San Diego Padre Rookies Hazed, Made to Wear Hooters Uniforms

The San Diego Padres observed an annual hazing ritual on Wednesday when they made the rookies dress up in Hooters uniforms.

The rookies then announced that, like the city's firefighters, they would be suing their managers because of the stress of being looked upon as sex objects, and subjected to cat calls, lewd comments and gestures*...

They were also subjected to "raised eyebrows" out on the town.

One more shot, AFTER THE JUMP...

* For those of you who haven't read the San Diego firefighter post below, that's what I'm sarcastically referring to here. The rookies are not actually suing their managers, I'm just making a point about 'public humiliation' and heterosexuals' willingness to go along with it in a straight macho hetero setting, but not a gay one.

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News: Leo Abse, Gorilla, Daniel Radcliffe, Semi-Colons, Hazing

Can orange juice counteract prescription medications?

Here we go: the marketing onslaught begins.

LeRoi Moore, Saxaphonist for Dave Matthews Band dead due to complications from an ATV accident.

Semi-colons are apparently gay.

Vanity Fair tracks down long lost half-brother of Obama? "According to Italy's Vanity Fair his two metre by three metre shack is decorated with football posters of the Italian football giants AC Milan and Inter, as well as a calendar showing exotic beaches of the world. Vanity Fair also noted that he had a front page newspaper picture of his famous brother - born of the same father as him, Barack Hussein Obama, but to a different mother, named only as Jael. He told the magazine: 'I live like a recluse, no-one knows I exist.'"

Is Katy Perry's mom homophobic? Her daughter clears the air with a fart.

Eye on gay Shanghai!

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones hospitalized after being found unconscious behind the wheel of a moving car.

Won't let go: Zoo gorilla in Germany mourns death of baby.

Sydney councillor lambasts announcement that Oxford Street is to be declared a "homophobia-free zone": “To borrow from Woody Allen, ‘the best response to Neo-Nazis is a baseball bat’. The best response to homophobia and gay bashing is more and tougher high-visibility policing applying an aggressive zero tolerance policy. That is why I have called for Council to finance a community policing centre in the middle of the strip and not the failed ACON safe space on the edge. The last thing we need is ‘homophobia free zone’ signs along Oxford Street. It will not prevent one bashing and may even attract violence.”

UK Gay rights champion Leo Abse dies at 91: "The flamboyant and controversial politician died at Charing Cross Hospital in Central London last night after a short illness, a family friend announced today. During 30 years as Labour MP for Pontypool, later renamed Torfaen, he passed more Private Members’ Bills than any other backbencher. His most famous, the Sexual Offences (homosexual reform) Bill, dicriminalising sex acts between consenting men over the age of 21, became law in 1967."

Daniel Radcliffe arrives in the Big Apple for Broadway debut.

UK man gets 18 months in prison for hate letter to gay couple, one of whom later hanged himself.

Obama smear book author Jerome Corsi tailed by sour investment deal that lost more than $1 million for a group of investors.

Michael Phelps' dad has not even congratulated his son yet.

Varsity high school football team in New Mexico under investigation for broomstick sodomy hazing of up to eight freshmen players at training camp. Charges include assault, battery, false imprisonment and molestation or rape.

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Russian Soldiers Forced into Male Prostitution by Superiors

Although men 18-27 are required to serve in Russia's military, many avoid it at all costs due to ongoing abuse of conscripts by their superiors. Now, a soldiers' rights group alleges that Russian conscripts are forced into male prostitution by their superiors who demand the money they earn from it:

"Andrei Gavrilyuk, a spokesman for St. Petersburg's military prosecutor, said his office would launch an inquiry into the allegations brought by the Soldiers' Mothers group, a leading Russian nongovernment organization championing soldiers' rights, Ekho Moskvy radio reported.

An activist with the group in St. Petersburg, Lyubov Yezheleva, told The Associated Press it learned about the alleged abuse from a 20-year-old conscript.

"He said he was forced into male prostitution by fellow soldiers who beat him and demanded that he earn money for them," Yezheleva said. She said the conscript was serving with the interior troops unit No. 3727, in the center of St. Petersburg near the renowned Hermitage art museum."

