News: Wanda Sykes, Mercy, PETA, Kara GioGuardi, Banksy

Tony Dungy, anti-gay former head of the Indianapolis Colts, is asked to serve on Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Man pays for car wash with Banksy bill: "This chap gave us the note and said 'keep the change - it's worth a lot more than ten pounds!'."

First photo of Mercy as paparazzi trails Madonna in Malawi.

"A fuller answer is needed.": The SF Chronicle on the case of Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado and the need for the Uniting American Families Act to pass.

No fooling: DVD-quality workprint of X-Men: Wolverine leaks to the internet.

Pedro airs tonight.

Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese denies it is "testing" prospective priests for homosexuality.

Wanda Sykes gets new show on Fox: "The Sykes show, which is expected to launch in the fall, would fill the void left by the recently canceled sketch series 'MadTV.' Hourlong show would air at 11 p.m. According to Broadcasting & Cable, which first broke the news, the Sykes skein would look more like a panel series similar to Bill Maher's HBO show, as opposed to a regular talker. Beyond the topical panel discussions, the series also will follow Sykes as she shoots field segments."

Jason Statham cools off in Malibu.

Joe the Plumber still doesn't know crap about anything.

Young and the Restless actress Clementine Ford and Broadway's Hair star Gavin Creel both say: "I'm gay."

Endangered wildlife "camera traps" will soon tie in to Google Earth: "Cameras equipped with infrared triggers, known as camera traps, are used to identify, count and observe larger mammals in isolated areas. Now researchers from Earthwatch are adding the latest images from their camera traps in Ecuador's cloud forests to Google Earth. They hope to raise awareness of endangered species, encouraging donations and attracting tourists to the region to support conservation efforts."

How 'bout some beefy Mehcad Brooks?

Group to train LGBT people in civil disobedience.

Judge allows Lawrence King's teen killer Brandon McInerney to attend his father's funeral: "Ventura County Superior Court Judge James Cloninger ruled Monday that Brandon McInerney can temporarily leave juvenile hall for the funeral. The date for the private family service hasn't been disclosed."

PETA puts Cloris Leachman in cabbage.

Who knew that filmmaker John Waters is a fan of the often inscrutable fine art doodler Cy Twombly?

Stash of gay porn magazines causes fuss at Aberdeen, UK City Council office: "I have taken the liberty of removing these and they are available in my office to be collected should the owner wish to do so."

"Broken record": American Idol judge Kara GioGuardi hit by audience backlash. What you didn't see...

Gay indie artist Chris Garneau set to release second album.

Soap opera Home and Away's lesbian kiss causes stir in Australia: "About 20 people gathered in Melbourne's Federation Square for a mass 'kiss-off' as the episode went to air on Tuesday night, despite an announcement by broadcaster Channel Seven that the programme would be shown in its entirety."

News: Lincoln, Joaquin Phoenix, Sundance, Philippines, kd lang

Presbyterian leaders in Kentucky vote to allow gays and lesbians to be ordained as pastors, elders and deacons.

Abraham Lincoln's watchmaker carved a secret inscription to the president on the inside of his pocket watch. The watchmaker's memory of it is nicer than the reality: "The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try."

Stunt? Joaquin Phoenix attacks "bitch" in his audience - VIDEO.

Florida judge orders school board to allow Gay-Straight Alliance to meet at Yullee High School near Jacksonville.

Center Square: San Francisco reading of one-man play about Paul Lynde halted by "cease and desist" letter.

Gay man picked to head Sundance Film Festival: "Actor Robert Redford, who founded the Sundance Institute in 1981, said [John] Cooper 'brings to the position an infectious enthusiasm as well as a deep understanding of the Sundance brand and culture. Forward thinking, he is a natural choice of succession to lead the Festival into the 21st century.' In recent years, Cooper has been involved in distributing short films on platforms such as iTunes, XBox360, and Netflix. He's also recently spearheaded the Art House Project, an initiative of 18 art houses from across the country designed to connect regional audiences to the Sundance's films and filmmakers."

It's probably best not to give a woman-beater a Kids' Choice Award.

Oh, just kiss and get it over with.

Three new biographies explore authors who were gay (or struggled with it).

Trial to begin over anti-gay killing in Brooklyn's Crown Heights. Killer thought victim was flirting with him.

Philippines military opens recruitment to gays. Commanding officer: "I don’t have anything against gay people but I am still in the dark, I cannot imagine how they will perform and discharge their duties once they are accepted in the military"

Boston Gay Men's Chorus to tackle kd lang's "Big Boned Gal" in next concert. Somebody please send a video.

Apparently, Sean Penn's suit from Milk is a Mormon magnet.

Big Gulp: Croc gobbles shark in Australia.

Website scans NYC sandwiches.

Clay Aiken to present GLAAD award to Tyra Banks.

Gambling regulators in Las Vegas recommend $50,000 fine and a 6-month suspension of a slot machine license for city's oldest gay bar Snick's, over public sex complaint.

In praise of Sonny Bill Williams.

Google to increase user surveillance: "Google’s influence over our lives is set to grow further after it anounced today that it will track millions of people as they move through the internet in order work out what their interests are. Using that information, it will then provide targeted advertising to suit users' individual tastes."

