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"

Milk Film the Target of Online Gay Bashing

Nathaniel at Film Experience reports on some analysis by Awards Daily showing that as soon as Milk was nominated for an Oscar its ratings on the IMDB charts took a nosedive. Awards Daily writes:

"Give a movie with a gay theme some Oscar attention, and there’s a backlash from certain quarters that can only be called gaybashing. That sudden slump in Milk’s already battered position on the IMDb charts is exactly what happened to Brokeback Mountain three years ago. As soon as enough people start to see an important gay film as a threat, the same types who believe gay marriage is a menace to society climb out of their holes and start shredding it. I talked about this a couple of days ago when I noticed the percentage of '1' scores for each of the BP nominated movies. We decided to call it the IMDb “Hate-Rate” ® Even the best films will always have 1-2% of IMDb voters giving it the lowest score of “1″ as if it sets their eyeballs on fire to watch it. But Milk has 5.6% of IMDb voters saying it’s the lowest movie scum in existence. The number of '1' scores for Brokeback Mountain is an astonishing and despicable 8.1%. (Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories has 6.4% of voters giving it a '1')"

You Gotta Give Em Hope Time [film experience]
Slamdogs Gaybash Milk [awards daily]

With SAG Award, Sean Penn's Oscar Odds Increase

Sean Penn took home the Screen Actors Guild award last night for Milk. It was the sole award for Milk as Slumdog Millionaire took "Best Ensemble" and the late Heath Ledger won "Best Supporting Actor" for The Dark Knight.

He started out his speech with a message for a certain FOX News ranter: "Thank you and good evening, comrades. That was for O'Reilly"...

Penn continued, "Something happened to me during the making of this movie. I noticed it tonight that the statues have rather healthy packages."

Putting the unnecessary gay=sex joke aside*, he continued, "As actors we don't play gay, straight ...we play human beings. [I'm] so appreciative of this acknowledgment. This is a story of equal rights for all human beings. Thanks Gus Van Sant, Lance Black, the counsel of Cleve Jones and the great Harvey Milk."

*To be fair, Laura Linney also made a joke about trying not to fondle her statue.

Full list of honorees, AFTER THE JUMP...

Milk a Contender as Oscar Nominations are Announced

The team who made Milk is likely celebrating this morning, as the film, which was pretty much snubbed by the Hollywood Foreign Press, just received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor for Sean Penn, Best Supporting Actor for Josh Brolin, Best Screenplay and Best Director. It also received nods for Best Editing, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

I have the full list up, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Prop 8, Howard Bragman, Fin Whale, Heath Ledger, Earth

Dozens of amicus briefs (Google, California Council of Churches, California NAACP, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and California Rural Legal Assistance) submitted in massive push against Proposition 8.

Massive Fin Whale perishes on Irish beach.

Some stunning shots of our beautiful planet.

Mom unhappy after finding Butt at American Apparel: "Trina Campbell told CBC News on Tuesday she and her 13-year-old daughter saw the magazine sticking out of a backpack on display inside the American Apparel outlet at the Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver. 'I pulled it out and I went to open it and it flipped open to a double-page spread of two men having full-on sexual activity, not just suggestive,' Campbell said. 'I don't think this is something that the average person wants to see unless they're ready or going out of the way to see it.'" Although she apparently left the store with her own copy.

John McCain kills Cindy's Dancing with the Stars dream.

DNC settles lawsuit with gay outreach director Donald Hitchcock: "Hitchcock, former director of the Committee's Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council, filed suit on April 17, 2007 in Washington DC Superior Court after his termination, which he charged was in retaliation for criticism of the party by his partner, party activist Paul Yandura, in April 2006. Yandura's open letter criticized the matter in which donations from gay Democrats were being used, particularly how he felt that the party's interest in the LGBT community was limited to their financial contributions."

Inside the Chateau Marmont party for PR guru Howard Bragman's new book Where's My Fifteen Minutes?

Gossip Girl spin-off to feature younger versions of the show's older characters, set in the 80's.

Gay Fort Lauderdale mayoral candidate Earl Rynerson, who is running on a 'bloated budget' platform, under magnifying glass over his past personal expenses.

STUDY: Coffee reduces Alzheimer's risk.

Showtime confirms spin-off to The L Word. SPOILER: Will follow character Alice Pieszecki (Leisha Hailey) in prison. "Famke Janssen ('Nip/Tuck') guest stars in the first episode, along with Melissa Leo ('Frozen River') and Laurie Metcalf ('Roseanne') who appear as prison guards. 'It's not all lesbians like 'The L Word,'' Greenblatt says. 'It is more of a sort of mixed group of female characters, some of whom are lesbians. It is not as dark as 'Oz.' There have been a lot of female prison shows over the years that have been campy. This is not campy.' The working title is 'The Farm,' he says. "

Was the winner of The Bachelor revealed in the show's preview?

David Beckham hitches on to the droopy drawers trend.

Ledger's last days.

New "superdrug" in the works to combat HIV/AIDS.

NBC's Southland series to include gay cop.

iTunes offering two free Sundance LGBT short films.

Could the lead in Gus van Sant's adaptation of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test be Jack Black: "'Unfortunately, Heath Ledger was a pretty obvious choice, and he’s gone,' Van Sant told MTV News in an exclusive interview. But who else could play zany philosopher-king and 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest' author Kesey? 'There’s the opportunity that it could be Jack Black,' says Van Sant, hinting the film might possibly take on a more comedic feel. At the moment, though, the 'Milk' director is awaiting the initial draft of the screenplay, which is being penned by 'Milk' scriptwriter Dustin Lance Black. 'He’s cracking the nut,' Van Sant tells us. 'I’m not sitting with him every day. I probably should think about doing that, but I haven’t seen the first draft yet. I hope he cracks it. There are many ways to crack it.'"

The Story Behind the Shot: Milk in a Whistle

This was certainly an impressive shot from Gus van Sant's Milk.

Says Director of Photography Harris Savides: "It’s really simple and it wasn’t planned at all. We were shooting the scene and the last shot that night was a close-up of the whistle. Gus and I were talking and we thought it would be great if we saw the whole scene in this whistle, and Gus made it happen in post. They took one of the shots and put it in this shot, the close-up of the whistle we got. I was surprised that it happened at all. But that kind of stuff, especially with Gus, is very on the fly. There’s no storyboards."

From Kristopher Tapley's Top 10 shots of 2008.