Conscript abuse appears to be a tradition in the Russian military according to an opinion expressed on the BBC in 2000: "It is important not that the conscript serves, but that he suffers"

Russia Military Allegations to Be Probed [ap]

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News: Brandon Flowers, Yale Tennis, Grant Show, Nigeria

Yale tennis team under fire for alleged initiation activites: "During dinner on Nov. 10, team members wearing women’s underwear and fishnet stockings posed as members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and entered several residential college dining halls, where they sang and danced on tabletops, students who saw the incident said. The witnesses said the team’s initiates had signs on their backs that read, 'I’m a fa**ot. Insert Here.' The captain of the men’s tennis team could not be reached for comment last night, but Director of Athletics Thomas Beckett said his department is investigating the incident."

Brandon Flowers wants to read your mind!

Gay man jailed in Nigeria for wanting sex with a man; tells court: "It is the work of Satan but I promise that I will not do it again."

Jonathan Plummer, the ex-husband of author Terry McMillan, says he plans to write a tell-all about the couple's bitter marriage and divorce. Said McMillan: "He is like a f***ing Duracell, and I want him out of my f***ing life, and he won't let me out of his life. I can't live like this."

Isn't it time gay people were part of the marriage discussion?

Scientology leaders have reportedly dubbed Tom Cruise the religious sect's "Christ" figure: "Tom has been told he is Scientology’s Christ-like figure. Like Christ, he’s been criticised for his views. But future generations will realise he was right."

Pop phenom Mika ships in Freddie Mercury's piano for acoustic recording of "Grace Kelly": "He felt totally inspired. He felt the spirit of Freddie surround him and Mika said he felt more creative than he ever had."

Former Melrose Place hunk Grant Show offers another dude his services on Dirt...

Lance and Reichen on the outs? Malkin: "The latest from the slopes of Sundance has it that they've called it quits. This is not the first time that the lovebirds of eight months have broken up. This time around, Bass showed up solo at last night's Blender Sessions party at Tao. Later on, a source spotted him sulking at a party at the Village at the Lift's Heineken Lounge. Bass left the bash around midnight after hanging there for a measly twenty minutes, the party-goer says. Another source reports that Lemkuhl is still in Park City, but has told friends he is cutting his trip short. He says he wants to get on the earliest flight out tomorrow morning."

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Examiner: Dead UT Frat Pledge Covered in Gay Slurs

New details have surfaced regarding the December 2005 death of a pledge at a Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity house party at the University of Texas Austin.

A medical examiner's report says that freshman Phanta ''Jack'' Phoummarath, whose body was found the night after the party, had been defaced from head to toe in offensive graffiti:

"The Travis County medical examiner's office reported that partygoers used green and black markers to write ''FAG,'' ''I'm gay'' and ''I AM FAT'' on Phoummarath's head, face, torso, legs and feet. Someone also added drawings depicting naked men and women and blackened his toenails."

Phoummarath died of acute alcohol poisoning and was found to have a blood-alcohol level five times the legal limit.

According to the family's attorney, Phoummarath was not gay. Three members of the fraternity were indicted last month on hazing charges.

Dead student's body defaced with anti-gay comments [ap]

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Officials Investigate Possible Sexual Assault at Frat Hazing [tr]

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News: Independent Spirit Awards, Gay Millionaires, Bears

Independent Spirit Award nominees announced: American Gun, The Dead Girl, Half Nelson, Little Miss Sunshine, Pan’s Labyrinth up for Best Feature.

The nation's first openly lesbian fire chief Bonnie Bleskacheck steps down after lawsuits accuse her of harassment and discrimination: "Three female firefighters have sued, alleging various acts of discrimination and sexual harassment. Two of the lawsuits were settled, but earlier this month, a male firefighter brought another lawsuit alleging he was denied advancement because he is male and not gay. A city investigation is still under way. This summer, a separate investigation by the city's Department of Civil Rights into a 2003 complaint by a male firefighter _ brought when Bleskachek was a battalion chief _ found it 'likely' that the department gave preferential treatment to lesbians or those who socialized with them."

Timothy Boham (aka porn actor Marcus Allen) was scheduled to appear in a Denver court today on charges he murdered his boss, openly gay businessman John Kelso.