Homophobic Android App Tests for Sexuality: 'Sorry, you're Gay'

 

The app store for Google's G1 phone on the Android platform is selling an app by Bendroid called "Straight?" in the Android Marketplace, Jason Dabrowski reports.

It's a program in which the user touches a finger to the phone's touchscreen, which then broadcasts one of two messages, either "You are the man" or "Sorry, Sweety, you are."

After the app was flagged, a Google employee posted the following response: "Regarding this specific case, though the app may be offensive to some, it is not in violation. Stereotypes in and of themselves do not constitute hate against a group."

(via box turtle bulletin)

News: Michael Phelps, Kiss Arrest, Richard Serra, Australia, Oral Sex

Houston judge and AIDS activist John Paul Barnich, the first openly gay man to become a city court judge in Texas, dies at 63. Gay historian and NYC activist Donn Teal dies at 76.

Google Earth helps scientists find wealth of new species in Mozambique, including pygmy chameleon.

Meet the sheriff who's out to get Michael Phelps!

Phelps makes first appearance.

Two women say they were arrested for kissing at a San Antonio mall: "Garcia said the officers — a Bexar County sheriff's deputy and an employee from a private security company — began harassing them Dec. 26 because her girlfriend gave her a kiss on the cheek while sitting inside the mall on a bench. Mall officials said the women, both 22, were acting inappropriately and were told to leave because they were not complying with the shopping center's code of conduct."

Tom Cruise shows off his bod in Brazil.

Gay Bishop Gene Robinson leads Maryland Senate prayer "[in which he asked God to bless the legislators with] anger at discrimination in all its forms."

Someone left Richard Serra out in the rain...

Federal judge: Gay porn website Cocodorm has right to run business out of Miami home: "Cocodorm.com features black and Hispanic men, known as 'dorm dudes,' who share a webcam-filled house together and have sex on schedule. For that they are paid at least $1,200 a month, plus free room and board. Miami has tried to shut the house down, arguing it constitutes an adult business illegally operating in a residential area. The city's Code Enforcement Board in 2007 agreed, but Cocodorm responded to the code enforcement proceedings by suing in federal court."

Google now wants to know where you are all the time.

Does oral sex help protect against HIV? "The study, published in the (expensive, subscription only) AIDS journal and helpfully summarised by Aidsmap suggests that men who give lots of blow jobs to their HIV-positive partners develop antibodies specific to that partner’s virus, protecting themselves against infection. The more virus their partner has kicking around in their semen, the higher the concentration of specific antibodies, and the protection seems to last for quite a while too."

L.A. Times: Penn's Milk an act of kindness.

Jason Mraz meditates on spirituality.

Jesus: Is Madonna pulling a power trip on A-Rod?

Iceland's Sigurdardottir wants nation to join EU: "Sigurdardottir touted EU membership at a joint news conference Tuesday with Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson, whose Left-Green Movement teamed up with the prime minister's Social Democratic Alliance to form the new two-party minority government. The Alliance party was until recently the only movement in Iceland's five-party parliament to push EU membership as a viable way to rescue Iceland's suffering economy."

In the green room: How Ang Lee discovered gay Woodstock figure Elliott Tiber's memoir about the music festival that is the subject of his forthcoming film.

Gay extortion suspect sought in Sydney: "Investigators are looking into the matter, which began when a 39-year-old man met another man at a hotel in Bourke Street, Darlinghurst on November 30 last year. The pair went back to the victim's Potts Point home where the items were stolen. 'Since then, the man has been subjected to ongoing threats of violence and forced to handover his bank account PIN numbers,' police said today." Police warn of AIDS cure scammer too!

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #424

DENVER SIGHTSEEING: Michelangelo Signorile and Mike Jones visit the apartment where Jones had sex with Ted Haggard.

SHINING LIGHT: The new Annie Lennox single.

CHER ON MADONNA: A new clip from Nadya Ginsburg.

GOOGLE EARTH 5.0: The new version allows you to see historical imagery, dive beneath the ocean's surface, and record a tour of your travels.

Google 'Street View' Van Hits Deer, Photographs It

Weird things often show up on Google Maps' street view feature. This time, Google accidentally created the content.

The van that shoots images for street view hit a fawn while shooting in Rush, New York, and for a while the image was up on Street View for all to see. As people took notice Google blacked it out.

Google also released a statement:

"Gathering the imagery for Street View requires quite a bit of driving; as such, we take safety very seriously. Unfortunately, accidents do happen -- as some people have noticed, one of our Street View cars hit a deer while driving on a rural road in upstate New York. Due to several user requests using the "Report a concern" tool, these images are no longer available in Street View. The driver was understandably upset, and promptly stopped to alert the local police and the Street View team at Google. The deer was able to move and had left the area by the time the police arrived. The police explained to our driver that, sadly, this was not an uncommon occurrence in the region -- the New York State Department of Transportation estimates that 60,000-70,000 deer collisions happen per year in New York alone -- and no police report needed to be filed."

Having been a passenger in a car that has hit a deer, I have to agree it's a distressing experience, so I'm glad they also released some tips for drivers to avoid such accidents. I also hope they were telling the truth about the deer.

(via gizmodo)