for his role as John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman.

Gay groups picket 'prayer breakfast' hosted by anti-gay Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle: "The featured speaker at the prayer breakfast, Jim Daly, president of the right-wing religious organization Focus on the Family, is among the most aggressive opponents of the gay rights movement. Daly’s organization is one of the primary backers of an anti-gay marriage amendment that goes before voters in November."

Australian PM Kevin Rudd forcing ministerial staff to list history of sexual partners, reveal extra-marital affairs and detail homosexual experiences before gaining security clearance: "More than 300 ministerial and electorate staffers have been ordered to fill in a 25-page form and attend an in-depth interview into their personal finances, drug habits and sexual history before gaining high-level security clearance. Senior staff say they have been told the security form is designed to protect them from blackmail. But several have told The Sunday Telegraph they were affronted at the personal information they had been forced to divulge."