Ricky Martin gets cheeky in Ocean Drive photoshoot.

Is gay as a film genre dead? Brent Hartinger looks at how other genres may be co-opting gay characters: "We've had gay mysteries (here! Networks' Donald Strachey mysteries), gay horror (Hellbent), a gay teen sex comedy (Another Gay Movie), a gay boxing movie (Fighting Tommy Riley) and even a gay science fiction movie (here! Networks' Deadly Skies, about a gay scientist, played by Antonio Sabato Jr., who helps prevent a meteor from crashing into Earth). None of these projects are 'about' the gay experience, even if the gay element sometimes adds an interesting thematic twist. Except for the gay characters, these are mostly the kinds of stories we watch when we're not busy being gay consumers."

Fighting anti-gay candidates with the pink dollar: Salon reports on wealthy donors like Coloradan and Quark founder Tim Gill who poured millions into the recent election to defeat anti-gay measures and candidates around the country.

Hazing charges against Vermont fraternity thrown out: "UVM officials suspended the fraternity based on rumors the pledges had been forced to dress up as Brokeback Mountain cowboys -- subjected to homophobic insults -- and forced to drink at a party in February."

Two bears meet in the woods...

Report: Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams to marry.

The Top 10 naked people on Google Earth.

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News: Ed Bradley, HIV Origins, David Geffen, McMansions

60 Minutes newsman Ed Bradley has died at 65 of Leukemia.

It's dune shacks vs. McMansions vs. the National Seashore as mega-wealthy housing development spreads to outer cape towns of Provincetown, Wellfleet, Truro: "If you remember what Nantucket used to be like, well, we haven’t gotten the Gulfstreams at our airport yet, but we’re afraid they could be coming."

Scientists discover origin of third of three strains of HIV known to infect humans: "Of the three strains of HIV known to infect humans, we know that two - the one causing the global AIDS epidemic and another that has infected a small number of people in Cameroon - came from a chimpanzee virus called SIV. The source of the third strain, which infects people in western central Africa, was a mystery. Now we know it came from gorillas."

Deal or No Deal? Billionaires, including David Geffen who has been furiously selling off his art collection in order to make the purchase, are jockeying for the opportunity to buy the L.A. Times. Geffen is already telling the world what he'll do when he gets his hands on it.

All the scoop on Britney's emancipation celebration.

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and opponents of proposed Massachusetts gay marriage ban are mobilizing forces to kill it: "Legislative sources said that DiMasi is pushing to get enough votes to force today's convention to recess without taking final action on the amendment, a move that, if successful, would kill the proposal and prevent it from appearing on the 2008 state ballot."

Santorum family values: Uncle Fester Sold Separately...

Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity in Florida shut after possible sexual assault hazing.

Meryl Streep's wise decisions via Page Six: "Donny Osmond brought down the house when he coaxed Nathan Lane onstage and sang him a love song from 'Beauty and the Beast' at the Christopher Reeve Foundation fund-raiser at the Marriott Marquis the other night. Lane, playing Belle to Osmond's Beast, deadpanned, 'My God, I thought you were Mormon!' Then, as Meryl Streep, Barbara Walters, Joan Collins and Miss USA Tara Conner watched, Osmond pulled Lane onto his knee for a mock marriage proposal. Streep, who'd earlier been asked to play Belle, told the crowd she'd made many important decisions in her career, and 'not being part of that skit was one of them.'"

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Officials Investigate Possible Sexual Assault at Frat Hazing

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Central Florida is under investigation after police raided the frat house during an apparent hazing exercise and discovered pledges in diapers, fairy wings, and women's panties:

"An incident report indicated that a male in the fraternity was spotted wearing pink fairy wings and women's underwear and was not able to walk on his own. The report also said the officers found a man wearing a pink tank top, women's underwear and a blond wig who was lying on the floor and vomited several times. Another male was sobbing on the floor wearing a rainbow-colored wig and a diaper."

Three students were found so drunk they had to be rushed to the hospital.

Evidence of the sexual assault was not named, but a slide show attached to the local news story noting the presence of "mangled hot dogs" may offer some clue.

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