News: Spencer Tunick, Bijou, Michelle Bachmann, Bullying, Otters

Washington Post calls for protection of Washington Blade's historic archives: "Every effort should be made to keep the archive accessible to researchers and historians." Closure raises questions...More from Gay City News...

Photographer Spencer Tunick seeks gays and lesbians for mass Sydney Mardi Gras nude shoot: “I want someone who is straight to lie peacefully naked next to someone who is gay. I think the act, not only making the work, but the act itself is a calming of the senses.”

If a gay man calls you an otter, is this what he's referring to?

Sirdeaner Walker and two other mothers urge Massachusetts lawmakers to pass anti-bullying bill.

Charges dropped in Perez Hilton assault case: "Black Eyed Peas manager Liborio Molina apologized to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton as part of an agreement allowing assault charges against him to be dropped, lawyers said Wednesday. 'I apologize for what I did on June 22 of 2009, even though you engaged in highly offensive comments ... I acknowledge that these kinds of issues should not be resolved through a physical response,' the apology read. Hilton told The Associated Press in an e-mail he was happy Molina had accepted responsibility for his actions."

The Insider goes on Levi Johnston's photo shoot.

Man found dead in Bijou theater in Chicago.

CREW: Michelle Bachmann's teabagger rally may have violated House rules. "Bachmann's site urged people to come to the Capitol rally 'and tell their Representatives to vote no' on the health-care reform bill. House rules prohibit members from using their sites -- which are funded by taxpayers -- to conduct 'grassroots lobbying or solicit support for a Member's position.' CREW also alleges that Bachmann and her allies may have violated other House rules by holding a rally without a permit. News reports suggest the event's organizer's made an effort to call it a press conference, for which a permit wouldn't be needed. But no questions were asked at the event, and in a TV interview beforehand, Bachmann urged supporters 'to come to Washington, D.C. by the car load.'"

Beyond Gay: Lesbian and gay man attempt to get it on in sequel to Humpday.

ChurchOuting: Site outs closeted Catholic priests.

The spy who loved him: Trial of gay spy and Macedonian interpreter/lover, to whom he leaked classified secrets, grips Germany. "Spiegel magazine reported that this included information obtained by British agents, and that K. revealed it 'in the bedroom' or by allowing his lover access to his laptop computer. The latter 'then intended to pass this information on either to people in the area of organised crime in Macedonia or to foreign intelligence agencies,' federal prosecutors said. For the defence, however, the two men are victims of a homophobic witch-hunt within the BND, which since the affair broke has reportedly been forced to sever contacts with at least 19 information sources in the Balkans."

Vman celebrates legendary male models.

Rosie O'Donnell: Partner Kelli Carpenter moved out two years ago.

Seven tips for dissolving gay unions.

Gay Philippine party Ladlad appeals to elections board for reconsideration.

Police use taser on 10-year-old girl: "According to a report filed by Bradshaw on Thursday, the officer found the girl on the floor of the house screaming and crying. She refused to follow her mother's instructions and the mother told Bradshaw to use his Taser. Bradshaw carried the girl to the living room and told her she was going to jail, according to the report. The girl was violently kicking, the report said, and struck Bradshaw in the groin with her legs and feet. The report said Bradshaw administered a 'very, very brief' stun with the Taser, put the girl in handcuffs and carried her to his patrol car. She was taken to the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter in Cecil."

More on the Hairless Bears of Leipzig, Germany

Here's some footage from Leipzig, Germany of the bears I featured in the news round-up yesterday which are suddenly losing all of their fur, via The Awl.

Says the reporter: "Zookeepers know that the Spectacled Bears have a disease, but they don't know which one."

Maybe it's the disease you get when you're kept for years in a brick and asphalt prison that feels nothing like your natural habitat?

Just a thought.

Clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Germany, Belmont Rocks, Rent, Dot Gay, Uganda, Polar Bears

Website devoted to raid on Atlanta Eagle bar launches.

Health care: Pelosi publicly whipping on robust public option?

SPACE: A giant hole found in the Moon, the youngest and most distant galaxy cluster ever recorded, and a stunning map of exploration of our solar system.

News anchor finds himself in a remake of The Birds.

Boston gays to protest Obama this weekend.

PFOX urges libraries to carry books about the "ex-gay" movement.

Jack Mackenroth slams Oprah over HIV show.

Utah Catholic high school defends production of Rent: "Sister Catherine Kamphaus, superintendent of schools in the Salt Lake City diocese, said she read the script at the request of Bishop John Wester, and she watched a dress rehearsal Tuesday. 'There is absolutely nothing that would be offensive,' Kamphaus said Thursday. 'It wasn't condoning the gay and lesbian lifestyle.' Rather, she said, the play shows friends forming a loving and caring community while facing AIDS and other challenges."

Homophobic Daily Mail writer Jan Moir was thrilled to be in spotlight over Gately death.

San Diego gay man says attack in Hillcrest area was hate crime.

Producers shaft the hot dude on Melrose Place.

Time capsule: Chicago's Belmont Rocks.

Tom Cruise: American Psycho.

Report: International transgender community at higher risk in counterterrorism operations. "The report, by noted International Law Professor Martin Sheinin, concludes that because security personnel regularly seek out men 'dressed as women' as potential terrorists, soldiers often target all men in female clothing — including those who do so as part of their gender identity. This is particularly the case in Middle Eastern/Islamic nations — or against Middle Eastern/Islamic people.' Enhanced immigration controls that focus attention on male bombers who may be dressing as females to avoid scrutiny make transgender persons susceptible to increased harassment and suspicion,' the report says."

Coalition releases statement condemning anti-gay bill in Uganda.

UK's first gay tourism office opens in London's Soho district.

Obama administration sets aside 200,000 acres in Alaska for Polar Bears.

Model Paul Sculfor shoots gay scene in Madrid.

The Dot Gay Alliance has competition from a straight German man in Riga, Latvia: "While both groups have left open the possibility of cooperating, they haven’t yet joined forces. Both groups say they plan on starting the application process with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, to create top-level domains, akin to .com, .edu, .org and .net."

German high court backs pensions for gay married couples: "A failure to give gay partners the same benefits infringes the basic right to equal treatment, the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said. The decision nullified an earlier ruling from the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) regarding a Hamburg man who has been a public servant since 1991 with a supplementary pension. The public-sector pension company VBL – the largest such company in the nation – refused to give the man married status, despite the fact that he’d been living in a registered civil union for eight years. This meant that his retirement benefits would be €74 less each month, and his partner would receive no surviving dependants’ pension in the event of his death."

Watch: Whitney Houston Looks to Germany in Comeback

Whitney Houston performed on the popular German talk show Wetten Das over the weekend.

Her performance of "I Look to You", and interview, AFTER THE JUMP...

New Gay Foreign Minister and Partner are Germany's 'Power Couple'

The German daily Bild is feting the likely new foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle (right), and his partner Michael Mronz, as the nation's new "power couple" following Angela Merkel's election win.

The AP reports: "The ringing endorsement for the 47-year-old Westerwelle, who is widely expected to be tapped for the high-profile post of foreign minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's new government, in the Bild daily also highlighted his personal life in a way he rarely has. 'His man makes him so strong,' Bild wrote about Westerwelle, declaring that his 42-year-old partner Michael Mronz was not only his most important adviser during the campaign, but also 'gives him security and ... supports him when he suffers a setback.' Despite eight years as leader of the pro-business Free Democrats, Westerwelle's homosexuality has generated relatively little discussion. But with his party set to become kingmaker to Chancellor Merkel's conservatives and him foreign minister, it has been thrust into the spotlight."

Said Westerwelle to German gay magazine Siegessaeule: "I can only tell all young gays and lesbians to not be disheartened, if not everything goes their way. This society is changing for the good in the direction of tolerance and respect ... though slower than I would wish."

News: Roman Polanski, Frog, Angela Merkel, ENDA, Graham Norton

Blake Hayes, the gay man at the center of the NYC gay bashing over the weekend, asks that you stop calling McCoy's Bar, in front of which the incident occurred, because the owner is cooperating.

Equality Texas offices vandalized in possible hate crime.

Report: Madonna to marry Jesus in "lavish ceremony".

Conservative columnist and Nixon speechwriter William Safire dies.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry: Make ENDA top priority. "I believe that if we all concentrate our efforts where it needs to be concentrated, which is on the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, we can get the job done. If we can get ENDA enacted and signed into law, it is only a matter of time before all the rest happens. It is the keystone that holds up the whole bunch, and so we need to focus our energies and attention there."

Graham Norton criticized for calling model a lesbian: "I don't know why they've got some strange lesbian to be the model." The BBC asks: is it ok for gay men to joke about lesbians?

If you're wondering why Hugh Jackman has a topless mermaid tattoo on his arm, click here.

Fugitive director Roman Polanski arrested in Switzerland. (video) Men's art prioritized over women's safety?

Male model fix: Holden Nowell.

Observers: Mormon church regressing on gay issues. "The church has a long way to go to get into the 21st century. They're making incremental movements. What Hafen has done is take them back 25 years."

A few major How I Met Your Mother spoilers...

Friends: the movie?

Erotic festival in Buenos Aires opens to gay groups for first time: "Over 30 exhibitors include TV channels for adults, toys and erotic clothing, aphrodisiac dolls, new technologies, DVDs, piercings and tattoos, cosmetics, anime, books and magazines."

Simon Cowell turns 50, pens lengthy birthday card to himself.

Blogger Pam Spaulding delivers keynote address at NC Pride 2009.

Fanged frog discovered in remote Thailand hungry for birds.

A day in the life of the Approve Referendum 71 campaign.

Angela Merkel claims victory; Germany to get openly gay foreign minister: "The 47-year old from Bonn will become Germany’s first openly homosexual vice-chancellor and could win more than the normal three cabinet positions traditionally reserved for the junior partner in a coalition government."

Bradley Cooper house hunts in L.A.

Boston College Law School defends right of Professor Scott Fitzgibbons to participate in anti-gay "Yes on 1" Maine marriage ad: "Professor Fitzgibbon, as a member of our faculty, is free to express his views … we also have faculty members who hold a contrary view, which they too are free to express publicly. As I think any of our faculty might have done, he stated his views without prior notice to or clearance from the Law School."